บท 17: Ch 17 - That's My Room
Second Update.
Yino felt like he was about to die from heat.
It was as if he were a grilled fish tied to a bonfire, his body sweating profusely. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape the fate of being cooked.
"Ah—!"
"Has Senior Sister turned me into grilled fish?!"
Yino sat up abruptly, gasping for air.
What met his eyes was a thick cotton quilt and a simply decorated wooden cabin with a classical style.
Fortunately, he was still alive and hadn't turned into grilled fish.
"I'm dying of heat. How many layers of quilts did they put on me?" Yino lifted the quilt, feeling a bit of a headache.
He hadn't woken up naturally; he had been awakened by the stifling heat of the quilts.
He vaguely remembered that Yuyan had danced for him last night, but he had passed out with a nosebleed before the dance was even finished.
Yino hadn't fainted from excitement over the dance; it was purely because of his body's inherent weakness.
As the young master of the Grand Tutor's Mansion, Yino had never experienced high-intensity exercise since childhood. Now, having climbed a thousand meters in altitude in one go, he had simply collapsed under the strain.
"Is this Foundation cultivation level just for show?" he wondered.
"In the game, when you got tired climbing a mountain, you just needed to find a flat spot to rest for a few seconds, and your stamina would be fully restored."
Yino looked at his hands, once again feeling the reality of his rebirth.
He threw off the three layers of quilts and got out of bed, relieved to find his clothes were still on.
Pushing open the wooden door, he was greeted by the sight of a full moon.
"It's not dawn yet..." Yino continued walking towards the courtyard.
He saw the white-robed woman sitting alone at a stone table, playing chess. He stopped, and at the same time, she looked up at him.
Yino's legs were still a bit numb, but Yuyan didn't rush him. She just silently watched his weak state until Yino sat down across from her at the chessboard.
"Sorry, I accidentally fainted earlier..." Yino explained apologetically, instinctively taking control of the white pieces.
Yuyan nodded, the worry in her eyes gradually easing: "It was my misjudgment. I had intended to give you a bit of a test, but I didn't expect a mortal body to be so frail."
"..."
The smile on Yino's face was not a happy one.
He wanted to say that Yuyan also looked like a frail, thin woman, but then he remembered that she was a cultivator. She could ride a sword while wearing high heels, so how could strength in this immortal cultivation world be judged by physical appearance?
"I'm sorry I couldn't entertain you properly" Yino sighed, continuing to play chess with a helpless face.
At least, although he wasn't as strong as Yuyan, his mind was still sharp.
"Was that dance last night the reward you mentioned?" After a long silence during the chess game, Yino was the first to break it.
Yuyan, focused on the game, didn't answer but just nodded.
"Why?" he pressed further.
This time, Yuyan looked up at him: "That night, you intentionally lost to me. If we're talking about true ability, you naturally won... So, according to our bet, I should have danced for your entertainment."
"How did you know?" He blinked, suddenly understanding the strange things from yesterday.
"I may not be skilled at chess, but I'm not stupid," Yuyan couldn't help but say coldly.
Her voice was a few decibels higher than usual, and Yino could clearly sense the dissatisfaction in her eyes.
"No wonder you insisted on bringing me up the mountain..." Yino muttered, having already accepted his fate, before making a crucial move with a white piece.
With this move, Yuyan immediately lost nine black pieces.
Yino observed Yuyan's face, seeing surprise, unwillingness, and the humiliation of being outplayed in her eyes.
But after a long silence, Yuyan still managed to keep her composure.
"That night, you really did let me win," she closed her eyes, but her hand didn't stop moving the black pieces, even though the game was already hopeless for her.
Yino wasn't arrogant either, seriously accompanying her to finish the game.
But now, he no longer needed to go easy on her.
"Why are you so obsessed with chess?" Yino asked again after making the final settling move.
As before, he didn't have much expectation, as if he were just randomly poking an NPC in a game to see if he could trigger a storyline.
But this time, Yino seemed to have met Yuyan's conditions for opening up.
Under the moonlight, after a moment of silence, the white-robed woman smiled resignedly and said:
"When I was little, my father always sat alone on the mountaintop playing chess."
"Father was a boring and reclusive person. He never played with me, always making me play chess with him, and he strictly required me to memorize those obscure and difficult-to-understand chess manuals..."
"But I didn't like chess from a young age. I liked swords and wanted to learn swordsmanship from the sister next door, so I often rebelled against my father in childhood."
"Later..."
"My sword talent was discovered by my master, and my father accepted reality, so he stopped teaching me chess."
"When I was 9… my father passed away."
At this point, Yuyan lowered her eyes, and the smile on her lips gradually became lonely and solitary.
She looked at Yino, somewhat ashamed and self-deprecating:
"Father left me nothing but a chessboard and a few old, tattered chess manuals."
"I was my father's most beloved child when he was alive, but now, I can't understand the chess manuals he left behind, nor do I know how to solve that old worn chessboard..."
"So, I want to learn chess again."
Finally, Yuyan looked at Yino, the persistence in her eyes finally revealing the truth.
Yino furrowed his brow, nodding thoughtfully.
Everything Yuyan had just said matched the backstory in the original game story.
Yino remembered that in the original Fallen Immortal, Yuyan was a destined child from a noble family. But when she was 9 years old, her family met with misfortune, a catastrophic disaster that wiped out the entire Mo family, leaving only little Mo Yuyan...
Later, many of Yuyan's cryptic interactions were related to her family's destruction, which explained her deep-seated bitterness and resentment.
But if Yuyan's obsession with chess was because of her father's legacy...
"Then why did your master order you not to touch the chess manuals?" Yino couldn't help but voice his confusion.
Yuyan gave a bitter laugh, her beautiful face showing calmness and helplessness: "Since becoming the sect leader, my master comes and goes without a trace. He won't tell me the truth until I defeat him."
"So, you bringing me up the mountain wasn't because you took a liking to me, but simply because you wanted someone to practice chess with?" Yino raised an eyebrow.
"Apart from playing chess, you indeed have no value to me," she said coldly with blank expression, her beautiful eyes that had been reminiscing now lowering again.
The atmosphere turned a bit cold.
Yino didn't feel disappointed. Such a clearly defined relationship actually made him feel less pressure and more security around Yuyan.
"Am I being too blunt? Are you disappointed?" the white-robed woman asked with a gentle tone, her red lips curving into a slight smile as she looked at Yino.
He shrugged and continued playing chess: "A little, but at least I've gained some benefits too, so it's not a loss."
"That's good. I didn't want you to misunderstand," Yuyan nodded as her cold eyes showing only a bit of pity for the weak, without any other unnecessary emotions.
Although she seemed more cunning and prone to smiling than in the game, the inherent coldness in her bones remained unchanged.
Just this dim and cold look in her eyes was enough to make any man give up any notions about her.
Fortunately, Yino was past the age of hot-blooded passion and no longer fantasized about being the destined protagonist of some novel or game.
Not harboring illusions about beautiful women meant not being hurt when relationships were clarified.
"Listen to me."
"You should make this move here."
Towards the end of the game, Yino spoke up, his tone became equally cold.
His sudden serious instruction made the white-robed woman across from him look up.
She bit her red lips lightly, observed the board for a moment, and finally asked with confusion: "Why?"
"Just listen to me and make the move. You don't have much chance of winning anyway."
"..."
Yuyan gripped the chess piece tightly in her hand.
This feeling of being lectured by a mortal from a position of superiority was not pleasant for the destined child.
Yuyan couldn't help but think of her father.
When she was little, she only liked swordsmanship, enjoying the sense of superiority from defeating opponents, and looked down on those bookworms who spent all day indoors with their music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
And at that time, her father had taught her chess just like Yino was doing now.
She was neither willing to learn nor could she understand it.
Without a sword, on this complex chessboard, she was the talentless one, and she hated this feeling of humiliation, of still being inferior no matter how hard she tried.
"If you feel it's embarrassing to be taught chess by a useless mortal like me, you can continue playing according to your own ideas."
"After all, you've brought me up the mountain, and my only value is to play chess with you anyway."
"Living under your roof, I'll do as you say."
Yino rested his chin on his hand, observing Yuyan's expression with some interest.
After a long silence.
Yuyan didn't speak again, just obediently followed Yino's instructions in playing chess.
For the next few moves, Yuyan was almost deprived of her autonomy, completely following Yino's thought process in playing, even though she couldn't understand why Yino wanted to play this way.
Bang!
With the final move, the endgame was reached according to Yino's command.
Yuyan, who had been in a fog the whole time, finally understood.
"This is called setting up a formation."
"Chess has many pieces, and victory or defeat isn't decided so quickly. If you look further ahead, giving up on precarious positions and using small pieces as bait to catch big fish can turn the situation around."
"Do you understand now?"
Yino put down the chess piece and explained calmly.
Yuyan looked at the black pieces that had turned the game around, her eyes full of astonishment. She seriously replayed each move in her mind, thinking for a long time before vaguely understanding Yino's strategy.
But... Understanding doesn't mean being able to learn.
If Yuyan were to encounter this kind of situation again on her own, she probably still wouldn't be able to think of such a far-reaching formation as Yino had.
After a long thinking, all Yuyan could say seemed to be heartfelt admiration.
"I see, that's impressive," she nodded humbly, having put aside her pride and impatience.
Because Yino was right, he was just a practice partner Yuyan had brought up the mountain. If Yuyan couldn't put aside her pride in front of him, why should they waste time and energy together?
Yino sighed and took out the chess manual from his pocket.
"These chess manuals were given to me by my great-grandfather when he taught me to play chess as a child."
"You can take them and read them first. If you don't understand, come and ask me, but I can't guarantee I remember all the formations..."
"Be careful, if master discovers the chess manuals, don't reveal that they came from me."
The last sentence was spoken with a strong sense of self-preservation in Yino's eyes.
Although he hadn't met the Wuji Sect Leader since his rebirth, the memory from his previous life still made him deeply wary of that strict old sword master's harsh training.
"You read these first. I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm going back to rest a bit more."
As the sun rose in the east, the fatigue from Yino's exertions last night gradually welled up.
He waved his hand, intending to go back to the room for more sleep.
But Yuyan stopped him:
"That's my room."
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