It doesn't matter what the lord is.

The carriage traveled day and night, and Lid soon arrived at Yinghua territory. He thought he could take a flying dragon to Lingwu right away, but he was shocked when he arrived. There were so many people waiting in line for the flying dragon to pick them up. The Pingguo city in Yinghua was almost full of people, and the hotels in several surrounding cities were already overcrowded.

Lide stopped a soldier from Tiance Mansion and asked:

"Brother, what happened here? I see the line is almost stretched till next year."

The soldier of Tiance Mansion took off his helmet, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said to Lid with emotion:

"Yes. Didn't the Lord of Lingwu make a new rule this year? He said that in order to take care of the young men and women who wanted to come to Lingwu, they were allowed to bring their families and guards. The trouble is here. Some people brought more than 20 concubines with them, not to mention that many of them were followed by hundreds of guards. They insisted that the guards also take our flying dragons, saying that they could not be separated from the guards, otherwise no one would save them if they were in danger."

Lid looked confused and said:

"Even the Tiance Mansion can't solve this danger, how can their hundreds of guards solve it?"

The soldier slapped his thigh, but forgot that he was wearing armor on his leg, and the slap hurt him. He shook his hand and complained to Lid:

"That's right! We explained this to them, but no one listened! Anyway, it's a mess here, and the queue won't be cleared anytime soon. If you're going to Lingwu, I'll show you the way. Don't wait for Feilong. It'll definitely be faster to take a carriage."

Reed glanced at the endless team, smiled wryly, and nodded, agreeing with the soldier's suggestion.

Although he could also show his friendship with Wu Mi and ask the soldiers of Tian Ce Mansion to give him some face, he was unwilling to embarrass an innocent soldier with so many eyes watching him. Once the first person who successfully cut in line appeared, the situation here would only become more chaotic. At that time, he could just pat his butt and leave, but the soldiers who stayed behind to deal with the matter would suffer.

Anyway, the carriages in Yuxi City were equipped with shock-absorbing devices long ago, so even if they were traveling on a bumpy road, the people inside could still hug each other and sleep soundly. If you sit for a long time, your butt won't be hurt, and the space is very spacious, not much different from riding a flying dragon.

After leaving Pingguo City, there are obviously fewer carriages heading north, and most of them are not heading to Lingwu. The method to determine whether a carriage is heading to Lingwu is very simple, just see if the carriage has been specially treated to prevent cold. For example, the carriage that Lid is riding has a thickened body and is embedded with snow fox fur, so it has very good cold-proof performance. If it is just an ordinary carriage with thin plates, it is probably just a merchant active in Yinghua Territory and will not continue to go north.

Lid looked around and found that there were almost no people going to Lingwu together. He couldn't even find a travel companion. It can be seen that most people still don't want to take a long journey by carriage. They would rather wait in line in Pingguo City for Feilong. Anyway, if they can't arrive on time, they can blame Tiance Mansion.

It was not until a few days later that Reed saw a well-protected carriage on the side of the road.

The carriage was parked on the side of the road. Lid took a look and knew that it was basically scrapped. One of the wheels was dented and the whole carriage was tilted to one side. Most importantly, there was an obvious crack on the main shaft of the axle. It was not that it encountered any attack, after all, the carriage was still intact. It was probably because of the bumpy journey that the carriage, which was not made of very expensive materials, finally came to an end.

There were two people standing next to the carriage. One was dressed like an ordinary coachman, wearing a short coarse cloth coat and a plain beard. He looked to be about forty years old. The other was wrapped in a white cloak, with only a pair of eyes showing. His specific appearance could not be seen clearly. The coachman looked a little anxious. He stamped his feet unconsciously while talking, and there was a hint of uncontrollable anxiety in his voice:

"What should I do? I'm late, and there might be some trouble over there... It's all my fault. If I had checked carefully before leaving, it would have been fine."

The driver looked around and continued:

"And if we buy a carriage here, we might be targeted again... Someone was already watching us when we first entered Yinghua. It's definitely not a good idea to continue staying here..."

To be fair, the driver's voice was already very low. Most people who were a little far away could not hear what he was saying. Even people with a certain level of cultivation could only hear some vague words. Only Lid heard their conversation relatively completely, so he looked over there twice.

When his eyes passed over the driver, the driver did not react, but when Reed's eyes passed the back of the man in white, the man turned sideways sharply and looked at Reed with a pair of deep eyes.

The two looked at each other for a second, and no one spoke. However, the driver beside the man's eyes lit up, and he waved while running towards the carriage where Lid was.

9. There are also thresholds for playing with others

"Excuse me, young man, hey hey hey that young man! Please stop for a moment - are you going to Lingwu?"

The driver walked very fast, and although he didn't seem to have any cultivation level, he was obviously well trained. He followed the carriage for a while, chasing after it and calling out to Lid. It seemed that if Lid didn't stop, he would keep following until he ran out of energy.

"Stop it."

Lid shouted outside, and the carriage stopped. The driver, who had been running all the way, quickly ran to the window, supported his knees with his hands, and panted for a while:

"Ouch... Wait until I catch my breath. Brother, this is what happened. I noticed that your carriage is different from others. It has been well protected from the cold, so I came up to ask you something. Our carriage broke down on the way. You see, it's the one parked on the side of the road. The wheels are dented, and it's probably beyond repair. We don't have any extra money on us, so I wanted to ask you if you are also going to Lingwu, could you be kind enough to give us a ride?"

The driver looked like a very smart man. He controlled the tone of his voice just right, had a wry smile on his face, and bowed to Lid again and again with his hands clasped together.

At this time, the man in white who had been standing in front of the coachman also walked up. He appeared silently in Reed's sight in just two breaths. When Reed noticed him, his pace slowed down again, and he stood next to the coachman calmly.

Reed narrowed his eyes slightly.

Having no money was a good excuse. Even if Lid didn't believe it, he couldn't ask them to take out all their belongings. Having said that, the final decision was still Lid's. Whether it was the driver or the man in white, although they both gave people a mysterious feeling, there was no hostility from them.

Lid said:

"You two are going to Lingwu too? Are you going to participate in this year's Northward Journey?"

The driver shook his head, glanced at the man in white beside him, and turned to Lid and replied:

"No, no. We won't do anything that dangerous. It's... this kid has a relative in Lingwu. He hasn't been back for many years, so he wants to go back this year to visit him."

The man in white looked at Lid, neither admitting nor denying, and only said:

"My name is Huang Yan."

Unlike the driver, his voice did not carry much emotion. Even when he wanted to ask Lid to give him a ride, there was no hint of pleading in his words. His attitude seemed to make the driver a little embarrassed. He rubbed his hands and walked forward, lowering his voice and saying to Lid:

"I don't have a name, because I'm the youngest in the family, and everyone calls me the youngest. I've been a coachman for Master Huangyan for many years. In the past, Master Huangyan did business in the south and accumulated a lot of wealth. Unfortunately, he was unlucky this year, and the accounts of his shops were getting worse and worse. That's why he planned to return to Lingwu to seek refuge with his relatives. To be honest, Master Huangyan lost a lot of money he earned in these years, and he also borrowed a lot of foreign debts. Seeing that our Master Huangyan's business was not doing well, the creditors wanted to take over his business and asked him to sell his valuable belongings to pay back the debts... We have been hiding our names all the way, and Master Huangyan even wore a cloak to hide his face, for fear of being recognized by the debt collectors. If you can give us a ride, you will definitely reward us in the future."

After hearing this, Lid pondered for a long time and asked seriously:

"Can you play chess?"

The youngest child didn't expect that Lid would suddenly change the topic to this. His eyes widened for a moment and he said stupidly:

"what?!"

But he reacted immediately and said:

"Yes, yes. For ordinary people like us, walking around the streets, chatting and playing chess are our only pastime. How can we not know it?"

Lid nodded and asked:

"Playing cards?"

“Several kinds.”

"Okay, you've passed. Get in the car."

Lid acted like an interviewer, and with just one sentence, he announced that the two had passed the test. This was unexpected for the youngest, and Huangyan on the side also looked at Lid twice more. Seeing that Lid had retracted his head into the car, the youngest hesitated and looked back at the broken carriage he had driven before, and then looked at Huangyan.

Huang Yan said nothing and stepped on the pedal to get into Lid's car.

The youngest one gritted his teeth and climbed up as well.

In order to explain himself, he told Lid that he didn't have much money on him, but it was actually a lie. This young man in white was an important target of his escort. In order to ensure that he arrived as safely as possible, the carriage abandoned on the roadside was filled with a lot of gold and silver treasures to manage relationships and deal with emergencies. Now that he didn't want it anymore, the youngest brother's face was obviously a little distressed.

Reed saw his expression clearly, but Reed just smiled and said nothing.

Li De didn't really care who these people were or what they were doing in Lingwu. Anyway, they didn't have any clear conflict of interest with him, so there was nothing wrong with them being traveling companions. Just like when he left Yuxi City for Yunhai, he had a very happy chat with Fang Yuan who was traveling with him.

After getting on the car, Mr. Huangyan's eyes calmly passed by Alayya and Shiloh, and finally stopped at Lid's bulging chest. It was obvious that something was hidden there, and he stared at it for a while, only to see a small colorless slime quietly poking its head out, quickly glanced at him, and then shrank back into Lid's arms.

Useless hiding.

Huang Yan stared at the place where the little slime disappeared for a while, then silently withdrew his gaze.

Lid propped up his head, turned around, and said to Huang Yan and the youngest:

"Let me introduce myself briefly. My name is Jiade. These two are people around me. They don't like to talk much. You can call the younger one Xiaobing, and the older one Dabing. The one in my arms is my pet. It doesn't have a name yet, so you can call it Bibiji."

Arakawa nodded to everyone seriously, while the youngest one rubbed his hands and laughed:

"I wonder what Brother Jiade is doing in Lingwu?"

Lid raised his head and thought for a while, then replied sadly:

"I'm afraid he's going to lead someone else's horse."

The youngest one frowned and immediately decided not to ask any further questions about this issue.

After all, he didn't care who Lid and his men were or what they were doing in Lingwu. As long as Lid could bring him and Huangyan to Lingwu safely, it was enough for them. Especially when he saw him carrying a slime as a pet, the youngest knew that he must have some special connections. The general checkpoints would not carefully check his car, so Huangyan should be safe here.

The youngest one breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly found that Reed was looking at him with a smile.

Lid took out a chessboard from behind him, put it in front of him, and said:

"Didn't you say you can play chess? Come, play a few games with me. If you lose miserably, the door is over there, go down by yourself."

10. Live and learn

The youngest only regretted that he didn't learn a few more moves when he played chess on the street. He was defeated before he even got to the middle of the game and had to give up. Even though he played very hard later, he still couldn't escape the fate of being defeated and losing everything. However, the youngest had a superpower, which was to flatter Lid. He would loudly praise Lid for every move he made:

"Liu Beer! This move by Brother Jiade is really unpredictable!"

"Oh my god, this is too strong. Is this something a human can do? I'm stunned. Why don't we load this into the chess manual?"

"What? Wait, Brother Jiade, slow down. Where is my dragon? Where is a dragon this big? It was here just now."

"Oh my god, it's simply unimaginable. If you are not a well-versed person, how could you possibly see the secret of this move! Brother Jiade plays chess in a classic way. This is more than just playing chess. I seem to hear the sound of flowing water in the mountains. The sound of chess pieces hitting the chessboard is so pleasant!"

"This chess game should only exist in heaven. How often can we see it in the world? I admire you so much. Even Mr. Taihe, who was once a big shot in the chess world, would have to frown when he saw Brother Jiade. Oh my God! As he was talking, Brother Jiade came up with many amazing moves. I admire him so much that I bow down to him..."

Lid scowled and snapped the last chess piece. He knew without counting that he had won an overwhelming victory. Lid pointed toward the carriage door, meaning "please go over there". The youngest brother rubbed his hands and laughed, pretending he didn't see it, and quickly picked up the chess pieces to play another game.

At this time, Huang Yan patted the youngest on the shoulder and said:

"I'll follow him."

The youngest one gave up his seat obediently.

Lid sent Arakawa to play black first, Arakawa casually occupied a corner, Lid occupied the opposite corner, and the two began to make their own arrangements. Unlike the youngest who only knew how to defend, Arakawa played very offensively. After the overall situation was arranged, he took the initiative to attack, continuously expanded multiple battlefields, and started the road to full-scale invasion.

Lid plays chess very quickly, and coincidentally, Huangyan plays chess very quickly, which is very comfortable. The two of them made moves quickly, which was completely different from the old man who took a long time to make a move on the street corner. The youngest one soon couldn't understand the situation at all, scratching his head and not knowing what the situation was. Alayya and Shiloh kept staring at the chessboard. They didn't really understand it either, and they watched it mainly with the mentality of cheering for Lid.

Huangyan's attack was as fierce as a storm, but Lide still defended it perfectly. Huangyan kept moving around in several battlefields, but he couldn't make any progress. Occasionally, a few chess pieces were able to penetrate Lide's defense line, but his own territory was inevitably attacked in the weak spots. From the overall situation, Huangyan was actually going downhill. When the finale was over, Huangyan had lost more than 30 points as expected.

Facing this disastrous defeat, Huang Yan let out a sigh of relief and said:

"Again."

Lid still let him play first with black pieces, but this time Huangyan changed his previous style of play. He did not fight on multiple fronts like before, but instead pursued Lid in one area from the beginning. Not only was his attack extremely sharp, but it was also very difficult to deal with. Several pieces accurately blocked Lid's retreat, forcing Lid to fight him to the death.

After walking down more than twenty steps, Huang Yan frowned, hesitated for a moment, and made his move in one place.

Lide immediately followed suit. The fight between the two men in one place was almost intense, and at this time there were actually a lot of blanks on the chessboard that had not been filled. Huangyan had already lost the battle in this area, and the best way at this time was actually to develop in another place, but Huangyan still entangled Lide's territory like a snake, ready to gnaw his flesh and blood to make himself alive.

This is a life-threatening style of play, but it is very exciting to play.

In the end, Huang Yan still lost to Li De, but he also retained a large area. Then he picked up a chess piece and dropped it somewhere else, opening up another battlefield. After the end of the game, the stunned youngest player counted the chess pieces and found that Huang Yan only lost five points this time.

In the eyes of the youngest, it was good enough that their eldest brother lost only five points. After all, judging from Lid's carefree appearance, he was probably a playboy who had nothing to do all day, so it was normal for him to make some achievements in chess when he had nothing to do. Their eldest brother didn't sit at the chess table all day, so it was reasonable that he didn't play well.

But Huang Yan stared at the chessboard and didn't speak for a long time.

It was Lid who put away the chess pieces, saying as he did so:

"Your move is rare and quite cruel. Who did you learn it from?"

Huang Yan paused and answered simply:

"My godfather taught me. At first he said it was wrong, but later he said I should do it this way."

“It depends on personality.”

Lid put away the chessboard, leaned back in his chair, yawned, and continued:

"It's really not a good idea to do this. It's like the general trend of the world. If you only focus on one place, it's hard to control the overall situation. However, not everyone needs to control the overall situation. If you can win every step, you will naturally win in the end."

Huang Yan nodded, which was rare, and said:

"What you said is very similar to what my godfather said."

Huang Yan didn't seem to talk much, and when he spoke, he always lowered his voice deliberately, which made his voice sound strange. However, considering that he was wrapped in a cloak, the strangeness of his voice didn't feel out of place at all, and it seemed that it was supposed to be like this.

Lid felt as if he had suddenly become a member of the previous generation, and couldn't help asking:

"How old is your godfather?"

Huang Yan counted on his fingers and replied:

"If he were still alive, he would be about one hundred and four years old."

Li De wanted to complain that they were not his father's generation, but his great-grandfather's generation. Calling him grandpa was too young. But after thinking about it, he didn't complain. The youngest one also leaned over at the right time. He seemed not to want Huang Yan to talk too much about this matter. He changed the subject in time and asked Li De:

"Speaking of which, who did Jiade learn chess from? He's so good, he must be a famous chess master."

Reed shrugged.

"I learned it from my mom. I'm not that good at it. She asked a dog to play with me and told me I couldn't eat if I couldn't win. People have to eat, so I got the hang of it after playing for a while."

The youngest one was full of questions:

"Found a dog?"

Lid nodded with a smile and said:

"Well, it's a pretty amazing dog. It can play chess with itself, and the more it plays, the better it gets."

The youngest scratched his head and said with a wry smile:

"According to that, I should not be able to beat that dog. It is worthy of being the dog raised by Brother Jiade, it is Liupi! If a dog can have such a level, how much more can a human? I was a little confused and a little bit unconvinced in my heart. Now I finally understand. It turns out that the distance between me and Brother Jiade is like the distance from the south to the north of the Kingdom of Eternal Heaven, just like a frog in a well looking up at the stars. The gap is so huge. I admire him, I really admire him!"