Chapter 1272: No One Can Break Destiny
Chapter 1272: Chapter 1272: No One Can Break Destiny
Life is a grand encounter.
Ning Fan had never thought that, in the Saint Heir Trial, he would meet a woman named Bai Ling.
On Bai Ling’s body, Ning Fan saw the shadow of Mu Weiliang, and so he paid this woman great attention.
What likewise drew his attention was that Heavenly Immortal Practitioner among the Jinbiao Sect disciples named Wux Laoliu.
On Wux Laoliu’s body, Ning Fan saw the shadow of Wu Chen. In an instant, Ning Fan’s thoughts flew back to Eastern Heaven, back to the Rain Immortal World, back to that very first moment he had met Wu Chen.
[Wu Chen, the Wu who acknowledges no law nor king, the Chen that slaughters people and razes cities]
"Bai Ling, Qingling..."
"Wux Laoliu, Wu Chen..."
"I originally thought that all I saw within the Saint Heir Trial would be false... but perhaps, the Trial World constructed by the Demon-Encountering Stele is far from so simple."
Azure light flickered in Ning Fan’s eyes; his gaze, now fell upon Bai Ling, now upon Wux Laoliu, and now upon the heaven and earth of the Saint Heir Trial.
He did not deliberately conceal the green light of his law eye, and the sight left all the Jinbiao Sect disciples endlessly astonished.
"That’s actually Tianren Green Light! This Senior is in fact a Heavenly Immortal Practitioner!"
"This person actually possesses talent above a million men!"
"Truly formidable!"
"What! This Senior is actually a disciple of Zong Ze? He comes from the Hunkun Holy Sect?"
"Remarkable! This person must surely be a peerless prodigy among his generation!"
"Could he be one of this generation’s Hunkun’s Nine Sons?"
"What? This Senior is called Lu Bei? Never heard of that name before..."
...
To Ning Fan, slaughtering the assassins from the Big Dipper Immortal Domain had merely been a whim.
But to the people of the Jinbiao Sect, this act was without doubt a lifesaving grace.
In order to repay this kindness, everyone from the Jinbiao Sect decided to lay out a grand banquet of wine and treat Ning Fan with the utmost hospitality.
Thus, everyone took out, without the slightest stinginess, the fine wines they had treasured for many years.
It was worth mentioning that the cultivation technique practiced by the Jinbiao Sect disciples was called the Divine Blade Fierce Wine Technique, created by the Jinbiao Saint. When cultivating this technique, one not only needed to train the blade bitterly, but also needed to drink large quantities of wine.
Therefore, every Jinbiao Sect disciple would carry a large amount of Spiritual Wine on them at all times, in case of need.
When everyone took out all the fine wines in their storage pouches, thousands of wine jars immediately appeared upon the blade-ship. Every jar was filled with Immortal Wine dense with Spiritual Energy, its fragrance overflowing.
Afterward, the Jinbiao Sect people invited Ning Fan to the banquet, and Ning Fan did not refuse: for one, he did not wish to bruise the face of Wux Laoliu and the others; on the other hand, he also wished to use this chance to have more contact with Bai Ling and Wux Laoliu.
This banquet of wine lasted a full seven days.
On the first day, the Jinbiao Sect disciples took turns toasting Ning Fan, and their relationship still felt somewhat unfamiliar.
On the second day, the people began to warm up to one another, the atmosphere gradually heated up, and the agreed-upon toasting slowly turned into contests of drinking.
On the third day, one Jinbiao Sect disciple after another was drunk under the table by Ning Fan.
The fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day...
By the seventh day, all the Jinbiao Sect disciples had already collapsed drunk on the ground, save for Wux Laoliu alone.
Curiously enough, although Wux Laoliu clearly had the lowest cultivations among the Jinbiao disciples, he just happened to hold his liquor best, and even now could barely manage to stay upright.
Only to see Wux Laoliu with one hand braced on the wine table, supporting his swaying body, while the other hand pointed at Ning Fan, his mouth mumbling as though he wanted to say something, yet his tongue was tied and he could not squeeze out a single complete sentence for half a day.
"Brother Wu, you’re drunk." Ning Fan chuckled. Unlike Wux Laoliu, Ning Fan at this moment showed no trace of drunkenness; his capacity for wine had long since neared the level of Dao.
"No, I’m not, not drunk. I know you, you’re not called Lu Bei, you are... you are the one I saw in my dreams... that who... I forgot..." Wux Laoliu muttered in a daze.
"Oh? Brother Wu has actually seen me in his dreams? Those words are quite interesting. Yet who can say, what is outside the dream, what is inside the dream. Who is outside the dream, who is inside the dream." Ning Fan said with a smile.
"No, I’m not... drunk... don’t you... make fun of me..." The drunken Wux Laoliu was not listening to Ning Fan at all.
Seeing this, Ning Fan could only smile helplessly, lift his cup, slowly drain it down his throat, and speak no more.
"Wu Chen... I... Wu Liu... the Wu who acknowledges no law nor king... the Liu who never gets drunk... after a thousand cups..."
Wux Laoliu was still spouting drunken words that made no sense.
His fingers gestured this way and that, not knowing whether he should be gesturing a six or gesturing a one-thousand.
Suddenly, a trace of clarity flashed in his bleary eyes, and with a loud smack he slapped the wine table, lifted his hand to point at the sky, and roared in anger, "The surging... mortal dust... what is there... to fear! I insist... that the six roots be impure... that the six dusts... all be stained... I insist on..."
Before his words were finished, there was a sudden thud.
Wux Laoliu had already collapsed drunk onto the wine table, snoring loudly.
[Event Eleven: By means of a drinking contest, defeat forty-nine outer disciples of the Jinbiao Sect. Points gained: Five-Star. Current Star Points: thirty-two stars. Additional reward: the twelve outer scrolls of the Divine Blade Fierce Wine Technique.]
"Even this kind of thing can trigger an event, and it even grants a Five-Star score and an extra reward?" Ning Fan was thoroughly speechless.
So, what exactly did this Saint Heir Trial intend to assess? Competing in drink with others...
One had to know, he had gone through bitter battles to cross the Vast Beast Sea Domain, suppressing the Vast Beast Clan by force, and only got ten points; he slew a hundred and eight Northern Dipper assassins, and only got five points; yet this time, he merely drank a bit of wine and easily got another five points...
The sense of disparity was extremely strong.
"Perhaps, in the eyes of that Ziwei Xian Huang, capacity for wine is also a most important ability?" the Ant Lord speculated.
"Indeed, the Saint Heir Trial places more emphasis on the overall qualities of the Ziwei Saint Child; the strength of battle power is instead not the main focus..." Duowen analyzed.
"Or perhaps, the key to obtaining points isn’t the act of drinking itself, but lies in the opponents one defeats?" the Ant Lord continued his analysis.
"Come to think of it, before that Ziwei Xian Huang achieved the Path of the Immortal Sovereign, he really did have some karmic entanglement with the Jinbiao Saint..." Duowen dredged up his memories.
"Heh, so you’re saying that as long as we deal with the people that Ziwei Xian Huang dislikes, we can easily rack up piles of points? This trial truly is amusing..." The Ant Lord sneered.
"It doesn’t matter; who knows what that Ziwei Xian Huang is thinking. Compared to this, I am actually more interested in this Divine Blade Fierce Wine Technique..." Ning Fan flipped through the scroll that had appeared out of thin air in his hand.
The contents of the scroll were the Jinbiao Sect’s sect-guarding cultivation technique, the Divine Blade Fierce Wine Technique.
This was a Saint-level cultivation technique; unfortunately, what Ning Fan had obtained was only the twelve outer scrolls. The contents were not very profound, and at highest only reached the Immortal King level.
Even so, after reading through this cultivation technique, Ning Fan still gained quite a bit.
First, he obtained some insights into blade arts—unfortunately, the Dao Weapon Ning Fan customarily used was not a blade, so these insights were better than nothing.
Afterward, Ning Fan’s comprehension concerning the matter of drinking deepened further. That Jinbiao Saint seemed to also be someone well-versed in the Dao of Wine; his understanding regarding the single character "wine," even though only in a few words, still gave Ning Fan a great harvest.
Vaguely, the degree to which his capacity for wine neared the Dao deepened yet again.
...
That night, above the Nether Dust Sea, the moonlight was like water.
Under the moonlight, two ships sailed side by side toward the Dao Fruit Convention at the North Pole Mountain: one was the Bronze Ancient Ship of the Stone People Race; the other was the escort ship of the Jinbiao Sect.
In the true cycle of reincarnation, these two ships, which should never have intersected, happened to meet upon this unfamiliar world because of Ning Fan’s intervention.
No one knew what meaning this encounter held.
Bai Ling did not know either.
On the escort ship, in a guest room, Bai Ling sat by the window as always, facing the chessboard, quietly replaying games.
For a Chess Master, the monotonous daily practice of replaying games is an indispensable exercise.
There was no lamp lit in the room, nor was there any need for one. For a blind girl, lamplight was utterly meaningless.
Moonlight slipped through the lattice window, gently pouring down, shining into Bai Ling’s limpid eyes, yet she knew nothing of it.
Too focused, she likewise failed to notice that, at this moment, a gaze was resting upon her from outside the window.
Outside the window, Ning Fan silently watched Bai Ling, without disturbing her.
...
When Wux Laoliu was finally drunk under the table as well, this drinking bout at last came to an end.
No more noisy clamor of the banquet remained, only the rise and fall of snores, which sounded all the more jarring in the silence.
"This Divine Blade Fierce Wine Technique is quite interesting in content; it’s a fine book worth reading..." After finishing the twelve outer Chapters, Ning Fan casually put the scroll into his storage pouch, giving it a casual comment.
"Come to think of it, are these Jinbiao disciples really professional escorts? With people on board they’re supposed to protect, they actually all got drunk and collapsed on the floor, snoring away—aren’t they afraid those Northern Dipper assassins we met a few days ago might come again... Compared to escorting and honing the blade, perhaps that Jinbiao Saint loves drinking more, who knows." Letting his gaze sweep over the drunks strewn all across the floor, Ning Fan began to doubt the professionalism of the Jinbiao Sect.
"Forget it, at least I’m not drunk. With me here, there’s no need to fear any assassins attacking. Or perhaps, before these Jinbiao disciples held this feast, they already took everything at this moment into account, firmly believing that as long as I remained sober, nothing would go wrong..."
Ning Fan did not leave the escort ship.
He stayed temporarily on board, wandering aimlessly; unwittingly, he walked to the door outside Bai Ling’s room.
Through the door, he could hear the frequent sounds of pieces landing on the board from within. The sound of the stones was crisp and pleasant, clearly of excellent material, yet in the night it carried a trace of loneliness.
Ning Fan came to the window, quietly watching Bai Ling as she earnestly replayed games. She did not realize anyone was watching her, still wholly absorbed in her practice.
Seven days of feasting, seven days of noise and clamor, yet none of it had disturbed this earnest girl in the slightest.
This was a true Chess Master, with a mind free of distractions, clear as a bright mirror and still as calm water.
"She really does love playing chess..." Ning Fan murmured in his heart.
"When she’s not playing, her appearance makes me think of Weiliang; but when she is at the board, that focused gaze of hers actually resembles Mistress Xiao Man in some subtle way; and when she sits there unable to speak, quietly lost in thought, she makes me think of Feng Xueyan again..."
"On her, I can see the shadows of many others as well..."
Ning Fan sank into silent thought. At this moment, the Bai Ling earnestly playing chess, in his eyes, still resembled Bei Xiao Man the most.
Though Bei Xiao Man herself was unreliable, when she held pieces in her hand and played Six-Bo Chess, her eyes seemed to shine...
Bai Ling was the same. Though a blind girl, when she sat at the board, even her blindness seemed to take on a radiance, to gain a soul.
After finishing replaying the game, Bai Ling took out an ancient book of life-and-death problems and began studying it.
The book was titled Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories, compiled by the Nanliang Chess Institute. It recorded one hundred life-and-death problems, and it was said that once one solved them all, one would have the opportunity to sit for the entrance assessment of the Nanliang Chess Institute and become a true chess cultivator.
As someone whose eyes could not see, Bai Ling could not read with her eyes and could only rely on her hands in exploration.
She seemed to have specifically studied a Secret Technique for reading with the hands; any characters or diagrams she touched, she could read with her Heart Spirit.
"Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories... I’ve seen this book in Lu Bei’s memories. Before that Lu Bei joined the Nanliang Chess Institute, he seemed to have solved all the life-and-death problems in it in only one month..."
To Lu Bei, this Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories was no challenge at all.
But people cannot be lumped together as one; to Bai Ling, this book truly was somewhat difficult.
She had been studying chess for fifteen years now, and she had obtained this Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories seven years ago.
She had studied it for seven years and only made it to the seventy-ninth problem, and that one had trapped her for several months already, still unresolved.
It really was so hard...
Ever since she started studying chess, she had always groped along alone; perhaps it really was time to find a teacher.
[North Pole Mountain is one of the Xingluo Nine Mountains; the Dao Fruit Convention there is held once every thousand years. Each time it convenes, it draws powerful Chess Masters to attend. If I go there, maybe I can apprentice myself to a renowned teacher...]
[The senior sisters all say this Dao Fruit Convention at the North Pole Mountain is dangerous, that I shouldn’t go. I did not believe it at first, but a few days ago, I did indeed encounter many assassins...]
[Should I give up? Should I turn back and return to Hongjun Snow Valley, or... continue forward...]
[But if I miss this chance, who knows in what year or what month I’ll be able to find a worthy teacher...]
Bai Ling was torn inside; as soon as distracting thoughts arose, the life-and-death problem became ever harder for her to work through.
She did not know that all the voice of her heart had been clearly read by someone outside the window.
"So this girl is going to the Dao Fruit Convention at the North Pole Mountain to seek a master and study chess..." Ning Fan’s gaze shifted slightly, his thoughts unreadable.
Just then, Bai Ling finally sensed that someone was secretly watching from outside the window.
Because she was indoors and had not gone out, Bai Ling was not wearing her cloak nor her veil.
At this moment, her small oval face was delicate and pretty; her dark hair was coiled into a bun, neat bangs falling to her brow; on top she wore a moon-white gauze shirt, below a very short white skirt, and on her feet she wore not gauze socks but white stockings, with moon-white embroidered shoes upon her feet.
"This fashion sense is exactly the same as Bei Xiao Man’s; the only difference is that Bei Xiao Man loves to dress in red, whereas this girl is clad in pure white..." Ning Fan thought to himself.
His gaze lingered on Bai Ling’s legs, finding it somewhat hard to look away...
Fortunately, Bai Ling could not see; otherwise she would probably accuse Ning Fan of being a Lewd Disciple.
[Eh? Senior Brother is interested in chess as well? Has he been watching here for a long time already?] Bai Ling asked in her heart.
"Mm, I do have some interest in chess." He said he was interested in chess, yet Ning Fan’s eyes had never once gone to the board.
And yet Bai Ling believed Ning Fan’s nonsense, and her face bloomed with an even brighter smile.
[Since Senior Brother understands chess, could you teach me to play?]
"This..." Ning Fan’s words stalled.
[You can’t?] Bai Ling was a little disappointed.
"All right..."
Ning Fan could not bear to let Bai Ling down.
Though he did not like playing chess, he carried within him the memories of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s attainments in chess. Guiding her, he supposed, would not be too hard.
Having received Ning Fan’s consent, Bai Ling was very happy.
She invited Ning Fan into the room, but did not immediately ask for instruction; instead she poured a cup of tea and respectfully handed it to him.
"Thanks." After drinking for seven days and seven nights straight, Ning Fan was indeed a bit thirsty, so he took the cup of tea and drained it in one gulp.
It wasn’t any particularly precious tea.
But Ning Fan still tasted something special in it.
For some reason, the way this girl brewed tea tasted a bit like the little demoness...
Was it just his imagination.
Tea was drunk, so it was time to get down to business.
Bai Ling first asked Ning Fan about Question Seventy-Nine from the Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories.
Ning Fan glanced at the problem and immediately frowned slightly.
No wonder Bai Ling got stuck on this one; for an amateur player, this problem really was extremely difficult.
"Even for a proper chess cultivator, this one is quite tough. Even a Ninth Grade Chess Master would need more than ten hours to sort out all the variations..." Ning Fan explained.
Chessmasters of the True Realm are divided into nine grades: First Grade, Entering the Divine; Second Grade, Seated Illumination; Third Grade, Concrete Form; Fourth Grade, Penetrating the Nether; Fifth Grade, Using Wisdom; Sixth Grade, Ingenuity; Seventh Grade, Fighting Strength; Eighth Grade, Seeming Foolish; Ninth Grade, Guarding Clumsiness.
Bai Ling’s level didn’t even count as Ninth Grade; after all, she had only been self-taught for fifteen years.
True chess cultivators spend thousands, tens of thousands of years studying the art; judged against the overall level of the True Realm, Bai Ling’s fifteen years of skill really weren’t much.
Then what about Ning Fan’s chess strength?
He had inherited the chess memories of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor; even though that Great Emperor had never specialized in chess, over his long life, the scattered bits of time he’d spent playing still added up to at least several hundred years.
It was no exaggeration to regard Ning Fan as a chessmaster with several centuries of playing experience.
Someone like Ning Fan naturally couldn’t beat a First Grade, Entering-the-Divine chessmaster of the True Realm, but compared to those bottom-of-the-barrel Eighth or Ninth Grade cultivator-players, he was far above them.
"Look at the upper half of the board here; black and white each have three groups fighting. Choosing where to move first is the primary issue; only after that do you consider local variations..."
"...If Black plays at 2-13, that is indeed a defensive move, but if White then plays at 10-9 in sente, then cuts and connects, White lives..."
"...Next I’ll demonstrate some of the variations in the corner fight..."
Just this one life-and-death problem took Ning Fan two hours to explain.
Bai Ling listened very, very seriously. She wasn’t stupid, and she did have talent for the game; what she lacked was a capable teacher. Now that she had Ning Fan’s guidance, she couldn’t help but learn a great deal.
[Thank you for your instruction, Senior Brother.] When he finished the problem, Bai Ling’s face was full of happiness and worship; she only felt that Ning Fan’s chess strength was unfathomable, the greatest she had ever seen.
Well, given that she hadn’t actually seen many strong chessmasters in her life, it wasn’t strange she’d think that way.
"You’re welcome." Ning Fan smiled.
At this moment, he suddenly found himself rather liking this chess business.
[Senior Brother, could you teach me some more?] Bai Ling obediently handed him another cup of tea.
"Sure. More life-and-death problems?"
[No, this time, I’d like to ask Senior Brother to play a guidance game with me.]
"Do you need handicap stones?"
[Not yet. I want to see just how far I am from a proper chess cultivator...]
"You guessed wrong. I’m not a proper chess cultivator. This chess strength of mine actually isn’t something I cultivated myself..."
[Senior Brother is far too modest. Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve heard Senior Brother’s name somewhere before. Lu Bei, Lu Bei... it sounds familiar. Could it be that Senior Brother is already a chessmaster famed throughout the True Realm?]
"Actually, my name isn’t Lu Bei."
[Eh? Then what is Senior Brother’s real name?]
"My name is..."
Ning Fan wanted to tell Bai Ling his true name.
But he couldn’t say it.
This Saint Heir trial itself seemed to have restrictions. No matter how Ning Fan tried to say his true name, the words that came out of his mouth would turn into "My name is Lu Bei" and "I come from Hunkun Holy Sect."
In the end he could only give up.
It wasn’t that there were no other ways to tell her his real name, but after pondering for a while, Ning Fan ultimately decided not to insist.
The Saint Heir trial forbidding one from speaking their true name seemed to be a protection for the trial-taker... If he forcibly spoke his true name within the trial, it might cause some unpleasant consequences...
[Event Twelve: Teaching life-and-death problems. Score obtained: One Star. Current score: Thirty-Three Stars.]
...
Though it was only a guidance game, Bai Ling took it very seriously. Before the game, she carefully washed her hands clean to show her respect.
When the game ended, of course Bai Ling was utterly, without suspense, crushed. The knuckles of the hand holding the stone turned white and trembled violently; finally, two stones slowly dropped onto the board.
This was resigning by placing stones.
[I lost...] Bai Ling’s inner voice carried a hint of sobbing, and tears instantly ruined her little face.
So this is what losing feels like.
Since she started learning, this was her first time playing against someone this strong... Losing a game felt really awful...
It was hard to blame Bai Ling for crying so miserably.
The real blame lay with Ning Fan for having absolutely no idea how to hold back.
He’d said it was a guidance game, but Ning Fan went for the kill, slaughtering Bai Ling with not a scrap of mercy right from the opening; by the midgame the result was already clear. Worse, Bai Ling didn’t have a single living group on the entire board.
"You call this a guidance game? Where’s the guidance?" The Ant Lord was speechless.
"Is this something a human would do! Playing a guidance game with a girl and not leaving her a single living group—are you trying to give the poor child psychological trauma?" Duowen was speechless.
"It was my first time playing a guidance game with someone; I’m not very good at it, no experience..." Ning Fan felt embarrassed too.
It really hadn’t been his intention.
He’d only used a tenth of his strength, yet the other side still lost this badly... Maybe he should have held back more, or rather, held back an entire ocean?
Fortunately, Bai Ling was fairly strong inside; she only cried for a little while before stopping.
She wiped away her tears and very earnestly thanked Ning Fan for his guidance.
[So this is what a guidance game is like...] This was Bai Ling’s first time playing a guidance game, and she thought all guidance games were this brutal.
Through the slaughter on the board, she could feel how serious he was; he really had taken the game with her seriously, and for that, she was grateful.
"Sorry. Since it was my first guidance game with you, I wanted to test your strength, so I didn’t hold back. Mm, your strength is actually pretty good. Your reading in the midgame is excellent, which shows you have real talent for chess. The main problem is in your opening, but that’s a common flaw among amateurs..." Ning Fan said with a straight face, praising Bai Ling’s playing strength, and absolutely refused to admit that the problem with the guidance game lay with him.
[Event Thirteen: Victory in guidance game. Score obtained: One Star. Current score: Thirty-Four Stars.]
Because Ning Fan hadn’t given her any guidance the whole time, Bai Ling hadn’t learned much.
So she wanted to ask Ning Fan to accompany her for another game of teaching chess.
This time she would no longer overestimate herself and say she didn’t need handicap stones, but obediently asked Ning Fan to give her three stones.
And then...
[Event Fourteen: Won a game of teaching chess with three-stone handicap. Gained points, one star. Current points, thirty-five stars.]
Ning Fan made Bai Ling cry over the game again. Even though this time he’d gone easy on her by half an ocean, it still didn’t seem enough...
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
During these three months, Ning Fan often played chess with Bai Ling. As he became familiar with Bai Ling, he also leeched quite a lot of points off her.
At this moment, the trigger events for the Saint Child Thunder Scripture had already progressed to Event Fifty-Five.
[Event Fifty-Five: Won a game of teaching chess with four-stone handicap. Gained points, one star. Current points, seventy-six stars.]
Gradually, Ning Fan had learned how to play good teaching games. When placing his stones, he would deliberately guide Bai Ling to play in the correct spots. In this way, under his guidance, Bai Ling’s skill in chess improved day by day.
She also finished learning all one hundred life-and-death problems from the "Immortal Mechanism Hundred Repositories" under Ning Fan’s instruction.
She was originally a chess player of exceptional talent. Now, with a "famous teacher" like Ning Fan pointing out the way, the problems in her opening strategy had greatly improved. Though her playing strength was still not as good as a Ninth Grade Chess Master, the gap was gradually closing.
In these three months together, what she did with Ning Fan the most was play chess. She couldn’t see Ning Fan’s face, but she could feel the light and warmth on him, could feel the temperature of his stones.
That warmth made Bai Ling feel attached, reluctant to part. She didn’t know why, but in recent days, when playing chess with Ning Fan, she’d started spacing out. In the past, chess was her whole world, but now, it seemed something else had appeared that could disturb her heart...
[Senior Brother, may I take you as my master... I want to learn chess from you for my entire life...] After one game, Bai Ling suddenly gathered her courage and said so in her heart.
"You want to take me as your master?" Ning Fan was startled.
"He’s dumbfounded, utterly dumbfounded. He’s drooling over her body, but she only treats him as a teacher." The Ant Lord simply found it amusing.
"Ah, this, I don’t even know what to say. Senior Ning, my condolences..." Duo Wen Old Demon also found it very funny.
[Is that not allowed?] Bai Ling’s delicate heart pounded nervously.
"Sorry, I can’t be your master." Ning Fan stayed silent for a long time, and in the end still hardened his heart and refused Bai Ling’s request.
It wasn’t really as the Ant Lord and Duo Wen had guessed, that he was lusting after her body and didn’t want to be her teacher.
Ning Fan had his own considerations.
He was more than willing to teach Bai Ling chess, but the word "master" was too heavy. He could teach her for a time, but couldn’t teach her for a lifetime. He was only a passerby in this Saint Heir trial. When the trial ended, he would leave, while Bai Ling still had an incomparably vast life ahead of her.
She needed a better, more responsible master to teach her chess.
[I understand...] Bai Ling lowered her head so that others couldn’t see her expression.
But Ning Fan could see Bai Ling’s heart, in sadness.
It seemed this little girl really liked him as her master, but unfortunately... this was only the Saint Heir trial; he couldn’t teach her for a whole lifetime.
"Come to think of it, how did a girl like you come to like something as dull as playing chess?" To ease Bai Ling’s mood, Ning Fan started to look for a topic.
[Eh?] Bai Ling was stunned. For a moment she forgot her sadness, apparently not expecting Ning Fan to ask that.
"Was there some special reason that made you like playing chess?" Seeing that the question worked, Ning Fan pressed on.
[No, it’s not that there was some special reason... it has nothing to do with liking. I can’t really say why I ended up on this path. It’s funny, too—when I first touched a chess piece, I actually had a kind of indescribable feeling, just that in this life, there was one thing I absolutely had to accomplish... I absolutely had to learn chess, absolutely had to reach the pinnacle of a Chess Master. That feeling was as if, at the end of the road for a Chess Master, someone was waiting for me... waiting for me to save him...]
"..." Ning Fan was a bit surprised.
He had guessed at the reasons Bai Ling liked chess, but hadn’t expected this kind of answer.
She had to accomplish this, no matter what.
At the end of the road for a Chess Master, someone was waiting for her to rescue...
Rescue? Rescue what? Rescue whom? What sort of matter would require chess to accomplish the rescue?
Chess, rescue...
Ning Fan suddenly had the feeling he had forgotten something important, as if some crucial detail had been lost to him. His expression suddenly turned stern and cold; he thought and recalled again and again, wanting to understand where this feeling came from. All of a sudden, an ancient children’s rhyme came back to him.
"You clap one, I clap one, the butterfly’s wings burn nine thousand li."
"You clap two, I clap two, the girl cuts her little braid before Buddha’s view."
"You clap three, I clap three, Gonggong rams and topples Mount Zhihe."
"You clap four, I clap four, the epiphyllum’s soul breaks at Weituo Temple’s door."
"You clap five, I clap five, Five-Spirit chessboard seals Demon Bone alive."
"You clap six, I clap six..."
Five-Spirit chessboard seals Demon Bone—what did that mean?
Why, at this very moment, did recalling this line of the nursery rhyme make Ning Fan feel his Heart Spirit being torn apart?
"That feeling again. Brother Ning, are you trying to comprehend Destiny at a time like this! Are you insane!" The Ant Lord turned pale with shock.
She was so terrified, so aghast, as if what Ning Fan was attempting was some kind of mad, perilous act.
Fortunately, Ning Fan calmed down very quickly.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, he had returned to his usual unfathomable calm.
In that instant, he seemed to have figured something out, guessed at something, seemed to have glimpsed the past and the future; yet he did not wish to think further, did not wish to guess further, and even less wished to look further.
That night, the starlight was like water.
But when Ning Fan raised his head to look at the sky, he felt that the stars in the heavens weren’t stars at all, but stones falling one by one upon a chessboard.
The starlight in the sky reflected in Ning Fan’s eyes, and the starry sky within his eyes echoed it from afar.
Misty violet starlight began to circulate within Ning Fan’s eyes, yet he himself remained unaware of it.
Almost at the same moment Ning Fan felt something from Stargazing, far away, at the place where the North Pole Dao Fruit Conference was to be held—
A purple-robed old man stood atop North Pole Mountain. Amidst the wind and snow, he seemed to sense something.
"Interesting. This man is not the Ziwei Saint Child, yet he can see a trace of the Ziwei Astrological System from the stars of this realm. This is something the vast majority of Ziwei Saints cannot do. Purple Dou has indeed found a good disciple. Pity that if it’s only to this extent, it is far from enough to break Fate Reincarnation. For all that you do and all that you think still lie within Destiny’s control..."
"No one can break Destiny. The only thing one can do is a partial compromise..."
If Ning Fan were here, he would surely discover that this purple-robed old man, who seemed to see through everything and muttered to himself, looked remarkably similar to that Three Terraces Star Lord, Lie Yukou—only this person was countless times older, his aura withered and feeble, like an ordinary mortal.
...
A few days later, Ning Fan and his group arrived at the end of their journey.
The place where the North Pole Dao Fruit Conference was being held—the Northern Barbarians Kingdom.