Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 200: Immortal Guidance

Although the waves continued crashing for a while, they eventually had to calm down. The aftershocks drifted towards the center of the river and gradually disappeared.

Hu Yun didn’t truly escape back to the city at this time. For one, being on the shore gave Hu Yun some sense of security. Second, he felt that, although the Old Turtle was angry, the fierce waves just now hadn’t targeted him or the black carp.

The red fox now felt very guilty. He more or less understood that what Ji Yuan had said on the platform on Niu Kui Mountain had been absolutely extraordinary, but he really didn’t remember much of it. He could only recall the general idea of the subsequent conversation between Mr. Ji and Lu Shan Jun.

“Don’t be angry. I’ll see if I can ask Mr. Ji again next time, and then come back and tell you!”

Hu Yun’s words made the Old Turtle even more sullen, but at least he had calmed down a lot. He shook his head and looked at the red fox, his voice dripping emotion.

“The Dharma is not passed on lightly. Things can only be done once, and never repeated. No matter how benevolent Mr. Ji is, you will get no results if you ask him again. If you have reached a certain level of cultivation and have follow-up questions about the teachings, there is a chance that you might be able to go back and ask…”

The Old Turtle lowered his head down to the river and sighed. He had now calmed down.

“Actually, it’s not too bad that it’s like this. If you had really told me what was said on that platform, it could be considered as me stealing someone else’s skills, which is a big taboo. You…”

The Old Turtle only looked up when he had reached this point in his speech, and the rest of his words were stuck in his throat: he suddenly found that there was a person standing behind the red fox.

The visitor had a slender figure with loose hair. He wore no hat nor belt, only a black jade hairpin to hold up his hair. He had a plain face with no beard, showing his age. His gray eyes were slightly open. One hand was held beside his back, while the other hand hung at his side. He was dressed in a white robe that faintly glowed in the moonlight.

He just stood there calmly, and as the breeze blew by, dust and leaves flew past.

Feeling the Old Turtle’s gaze, Hu Yun also turned his head carefully and saw Ji Yuan standing behind him.

“Mr. Ji! When did you… get here…”

The red fox was not half embarrassed and half obviously relieved. The surprise in the first half of his speech faded away to a weaker second half.

However, Ji Yuan ignored him and looked at the old turtle on the river.

The Old Turtle was stunned for a moment. With a jolt, he came to his senses and hurriedly paddled closer to the shore. With the crashing of water, he slowly climbed onto the bank step by step.

Then the giant turtle pushed up with his front legs, lifting his body onto its back feet and using its tail as a stabilizer, while his front feet were raised high in front of him to either side, as if he were bowing.

“The Old Turtle Wu Chong¹ greets Mr. Ji!”

The Old Turtle was far more nervous than Hu Yun. He didn’t know when this person in front of him had arrived. Perhaps he was already here when he had asked Hu Yun about the sermon atop the platform. When he had this thought, the old turtle’s heart stuttered in fear.

Ji Yuan nodded, and politely returned the Old Turtle’s greeting.

“My name is Ji Yuan. You have heard some stories about me, so I won’t introduce myself further.”

Ji Yuan looked at the Old Turtle. Since it was impossible for a turtle’s back to bend, he naturally couldn’t bend over to bow, so he tried his best to pull his neck down as far as possible.

This scene looked very funny, but no one present, from Ji Yuan to Hu Yun to the big black carp in the river, could laugh. Had it been a day ago, perhaps Hu Yun would have laughed out loud, but now he didn’t feel like he could.

The Old Turtle waited until Ji Yuan had accepted his greeting before slowly putting his feet back down. He made very little noise landing upon the ground, fearing that a loud noise would offend the other party. Then he stood there quietly, not daring to speak, waiting for the man in front of him to speak first.

The big black carp had already swum to the shore, blowing bubbles from time to time in the water. Hu Yun nervously looked at Ji Yuan and then at the Old Turtle. After hesitating for a moment, he opened his mouth to break the deadlock.

“Mr. Ji, you can see how difficult it is for this Old Turtle to cultivate, how about…”

In the past, Hu Yun might have directly asked if he could talk about what had been said on the platform that night, but now he didn’t dare to do so, particularly since he had completely forgotten “Xiaoyao You” was was afraid of being rebuked by Mr. Ji.

Jiyuan looked sideways at the red fox.

“Do you want to help him? You Master Fox Immortal Hu Yun, are so capable, why don’t you help this old turtle yourself?”

Hu Yun didn’t dare to speak anymore. Although he was ignorant before, he had still never dared to make random requests in front of Mr. Ji. This time he spoke up, particularly under such tense circumstances, one could only conclude that he felt indeed felt a bit sorry for the old turtle.

After Ji Yuan finished speaking, he continued to look at the Old Turtle. With his supernatural eyes wide open, the Old Turtle’s aura was clearly visible in his vision. The water Qi in his body was more abundant than before, particularly in the Old Turtle’s back, which actually held some hidden Gong hexagram patterns² of the path of divination.

“It’s true that it is not easy for you to practice, but over the years, your obsessions have grown more and more severe. You have relied on your own spiritual powers, spent countless efforts, and wasted hundreds of years, but in the end, all your plans have failed. Your spiritual power has grown, but your practice has stagnated. You have committed fewer evil acts and taken fewer lives, but you are still full of resentment. Your spiritual platform has ruined your character. It is quite lamentable!”

Having said this, Ji Yuan thought of some things he had asked Bai Qi before, and asked the old turtle another question.

“How are you doing with the the training technique the white flood dragon gave you?”

The Old Turtle was uneasy when he heard Ji Yuan’s initial judgment, but now he was even more shocked at this question. Mr. Ji also knew about this matter?

But since he was asked, he naturally did not dare to lie.

“To reply to Mr. Ji, I have been diligently practicing the refining techniques given to me by Master River God. I have not dared to slack off in the past six years. I have occasionally felt a burning sensation in my bones and muscles, but nothing else…”

As an old turtle with a long lifespan, he naturally did not lack patience. Although the effect of this cultivation method was not satisfactory, there was still hope. The one thing he was afraid of was that, although there might be hope, he wouldn’t be able to achieve success before his lifespan ended.

Ji Yuan looked up and down at the giant turtle again, observing the changes in its aura. During this entire process, the Old Turtle glanced carefully at Ji Yuan’s eyes. He obviously did not make eye-contact with those calm, pale eyes, but he nonetheless had the feeling that they could see through everything.

Ji Yuan took a closer look at the Old Turtle a few times, then realized that Hu Yun, the Old Turtle, and the big black carp all seemed a little nervous. Suddenly, he smiled. His smile was like a gust of wind that instantly dissipated most of the pressure.

“Old Turtle Wu Chong, you have helped many mortals over the years. It seems that you want them to help you in return after they have achieved success. So why can’t they help you immediately? The evil energy in your body has something to do with this, right?”

Hearing this, the old turtle’s expression fell slightly, but he did not avoid answering.

“Fortune-telling is easy, but it’s difficult to predict people’s hearts. I am just an old turtle who is good at divining. I cannot overturn seas or turn stones into gold. My spiritual power has limits, and there are boundaries to supernatural powers. However, the desires in people’s hearts are boundless. I, an old turtle, have always had bad luck. I often trust the wrong people. It seems as though I was dealt a good hand, but as time goes by, I often suffer bad consequences and karma. Alas…”

The Old Turtle sighed and continued.

“Now I have given up this approach.”

The Old Turtle was particularly sensitive to the good and bad fortune of people and monsters. Especially after meeting Hu Yun, he had a much deeper sense of this, and he himself was often the one with bad luck.

Ji Yuan looked thoughtful for a long time, before he smiled and said.

“Haha, how about this? Whenever Huiyuan Academy is closed, a scholar surnamed Yin will come here to read to this big black carp. If you don’t mind the scholar’s young age and little knowledge, you can also sit in on the lecture. How about it?”

There was a flash of ecstasy in the Old Turtle’s eyes, and not a single thought of rejection or disgust whatsoever.

He knew very well that this was definitely a rare opportunity, and one that might be even greater than he imagined. This was definitely the legendary “Immortal Guidance.”

‘My luck is changing!’

The Old Turtle couldn’t suppress his joy at the thought.

Unlike Hu Yun, that ungrateful fox, the old turtle seized every opportunity and couldn’t help but stand up again and bow repeatedly.

“Thank you Mr. Ji for your guidance, thank you Mr. Ji for your guidance!”

“I’m not giving you this without anything in return.”

Ji Yuan’s words only made the Old Turtle pause for a moment, but he still continued thanking him profusely, and promised that he would do whatever he wanted within his power.

“There’s no need to go through fire and water.³ As the years go by, choose some of the stories of the people you have helped that have left a deep impression on you, recall them carefully, and recount them for me whenever you have the time.”

Ji Yuan said with a smile. He walked slowly towards the river, looking at the big black carp that had been leaning against the riverbank in the water.

When the black carp saw Ji Yuan walking to the water’s edge to look at it, it quickly waved its fins and blew bubbles from its mouth, as if to greet Ji Yuan. “Bo bo… Bo…” Unfortunately, no matter how long its fins were, they could not touch each other, so it was impossible for it to perform a formal greeting or bow.

“Although you, big black carp, have not yet refined your horizontal bone, I found you pleasing to the eye when I saw you those years ago. I believe you do not yet have a name, so why don’t you call yourself Luo Biqing⁴ from now on!”

Ji Yuan didn’t know whether the big black carp was male or female,⁵ and he hadn’t done any research on determining the gender of fish. Some animals’ genders could be distinguished by their yin and yang energies; aquatic creatures were mostly yin-dominated,⁶ so even if there were differences between males and females, there were no other big black carps for Ji Yuan to compare to.

The name Luo Biqing could be both male and female. If one day in the future the big black carp cultivated to the point of achieving human transformation, it could be used either way.⁷

“Splash… Splash…”

The big black carp spun happily several times in the water by the shore, continuously popping bubbles from its mouth.

After listening to what the Old Turtle said before, the big black carp knew that being named by a master like Ji Yuan must mean that its fate was not ordinary.

Now the Old Turtle also became enthusiastic, and he looked to Ji Yuan with a pair of huge eyes full of expectation. Even Hu Yun could read the words “please give me a name” from that strong gaze.

Ji Yuan was also somewhat speechless. His pair of calm eyes looked on at the Old Turtle in indifference.

“Why, don’t you already have a name?”

The Old Turtle was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly became dejected.

“I do…”

The Old Turtle cursed himself thousands of times in his heart. Why did he give himself a name? Why did he pretend to be a common scholar? Would he have died without a name? Either way, everyone had called him “Old Turtle” for so many years, so it didn’t make any difference whether he already had a name.

‘Ah… don’t be envious, you should be content! ’

Ji Yuan shook his head and looked towards the river. There was a huge winding white shadow lurking at the bottom of the water. He bowed with cupped hands in its direction, then strolled back towards the pier.

Hu Yun hesitated for a moment then hurried to follow. The Old Turtle and the big black carp knew that it was not suitable for them to follow him as well, so they did not move.

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T/n: Happy 200 chapters!!! 😀

1. 乌 (wū): black, 崇 (chóng): high/esteemed/sublime, he named himself Esteemed Black-backed Turtle
2. The specific patterns mentioned are 巩宫 (gǒnggōng), which seems to mayyyybe indicate the 61st hexagram “Center Returning” or “inner truth,” or could also relate to a water god.
3. i.e. go to extremes/suffer extreme hardship
4. 罗 (luó): to collect/to gather, 碧 (bì): jade/blue, 青 (qīng): black/blue/green/young –> most likely Gathering Black Jade
5. Because Chinese is a non-pronoun language, I have been defaulting unknowingly to the male pronouns. I will be using “it/its” from now on for the carp. Sorry about the confusion.
6. Women have more Yin (connection with the moon) and men have more Yang, but if you remember, water is the most Yin element there is, so you can’t use this method
7. T/n: !!! heck yes, I want the carp to cultivate into a non-binary friend please. Imagine a shiny non-binary carp mermaid 😀