Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 22: A Series of Misunderstandings and Coincidences

But Ji Yuan merely glanced at these contracts. With his terrible eyesight, how could he hope to read them? Anyway, Ji Yuan felt that Lu Chengfeng was quite trustworthy.

Suddenly, a tingling sensation began to spread all over his body, and Ji Yuan carefully tried to focus on it.

Strangely, the more he tried to feel it, the more elusive it became. On the other hand, if he relaxed his mind and abandoned his distracting thoughts, he would feel a magical sensation, as if he were moving far away.

For a moment, it seemed as if his body were rising and expanding infinitely. It felt like the meridians and channels all over his body were turning into big rivers, and his blood and bones became the mountains, streams, and winds…

As Ji Yuan immersed himself more and more in this mindless feeling, he gradually let go of his thoughts. The feeling of looking at heaven and earth became more natural. As his mind sank deeper, his consciousness seemed to transform into a spiritual wind, floating around the world with a sense of weightlessness. There were undulating mountains and rivers, undercurrents and deep pools, misty wind and rain, clear sky and foggy weather, all kinds of strange images, intertwined and unpredictable…

In this dazzling trance of mountains, rivers, mist, and stars, although he couldn’t see it, Ji Yuan sensed the existence of an illusory chess piece, wandering freely between heaven and earth.

“Mr. Ji? Uh, well, according to the official records, this house may be haunted. Did you notice that from the beginning?”

Lu Chengfeng couldn’t hold back and wanted to confirm it with Ji Yuan himself.

But right now, Ji Yuan had no room for distracting thoughts, and was immersed in this rare state of inner visualization. Lu Chengfeng’s voice turned into rumbling bursts of thunder in his heart, rising and falling along with the thunderbolts.

This feeling was extremely magical, and made Ji Yuan very excited. At this moment, for the first time, he really felt that he could definitely live a wonderful life in this world, and couldn’t help but smile. This green spiritual aura was likely to be the legendary spiritual Qi.

Lu Chengfeng also laughed. This truly was very much like Mr. Ji. How could he not see that while others bought this house because they thought it believed they would live for a long time, it was really Mr. Ji who got a bargain.

“When does Mr. Ji plan to clean the place up? Do you want us to help?”

Lu Chengfeng asked with some anticipation. It was much more difficult to see a Taoist master’s skills in action than to see those of a martial arts master.

But he only saw Ji Yuan smiling without answering. After waiting for a while, Mr. Ji’s eyes continued to stay closed, sitting contentedly.

Lu Chengfeng was a little embarrassed. He assumed that Mr. Ji meant to refuse without saying anything, and also seemed to have disturbed Mr. Ji’s cultivation just now.

“Well, if you need anything, Mr. Ji, just let me know. We will still be in Ning’an County in the next two days, and we won’t leave until Yan Fei, Junior Sister Luo, and others are in a stable condition…”

Ji Yuan still didn’t respond, so Lu Chengfeng didn’t dare to stay any longer, out of fear that he might disturb or irritate him.

“Sir, please have a good rest. I will take my leave!”

Lu Chengfeng quietly put down the brush stand he had purchased earlier on the table, then hurriedly walked away and gently closed the door.

. . .

It took more than an hour for Ji Yuan to withdraw from that feeling. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to continue to feel it, but rather that the sensation weakened so much that he could no longer hold onto that state.

After gradually returning to his senses, he looked around the room. The couple of contract documents were still on the table. Lu Chengfeng had left at some point. He couldn’t help it. The situation just now was unexpected, and he suddenly forgot all about him.

Of course, Ji Yuan soon noticed the brush stand on the table, and couldn’t help but admire Lu Chengfeng’s thoughtfulness.

Ji Yuan decided to take a closer look at the land and house deeds, and his excitement about his purchase grew stronger.

He picked them up and inspected them.

Although Ji Yuan’s eyesight wasn’t good, when he brought the paper closer to his eyes, he could still see the neat text on these documents through the blur, as well as the red seals of varying sizes and the largest, official seal.

Of course, in Ji Yuan’s eyes, the seal was just a bunch of red patterns.

He had heard Lu Chengfeng say that the government still kept records, so Ji Yuan felt that a similar contract should be relatively strict.

However, because it was just ink on a piece of paper, it was difficult for Ji Yuan to read it through touch. Because of this, he suddenly realized a more serious problem.

As he was, could not learn the context of the era or the style and culture of the world he lived in through books, or any other regular methods!

In fact, Ji Yuan had not had any time to verify over the past couple days whether the was still in ancient China, or whether he was in a similar but entirely different time and space.

Judging from his initial impressions, after having encountered tiger demons and ghosts, having witnessed the true martial arts skills of Yan Fei and his companions, Ji Yuan was more inclined to believe the latter.

Perhaps, after Lu Chengfeng and the others left Ning’an County, it would be better to seek advice from a scholar who had studied general history?

Ji Yuan had always been an optimistic person. He had passed what seemed to be a dead end when he first started this life, and there would always be other solutions. There was no need to rush to solve everything this very moment.

Looking at the brush stand from the Four Treasures of the Study Store sitting on the table, Ji Yuan found himself in a good mood, and on a whim decided to try to write blind.

However, after grinding the ink, the hand holding the brush suddenly felt very strange, as if he had a vivid muscle memory. Writing on the white paper was like flowing with water; whether it was official script, seal script, regular script, complicated or simple,¹ all of it was remarkably easy to pick up!

“Damn, I’m so freaking awesome!”

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but whisper excitedly. As for the words, did they look good? They probably weren’t all that different from this amazing feeling!

It seemed that the original beggar had some kind of history before he got into trouble.

The time spent practicing calligraphy passed quickly. With his physical exertion, Ji Yuan was a little hungry.

Ji Yuan glanced at the light outside the window. Even if it wasn’t quite dinner time yet, it was getting to be.

He stood up, stretched his body, put away the house deeds on the table, went to find the injured young heroes. Nonchalantly, he reminded them that it was time to eat; not just out of the goodness of his heart, but also as a subtle suggestion.

They were all staying in the same suite of upper rooms of the inn, and there wasn’t much distance between them. After exiting his room, Ji Yuan walked a few steps along the third floor corridor to the place where several of the young warriors lived.

They were all people who had been practicing martial arts since childhood, and their physical conditions were very good. With timely medical treatment, their injuries had stabilized in only a few days. Now, they could even walk around by themselves, without the need for constant supervision.

Ji Yuan looked for them in their rooms but found that they were all empty. He couldn’t even hear the sound of breathing from any of the other rooms.

Fortunately, as long as he focused his hearing, he could distinguish their unique sounds from the noisy environment. It sounded like the were practicing punches and kicks in the backyard of the inn.

. . .

There was a large open space in the backyard of Yunlai Inn, which connected two small houses that both also belonged to the inn. The stables, fodder, and a woodshed were all adjacent to the space.

This site could have been reserved for future inn expansion, and was also where the inn set out their sheets and bedding to dry and stored their pickled foods.

At the moment, several of the injured sat to the side and rested, while Lu Chengfeng and a couple others sparred. Many guests of the inn as well as some idle servants were watching at the back door of the inn.

Ning’an County was a small and remote territory. There weren’t many people who knew martial arts, and even fewer who were skilled. It was very exciting to watch these warriors’ spars.

Amidst the sounds of punches and kicks, he could hear a few weeping willows swaying in the wind.

When Ji Yuan arrived at the back door of the inn, it was already blocked by several servants, cooks, female inn-workers, and even the inn proprietress, who gathered here to watch.

Lu Chengfeng and another young man, named Wang Ke, were in the middle of fighting.

Wang Ke could wield a sword, but he fought better barehanded, while Lu Chengfeng was good at boxing and some claw techniques.

“Clap! Bang-“

At this moment, the two sides parried blows with their arms, simultaneously swinging out their legs to attack. As they struck hard with the soles of their feet, Lu Chengfeng twisted and slid behind him, sending Wang Ke flying into the weeping willow behind him like a butterfly. As he tumbled through the air, he righted himself, twisting his body, and kicked off of the tree trunk, taking advantage of his strength to slash at Lu Chengfeng with his palm.

As soon as Lu Chengfeng regained his balance, he felt the sound of rushing wind coming towards him. Without even thinking, he directly threw himself to the ground. He shifted his weight onto his hands and kicked his left leg out towards the taller man Wang Ke. He gathered even more force, and his right foot followed closely behind.

“Bang! Bang!”

Wang Ke felt that his movements had been quick enough, but the speed and strength of those two consecutive kicks were even greater. Blocking the strikes made his palms go numb, and his whole body was launched into the air.

“Be careful!”

Lu Chengfeng shouted a warning and twisted his body. Veins bulged in the arms that supported him against the ground.

“Haah!”

He shot forwards like a spring, with his left leg slightly bent and his right leg extended in front of him, kicking towards Wang Ke in the air like a pursuing wind.

“Bang!”

He kicked away Wang Ke’s defense with one leg and hit the opponent’s chest, though his strength had obviously been reduced by half.

With this blow, the outcome of the match was decided, and both sides used their movements to land lightly back in the arena.

The inn workers in front of Ji Yuan couldn’t help but applaud, their faces full of excitement.

“Great fight!”

“It’s so much better than the plays in front of the temple!”

“Amazing, Lu Shaoxia is so cool!”

“Wang Shaoxia is not bad either!”

“One more, one more!”

…

Ji Yuan clapped alongside them. Although he couldn’t see clearly, he could hear their outlines through the rhythmic sounds of the strikes. It was clear it had been a thrilling fight.

1. Chinese script styles ↩︎