Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 27: Big Battle

Ji Yuan was still a little hesitant about whether or not he should approach the underworld agent on the opposite side of the courtyard. With his previous concept act, the character he played could be regarded as a one of the immortals, Buddhas, or spirits, right?

However, the Yin emissary in the courtyard was, in fact, also watching Ji Yuan in that moment.

Previously, he had overlooked the mortal because the situation that they had discovered was more important. Now, in retrospect, it seemed to be something wrong with the new resident of Ju’an Pavilion.

After all, in the dead of night, in such a house, this person was just standing at the door to the main rooms and looking out at the yard. He couldn’t possibly be enjoying the cool air in this early spring, right?

‘He might be someone with a keen intuition?’

It’s wasn’t like the Yin emissary had never encountered such people before. Even if he wasn’t one of them, the yin qi in Ju’an Pavilion was so frighteningly strong after the third night watch that even a normal person would have trouble sleeping and frequent nightmares.

After much deliberation, Ji Yuan finally decided to stay away for the time being. If he wanted to pay homage to the City God, he could go and offer incense during the day.¹

So, Ji Yuan walked to the front of the house under the eaves as naturally as possible. He looked up at the night sky and sighed, speaking half-truth, half-lie.

“Such a clean starry sky… I haven’t seen it for a long time…”

There weren’t very many things he could see clearly. He hadn’t noticed it on Niu Kui Mountain, but now he realized that the stars in the sky were part of that short list.

There was no cloud cover and no smog pollution. The sky was full of stars and the galaxy above was shining brightly. It was really beautiful!

Now that he knew there was a Yin emissary here, coupled with the lingering courage from his sword fingers from before, Ji Yuan simply sat down on a small stool next to the house, looked at the sky and the yard, and sighed from time to time. He behaved just like an ordinary insomniac.

Of course, most of Ji Yuan’s attention was still focused on the movements of the people in the yard. During this period of meditation, he also tried to visualize the chess pieces, but maybe his body was too weak at the moment, and his spirit was still shaking a little. However, the feeling was still there. This also lent Ji Yuan more confidence in continuing to sit there.

Are you kidding me? I just pointed and that thing ran away, and didn’t I hear the emissary say that the thing’s vitality is badly damaged? Plus, the Yin emissary is still around, so why not be a little tougher?

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Ji Yuan felt something different.

A strange smell was gradually thickening. Trying to describe it, it was a bit like the sandalwood fragrance that Ji Yuan’s Grandpa liked to use in his study.

Then, Ji Yuan suddenly realized that it was the scent of the sandalwood in the temple.

His heartbeat accelerated again. It seemed that someone special was coming. Could it be the Ning’an County City God himself?

As the scent of sandalwood gradually approached, Jiy Yuan also sat upright. Unlike other ghosts, he could hear bursts of special footsteps that seemed to have some kind of rhythm, and from what he could tell, there was more than one person.

Wooo… Woooo…

A thin wind seemed to carry the scent of sandalwood that hung in the courtyard. One after another, figures stepped through the gate of Ju’an Pavilion and entered the courtyard. In addition to a couple more sinister-looking figures dressed in black, Ji Yuan could also see four people who at first glance were clearly not simple. They looked like officials, with the robes draped on their bodies, each of a different color.

“Gulp…”

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but swallow quietly. This battle seemed a bit big.

“Greetings to Lord Wu Pan, Lord of Martial Judgement; Lord Jiang Shan, the Lord of Rewards; Fa E, the Lord of Punishment; and Jiu Cha, the Lord of Maintaining Order!”²

The Yin emissaries in the courtyard respectfully saluted the four tall, imposing figures.

These four were obviously not City Gods of Ning’an County, but they definitely received incense offerings and worship of the common people. At least, they seemed to have clay sculptures in the Temple of the City God. They certainly were not ordinary people, otherwise they wouldn’t have brought the scent of sandalwood with them.

Ji Yuan didn’t know all of the official designations under the City God, but could infer some clues from the titles called out by the Yin emissaries.

The visitors did not pay much attention to Ji Yuan, who was still sitting in the courtyard, and focused all their attention on the well.

“Sure enough, the suffocating aura here has suddenly diminished. I wonder what happened?”

“I heard what Lord Cheng Huang³ said, that this evil ghost has been roaring fiercely tonight. Although I don’t know why, I suspect that it has been severely injured!”

The figure titled Wu Pan turned his head to look at Ji Yuan at front of the house, making the latter a little nervous.

“This person is the new mortal who moved to Ju’an Pavilion? Is there anything unusual?”

The emissary who had previously been posted in the courtyard immediately replied.

“Lord Wu Pan, this person should be a mortal who couldn’t sleep due to the sudden attack of hostile intent. There is nothing abnormal.”

“Hm!”

During the brief exchange between the four officials of the City God, who were clearly high ranking based on their appearance and clothing, several Yin agents patrolled the inside and outside of the courtyard, presumably investigating something.

Not long after, a number of underworld agents came to report.

“Reporting to the Lords, there is nothing abnormal near Tian Niu Square!”

Several officials of the City God glanced at each other and thought for a moment.

“Could it be that some expert passed by this placed and helped us in Ning’an County?”

“Don’t think too much about it. Wait until we subdue this beast first, and then we can conduct a detailed investigation!”

“Time waits not for us, I’m afraid more urgent things might change!”

“That’s right!”

Judge Wu waved his sleeves and a black judge’s brush appeared in his hand. His eyes swept across the courtyard.

“The officers of each department will prepare the Soul Locking Array. The soul-binding envoys⁴ will wait for my order, ready your soul-binding chains!”

“We are under your command!”

“We are under your command!”

…

The four officials of the City God moved to the four corners of the courtyard. One stood with his sleeves down, the other took out a brush, one held a book in his hands, and the last carried a steel whip.

‘It’s coming, it’s coming! They’re about to take action! But what is it in the well that requires such a big fight? And don’t any of them want to persuade the mortal audience to leave?’

Ji Yuan was half nervous and half expectant, not knowing what would happen.

It wasn’t until several Yin agents holding black command flags turned into mist and disappeared that Ji Yuan realized that the yard in front of him was covered with a thin layer of ink. It seemed to be a kind of soul-chaining array, reaching just out to the edge of the eaves where he sat.

Inside the Soul Locking Formation, Judge Wu watched all the preparations and snorted coldly in the direction of the well.

“Are you still holding your breath, or maybe you’re afraid to show up because you’re hurt? You will die tonight! Soul-Binding Emissaries, take action!”

Judge Wu gave the order, and nine black-robed Yin agents holding long staffs surrounding the well. The Yin agents suddenly touched their waists in unison, and a dim light illuminated their belts, turning them into dark chains.

“Go!”

The nine soul-binding messengers roared together, and threw their soul-binding chains towards the mouth of the well like lightning, watching them sink into the ground around it.

Woo… woo… woo woo…

In an instant, an ominous wind picked up, and the old jujube tree’s branches and leaves in the courtyard swayed. Even outside the array, Ji Yuan still felt the chill surrounding him, and the goosebumps that ran up and down on his skin were as large as little beans!

“Aaaaaaahhh- Uuuuh-“

“Hmph, you can only scream. Everyone, help the soul-binders pull it up!”

As he spoke, the four officials of the City God boldly took action. They stretched their left hands that held their magic weapons forward, one after the other, and the yin qi grew in the courtyard, surrounding the soul binders.

For a moment, the soul-binding chains glowed brightly!

“Rise!”

“Aaaaahhhhh-“

The thick and densely matted hair sprang out of the well and thrashed wildly in the courtyard. Countless hairs immediately whipped around nine Yin emissaries, who leaped outward in an instant. A large section of the soul-binding chains were taken out.

“Cut!”

The Yin agents who had been waiting for the order pulled out their knives and chopped the hair chasing the soul-binders.

“Oooooooooohhhhh-“

The ghost’s shrill, howling voice grew louder and louder, and a large mass of dirty hair was yanked out of the well by the soul-binding chains, twisting and writhing in mid-air.

Ji Yuan’s pupils contracted violently, and his teeth chattered. Was that the thing that had attacked him just now?

The flesh and blood of the ghost trapped in the soul-binding chain seemed to be constantly churning, its bloodshot eyes and pale face also changing with each moment, and its yin qi was constantly pouring out.

The strong sense of fear stimulated from the visual and soul-impacting instinct was suffocating. It was simply incomparable to any reproduction in a horror movie.

“Evil! Tonight, you die!”

Judge Wu roared angrily, the judge’s brush pointed forward, and the other three officials of the City God also attacked.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the courtyard of Ju’an Pavilion, there seemed to be an explosion of yin energy.

1. T/n: I didn’t mention it before, but if you’re interested, feel free to read more about City/Land/State Gods in Ancient China ↩︎
2. 武判大人，奖善大人，罚恶大人，纠察大人: Technically speaking, my translation is like saying their titles twice, since their titles are also their names. However, they are referred to by different titles later on that draw from characters in the pinyin translation of their original characters (i.e. the “wǔ pàn dàren,” or “Lord of Martial Judgement,” becomes Lord Wu or Judge Wu), so to prevent confusion when I switch between them I am repeating them several times here. Just keep in mind that they’re being called by a title. (In other news, if anyone knows the history/significance of these figures from our-world Ancient China please let me know! I’m interested but couldn’t find much through my research) ↩︎
3. Another way of saying Lord City God, I will probably be using them interchangeably, at least until we get a different name for him (if we ever do). ↩︎
4. The rawsand MTL literally translate it to “soul-seducer,” but the character in question, 勾 (gōu), has a couple other meanings (few of which particularly fit) so I used one that I thought worked best. ↩︎