Chapter 997: Rules of Cangjie Chess

Qi Xia led the six people behind him to the far left end and then reached out to turn the doorknob.

The door looked light and flimsy; a gentle push was enough to open it.

Everyone cautiously peered inside. Beyond the door was a corridor, not particularly long, and they now stood at one end of it, looking toward the other end.

On the left-hand side of the corridor stood a tall, blank white wall, while on the right-hand side, there was another row of doors. These doors were painted red, each spaced about three to four meters apart, and there were five in total.

Chen Junnan leaned in for a closer look and nodded. “So this is our ‘preparation zone’?”

Still confused about the situation, the group could only step into the corridor. As soon as everyone had entered, the black door behind them slammed shut with a loud bang.

Qi Xia took a few steps forward, reaching the center of the corridor. He noticed an old electronic screen mounted on the left-hand wall. On the screen was a crude pixelated image of a swaying balance scale.

He reached out and touched the screen. It felt similar to the equipment used previously during the “commander selection,” so he assumed it was writable.

Just above the screen, embedded in the wall, was a neat, square piece of black metal, about the size of a regular tablet computer. Five words were engraved onto it:

“Phoenix Book Platform.”

Qi Xia reached out and touched it. The metal felt cold, and he had no idea what its purpose was.

“Everyone, welcome to ‘Cang Jie Chess.'”

A raspy voice filled with static suddenly echoed through the corridor. Everyone looked up. The walls were extremely high, with no ceiling in sight.

Far above, hanging high on the wall, was a speaker. The voice must have come from there.

“From now on, you will be playing a two-hour game within my domain,” Di Long said, holding a walkie-talkie. “Now, the winning conditions: if one side collects twenty-eight ‘characters’ within two hours, that side wins. If neither side reaches twenty-eight characters within the time limit, both sides must submit all the characters they’ve collected, and the side with more characters will be declared the winner.”

“Twenty-eight characters…?” Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia both failed to grasp the meaning of this immediately.

“As the legend goes, ‘Cang Jie created the characters,'” Di Long continued. “In reality, Cang Jie organized and restructured the commonly used characters of his time, forming his own system. Legend says he once wrote down ‘twenty-eight characters.’ Now, you must emulate Cang Jie.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Book Platform” in front of Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia shifted slightly. Slowly, it opened like a safe, revealing its contents.

Qi Xia reached inside. With a clinking sound, he pulled out a large cluster of metallic objects.

The others gathered around to take a closer look. It turned out to be a collection of small items resembling keychains or necklaces.

Qi Xia separated them. There were seven chains in total, each with a unique pendant shaped like a Chinese character.

Examining them carefully, the characters were: “Bing (Soldier),” “Pao (Cannon),” “Che (Chariot),” “Ma (Horse),” “Xiang (Elephant),” “Shi (Advisor),” and “Shuai (General).”

“Huh…?” Chen Junnan and Han Yimo both gasped in unison.

“Isn’t this the same as the characters from Chinese chess?” Chen Junnan picked up one of the chains. It was slightly different from what he had imagined.

Some characters were whole, attached as a single piece to the chain, while others were split into two parts.

For example, “Ma (Horse),” “Che (Chariot),” and “Shi (Advisor)” were each carved from a single piece of dark gray metal.

However, “Pao (Cannon),” “Xiang (Elephant),” and “Shuai (General)” were each split into two components based on their respective radicals, yet remained connected as part of the same sequence.

“Pao (炮)” was split into “Huo (火)” and “Bao (包),” while “Xiang (相)” was split into “Mu (木)” and “Mu (目).”

The most unique was the character “Bing (兵).” It was split vertically into “Qiu (丘)” and “Ba (八),” joined together. At first glance, one would never recognize it as the character “Bing (兵).”

At that moment, Di Long’s voice came through the speaker again: “Now both sides should have received your ‘initial characters.’ Please, commanders, freely assign them. Once the game officially begins, everyone must carry a ‘character.’ Those without a character must remain in the ‘preparation zone’ until they receive one, at which point they can enter the ‘battle zone.'”

“Freely assign…” Qi Xia murmured, then looked again at the characters in his hand.

“From now on, these ‘characters’ will be your chips,” Di Long continued. “You can steal characters from anyone you like, or freely initiate ‘bets’ within the ‘battle zone.’ We have already prepared numerous ‘betting scenarios’ and ‘judges’ for you. In short… you can use any method or means to get the characters from your opponents into your own possession.”

Before the group could fully grasp the implications of the rules, they sensed something unusual above them.

Looking up, they saw Qing Long and Di Long had already leapt upward, standing atop a pitch-black platform.

It seemed to be an invisible black platform, seamlessly blending into the surrounding darkness.

“Hey!” Chen Junnan shouted upward. “Sis Long, does getting a ‘character’ automatically count as a point?”

“Of course not,” Di Long’s voice came through the speaker again. “Only the ‘commanders’ on each side can score points. In other words, no matter how many characters you collect or which characters they are, you must deliver them to your commander as soon as possible.”

Qi Xia looked up and asked, “Can we exchange characters during the game?”

“No,” Di Long replied. “Exchanging is only allowed when you lose a character. Only then can you assign any extra characters you have to someone who doesn’t have one.”

Qi Xia nodded slightly after hearing this.

Di Long continued, “The commander must place all collected radicals or individual characters onto the black metal plate behind you, marked ‘Phoenix Book Platform.’ Whether placing them as a whole or in parts, each placement earns one point. However, please note that once the game begins, the ‘preparation zone’ cannot store any characters. The ‘commander’ must distribute all characters, except their own, to their subordinates.”

Seeing that the group remained silent, Di Long added, “Since this is the first time running ‘Cang Jie Chess,’ both commanders may first try an example. Take your ‘soldier’ and place it on the metal plate.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia furrowed his brow, sensing the key point hidden in her words.

Then, he concentrated, picked up the pendant marked with “Bing (兵),” and approached the black metal plate. The moment he drew near, he felt a magnetic pull. Both “Qiu (丘)” and “Ba (八)” were sucked onto the plate.

At that moment, the screen below the metal plate flickered and displayed a message:

“Primitive character ‘Bing (兵)’ received. Please write a homophone.”

“Homophone…?” Qi Xia frowned.

“You’ve probably noticed,” Di Long explained, “to prevent commanders from exploiting obscure or rarely used characters to gain an unfair advantage, every character you create must be one you recognize and can read aloud.”

“Obscure characters…” Qi Xia nodded. “I see now…”

Without such restrictions, commanders could endlessly experiment with existing characters on the screen, creating strange and obscure combinations such as “Biao (骉)” or “Yi (䀠).” These would not assess knowledge, but instead depend solely on luck.

Then, Qi Xia reached out and wrote the homophone for “Bing (兵)”— “Bing (冰).”

After another flicker, the screen displayed:

“Creation successful.”