Having studied for a hundred years, why do you call me the Martial Saint?

"Who's messing with you!" Yan Xiaoshuang retorted confidently. "This isn't just a chess score, listen carefully!"

She cleared her throat, put her hands behind her back, and walked with a mysterious expression:

"Ahem, the stars are arrayed, the celestial phenomena are constant, the stars are scattered like chess pieces, the principles of chess are profound, the so-called movement of the stars can be secretly matched with the chessboard, the changes in celestial phenomena are all in the moves of the pieces, the way of chess stars is connected to the changes of heaven and earth..."

"etc!"

Gu Shuxian interrupted her, having heard several key words:

"Celestial phenomena, stars, chess manuals, Yi Xing... Are you from the Star-Picking Pavilion?"

Zhaixing Pavilion is one of the top five sects in the Great Yan Dynasty.

The Great Yan Kingdom is filled with sects of all sizes and forces of all kinds, but only the Five Great Sects truly transcend worldly affairs.

Their history is far longer than that of the more than three-hundred-year-old Great Yan Dynasty, and they rarely concern themselves with worldly affairs.

Throughout history, some emperors of the Great Yan Dynasty have harbored ambitions against the Five Great Sects, but all of them have ultimately failed.

People in the martial arts world dare to say, "The martial arts world is the martial arts world, and the imperial court is the imperial court." This confidence stems from the existence of the five major sects.

Of course, it's just something to say, don't take it to heart.

The five major factions dare to say and do this because they are the five major factions.

Other martial arts practitioners need to consider their overall strength and weigh their own capabilities. They should give the imperial court some face and cooperate with the work when necessary. They are not as carefree as they say.

"I'm not," Yan Xiaoshuang shook her head, but then puffed out her chest, saying with a hint of pride:

"But my grandmaster once stole several star charts from the Star-Picking Pavilion!"

"Your grandmaster is so powerful, he could steal things from the five major sects?" Gu Shuxian expressed his doubt.

It's not like the kind of boasting that you fired a hidden weapon from 800 miles away and then insisted that you fought someone, is it?

"My grandmaster is of course amazing! He even discovered the great secret of the Star-Picking Pavilion!"

"What?"

Yan Xiaoshuang didn't keep them in suspense any longer. She leaned closer and then whispered mysteriously:

"The Star-Picking Pavilion cultivates its Dao through the art of chess; their internal energy cultivation methods, martial arts techniques, and even closely guarded secrets are all hidden within every move they make on the chessboard!"

"All their techniques are hidden in the chess manual!"

Gu Shuxian glanced at the chess score in his hand and asked in confusion:

"This chess manual must be a generic, mass-produced one, right?"

"Hmph, you wouldn't know this!"

"These scattered chess manuals are only incomplete; they need corresponding star charts to be deciphered before they can become true celestial texts!"

"Different chess scores correspond to different star charts; only by combining the two can one comprehend the techniques contained within!"

Yan Xiaoshuang explained smugly.

As she spoke, she took out a piece of parchment from her bosom. It was covered with stars and lines, and the four corners were marked with directions and times.

"This star map is a rubbing of one of the several star maps that my grandmaster stole! Besides corresponding to the 'Thirteen Chapters of the Chess Classic,' this star map also corresponds to two other books, one called 'The Star Chart' and the other called 'The Frosty Record of the Chessboard'!"

Gu Shuxian took the star map and examined it closely by the moonlight.

There seems to be some kind of correspondence between the celestial path and the chessboard path, but no clues can be found on how to interpret them.

"How do we interpret this?" he asked.

Yan Xiaoshuang chuckled: "Can't I tell you're just stupid!"

Of course, she wouldn't tell Gu Shuxian that she had actually been carrying this star chart for several years and hadn't figured out anything.

Her grandmaster had studied it for decades, but only got a superficial understanding.

The star maps that her grandmaster stole back are actually a bit of a double-edged sword; they're neither useful nor worth discarding.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken it out so openly.

Gu Shuxian nodded and put the chess manual and star chart into his pocket.

If this is indeed a technique from the Star-Picking Pavilion, then it is undoubtedly from the Xuan Yin lineage.

Each of the five major sects follows one of the five elements, and the Star-Picking Pavilion happens to focus on the Profound Yin.

"I've given you everything. Come with me to find the Divine Halberd Hero!" Yan Xiaoshuang said.

"it is good."

Seeing that he agreed, Yan Xiaoshuang beamed with joy: "Hehe, actually I've already found a clue, that alley..."

"No need to check anymore."

Gu Shuxian interrupted.

"Hmm?" Yan Xiaoshuang frowned in confusion.

Gu Shuxian stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle. Moonlight shone on his face, and his expression was as calm as still water.

"I am the Divine Halberd Hero."

"Um?!"

"I'm the one who killed people and left notes. I am the Divine Halberd Hero."

"Alright, I've told you the truth. Farewell, Miss Yan."

After Gu Shuxian finished speaking, he stood up and leaped away, disappearing into the darkness.

Yan Xiaoshuang was stunned, and it took her a while to react. She stomped her foot and said angrily:

"You're kidding me!"

But there was no sign of Gu Shuxian anywhere.

……

Suishan Old Forest.

Gu Shuxian found a mountain peak and hid inside a large, leafy tree.

Sitting on a tree branch, I spread out the star map and chess score by the moonlight.

His eyes transformed into owl eyes, and he began to study these two things.

First, there was this "Thirteen Chapters of Chess Classic." Gu Shuxian carefully read through it and was quite certain that it was a common, mass-produced book.

However, in addition to the accompanying chess scores, the book also contains insightful discussions such as "There are moves that cannot be made, and moves that cannot be played", "There are moves that start first and then finish second, and moves that start last and then start first", "There are moves that start with few moves and end with many moves, and moves that start near and end far", and so on.

There seems to be something mysterious about it.

Could it be that the general principles of success are hidden inside? Gu Shuxian pondered for a while, but couldn't figure it out.

Turning back to look at the star chart, the parchment was covered with so many stars that it could trigger trypophobia in anyone looking at it.

"Does this 'Suppressing God's Head' technique correspond to this star?"

Gu Shuxian tried to compare the chess positions on the chess manual with the constellations on the star chart, attempting to find some kind of connection.

He kept gesturing with his fingers on the star chart, but it all felt forced.

The positions of the pieces on the chessboard are fixed, but the stars on the star chart are bright and dark, important and secondary, and how to correspond to them is entirely up to conjecture.

No, let's look at it from a different angle.

He rotated the star chart ninety degrees and compared it again.

Try using reverse thinking?

He turned the star chart upside down to look at it.

How about changing your way of thinking?

"Shall we try a different game?"

After comparing the results for about an hour, they found nothing.

"Damn it! Is Yan Xiaoshuang playing a trick on me?!"

Gu Shuxian rubbed his sore eyes and angrily stuffed the two items into his clothes.

He always felt that Yan Xiaoshuang was playing tricks, but he also felt that there was a subtle correspondence between the arrangement of certain stars on the star chart and certain fixed patterns on the chess manual. He didn't know if it was just his imagination.

"Never mind, once we find the two books, 'Star Chart' and 'Autumn Frost Record,' we can compare all three together and maybe find some patterns."

Gu Shuxian packed up his things, leaped down from the tree, transformed into a large eagle, and flew away.

They found a secluded mountain stream, hid the heavy iron halberd in a crevice in the rocks, and covered it with withered branches and fallen leaves.

This halberd is too conspicuous, and if I keep the Spirit Fox Disguise with me all the time, it will be a negative status that keeps draining my mana.

It's better to hide here.

After doing all this, he transformed into a sparrow and flew to the vicinity of the servants' quarters, then found a secluded corner to transform back into a sparrow.

I quietly slipped back to house number 9.

Everyone inside was fast asleep, and no one noticed that he had gone out.