CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER 36: WILD PHOENIX

Pugang Town is a typical urban-rural integration area. The small building of He Kao’s family is actually near the town center, resembling a farmhouse courtyard with a modern and artistic design, akin to a suburban villa.

Two streets away from the courtyard is a newly developed district with modern high-rise buildings featuring shining glass curtain walls. The core area of Jiangbei District is around Pugang Town’s Lijiang Port, which was the old dock back in the day.

Back then, to improve urban planning and promote city renovations, Qi Yuan City transferred many industries north of the Great River and established the Jiangbei New District.

Nowadays, the road traffic is very developed, and residents no longer need to take a boat to cross the river. However, for the industrial areas, the convenient shipping routes along the Great River still hold great importance, gathering many industry workers here.

Near the commercial pedestrian street outside the port area, one can often see an elderly man setting up a chess stall under a parasol tree.

The parasol tree mentioned in many ancient texts is the Eastern Country’s parasol tree, a fine material for making instruments where phoenixes perch, not the commonly seen sycamore trees in Qi Yuan’s streets and alleys.

Its calyx is shaped like five claws, with each petal resembling a spoon in shape and size, and its seeds resemble pearls.

People usually do not pay much attention to the blooming of the parasol tree, as its petals are wrapped in calyxes, and both petals and calyxes are yellowish-green, inconspicuous.

The chess stall, almost extinct nowadays, was frequently seen decades ago. It was simply a board with an endgame placed by the roadside.

Passersby interested could play a game with the stall owner. The owner would let pedestrians choose red or black pieces, and the loser would pay the winner.

Several people often surround the stall, not only attracting passersby to stop but also acting as chess hustlers, pretending to be passersby and playing chess with the owner, and then winning money. When onlookers are tempted to play, they often end up losing badly.

Why have chess stalls vanished nowadays? It’s not only because people have more leisure and entertainment choices, but also because the times have changed.

In the past, when information exchange was extremely underdeveloped, possessing a book on certain endgames allowed someone to set up a stall in the market.

But now everyone has a smartphone, can download chess apps, choose from beginner, proficient, expert, master tiers of games, and even have an endgame feature.

How can an ancient book compete with artificial intelligence?

This old man has been setting up the stall for a long time, and locals don’t even remember when the chess stall first appeared, as if it were some sort of intangible cultural heritage.

The old man doesn’t set up the stall every day, appearing once in a while, sometimes absent for ten days or half a month. But after many occurrences over time, many locals feel that there’s always an old man setting up a chess stall under the parasol tree.

The adjacent pedestrian street was once a bustling market where He Kao saw this old man when going there with his grandfather during childhood. It was five yuan for a game back then.

He Kao remembers it because he thought five yuan was expensive, beyond his means.

Now the price of the chess game has increased to a hundred yuan per game, with payments made via scanning codes instead of cash. Moreover, the old man’s stall is unique, offering complete games instead of endgames, with the loser paying the winner.

Passersby see an opportunity and sit down for a game with the old man, pretending to browse their phones but secretly using a chess app, yet often still losing to the old man.

The old man doesn’t always win; he occasionally loses a couple of games and pays up cheerfully.

At noon today, two men, looking around their thirties and presumably employees of a nearby port company, passed by. One of them sat down for a game while the other watched.

The chess player tried to cheat by using a phone app discreetly, intending to input the old man’s moves into the phone to have the software play against him, typical in such cheating.

However, unfamiliar with this operation, the chess player mistakenly chose to play first, making it difficult to use the software. While it could theoretically be switched to the endgame function, there was not enough time to rearrange the board.

With pieces already placed down, the chess player decided to continue the game, only to be routed after ten moves, facing imminent defeat.

These two fellows were not the best of sorts. Seeing only the old man present, one of them casually swiped the board clean and shouted, "Let’s call it a draw, I’m not playing anymore!"

The old man was enraged: "How can you cheat like this? Bullying an old man!"

One of them retorted, "Who bullied you? Is there a witness? Did we sign a contract?"

The other said, "Why talk to him? I’m hungry, let’s eat!"

The old man said nothing more, packing up the board while gesturing them to leave quickly. In places like these, encountering someone who reneges like this is not uncommon, losing the game yet refusing to pay.

The old man might sometimes hold them to reason, but rarely does anyone dare to resort to violence since at most losing entails paying a hundred yuan, whereas resorting to violence incurs unknown consequences. Some losers might run off, leaving the old man unable to catch them.

Occasionally, like today, the old man couldn’t be bothered, simply waving them off.

Then from the parasol tree, emerged another person, sitting across from the old man and sighing, "Those two missed out on something great! But I’m curious, what did you truly foresee, are they beyond redemption?"

The stall owner glared at him: "What are you talking about? I set up a chess stall, not a fortune-telling stall!"

Passersby who notice the chess stall instinctively assume the stall owner is an old man. Yet this old man doesn’t seem quite old; his eyesight is sharp, his back is not hunched, and his posture remains upright.

His thick hair, though graying, has a reddish complexion and smooth skin, yet his aura invisibly radiates that of a venerable elder.

The newcomer looks more like an elderly person, though his hair is jet-black without a single gray strand, his facial skin is somewhat rough, and his forehead bears chiseled-like wrinkles. He’s dressed in an old-fashioned formal suit with four pockets, resembling a retired old cadre.

The old cadre teased again, "Over these years, you’ve always loved sitting under the parasol tree, leading to rumors in the Jianghu that you’re silently expressing love to Elder Ye under the Wild Phoenix."

"The last time the Wild Phoenix actually came looking for you, you got scared and ran away. Now everyone says, ’Long ago, there was Ye Gong who loved dragons; today, there’s Mr. Jiang who loves phoenixes.’"

The stall elder: "What kind of crazy wind is this! Just because I sit under the parasol tree, it means I have an interest in her Wild Phoenix? She came to see me not because she likes me but to clear up the rumors.

I wasn’t the one spreading the rumors, so what is there to clear up? I already predicted she would come, so I simply avoided her for some peace.

You know Wild Phoenix’s temper. If I told her to her face that I wasn’t interested in her at all, would she be happy?

Her visit was to bolster her own image and affirm the rumors, convincing me not to daydream. I never had such thoughts, so why give her that ladder?"

The old cadre: "Oh, oh, oh! The renowned contemporary strategic genius Elder Jiang actually got flustered."

The stall elder: "Who’s flustered?"

The old cadre: "If you’re not seeing her, then you’re not. Why explain so much? After Elder Ye left, you still set up your stall under this parasol tree. Why not avoid the suspicion?"

The stall elder: "My heart is clear, so why avoid baseless rumors? She has a nickname, Wild Phoenix; does that mean every parasol tree in the world becomes her territory?

Earth Master, can’t you see? Within this area, the Earth Qi under this parasol tree is the best for setting up a stall."

The old man at the chess stall is named Jiang Daozhen, a contemporary elder of the Lingxi Sect, a Tier Six "Calculator." Nowadays, many high-ups in the Magic Sect speculate that this Elder Jiang might have further advanced in cultivation, possibly stepping into the legendary Tier Seven.

Tier One of the Lingxi Skill is called "Observer."

Tier Two of the Lingxi Skill is commonly known as "Dust Guest."

Tier Three of the Lingxi Skill self-proclaimed as "Prophet."

Tier Four of the Lingxi Skill jokingly called "Divine Stick."

Tier Five of the Lingxi Skill referred to as "Passerby."

Tier Six of the Lingxi Skill is given the honorable title "Calculator."

The visitor resembling an old cadre is Gu Chun, a contemporary elder of the Heart Plate Sect, currently the only visible Tier Six "Earth Master" in the Heart Plate Sect.

The Wild Phoenix they mentioned is a contemporary elder of the Observing Body Sect, a Tier Six "Physician," her real name being Ye Qi, although this name is rarely known now.

In her youth, she was a bit wild, a standard wild girl, plus she was good-looking, hence she got the nickname Wild Phoenix.

This nickname isn’t entirely complimentary, but Ye Qi herself is very pleased with it, thus she started calling herself Ye Ye Phoenix. Later in the Magic Sect, everyone called her Elder Ye, "Ye" and "Ye" sound quite similar.

Is there really a surname "Wild"? Well, she decides anyway, she might as well write her own ’Book of Hundred Family Surnames.’

The reputation of this Elder Ye in the Jianghu is not very good; she should be quite old, but with high cultivation skills, she maintains her youthful appearance, supposedly loving young men, having had many young and handsome boyfriends.

Of course, no one dares to verify with Elder Ye face-to-face, and what position the Wild Phoenix takes daily or what she does isn’t something ordinary Magic Sect disciples know.

So these might just be rumors, much like the Jianghu rumors about Jiang Daozhen.

Gu Chun, of course, knows that this parasol tree is the Earth Qi Spirit Core of this area’s several dozen miles, but he shakes his head with a smile and says, "Though it’s nice here, with Elder Jiang’s status, there’s no shortage of better places."

Jiang Daozhen: "Elders of various sects aren’t always in the sect’s blessed land; aren’t they at home doing whatever they should? As for me, I’m a local; my home was near Xiaowan Village since childhood, so must I set up a stall elsewhere?

But you, Earth Master, suddenly showed up today, are you looking for a game with this old man?"

Gu Chun: "You’re a few years younger than me, how dare you call yourself an old man in front of me? As a Calculator, wouldn’t you be ashamed to compete with me in chess? Isn’t this bullying?"

Jiang Daozhen pointed to the chessboard in front of him, "Then let’s compete in what you, the Earth Master, are skilled at: array formation."

Gu Chun: "Competing with you in array formation on your home ground is nothing but chess, isn’t it? Forget it, I admit I can’t compare to you. I’ve come today to inquire about something, why did you prevent Lin Qingshuang from accepting a disciple yesterday?"

Jiang Daozhen retorted, "Is there a problem?"

Gu Chun: "It’s unfair to that child and even more so to Lin Qingshuang. Moreover, I had sent the directive through the Ancestral Hall, and you agreed to it. Why did you intervene afterward?"

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