Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

Chapter 298: The Game of Tangqi
There was thick fog and a fierce evil wind in the Zhanlu Mountain. Countless charred corpses were still wandering in the empty space. The remaining bodies of the strange figures all stood with their heads raised, looking towards the place where Mars was in the heaven.

The scorching heat flies in July, and people give out clothes in September. Gu Yanwu therefore believed that everyone in the three ancient dynasties knew about astronomy, but chanting about celestial phenomena did not mean that one could recognize them. Even if one looks into the source of astronomical knowledge in detail, no one can guarantee whether it came from these unrecognizable aliens.

"Master Zhao, this is just Jiang's one-sided statement. If you still want to attack him, please do as you please. I'm sorry that I can't accompany you."

Jiang Wen looked into the distance at the endless darkness. It seemed that Zhao Wuji's skills were quite profound. His ability to transmit sound was so magical that Jiang Wen could hardly determine his exact location.

The purpose of his saying this was to provoke Zhao Wuji to show up, because based on his understanding of Zhao Wuji, even though this man is insidious, cunning and scheming, Jiang Wen is 90% sure that behind his enthusiasm for playing with human nature, he would not bother to snatch the last bit of things from the poor people.

Sure enough, apart from a cold snort, no other sounds came from the darkness.

Jiang Wen thought that hundreds of years ago, there might have been a sloppy man dressed as a Taoist priest, who stared at Peng Zu's back with a serious look on his face and let him leave - even though he was a monk seeking the truth and pursuing immortality, he was ultimately not interested in the elixir that Peng Zu possessed.

Patriarch Sanfeng was a man of extensive knowledge. Jiang Wengeng also thought that after seeing the truth about the Jiahe Ascension Banquet, he had become quite resistant to the tragedy caused by the Cross-Rainbow Flying Immortal, and no matter how naked the truth was, it could not penetrate his defenses.

But they never expected that behind the story of "immortals" being immortals, there would be such a sad and cruel thing.

Perhaps among the group that first created the concept of "immortals", the values ​​that humans could understand were so simple that they were beyond description. "Immortality" means old age. First, there is the age of immortality, and then "reclamation" in the mountains for a hundred years without dying, gradually breaking away from the constraints of daily social life, which can be called an immortal.

Later generations may think that becoming an "immortal" and entering the mountains means abandoning etiquette and being free, but in that barbaric era, the "immortals" themselves might have been the ones who were abandoned. When they could only survive by living in groups, this was an exile that was close to death.

A large number of "cliff tombs" from the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as "death kilns", were discovered in Hubei. The custom originated from the Wei State, which was one of the "Eight Divisions of Muye" together with the Peng State, also known as the Wei State.

This foreign vassal state that had made great contributions was gradually excluded and expelled by the Western Zhou royal family. According to the inscription on the Guibo Gui, "The king ordered Duke Yi to conquer Mei'ao. Duke Yi announced the arrival of the punitive order. In February, Mei'ao arrived and presented him with silk." The general meaning is that the King of Zhou ordered Duke Yi to attack the Mei (Wei) State. Duke Yi issued a punitive order. In February, the king of Mei surrendered and presented silk and treasures. Although the Wei State tried its best to please the Zhou royal family in order to continue to survive in the Zhou capital, the outcome was still not optimistic and it was forced to move south again.

The migration of the Wei State to the south was very long. The tenacious Wei people crossed the steep Qinling Mountains and overcame various difficulties. They arrived in present-day Zhushan County, Hubei Province around the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty and re-established their state. At the same time, the custom of "abandoning the elderly" emerged, and a large number of "death kilns" for abandoning the elderly were built all over the mountains and even lasted until the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The same difficult experiences will form the same customs, and the experience of the Peng State when it moved to Wuyi Mountain may be exactly the same.

"Zhuangzi" says that Peng Zu lived through the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty and was 800 years old. People also say that Peng Zu was good at health preservation and lived for 800 years. In fact, it refers to the fact that Emperor Yao granted the land of Peng to Peng Zu to establish a country, which was finally destroyed by Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty. It refers to the fact that Peng State lasted 800 years. Afterwards, its descendants scattered all over the place, experienced ups and downs, and finally the whole clan disappeared in the deep mountains and forests of Fujian.

But no one could have imagined that in the deep mountains of northern Fujian, an unknown leader of the Peng Zu clan had led his people into the barren land with great hope, yearning for the "Immortal Land of Fujian" mentioned by his ancestors. However, he was surrounded by wolves, poisonous snakes, diseases and disasters along the way, and the destination was desolate and remote, and he became a sinner exiled to the mountains.

So, this leader of the Peng Zu clan from an unknown generation wandered madly in the mountains, and actually found and took the golden elixir, making the immortality of "Peng Zu" a reality - even if the price he paid was to lose all traces of being human.

The so-called ancient immortals may just be old people who live in the wild due to the fear of aging.

Thus, in the midst of wabi-sabi, the "immortal" with mottled skin like an ancient pine tree and fluffy hair like a feather has taken a few long steps, hidden in the mountains and jungles, and gradually disappeared. The last Kunwu people scattered in this world just hid in the darkness...

But at this moment, the pitch-black sky was once again stirred by ten rays of divine aura, and fierce winds and biting spring cold lingered in all directions. It seemed that an invisible force was withdrawing from the sky thousands of feet high and rushing towards Jiang Wen's location.

Jiang Wen did not know the secret of the formation, but he did not need to bother to identify the direct and intuitive hostility.

After losing interest in seeking the golden elixir, Zhao Wuji apparently turned his attention to the lonely Jiang Wen - his plan was the same as Jiang Wen's, he had originally intended to take the opportunity to get rid of his lifelong enemy, rather than play any drama of heroes meeting and sympathizing with each other.

Jiang Wen frowned and smiled coldly.

"The leader is busy with affairs. There is no benefit in staying in this desolate mountain for any longer. Why bother with this?"

[It is not that I intend to stay in Songxi County, but I have heard a lot of strange news in Chong'an County, and there are also hidden disturbances in Songxi County. If I let the Taoist priest go back easily, I am afraid that many accidents will happen on the way.]

The seemingly harmonious exchange of information before was, after all, just a deliberate disguise by the two of them. After fierce probing and repeated competition with each other, they finally let go of the last disguise.

It was clear that Zhao Wuji had something else in mind.

Chong'an County is the place where the Wuyi Sect was founded. All its disciples now travel around the county, while Songxi County is currently home to a group of ten people including Yuan Ziyi, Yan Yongchun, Luo Shuang'er, and the Red Lotus Holy Mother, all of whom have deep ties with Jiang Wen.

I don’t know whether this “accident” had already happened, or whether it happened suddenly because Jiang Wen left at the wrong time?

"Master Zhao Wuji, if I'm not mistaken, you are bound by the backlash of the Ten Mountains Formation and cannot escape in a short time. That's why you are pretending to be mysterious and talking to me here to delay time, right?"

Jiang Wen then smiled and said, "How do you know that I don't have a backup plan? Don't you have the same idea?"

When it is false, it is real; when it is real, it is false. It is obvious that Zhao Wuji had deceived Jiang Wen before.

He said that he didn't know Jiang Wen's whereabouts, but as of now, Zhao Wuji knew the whereabouts of not only Jiang Wen himself, but also the people around Jiang Wen. The only thing that exceeded his expectations was that Jiang Wen suddenly appeared in Zhanlu Mountain based on only the clues in his hand.

[I have always admired the Taoist master's knowledge of history and present times. Today, I am fortunate to meet you in the mountains. Why don't we sit down and play a game of chess? It will also satisfy my lifelong wish. ]

Before Jiang Wen could refuse, an eight-year-old boy with a dull expression and a figure like a figurine, wearing an apricot-yellow gauze jacket and carrying a chessboard and chess pieces on his back, appeared in front of him. He was not afraid of Jiang Wen's murderous aura at all, and placed a white piece on the three-six position without hesitation.

Jiang Wen sat down immediately and without thinking, he placed a black piece right next to the white piece. Afterwards, the two of them moved back and forth on the upper left side of the board, placing pieces very quickly. Almost as soon as the former finished his move, the latter would follow.

After dozens of moves, the dumbfounded boy in front of him looked at the black piece in the upper left corner that had become stupid and defeated, and suddenly raised his head, frowned and said.

"...You don't know how to play chess?"

Jiang Wen placed the piece into the opponent's empty space without even raising his head.

"Never mind whether I can do it or not, just tell me whether I can do it quickly or not."

The boy stopped moving his pieces in dismay, looking at Jiang Wen angrily, ignoring the opponent's dead chess piece. However, Jiang Wen knocked on the chessboard, urging the opponent to move his pieces quickly.

"Hurry up, hurry up, be careful not to overtime or admit defeat - I have been practicing chess piece stacking for twenty years, today I will let you see the style of a national player."

Seeing that Zhao Wuji turned a blind eye to Jiang Wen's rogue behavior, the boy obviously condoned it, and then he returned to his stunned look and continued to surround and kill Jiang Wen by relying on the advantage of the layout.

But what he didn't know was that Zhao Wuji was speaking to Jiang Wen through the method of voice transmission at this moment.

[If the Taoist priest keeps delaying and doesn't make any moves, I will easily win this game. I have prepared three killer moves this time, but I wonder how many of them can be broken by the Taoist priest's means? ]

Jiang Wen smiled slightly and pretended not to hear anything.

When the boy made the 54th move, he suddenly discovered that the black piece in Jiang Wen's hand had been replaced by a stone, which was placed abruptly on the chessboard, occupying three or four squares, surrounding the originally airtight white pieces and forcing a crooked arc.

Jiang Wen looked at the chessboard with a half-smile. The boy looked intently at the stone in the dim light and found that it seemed to be scratched by a sharp object, with the word "car" deeply engraved on it.

"Watch out kid, this is a hard car that's rolling around, can you handle it?"

………………

In Chong'an County, the abandoned government office was engulfed in flames. The sound of ghosts singing could be heard incessantly, and the flames were as bright as day.

The county residents, who should have been panicking and rushing to put out the fire, were now, led by a group of men in black robes and green boots, holding torches and watching coldly, as if the fire was burning in a mirage and had nothing to do with the county where they were born and raised. They also completely ignored the clear water of the canal, which was now flowing eastward under their feet.

"Well done! After burning these things, the county government office will never be rebuilt..."

Senior Brother Qiu Jiuzhang muttered to himself, and surrounded by the crowd, he came to the front of the procession, walked past the fragrant wooden sedan chair that had fallen to the ground, and looked ahead at the road.

Shi Zhongyu, the newly accepted disciple, was now surrounded by shadowy gods and men with stiff limbs, fighting endlessly like a revolving lantern.

Those gods and immortals in gorgeous clothes and white hats, who were supposed to be sitting in sedan chairs, had already rushed out at this time, smelling the scent of humans. Their punches and kicks were like the collision of copper and iron, with enough force to split rocks. As their limbs danced violently, the gold powder makeup on the gods' faces gradually fell off, revealing the skin and flesh underneath that was so dry and shrunken that it was difficult to hang on the bones, and was so dark blue that it was almost black. They were actually corpses that had been dried by the wind for a long time!
Little Stone was trapped in the middle, his fists and palms were still moving as fast as the wind, but he did not know how to use his short stature to dodge and move. He just focused on fighting with his life at the cost of injury, and unexpectedly seemed to be more fearless than the gods.

Even though two fists are no match for four hands, and he was often hit by several heavy punches in succession, and his hands and feet were wrapped by hands like dead trees, but Xiao Shitou just shook his body, broke free from the restraints and continued to push back. For a while, no one dared to stop him.

"Big Brother, we can't let this kid go on making trouble. Time is running out!"

Second Brother Chen Henggui, who was thrown into the water by a small stone, had already jumped out of the water. He drew the butcher knife from his waist and approached Qiu Jiuzhang and said angrily.

Qiu Jiuzhang's round face darkened, and he scolded: "Do you think I don't want to? Do you know that even the martial arts masters are afraid of these Nuo gods, but now they can only fight him on equal terms!"

Chen Henggui gritted his teeth and said, "So what? If we can't reach the Water Gate tonight, we will have no way out!"

Tonight, the Jingqi Sect has mobilized public opinion, and the three masterminds have no choice but to act. They must take advantage of the government's weakness and reach the Water Gate as soon as possible and occupy it - if the sneaky officials in the alleys across the water get there first, they will be in a passive position.

Fortunately, the fire in the old government office tied down the power of the officials. Even though their Jingqi Sect was hindered at the moment, both sides were still at the same starting line.

Qiu Jiuzhang suppressed his annoyance and turned to his third senior brother Zhu Min and said, "Third brother, this child was brought by Junior Sister Tian. Have you seen her?"

The third senior brother Zhu Min has been hiding in the team.

"Well, he ran away right after the fight started. It seems like it was premeditated. We only caught Zhao Erguan."

"Take the troops to chase after her. We can't let her leak the news! Lead the troops to split up and advance through the small roads. We must rush to the Watergate as soon as possible!"

Qiu Jiuzhang was also very anxious.

The Nuo gods in these sedan chairs were left behind by the former leader of the Jingqi Sect. Even though he was a senior disciple, he only knew what they were but not why they were.

More than a decade ago, Qiu Jiuzhang had personally seen the secret room filled with human remains. He watched how the old leader stole those immortal mummies that had not decayed for thousands of years from Wuyi Mountain, cut them open, and inserted some kind of internal organs made of clay into the mummies to make Nuo gods, saying that the purpose was to imitate the structure of the human body and make them "alive".

Later, Qiu Jiuzhang learned from a wandering monk that this was a Buddhist method called "Zhuangzang". However, for some reason, the old leader did not use the seven treasures mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures: gold, silver, colored glaze, glass, giant clam, red pearls, and agate. Instead, he used something more bizarre and sinister.

Qiu Jiuzhang knew that there must be something wrong with this thing.

Before his death, the old leader passed on all his notes to Qiu Jiuzhang. He said that this Nuo method originated from a group of strange people he met when he was young in the mountains of Chong'an and Songxi, mining and burning charcoal. It contained the secret of immortality. He told Qiu Jiuzhang that he wanted Qiu Jiuzhang to follow the method after learning it, and also cut open his body, make it look like this, and then put it in a sedan chair made of fragrant wood.

If he continues like this until the sun, moon and stars return to their positions, he will be able to ascend to heaven and live as long as heaven and earth.

As a medical practitioner, Qiu Jiuzhang did not believe this at all. However, when he looked at the "organs" in the old leader's jar, which were clearly made of mud but difficult to distinguish from the five internal organs of the human body, he began to have many doubts. Finally, combined with the secret records of his ancestor Qiu Chun in the family tree, he figured out that this method must be related to the "Drought Demon" that has been passed down in Chong'an since ancient times, and even this method was created to imitate the undigested bones in the natural fire cave.

Unfortunately, the old leader never revealed what these "organs" that looked like they were made of mud were made of until his death. He only mentioned something about "West Mountain and North Rock" in his last murmurs, but Qiu Jiuzhang never got the clue and couldn't find out where this place was.

The old leader seemed very sure that he could survive, and said that he would pass on his magic to his eldest disciple then. But until now, the skinny old leader in brocade robe was still sitting on the magnificent shrine inlaid with gold and jade.

His body had deep eyes and a mysterious look, with wide shoulders and a slender neck. It looked rather ugly amidst its thin skin, and gave off an ethereal air of immortality as if only the bones remained and the flesh had disappeared, but there was no sign of him coming back to life like a Nuo god.

Qiu Jiuzhang sighed and gave the order.

"Pass it on, let everyone recite the mantra together, and the gods will protect you, and you will be safe wherever you go!"

As the chants of "Grandmaster, have mercy on us, Grandmaster, please save us" rang out, the candles in everyone's hands that were leaning this way and that way rose up again along with the smoke, transforming into a cloud of thick and boiling smoke, shining dimly towards the sky, and everyone seemed to devoutly believe that they had been blessed.

At this moment, the gods in the niches that they usually worshipped devoutly had indeed resurrected and were performing a big show in front of them, which made the believers laugh and cry, and all kinds of strange behaviors appeared. For a while, evil spirits were mixed together, stone lions were silent but powerful, big trees were worshipped for no reason, puppets were floating around, ancient coffins were screaming in the wind, people suspected gods and immortals, sang in unison, and men and women rushed to the scene with wine, meat, incense and paper.

Little Stone was alone in front of this group of almost crazy Jingqi followers, surrounded by the stinking corpses of Nuo gods, and had no intention of retreating. Half of his eyes were filled with ignorance of the complexity of the world, and the other half was filled with stubbornness limited by limited knowledge. His feet seemed to have taken root and stayed where they were.

Xiao Shitou glanced at the crowd and found no trace of Tian Qingwen. He then continued to perform his martial arts methodically, blocking the front of the team and preventing the Jingqi Sect from moving forward.

He didn't know how long he would have to hold on like this, but as long as his junior brother didn't show up to stop him, he would stay here, just like the stone chariot surrounded by white pieces on Jiang Wen's chessboard. Even if he was worried about his life, he would still move forward.

There seemed to be a huge noise behind him, rumbling and shaking the earth. Everyone in the Jingqi Sect stared in amazement, as if they were shocked by some sudden miracle, and they didn't know how to express themselves. At this time, Xiao Shitou fell into a state of persistence and clarity. The flow in his mind only existed for a moment before it was covered by other things. He completely forgot about his own safety, and also forgot that there seemed to be a water gate, which was the direction where his junior brother Hong Wendi was...