Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 259: Out Of Your League

[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

Although Wang Li was so frightened that his heart almost skipped a beat, he still had his wits about him, understood that a master must have saved him.

The woman in front of him had completely lost any expression, not even moving her eyes. Even so, Wang Li didn’t dare to look at her.

He wanted to turn his head, but although the terrifying woman in front of him was motionless, her left hand was still clamped around his neck, making it impossible for Wang Li to break free or move. He could only look to the side in his peripheral vision.

It was dark, and he couldn’t see clearly. He could only make out a gentleman in a green robe, slowly approaching.

Ji Yuan walked over to the pair. He had just used a temporary immobilization method, one that he hadn’t prepared in advance. In addition, the other party was quite skilled with regards to incense power and faith. To some extent, although it was a body-freezing technique, he couldn’t freeze her for too long.

So Ji Yuan simply waved his arm at the woman, and the latter was bounced two or three zhang away. He also took the opportunity to release the immobilization technique, allowing her to regain control of her body.

“Ouch…haah…haah…”

Because the woman lost her grip, Wang Li yelped and fell onto the barren ground with weak legs. He wanted to struggle to stand up, but his legs were too weak, so he could only continuously bow to Ji Yuan from his position on the ground.

“Thank you for saving my life, thank you for saving my life!”

Ji Yuan glanced calmly at Wang Li, and then at the woman in white. Just him standing there casually put the latter on high alert, and she didn’t even dare to escape.

This newcomer must be an orthodox immortal. The woman was very sure of this. Instead of the fierce expression from just now, she put away her nails, smoothed out her face, and stared at Ji Yuan seriously.

“I didn’t necessarily save your life. She probably wouldn’t dare to kill you directly, but what I am curious about is…”

The first half of Ji Yuan’s sentence was to Wang Li, while the second half was to the woman in white.

“Do you have a deep friendship with the White Deer, or do you simply have a deep hatred for Wang Li?”

“Sure enough, there was a master present. No wonder that technique in the restaurant earlier failed. Hmph, is this immortal master relying on his spiritual powers to bully this little girl?”

The woman in white asked Ji Yuan in a cold voice. In truth, she was far from as calm as she appeared on the surface. The spiritual technique just now was too mysterious, she had never heard of anything like it before.

This sentence made Ji Yuan laugh.

“Interesting, I froze you with my power, so you say it is natural for you to come find this storyteller?”

However, the woman was not stumped by the question. After thinking quickly, she had already come up with an excuse, and pointed directly at Wang Li as she answered.

“I have an answer to the two questions the Immortal asked. First, Sister Bai Ruo was kind to me and helped me avenge a life and death debt. Naturally, this is a deep kindness offered to me.”

“Secondly, regardless of whether or not Wang Li deceived me about the ending, he even made up a story about me to belittle me in the book. The more it spreads, the greater the impact it will have on me. In light of this, taking out his eye is already being lenient!”

Ji Yuan looked at Wang Li in surprise and then back at the woman.

“He made up a story about you?”

Then his mind moved as if sensing something.

“Are you the ghost in the second chapter of “The White Deer’s Fate”?”

Ji Yuan asked in surprise. The woman in white was annoyed, but did not dare to attack Ji Yuan. She could only watch Wang Li and grit her teeth.

“That is correct, Immortal. This little girl is that evil ghost who eats people, sucking out blood and marrow without even leaving the bones!”

Indeed, it was no coincidence.

Even Ji Yuan thought that in that chapter about the White Deer’s past, the ghost should have already exhausted its yin life, and its earthly soul returned to the earth, and heavenly soul returned to the sky.²

Unexpectedly, not only was it still around, it was also walking a Divine Path.

Wang Li was a little dazed when he heard this. The so-called artistic freedom was a common technique in storytelling. Take the famous “Legend of General Huang,” for example. In real life, General Huang was a flawed individual with his own shortcomings, but in the legend, he was the perfect image of heroic loyalty.

In order to make the story more exciting, with more twists and turns, Wang Li naturally added a lot of subjective story content in the middle of “The White Deer’s Fate.” The biggest villains in the second chapter were the “evil ghost” and “bad teammates and the confused experts.”

“In the Divine Path of cultivation, the power of faith and will is important, as are the thoughts, hearts, and words of human beings. There is no way to avoid it, and it will indeed have an impact. If “The White Deer’s Fate” becomes more popular in the future, it will indeed be regarded as…”

Ji Yuan thought about it for a while, before finally speaking.

“It would be enough to render you ‘disgusting.’”

After all, most of Wang Li’s stories did not name names, it would be a bit too far to claim that it would completely cut off her cultivation path, but it nonetheless had an impact, and that indeed would render her nothing more than a disgusting ghost.

“So, you came from Yan Province? It’s no wonder your incense power is unstable. It must have been a long time since you first came to this realm, right?”

The Divine Path of the Land God was not the same as true cultivation. The longer one was outside of their established boundary, the more incense power and spiritual energy would b consumed, and there was no way to replenish it. It was a constant state of expenditure, rather than growth. Moreover, one’s strength and spiritual power would greatly decrease, as one would no longer be in the jurisdiction of their own land.

‘She is an individual who values friendship and loyalty. She is probably concerned about the White Deer.’

Ji Yuan came to this conclusion because the woman did not directly accuse Wang Li of harming her. Instead, she eagerly inquired about the White Deer’s current situation. It was only when she encountered a master that she brought up the cause and effect to justify her “murder.”

“I did indeed come from You Province after hearing about it from merchants in teh capital, but how did the Immortal know that I was from Yan Province? “The White Deer’s Fate” did not state it. Did the Immortal divine it?”

The woman in white had greatly relaxed. Judging from the current situation, this immortal who had just arrived was reasonable, and likely wouldn’t make things too difficult for her.

Ji Yuan shook his head with a smile. He didn’t intend to hide anything. He answered her question with an irrelevant comment to Wang Li, who was lying on the ground.

“Back then, in the rented room in the corner alley off of Yongning Lane, in the capital, it was I who wrote those three words, ‘White Deer’s Fate,’ on your desk.”

Wang Li’s eyes suddenly widened, and he pointed at Ji Yuan, speechless.

“You… you… you… you are the immortal who helped the White Deer descend to the underworld, and you are the old immortal that the Lady White Deer carried on her back!”

The goddess in white was stunned for a moment, but them she realized what this relationship meant. She understood the implications better than Wang Li, and couldn’t help but utter:

“Immortal Master, you… Are you Elder Sister Bai Ruo’s master?”

Ji Yuan opened his mouth, but realized that it was better for this kind of white lie not to be clarified, so he could only sigh.

“Nominally, I suppose.”

His sigh and tone, from the perspectives of Wang Li and the woman in white, became a sigh of pity for his disciple.

. . .

The grass and trees in the wilderness were sparse, and the night wind blew over the landscape and created a thin mist. After the initial tense confrontation, Wang Li and the woman in white finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In particular, when they learned that those first three words, “White Deer’s Fate,” were written by Ji Yuan, both Wang Li and the goddess in white, named Zhang Rui, were all excited.

The former felt that Ji Yuan had not only saved his life, but was also a god, while the latter knew the true condition of the White Deer was thanks to him.

Both Wang Li and even Zhang Rui were willing to believe Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan’s words were naturally different from Wang Li’s previous guilty conscience and fear. He had a convincing bearing, and some details were consistent. Moreover, in the eyes of the woman in white, a cultivator of this level of Taoism would not bother to lie around such a big incident.

As for the matter of the woman in white being harmed in her cultivation, Wang Li was no fool. He promised that he would definitely modify the plot, and so Zhang Rui let Wang Li go for Ji Yuan’s sake.

At this moment, it was already in the latter part of the midnight hour. Wang Li, Ji Yuan, and Zhang Rui were walking together back towards Chengsu Prefecture’s capital. They were not heading back towards Wang Li’s home, but rather to the southwest of the city, which was where Wang Li wanted to go before.

As the three walked, Ji Yuan was in the middle, with Wang Li and Zhang Rui, the woman in white, on the left and right respectively.

“Duan Muwan is a famous prostitute in You Province. She is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.³ She can also see into people’s hearts, and has fascinated many rich and powerful men. She is called Hongxiu, the Red Beauty.⁴ Hm, in truth, the current Hongxiu is no longer a real human, but rather a fox spirit pretending to be a fake.”

“Huh?”

Ji Yuan frowned and glanced at Zhang Rui, waiting for her next words. To the side, Wang Li looked incredulous.

“How is that possible? I just saw Wan’er two days ago…she, she is definitely human!”

“Hey, didn’t this little girl look human when I got you lost just now?”

Zhang Rui mocked Wang Li, pretending to be a little weak girl, which immediately rendered the latter speechless. Then Zhang Rui turned back to Ji Yuan and said solemnly:

“I have been staying in Chengsu Prefecture for only a short time. I originally planned to wait for the storyteller at the large performance boat⁵ tonight, but I accidentally discovered Red Beauty’s true origins. There have been several fox spirits on the mountainside in the land under my jurisdiction. I cannot mistake that smell.”

Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes.

“Has the underworld not discovered it, or have they ignored it?”

“The underworld probably doesn’t know yet. Hongxiu is not from Chengsu Prefecture, and she is not dead. The performance boat is floating on the Sushui River, which belongs to the water god’s territory. Plus, she is acting carefully, so she is even more concealed.”

Ji Yuan glanced at Wang Li out of the corner of his eye with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Hongxiu… that sounds familiar…”

That’s right, couldn’t she be that woman that the young master of the Xiao family was in love with on that tower ship back then?⁶

1. 一枝独秀 (yīzhīdúxiù): lit. “only one branch of the tree is thriving,” idiom means to be outstanding/in a league of your own
2. From Taoist philosophy — humans are thought to possess multiple souls, the heavenly (Hun 魂) and earthly (Po 魄) souls. The Hun is associated with yang, and is the spiritual aspect, thought to ascend after death. The Po is associated with yin, the corporeal/instinctual aspect, and believed to return to the earth.
3. The four most important arts that are used to judge the level of a woman’s education in Ancient China
4. Previously left as “Hongxiu,” but it’s a title meaning “Red Beauty.” I have chosen to leave it as Hongxiu unless it’s explicitly used as a title rather than a name, just for continuity’s purpose.
5. 大 (dài): big, 秀 (xiù): performance/elegant/refined, 船 (chuán): boat/ship. These tend to be richly decorated boats used for expensive performances or banquets, kind of like floating theaters.
6. See ch. 131