Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 201: Bright Virtuous Qi

As Ji Yuan was walking now, the large wharf in the distance was still not visible. It was quieter, less noisy. However, compared to the rest of Chunhui Prefecture, where most places had already turned off their lights to sleep, there was still a rare light on. To some extent, it was somewhat similar to some of the streets with shops at night in Ji Yuan’s previous life.

At this moment, Ji Yuan and the red fox were at the outer section of the river, south of the capital city. If they went east along the riverbank, in order to get to the big pier, they would actually have to walk north outside the southeast corner of the city, past the River God Temple, and then cross most of the eastern city wall. It was not a short journey.

As such, Hu Yun was actually a little unsure whether Mr. Ji just wanted to take a walk or was going back to the wharf. However, Mr. Ji didn’t say anything, so he didn’t dare to ask, and just followed quietly.

Although Mr. Ji was not currently angry, his presence put a lot of pressure on Hu Yun, perhaps more due to his personal mental conflicts.

The breeze from the river made Ji Yuan’s clothes flutter slightly, and his long hair swayed with the wind. The River God Temple was already in sight, but at this time of night the temple was closed, and the lights were off. The few lights that remained were only the oil lamps that were always burning in the main hall.

“Hu Yun, do you know what is ahead of us?”

Mr. Ji finally spoke. The red fox’s felt slightly relieved, and he naturally looked forwards. It was the large River God Temple. Although he had never been there, Hu Yun recognized this place. The boatman had spoken of it frequently in the past few days.

“That must be the River God Temple of the Chunmu River. The boatman said that this temple is the first temple on the Chunmu River.”

“Hmm.”

“The current Lord God of the Chunmu River is a white dragon who has been cultivating for a long time. In terms of spiritual power, understanding of Taoism, and supernatural ability, I cannot even begin to guess how superior he is to you, a mere fox. Isn’t this kind of person glorious?”

Hu Yun replied subconsciously.

“Impressive!”

“Yeah, it’s quite impressive, but no one in this world can live forever, and no one can escape the causality of Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements. It’s difficult for such an impressive god to practice. In order to transform into a true dragon, the white flood dragon failed twice, and suffered the pain of losing all of his scales and armor.”

Ji Yuan spoke as he walked, glancing sideways at the red fox.

“Do you know the pain of a dragon losing its scales?”

Without waiting for Hu Yun to answer, Ji Yuan continued.

“It’s almost equivalent to personally pulling out a fingernail, only it is attached to your soul!”

The fallen scales were not ordinary injuries, nor could the old scales be replaced by new ones. Once the scales fell off, they would never grow back.

The red fox shrank his neck and clenched his claws. In the past, he had accidentally broken his claw nails by grabbing objects too hard, and they hurt for a long time. He didn’t want to try to pull out his nails, and he didn’t even dare to think about how painful it would be if it were connected to his soul.

Hu Yun understood Mr. Ji’s intentions. He was talking about the difficulty of spiritual practice. In the past, he might not have been able to internalize the message. Although he lacked personal experience now, at least he knew to keep it firmly in mind.

“Let’s go to the pier for a late night snack. If there is any roast chicken, I’ll give you one as a special treat today!”

Ji Yuan smiled and tried to eased the fox’s tense nerves. When the latter heard roast chicken, a smile immediately broke out on the fox’s face and he began to drool.

Although the large wharf outside Chunhui Prefecture’s capital was inferior to the one outside of the Capital Prefecture in terms of scale and merchandise traffic, the port’s colorful nightlife was famous throughout Dazhen.

It held a beautiful name particularly among the literati and poets: “Flower Harbor.” Gradually, the name of Flower Harbor spread among the common people. Although ordinary people were still accustomed to calling it the Eastern City Wharf, everyone knew what people meant when they referred to it as Flower Harbor.

The busiest time of day at the Eastern City Wharf was a little before sunset, when the dock workers loading and unloading cargo were still busy, some people began embarking and disembarking from their river cruise ships, and those who had come for the pleasure boats and flower ships also left the city.

Of course, it was currently well past the peak business hours here, and many of the houseboats, pleasure barges, and dancing and music ships had already left the shore. However, there were still some large ships docked and welcoming guests.

Ji Yuan took Hu Yun to find a medium-sized restaurant and ordered some food there as a midnight snack.

Although there were not too many dishes in the restaurant, one could order more or less anything, as the bartender could go to some nearby shops to order it there and deliver it to you, with the bill paid to the restaurant. This was obviously a well-practiced business cooperation model.

While Ji Yuan and Hu Yun were enjoying wine and a midnight snack at the pier, Yin Qing was tossing and turning in Huiyuan Academy, feeling a little apprehensive.

It was the first time he had traveled away from home, and he would be living in this unfamiliar environment for the foreseeable future. None of his hometown acquaintances and friends were present, and Mr. Ji and the Little Fox were also going back to Ning’an County.

Through the moonlight shining through the window, he could roughly make out the layout of his room. There were four people to a room, and the other three were already asleep with even breathing. Thankfully, no one was snoring.

‘Hey, Mr. Ji and everyone else must have already gone to sleep a long time ago. I don’t want to think about it anymore. I have to fall asleep quickly.’

With this thought in mind, Yin Qing closed his eyes, eased his breathing, and relaxed his body. In less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, he had fallen asleep.

Although he was obviously the last to fall asleep, Yin Qing was the first to wake up in the morning. Sometime after he had gotten up from his bed, gotten dressed, and gone out, the academy’s bell rang and the others woke up with sleepy eyes.

When Yin Qing returned, he saw his three roommates tidying up their clothes.

“Morning!”

“Oh, good morning!”

“Good morning!”

“I got up and went out a while ago. I brought a pot of honey tea from the kitchen, drink to moisten your throats. There are thin pork buns for morning meal. I ordered them in advance. If we go over there now, we can eat them as soon as they come out.”

Yin Qing raised the teapot in his hand and finished his string of words. The other three people in the room couldn’t help but smile. This new roommate was so kind and polite, he really deserved to be the son of Lord Yin.

Yin Qing’s approach to interpersonal relationships was deeply influenced by Yin Zhaoxian and Ji Yuan. He could easily win the favor of other scholars and teachers in the academy. In addition, he was diligent and energetic, and he quickly integrated into the new environment of Huiyuan Academy. In four to five days, Yin Qing had already met all the students of Huiyuan Academy. Naturally, he also visited and got to know all the teachers, and they all had a harmonious relationship.

It was the 20th day of the eighth lunar month, which was a holiday for Huiyuan Academy. The academy students were eagerly preparing to go out.

In student room No. 6, Yin Qing sat on his bed and sorted out his textbooks. The top one was his father’s masterpiece, “Understanding Justice.”

At this moment, two of his roommates had finished washing up and ran into the room. A scholar named Lei Yusheng excitedly rushed towards Yin Qing and the other person in the room.

“Yin Qing, Xinjie, when we came back, we saw that many people over there were going to go to the Imperial Examination Hall. Do you want to go?”

“Yes, yes. The Autumn Examination is coming soon. Many famous scholars from all over Ji Province coem to the Imperial Examination Hall. we will also go there to take part in the examinations in the future. Let’s go and have a look, shall we?”

“Okay, okay, let’s try out that Imperial Exam Candidate meal today!”

Lin Xinjie immediately seconded the proposal.

However, Yin Qing rubbed the back of his head and refused.

“It sounds very interesting, but I have something else to do today, so I won’t be joining you.”

“Ah? What’s the matter? Do you want us to help?”

Yin Qing smiled and shook his head.

“No, no, it’s just a small matter. Go ahead, I will definitely ask you for help if I need it.”

After some polite refusals, more than 200 scholars from Huiyuan Academy departed the academy, each with their own goals. Some headed to the Imperial Examination Hall, some had made appointments to enjoy the scenery together, some went directly to the restaurants, while others headed to the east of the city to Flower Harbor.

Yin Qing walked alone in to the south of the city. He passed through the busy streets, stepped out of the city gate, and headed straight towards the sloping southwest section of the river.

Halfway through his journey, Yin Qing frowned and looked around. There were always tourists in groups of twos and threes, with some flying kites nearby. There were also many small boats on the river, drifting by the shore.

“There are so many people…”

With a little worry, he walked for a while and finally saw the willow trees arching across the river. Ji Yuan was sitting atop one of the willows, while Hu Yun lay at the roots of a tree on the shore. The former held a fishing rod in his hand, and there were some people watching him from not too far away on the shore.

Yin Qing quickly walked up to them with a book in his arms and greeted Ji Yuan as he approached.

“Good morning Mr. Ji!”

As he spoke, Yin Qing winked at Hu Yun.

“You’ve arrived? Just sit on the shore. Don’t pay attention to the people around you. Read your books, you can read whatever you want. Read more if you think it’s interesting.”

Yin Qing looked around, and then looked at the riverbank. There was a faint black shadow near a large rock deep underwater. It would have been difficult to find anything if he didn’t look very carefully. Plus, he figured that if Hu Yun could avoid the eyes and ears of ordinary people, then the big black carp underwater could do the same.

Yin Qing first put down the book, moved over a stone of suitable size, flipped out the back of his clothes, and sat on the stone. After that, he took the book at the top of the pile, “Understanding Justice.” Seeing that Ji Yuan didn’t intend to say anything, he cleared his throat and began.

“A scholar should uphold propriety, be discerning of limits, understand reason, and know virtue. This is the common consensus of our world. However, what constitutes propriety? What is virtue? How does one who is righteous remain virtuous, and impartial in discerning them? It is not clear at first…”

The Old Turtle that had originally closed his eyes under the water slowly opened them a little bit. This scholar’s reading was a little different from ordinary recitation. It seemed as though each sentence carried its own emotion, as if he himself were also seeing answers along with the book, rather than simply reading the content. It was easy for a listener to be influenced by his emotions.

The one who had previously felt this influence the deepest was actually the one-armed swordsman Du Heng. Now, the Old Turtle was also experiencing it somewhat.

The Old Turtle couldn’t help but look up at the shore. Through the blurry waves, he could vaguely see Yin Qing’s face, distorted through the water.

As he looked at him in this manner, he actually did not feel a vague sensation at all. The aura around the boy’s body was unusually clear and bright. Seeing the body was like seeing his heart; his spiritual charm was shining brightly, clear and virtuous.

T/n: Yin Qing is a Disney Princess, you cannot convince me otherwise