Although dawn is approaching, but the sky is still dark, and only the thunder of rainstorms can be heard.
“What hour is it now?”
Yan Qi asked in the carriage.
The servant quickly replied, “Young Master, it’s almost Maoshi1The period of day between 5-7am..”
The ceremony was scheduled for the first quarter of the morning. After the worship ceremony is over, the Crown Prince will officially escort the auspicious stone back to the capital of Sui.
At this time, the city and the palace gates had not been opened, and even the majority of the people were still immersed in dreams. The transmission of information between the Sui capital and Mount Li had been completely cut off.
Only he can save him.
Yan Qi did not hesitate any longer, he pushed open the door of the carriage, his scarlet clothes were like a swan, and he stepped out.
The servant hurriedly held an umbrella over his head. The Mount Li camp was already within sight, with continuous flames faintly visible in the vast mountains. As Yan Qi was about to leave, he suddenly saw several ghostly black shadows rushing past him with lightning speed. Due to the speed, he only saw a large area of illusion-like remnants.
Yan Qi asked the servant, “What did you see just now?”
The servant naturally saw it too, but he noticed even fewer details and said, “Most likely it’s wild beasts running in the mountains. The servant heard that there are many fierce beasts hidden on Mount Li. Young Master, be careful not to get injured.”
Yan Qi nodded and walked forward with the servant.
On Yuewang Peak, there were numerous armored soldiers. Sui Heng, dressed in black armor, stood at the peak with his hands down, followed by Huo Cheng and the Generals of the Qinglang Battalion.
Under the rain curtain, Yuewang Peak is like a solitary blade, pointing straight into the sky. The huge auspicious stone, symbolizing auspiciousness, quietly lies at the top of the peak, with a calm black surface.
The ceremonial officials carefully presented the Crown Prince’s attire.
According to the rules, the Crown Prince is required to wear formal attire, leading the three army generals and all the accompanying civil officials and supervisors to perform a grand ceremony of worship and “stone invitation.”
Sui Heng narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Let’s put it aside for now.”
He had a handsome and flamboyant appearance, and under the rain, his eyes exuded a sharp coldness.
The official was taken aback, the auspicious time was about to arrive. The formal attire was complicated and required a lot of effort to put on. If the Crown Prince doesn’t change his clothes now, he may not be able to catch up.
But the ceremonial official was scared of Sui Heng to death, even though their hearts were burning with anxiety, they dared not speak these words and could only sweat all over to seek help from another high-ranking ceremonial official.
The ceremonial official took a solemn step forward and said, “Your Highness…”
As soon as he spoke, Sui Heng slowly interrupted him.
“Meng Daren, right? Gu has a question that he doesn’t understand. Can Meng daren help Gu answer one or two?”
The name of the ceremonial official was Meng Yang, a disciple of the Yan family, and he was also the leader of the ceremonial officials who came with him this time. Upon hearing this, he could only swallow the rest of his words for the time being and said, “Your Highness, please speak.”
Sui Heng said, “Gu heard that the auspicious time you guys calculated is when the eastern purple energy is slowly rising. Will there also be purple energy appearing in this ghostly weather? Why hasen’t Gu seen any trace of it?”
Meng Yang was taken aback for a moment and then said, “Purple energy is an auspicious energy that is not affected by weather and cannot be seen by naked eyes. It can only be inferred by astrological divination to roughly determine its position. It’s normal that Your Highness cannot see it. It is said that only Daoist experts who have opened their heavenly eyes and can communicate with the heavens can catch a glimpse of it.”
Sui Heng nodded obediently and said, “Gu understand. What Meng Daren meant is that Gu is an ordinary person, so Gu cannot see the secrets of heaven, right?”
Meng Yang hurriedly said, “This minister didn’t mean that.”
He glanced at the sky and suddenly kneeled down. “The auspicious time is approaching. Please change your clothes quickly, Your Highness. Don’t delay the auspicious time. Otherwise… if His Majesty blames, this minister is afraid that neither Your Highness nor this humble minister can afford it.”
Other officials also kneeled down and said in unison, “Your Highness, please change your clothes.”
Sui Heng asked them to get up and said, “It’s just changing clothes. Look at how nervous you all are.”
He glanced at his own soldiers.
The soldiers immediately came forward to hold up the gown, and when they were about to order the curtains to be set up, Sui Heng said, “No need, just change here, Gu is not even a big girl, Gu is not afraid of people looking.”
The officials all lowered their heads and buried their faces deep in their sleeves.
Sui Heng removed his armor and changed it without slowing down, letting a group of ceremonial officials kneel in the heavy rain, looking like drowned chickens. With less than half a cup of tea left before the Maoshi, he finally changed.
“Everyone, please rise up.”
He said lazily.
The officials stood up trembling and retreated to the side.
When they looked up, they saw the young and handsome Crown Prince with a neat crown and uniform and a sword at his waist. He looked cold and had solemn eyes, towering like a heavenly god on the top of the long peak. The embroidered patterns of mountains, rivers, stars, and qilin on the dress shimmered with dazzling light.
They uncontrollably developed a sense of submission.
Amid the rainstorm and thunder, the stone invitation ceremony officially began.
There was no purple energy rising in the east, invisible to the naked eye, like the officials said. However, purple lightning fell from the sky like roaring lions, weaving out one power grid after another. Instead, it illuminated the sky with a strange purple color, as if the sky curtain were about to be shattered.
The ceremonial officials lit incense.
In order to prevent the prayer incense, which is half a person tall, from being extinguished by the rain, the palace attendants specially held umbrellas and tightly protected them on both sides.
A ceremonial official loudly recited a blessing, while another ceremonial official handed the prayer incense to Sui Heng and asked the Crown Prince to personally insert the incense into the place where the auspicious stone fell—it is said to be the location of the purple energy and auspiciousness of the entire Mount Li.
The craftsman has pre-built a winding mountain path leading to the summit.
Yan Qi finally arrived at Yuewang Peak. His crimson robe was covered in a lot of mud, and when he saw that the prayer incense had already been lit, he crossed the crowd, gritted his teeth, and was about to speak when Sui Heng, who was standing with his back to the crowd, suddenly turned around.
He aimed his sharp phoenix eyes straight at someone and suddenly smiled and said, “The mountain road is difficult, why not let Commander Huo deliver the prayer incense on behalf of Gu?”
Huo Cheng, who stood respectfully among the generals and even stood relatively back in a low-key position, was taken aback.
Everyone else was also taken aback.
Huo Cheng fell silent and said, “According to the rules, the prayer incense can only be personally offered to the gods by Your Highness…”
“It’s fine, just a stick of incense. The gods won’t blame Commander Huo. Even if he really wants to blame, Gu will bear the punishment for Commander Huo. Commander Huo, please?”
Huo Cheng kneeled down directly and said, “The general dares not trespass!”
Meng Yang couldn’t help but speak, “Your Highness…”
“Gu is speaking, is it your turn to interrupt?”
Sui Heng didn’t even glance at him and walked directly to Huo Cheng. He lowered his eyes and smiled, saying, “Commander Huo refused to offer incense for Gu. Do you think that Gu, as the Crown Prince, is not qualified to instruct Commander Huo to handle matters?”
Although he was smiling, his eyes were filled with a deep chill, which had been released without any disguise.
Huo Cheng was so pressed that his spine couldn’t hold up.
Sui Heng was still smiling and said, “If we miss the auspicious time, Commander Huo can’t afford it, so don’t dawdle, Commander.”
Two senior generals from the Qinglang Battalion next to them have expressionlessly drawn out their swords at their waists.
Huo Cheng’s mind went blank for a moment, but he finally struggled to stand up slowly. He took the prayer incense from Sui Heng’s hand and stumbled slightly onto the slippery mountain path, walking step by step towards the top of the mountain.
The rainstorm poured in, and thunder rolled.
But in an instant, the sound of rain and thunder disappeared from his ears.
Meng Yang’s expression changed, he couldn’t hold back any longer. He rushed out and was about to shout something when his mouth was covered and he was forcibly dragged down. The officials looked at each other, and Yan Qi, who was standing in the crowd, also lost his composure.
Huo Cheng was still stumbling upwards, his tall and sturdy body trembling gently, whether it was frozen or blown by the wind.
The three Army’s Generals remained silent and stood still.
Unknowingly, some officials and supervisors were still looking at each other, suspecting and speculating.
Until a loud roar woke everyone up.
Thunder mixed with fierce electricity struck down in the air, falling straight onto the auspicious stone that symbolizing auspiciousness. The debris rolled down, and Huo Cheng’s body was instantly struck by the lightning, flying into ashes and turning into powder.
The official opened his mouth in shock, unable to even speak out due to extreme fear.
Sui Heng’s eyes were cold, sharp, and scattered as he scanned the crowd. He expressionlessly said, “It seems that the auspicious time you calculated is not so auspicious either.”
The several generals of the Jiuda Battalions standing in front exchanged glances, and a fierce look flashed through their eyes. However, before they could draw out their swords from their waists, just as they raised their arms as envisioned, their throats were slit, and they fell to the ground, out of breath.
Blood mixed with rainwater dyed half of the mountain peaks red.
The Linglong Pagoda was brightly lit all night.
More and more literati and scholars gathered to watch the legendary Linglong chess game.
The young gentleman dressed in a green robe with jade ribbons fluttering, stood calmly under the huge chessboard. Amidst countless curious and speculative gazes, he held the black piece in one hand and the white piece in the other, calm and composed.
The host was overjoyed to hear about this early in the morning and directly ordered the shaman to light up all the lights that were only lit on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar new year and personally rushed to the top of the pagoda to observe.
The scholars are discussing it extensively.
“Is there really someone in this world who can set up a clever scheme?”
“It is said that two ancient masters of chess spent a full half year, constantly practicing trial and error, before finally laying out an unsolvable Linglong game for future generations to challenge. However, it was the two masters themselves who, until their deaths, were unable to decipher the game they had set themselves and ultimately died with regret, bringing the chess score into the coffin. Even if Chu Yan truly had the talent of governing the world, it was impossible to lay out the Linglong game in just one night.”
Many people nodded in agreement.
But there are also people immersed in the increasingly mysterious and intense chess board, silently calculating how to take the next step in their hearts. However, no matter how they move the black or white pieces, it seems that there will be loopholes, and they will face a desperate situation.
“This next piece, there’s no way out at all ah.”
However, as soon as the scholar finished speaking, he saw the handsome young man in the green robe’s fingers lightly flicking and elegantly dropping the white piece from his hand once again.
“Wonderful, wonderful ah!”
Several scholars stood up excitedly to admire.
An hour passed by unnoticed.
Jiang Yun pondered for longer and longer, so he decided to sit cross legged and commanded Shi Fang to drop his pieces for him.
Another hour passed, and Jiang Yun stood up with his sleeves open. He dropped the last black piece with his own hands. Amidst the stunning and shocked gazes of the crowd, he smiled elegantly and said, “The Linglong game has been completed. Welcome everyone to challenge me. I plan to give each black and white piece a name, and in the future, players will have to use the name of the game for chess.”
The host personally handed over the brush and ink.
Jiang Yun picked up the brush and stood with his sleeves down. On the left wall of the chessboard, he wrote the word “the world” for the area representing black chess, and on the right wall of the chessboard, he wrote “the common people” for the area representing white chess.
“How the world treats the common people.”
The host pondered for a moment, stroked his beard, and smiled. “Interesting, really interesting.”
The scholars were already eager to try and immediately rushed forward to compete with Jiang Yun.
Jiang Yun sat in the white position as the defender, while all the challengers sat in the black position. The scholars lined up to fight, but after half an hour had passed, no one could make a single move.
The black and white chess pieces were glued together, and it really seemed like a dead end. The black and white pieces maintain the most delicate balance, wherever the black pieces try to land, they seem to be eaten by the white pieces. Just as the chess pieces symbolize “the world” and “the common people”.
More and more scholars are pouring over in the rain.
Shi Fang was afraid that they would squeeze Jiang Yun, so he had to maintain order and have everyone queue up in order, standing further away.
In the three quarters of Maoshi, the huge and majestic city gate finally slowly opened, and the sound of horse hooves flew past the street.
The atmosphere inside the pagoda became increasingly lively, and even famous scholars who didn’t know how to play chess were attracted to climb the tower to write poetry and watch the grand occasion.
Jiang Yun suddenly stood up, crossed over the crowd, came to the window, and looked down from the pagoda.
Cold rain poured down on his face. The Sui capital city was in full view. The streets were already filled with the figures of the people walking back and forth, as well as the scent of smoke and fire.
The corner of Jiang Yun’s mouth slowly rose. He turned around, and when he wanted to return to the chess game, he realized that the surroundings had quieted down at some point. The wind was blowing, and the rain was gentle. Outside the crowd, there was someone in a black armor suit, with fiery eyes and bloodstains on his robe. He was covered in rain, like a lone wolf rushing out of the dark, looking at him with a bold and enthusiastic expression.
