Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

In the mountains of Zhanlu.

The red pieces on the chessboard were like a wall of fire, completely surrounding the piece marked "chariot" and the stone that had been launched into the board.

These red pieces are arranged in a very dangerous way. Even though Jiang Wen still has the strength to protect the central position of the general and defend the two flanks, these red pieces are suspended at the river mouth, forming the prototype of the "Heaven and Earth Cannon", which is about to kill in one move.

[Sect Leader Jiang, you flatter me.]

"The cannon should be fired from a distance, not in vain. The red pieces in your hand are very powerful, but once they are revealed, you will lose the initiative and inevitably fall into a disadvantageous position. The three killing moves you mentioned earlier, besides the obvious double cannons on the ground and the sky, the third one must be the 'Kings not meeting' strategy, right?"

Jiang Wen ran his fingertips along the edge of the chessboard, feeling the roughness through them, mixed with the dampness of the mountain mist. He suddenly chuckled and flicked his finger, gently pointing it at the boy beside him.

"In the end, your 'Heaven and Earth Cannon' move was too hasty. It failed to capture your master's calm and unmoved mind. Young friend, I suppose that whether it was the game on the table or the communication outside the table, it was all done by you, the young disciple, on behalf of your master."

The chess player, struck by the blow, stood frozen in place, instinctively dodging to the side. The sound of the telepathic communication immediately fluctuated, and his previously wooden and stoic expression revealed a hint of panic.

"...When did you see through it?"

Jiang Wen answered with absolute confidence: "I am extremely good at judging people. I have only misjudged three people in my life: Chen Jinnan, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society; Wen Tailai, the Thunder Hand; and the Iron Leg Water Floater."

"Your moves are quick, but you always try to imitate Master Zhao's elusive style. For example, when I played 'Cannon Grinding Cinnabar' just now, I deliberately left an empty space on the right flank. If you were really Zhao Wuji, you would never have tried to capture the chariot and cannon and force a breakout."

"But you hesitated for three breaths before finally throwing out the red pieces in an attempt to checkmate, following the 'chariot and cannon advance without retreat' strategy—was that three-breath pause a test to see if your master would stop you?"

Jiang Wen's voice was casual, but his gaze was fixed on the boy's every move.

Jiang Wen had long sensed that the person who communicated with him telepathically and played chess with him had an unusual aura. Upon closer observation, he realized that the person was too "human." Although their words and actions had a similar tone to Zhao Wuji's, they lacked that unique and otherworldly evil.

Then there is only one answer: the chess player in front of us has been playing the role of the person behind the scenes all along. It is because of his maturity and courage that he is far beyond his years that he was able to deceive Jiang Wen at the beginning.

"It's a pity that you are skilled at chess, but you can't escape the trap set by your master's strategy. In the end, you are just a pawn that is being manipulated."

Upon hearing Jiang Wen's words, the boy froze, his previously dull eyes suddenly sharpening like knives. He abruptly raised his right hand, intending to scatter the chess pieces on the board. Jiang Wen was prepared, and with a flick of his finger, a pebble dampened by morning dew flew from his fingertip, accurately striking the boy's palm.

The chess player's palm was covered with a pure energy. With a sudden sinking of his wrist, his tender palm stretched into a knife shape to meet the attack. There was no earth-shattering sound, only a crisp "crack". The launched pebble split in two, the broken surface as smooth as if it had been cut by a jade craftsman.

As the pebbles fell to the ground, the chess player breathed a sigh of relief. The stone chips clinging to his fingertips drifted away gently with the invisible airflow, even stirring up fine dust on the ground.

"To possess such skill at such a young age, the Qingyang Sect's foundation is truly remarkable—this technique is completely different from the Heavenly Silkworm Divine Skill, could it be Sect Leader Zhao's unique innate qi?"

Jiang Wen smiled slightly, but the chess player's face showed no joy at his successful move; instead, it grew increasingly ugly.

Clearly, he realized that Jiang Wen was taking the opportunity to test him, and even saw through his martial arts in a single move. As a result, whether outside or inside the chessboard, he was being probed and tricked for a long time, just as Jiang Wen had said, and was ultimately a pawn being manipulated.

Even more terrifying, he suddenly felt a pain in his liver, his blood rushed to his head and he felt extremely tight in his chest. He involuntarily coughed up a mouthful of blood, but he still couldn't figure out how Jiang Wen had broken through his innate protective aura and injured him.

"Child. Take a deep breath. It's normal to feel dizzy. With your bad temper, you still dared to take the internal force of the Seven Injury Fist head-on. You've already done your best."

Jiang Wen's gaze passed over the chess-playing boy, and he slowly stood up. He felt the ground beneath his feet becoming damp from the increasingly thick fog. The fog was not ordinary morning mist, but rather like it was mixed with stagnant ink, carrying a biting chill that seeped into the seams of his clothes. It even had a sticky, solid feel when it touched his skin.

"Heaven and Earth Cannon".

This move uses the cannon to restrain the opponent, thereby covering the other pieces on one's side to launch an attack. Zhao Wuji's decision to allow his disciple to use this move must have had a deeper meaning. According to Jiang Wen, the purpose was to hint at the final decisive move of "the kings not meeting," where whichever king moves first is likely to form a checkmated victory.

But could this move be a trap? After all, Zhao Wuji is currently trapped in the core of the formation and cannot escape. Wouldn't such a hint just expose his weakness?

Was the boy setting up a feint, or was he using it to lure him into breaking the formation? Was Zhao Wuji using the boy to create a feint, or was he trying to trick him into making the first move? Well then, let him see just how many twists and turns there will be.

The mountain mist surged in from all directions, obscuring the sky above and the ground below. Only the direction of the Ten Mountains Formation remained, where the thick, impenetrable mist churned with purple energy and dragon light. The dragon light, which should have been a vibrant, expansive purple-red, now seemed twisted into a tangled mess by an invisible hand. Each turn was sluggish and hesitant, occasionally colliding with the mist walls and exploding into tiny fragments of light that instantly dissolved on the mist's surface, leaving only a faint smell of burnt metal.

The core of the fog was slowly rotating, forming a bottomless vortex. Occasionally, a very faint trace of blood would peek out from the center of the vortex, intertwining with the purple dragon light, before being suppressed by the denser fog. The blood, dissipating into the air, merged with the metallic smell that Jiang Wen had detected, becoming the most obvious trace of the formation's backlash.

If the dragon-winged people were to fall into this world, it would likely cause a great calamity. The one who set up the magic array seems to be using magic to lure them to the stars, but they are still missing the last bit of help.

Jiang Wen looked up into the depths of the mist. The fog above was so thick that it couldn't be dispersed. He could vaguely see purple dragon light twisting and flowing in the mist, as if the blood and severed limbs of the dragon-riding winged man had been thrown from the Milky Way and were trying to squeeze out through the gaps in the Ten Mountains Formation...

"Master Jiang, even if my master is too busy to intervene, are you really not worried about the safety of your disciples in Chong'an City?"

Blood streamed from the corner of the chess player's mouth, yet he remained determined to win, but Jiang Wen shook his head.

"Therefore, you are far inferior to Master Zhao."

"I consider myself an expert in Go. At the age of three, I could play against five people at the same time, and at the age of six, I was familiar with all the games of the previous dynasty's top players. Yet, I inevitably became a pawn in my master's hands. Your previous moves were chaotic, clearly showing that you have no knowledge of Go. I would like to ask you, Master, why you say this."

“That’s easy. Your master has drawn up the world as a chessboard and used all people as pieces. He lies low to observe the situation and make his own moves; when the time is right, he is like a dragon entering the sea, rising up with the help of the situation. However, this path is dangerous. He chooses pieces based solely on profit, regardless of good or evil; he uses pieces like a lash, showing no mercy; he controls pieces without any gaps, allowing no room for thought. This method is ultimately too perilous and is not one I would adopt.”

"What insightful opinion does the Taoist priest have?"

"Since ancient times, chess players have been ranked in different positions, just as people have different levels of talent. I have always observed their nature and assessed their abilities, then guided and honed them, like polishing a rough jade into a fine piece. Afterward, I let each of them develop their strengths and complement each other, so that they can naturally go far."

“One person’s behavior can be predicted, and so can the behavior of thousands upon thousands of others. But I govern by doing nothing, and they can each do their own thing. No matter how talented you are, you can’t control the actions of thousands upon thousands of pieces to keep them from going astray, but I will one day be able to get them all to act on their own.”

The chess player seemed to understand something. He turned his head, his facial muscles twitched stiffly, and he revealed a strange smile.

"This explanation of the principles of chess is rather impractical. The Taoist priest clearly does not understand the way of chess, so where do these principles come from, and how did he come to know them?"

Jiang Wen was silent for a moment, recalling the reason why he had given up playing chess and cards. Many vivid faces of masters of card manipulation, card loss, card printing, and card modification flashed through his mind. He quickly shook his head to shake them out of his mind and sighed leisurely.

"...I know about Genting Highlands."

…………

As they spoke, the earth began to tremble, and the light and shadow in the mist shook violently. The purple dragon light seemed to have sensed a flaw and tried to break free of its restraints by struggling outwards, but it was bounced back by the invisible array wall, splashing up more broken gray mist.

The pillars of light from the ten mountains of Songxi swayed precariously, and the entire formation resembled a wounded giant beast, each breath filled with painful stagnation. The mist swelled and contracted with its panting, and the formation patterns flickered in and out of focus as it struggled. Only the vortex at the core remained stagnant, concealing the true form of the bound leader Zhao, as well as the most hidden flaw in this confrontation.

The Ten Mountains Grand Formation struggled to operate. The dying cries of the Dragon-Riding Feathered Man transformed into countless fleeing ghosts, shaking Jiang Wen's eardrums and causing a faint, almost inaudible metallic scraping sound to emanate from all around, making the air tremble slightly. The core of the mist was even more bizarre, slowly rotating to form a bottomless vortex. Occasionally, a faint trace of blood would peek through the center of the vortex, intertwining with the purple dragon light and suppressing the purple spiritual light with an even denser mist.

Jiang Wen smiled slightly as he looked at the chess-playing boy's feigned surprise.

"If you can stall for time, why can't I? See? This is my strategy."

Meanwhile, on the ten mountains, Yuan Ziyi's silver silk whip, Luo Shuang'er's Han Wang green knife, Liu Ding Goddess's heavenly silk thread, Honglian Holy Mother's blazing sun palm force, and Yan Yongchun's fierce fist force had all found the key nodes of the Ten Mountains Formation and bombarded the Buddhas' incorruptible golden bodies.

What followed was that at the core of the formation, Zhanlu Mountain suddenly trembled violently, and the magic array under its feet seemed to break down abruptly. The purple dragon light that was originally flowing like a living thing instantly became chaotic like a broken string on an ancient zither. Strands of purple light broke apart in the air, covering the starry sky and stirring up the world into scattered stardust!

Zhanlu Mountain fractured at some level, and Jiang Wen vaguely guessed that this was the result of the gravity trap that killed the dragon-crossing winged man being broken—

The Ten Mountains Formation utilizes the existence of a gravity trap, which not only traps the corpse of the dragon-crossing winged man to prevent it from falling into the real world and polluting the entire world, but also traps the person in charge of the formation, forcing them to activate it with a selfless heart that knows no risk of death.

The instantaneous shattering brought boundless chaos to the field of vision. It was a place without a physical outline, yet all the light around it could be seen “bending.” The rays of the stars in the sky, which were originally straight silver lines, were abruptly bent into arcs at the outer edge of this area, as if they were being gripped and pulled towards the center by an invisible hand. The images of star clusters in the distance were compressed and distorted, and the stars that should have been round were stretched into ellipses. Even spacetime seemed like crumpled paper, exuding a strange, writhing, and twisted feeling.

Suddenly, the mist in Zhanlu Mountain began to churn violently, as if stirred by an invisible hand. An invisible force suddenly emerged from the thick fog formed by the gravity trap, causing rocks to fly everywhere and terrifying gravitational waves to surge toward Jiang Wen!

Jiang Wenxin felt something and half-closed his eyes, entering a mysterious realm. His originally clear pupils were covered with a layer of frost white, as if thousands of sword shadows were flowing within them, much like the appearance of the old master Yi Yun who had passed away deep in the cave.

At this moment, Jiang Wen stood still, his long sword already in his hand. The wind around him froze instantly, the spider webs in the bushes around him remained motionless, the rolling pebbles at his feet froze in mid-air, and even the raindrops flying obliquely in the sky hung like sparkling needles, dazzling in the world. Only the unsheathed long sword in his palm trembled slightly!
Jiang Wen's sword intent initially trembled like a thin string, but in an instant, it transformed into a surging river, swirling around him. Wherever it passed, the ground cracked with fine sword marks, spreading out like a spiderweb. He raised his hand, his fingertips touching the sword, and a dragon-shaped sword aura leaped from its sheath, colliding with the boundless darkness behind him. This caused the thick fog to surge, and a cold light flashed. The sword intent, inverted in the chaos, merged with heaven and earth, creating an extremely piercing friction sound everywhere. The surging energy was indistinguishable between starlight and sword aura.

"No, Yi Yun's sword energy alone is not enough... I need something else..."

He felt as if he were in the core of a gravitational trap, with absolute blackness behind him, a blackness even darker than the background of the universe. Even the orange-red halo stopped abruptly here, condensing into a black vortex—any matter or light that entered could never escape, as if it were completely "swallowed" by spacetime, leaving only the constantly distorted light and torn matter on the outside. The black vortex suddenly sucked Jiang Wen in.

Just when things were at a critical stalemate, Jiang Wen suddenly relaxed his tightly furrowed brows, formed a circle with his palm, and slowly rotated his inner force as he pushed the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth to the seventh level. The air around his body seemed to be twisted by an invisible force, and even the broken bricks embedded in the cracks of the stone under his feet floated up slightly, revealing a sense of stagnation that defied common sense.

"not enough……"

Jiang Wen exerted his strength again. His hair moved without wind, but it did not fly wildly. Instead, it followed the invisible airflow and adhered to his shoulders and back. The moment his clothes were spread out, they condensed into a semi-transparent wall of air. The Shifting Stars technique was also stimulated to its peak under the external force. At this moment, even if a hidden arrow came, it would be shredded by this invisible sharpness. At this moment, the downward force suddenly turned from straight to horizontal, and the rolling pebbles were moved to fly horizontally.

The black vortex suddenly began to spin, attempting to shatter the sword shadow. However, the sword intent was indestructible. The sword shadow not only did not break during its rotation, but its rotation trajectory was reversed. Jiang Wen used his sword energy to fight against the black vortex generated by the gravity trap, drawing a circular mark on the surface of the black vortex. Where the sword mark passed, the rotation speed of the black vortex suddenly slowed down and reversed, as if it had been twisted and turned upside down by the sword energy, and finally a flaw appeared.

"Thank you, Taoist priest, for helping me escape my predicament."

A voice that sounded like a half-smile suddenly rang out; it was Zhao Wuji's voice!

"Master Zhao, there's no need to say more. That's the downside of Auto Chess."

Jiang Wen continued swinging his sword, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

Zhao Wuji's words seemed to have just lifted a heavy burden. His voice and expression were always ambiguous, his eyes carrying the hysteria and extreme calmness of a madman. Although his face maintained a youthful appearance, clear streaks of white had suddenly appeared at his temples. He was slowly looking in the direction of Chong'an City.

"Master Jiang, you have a slight edge in the game of chess in Zhanlu Mountain, but are you prepared for the endgame in this game in Chong'an County?"

Jiang Wen chuckled.

“Ever since the Guangzhou Rebellion, you have repeatedly tested me, just to find out what I am planning to do.”

"That's natural. A person who defeated the King of Shouluo and almost became the leader of the White Sun Sect, and who also got involved in the Nine Stars of the Value Talisman Formation, I'm naturally curious whether you really intend to live a secluded life in the deep mountains. I'm also curious what other tricks you can still use now that you're at your limit."

"You must understand, even the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas hiding in the Huayan World, upon merely glancing at the source of all dharmas, all transformed into something terrifying. And the robe and bowl in Huashou Rock could never be passed down, otherwise how could the Red Sun Blood Buddha have descended to earth... Guess whose corpse the Imperial Blood Buddha is..."

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Wen swung his sword, forcing back some unknown entity that was approaching from the shadows. Surprisingly, this also suppressed the gravitational vortex to the point of exhaustion.

The backlash from the Ten Mountains Formation surged up from the ground like a tidal wave once more, instantly cracking the patterns on the ground of Zhanlu Mountain. The purple dragon light in the gravity trap shot into the sky, originally heading straight for the direction of the Great Fire Star. However, the remaining force of the formation seemed to be both drawn by the purple dragon light and guided by the incomparably pure sword energy. With Jiang Wen's exquisite internal energy of Qiankun Great Shift and Dou Zhuan Xing Yi, it was actually forcibly reversed back to the position of the Altair constellation, dissipating into the stars with the last obsession of the dragon-riding winged man, leaving only the shockwaves of the collapsing sky and sinking earth spreading in all directions.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Wen unleashed a palm strike into the void. The deafening collision of internal forces shook the entire mountain, causing the mist to churn and the dew on the pine trees to drip down. It seemed as if two figures had entered using this shockwave, causing the billowing mist to rise straight into the sky!
"Master Zhao, why don't you come out and meet your old friends?"

As they spoke, a man dressed in coarse linen appeared from the mountains. His old clothes, though washed clean, still seemed to be covered in the dust and musty smell of the prison. Several old scars on his shoulders were faintly visible through the fabric. While most people have pupils as black as ink, his eyes held a dark gold. When he focused, the dark gold dissipated slightly, and upon closer inspection, it seemed as if a Golden Emperor sat alone on a spiritual platform, a divine being illuminating all directions. Although the star patterns on his robe were blurred, they still exuded an endless, silent power from that point of light.

"Alas, after the devastation of war, everything is destroyed. Why must we commit further bloodshed?"

Another voice spoke, his plain long robe fluttering slightly in the mountain breeze. A few strands of white had appeared at his temples, but this did not diminish his upright posture in the slightest. Instead, he resembled a pine tree weathered by frost, his strength even more pronounced. At his waist hung the serpentine weapon that had been with him for many years. The scabbard had long been worn smooth, yet a restrained sharpness emanated from it, no longer as fierce as it had been in his youth, but rather possessed a more rounded and subtle quality, as if the sword had been sheathed and its edge concealed.

"When was such a meticulously planned scheme devised?"

Zhao Wuji's tone was surprised. From the void, there was a figure whose limbs were twisted at an extremely unnatural angle, with obvious reverse folds protruding from the elbows and knees.

The blue cloth shirt was stretched taut, and one could clearly see crisscrossing iron hook-like objects under the skin, hooking straight into the gaps between his bones, like a skin bag forcibly stretched open by iron wire, inexplicably pulled in all directions by gravity, like a clock or a birdcage, and even when he turned his neck, it made a terrifying "creaking" friction sound, like a rusty iron axle turning and struggling to break free, and he was grabbing the chess-playing boy with one hand.

"Master Jiang has quite the skill; he actually managed to invite these two masters."

Zhao Wuji's voice was no longer the previous telepathic transmission, but carried a real metallic quality, each word as if squeezed out from a rusty iron pipe.

"Unfortunately, you couldn't keep me in the end—although the Ten Mountains Formation was broken, it can still use the last bit of backlash to send me away."

"The conflict between the four sects has never ceased. Since you have decided to step into the murky waters of the martial world, let's meet again in the future."

Jiang Wen suppressed his surging internal energy, glanced in the direction of Chong'an County, and looked at the rolling waves of pine trees in the darkest part of the night. Finally, he seemed to have made up his mind and said coldly.

"Since you regard the world as a chessboard, you always try to lure me into the game through the struggle of victory and defeat."

"Then so be it. What's wrong with meeting again in the martial world?"

Two masters surrounded him at the same time. One of them flicked his wrist, and the Golden Serpent Sword, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, pierced straight for Zhao Wuji's back. The other flashed forward, and with the internal force of the Divine Illumination Scripture with twelve layers of power, he struck Zhao Wuji's shoulder. The two cooperated perfectly, one attacking and the other defending, effectively blocking Zhao Wuji's escape route.

However, Zhao Wuji's figure floated in the air like a piece of paper. He absorbed the golden liquid medicine formed by the purple dragon light into his body, which slowly transformed him into a body beyond dimensions. Sure enough, he escaped by taking advantage of the backlash of the great formation. Although his movement was chaotic, he had obviously prepared a backup plan. He disappeared in the blink of an eye after leaving behind a few words.

It was Zhao Wuji's words that made Jiang Wen's pupils shrink slightly.

He concluded:
"Master Jiang, you can calculate the 'dead point' of the Starry Sky Path, understand that the fall of the Dragon Feathered People was an 'interstellar car accident,' and even explain the principle of 'mechanical motion balance'..."

"I ordered my men to investigate for a long time, and all I found was that you suddenly appeared in Chong'an County one year. Even after looking through three lifetimes, I couldn't find any connection to you. After much thought, only Zhanlu Mountain in Songxi County could possibly be related to you. Now, after much effort, I have finally figured out your origins—"

"1997 AD..."

"Right?"

(The whip is thrown into the vast ocean, the chapter ends.)