Chapter 559 (1/2)

Chapter 559

Chapter 559: The Interesting Gameplay on the Chessboard

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

There was a beautiful legend .

It has nothing to do with stone . According to the legend, thousands of years ago, when West-Hill Divine Palace was in the early years of Dazhi and Tile Mountain was still called Bun Mountain, a woodcutter called w.a.n.g Zhi accidentally entered the depths of the mountains . He saw a few old monks playing chess and went up to watch them curiously . He realized that the match was vicious, and was so enthralled that he did not leave .

An old monk realised he was drunk and gave him a bun . After w.a.n.g Zhi ate the bun, he no longer felt hungry . He sat by the chess board from dawn till dusk .

The match had still not ended even as the darkness of twilight enveloped the mountains . The old monk who had given w.a.n.g Zhi food looked up and told him, ”If you do not leave now, you will never be able to . ”

w.a.n.g Zhi reluctantly stood up and prepared to leave . However, just as he was about to pick up his ax, he realised that its wooden handle had disintegrated into dust . He left and returned to his village, only to realize that all of his peers had died .

He only understood then that a century had pa.s.sed in the day he spent watching the chess game .

The legend was spread throughout the land . Eventually, the Bun Mountain became Tile Mountain and the temple in the mountain was called the Lanke Temple by the secular world . It eventually became the official name of the temple .

Because of this legend, chess was very popular around Tile Mountain . No matter whether they were gentlemen or farmers, every man would study chess as children . The black and white flags Ning Que had seen in town likely had to do with this .

Lanke Temple in particular was renowned for chess and so, naturally, the monks within were well-versed in it . The game on the stone chess board beneath the tree was how the temple chose the fated one . It was extremely difficult to win .

This was why Ning Que had never thought that Sangsang would be able to solve it . However, he had not expected Sangsang to make such a blunder in her first move and cause the chess master from South Jin to yell in annoyance .

The South Jin Kingdom's chess master's yell was loud, and his att.i.tude was horrible . The cultivators who were watching the match looked at him irritatedly . They felt that the man was being very disrespectful towards the Lady of Light and deserved to be locked in the You Prison for a century .

However, their stares did not affect the South Jin Kingdom chess master at all . He tugged free from his peers who were restraining him and charged to the stone table . He bellowed in pain and anger, ”Even though this puzzle can be solved, I have only found a clue after thinking for an hour . This girl child did not even think before putting a chess piece haphazardly . She's just fumbling around . Do you even know how to play chess? If not, what are you doing here?”

Mo Shanshan looked up from the stone table and looked at the man . However, her eyesight was not that good, so she looked as if she was a little lost . She said, ”Indeed, I am not good at chess . What's the matter?”

The chess master from South Jin Kingdom only then released his anger . He turned around to the black carriage and pointed at the newly added white chess piece on the stone chessboard . He said heatedly, ”You Tangs are all military people, how would you know about the art of maneuvering on the chess board? Girl, you don't even understand what's happening, why are you putting chess pieces down randomly? You'll surely lose if you do that . ”

The crowd gathered under the tree couldn't be bothered to get angry as they watched the man yelling at the carriage . They knew that he was either unafraid of death or incredibly stupid . Since it was a chess piece directed by the Lady of Light, even if it was a wrong move, it would have a profoundly deep meaning . Was it something an ordinary person like him could understand?

The South Jin Kingdom chess master had been obsessed with chess his entire life . He would only leave his chess room to visit the palace . And even when playing against the Emperor of South Jin Kingdom, he could not bring himself to lose . He loved chess and was obsessed with it, so how would he know how highly ranked the girl in the black horse carriage was? The ignorant did not know to be fearful, and so, he continued lecturing Sangsang .

Ning Que shook his head and signaled for the disciples of the Sword Garret to back down . After all, he had not expected Sangsang to solve the game . So he only warned the chess master, ”Speak softer, and don't swear . ”

The chess master from South Jin froze . He recognized Ning Que as the young man he had seen at Lanke Temple at dawn yesterday . His voice lowered unnaturally and he said in annoyance, ”Chess is a sophisticated art . I wouldn't swear . ”

Let's ignore the dispute on the chessboard for now .

The yellow-garbed old monk sat before the chess board . His expression was indifferent .

He had studied chess extensively throughout his life, especially this puzzle under the tree . He had pondered over it for years, and placed many chess pieces on the board . He looked at the white chess piece that had just landed on the board . Like the South Jin Kingdom's chess master, he was certain that the game was doomed thanks to this chess piece .

This final phase of the game was called the ”messy phase” because it was as messy as a pile of firewood . Without any external pressure being exerted, the messy pile of firewood looked stable . In actuality, it was on the brink of collapse . To solve the game, one had to ensure that it would not collapse . They had to reorder the firewood and rebuild the pile, and this was very difficult .

Sangsang had whispered the coordinates by the carriage window earlier, and the Calligraphy Addict had placed the chess piece . The white chess piece landed in the empty middle part of the board amongst the messy chess formation . It was an unreasonable move, pulling the thickest, bottom-most piece of firewood from the pile, completely damaging the stability of the pile .

The pile of firewood had collapsed on the ground .

The yellow-garbed old monk said, ”This game has ended . ”

The audience under the tree were all either confident in their own chess skills, or had brought companions who were skilled, since they were here to meet Master Qishan . When they heard that, they studied the board seriously and were surprised to see that the South Jin Kingdom chess master was right . The match had no chance of continuing .

To think that the Lady of Light had made the first move so haphazardly . Their glances towards the carriage grew complicated . However, they did not dare to show any of their doubts or disrespect .

All was silent by the mountain stream, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward .

However, just then, Sangsang's voice rang out from the black carriage once more .

”This game . . . is indeed interesting . ”

. . .

. . .

The curtains lifted slightly, and Sangsang whispered two numbers .

Just like when she would say two numbers before Ning Que shot an arrow, she did not even seem to have to think about them .

Mo Shanshan, who was sitting in front of the board froze slightly . She retrieved another white chess piece from the urn and placed it on the board .

The yellow-garbed old monk furrowed his brows . He had not expected the Lady of Light to be so persistent, even when she had already lost . He felt that this was not proper for a game of chess, as one should know when to concede .

The South Jin Kingdom chess master seemed to have discovered something strange . He moved closer to the board and scrutinized the ordinary looking white chess piece .

He said with an odd expression, ”Oh, this seems interesting . ”

The yellow-garbed old monk had also discovered that the position of the white chess piece was weird . He could not help but think of the past, and his indifferent expression warmed up . He said with a slight smile, ”This is interesting . ”

. . .

. . .

Sangsang was a very intelligent girl . In Ning Que's words, she was just too complacent to think of things herself and was used to relying on Ning Que . That was why she seemed a little slow . She was always in a daze, even when chopping firewood . She had always been too lazy to think, so when did she begin to think that playing chess was interesting?

The story started two years ago . Ning Que had been far away in the Wilderness . He had instructed Chen Pipi to visit the Old Brush Pen Shop on Lin 47th Street often to take care of Sangsang . Chen Pipi had once heard Ning Que say that Sangsang was the true genius . He could not take that lying down, and so, began several rounds of compet.i.tion .

In the beginning, Chen Pipi and Sangsang competed in memory skills . Chen Pipi lost badly . Then, he played chess against Sangsang, but they were interrupted by the appearance of Wei Guangming in the Old Brush Pen Shop, and then, the appearance of Master Yan Se .

What followed was something that made others sigh and lament .

That was the first time Sangsang learned the rules of chess and officially played . Chen Pipi had never won against her after she learned the rules .

Sangsang and Chen Pipi would bet whenever they played chess .

Sangsang would gain some benefits every time she won a match .

That was when she began to feel that playing chess was interesting .