Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 170: You Are Biased!

Taoist Qingsong and his disciple were not fools, after all. Although Mr. Ji didn’t explicitly tell them anything, it was obvious that these two men in brocade robes were not mortal.

This era was not like Ji Yuan’s’ previous life: there were not that many reliable means of transportation. A heavy bighead carp from Tongtian River weighing dozens of catties had been carried up the mountain alive. Considering that these men’s faces looked a little blurry, they must be immortals.

Thanks to this big fish, the kitchen of Cloud Mountain Temple was bustling with activity. From killing fish to steaming it, there was a lot of excitement.

Fortunately, the stove and the pot were large enough for the fish head, otherwise it would have been quite difficult to cook.

When it came time for dinner, in addition to the vegetables, fruits, and some bacon, the fish naturally became the highlight.

Wild ginger from the mountains, combined with freshly pickled cabbage purchased from the villagers at the foot of the mountain, plus old Sichuan peppercorns and a seasoning they called dried chili peppers,¹ were blended into a fresh, salty, and slightly spicy fish-head soup.

An eight-immortals octagonal table was set up in the front yard of the Taoist Temple. In addition to the dishes, which were arranged in a circle, the most eye-catching piece was the large pot.

Indeed, because they had no bowl large enough, and they didn’t want to ruin the integrity of the fish soup, Taoist Qingsong and his disciple decided to use a spare pot as the serving platter, put four suitable stones under it, and brought it directly to the table.

This style of eating was relatively novel, and the seasoning was quite good. Coupled with his good mood from the day’s events, although the Old Dragon didn’t think it was all that special, the Dragon Son Ying Feng ate heartily, and was of the opinion that Taoist Qingsong;s cooking skills were not all that bad.

For the two dragons, this meal was just a snack; it was impossible for them to eat their fill.

The food was home-cooked, and the wine was the local wine that Huang Xingye had brought as a gift. It was not an outstanding spread, but the atmosphere around the table was even better than that of the Dragon Lord’s birthday banquet. Even listening to Taoist Qingsong’s stories of death and fortune-telling simply made the dinner more interesting.

By the time they had eaten and drunk their fill, it was already completely dark.

The father and son of the Ying family chatted with Ji Yuan in the courtyard of the temple until very late at night. The conversation was mainly between Ji Yuan and the Old Dragon. One had a large store of knowledge from his previous life, plus his state of mind and achievements of his current life, so he could carry a conversation about anything; the other had his own cultivation and experience, so he had his own opinions on everything.

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but ask questions about things that he didn’t know about but still found interesting, such as the current events in various regions of the world, and he listened to the Old Dragon’s views on various matters.

The Old Dragon would also sometimes ask Ji Yuan some questions that he wanted to know the answers to out of curiosity. For example, he mentioned the sword mark on the border of Chunhui Prefecture in Ji Province. Ji Yuan then gathered his words to tell him about the time when his sword flew thousands of li from Yi Province to slay demons. Although his words were simple, they fascinated the Dragon Son and the two Taoists.

Of course, they would sometimes wander off topic. For example, Ji Yuan’s casual mention of the fish from dinner turned into how to cook water essence spirits like the Silver Essence fish, which was quite difficult.

Ji Yuan grew engrossed in the conversation. No matter whether it was his own curious questions or some other discussion topics, the Old Dragon always had something to say. Ji Yuan had rarely had such a casual and easy chat since he came to this world. He felt that the Old Dragon was of a similar mind.

Even more rare, neither of them had any scruples about discussing trivial matters. They easily revealed their true temperaments when talking to each other; they could discuss whatever they wanted, they could criticize immortals or look down on other dragons.

They talked about everything, from the stars, sun and moon, to the growth of all things; from demons straying from the Tao to the righteous path; from the change of dynasties to the rise and fall of aristocratic families. They discussed whatever they wanted.

While conversing about some moral principles, it was inevitable that one of them would get stuck. At this time, Ji Yuan would often be blessed with inspiration, and recall one or two of the Yellow Court Classic’s lines about ethics from his previous life.² The deeper meaning behind these sayings would become clear once he blurted them out. Thus, as the conversation continued, it felt more and more like a discussion of profound and mysterious principles.

As time went on, even the Dragon Son Ying Feng didn’t dare to interrupt, and just listened carefully.

……

“Ah…hooh…I’m sleepy…Mr. Ji, you guys can continue to chat, I will be going to bed.”

“Yes, me too……”

Two people’s yawns brought the conversation to a temporary halt.

Qi Xuan and Qi Wen could only understand a small portion of what they were discussing, and were mostly confused by what they heard. At first, they could still sit and listen out of curiosity, but now they could no longer resist their sleepiness.

“Hey, hey! Don’t go, don’t go! Listening to this is valuable. You two Taoists don’t understand what’s beneficial for you. Do you know how many high-ranking guys in the world couldn’t even beg for what’s happening tonight?”

The Dragon Son Ying Feng forcibly pulled Taoist Qingsong and Qi Wen over and refused to let them go. The two yawning individuals had no choice but to turn to Ji Yuan for help. They were not fools; of course they could tell the supernatural quality of the content of the conversation. It had been fine at the beginning, but the more they listened, the more confused they became. Now, it had become unbearable.

“Let them go to sleep. The two Taoist priests are not as strong as you, Your Highness.”

Since Ji Yuan declared it so, the Dragon Son had no choice but to let go of his grip, looking at Qi Xuan and Qi Wen with a regretful expression.

After the two Taoists left, the Dragon Son, who had been expecting that he would continue to listen, found that his father and Uncle Ji had stopped chatting.

The Old Dragon stood up slowly, and bowed to Ji Yuan with cupped hands.

“I had an excellent conversation with Mr. Ji this night, I benefited a lot!”

Ji Yuan also got up and gave a very solemn bow in return.

“Same here. I have also gained a lot.”

The Dragon Son was a little dazed. He looked towards the east; although the sky was still gray, he felt that dawn was approaching. It turned out that an entire night had passed without him noticing.

By now, the Old Dragon and Ji Yuan had already left their seats at the table.

“It’s almost time for me to leave. Next time I brew more Ambergris, I’ll be the first to come invite Mr. Ji for a drink.”

“Alright. Next time I go to Yuanzipu, I’ll buy some aged Qianrichun and let you taste it, old gentleman.”

“Deal!”

“It’s a deal!”

The old dragon smiled brightly then turned to his son, who was still sitting at the table.

“What are you still standing there for? Let’s go!”

“Oh, ah? Dad, why are you in such a hurry to leave? My sister isn’t in Tongtian River right now, and you’re not the River God.”

The old dragon shook his head. He grabbed his son and flew away. If he had left his son behind, the latter would probably have been shameless and asked Ji Yuan for benefits.

Ji Yuan watched the Ying family dragons fly away. He was very happy. After having talked all night, both he and the Old Dragon felt that they had benefited quite a lot.

He planned to go watch the sunrise, but before that, there was one more thing he had to do.

Ji Yuan lightly leaped up into the air and exited Cloud Mountain Temple in a flutter of robes. He landed directly in front of a bush beside the kitchen, outside of the temple grounds. He bend town, reached out, and felt around under the bush, then took out two small creatures with gray and white fur.

The two martens had not yet healed from their old injuries, and had fallen asleep.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you two are lucky. But it would be too tragic if you fell asleep here and got eaten by mountain beasts or birds. Let’s find you another place to sleep.”

He stood up again and leaped back into Cloud Mountain Temple. Ji Yuan tossed the two martens into the kitchen of the Taoist temple, cushioning them with his spiritual energy, and laying them under the firewood pile. Then, he stepped onto a cloud and flew to Guanri Peak³ of Cloud Mountain Temple.

As the sky grew brighter, he watched the sun rise above the sea of clouds. The energy of the sun stoked the elemental fire energy of his heart; the heart fire stirred the earth energy of the spleen; the earth energy of the spleen nurtured the metal energy of the lungs; the metal energy of the lungs bolstered the water energy of the kidney; the water energy of the kidney nourished the wood energy of the liver… The spiritual energy of the five elements circulated endlessly.

…

Ji Yuan practiced diligently without any obstruction. He cultivated among the mountains and the cloud, and realized the potential of many of his techniques. Sometimes he stayed on Yanxia Peak, sometimes on Guanri Peak, and sometimes on other peaks.

Sometimes, in the early morning, one could watch as a white mist rose from the sea of ​​clouds; sometimes, in the evening, one could experience the changes of Yin and Yang when the moon and sun were in balance.

When there was no one to disturb him and no distracting thoughts, Ji Yuan would often take several days to experiment with using the breeze to apply the technique of conveying ideas through spiritual energy imbued in objects. Ji Yuan would even walk on the clouds and chase after the breeze like a child, trying to recreate its essence.

Additionally, constantly trying to draw out the True Fire of Samadhi was not something that could be done overnight.

Ji Yuan spent a small portion of his time sleeping on Cloud Mountain Temple, but the majority of his time was spent just sitting in the mountains. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep in a bed, but rather that it was all too easy for him to lose track of time while comprehending the mysteries of spiritual energy, so he truly just “forgot to eat and sleep.”⁴

Sometimes, he would actually spend over ten days without noticing. Like this, a year or two passed in the blink of an eye. Ji Yuan couldn’t help but sigh: “There is no such thing as time in the mountains.”

During this period of time, there were also some trivial happenings, including Huang Xingye’s return visit to Cloud Mountain Temple, but they had nothing to do with Ji Yuan.

As the individual involved in the evil-spirit incident, Huang Xingye still had a lot of troubles. Even if the Land God hadn’t given him any special instructions, Huang Xingye still had no intention of publicizing this supernatural matter. However, he still had to give an explanation to Changchuan Prefecture about Chu Mingcai’s death in the Huang family residence. He also needed to deal with some governmental affairs.

Even though there were some troublesome tasks for him to do, Huang Xingye was still generally at peace. After all, his life was no longer in danger.

When everything had been settled, Huang Xingye once again brought people to visit Yun Mountain to express his gratitude. Even though he knew that the person who had gone down the mountain with him was not Taoist Qingsong, he had nonetheless asked for a savior from Yun Mountain, after all. Thus, he should be polite, so he resolved to send gifts to Yun Mountain during every festival.

. . .

Spring rolled on, and cicadas chirped as the summer solstice passed; as summer went by, autumn came and a golden wind blew.⁵

It was the autumn of the second year of Ji Yuan’s retreat in Yun Mountain. Far away in Ning’an County, in Desheng Prefecture, Ji Province, in a small pavilion called Ju’an Pavilion, the jujube tree was once more in bloom, without bearing a single fruit.

In fact, the jujube tree in Ju’an Pavilion had bloomed profusely last year, but had produced very few fruits. Yin Qing climbed up the tree and counted them numerous times when he had nothing to do. Including those that were still on the branches, there were less than one hundred fruits in total.

These jujubes were all big, red, and very tempting, especially the earliest batch of jujubes that had survived from two years ago, which were now a bright fire-red. Sometimes, Yin Qing would even have the illusion that these fire-like jujubes glowed at night.

On this day, Yin Qing was sitting at the stone table in Ju’an Pavilion reading a book, because he always felt as if it was easier for him to concentrate and breathe more freely under the jujube tree. Moreover, at this period of time between summer and autumn, there would always be a faint breeze blowing under the jujube tree, making the temperature cooler.

Yin Qing had already memorized a book called “The Study of Etiquette”⁶ by heart. He set the book down and gazed up at the tempting jujubes on the tree.

“Hey… It’s been almost two years, but you haven’t allowed me to pick even one. You’re so stingy… Dad, was a top scholar, but he couldn’t stay in the capital, and in the end he went to Wan Province to be a magistrate. My mother went to Wan Province with him, but I couldn’t go. If I went, who would clean the house and the pavilion? Who would take care of the jujube tree? Hey, you, I’m working so hard, couldn’t you just give me a jujube to comfort me? Come on!”

Yin Qing grumbled and carried on chatting. The jujube tree merely swayed in the breeze without any response, just like an ordinary fruit tree.

“Hey… I’m going to the academy soon, so I won’t be able to visit you every day. I can only come back once every two weeks, ah…”

Sighing, Yin Qing quietly looked up again. The jujube tree was still swaying in the wind.

“Oh, you big jujube tree, you have a heart made of stone — no, a wooden head!”⁷

Right as he was speaking bitter words, Yin Qing lowered his head and suddenly noticed a flash of red coming from the half-open courtyard gate.

“Little fox!”

A sound of surprise burst from Yin Qing’s mouth, but before he could say anythign else, he suddenly saw a bright red jujube fall and hit the fox right on the top of its head.

“Thunk-“

The red fox immediately jumped away in fright, holding a paw to his head and looking up, only to see another jujube rapidly growing before his eyes as it approached his head.

“Thunk-“

“Wuuu…”

The fox rubbed his nose with his paws. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, three more “thunk” noises sounded above his head.

Yin Qing stared at the scene, dumbfounded. He pointed at the jujube tree with trembling fingers.

“You… you are biased! You are so biased!”

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T/n: that jujube tree would absolutely slay as a stationary turret

1. 辣子 (làzi): cayenne pepper/chili, could also be 辣 (là): spicy/pungent, 子 (zǐ): small thing/[noun suffix] – lit: “spicy thing” or “spice.” I think it’s meant to refer to chili pepper though
2. The Yellow Court Classic is one of the most important Taoist meditation texts.
3. 观 (guān): to watch/observe/look at OR (guàn): Taoist Monastery, 日 (rì): sun/day –> Sun-Watching Peak
4. I believe this is in quotations because it’s used as a common excuse? Similar to “my dog ate my homework”
5. 7 char/7 char couplets [T/n: now the narrator’s doing poetry as well XD]
6. 礼 (lǐ): gift/rite/ceremony/etiquette/propriety/courtesy, 学 (xué): to learn/to study/-ology. Lit: “Etiquette-ology”
7. Like how “stone-hearted” means “cold-hearted,” “wooden-headed” means “dumb.”