Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 150: What Are You Thinking Of?

As soon as Ji Yuan and the Old Dragon left, the remaining warmth in the garden quickly dissipated. The collision of cold and heated air currents briefly formed a peculiar vision of a shroud of white mist.

Looking at the surrounding white fog, the Emperor grew a little excited for a moment. The guests and servants around him all held their breaths, believing that a divine being was really about to reveal their true form in response the Emperor’s command.

At this moment, among all the people at this gathering, Yin Zhaoxian was the only one who had a calm mentality, knowing that the so-called “divine being” would not appear.

Sure enough, the white mist came and went quickly, all dissipating in moments. Some of the fog condensed into dew on the green leaves and red flower petals, but was quickly frozen by the cold weather.

After waiting in the courtyard garden for a long time, enough time that his hands and feet grew cold, Emperor Yuan De seemed to finally admit that no gods would appear. Finally, he sighed.

“Let’s go back. I am tired. I will return to the palace!”

The disappointment after the intense excitement made the emperor a little tired.

“Your son respectfully bids the emperor farewell!”

Prince Jin hurriedly expressed his salutations.

As the Emperor left, the group of people, who didn’t dare go back to the banquet hall by themselves, followed behind him. Outside Prince Jin’s palace, the court eunuchs and guards had already prepared the Emperor’s carriage, with a warm heater and hot tea already ready inside.

Outside the palace, the eunuchs set down the step stool for the Emperor, his wife, and his imperial concubine to climb up into the carriage.

After getting into the carriage, Emperor Yuan De looked through the thick leather curtains of the window at the group of people standing outside of Prince Jin’s palace.

“We shall take our leave now.”

“We respectfully bid His Majesty farewell!”

“Farewell, Your Majesty!”

The group of people said goodbye in unison and bowed to the moving carriage. They did not dare to straighten until the sound of the wheels had faded away.

“Hooh…”

Prince Jin let out a sigh of relief. The tension eased in the people around him all at once.

“Come on, let’s return to the banquet hall to warm ourselves up. We might freeze to death from standing outside for so long!”

“Your Highness is right.”

“Let’s go, let’s go, my hands and feet are frozen!”

The crowd hurried back to the banquet hall. Inside, it was as warm as springtime. Everyone chattered excitedly about the auspicious omen that had just appeared. Prince Jin was no exception. He cared much more about the appearance of this auspicious omen in his own palace than even the Emperor who had wanted to see the gods.

Li Mushu was even more polite to Yin Zhaoxian. When Yin Zhaoxian’s murmur had caught his attention, he found that among all the people in the crowd, Yin Jieyuan alone was calm and unmoved.

A man with such a magnanimous temperament and a talent for governance… Plus, from their discussion of literature and academics that afternoon, he discovered that the man also knew how to act in a measured way¹ when interacting with people. Li Mushu could already vaguely predict that Yin Zhaoxian’s future was bright.

. . .

​​

The sound of firecrackers popping could still be heard In the capital city of the Capital Prefecture from time to time. Ji Yuan and the Old Dragon walked down the street, watching the rising energy. There was even a red cloud of Qi forming in the sky about the Capital prefecture. People with the ability to observe the flow of spiritual energy with their supernatural eyes would inevitably be shocked by this powerful flow of energy. At this moment, even the most ordinary of evil creatures would not dare come out side.

“Mr. Ji, we have already visited the prince’s family banquet, and Scholar Yin Zhaoxian has received some benefits. What are we going to do now? If you have nothing else to do, why not go to the Tongtian River’s Underwater Palace?”

This old dragon, constantly trying to make people go into the water in the middle of winter… Ji Yuan felt little helpless. Maybe the dragon simply had bad taste, and wanted to destroy him in chess; however, based on his words and deeds, he seemed genuinely interested in what Ji Yuan wanted to do.

However, Ji Yuan didn’t actually have any clear purpose — at least, he no longer had one after leaving Prince Jin’s palace.

“Mr. Ying, don’t worry about your underwater palace tonight. Just think of it as accompanying me for a stroll.”

The two of them naturally walked at an extraordinary speed. As they chatted, they had already passed Wenqu Street, then crossed Zhengzhong Avenue, which stretched out from the East of the city to the Western side. Along the way, they passed Gongshi² Lane, the neighborhood that housed most scholars preparing for the imperial examinations. They also walked past the chess hall that Ji Yuan most often frequented, and a large number of ordinary people’s residences.

As he collected the spiritual energy in the air, the chess pieces of the white flood dragon Bai and the Land God of Zhaojia Village were finally dyed white. As for the chess pieces of the Zuo family and one-armed swordsman Du Heng, they were left untouched for the time being.

By dawn, the Old Dragon believed he had figured out what Ji Yuan had been doing that night. He was clearly cultivating at an important juncture of the year. The dragon was extremely curious as to which incredible method he was practicing, but it was inconvenient for him to ask.

The two wandered around in this manner, and returned to Gongshi Lane by morning. Yin Zhaoxian just so happened to have been sent back by carriage from Prince Jin’s palace. Shi Yusheng, who had reported the case to the officials, to no avail, was greatly relieved.

When he saw this scene at the entrance to Gongshi Lane’s neighborhood, the Old Dragon glanced at Ji Yuan beside him, thoughtful.

“Mr. Ji’s high expectations for this scholar Yin Zhaoxian are a little unusual!”

Ji Yuan looked at the Old Dragon. His attitude was obvious, so he answered casually.

“I care about him as a friend, first. But secondly, what Master Yin will do in the future will also directly impact the greater trend of humanity in Dazhen.”

Ji Yuan added another sentence in his mind: ‘Thirdly, he might even affect the general trend of heaven and earth.’

“His noble and righteous character is indeed rare. Yin Zhaoxian is a man of great potential, and has outstanding talents and intellect. Now that he has a backer in the capital, he should have no reason to fail the exam.”

The Old Dragon glanced over and noticed that Yin Zhaoxian was a little sleepy. He didn’t particularly care about Shi Yusheng at all. Then, he suddenly turned his head and asked a question.

“After the Spring Festival, Mr. Ji won’t disappear again, will you?”

“Mr. Ying, please just let me go. That incident with the River Goddess was just a matter of luck. If I hadn’t controlled her impulses well enough and let her mind collapse, you would have chased me out of the underwater palace. As for His Highness the Dragon Son, there is really nothing I can do for him!”

Ji Yuan finally blurted out everything he had been holding back all night. The Old Dragon felt as if his secret desires had been exposed; it was a rare moment of embarrassment for him.

“Um, hahaha… Mr. Ji must be joking…”

Ji Yuan didn’t dare embarrass the Old Dragon too much, so he quickly changed the subject.

“I really can’t hide my intentions from Mr. Ying. Once these events in the capital have finished, I want to find a quiet place to practice for a while. Before that, there is one more thing I need to do.”

“What might that be?”

The Old Dragon asked with great interest. Ji Yuan answered helplessly.

“It’s not that interesting of a story. When I was traveling, I met a mortal Taoist priest who insisted on telling me my fortune. As a result, he lost half his life with one hexagram. He had always been a pauper; apart from the medicine that even now barely keeps him alive, he has no supernatural panaceas to use. Now, I have Ambergris, which can help him replenish his vitality.”

The old dragon’s eyes widened.

If even Ji Yuan could barely maintain that Taoist’s life, how serious had this backlash of heaven been?

After his experiences in recent events, the Old Dragon recognized Ji Yuan’s abilities and considered him a very capable individual.

“That’s not right. How could that Taoist possibly predict your fate?”

When the Old Dragon went looking for Ji Yuan, he couldn’t figure out where he was at all. How could this Taoist have almost lost his life?³

Ji Yuan smiled with a slightly embarrassed chuckle and said no more. The Old Dragon was confused, but simply thought that Ji Yuan not in a position to explain, so he stopped asking.

“Anyway, once I decide where I will be practicing, I will definitely let Mr. Ying know, so you don’t get lost trying to find me!”

“That’s great!”

The Old Dragon laughed. It was rare for him to find a friend with such a good temper, refined appetite, and great abilities, mainly because there were too few people who he could be with as equals.

At this moment, in Bing Province, five or six thousand li away, a certain Taoist, who had just set up a stall outside the City God Temple, suddenly had an itchy nose.⁴ He tried rubbing it a couple times, but it didn’t help.

“Aaahchoo! Achoo! Aaachooo!”

He sneezed three times in a row. Two streams of crystal clear snot came out of his red, frozen nose.

“How strange. Is there anyone who could be missing me other than Qi Wen?”

Taoist Qingsong muttered to himself as he awoke, covered in snot and rubbing his hands for warmth as he muttered to himself.

“Oh, that’s disgusting!”

“Stay away from him!”

“Oh, he’s coming this way!”

The pilgrims who were rushing to burn their incense sticks on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and those who simply wanted to burn their morning incense, all walked around the stall. All aside from the little Taoist priest, who stood anxiously to the side, looking for a handkerchief.

. . .

Half a day later, a dragon-shaped figure snuck into the Tongtian River’s Underwater Palace and transformed into an old man right outside the main hall. It was True Dragon Ying Hong.

Dragon Son Ying Feng hurried out to greet him.

“Father, are you alone? Where’s Uncle Ji?”

Seeing his son looking around, the Old Dragon snorted coldly.

“Don’t look around, he’s not coming!”

“Ah!? Uncle isn’t even giving you face? This…”

The Old Dragon shook his head and walked directly into the palace. At first, he was fine with his son knowing that his sister had gained benefits. However, after hearing his own speculation and learning that the white flood dragon of Chunmu River seemed to have also gained opportunities, he had grown impatient.

“Hmph, you keep mentioning your ‘Uncle Ji’ all the time. How can Ji Yuan not notice your thoughts? Forget it!”

The Old Dragon left this angry sentence and no longer paid any attention to his son. Instead, he went back to take a nap in the sandy arena at the back of the underwater palace.

1. Lit: know when to advance and retreat
2. 贡士 (gòngshì): candidate who passed all exams other than the palace exam
3. 2 different considerations here: 1) the backlash of peering into heaven’s secrets was too strong that he almost lost his life, and 2) the fact that he almost lost his life means he had some measure of success, which the dragon considers unbelievable for a mortal
4. Superstition that when someone is talking about you your nose itches/you feel like you want to sneeze