Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 167: The Most Dangerous Moment

Ji Yuan turned to look at “Chu Mingcai” beside him, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

“What a coincidence! Just as we were talking about him, the Old Dragon arrived.”

Seeing Chu Mingcai’s ugly expression and the gloomy aura he exuded, Ji Yuan was now in an excellent state of mind. He also felt an inexplicable sense of relief in his heart.

“Don’t be deceived by the fact that this old dragon is already a thousand years old; in fact, he is still quite petty at times. If I drink tea here without informing him, he will definitely remember and hold it against me. I suffered as such at his birthday last time, so now I simply must call him!”

Ji Yuan basically told the truth, but Chu Mingcai nearly crushed his teacup when he heard it, and he couldn’t utter a word even after trying to for a long time.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of any valid reason to stop Ji Yuan from calling the Old Dragon over, but rather that Chu Mingcai now had a much greater appreciation for what it meant when “the situation was stronger than the person.”¹

However, before Ji Yuan could figure out any suitable way to inform the Old Dragon that he was here, he felt a moist breeze blow, and Ji Yuan subconsciously stretched out his right hand.

A long strand of hair fluttered in the wind and settled naturally in his hand.

Ji Yuan had no expression on his face, but internally he was wondering what was going on with the hair. He could already sense the hair when it had first flown into the Huang family mansion. He understood that it was not returned to him by some spell that Old Dragon had, but instead that the long hair had returned to him on its own.

Chu Mingcai’s attention was all focused on Ji Yuan, and he even briefly forgot that there was a true dragon flying in the sky.

As opposed to Ji Yuan, Chu Mingcai only saw two main points, one of which being the fact that the long hair had returned by itself. Even though there was no trace of spiritual energy, he could not sense it as deeply as Ji Yuan. The more important piece was the second point, which even Ji Yuan did not notice.

The wind, carrying the slight mist of rain, blew into the room, inevitably raising a cloud of dust. However, this dust automatically slid down away from Ji Yuan. In the True Demon’s eyes, some small gray water droplets stuck to Ji Yuan’s clothes; miraculously, only the water droplets remained, while the dirt sloughed off. This was definitely no dust-repelling technique.

All the while, Chu Mingcai carefully observed Ji Yuan’s expression, and found that the latter was mainly looking at the strand of hair. He seemed to be unaware of other aspects of his person, or rather he did not care. He was very casual in his bearing, and did not need to use any spiritual power or techniques.

As the saying went, the truth was in the details. This situation was something the True Demon had never seen before in his life. Although he most likely did not know its true significance, a new and appropriate term emerged in his mind: a ‘True Pure Body.’

‘This person before me… is probably more extraordinary than I thought… How could there have been such a terrifying true immortal hidden in the land of Dazhen, without anyone in the world knowing…’

After a while, Ji Yuan had finished scrutinizing his long hair. With the thought of just giving it a try, he simply took off the hairpin bun on the top of his head and let his long hair fall down.

He felt a slight itch on his scalp, the long hair actually grew back into his head. Even Ji Yuan himself was amazed.

Wooo… Wooo…

The wind mixed with the drizzle and grew stronger and stronger at the front of the living room. It was clearly a little abnormal, and attracted Ji Yuan and the anxious Chu Mingcai’s attention to the door.

“Ra-ta-ta… ra-ta-ta…”

The panels of the open door to the living room swung constantly, its rattling clearly indicating the chaotic gusts of wind going in all directions.

A thick smell rain and blood grew stronger, and the feeling of a dark cloud descending settled upon the entirety of Dongle County. The sky in Maoqian Town darkened and people’s vision grew blurry.

“Boom…”

Thunder rumbled in the sky, and lighting briefly illuminated the area in pale white.

By the time the lighting that lit up the world faded, two men in brocade robes stood at the front of the Huang family mansion’s living room. One was a younger man, and one was an older man; they were the father and son of the Ying family of the Tongtian River. A strong wind swirling with dust and light drizzle surrounded them.

“Gurgle…”

Chu Mingcai picked up his teacup and took a deep gulp of tea.

“Hahaha… I knew that I could find Mr. Ji by following that hair, but I didn’t expect that there would be such surprises, hahaha…”

The Old Dragon’s voice started out bright and cheerful, but it roughened as dragon energy continued to overflow from the corners of his mouth.

Dragon Son Ying Feng was more realistic than his father. He glanced at Chu Mingcai, then focused his attention on Ji Yuan, and bowed respectfully to him.

“This nephew² greets Uncle Ji!”

“Ah, that white bighead carp is delicious. Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness.”³

Ji Yuan felt quite comfortable when Ying Feng called him “Uncle Ji.” After all, it fit the situation. Normally, he thought that the Dragon Son was too clingy, but now he quite appreciated it.

Ying Feng, who had originally been maintaining a serious expression, could no longer keep a straight face. An expression of joy crept on his face, and he felt even more delighted in his heart.

“Hahaha… As long as Uncle Ji likes it, I’m happy, it was just a casual thing…”

However, seeing the current atmosphere, Ying Feng just spoke a few pretty words and stopped talking.

Ji Yuan stood up and bowed to the Old Dragon.

“Mr. Ying, how are you? Come in and have some tea!”

The Old Dragon also bowed in return.

“I am quite well. If it weren’t for the fact that I had been busy traveling around before and after the Mangzhong Festival, I would have come to Bing Province to visit Mr. Ji quite some time ago. But what a coincidence, I was able to come here today, hahaha…”

The Old Dragon laughed, but kept his gaze on Chu Mingcai.

“What a coincidence, what a coincidence indeed, hahaha…”

Ji Yuan laughed alongside him.

The two individuals were busy chatting with each other and seemingly ignoring Chu Mingcai, treating him as an outsider. However, the huge pressure all gathered at the table, pressing on him alone, making him feel as if a mountain were crushing down on him, and he was sitting on pins and needles. He felt extremely uncomfortable.

After a while, there was a subtle change in the seating arrangement in the Huang family’s living room.

Ji Yuan and Chu Mingcai still sat to the left and right of the host’s main seat, while the Old Dragon Ying Hong and the Dragon Son Ying Feng sat on the two seats on Chu Mingcai’s side of the room. The True Demon was sandwiched in the middle, his expression deeply disturbed all the while.⁴

……

“Oh, ooh… So it turns out that Huang Xingye gave birth to a ‘personal god’? That is really quite rare!”

After listening to Ji Yuan’s brief account of the whole affair, the Old Dragon exclaimed in surprise, then nodded to Chu Mingcai again. Both the father and son affixed their dragon eyes on him together.

“Yeah, it’s indeed rare. I, Ji, was really surprised.”

Since the Old Dragon had previously exposed Ji Yuan’s identity as “Mr. Ji,” he no longer simply used “I.”⁵

Now that they had finished with the pleasantries, they finally came to the main event.

Ji Yuan put down the teacup from which he had just taken a sip. He picked up the teapot again and took the initiative to refill Chu Mingcai’s cup with a smile.

“It seems that you like to drink tea, Sir, and you drink it quite quickly. Now that we have finished these trivial matters, it’s time to get down to business.”

As he spoke, Ji Yuan glanced the Old Dragon, then turned his gaze back to Chu Mingcai.

“To be honest, Sir, you said before that you came to join in the fun in Dazhen. I am used to being idle and am a little out of touch with the news, so I truly really don’t know what you meant.”

Chu Ming just opened his mouth and was only halfway through the word “this…” when the Old Dragon spoke in surprise.

“Mr. Ji didn’t know? Hahaha… That’s true, even I just found out not too long ago, and Mr. Ji likes to live a carefree life,⁶ so it would have been impossible for him to inquire about any news.”

The Old Dragon crooked his finger and the teapot flew to his side and automatically began pouring tea into his teacup.

“It is rumored that in the Tianji⁷ Pavilion in Tianxuan Cave,⁸ the three long-bearded elders who were comprehending Dao fragments had a feeling and made a divination several years ago. It took them an entire year to complete the hexagram. They concluded that in the southern corner of the Eastern Cloud Continent – which precisely corresponds to the borders of Dazhen – they glimpsed a grand destiny, a great flourishing fortune, and the fate of the endless Dao concealed within.”⁹

“What else?”

“Nothing. I heard that Tianxuan Cave has been completely sealed and entrance is banned, and the Tianji Pavilion refuses all visitors. The three long-bearded elders seem to have been seriously injured. I don’t know how the news got out. “

Chu Mingcai finally found the opportunity to interject. His tone was as gentle as possible, as if to ease the atmosphere.

“It’s strange that such information could have been disseminated. There are both true and false rumors, and it’s impossible to verify them with Tianji Pavilion as it is now. The so-called fun in Dazhen came from this. I also came to take a look. When I saw Huang Xingye nurturing a ‘personal god,’ I was curious and watched for a while…”

The old dragon looked at him coldly.

“Oh? What about your physical body? What about those things that happened previously? Although my old friend is not paranoid, he hates crooked intentions and evil deeds the most. Don’t just look at how he’s smiling and drinking tea with you. The ten-thousand-foot beam of sword intent in the Green Vine Sword might be unable to be suppressed.”

“Hahaha…”

The Dragon Son Ying Feng laughed unkindly. Either way, since his father and Uncle Ji were here, he was under no pressure at all. He just spectated without any worries.

Chu Mingcai felt like he was about to break out in a cold sweat at the Old Dragon’s words. He glanced at the immortal sword behind Ji Yuan. It was apparently quiet, without even a hint of sword intent flowing out of it, but at this very moment, he inexplicably felt that if he moved, he would be immediately struck through.

A True Dragon on his left, and a True Immortal on his right… The True Dragon was over a thousand years old, and the True Immortal was even more unfathomable. He slowly realized: ‘This may be the most dangerous moment I have experienced in a long time.’

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T/n: this entire chapter is just Chu Mingcai Having A Bad Time, Ji Yuan and Ying Hong tag-teaming the intimidation rolls, and Ying Feng being their little cowardly cheerleader in the background, and I find it all unreasonably funny

1. i.e. Ji Yuan just bulldozed over all his potential protestations by just saying “welp guess he’s arrived now, nothing you can do about it, LOL”
2. Not literally, it’s an honorific
3. Refer to the end of ch. 132, where YF was trying to gain JY’s favor by ordering people to put fish on his line
4. T/n: It’s like the world’s most awkward family reunion! 😀
5. 鄙人 (bǐrén): what he was using previously, which I translated to just “I” (because English doesn’t have the same honorific system) roughly means “your humble servant.” It’s a very formal/humble way of referring to oneself, and additionally does not give any indication as to your name. Now, JY is using 计某 (jì mǒu), translated to “I, Ji” which seems to be a more commonly-used way to refer to oneself in Ancient China. In modern Chinese there are other structures for “I.”
6. Lit: days of idle clouds and wild cranes
7. 天机 (tiānjī): mystery known only to heaven (archaic)/inscrutable twist of fate. It’s a pavilion that focuses on divination
8. 天 (tiān): Heaven/sky/day, 玄 (xuán): mysterious/black. So it’s Heaven’s Mysteries Pavilion in Mysterious Heaven Cave
9. So you remember how Ji Yuan’s name literally means “instrument of fate”? Yeeeah, well, three guesses as to what words the prophecy keeps repeating, first two guesses don’t count. Congrats, buddy, you officially have a prophecy with a pun on your name, not that I think he realizes it yet