Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 17: Chivalrous Covenant

Ji Yuan had indeed figured out a good solution to bluff, but first he needed to show that he had listened to Lu Shan Jun’s words. Even students who greatly respected their teachers enjoyed hearing their teachers’ praise.

“Being able to draw inference from one example and refrain from killing shows that you have an excellent understanding and the valuable ability in implementing it. After all, you, Shan Jun, gained your spiritual wisdom through training with other tigers. Even if you learned human etiquette from a ghost, it would not be the same without a good foundation for understanding. You really understand the ways of the world, haha…”

After speaking, Ji Yuan smiled.

“Scholar Lu may not excel,¹ but he is still a little better than ordinary scholars.”

Ji Yuan pointed to the group of young warriors in the distance.

“Why did these people come to this mountain to hunt tigers? Naturally, it is because Lu Shan Jun previously killed and ate many people. Unlike hunters who seek tiger skins, or apothecaries who desire tiger bones, this group came to the mountain to hunt tigers for the sake of the people, rather than personal interests. In essence, Shan Jun ate the people first, and the warriors came after.”

But here, Ji Yuan’s speech changed directions.

“Of course, all of these justifications ultimately amount to nonsense. If someone wishes to kill me, I can kill them in return. If I obediently bare my neck to let them cut it off, wouldn’t I be a fool?”

Lu Shan Jun felt very comfortable at these words, and nodded slightly.

“However, as I said before, this group went into the mountain not for self-interest, but out of righteousness. They knew that there were tigers in other mountains, but came here, to Niu Kui Mountain. Do you think there are many such people with similar character in the world?”

The fierce tiger outside the temple frowned for a moment, then replied respectfully.

“There likely are not that many, sir!”

Ji Yuan smiled.

“People like Yan Fei, Luo Ningshuang, Lu Chengfeng and the others are all young heroes in this world, and they have retained their chivalrous hearts. Although they may be arrogant due to their youth, as long as they abide by their true, virtuous intentions, they might help cleanse the world of evil later in life. It’s not wrong for Shan Jun to kill them, but the world would then lack nine honorable men.

“These nine young heroes have a solid foundation in martial arts, but for Shan Jun, defeating them is child’s play, and they are hardly a threat. Thus, I gave them a message of aid and hoped that you would be merciful.”

The tiger spirit was silent. Ji Yuan was afraid that he would think too much, so he quickly added on more, his tone unhurried and even slightly amused.

“I have an interesting proposal for Shan Jun, I wonder if you would do me a favor?”

“Sir, please speak!”

Lu Shan Jun answered quickly.

“Just because these nine people are honorable now does not mean that they will continue to act honorably in the future. Even now, they partly intended to make a name for themselves. Of course, it is understandable for a young warrior to seek fame. The Tiger King might as well be a witness, as you are of similar age to some of these people. If in the future one of them does commit evil acts or brings chaos to the world, it will be up to you to bring them to justice. Whether you eat them or behead them, it will not violate the law of heaven. And if there truly are some among them who truly deserve the title of righteous hero, your actions today would be enough to offset the evil deeds you have committed in the past, and you will gain immeasurable merit! Thus, the heart is good, and the mind is clear!”

“ROAR-“

As Lu Shan Jun iistened, his tiger eyes gleamed with demonic aura. He felt that some of his previous doubts and worries had been resolved, and he couldn’t help but give a low roar of excitement.

He understood Mr. Ji’s reasoning and his hidden meaning. He, Lu Shan Jun, had the potential to change form!²

Otherwise, how would he be able to walk among the humans in the world to fulfill this promise?

For a while, Lu Shan Jun thought deeply about the meaning of Ji Yuan’s words: “the practice of cultivation is similar to the fundamentals of human morality:³ an upright mind and a healthy body are necessary for your foundation.” Additionally, even more words became clear: “The Way of Heaven is to diminish the excess to balance with what one lacks; the Way of Man is to instead supplement one’s deficiencies in order to accommodate for the excesses.”

Rather than looking at it as saving nine people, he saw that Mr. Ji was instead taking advantage of the opportunity presented by these nine people to help him understand!

“Thank you again Mr. Ji for your teachings!”

The tiger excitedly and respectfully rushed into the temple, then turned back to look at Lu Chengfeng and the others, frightening a few of them to their senses.

“Mr. Ji, I, Lu Shan Jun, will obey your request. Do you need me to send them down the mountain?”

“No, no, no, we can go. We can go down the mountain ourselves!!”

Lu Chengfeng and others hurriedly refused. Although they knew the tiger spirit was no longer going to eat them, they did not dare stay in his proximity.

Ji Yuan also wanted to hurry down the mountain.

“It would be better to let them go back on their own, since there is a deep prejudice against monsters in this world. Lu Shan Jun, you should go back to the mountains to practice!”

Now that his thoughts were clear, Lu Shan Jun could not wait to run off immediately, but he had stayed to give Ji Yuan face. Now, though, Ji Yuan himself told him to go back and practice. Mr. Ji really was a heavenly being.

At that moment, Lu Shan Jun, who had been about to directly bid farewell to the man inside the mountain temple, suddenly had a thought, and spoke up once more.

“Today I gained much from Mr. Ji, but have nothing to offer other than sparing a couple warriors… In that case, I now offer the young heroes a favor…”

The tiger turned around and approached the group. After inspecting them from top to bottom, he saw that they were too scared to move. The tiger’s face stretched into a human-like smile and he spoke.

“Today, when you go down the mountain, you can just tell the outside world that the man-eating tiger has been slayed. From now on, visitors to this mountain will not have to worry about being eaten by the tigers of Niu Tou Mountain.”

After finishing his words, Lu Shan Jun coughed out a large white tiger skin. Its fur was stained with blood, as if it had been freshly skinned.

Then Lu Shan Jun’s eyes flashed, and he turned around and saluted towards the mountain temple once more.

“Mr. Ji, this student will now leave!”

Seeing that Ji Yuan didn’t say anything to stop him, the tiger spirit was overjoyed and hurriedly left. He moved so quickly it looked like the wind was carrying his afterimage. Ji Yuan could no longer hear him!

Once Lu Shan Jun had been gone for some time, both the people outside the temple and Ji Yuan collapsed, and became as limp as they would upon exiting the bath.

One sighed in relief at the continued success of his deception, and the other side was overjoyed at their survival.

But right as Ji Yuan relaxed, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over his body, like continuous electric shocks. When he raised his hand, he could even see a subtle electric arc that flowed down his arm. In a trance, the faint shadows converged into what looked to be a chess piece between his index and middle finger, before disappearing. Ji Yuan’s body shook.

When he regained his senses, it seemed as if that event had been an illusion. He stretched out his hand to inspect it, but couldn’t find anything different.

. . .

After resting for a while, the people outside the temple regained their strength and hurriedly entered the mountain temple to express their thanks to the master who resembled a beggar, which brought Ji Yuan back to reality.

The fire in the mountain temple was on the verge of going out, and only a pile of red charcoal remained. The five people who could still stand all clasped their fists in a salute and bowed. Yan Fei and the other four who were seriously injured tried also did their best to express their thanks.

However, they needed to go down the mountain to seek medical treatment as soon as possible, so Lu Chengfeng at the front, tentatively asked.

“Thank you, Mr. Ji, for rescuing me. I regret not having listened to you before. I will always remember your kindness today! But our companions were seriously injured, so we can’t stay on the mountain any longer. Would you like to come down with us, sir?”

Fortunately, he hadn’t forgotten his previous promise, and there was no need to remind Ji Yuan, who of course wouldn’t reject this proposal.

“I’m quite ill; if it’s convenient, I will naturally follow you down the mountain.”

These people were eager to have him join them, so how could there be any inconvenience?

Whether they were a young hero who had narrowly escaped death or the master Ji Yuan, no one dared to continue staying on the mountain. They extinguished the open fire in the temple and set off immediately.

After all, everyone except Ji Yuan had been practicing martial arts since they were young, and were not afraid of traveling on a slippery road in the dark.

What happened tonight left a deep impression on Lu Chengfeng, Yan Fei and the the other warriors. They realized now that there were real monsters and demons along with true experts in the world, and their hearts were in awe. Of course, they were also under a heavy pressure from this realization.

They used to dream about becoming world-famous heroes, but now it seemed that they would have to worry a little more about their own safety!

The four of those who could still stand carried their wounded on their backs, while Lu Chengfeng carried Ji Yuan. The wind gusted beneath their feet as they rushed down the mountain to Narcissus Town as quickly as possible.

1. Lit: “be a nerd” or “be a bookworm” ↩︎
2. T/n: adding a note here because it’s unclear. JY’s words could be interpreted at face value (probably how Ji Yuan himself assumed) to mean that the tiger would judge the nine people in the and kill/eat them if they were doing more harm than good to the world. However, the subtext that Lu Shan mentioned was that, in order to be able to judge the people’s moral character, he would have to spend some time in the human world observing their actions; he would not be able to do this as a ginormous tiger, he would need to transform into a human form… which is a sign of reaching a high milestone in his cultivation. So it is established that 1) LS will spare these people, 2) LS will check up on them in a couple years to judge their actions, 3) to do this LS will need a human form, and 4) LS will have achieved the human form and thus a cultivation advancement/milestone before that time, which is why he’s so excited (remember, his cultivation has currently stagnated). ↩︎
3. There’s another layer of subtext here: the literal translation is “practice is like being a human being,” hence the goal of attaining a human form. ↩︎