Chapter 105: Yanzi Qi Ren

Even though his body swayed uncontrollably, Ji Yuan's steps gradually quickened.

'Calamity... calamity...'

As his thoughts churned, Ji Yuan staggered forward aimlessly like a wandering spirit. The severe pain in his eyes showed no sign of easing, and his already blurred vision was now clouded with a bloody haze.

Ji Yuan pressed his right hand firmly over his eyes, as if afraid they would explode if he didn't.

Despite his poor physical condition, Ji Yuan's mind was desperately sifting through the knowledge accumulated over two lifetimes, eager to find an answer, to understand this chessboard of heaven and earth and how to break free from it.

His thoughts raced wildly, and his body swayed, eyes blood-red and vacant, as he stumbled erratically through Juntian Prefecture's streets. Subconsciously, he sought something, but even he lacked the clarity to know what it was.

'There must be something, there must be something...'

Suddenly, seeing a Go set for sale at a street vendor's stall, his mind cleared in an instant. Ji Yuan rushed forward, grabbed the board and box, and walked away without bothering to pay.

"Hey, hey, hey, you... you're stealing my Go set..."

The initially listless vendor was about to lash out upon realizing his goods were being stolen, but he was startled by Ji Yuan's terrifying appearance—pale eyes streaming blood. His voice faded from strong to weak, and he didn't even dare to chase after Ji Yuan to retrieve the board and box.

"Ho... ho... hoho..."

His breath hitched, and a single phrase echoed repeatedly in his somewhat delirious mind.

'I am the player... I am the player...'

Ji Yuan, looking like a madman, stumbled out of the city. Though his balance was unsteady, his steps continuously quickened, eventually becoming little more than a blur as he raced towards the wild mountains and forests.

He ran wildly for a full day and night, covering over three hundred *li* directly from Juntian Prefecture city, straight into the desolate Junyuan Mountain. He paid no heed to the thorny bushes, tangled vines, or overgrown weeds, heading only towards the most uninhabited areas.

After surging through the mountains for a long time, Ji Yuan spotted a stone cave in a cliff face, barely two *zhang* deep. Like a man finding salvation, he immediately rushed towards it, clutching the Go board.

Stumbling inside the cave, he casually unfastened the Green Vine Sword and placed it by the entrance. After setting down the Go board and box, Ji Yuan sat cross-legged like a man possessed, his mind haunted by the previous visions and an unshakeable sense of dread.

He opened the Go box and took out the black and white pieces. What lay before him was no longer an ordinary Go board, but the grand celestial chessboard, into which his will now flowed. With a *clack* as a piece was placed, the spiritual realm once again spanned the heavens. Ji Yuan began to play, divining the game.

Having glimpsed the momentous changes in heaven and earth, Ji Yuan absolutely could not, and dared not, speak of it to anyone.

He had an almost certain intuition that as the player, he was witnessing a world-altering transformation, an act of subverting destiny and establishing a new order. If he were to reveal the truth to anyone, his fate would be infinitely worse than that of Daoist Qingsong in the past. He feared that he, Ji, and anyone who heard of it, would instantly turn to ashes!

The crushing pressure was like a mountain, making it hard for Ji Yuan to breathe. He had to find an answer himself; there was no one he could ask.

Once, in the Ju'an Pavilion courtyard in Ning'an County, Ji Yuan and Yin Zhaoxian could play many games of Go in half a day. But now, with each piece placed, countless transformations occurred within the ethereal energy of the spiritual landscape, projecting the now-hidden celestial chessboard onto the Go board before him. Placing a single piece felt like lifting a mountain.

The conceptual alchemical furnace within him blazed with true fire, and his inner magical energy circulated frantically without a moment's pause, solely to sustain this process of divining the game.

The passage of time lost its meaning for Ji Yuan's consciousness at this moment, yet its effects were starkly evident on his body.

Stars shifted, the moon rose and the sun set, thunder, rain, wind, clouds, morning sun, evening glow...

Even with the unique slowness of this state of mind and intention, Ji Yuan was gradually becoming thinner and thinner...

One night.

"Awooooo~~~~~~~~~"

A mournful wolf howl echoed nearby. Not long after, an old, solitary wolf, cast out from its pack, cautiously approached the stone cave wall in the darkness. It found a person frozen in place.

The person's body was motionless, a hand suspended above the Go board in the act of holding a piece. Their clothes were tattered, and withered branches and fallen leaves lay piled around them.

"Hooooo~~~~"

The old wolf lowered its body, cautiously approaching the cave wall, its fangs bared and saliva dripping.

"Om~~~"

Leaning against the outside of the cave wall, the Green Vine Sword began to hum. Its blade slid out of the scabbard by less than half an inch, yet the chilling gleam from its edge made the old wolf feel as if it had entered an ice cave.

"Whimper... whimper..."

Extremely frightened, the old wolf tucked its tail between its legs and fled in a panic.

***

In the fifteenth year of Dazhen Yuande, within Ning'an County School, there was no sound of reading today.

Among the students in the school, most of the older ones from the past six months, with the exception of a few who returned to their family lives, had surprisingly gained admission to several academies in Desheng Prefecture.

The students in the hall now ranged from seven to sixteen years old, all looking at their Master with reverence and reluctance to part. Fifteen-year-old Yin Qing also sat upright among them.

Yin Zhaoxian remained silent, simply taking up his brush at the Master's desk and writing an essay. After a long while, he finished one, blew gently on it to help the ink dry faster, and then set it aside on the desk.

Noticing that the writing on a previously written paper on the desk had dried, he picked it up, carefully folded it, and placed it into an envelope. Then, he took his brush and wrote on the envelope: "From Master to Du Ming."

After writing, he sealed the envelope and placed it aside, adding it to the thick stack of sealed papers already on the desk.

Having finished these tasks, Yin Zhaoxian picked up his brush again, dipped it in ink, and began writing another essay.

Today, Master Yin of Ning'an County School was writing a letter to every student, just as he had for those who dropped out and returned home, and for those who went on to distant academies.

The entire classroom was silent; no child disturbed their Master's writing, and below, everyone sat respectfully, with no one whispering.

This classroom discipline stemmed from genuine respect. Nowadays, Master Yin's authority no longer required a ruler; the ruler at Ning'an County School had gathered dust for a long time.

Approximately another half an hour passed before Yin Zhaoxian returned his brush to the brush holder, waiting for the ink on the last paper to dry before sealing and putting it away.

"Alright, there are sixty-seven letters in total, and they are all finished. I will hand them out to each of you after class."

Yin Zhaoxian had emulated his dear friend Ji Yuan in this gesture, feeling it was an excellent way to, to some extent, solidify his students' aspirations and resolve.

All the students below looked at Yin Zhaoxian, who felt a pang of compassion himself. He stood up and smiled.

"Why do we study the teachings of sages? Naturally, it is to give back to the world. However, in this present age, promoting the Way of the Sages is not easy, and it is not something I, a common scholar, can accomplish alone."

Yin Zhaoxian held up a handwritten volume containing an essay titled "On Birds."

"Even I, your Master, once achieved a 'B' grade in the provincial examination. This re-examination is certainly with the intention of progressing further, so that I may realize my ambitions in the future. A master educates hundreds in a lifetime, but an official governs tens of thousands!"

"Master... my father told me that officialdom is very cruel. Court struggles can lead to deaths without bloodshed..."

A thirteen-year-old boy in a front-row seat in the classroom hesitated before speaking. This was Chen Yuqing, the second son of Chen Sheng, the County Magistrate of Ning'an, and one of Yin Zhaoxian's more admired students.

In fact, over the past two years, Master Yin of Ning'an County had gained some renown in neighboring counties and even two or three academies. This was due to his effective teaching methods, as his students often showed clear understanding, insightful comprehension, and unique perspectives, with older students even gaining admission to academies based on their talent and insights.

This led to people from other counties sending their children to school in Ning'an, resulting in a significant increase in the county school's student population.

Chen Yuqing had heard his father, Chen Sheng, remark on Master Yin at the end of last year, saying that he possessed immense ambition. Although his works, "On Birds" and "On Understanding Righteousness," were still being refined, they were by no means simple texts. However, such a person, with their overwhelming righteousness, was most likely to suffer a downfall in officialdom.

Chen Yuqing felt a little afraid of these words and, for some reason, dared not voice them now, fearing that if he did, his Master might truly never return.

Yin Zhaoxian, of course, was unaware of the complex thoughts in his students' minds. He merely felt their reluctance to part and their concern for him, which warmed his heart.

"Yes, though I am but a mere scholar, I have discussed court affairs with friends and naturally possess some understanding. But you needn't worry; perhaps I, your Master, might not have enough learning and will be struck off the list!"

Yin Zhaoxian's joke amused the students below, though perhaps only the youngest ones took it seriously. The other children believed in their hearts that their Master would surely pass the examination.

Yin Zhaoxian held his book behind his back and gazed at the verdant bamboo in the garden outside the classroom. Nine years after his last attempt, he was taking the provincial examination again. Now thirty-six, he wasn't old, but he was no longer a young scholar either.

This time, however, his inner trepidation was significantly less.

After writing two good essays, Yin Zhaoxian increasingly felt that while educating people was important, doing so solely within the confines of this school was too limited, so much so that even these two books would be difficult to promote.