The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 347 Princess (4k)

"We all know the rules of the patrol office. If you die in battle, you'll receive a pension, guaranteeing your family a peaceful life for the rest of their days. But if you dare to run away, your entire family will lose their heads!"

As the leader spoke in a deep voice, he drew his sword, which had just been soaked in talisman water that morning, and wrapped yellow talismans tightly around the blade.

The other warriors followed suit, while one of them stepped back slightly and produced an exquisite pagoda. The pagoda was ancient, clearly quite old.

Du Yuan secretly guessed that this must be the more powerful magical artifact that the shopkeeper mentioned, which the Martial Marquises carried with them.

It seems that it is not one per person, but shared by several people, but we don't know how powerful it is.

He watched silently from behind, wanting to see just how capable the people in this world really were.

A large number of refugees were controlled by an evil spirit that had infiltrated the area, rendering them unable to move.

Upon seeing the Martial Guards of the Patrol Division arrive, they were all extremely excited, yet despite their surging emotions, they were completely unable to move. This intensified their fear, and they could only anxiously hope that the Martial Guards would quickly subdue this terrifying evil spirit.

The warriors slowly approached, and the warrior at the back of the procession, holding a pagoda, rapidly flipped through the "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade" scroll in his hand.

This was compiled with great effort by the imperial court and various forces after the strange and bizarre changes in the world. It was updated every month, aiming to include all the evil spirits in the world so that people could easily identify what kind of monsters they encountered.

But now, this book, on which they depend for survival, cannot be found to contain any corresponding records no matter how many times they turn it over.

As the man turned the last page, cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and his voice trembled as he said:

"Boss, none of them match up in the Hundred Ghosts Picture!"

The "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade" scroll and the various magical artifacts in their hands represent their very lives.

They actually had a general idea of ​​what was going on even without the booklet, but they couldn't feel at ease without going through it.

So when they first saw this scene, they vaguely guessed that it might be an evil spirit that had never appeared in the world before, but they still held onto a sliver of hope that it was because they were not skilled enough.

Now that all hope was shattered, everyone's hearts sank.

Just then, the large group of refugees were suddenly controlled by some invisible force, slowly parting to make way for them, revealing their true appearance!

There was nothing unusual on the open ground except for two stools, a square table, and a vagrant guarding a chessboard.

The man sat motionless before the chessboard, his eyes filled with terror—clearly, he too was an unfortunate victim of manipulation.

Seeing the warriors looking at him, the unfortunate fellow slowly raised his hand, gesturing for them to sit down. His voice was strange, as if it were leaking air:
"Come, let's play a game of chess!"

Upon hearing this, the military officers immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

No one wants to run into evil spirits, but if they can't avoid them, they just hope to encounter those who have no rules or taboos.

These kinds of evil spirits are generally not very powerful; an ordinary person with a handy weapon could probably take them down.

This is also the most common evil spirit in the world.

However, if they encounter evil spirits with their own rules and taboos, then they are definitely not people they can easily deal with. The one in front of them now is clearly the latter.

However, it is unknown just how ferocious it is.

For a moment, all the military officers involuntarily swallowed and looked at the leader.

Their meaning couldn't be clearer: should they go along with the evil spirits' wishes, or take direct action?
Dealing with these kinds of evil spirits with rules and taboos, although you can be relatively safe once you figure out the tricks—just like Wu Shanhou outside their Taotu County, as long as you don't have the surname Zhang, you can come and go in the surrounding area safely.

Before we figure it out, only God knows how many lives will be lost!
The leader of the Wuhou clan was deeply conflicted and could not make up his mind for a long time.

This matter concerns the lives of his men and the safety of his entire family; how could he dare to make a rash decision?
But just as he hesitated, the vagrant controlled by the evil spirit suddenly raised his hand and beckoned to them again. His voice was still strange, like a leaky bellows, with an indescribable eeriness, but his tone was much heavier than before:

"Come, let's play a game of chess!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the several military officers were horrified. The swords wrapped in talismans in their hands suddenly burst into flames! In a short while, the yellow talismans wrapped around the swords crackled and burned, and even the steel swords were heated red-hot, gradually softening and flowing onto the ground.

The intense heat scalded them so much that they hurriedly let go, and the knife handle fell to the ground with a clatter, rolling several times before finally extinguishing the flames.

Before they could catch their breath in their shock, a sharp "crack" sound came from behind them. Their hearts skipped a beat, and they knew something was wrong. They hurriedly turned around to look.

Their greatest reliance—the pagoda, which was said to have been taken from a fairy cave and was one of only a few in the entire Taotu County—had already crumbled into several pieces!

They can't beat them! Absolutely not! Such a powerful evil spirit is far beyond the capabilities of a few junior officers from the patrol office!
This thought instantly filled their entire bodies.

Now the choice is clear: to run means the execution of the entire family; to fight is simply suicide. The only option left is to comply with the other side's wishes.

The leader of the Wuhou tribe swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and he spoke in a trembling voice:

"I...I'll play chess with you!"

The manipulated refugee slowly lowered his arm, pointed at the stool beside him with his fingertip, and uttered only one word: "Sit!"

Helpless, the leader of the warriors could only walk shakily forward and sit down.

At the same time, he was preoccupied with figuring out exactly what the other party's rules were.

According to his understanding, in chess, you have to win.

So, does this mean that an evil spirit that needs someone to play chess with it will lose its life if it can't win?
Upon thinking of this, the Marquis of Wu felt dizzy.

He's a complete brute; what does he know about chess? At most, he knows that if you surround an enemy, you can capture them.

For a moment, he almost fainted.

But the evil spirit on the other side ignored all of this. It simply manipulated the refugee, grabbed a handful of chess pieces, held them up in front of Zhuge Liang, and said:

"Guess first!"

Marquis Wu was taken aback and said:

"what?!"

As mentioned earlier, he was a rough and uncultured man, so how could he know anything about the rules of Go?

They were unaware of the matter of guessing whether a piece was odd or even in order to gain the upper hand.

Upon hearing this, the Marquis Wu knew something was wrong.

Sure enough, as soon as he uttered those words, he felt a burning sensation all over his body, as if he were about to self-immolate!
In a fit of horrified shock, he was about to shout something loud to let his son know that his father was not a coward.

But he noticed a hand on his shoulder:
"Hey, playing chess with someone who can't play is so boring, I'll play with you!"

Both Wu Hou and the unlucky guy controlled by the evil spirit looked over at the same time.

A young man suddenly appeared behind Wu Hou, one hand on his body and the other holding a folding fan.

Seeing that the evil spirit was looking at him, the young master smiled and said:
"To be honest, although I'm not a true national champion, my chess skills are still among the best in the world. If you're looking for an opponent, I'm definitely a much better choice than this gentleman!"

Marquis Wu was both surprised and delighted, but after a moment, he said with a mournful tone:

"My friend, I appreciate your kindness, but I am a military officer of the patrol office, and I cannot retreat. Please step aside!"

He wasn't being noble or virtuous; rather, the severe punishment the imperial court had imposed on their patrol office was excessive.

In this situation, even if he were to retire, his entire family would be executed.

It's extremely inhumane, but in such a chaotic world, without it, nothing could have been accomplished.

The young man smiled and said:
"It's alright, it's alright. You're from the patrol inspection department, and so am I. You're not backing down; you've just been replaced by me."

As he spoke, the young master revealed his waist token.

The moment they saw the waist tag, the eyes of the several military officers almost popped out of their sockets.

A crimson gold waist badge! One of the eleven commanders of the Patrol and Inspection Division?

Their patrol and inspection offices were established by the imperial court specifically to combat evil spirits. Apart from the nominal position of the chief inspector, which was held remotely by a member of the imperial family, the rest of the offices were not included in the patrol and inspection offices.

The main responsible persons are the Left and Right Division Masters, who reside in the capital, overlook the entire country, and hold jade waist tokens.
Below these two officials were a total of eleven commanders, who traveled to various places to put out fires and were given gold waist tokens.

Next are the commanders of the thousand households under each ten thousand households, usually located in important places such as the county seat, and they receive pure silver waist tokens.

Then came the Left Chiefs, commonly known as Hundred-Household Officers, stationed in various government offices, who received bronze waist badges.

As for these military commanders, all they had were black iron waist tokens.

Even so, they still wield enormous power; within their jurisdiction, they can arbitrarily shut down any place that might be tainted by evil spirits.

They are not accountable to local officials, but only to their direct superior, Zuo Chang.

It can be said that, apart from the emperor and superiors, no one can control them.

Even though the patrol inspectors do deadly things every day, countless people still flock to it.

There's no way around it. Putting aside the preferential treatment, just the money involved would drown a huge number of people!
And now, they actually saw a household with ten thousand households?
After a brief moment of astonishment, the warrior climbed down with great joy.

"Thank you so much, Lord Wanhu! Thank you so much, Lord Wanhu!"

The young master, who had taken the opportunity to sit opposite the evil spirit, simply shook his head and said:
"I'm not a commander of ten thousand households, not even a commander of a thousand households. As for this badge, well, a friend lent it to me to play with! Well, I guess I'm nominally under your patrol and inspection department."

Marquis Wu stood there, stunned. Could such a treasure really be lent to someone else to play with?

"Don't worry, don't worry, it's none of your business!"

The young master casually waved his hand, instantly sending several military officers a hundred paces away.

He stood with Du Yuan, and at the same time, the young master also turned around and glanced at Du Yuan.

He chuckled, then looked back at the evil spirit before him and said with a smile:

"Since you don't object to me sending him away, does that mean you agree to negotiate with me?"

The evil spirit remained silent, only extending its hand that held the chess piece, and said in a deep voice:

"Guess first!"

The young man nodded and replied, "Then I'll guess odd!"

With a clatter, several chess pieces rolled onto the chessboard, exactly one piece!

A hint of smugness flashed across his eyes as he chuckled:

"Looks like God is on my side!"

In Go, the advantage of going first is always significant; the more skilled a player is, the more they can use the first move to widen the gap.

After saying that, he asked again, "I wonder if you need to pay for it? If so, how much would it be?"

The term "komi" refers to a situation where the player who goes first has a significant advantage and needs to compensate the opponent with a certain number of pieces at the end of the game. In this case, winning by only one piece can result in a loss due to komi.

As for the amount of the subsidy, it all depends on the prior agreement between the two parties.

Unexpectedly, the other party only coldly uttered two words:
"No need!"

The voice was still strange and unpleasant, like a leaky whistle, but as soon as those two words were spoken, the young master narrowed his eyes slightly—this thing was probably going to be quite troublesome!

But he felt no fear. In terms of cultivation, he was naturally inferior to those seniors, and even among his peers, he was far inferior to that monster Li Shiyi.

To this day, he still can't believe that a peer dared to challenge Yu Wei, a Taoist master, to a sword fight, and only lost by half a move.

But when it comes to the art of chess, he dares to boast that he and Li Shiyi have simply switched places!

In terms of cultivation, how much he looked up to Li Shiyi was how Li Shiyi had to look up to him on this chessboard!

Unfortunately, the founders of the three religions and several great masters had already reached a conclusion, stating frankly that even if the so-called "Way of Chess" could lead to enlightenment, it was still a minor path.

Thinking of this, he smiled self-deprecatingly and sighed to himself, "No wonder I am ultimately no match for him."

It's not that I'm lamenting that the way of chess cannot lead to the ultimate goal, but rather that he's attempting to use this path to rise to the top, which is inherently a low-level approach.

Li Shiyi, that fellow, all three founders said that he could go as far as the way of the sword could go.

In reality, only a handful of people know that Li Shiyi's greatest talent was never swordsmanship, but rather the cultivation of Taoism—which is the root of his inextricable connection with the Taoist lineage.

But in the end, he resolutely gave up his most outstanding talent and chose the sword path that he loved most.

After sighing, the young master looked seriously at the evil spirit before him, thinking to himself that back then, not to mention his peers, even among all the seniors, the only one he had no chance of defeating was Zou Zi.

He was confident he could fight anyone else, even the founders of the three religions! Of course, this was only limited to the chessboard. Although the founders of the three religions only had a fondness for Go.

After some thought, he chose to place his piece on the edge of the board, a very safe move.

The other person followed him closely, standing to the side.

The two sides slowly began to negotiate, and more and more military officers and yamen runners gathered around. This was partly because they had heard that a 'ten-thousand-household commander' was present.

Soon after, the scholars who had been by the old man's side were all sent over.

The two players on the field, however, were unhurried, for this was only the beginning and the outcome was far from decided.

But after that thing placed another piece, it suddenly said to the young master:
Do you know where chess originated?

The young man smiled and said:

"The origin of Go is a subject of much debate, but I believe it was left behind by two ancient emperors."

After placing his piece, he curiously asked the other person a question:
"And what about you? How do you think it came about?"

At that moment, the other person suddenly tilted their head and looked at him, saying:

"Have people these days forgotten even these things?"

The young man suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He raised an eyebrow and asked:

"What do you mean?"

The other party simply said:
"This was created by Himegami in an attempt to ease the situation during the great battle between water and fire. Unfortunately, water and fire remain opposed, and mountains and rivers are still separated."

Finally, it gently tossed down a piece, which then severed the young master's large dragon formation:
"And you, you're not the one I'm looking for either."

Seeing the divine hand that had directly severed his dragon, the young master instantly stood up in horror.

A cold sweat poured down his body.

How could we not have noticed? No, it's not that we didn't notice, it's that the difference is just too great!
The helplessness he felt when he played against Zou Zi years ago welled up in his mind again.

At that moment, the other party added quietly:
"But you are indeed quite good. Perhaps, you could? In that case, you can expand the betting pool as you please, as long as you think you can still win!"

The young master did not immediately agree; he merely squinted and looked closely behind the evil spirit.

Then blood and tears streamed from his eyes, and he struggled to ask:
"who are you?"

The other person tilted their head, then gave a sinister laugh:
"In your terms, you might consider them remnants?"

(End of this chapter)