Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 46: The Second One

In Ning’an County, the closest towns to Niu Kui Moutain, apart from Narcissus Town, were all of those villages at the foot of the mountain.

This time, Ji Yuan made a special trip to take Yin Qing and the fox along the trail from the mountain villages to Niu Kui Mountain.

After having a simple lunch with Ji Yuan, Yin Qing, who had gone home and changed out of his school uniform, skipped out of the city with Ji Yuan.

The red fox had been hiding in Ji Yuan’s arms before they left the city, and was only released from his grasp after they exited.

The straight-line distance from Ning’an County to the nearest foot of Niu Kui Mountain was about ten miles. Based on Ji Yuan’s current location, it would take less than a quarter of an hour, even if he didn’t use all of his strength to travel. But with the red fox and Yin Qing, it could be regarded as a leisurely trip.

Children in this era, especially scholarly children like Yin Qing, did not have many opportunities to travel far away at a young age. Even though he lived in Ning’an County, the mountain village scenery was particularly charming to Yin Qing.

When a child was playing, their physical strength was like a bottomless pit; when they got tired and took a rest, they would immediately become energetic again. What was more, Yin Qing’s physique was somewhat special.

At some points he would exclaim and laugh at the waterwheels, sometimes he jumped into the fields to catch frogs and bugs to flatter the fox, and at other points he would jump into the river and bathe like the village children. Every now and again he would make loud noises and roar into the vast fields and woods.

Ji Yuan had also prepared pastries and shortcakes without hesitation, allowing Xiao Yin Qing, who had a relatively strict upbringing, to enjoy what could be regarded as a carefree outing.

After playing and walking for about an hour and a half, the two arrived at the foot of Niu Kui Mountain. They followed the mountain road created by the mountaineers, and climbed a small, low-sloping hill for about half an hour.

When they arrived at the mountain, Ji Yuan no longer let Yin Qing casually run around. If he were bitten by any poisonous insect or snake, he wouldn’t be able to explain anything to Yin Zhaoxian.

The wind in the mountains was cooler than in the valley below. Although the hills were not very tall, there were towering trees and strange rocks.

Ji Yuan looked at the red fox, was already excited, and pointed further into the forest.

“Go on. I hope you are not just a passer-by in my life. I will see you again when we are destined to meet!”

“And me, and me! Don’t forget me, little fox! Don’t forget me!”

Yin Qing kept holding everything in, crying as he shouted these words.

“Yes, and Xiao Yin Qing as well.”

Ji Yuan smiled, with mixed feelings in his heart. Yin Qing’s appearance reminded him of the three tortoises, two rabbits and the parrot that he had taken care of until their death his previous life.¹

The red fox let out two cries and walked away from Ji Yuan. He jumped from stone to stone a couple times, then turned to look back at the large and small figures before him, with a human-like reluctance in his eyes.

Ji Yuan and Yin Qing just stood there and looked at the fox for a while, but they couldn’t see any desire in the fox to leave.

“Mr. Ji, the little fox doesn’t want to leave!”

“Maybe he wants to watch us leave.”

After speaking, Ji Yuan didn’t explain any more and led Yin Qing, who took a few steps and glanced back, down the mountain.

After walking about a dozen steps, Ji Yuan turned around, only to see that the red fox still squatting on that strange rock and looking at them.

“Since we’ve known each other for a while, I, Ji, will give you another gift…”

Ji Yuan glanced at the clouds in the sky, then said to the red fox.

“Since you have embarked on the path of cultivation, you are no longer an ignorant beast. You can lack everything else, but you cannot lack a name. If you don’t mind, you will be called Hu Yun in the future!”

Hearing Ji Yuan’s words, the red fox’s eyes lit up. For a moment, he ignored Ji Yuan’s previous instructions and kept bowing to Ji Yuan with his paws pressed together, in front of Yin Qing!

“Ah!! Mr. Ji, the little fox really knows how to worship people!! Ahhh!”

Yin Qing, who was still struggling with the strangeness of Mr. Ji’s previous words, cried out in shock when he saw the red fox kowtowing.

“Hahaha! Let’s go home.”

Ji Yuan patted Xiao Yin Qing on the back and led the child, whose excitement had overwhelmed his earlier sadness, back down the mountain.

Ji Yuan was also very happy, much happier than what he allowed to show in his smile. Although he was still a little confused about how it happened, just now he felt an electric shock travel down his arm, and a phantom chess piece flashed away at his fingertips.

. . .

Perhaps because he was exhausted, Xiao Yin Qing fell asleep on Ji Yuan’s back on the way home.

This directly contributed to the fact that their speed in returning to Ning’an County was several times faster than when they had left. Ji Yuan used his spiritual energy to help move his body and rushed back to Ning’an County in a very short time.

When Yin Qing was sent back to Yin’s house, it still wasn’t yet time for the evening meal. The outing really only took half a day.

However, immediately after Ji Yuan returned home, he went out once more. He took off his green robes and changed into thicker clothes with tight, form-fitting sleeves. He also used bandages to tie up his long and loose hair behind his back.

After quickly completing these preparations, Ji Yuan sprang directly out of Ju’an Pavilion using the elasticity of the jujube branches. He then pushed off of the roof and left the city in an instant.

Ji Yuan only knew two simple concealment methods. One was called ‘disappearing and returning the form,’ while the second was called ‘blocking the vision with a single leaf.’² Both definitions were relatively vague, but they each had their own scope of application.

The first concealment method was just a method of blocking or diverting other people’s sight so that they could not see the truth. To put it bluntly, he wouldn’t rely too much on it. At the very least, Ji Yuan didn’t think that he could truly become invisible even if it seemed like he had disappeared, even in front of ordinary people. However, it would be more realistic to be blinded by a leaf.

The so-called “leaf” was just a concept used to refer to small details. The method of ‘blocking the vision with a single leaf’ referred to the fact that one might be prevented from seeing the whole picture or truth because of the obstruction of something small.

Ji Yuan used a few strands of his own bangs to cast a spell, making those who looked at his appearance be unable to see it clearly, or to see it as someone else. Because the bangs, the “leaf” in this scenario, were real, this technique was small in scope, but much more reliable.³

Ji Yuan hurriedly left at this moment because he had seen a carriage driving on the official road from a distance on the way back. The two people riding the horses behind the carriage were the well-dressed men he had seen at the county government office at noon. Ji Yuan could not mistake the sound of their voices from when he had heard them chatting, so the person who was in the carriage was evident.

Of course, Ji Yuan was not so angry that he would retaliate against them for talking about him behind his back, and they hadn’t said bad things. His presence here was mainly because when he had heard the conversation between the county magistrate and the large man at noon, he had glanced at them subconsciously. When Ji Yuan’s gaze arrived at the large man’s neckline, he noticed a faint aura.

That’s definitely not because of the large man, so it should be something else extraordinary.

At this stage, Ji Yuan was ravenous for anything to do with cultivation, but his rationality prevented him from asking around about immortality everywhere. Now, he would not let go of this opportunity. No matter what happened, he had to confirm the source of this mysterious aura himself.

At noon, he had heard clearly that the three masters and their servants would not leave until the next day, but now they had already driven the carriage onto the official road.

The surrounding wind kept brushing against his face, but he still restrained himself in the city. Once he left the city, Ji Yuan fully activated his skills, and pursued the carriage with all of his strength in the direction he remembered. After about two minutes, the carriage finally appeared in Ji Yuan’s sight. It was about to leave the boundary of Ning’an County.

At this moment, the sky was getting dark, and Ji Yuan silently fell behind, a little worried about how to achieve his goal.

‘Can I catch up directly and have a friendly exchange? Or should I find a different way, or simply stop them from reaching for anything and then ask? Act a little more viciously?’

Ji Yuan was a little nervous and grinned, rehearsing his ferocious appearance. He believed that he still had a little talent in acting.

However, before Ji Yuan could think about it any further, a new variable appeared. In the woods to the left of the official road, several figures in dark linen clothes suddenly jumped out, waving their weapons and attacking the carriage.

“Not good! These men are strong!”

The two guards slapped their horses’ backsides and rushed out to fight the attackers.

The well-dressed man in yellow robes faced the intruders, jumped off of his horse, landed on the other horse, and took advantage of his strength, clenching his fists and slamming it hard into one of the robbers.

“Die!”

“Tang-!”

The powerful punch was actually blocked by the back of the opponent’s knife. He had drawn it in an instant. The blade turned and slashed diagonally upward towards the opponent. The blade seemed to be split into three.

“shaa- shaa- shaa… pshh…”

Three knives cut through the guard’s fists, and one of them send blood splattering from his shoulder.

“Striking three times, light as a goose feather!⁴ You are Xiang Feng, one of the Thirteen Thieves of Yan Di!”

The yellow guard shouted in horror as he jumped back to avoid the other two bandits’ joint attack.

Everywhere he could see out of the corner of his eye, his companions were now in a precarious spot, all one against four, and had several injuries on their bodies.

There was a muffled sound of hammering, and another guard took a heavy kick, impacting the body of the moving carriage with a “bang!”

“Stop the carriage!”

One of the bandits roared fiercely.

“Ooooh…”

The driver of the carriage hurriedly pulled on the reins and squatted there, trembling, not daring to move. The people inside the carriage were too frightened to make a sound.

Xiang Feng didn’t even look at the two guards, who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy, and gazed at the carriage with a smile on his face.

“Wei Wuwei, it is rumored that a piece of blue jade that can protect against evil spirits has been passed down from generation to generation in the Wei family. You should be carrying it with you, right?”

1. T/n: That’s a LOT of pets, wow. ↩︎
2. Could also be translated as descriptions, but the novel references the “single leaf” idea later so I translated it as technique names. From what I understand from context: 1) physical methods of stealth, 2) distracting by concealing a tiny thing – misdirection ↩︎
3. T/n: in summary, instead of turning himself invisible or a shadow or something crazy, he just made his appearance unidentifiable by making a focus spell on his bangs – hiding his face with a small feature, which makes the spell a lot more reliable, solid, and less intensive. ↩︎
4. 雁翎三回 This is either an insult, a technique name, or a metaphor. I’m not sure which, so I went with metaphor and translated it with that meaning. If anyone can give me a better translation, please go ahead! ↩︎