Looking at Wang Siyuan’s pale face flushed with an abnormal redness from excitement, Meng Qi blurted out, “Beyond control? Then can you calculate which faction the large ship I boarded earlier belongs to?”
Wang Siyuan coughed a few times, suppressing the sickly feeling, and replied with a half-smile, “You want to get intelligence from me about them, right?”
“Hehe.” Meng Qi gave a dry laugh, tacitly agreeing.
Wang Siyuan solemnly took out a set of counting rods, threw them onto the Go board where they mixed with black and white stones, and then picked them up one by one, his lips moving silently as he calculated.
“Xu…” His voice suddenly rose slightly, as he glanced at Meng Qi, “Your physical depletion has been replenished…”
After a short while, he smiled slightly and put down the counting rods. “Liu Guang Shao Hua Tea, right?”
“This can be calculated too…” A chill suddenly rose in Meng Qi’s heart.
Wang Siyuan smiled. “It’s from the Zhixu Mountain.”
“Zhixu Mountain… one of the inheritances of the Six External Masters?” Meng Qi vaguely recalled hearing about it at Shaolin.
Wang Siyuan nodded. “Legend has it that before the Buddha attained enlightenment, there were six individuals who studied the ultimate principles of the universe with him. Later, they parted ways due to differing philosophies, and Buddhism refers to them as the Six External Masters.”
“Though each held their own views, they eventually all became famous ancient cultivators, each leaving behind their own traditions. There is Zhixu Mountain, which believes everything is real and tangible, and the Yeming Sect, which believes everything is predestined by innate fate. Hehe, they call themselves the Wenshen Sect. Anyway, the views of these six sects are all quite interesting and worth understanding as references.”
Meng Qi nodded thoughtfully. So he had encountered one of the inheritances of the Six External Masters. No wonder they were familiar with the lamp before the Buddha!
But he had obtained his lamp from the Journey to the West world. They should have recognized the Buddha of the main world!
Wang Siyuan turned his gaze back to the Go board. “The inheritances of the Six External Masters prefer to explore their own paths and avoid entanglements with the martial world. You don’t need to worry too much about them.”
He paused and continued, “You can leave now. No need to hide deliberately. Tomorrow, ‘Shock the Hundred Miles’ will realize his recklessness, notice the doubts, and seek your forgiveness and cooperation.”
Although Meng Qi himself felt that Jiang Hengchuan wouldn’t remain clouded by anger forever and would resolve things once he calmed down, hearing Wang Siyuan speak so confidently, he couldn’t help but ask, “How can you be so sure?”
Wang Siyuan placed a Go piece and looked up at him, a trace of pride appearing on his beautiful face like a woman’s:
“Because I am ‘Calculating the Fate of All Beings.'”
…
Hmph, wait until one day I knock you flat and see if you can still say, “Because I am Calculating the Fate of All Beings”… Meng Qi muttered to himself behind Wang Siyuan’s back.
After resting for a while, his strength recovered considerably. He quickly merged into the darkness across the river along the riverside path. On the street, pedestrians still came and went—mostly drunkards and gamblers.
Meng Qi did not follow Wang Siyuan’s suggestion to walk around openly and wait for Jiang Hengchuan to apologize. He maintained his own pace, wandering aimlessly without preconceived intentions, while keeping an eye on his surroundings. When a sudden intuition struck him, he abruptly jumped into a seemingly empty courtyard, found a clean spot, and began to meditate and recover his energy.
Wang Siyuan had many enemies, so Meng Qi couldn’t just believe everything he said. Otherwise, he might end up as one of the “fate-calculated beings” without realizing it.
The long night passed, and Meng Qi focused on recovery. With the powerful healing ability of the Bayi Xuan Gong and the help of the Liu Guang Shao Hua Tea, he fully recovered before midnight. He then began to reflect on Wang Siyuan’s words from the night.
After carefully sorting through the conversation, besides the perspective on problem-solving, Meng Qi felt that three statements from Wang Siyuan were most worth noting:
“Young experts who came here for various reasons…”
“You are a piece not originally on the chessboard, a variable…”
“Regardless of whether you doubt or how you respond, the final outcome won’t change…”
Meng Qi rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “Wang Siyuan was provoked into accepting a challenge and came to Maoling to engage in a game of strategy. Why did Jiang Hengchuan come? And why did Qingyu come? What is the real purpose of the strategist? He definitely isn’t just recklessly competing with Wang Siyuan, because Wang Siyuan himself is also a young expert who came here for a certain reason, no different from the others in essence…”
“In other words, everyone else accepted the invitation, but I came here for an investigation. It’s like a water buffalo sneaking into a herd of yellow cattle. Those who don’t understand might think it’s normal, but to the mastermind, it’s unusually conspicuous. That’s why I was noticed as soon as I arrived, unrelated to Qiu Fei…”
“If everything I do leads to the same outcome, then the key to this conspiracy isn’t me. Is there someone following me, or…”
Meng Qi pondered for a long time, with too many guesses and deductions needing elimination. Taking advantage of the still-dark sky, he quickly fell asleep to rapidly replenish his spirit.
At dawn, as the sky blazed with morning light, Meng Qi awoke instantly upon feeling the first ray of sunlight, his previous fatigue completely gone.
He searched the courtyard, found some clothes to change into, left some money, then jumped over the courtyard wall and walked boldly toward the alley entrance.
At the alley entrance stood a dragon-willow tree, whose age was unknown, its branches thick and leaves lush, blocking the sunlight and casting a patch of shade.
As Meng Qi passed by the dragon-willow tree, he suddenly paused—not because of anything major, but because near the tree stood an old man with graying hair, fully focused on carving a wooden sculpture.
Holding a tree root in his left hand and a carving knife in his right, the old man’s expression was concentrated, as if each stroke of the knife represented his entire life.
This intense focus captivated Meng Qi, causing him to pause, and a thought naturally surfaced in his mind: A man fully immersed in his work is the most attractive.
The carving knife fell, the bark peeled away, and the only sounds were the knife and the soft rustling of shavings falling, creating a serene and pure atmosphere.
This natural charm and devout concentration moved Meng Qi, and he vaguely grasped something, though he still felt he was missing a final piece.
So he simply stopped walking, stood there watching, and eventually sat cross-legged, observing every stroke the old man made, every mark carved, as if it were the most beautiful poetry in the world.
The old man focused on carving, and Meng Qi focused on watching him carve. Neither spoke, and an indescribable calm slowly spread outward. Since the deaths of Zhang Yuanshan, Fu Zhenzhen, and others, Meng Qi had suppressed his grief, sorrow, guilt, and the resulting impatience and recklessness, his mind fixated on gaining strength. Now, all of that gradually calmed.
“There is true beauty in the mundane world…” Meng Qi suddenly realized this, feeling as if his mindset had advanced a little.
In the past two months, even when he was confident in handling many matters and had considered the consequences and solutions, he still couldn’t escape one phrase: seeking quick success and instant benefits.
He wanted to grow stronger quickly, to stop watching his companions die in vain, to gain achievements in the main world to increase the likelihood of completing the cycle mission, to escape the cycle as soon as possible and revive Senior Brother Zhang and the others. Thus, he had been hasty and impatient, always feeling something was off since leaving the Journey to the West world.
His intentions were not wrong—they were motivation, not methods. Yicheng’s “Ye San” was a cautionary example!
This was a threshold he must cross on his life’s journey; without breaking free from the cocoon, one cannot become a butterfly!
A glistening tear formed at each corner of Meng Qi’s eyes, tears he had held back in the Journey to the West world but now slid down his cheeks, falling gently.
Dust scattered slightly, and the tears vanished instantly.
“Senior Brother Zhang, Zhenzhen… I will walk forward properly…” He exhaled, his expression becoming resolute, but the impatience was gone.
A life without various experiences will never mature.
At this moment, the old man with graying hair had also finished his wooden sculpture. It was a lifelike female figure, dressed in flowing palace robes, with an outstanding appearance and a scholarly aura, truly a masterpiece.
“Young man, do you have something to ask?” The old man looked up, slightly surprised at Meng Qi.
His features weren’t particularly handsome, with a few wrinkles, but due to his intense focus, everything about him seemed harmonious.
Meng Qi smiled, “Nothing much. Sorry to disturb you, old sir.”
He didn’t say more, nor did he need to. Slowly rising, he left the alley entrance feeling completely at ease.
Watching his retreating figure, the old man hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, picking up another piece of wood and once again carving with complete concentration, his mind undisturbed.
At this moment, sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves of the dragon-willow tree, casting golden speckles on the ground.
…
Meng Qi did not reappear directly as Su Meng. Instead, he changed his appearance and physique, blending into the crowd, winding through the streets until he reached a shop selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
“I want to buy seven Zhenlong Dianjing Brushes,” Meng Qi asked the shopkeeper at the back of the store.
The shopkeeper’s expression remained unchanged. “These brushes need to be custom-made. Do you have an order?”
“I do.” Meng Qi nodded.
The shopkeeper smiled. “Please show me your seal.”
Meng Qi extended his left hand in front of him, slightly revealing a gap where the hazy glow of the Azure Official Seal shone briefly before being hidden again.
“Alright, please follow me to the back to pick them up.” The shopkeeper’s face lit up with the expression of welcoming a distinguished guest.
Meng Qi followed him to the backyard, remaining silent and waiting quietly. After a while, the shopkeeper retrieved a piece of paper from a hidden place and handed it to Meng Qi. “Su Qingshou, here are the materials you requested.”
Meng Qi took the paper and flipped through it. Indeed, it was the information he had applied for.
Before leaving Yangxia, he had requested from the headquarters in Shendu various records about Dongyang Shenjun, especially regarding Dongyang’s Secondary Mansion.
Because the information was too ancient and difficult to trace, this document was only issued after Meng Qi arrived in Maoling.
The paper contained Dongyang Shenjun’s biography and inheritance details:
“…Dongyang’s Secondary Mansion should be located in one of the current Longtai, Maoling, or Daxing…”
A slight smile appeared on Meng Qi’s face. He tossed the paper into the nearby brazier, adjusted his clothes, picked up the brush he had used as a cover, and strode out of the shop with his head held high.
The flames rose, the paper unfolded, and quickly turned to blackened ashes.
The fog surrounding the Maoling incident had finally yielded one piece of the puzzle.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage