Yang Miaozhen gazed at the chessboard. Clearly, they had not even reached the midgame, and she possessed a great advantage, having captured a large region of his pieces. On top of that, the white pieces were still all over the place, which seemed extremely scattered and disorderly.
Zhang Xuanfeng could not help but say, “You can’t cheat us, hero king. Who knows how many people are watching outside.”
“If you don’t believe me, let’s just keep going then.”
Li Qingshan blinked his eyes and recovered his casual, joking manner again. He picked up a jug of alcohol and poured it into his mouth. He already knew all the possible outcomes of this game.
He had not played many games in his life. In the beginning, he had made all of his moves blindly, but afterwards, he powered the Spirit Turtle Transformation through the Divine Talisman of Great Creation. Compared to the complexity and depth of formations, predicting and simulating the possible moves of a game of chess was as simple as it could get.
Yang Miaozhen pondered her moves and continued to cast out pieces, but she was clearly much more cautious now.
Li Qingshan spent no time thinking at all, responding with casual moves. Having grown bored of the waiting, he asked Zhang Xuanfeng, “Is the master of the Divine Wind sect that leader of the martial arts alliance, Zhang Yuntian?”
“Yes, my master.”
“Oh, and he sent you to test me out?”
There was nothing Zhang Xuanfeng could say in response.
“Your master is a real piece of trash.”
Zhang Xuanfeng expressed deep agreement. She was extremely worried inside. Yang Miaozhen took longer and longer between her moves. She leaned forward slightly too, clearly devoting all of her attention to the game, but her brows became more and more furrowed.
There seemed to be an invisible force that loomed over the board, such that she could not escape from his schemes no matter how she struggled.
The game had progressed more than half way now. Li Qingshan said, “If you still don’t admit defeat, you’ll just be dragging out a pointless existence.”
Yang Miaozhen admitted her defeat. She removed the yellow head ornament on her head as a gesture of renouncing asceticism. Her dark hair spilled out.
“The king’s skill at chess is truly well beyond anything I’ve witnessed in my life. It is my complete and utter defeat. From here onwards, I am yours.”
When she said that, she could not help but blush slightly. She was still a young woman after all.
“However, I still have an unreasonable request.”
“You want me to release the ox nose.”
“Not that. What right do I have to put forward a request like that? I only hope you can bestow me with a method of practising qi so that I can continue cultivating and help you out in the future.” Yang Miaozhen bowed deeply towards the leader of the Abstruse temple. “Temple leader, I’ve been useless. I am unable to save you.”
“I can’t blame you for this. I hope you can treasure the rest of your life,” said the leader of the Abstruse temple.
“If anyone thinks you’re not familiar with the ways of the world, then they’re absolute fools. Ox nose, you should be glad that you have such a great disciple. I’ll spare your life for today. Go back and think about this carefully. Think about whether you want to lose the Abstruse temple to the tides of time, to have it burned to a crisp, over some personal grievances.”
Li Qingshan laughed aloud. He lifted up the leader of the Abstruse temple and tossed him out the window.
Over a thousand people were gathered outside the parlour. Someone caught the leader of the Abstruse temple in a hurry and sent him back into the inner city.
If he did not dish out any punishment, others would only take him for a weak pushover. However, blind slaughter would only lead to even more hatred and resistance, continuing until the situation completely lost control under the effects of the will of the heavens.
Li Qingshan had no killing intent. He never planned on killing anyone in the first place when he ventured down south. The leader of the Five Poisons cult had run into him himself before basically asking to die again and again. He had served as a good example.
He arrived on the terrace and called out, “Everyone in the world, listen up! I, Li Qingshan, will definitely change this world! There will be no more noble and lowly statuses, no more classes and oppression, no more sects and clans. Everyone will be able to achieve something with their own hands. If you want to learn supreme martial arts, go to the north!”
His words rushed through the crowd and the city like the hot summer wind. Who didn’t want to learn supreme martial arts? But even for those from clans and sects, how many of them possessed the right to learn supreme martial arts?
On top of that, the hero king, Li Qingshan, was not a murderous demon king as rumoured. Instead, he had dismantled a great scheme and slain the leader of the Five Poisons cult, saving an entire parlour of people.
Li Qingshan glanced towards the inner city walls. It was empty. Zhang Yuntian was no longer there.
He turned around and waved his hand. “You can all go! Don’t forget about what happened here today. How can you only look at the surface when it comes to good and evil?”
As if they had just been spared, the young heroes and young masters all fled from the parlour, but there were a few that bowed towards Li Qingshan and thanked him.
A seed had already been planted, planted in the very centre of the martial arts community. It would take root and sprout one day until it destroyed the entire martial arts community.
“Amitābha. The world will fall into chaos!” The Suffering Subduing abbot sighed.
“What you share and spread is the ingenious buddhist dharma and happiness in future lives, while what I share and spread is supreme martial arts and immediate strength. You’re welcome to take a look at just who is a little more benevolent.”
“Hero king, I can accept this lady Hu as a disciple, but the ceremony must be held in the grand hall of the Salvation temple.” The Suffering Subduing abbot lowered his gaze.
Li Qingshan blinked his eyes and smiled. “Now that’s a good monk, but there’s no hurry. Xuanwu city is a city renowned throughout history after all. Since I’m here, how can I leave without taking a tour? Rest up well, master, because you’ll have to take me around the inner city tomorrow.”
That night, Li Qingshan simply stayed in Hu Xian’er’s residence, teaching this vixen that was up to no good a proper “lesson”.
Yang Miaozhen visited him quietly, wanting to ask him for the cultivation method. From the corner of her eye, all she saw was a child sitting at the entrance, the same child that usually followed Li Qingshan everywhere. He leaned against his hand in boredom, thinking about something.
As for Hu Ling’er, she crouched on the other side of the entrance, plugging her ears with both hands with a scarlet face.
Yang Miaozhen heard the sounds from the room as well, which made her blush and spit in contempt. As soon as she remembered how this would be her fate as well, her heart struggled to remain calm. She left the room in a hurry.
Zhang Xuanfeng was waiting for her there. “Sister Yang, you’re finally back. Let’s leave quickly while that demon is messing around with the daemoness!”
“We’ve lost, so how can we leave? If we just leave like this, the king will definitely direct his anger towards the Abstruse temple and the Divine Wind sect.”
Yang Miaozhen never really valued any promises or sects either, but she was still hung up about that cultivation method. And regardless, at least he was a cultivator. No one had ever been able to understand how she felt. She basically felt like she had encountered an oasis in the desert, which only left her even more certain about the path she had taken.
“Whatever. If you’re not leaving, then I’m leaving. I don’t want to do something like that with a monkey!” Zhang Xuanfeng leapt out of the window and rode away on the wind.
“Monkey?” Yang Miaozhen could not help but smile. On second thought, he really was like a monkey, but his bearing would always make her forget about his appearance.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Xuanfeng flew back into the room backwards.
An old man stood outside the window. He said sternly, “Lady Zhang, if the king hears that from you, you’ll be in for a lot of trouble.”
Zhang Xuanfeng was both surprised and furious. “Senior Tie, what’re you doing here instead of keeping an eye on the Suffering Subduing abbot?”
“The king has said that the monk might be able to escape, but he can’t run away with the temple. He’s only told me to watch you.”
“You’re playing the jackal to the tiger!” She was one of the few masters within the younger generation, but she obviously was not the opponent of an old senior like Tie Xiong.
“You just had to wager yourself, so what’s it got to do with me? Since I’ve joined the World’s society, I should be devoted to my duty. This is for the greater plan of the martial arts community too!” Tie Xiong said emotionlessly.
If Zhang Xuanfeng escaped, Li Qingshan would definitely go to the Divine Wind sect in search of her. The leader of the Divine Wind sect, Zhang Yuntian, was the leader of the marital arts alliance too, so who knew what kind of mess it would lead to in the end. The slightest carelessness would lead to a bloody situation. He had to take the entire situation into consideration and nip a potential danger like this in the bud.
“What an Iron-faced Judge. Then I won’t leave!”
