The Unorthodox Tomb Raider

Click, click...

Before the old foreigner could explain, the ground began to tremble again.

On the ground directly to the right of the coffin, a relief of auspicious clouds, shaped like a tai chi symbol, sank into the ground and disappeared beneath the stone slab.

Followed by.

From that void, a square stone pillar slowly rose, and at the top of the pillar was a chessboard, on which countless chess pieces, black and white, had already been placed.

"Hey, didn't I just stumble upon a lucky break?"

Seeing that there were no hidden traps or other security mechanisms to be triggered, the old foreigner raised the gold medal in his hand and laughed.

Clearly, winning the gold medal was the right move, as it triggered the next trap.

But this gesture drew another murmur from the old foreigner:

"Senior brother, look, there are words on the back of this gold medal."

"At the beginning of time, yin and yang converged, the five stars appeared simultaneously, I, a humble Taoist, bestowed this gift, which the Qilin took?"

"what?!"

Upon hearing the old foreigner's words, Fang Yun exclaimed in surprise, took two steps forward, and directly took the gold medal from the old foreigner's hand, examining it closely.

"The old place begins... day and night alternate... the five planets appear in the sky... Li Chunfeng wants to... bestow this upon me?"

Looking at the inscription on the gold medal, Fang Yun already had a guess in his mind.

Although he didn't know what Li Chunfeng had foreseen, he did foresee that there would be a fellow traveler like him in later generations. As for why he had the blood of a Qilin, he didn't know that either.

Could it be that the blood of the Qilin can truly evolve and upgrade, reaching a higher level?

Judging from the gold medal, Li Chunfeng left a gift that he wanted to give to him.

Perhaps the gift contained detailed calculations by Li Chunfeng, and may even have contained all of Li Chunfeng's lifelong learning and knowledge.

However, we will have to wait another seventeen years for the celestial phenomenon of five planets appearing at the same time!

"Fang Yun, are you alright?"

Just then, he heard Hua's soft voice beside him. He turned his head and saw Hua looking at him with a worried expression.

Fang Yun shook his head and said, "It's nothing, I was just thinking about some things."

"Old foreigner, this gold medal is very useful to me, give it to me."

"Take it if you like. Anyway, you found it. As long as the person is alright, that's all that matters." The old foreigner curled his lip indifferently.

If he wanted gold, he could have amassed a small mountain of gold over the years.

Fang Yun's dazed state earlier had really frightened the three of them. They thought Fang Yun was possessed, and he wouldn't respond no matter how they called him.

Fang Yun nodded, carefully put the gold medal away, and made up his mind.

Seventeen years later, he had to come to Fengxiang County again to retrieve the gifts left by Li Chunfeng.

At that time, we should be able to understand Li Chunfeng's true intentions.

I can't figure it out no matter how hard I try now, so I might as well put it aside for the time being.

After all, the past is the past. Even if Li Chunfeng could calculate the past five thousand years, he would now be nothing more than withered bones in a tomb, no longer affecting him.

Obtaining the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book from here is the most important thing right now.

Thinking of this, Fang Yun took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked towards the chessboard atop the stone pillar.

"Brother Fang, this chess game..."

At this moment, Partridge Whistle, who had been observing the chessboard for a while, looked at Fang Yun with a puzzled expression. 6

Moving Mountains...but they didn't teach chess. 7

"The cycle of three tribulations!"

Chapter Sixty-Three: The Cycle of Four Calamities, Qimen Dunjia

"The cycle of three tribulations?"

"Brother Fang, are you referring to the situation on this chessboard?"

"I see there's still one black piece left outside the chessboard. Perhaps Li Chunfeng wants us to break this game!"

After thinking for a moment, Partridge Whistle picked up the black piece outside the chessboard and handed it to Fang Yun.

Holding the chess pieces, Fang Yun looked at Partridge Whistle, Old Foreigner, and Hua, and saw that all three of them looked confused and turned their gazes to him.

At this moment, Partridge Whistle said awkwardly with a smile, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Brother Fang."

"The three of us have been practicing martial arts and Taoist arts since we were young. We have no time for self-cultivation and are completely ignorant of chess. We can only say a few words about chess."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yun smiled and nodded.

There's nothing to be embarrassed about. These days, people who have the time to play chess and drink tea are all from wealthy and influential families.

Ordinary people are all wondering which mountains still have tree bark to gnaw on and clay to dig up.

He does know how to play Go; while he wouldn't say he's an expert, he's certainly a fairly skilled player.

If he were to actually play against Li Chunfeng, he would undoubtedly lose. However, if we only consider the overall situation of the game, then there is no problem.

The strategies from a thousand years ago have long been thoroughly studied and understood by countless chess masters.

He had seen many similar situations in the game records before.

He also knew that this game could neither be won nor lost, only drawn, making it even easier to break the deadlock.

The game before us is a rare triple ko, where three ko cycles occur simultaneously. If neither side yields, the final result is usually a draw.

However, this cycle of three kalpas is not a true cycle of three kalpas. Between the black and white pieces, the one holding the black piece is clearly more skilled.

If Black concedes a move, it will fall into a disadvantageous position and be overtaken by White.

If the black pieces keep pressing forward, they can directly swallow a group of white pieces and break the cycle of three moves.

But there is one last way: capture a white piece to turn the situation into a four-ko cycle, and then let the four-ko cycle cover the entire board.

If this continues, the situation will eventually reach a stalemate between offense and defense, just like a draw in chess, where neither side can gain the upper hand and the remaining pieces are all the same.

"Was the black ball... placed by Yuan Tiangang...?"

After much thought, it seems that during Li Chunfeng's time, only Yuan Tiangang could be compared to Li Chunfeng, or even surpass him.

Li Chunfeng set up a trap in this game, clearly indicating a kind of obsession.

Perhaps it was because Yuan Tiangang defeated him on the chessboard that he harbored a lingering resentment until his death, blaming Yuan Tiangang for not giving him a handicap.

So the game was left unresolved, and the solution was set as a draw.

This gave Fang Yun a very strange feeling, which was...

Li Chunfeng: You can play Yuan Tiangang's last move! I hope you won't be ungrateful!

Thinking of this, Fang Yun chuckled to himself, he could probably imagine how Li Chunfeng felt at that time.

His feelings were probably the same as when Li Chunfeng calculated that he had Qilin blood. Although it wasn't a major event that affected him personally, he couldn't stop thinking about it and wanted an answer.

Without much thought, Fang Yun placed his last black stone in the upper right corner, capturing the white stone in the blocking position.

After each move, a piece is captured, and the game instantly transforms into a four-ko infinite loop.

Even if both black and white can continue playing, the only outcome will be a draw.

The black stone had barely landed when the entire Underworld Palace trembled.

Click...click...

A series of clicking sounds rang out, and eight tomb walls slowly descended from behind the octagonal beam at the top of the Underworld Palace, seemingly to trap everyone in the Underworld Palace within the octagonal structure.

Seeing this, Partridge Whistle and the other two looked at Fang Yun, only to see that Fang Yun had a smile on his face and showed no sign of panic.

Seeing this, the three breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed they had played the right game, and the Bagua wall in front of them was the next puzzle.

After about ten seconds, the eight tomb walls slowly descended and connected together, trapping everyone inside the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) formation.

On each of the eight tomb walls, there are a dozen or so square holes carved into each wall, and inside each square hole is a beautifully crafted Tang Dynasty artifact.

"Qi Men Bagua!"

"Brother Fang, these eight walls are not safe to touch!"

After scanning the eight walls, Partridge Whistle asked in a deep voice.

Unlike chess, the Qimen Dunjia Bagua directions are essential knowledge for tomb raiding, and many Taoist practitioners also have some knowledge of them.

The Bagua wall is filled with rare funerary objects, and these funerary objects are the biggest problem.

Even if Li Chunfeng was a magnanimous and skilled feng shui master, he would not have left such a trap in his own tomb.

Wouldn't that turn into a situation where tomb raiders break into Li Chunfeng's tomb, and Li Chunfeng even smiles and gives away his treasures?

Those funerary objects are probably death warrants!

"Of course you can't touch it; it's all just a smokescreen."

Fang Yun smiled and nodded, saying, "These eight walls are the eight gates of Qimen Dunjia, and Li Chunfeng placed the eight gates on the Bagua positions, forming the Bagua Eight Gates Formation."

"But the gates of life and death are too simple and easy to calculate. The way to break the deadlock must not be above the gates of life and death, otherwise there would be no need to put the eight gates into the eight trigrams."