บท 6: Ch 6 - I may be a bit slow, but I'm not stupid
"I don't understand what you mean."
Just like Yino's unpredictable chess moves, Yuyan truly couldn't comprehend what riddle he was trying to solve now.
If the black pieces represented misfortune in life's journey, then his guess was indeed accurate.
But in this world, who hasn't experienced misfortune and regret?
Who can guarantee that their future path will be entirely bright?
He could say the same thing to anyone, after all, many fortune-tellers in this world use the same tactics.
Yuyan didn't believe that an ordinary young cultivator could have the ability to predict one's fate.
Given his frivolous and reckless nature, he was probably just trying to tease her and disrupt her thoughts while playing chess!
But if it was just this small trick, Yuyan had to admit...
He was indeed making her feel quite anxious now.
"You are indeed as cunning as the rumors say."
Under the moonlight, the white-robed immortal lady stared at Yino, secretly gritting her teeth behind her celestial face, her jade fingers hesitating even more on the black piece she was about to place.
On the surface, she remained calm, but internally she was struggling to maintain her composure.
How could she let a mortal's small trick disturb the tranquility of her cultivated mind that had been undisturbed for years...
"Miss Immortal, are you sure you want to place it here?"
Yino raised an eyebrow, looking at the newly placed black piece on the board with some hesitation.
Carefully observing the board, he suddenly realized an abstract problem.
That is... Amidst their casual conversation, he seemed to be close to winning.
Yino, having grown up in the Prime Minister's mansion, had indeed learned some Go from the grandfathers of several court officials, and his skills were not bad.
But he hadn't expected Yuyan's chess skills to be this bad.
-Even with his random moves, why didn't Yuyan follow her own strategy, but instead followed my chaotic rhythm and lost her composure?-
-Was she stupid?-
-Had she never even learned the basic chess formations?-
Yuyan: "..."
As hesitation flashed in Yino's eyes, the jade fingers of the white-robed immortal lady that had just placed a piece also began to waver.
She had been thinking about Yino's riddles earlier, and her chess moves had been disrupted by Yino's rhythm.
Now, calming down and prompted by Yino's reminder, Yuyan suddenly thought of a better solution.
"How about you take that move back?" Yino said awkwardly.
But after a brief internal struggle, Yuyan closed her eyes and said, "There are no regrets in life's path, just as there are no take-backs in chess."
"From now on, I won't let you disturb my thoughts anymore."
"(¬_¬) "
Yino's lips twitched, feeling it hard to keep a straight face.
Even if he hadn't been speaking in riddles earlier, Yuyan was already at a disadvantage.
-With her kindergarten-level skills, how did she dare to bet on a game of chess?-
-Could it be that she was also pretending? Each with our own hidden agenda?-
-But that doesn't make sense. If she loses, she has to dance for me!-
-Yuyan's cultivated mind wouldn't allow her to lose on purpose, and the pride of a genius female sword immortal certainly wouldn't allow her to flatter a man.-
-Unless... She was truly bad at it-
-And moreover, both bad at it and loved to play!-
-No, I need to get serious too- Yino said, feeling the pressure mounting.
In the latter half of the game that followed, compared to Yuyan's deep thinking over each move, the beads of sweat on Yino's face became even more exaggerated.
Because trying to lose was truly difficult for him.
Yino also tried to play poorly on purpose, but if he made it too obvious, Yuyan would look up at him with a confused expression, reminding him that it was a meaningless dead move.
If he wasn't obvious enough, Yuyan might not seize the opportunity.
She was truly bad at this!
She understood some basics, but had no sense of the overall situation.
Unless Yino handed her the pieces on a silver platter, she wouldn't know how to capture them. As soon as the endgame became slightly complex, she had no idea how to break through!
Now Yino was really feeling the pressure.
He was afraid that he might accidentally capture all of Yuyan's black pieces.
But some black pieces were already doomed, and if Yino still pretended not to see them, Yuyan would instead look up and examine Yino with a puzzled expression.
In the end, it left Yino sweating profusely.
He couldn't act too incompetent, yet he had to find ways to guide Yuyan, helping her break through step by step and turn the tide.
"For these last seven pieces, you have no moves left."
"Roughly calculated, I should have won."
Before they knew it, it was already past midnight.
Yuyan sat up straight, and the uneasiness on her celestial face finally gave way to a faint smile of joy at this decisive moment.
Sitting across from her, Yino was also covered in sweat, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
-At last, I managed to let her win- Yino thought to himself.
"Let me count the pieces," Yuyan said.
With victory in hand, Yuyan's red lips wore a smile, and even her tone was no longer so cold.
This was a smile Yino had never seen in the illustrations from his previous life.
That cold and mysterious senior sister, even in the original Fallen Immortal game or novel, had never shown joy after winning a sword debate with the Holy Son of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Yino was beginning to suspect that her interest shouldn't have been in sword cultivation, but rather in learning some Eight Trigrams formations or the like. That way, she could stay at home playing chess all day like those old men.
"No need to count, you've definitely won this game," Yino sighed, standing up to stretch.
"Why?" Yuyan looked up, "The black and white pieces seem evenly divided now, a rough calculation might have errors."
Her beautiful eyes, looking at the young man, showed not only confusion but also a sense of meeting a worthy opponent.
She seemed to genuinely believe that this had been an intense, evenly matched game of chess.
Yino's lips twitched slightly.
He had never imagined that the seemingly unreachable, mysterious senior sister and sword leader in his impression would be so naive and silly on her own professional chessboard.
"No need, I've already calculated it several times in my head," Yino said, feigning embarrassment as he waved his hand. "You've won by two and a half stones, it's indeed your victory."
"Is that so?" Yuyan nodded, still not getting up. She lowered her gaze to the finished game, still seriously counting each piece one by one.
Doesn't she even know how to use a counting technique?
Yino had never seen such a strange immortal as Yuyan.
Her obsession didn't seem fake, but her chess skills were so poor, an amateur among amateurs...
Logically, as a genius sword immortal holding a high position in the Wuji Sect, if she had shown even a little interest in chess, there should have been many formation cultivators eager to teach her. Moreover, the Wuji Sect, being one of the five major immortal sects known for formations, should have had no shortage of classic chess manuals left by sages in their library.
If she had learned even a little, she couldn't possibly be at this level.
-Could it be that none of the many formation cultivators in the Wuji Sect had ever taught her chess and formations?-
At least, Yino could be certain that Yuyan had never received any systematic training.
"By the way..." Yino couldn't help but voice his confusion as he paused at the courtyard gate before leaving. "Why does Miss Immortal like to play chess?"
After all, Yuyan was also one of the great regrets in the original Fallen Immortal from his previous life.
As a die-hard player who had played Fallen Immortal to the point of dying from overwork, Yino was no longer disappointed about the game's lack of romantic storylines for female characters. He only regretted that the originally fine senior sister and sword maiden of the Wuji Sect had experienced something traumatic later on, causing her to become that dark and morbid evil sword immortal in the later stages.
In his previous life, Yino hadn't lived to see the final major update of Fallen Immortal that would have revealed the mystery. He had died from overwork and was reborn as the seventh young master of the Prime Minister's mansion.
But in this life...
Perhaps after tonight's parting, he wouldn't have the chance to see Yuyan again for five years.
Maybe when they meet again in five years, Yuyan would have already become the dark evil sword immortal, unable to communicate with others.
So, in this precious last meeting, Yino couldn't help but probe a bit more into the secrets that were never revealed in the original Fallen Immortal from his previous life.
"..."
Yuyan lowered her eyelids, remaining silent.
But silence itself was also a kind of answer.
Yino wasn't surprised. Although after several hours of chess, he was recognized as her worthy opponent, once they left the small chessboard, he was still the useless seventh young master, and Yuyan remained the unreachable genius sword leader of the Wuji Sect, a future white-robed sword immortal who would roam the world.
That Yuyan had played chess with him was already a blessing from heaven. How could he expect an immortal to reveal her privacy to a mere mortal?
"Then I have one more question—" Yino stood at the door, not giving up.
But this time, he didn't ask directly, instead pausing to observe Yuyan's attitude.
"Speak," she said, still not looking up, her beautiful eyes cherishing the chess game.
-At least she uttered a word this time-
"Have you always been playing chess by yourself?"
"My master has a rule, forbidding me to learn chess," Yuyan answered calmly, her voice less cold and disdainful than before, with more of an indescribable loneliness.
In the brief seconds that followed, Yino searched through all his memories of Yuyan's storyline from Fallen Immortal in his previous life.
The result was that he still had no clue.
Her master, of course, was the leader of the Wuji Sect, the very one who had sent Yuyan to the Prime Minister's mansion to recruit him as a disciple...
-But why did the sect leader forbid only Yuyan from learning chess?-
-Did the Wuji Sect have such an unwritten rule?-
Yino's mind was blank. After all, in the original novel, Yuyan was more of a figurehead for the Wuji Sect, with little of her own storyline, let alone such detailed descriptions!
"Thank you for your generosity, miss Immortal. I have no more questions," Yino said. "Then, I bid you farewell. Tomorrow, I will keep my promise and inform my father that I offended you tonight and am unworthy to go to the Wuji Sect."
He cupped his hands in salute and turned to leave.
But this time, a cool voice came from the courtyard, with Yuyan calling out to Yino before he left—
"Three days ago, my master specifically asked for you, ordering me to come to the Prime Minister's mansion to bring you up the mountain."
"Such a rare opportunity, why aren't you grateful? Why did you prefer to hide during the day rather than meet me?"
Her tone returned to its icy state, but with more confusion and regret, no longer holding prejudice against Yino as a profligate young master.
Tonight was the first time in her life that she had played chess against someone and won.
But after tonight's parting, Yuyan would have to go back to playing chess by herself day after day.
After all, in the Wuji Sect, besides herself, there were no disciples who dared to play chess with her like Yino did.
Playing chess alone is really boring.
"Wuji Sect?" Yino said frivolously. "What's so interesting about that old forest in the deep mountains? Are there immortal sisters to dance and drink with me there?"
Before leaving, Yino didn't forget to give Yuyan one last impression of his unruly and dissolute nature.
"Are you so obsessed with watching dances?" Yuyan sighed.
Compared to her initial pure disgust for a lecher, she now felt more helpless about Yino's personality.
"Is miss Immortal so obsessed with playing chess?" Yino didn't answer, instead throwing the corresponding topic back at her.
At these words, the white-robed immortal parted her red lips, about to speak but then stopping, finally lowering her gaze in silence.
She stood there, silently watching the young man's figure disappear around the corner of the alley.
"So that's how it is," Yuyan said to herself, reflecting on her constrained experiences growing up in the Wuji Sect.
Setting aside cultivation, life in Luo City was indeed richer than in the Wuji Sect.
At least...
Yuyan could freely find people to play chess with in Luo City, while Yino had no shortage of beauties to flatter him in Luo City.
...
...
...
It was already late at night.
But Yuyan hadn't rested, her beautiful eyes still fixated on the chessboard.
She hadn't moved a single piece, preserving the most complete endgame.
Due to her master's rules, Yuyan had never studied a single chess manual, nor had she played chess with any sect disciples. In fact, no one in the Wuji Sect knew about Yuyan's unspeakable obsession with chess.
Yuyan also knew that her chess skills weren't good.
But at least...
She still understood the basic rules of the game.
Moreover, as a cultivator, she had memory abilities far beyond ordinary people.
"It really was a win by two and a half stones, no more, no less," Yuyan said as she began to review the game according to her memory.
It was clearly a winning game where the young man had resigned, but as time passed and she reviewed it, Yuyan's beautiful eyes became more and more perplexed.
She discovered a strange pattern—
It was as if each of her moves, each of her thoughts, had been carefully planned by the young man, allowing Yuyan to achieve a comeback victory that was both logical and unexpected.
"He calculated every move of this game to the extreme."
"But at least, he probably couldn't have calculated that cultivators can review their memories."
"I may be a bit slow, but I'm not stupid."
Looking at the dazzling array of black and white pieces on the board, the white-robed immortal lowered her beautiful eyes, a cold and charming smile faintly curling at the corners of her lips.
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