Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 236: Sword-Writing By Moonlight

The gray cat leapt away soon after, and the bodies slowly floated along the stream with the current.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the corpses in the river had been discovered. The two blurry black silhouettes passing by suddenly accelerated from their original uniform speed, and appeared on the riverbank in a flash like ghosts. It was the other two underworld officials in the nighttime patrol.

The two nighttime patrol officers who appeared on the shore wore tight black uniforms, with longswords at their left side on their waists. One of them had a long whip on their right side, while the other had a black bow and a quiver of arrows slung behind his back. However, there were only three jet-black arrows in the quiver.

At this time, the two nighttime patrol ghosts were looking at the corpses in the river with narrowed eyes. With their eyes, they could naturally tell that this was purely flesh, without any trace of soul or vitality. Ordinary people would not die so cleanly.

Of course, in addition to these identifiers, the eyes of the nighttime patrol officers clearly revealed traces and aura left by evil methods on the corpses.

“I don’t know what might have been able to do this. I believe it must have been hiding in the special inn next to the newly-built spiritual showcase platforms.”

“Hmph, it doesn’t matter who did this, it won’t cause any big waves in any case.”

“Haha, that’s a good point. Let the officials in the mortal world worry about it!”

The next moment, the two nighttime patrol spirits blurred in for a moment, then reappeared more than ten zhang away, moving away with a trance-like feeling.

On the roof in the distance, a gray cat sat on the eaves, licking its paws. It glanced coldly at the direction the nighttime patrol officers had gone, then looked at the corpses in the water again.

Whoosh~

In the next instant, a dull black arrow suddenly shot towards the gray cat. The latter dodged, but the arrow spun around in the air and shot back towards the grey cat again.

At the same time, a nighttime patrol officer in the distance bent his bow back like a full moon, and a black arrow disappeared from the quiver and automatically reappeared on the bowstring.

Whoosh~

Another arrow flew out, tearing the air at the boundary between Yin and Yang with the force of a pincer attack from the front and back, shooting towards the gray cat that kept flickering in and out and leaping aside.

“Thunk.”

“Boom…”

There was an explosion of Yin energy on the roof somewhere, and the gray cat inside it foamed away like a phantom, disappearing without a trace, as if it were a bubble that had burst.

The two black arrows flew back and returned to the quiver behind the left messenger of the Nighttime Patrol of the City God of the Capital Prefecture.

“What profound achievements in illusion skills, this monster is amazing!”

“Well, let it be for a while longer.”

After saying these two sentences, the two nighttime patrol officers turned into shadows that blurred and disappeared at the end of the dark path.

Somewhere under a thatched hut a few hundred zhang away, the gray cat appeared once again, an uncertain light in its pupils.

‘I didn’t expect that just two nighttime patrol officers could be so skilled. This Capital Prefecture of Dazhen is truly extraordinary.’

Without thinking any further, the gray cat quickly ran back to the inn. Of course, it knew the way.

Early the next morning, two bodies were found at the of the second day, the two bodies were found at the Xiaohe¹ City Gate.

Although this small river flowed out of the city, there were gates on both the city walls and at the entrances and exits of the river, so fish could pass through, but not such a large corpse.

The soldiers and officials at the edge of the city simply rushed to salvage the corpses, but they were not as efficient as the underworld. They could not identify these two people, nor could they tell whether they were from the Capital Prefecture, so the government office was a little busy for a while. If no one reported missing persons to the government, the case would most likely be left unresolved.

Of course, the officials also had some guesses in their minds. They wondered if it might be related to that group of people residing near the performance platforms; since the beginning of autumn, masters from all walks of life had come to the Capital Prefecture, and the number of strange cases had increased.

. . .

During this period of time, Ji Yuan had been renting a side room in a private house. The location happened to be in the small alley where the storyteller Wang Li once rented his house. The people here had many empty rooms that would be rented to outsiders, including scholars who would come and stay in the capital to prepare for exams, as well as some people from the martial arts world. The rent was very reasonable.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival,² every household in the alley hung up colorful lanterns. Every residence looked joyful. It looked like it was Chinese New Year, but it was actually just a way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. They even set up small tables and placed offerings on them to pay respects to the moon.

“Mr. Ji, Mr. Ji!”

The cheerful voice of the patriarch of the residence sounded outside.

“I’m coming!”

Inside the room, Ji Yuan put down the jade slip in his hand and stood up to open the door. He saw a man outside holding a plate with a few mooncakes on it.

“Mr. Ji, these mooncakes are for you. They were personally made by my third uncle. Although they are not exquisite desserts, they taste very good.”

“Oh, alright, thank you very much. I was about to go out to admire the moon. It would be great to have a few mooncakes to take with me as a snack.”

Ji Yuan didn’t even take the plate, just directly grabbed all six small mooncakes in his hands, then bowed to the patriarch, preparing to go out.

“Uh… Mr. Ji, are you going out?”

When the head of the household saw Ji Yuan preparing to go out, he spoke a few words of concern.

“Sir, it is best not to go out at night recently. There are notices everywhere asking people not to go out at night because there are a lot of things going on recently.”

Ji Yuan, who had already walked to the courtyard, turned to look at him and nodded.

“Indeed, it’s better not to go out at night. I’m just wandering around Yongning Street. There should be quite a lot of people going out to admire the moon today.”

After nodding again to the patriarch, Ji Yuan went out. Every household in the alley was celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in their own way, and some people were sitting in their courtyards to admire the moon.

After Ji Yuan left the alley, his pace gradually quickened. He didn’t look at the pedestrians or the moonlight in the sky along the way. Before long, he arrived at his destination: the largest Assembly platform on the eastern side of the Capital Prefecture.

This platform was about three zhang high; the platform on top was about one hundred zhang long and wide,³ with gentle sloping steps on all four sides leading up. In a few days, this would be the main platform for the Land and Water Assembly, and the main venue for the opening ceremony.

However, right now, this high platform made of huge stones was very quiet. After all, the area near the platform was relatively empty, and there weren’t that many houses. Few people would walk so far to come here at night in recent days, and the inns of those magical masters were mostly on the periphery of the various sub-platforms.

“Hey, this place is quiet.”

Ji Yuan flicked his sleeves and climbed the stairs two steps at a time. He soon arrived at the expansive, empty platform.

Looking up at the heavens, he could see a round bright moon hanging high in the sky, surrounded by slightly dim stars.

“It is often said that the moon is the fullest on the sixteenth day, but the moon shines brightest today!”

Ji Yuan smiled, then moved his gaze downward to two figures standing by the distant steps. One of them was an old beggar in ragged clothes, with one leg bent and the other resting on his bent knee. A pair of tattered straw sandals swung up and down with the shaking of his feet, but did not fall off.

The second person was a meticulously dressed middle-aged scholar with a long beard. He stood next to the beggar, looking at the stars and moon in the sky.

Ji Yuan looked intently at the unfamiliar man, opened his supernatural eyes slightly, and scrutinized him for a moment. Then, he slowly walked towards the old beggar. His voice rang out before he arrived.

“Mr. Lu, did the clerk at Dazhen’s inn neglect you, or do you just like to wear these tattered rags?”

Ji Yuan’s voice seemed to startle the middle-aged scholar, who turned around in surprise, not knowing when this person had arrived.

“Ah, I knew there might be something interesting to see tonight. I didn’t expect that to be you, Mr. Ji. The moonlight is very bright during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in a few days, a whole group of people will come here for the Assembly. Haha…”

“Mr. Lu is a man of great foresight. You’re not here to stop me, are you?”

“Oh~ How could I?”

The old beggar sat up.

“I’m just an old beggar, I don’t have such an ability. However, I am very curious about what clever tricks Mr. Ji will use!”

Ji Yuan shook his head with a smile, then came closer. He bowed with cupped hands to the old beggar and then greeted the middle-aged scholar.

Although the old beggar returned the greeting casually, he at least stood up to bow, then sat down again after finishing his salute. Seeing the old beggar’s actions, the middle-aged scholar didn’t dare to be negligent, and bowed solemnly to Ji Yuan.

“Who is this?”

Ji Yuan asked, but before the old beggar could speak, the man hurriedly introduced himself.

“I am the Head of the Astronomical Observation Records Department,⁴ Yan Cheng!”

Ji Yuan said “oh” and replied, “So it’s Lord Yan; my surname is Ji.”

“I don’t dare presume the title of Lord!”

The Astronomical Observation Records Department, in Dazhen, was also referred to as the Messenger of the Minister of Ceremonies, or the Imperial Astronomical Department. They were in charge of observing celestial phenomena, calculating the solar terms, and formulating the calendar.

This person seemed to know that the old beggar was unusual, and he could feel Ji Yuan’s peculiarity even more vividly. He did not have the attitude of an imperial official whatsoever, and appeared to be extremely respectful.

The old beggar laughed from his seat on the ground.

“Haha, this Dazhen is indeed a a place of outstanding people. I never thought that an old beggar like me, living and eating out of an inn, would be caught by Lord Yan. I brought him to see Mr. Ji; you won’t blame me, right?”

“Oh?”

When he heard these words, Ji Yuan was really surprised. He looked at the Head of the Astronomical Department again carefully and confirmed that he was a mortal. He wondered to himself how this old beggar could be so close with a court official.

“Oh, by the way, I still have some mooncakes. It just so happens that there are three of us, so we can each have two later. I have some business to take care of first.”

Ji Yuan seemed to have just remembered something; he took out the six small mooncakes from his sleeve and placed them on the edge of the table one by one. Then, he walked towards the center of the huge Assembly platform, not caring about the presence of the court official.

Yan Chang looked at Ji Yuan and then at the old beggar. He seemed a little hesitant about whether he should go over and take a look, but seeing that the old beggar didn’t move, he finally stood to the side and didn’t move.

Ji Yuan stood at the center of the Assembly platform, and pointed his sword fingers towards the sky. Behind him, the Green Vine Sword emerged from the void and turned into green light, flying into the sky with a flash.

Under the bright moon that hung high in the sky, endless moonlight was faintly gathering towards the Green Vine Sword. As if sensing a signal, the extremely burly Land God of the Capital Prefecture also appeared at a corner of the platform, pointing his rattan cane towards the center.

The entire stone surface of the Assembly platform seemed to have turned into a glass mirror, and the moonlight in the sky followed the movement of the Green Vine Sword, converging downward as if drawn through a funnel.

Ji Yuan’s posture at the Assembly platform was like that of a sword dance. He waved his hand and pointed continuously with his sword fingers, drawing strokes horizontally and vertically, the moonlight guided by the flying Immortal Sword following his movements like a brush.

In Yan Chang’s eyes, it was a beautiful scene. It all looked so miraculous and extraordinary, as if the moonlight was gathering itself from the sky and sweeping across the entire vast platform as Mr. Ji moved his hand and danced with his sword.

“What great movements! Such an exquisite Edict is really rare!”

The old beggar could no longer lie down. He sat up straight and watched. Yan Chang’s attention was completely focused on Ji Yuan, so he couldn’t see the overall scene, but he could see that Ji Yuan was writing enormous characters one by one. The seemingly soft and bright moonlight was actually like powerful brushstrokes and silver hooks, merging together into the entire mirror-like platform.

After about enough time to finish a cup of tea, the moonlight in the sky faded away, and an enormous piece of text flashed on the mirror surface of the vast platform. The glass-like platform gradually returned to its original color, and then back into solid stone.

“Haha, the mooncakes are ready to eat; Mr. Yan, please enjoy them.”

“No, no, no, please feel free to eat, I’m not hungry!”

“Oh? Master Yan, are you sure? You may not be able to eat this kind of mooncake again in your lifetime.”

Yan Chang, who was just answering casually, was moved when he hear those words. He looked down at the row of six mooncakes. The halo of moonlight was still faintly visible around them, but it gradually dimmed.

Seeing that the old beggar had already taken two of them, Yan Chang’s face became anxious. He bent down honestly and took two of them in his hands.

However, the old beggar didn’t eat the moon cake, but instead put it into his pocket. Then, he waved towards the roof in the distance. As if attracted by a powerful force of suction, a gray cat was directly dragged to his side, and its head was pressed forcefully down on the stone steps.

“Meow…”

Ji Yuan was walking over at this time. He casually glanced over at the gray cat, and smiled faintly.

“Hey, now that you’ve come here, you still want to leave?”

Seeing that the old beggar had finally caught the cat, Ji Yuan was in a good mood.

---

T/n:

YC: I’ll be polite and say no thank you to the food

Beggar: …you sure? These are immortal-blessed mooncakes here, buddy. This guy is one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

YC: …I have now mysteriously changed my mind

JY, walking over, his Immortal Heaven-Rending Sword behind his back, finished gathering the literal moonlight into a 1000-foot magical array, summoned Land God popping away scared, glowing with his pure body: hmm? Oh I’m just a normal guy. Did you say something?

1. 小河 (xiǎohé): creek/stream – the City Gate where the river flows out of the city
2. You can read more about the Mid-Autumn Festival here.
3. ~330m / ~1100ft. In short: BIG.
4. 太 (tài): greatest/highest/extremely, 史 (shǐ): history/records/ancient historian, 司 (sī): department, 天 (tiān): day/sky/heaven, 监 (jiān): supervisory office – “Department that records and supervises the sightings of the heavens,” I simplified it to “Astronomical Observation Records Department” because the original is a mouthful and I wanted to stay somewhat true to that. In the future I’ll mostly shorten it.