"Error... Must be a recording error while they were mapping out this area... Yes, just like how I didn't think anybody would be living here, the mapmakers must have missed this hut."

Han Xuhan kept telling himself this in an attempt to rationalize the bizarre situation. But the tingling sensation down his spine refused to go away when his gaze fell on the abnormally pale woman sitting beside him.

Even if she heard his mutterings, nothing seemed to disturb her. Her eyes were fixated on the sky outside, visible through the gaps of large, ancient trees that practically formed a shade over the grove.

Some particularly dense tendrils of fog were beginning to show up in the distance. At this point, unless this woman revealed a set of bloody fangs and tried to jump on him, Han Xuhan would not take a step outside.

So he refrained from saying anything about the unusual placement of the hut. There was no need to let his curiosity compromise his safety.

It was the strangest experience of his brief life as a cultivator. Sitting on the porch, accompanied by a person whom he suspected to be a ghost, he had to do his best to pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary here.

Despite the cool weather, sweat-soaked the back of his robe, and his heart beat so fearfully that he could feel it in his ribcage. Even breathing was a little difficult.

The whole time, the woman didn't move a muscle. Only her pupils flickered from time to time, tracking the increasing density of the fog up ahead.

Soon, the fog pervaded the entire grove, and everything outside the hut was submerged in darkness. But true to the woman's claim, it didn't enter the boundaries of the hut.

The only source of light was a simple lamp sitting at the doorstep, bathing the porch in an orange glow.

Han Xuhan couldn't see past a couple of meters in the weak lighting. Even the face of the woman sitting beside him appeared a little indistinct.

From time to time, he checked the changes in the map. The mass of fog wasn't too big. And at the speed it was being sucked away towards the Frost Pill Mountain Peak, it would pass this area in less than an hour.

An hour... wasn't a long time. Unless one was stuck in the situation he was. Nevertheless, Han Xuhan didn't sense any malicious intent from her. So he didn't find it too daunting a task to spend an hour like this.

Right at that moment he gained a bit of confidence in himself, the lamp behind them died. Han Xuhan profusely cursed himself for jinxing it with a mere thought.

Now he was completely blinded, huddling against the wall of the hut and listening to his own shallow breaths. The grove was dead silent, probably because even the birds and the insects were terrified.

Perhaps sensing his growing discomfort, the girl shuffled a bit closer, just enough where Han Xuhan could sense her presence despite not being able to see. In the deathly silence, their breathing was the only signature of life.

"Do you know how to play chess?" She suddenly said in a clear, polished, native accent, making Han Xuhan choke on his own spit.

What the hell was going on? This girl couldn't even speak a word properly five minutes ago!

Had she been playing a prank on him the whole time? Is this considered a senior sister teasing a junior brother?

And where did the topic of chess sprout from? He had never seen anybody in this world play this game. Did another fellow transmigrator from Earth teach this sister how to play it?

Han Xuhan opened and closed his mouth several times before he found his voice. In a meek tone, he said, "I only know how the pieces move on the board. I can play according to the basics. But that's never enough to defeat someone who plays regularly."

"So a novice, then," she muttered. "That's fine too. As long as you know the moves, it'll do. Let's play chess to pass the time."

"...Here? In the dark?" Han Xuhan's confusion was the only logical response to the proposal.

"Isn't that the way you make a game entertaining? Ordinary chess is so boring! Just memorize optimal moves and beat less-skilled players, while pointlessly wasting hours against similarly skilled opponents for a victory by chance."

The more she spoke, the clearer it became to Han Xuhan that her earlier stumbling speech was completely fake. Be it in terms of her accent or the fluidity, she could pass for a native of the Bullhorn Mountain Range without a problem.

"This darkness equalizes the balance. You don't know which pieces I have, I don't know which pieces you have. Skill becomes obsolete. Neither of us can tell what move we're making unless the pieces come into contact with each other.

"It's just like a conflict in real life, where you have to guess, make strategies based on your guess, and accept the losses that fate throws your way unpredictably. Fortune and misfortune are beyond human control, but our own movements are.

"So the effort that we put into it is all that matters. Success and failure only have meaning if you attach meaning to them. Treat the world as a board of chess and attach whatever meaning to it as you like, and thus, your Dao..."

She suddenly stopped midway in the sentence, losing her energy as if she had realized that she was blabbering cryptic words that her audience couldn't really understand.

After letting out a sigh, she finally said, "First move."

"...What?"

"Make your first move," she said, sounding a little annoyed. "Since we don't know who has the white pieces and who has the black pieces, both of us will have to make simultaneous moves."

"Where's the board? Where are the pieces?" Han Xuhan was completely lost. The more this conversation went on, the more he felt that he was dealing with a mentally unstable person.

"Can't you sense them? I've already placed them where they should be. Just try to sense your pieces!"

Han Xuhan was so freaked out that he actually did it. Taking the instruction of this crazy woman, he reached out with his hands and touched the floor between them, looking for chess pieces.

Nothing... Nothing... Hmm?

One of his hands discovered a row of objects that did feel like small chess pieces, but they were a bit warm... and somewhat fleshly.

"Young man, why are you groping my toes? Are you trying to take advantage of me in the dark?"

"....Sorry! Sorry! I was searching for my chess pieces-"

"Why the hell would your chess pieces be there? Sounds like an excuse!"

Despite accusing him of perverted behavior, she didn't sound really angry. Han Xuhan could detect a hint of teasing in her tone, almost similar to how Xuanyuan Zhou spoke whenever she had to explain how she knew random obscure knowledge about the world of cultivation.

So he defended his dignity vehemently. "If the chessboard and the pieces aren't between us, where else am I supposed to look for them? It's so dark that even if I wanted to take advantage of you, senior sister, I wouldn't be able to follow through with a plan."

"I told you to sense it, not grope around yourself, you idiot," she said, growing a bit irritated.

"Haven't you mastered the way of extending your spiritual awareness out of your body and observing the true reality that the naked eye can't see?"

"...Senior Sister, I'm barely considered a cultivator. The feat you speak of is something I'm hearing for the first time. How could I have mastered it as a rookie Mystic Artist?"

"You? A rookie Mystic Artist? Hehehe! Hahahaha!"

She started laughing in an unhinged manner, making Han Xuhan shrink back in terror.

Crazy! This woman really was crazy!

"The aura on your existence surely doesn't belong to a rookie Mystic Artist. What's the point of lying so blatantly in front of someone with eyes?" She said after a hearty, long laugh.

Han Xuhan gingerly explained what he had heard from Xuan Zi.

"It's the aura of a Celestial curse. I've been told that I accidentally became implicated in a feud between some Celestials and ended up carrying a bad aura..."

"Why would an ordinary person be implicated in a fight between Celestials? And Celestials don't even fight each other. Otherwise, how could the Heavenly Way function properly?"

What was this woman even talking about? The way she spoke, Han Xuhan couldn't even decide whether it was pure insanity or if he had met a real old monster disguised in sheep's clothing.

"It's okay. I can see that this vessel of yours isn't ready for heavenly calamities. Old cockroaches who've gotten used to their disguised, cowardly ways wouldn't easily show themselves. So I won't hold it against you.

"If you don't want to play, don't play. Just never come here to bother me again. When you showed up in front of my hut, I thought you wanted to have a chat. This fog certainly is a good masking method to hide things from the peering eyes in the sky."

After saying this, she no longer spoke again. This silence between them stretched on and on till the air outside began to clear up.

Han Xuhan checked the map again with shaking hands. The mass of fog had more or less crossed the mountain.

Touching the wooden mask on his face, he slowly stood up and gave her a wide berth as he walked outside. Even when he broke into a sprint, she didn't stop him.