Chapter 67: Black and White Pieces

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Black and White Pieces

The next day.

On Dao Yi Mountain, Chen Sha stood at the peak, holding a scroll in his hands. He gazed far into the distance in the direction the group had left. Though he hadn’t appeared in their line of sight, it didn’t mean he hadn’t paid attention to their departure.

After a long while, estimating that Song Yu, Lin Qingqing, and the others had already taken a ferry across the Canglang River and left the boundaries of Dao Yi Mountain, Chen Sha finally made his way toward the courtyard of a certain elder in the back mountain.

"The past Celestial Masters of the Jade Emperor Sect?"

Elder Han was the person on Dao Yi Mountain who loved reading miscellaneous books the most, and he had the clearest understanding of the power dynamics of the various Sects in the world. Now that Chen Sha had come knocking on his door, he immediately began rummaging through his bookcases.

"Sect Leader, wait a moment. Let me take a look..."

After half a cup of tea’s time, Elder Han pulled out an illustrated catalog titled "Jade Emperor’s List of Celestial Masters" and said, "This contains the biographies and portraits of the Jade Emperor Sect’s past Celestial Masters. I wonder why you are suddenly interested in the Jade Emperor Sect, Sect Leader?"

The Jade Emperor Sect’s most distinct difference from other Daoist Sects was that for the past few centuries, it had continuously held the title of the National Religion of Zhao Country at the foot of the mountain.

Because of this, the Zhang Clan’s Celestial Master Lineage of the Jade Emperor Sect had also simultaneously held the position of "National Preceptor."

"That’s right. The style of this Celestial Master Robe is no different from the clothes worn by ’Zhang Daoxuan’ on that hillside behind the Southern Heavenly Gate. It’s just..."

Looking at the very first person in the catalog, Chen Sha thought, "The first-generation Celestial Master of the Jade Emperor Sect listed in this catalog isn’t named Zhang Daoxuan, but Zhang Changling."

He closed his eyes and pondered.

"Could it really be a coincidence? Does the True Realm where Zhang Daoxuan resides actually have no connection to the Divine Land World I am currently in?"

Chen Sha thought for a moment before deciding to ask out loud, "Elder Han, have you ever heard of a Celestial Master named ’Zhang Daoxuan’ within the Celestial Master Lineage of the Jade Emperor Sect?"

"Zhang Daoxuan?"

Chen Sha hadn’t held much hope, but surprisingly, he heard Elder Han say, "That name sounds somewhat familiar."

Chen Sha raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh? You’ve actually heard this name? Where?"

Elder Han patted his forehead. "Let me think. If it was just someone named Zhang Daoxuan, I definitely wouldn’t have any impression. But if it’s connected to the words ’Celestial Master’..."

He began rummaging through his boxes and cabinets again, searching through mountains of various ancient books.

Chen Sha waited patiently.

Another half a cup of tea’s time passed until Elder Han dug out a book. "Found it. I knew I had read it in some miscellaneous record..."

As he spoke, he flipped the book open to a page that recorded the three words "Zhang Daoxuan."

Chen Sha took it and turned over the cover to see the book’s title, which was called "Broad Records of the Daoist Sect". His eyes immediately fell upon a line of text:

"Zhang Changling, a native of Guangling, had a fondness for the profound since his youth. In the tenth year of Yongjia, Zhang Changling took a boat trip on West Sun Lake and then ascended Brocade Mountain. In an ancient cave among the mountains, he chanced upon the ’Treasure Scripture of Daoxuan Immortal Master’. From then on, he began cultivating the Outer Pill Yellow and White Technique. Ten years later, he successfully refined the ’Jade Emperor Tower’, manifesting a myriad of spectacular phenomena. Brocade Mountain subsequently revealed a golden-yellow hue and was thereby renamed Jade Emperor Peak. From this, he established the ’Celestial Master’ orthodox lineage..."

Chen Sha stared at it, stunned. "The Celestial Master Lineage’s ’Jade Emperor Tower’ was obtained by the first-generation Celestial Master from an ancient mountain cave? It wasn’t created by the first-generation Celestial Master himself?"

Elder Han took it back with a sheepish smile. "This is just a miscellaneous record, and whether the author’s words are true or false is unknown. The Jade Emperor Sect is a Major Sect, after all, and there are always people among the common folk who love to slander others. Therefore, it’s hard to say how credible the contents actually are."

Chen Sha thought inwardly, "Once I enter the Southern Heavenly Gate, I’ll find out for sure by verifying it in that Zhang Daoxuan’s scenario. If this Zhang Daoxuan also cultivates the Jade Emperor Tower...

"That would mean the True Realm is very likely my current Divine Land World.

"But why haven’t I ever heard the names of so many Ascension experts from the True Realm?

"In today’s world, Martial Arts history also has its historical records. How could there be no records of a generation’s legends capable of Ascension? What exactly is the reason?"

Chen Sha returned to his room. Along the way, the summer cicadas began to chirp loudly, but the Daoists never grew tired of the sound.

Twenty-eight thousand miles away from Dao Yi Mountain, at the border of Zhao Yuan, lay the former site of Immortal Sword Manor, which was now the location of First-Grade Hall.

CHIRP.

Cicadas were chirping outside the window.

Inside an exquisitely decorated room, the scent of agarwood was thick. Young Master Qing was drinking medicine. Listening to the noisy insect chirps outside, he surprisingly revealed a trace of calmness and tranquility.

Suddenly, Miss Peacock walked in with a complex expression. "Young Master, the Liuu Shengmen Grandmaster and Iron Tree Divine Monk have returned. Both were injured, and they still failed to take Li Jianzhou’s life. He drifted away with his two disciples."

Holding his medicine bowl, Young Master Qing didn’t show any major emotional changes and muttered to himself, "To think that a cripple could not only break his cocoon and become a butterfly, but upon first entering the Grandmaster Realm, he was actually able to fight one against two without falling into a disadvantage. Is this Divine Silkworm Scripture really so miraculous?"

Peacock pondered and asked, "Should we have Yan Kai go deal with him personally?"

Blood Sword Yan Kai was the number one figure on the famous sword ranking of Zhao Country. He had already reached the Peak of Grandmaster Realm, caught a glimpse of the First Grade threshold, and had hopes of stepping into the First Grade Great Innate Realm in the future.

He was currently the most powerful expert on the surface within First-Grade Hall!

Young Master Qing put down his medicine bowl and said, "A stalk of the precious medicine ’Golden Calamus’ has appeared in Liaodong and is being publicly auctioned by a mysterious faction. Yan Kai has gone to handle this matter and has no time to spare."

Peacock frowned. "Then are we just going to ignore Li Jianzhou? We treated him with courtesy and invited him to be a Honored Guest Elder, yet he killed our subordinate, the White-robed Scholar. If we let this go, the prestige First-Grade Hall has established in the Jianghu over the past three years will inevitably be affected. Others will simply say that we can’t even handle a mere Grandmaster."

Young Master Qing only asked, "How is the matter I asked you to handle going? The one regarding inviting another expert, who is in no way inferior to Yan Kai, to join our First-Grade Hall?"

"Is Young Master referring to ’Long Saber Xie Tangyan’?" Peacock asked. Mentally calculating the date, she added, "We should receive news back today."

Just as she was speaking, a subordinate of First-Grade Hall called out from outside. "Miss Peacock, the Three Heroes of Xiangnan who went to invite Xie Tangyan have returned. There is a situation that you had better come out and see..."

Hearing this, Peacock stood up and walked outside.

In a courtyard outside First-Grade Hall stood three middle-aged men dressed in cyan clothes. A bright red line of blood marked each of their necks.

Slightly alarmed, Peacock asked, "Your necks?"

The eldest of the Three Heroes of Xiangnan smiled bitterly. "It was slashed by a single strike from Xie Tangyan. At the time, we were standing more than ten feet away from him. He merely gave a light wave of the half-foot small blade in his palm, and the Sword Qi surged out for ten feet, slitting our throats."

Peacock stepped forward to examine them. "You had your throats slit, yet you didn’t die? This level of control over the Power Dao... In the past, I only heard that Long Saber Xie Tangyan had cultivated a ten-foot Sword Gang, killing people within a hair’s breadth, boasting ’invincible below the Innate Realm, trading lives above the Innate Realm’. Only today do I realize that his Sword Skill has indeed entered the Ghost God realm. It’s truly no falsehood."

After saying that, she asked again, "Since you weren’t killed, I presume you brought back some message from him?"

One of the Three Heroes of Xiangnan smiled bitterly. "Yes. He said that in this world, aside from his chess friends, no one is worthy of him making a move for them. First-Grade Hall is no exception. Unless someone from First-Grade Hall recognizes his chess game, then if we come again, the line of blood on our necks will circle all the way around."

That would mean a complete decapitation in one strike.

Peacock frowned and asked, "What chess game? I remember that one of you is skilled at playing chess. It actually couldn’t be Broken?"

One person shook his head helplessly. "It wasn’t a chess game at all. It was just a chessboard with a single white piece placed in the Tianyuan position. I tried to play, but seeing that there were no pieces on either side of the chessboard, I had absolutely no idea how to proceed."

Peacock pondered. "You all may step down first. I will report back to the Young Master before we proceed."

Saying that, she turned around and returned to the exquisite room, relaying the fruitless result of inviting Long Saber Xie Tangyan to Young Master Qing.

To her surprise, Peacock had never seen Young Master Qing lose his composure like this:

"What did the Three Heroes of Xiangnan say? On a chessboard, only a single white piece was placed in the Tianyuan position?"

Peacock was puzzled. "Young Master, do you know how Xie Tangyan’s chess game can be Broken?"

Young Master Qing simply lay flat on his bed and murmured, "To think that Xie Tangyan is actually a piece-wielding player as well."

He took a deep breath and instructed, "Peacock, go to my treasury. On the final First Layer, in the lower left corner of the third cabinet, fetch a three-inch small box. Inside the box is a black chess piece. This time, you will go personally. Take it and go find Xie Tangyan. Do not let anyone know about this matter."