Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 94: True Fire and Imperial Decrees

It was late at night, and the Land God had already returned to his small temple to meditate on the mystical method. Ji Yuan, too, returned to the side rooms in Zhao Dongliang’s courtyard.

However, Ji Yuan did not immediately fall asleep. Instead, he sat quietly at the table in the room, the Green Vine Sword placed on the table. His eyes were slightly closed. He was in a state of half-sleep and half-awareness, visualizing the enormous alchemy furnace in his inner world.

On the body of his mental alchemy furnace five colors corresponding to metal, water, wood, fire, and earth had appeared, changing between solid and transparent states. At the center of the furnace, the yin and yang energies were being continuously generated, entwining with the true fire that was originally in the furnace and gradually merging into one. The fiery light that shone through felt strangely restrained, mixing from gray to brown as the yin and yang transformed into each other in the roiling fire.

The true fire originally in the alchemy furnace was described in Bright Strategies as the fire of divine will. The black and white energies were transformed into yin fire and yang fire respectively, and the three mixed to form a fire with infinite power.

This was all from Ji Yuan’s intuition. He could even vaguely sense that the original mental conception of the true fire in the alchemical furnace had now formed a tangible bridge.¹

Influenced by the memories of his previous life, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel excited about this change. He even wondered if it was the legendary “True Fire of Samadhi.”²

Although he had never looked up what the True Fire of Samadhi was in his previous life, he had seen a similar description of the Fire of Samadhi in Bright Strategies in this life. It spoke of four fires generated in the human body: the upper Heart Fire of Samadhi, the middle Kidney Fire of Samadhi, the lower Sea of Qi Fire,³ and finally the mysterious Hidden Divine Fire, which was the True Fire in the furnace.⁴

However, although there was a description of the Fire of Samadhi in Bright Strategies, there was no such thing as True Fire of Samadhi. The four fires of Samadhi were also separate, and the words “True Fire” were of great significance. Aside from the Divine Fire in the alchemy furnace, which was related to the life and cultivation of every cultivator and could therefore be called a “True Fire,” little was known about the other True Fires.⁵

“But in my situation, it is enough to qualify as the True Fire of Samadhi!”

Ji Yuan proudly muttered to himself. The second character in “Samadhi” meant mysterious or hidden, and the “hidden Yin True Fire” and “hidden Yang True Fire” transformed from the black and white energy were both part of the definition of what was being hidden.⁶

After all, he had something no one else did, so it wasn’t too much for him to name it according to its characteristics, right? Well, it might seem too presumptuous to assume that he was unique, so he would think of it another way: at least 99% of cultivators definitely didn’t have this.

Then there was the lingering influence from the words “Imperial Command.” In his inner world, there was always a faint echo of it coming from Ji Yuan himself, as if reminding him that the words were still there.

Whenever the pronunciation of the words became clear, Ji Yuan could vaguely see a thin layer of mysterious yellow energy surrounding the outside of his imaginary alchemy furnace.

‘Could it be that this mysterious yellow Qi is truly the aura of achievements and virtue?’

Ji Yuan understood that these words were an important opportunity for him tonight. He even understood their meaning each time he heard them, and vaguely understood their essence. If he wanted to confirm his understanding, there was a suitable opportunity right this very moment for him to try it.

At this thought, Ji Yuan opened his eyes, looked directly at the sword on the table, and pressed his sword fingers to the tip of the sword.

Just like how thoughts moved according to the heart and the body moved according to the thoughts, the moment Ji Yuan pointed his sword fingers towards the Green Vine Sword, a burst of green energy flashed, and yin ang yang colors flowed forth. A small wisp of mysterious yellow energy also flowed out from the alchemy furnace in his mind and gathered at his fingertips.

“I decree: become a spirit!”

The faint sound of a command fell.

“Buzz…”

The rust on the sword body was shaken away in an instant, and the three-foot long sword actually floated two inches above the table. The body of the sword gave off a slight sound and a constant flow of cold light.

The spirit born from the Green Vine Sword directly transformed into a sword spirit. It was absolutely worthy of being an “Immortal’s Sword.” Even though Ji Yuan felt slightly dizzy at the moment, he could not hide the surprise on his face.

Although it was certainly far from the real thing, he felt a little as if he had been officially ordained, or so Ji Yuan would like to think, if he allowed himself to indulge a bit in daydreams.⁷

“Plip… Plop…” Ji Yuan looked down and found a drop of blood on the table. Then he felt a little itchy around his eyes and nose.

What was going on?

Ji Yuan reached out and touched the corner of his nose and eyes, and found that he was actually bleeding. Fortunately, it was only a few drops, and it had quickly stopped.

‘It seems that these decrees can’t be used casually, but this time it was definitely worth it! ’

Ji Yuan waved his hand, and the few drops of blood flew directly into the lamp oil on the table. He then caressed the Green Vine Sword like a large child who had just gotten a new toy, which caused the sword to dance left and right and tremble from time to time. There were image of yin and yang at the top of the sword, and it would attract a trace of spiritual energy on its own.

In the eyes of ordinary people, any object used by the “immortals” who practiced Taoism were all “immortal weapons.” However, in the eyes of a semi-expert like Ji Yuan, as it had been written in Bright Strategies, the word “immortal” could not be so lightly used. Even though the Green Vine Sword was made of ordinary iron, Ji Yuan dared to call it an immortal sword.

“Hey, tonight was really my lucky night!”

In this lingering feeling of excitement, Ji Yuan fell into a deep sleep on the bed. All the while, the Green Vine Sword lay quietly on the table without flying or shaking, as if it were no different from before, save for the absence of rust.

. . .

The early morning arrived along with the sound of roosters crowing. Zhaojia Village was peaceful and harmonious, and the festive atmosphere of newlyweds was still strong.

Ji Yuan got up a little late today. When he awoke, he could hear the sounds of a lot of villagers working outside.

The door opened with a creak, and Zhao Dongliang hurriedly greeted Ji Yuan as if he had been waiting for him.

“Mr. Ji! My family cooked white rice porridge, and it’s still hot!”

“Okay, thank you. Brother Zhao, did you not go to the field to help work?”

“Haha, I’ve just come back from weeding.”

As he spoke, Zhao Dongliang had already found a large bowl and had gone to the kitchen to serve Ji Yuan some porridge. He put some pickles on top and brought it out to Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan didn’t hesitate and started eating. Although he had risen a little late, the weather was heating up, and the porridge was still steaming but not too hot, just right for his mouth.

After a few moments, Ji Yuan felt that, even for him, it was a bit awkward to be stared at by Zhao Dongliang while eating porridge, especially when he was sitting on a small stool while the latter was simply squatting.

“Brother Zhao, do you know anything about the Land God of Zhaojia Village?”

Zhao Dongliang’s eyes lit up. Finally, he had a topic of conversation that could help him get close to Mr. Ji.

“Yes, I do know some. When I was a child, I heard from the elders in the villlage that the Land God of our Zhaojia Village has a name. I dare not mention the name, but he was an ancestor of our village. At the time, this ancestor lived to be exactly 100 years old. He was a famous centenarian in the county, even the county magistrate came to see him.⁸ There is still a plaque in the ancestral hall in the village. Then, the ancestors at the time wanted to pay homage to him, and they worshipped him as a land god.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is!”

It was not a thrilling story, but it made sense.

Although they were located not too far from the small Land God Temple, Ji Yuan didn’t have any intention of avoiding the subject. After all, he was not speaking ill of anyone.

Chatting with Zhao Dongliang for a while, Ji Yuan tried his best to satisfy Zhao Dongliang’s curiosity about the outside world. For a countryside villager like him, if nothing unexpected happened, he would probably marry, have children, and live a stable life in Zhaojia Village for the rest of his life. In truth, there was nothing wrong with that.

After finishing the porridge and resting for a while, Ji Yuan bid farewell to the Zhao family. Zhao Dongliang volunteered to help Ji Yuan carry his umbrella and luggage to the entrance of the village. It was only at this moment that he realized that the wooden box that Mr. Ji had been carrying so lightly was in fact very heavy.

When they were parting, Ji Yuan had actually wanted to gift something to Zhao Dongliang, but he had nothing suitable to give. Giving money was too vulgar, and it would be tasteless if he gave too much or too little. Giving martial arts secrets was really inappropriate and might even bring disaster.

In the end, he could only stop some distance away after saying goodbye and bow slightly towards the small temple at the entrance of the village.

“I must trouble you to look after them, Land God!”

Zhao Dongliang stood at the entrance of the village, watching Ji Yuan’s departing figure suddenly turn around and bow, seemingly muttering something. Zhao Dongliang thought that bow was directed at him, so he hurriedly returned the bow with his inaccurate posture.

However, he felt that the direction Ji Yuan was looking in was not quite right, so he turned his head, only to see an old man looking at him with a smile from the direction of the Land God Temple. He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again, but although the temple was still there, the man had vanished.

“Oh my god, in broad daylight…!”

Shivering, Zhao Dongliang hurried home.

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T/n: I thought translating wine names was bad XD I should have known cultivation term translations would return with a vengeance

1. T/n: something along the lines of the quality of his fire going up, and he now as a connection to his internal fire that used to be just an illusory/mental thing but can now be called up by him into the real world if he wants (hence “bridge”). If anyone has any better suggestion for this please let me know. ↩︎
2. Samadhi is a Buddhist term for the highest state of mental concentration that people can achieve while still bound to the body — undisturbed by any desire, thought or emotion. It is also one of the last of the eight steps leading to enlightenment. The “True Fire of Samadhi” also seems to be a very popular anime move. ↩︎
3. i.e. gut area/lower abdomen ↩︎
4. There are several organs associated with fire in the body: the heart/pericardium (upper), the small intestine (middle), and the triple burner/San Jiao/area above the diaphragm (lower, see chapter 67 footnote 7 for more info) ↩︎
5. T/n: ok so here’s basically what’s happening: JY has read about 4 spiritual sources of fire in Bright Strategies, coming from the 3-ish organs that are associated with fire in TCM, plus the 4th which is spiritual/mental. Only the spiritual/mental one is regarded as a True Fire because it directly impacts a cultivator’s spiritual essence, despite all of them being Fires of Samadhi. However, JY fused all of those fires, so the other 3 are no longer “ordinary fires” since they directly impact his spiritual power too. So his mega fusion of the 4 fires is “True Fire of Samadhi.” Basically he got an anime powerup 😀 ↩︎
6. This is a play on words: Samadhi is spelled 三昧 (sānmèi), which is made up of the characters 三 (sān) which means “3” and 昧 (mèi) which means “hidden.” His Fire of Samadhi is made up of 3 spiritual or “hidden” fires (yin, yang, and divine/furnace fire), so he’s half-joking that he has the “true” Samadhi fire because of how the word breaks down into its characters. ↩︎
7. T/n: I mean, if I also had the power to literally give sentience then yeah, I would also probably go on a bit of a power trip fantasy. ↩︎
8. T/n: remember that life expectancy in the past was significantly reduced, people would be lucky to live to 60 ↩︎