Bursts of tiger roars came from the mountains behind him, and Ji Yuan, who was riding on the clouds, couldn’t help but smile knowingly once more. Then the clouds drifted away and he landed in Ning’an County.

Although Lu Shan Jun’s cultivation level was not very high, his position as a piece in Ji Yuan’s chess game was of no small importance. It wouldn’t be good to directly give him a method of cultivation too close to orthodox immortal beast cultivation. This would affect the unique spiritual energy of monster cultivation, and easily affect the path of the black pieces on the monster path.

After all, Shan Jun’s position in the game of chess was to land in the monster’s territory.¹ In the past, he had about 30% confidence in Shan Jun’s potential to become a powerful monster, but after tonight, it rose to 70%.

On the stone platform tonight, Ji Yuan explained everything slowly and carefully. Just as Lu Shan Jun believed in him, Ji Yuan also believed in this extraordinary tiger.

That night, the tiger roared constantly in the depths of Niu Kui Mountain, and the birds in the forest all fled one after another. Hu Yun also fled with them. In this state, he didn’t dare to stay by Lu Shan Jun’s side.

The only advantage the red fox had over Lu Shan Jun was that he could run down Niu Kui Mountain and enter Ning’an County. Either way, it was more comfortable there than in the mountains. Hu Yun didn’t want to stay in the mountains overnight, so he ran away that evening.

It wasn’t until dawn had broken that the tiger spirit, whose joy was still unabated, calmed down. At this moment, Lu Shan Jun’s mind was sharp, and every word Ji Yuan had spoken was crystal clear.

Although his Master did not directly give him any supernatural cultivation methods that night, he did point out the important obstacles to overcome on his path to transformation, and even on his future path in cultivation. The most important part was that he showed him the direction of the true “Tao.” He obviously had heavy expectations of Lu Shan Jun.

‘Master has high hopes for me. I will definitely carve out my own path, until I can finally call myself a disciple of Ji Yuan. I will definitely not disgrace his reputation! ’

With this belief, Lu Shan Jun did not return to his original cave, but instead leapt out and ran to another place in the mountain.

That cave was no longer suitable for living and meditating. He wanted to change to a more open and bright location, and this new location had to be closer to that rock.

Lu Shan Jun had decided to come to this platform to cultivate whenever the moon was high in the sky. Since listening to Ji Yuan’s sermon last night, this rock had taken on extraordinary significance for him.

After having listened to the lesson that night, although his Master probably did not acknowledge the fox as a disciple, the fact that it and Ji Yuan had some connection made Lu Shan Jun feel close to the red fox.

However, that fox was still too ignorant, and he didn’t know how to appreciate the blessings he had. Lu Shan Jun decided that he would encourage the little fox when he had the opportunity to in the future, so that he would avoid wasting this opportunity.

Hu Yun had already returned to Ning’an County, and slept next to Yin Qing.

As Lu Shan Jun was contemplating spurring the red fox forwards, Hu Yun suddenly trembled and his hair stood up on end. He woke up in a panic and looked around. He was greatly relieved when he found that he was in Yin’s bedroom.

Just now, Hu Yun dreamed that he was still in the tiger’s cave on Niu Kui Mountain, and Lu Shan Jun was roaring at him with a bloody mouth wide open.

. . .

The life in Ju’an Pavilion was relatively peaceful. Ji Yuan returned to his daily routine day after day, working and resting as he pleased as he observed the stars and the moon and practiced his cultivation.

Yin Qing was already the oldest student in the school. The majority of his time was spent helping the old teacher, and the old teacher didn’t need to worry too much about his homework. He was originally going to leave Ning’an County soon to study at Huiyuan Academy in Chunhui Prefecture, but as soon as Ji Yuan came back, he hesitated and didn’t want to leave.

Ji Yuan couldn’t persuade him, so he asked Yin Qing to write a letter to his family in Wan Province and wait for the Yin family’s mother and father to reply with their decision.

It was easy to predict that the content of their reply would definitely involve requiring Yin Qing go to the academy as soon as possible, but it took about two to three months for letters to go back and forth between the two provinces, which gave Yin Qing some buffer time.

On this day, the school was closed, and Yin Qing was sitting in the courtyard of Ju’an Pavilion, reading. The red fox lay on the stone table reading the same book alongside him, and occasionally they recited a paragraph together. If a stranger walked in on them, they would certainly either find this scene very interesting, or be scared to death.

Ji Yuan sat on the other side of the table, flipping through a volume titled “The Tao of Chess.” This chess book was another one that the underworld of Ning’an County had sent him again. All of them were made of engraved bamboo slips carved by Judge Wu, making it convenient for Ji Yuan to read the words by touching the surface of the slips.

Before they knew it, the sky was once more covered with dark clouds, and the rumbling of thunder could be heard from time to time in the distance. Yin Qing and Hu Yun turned a deaf ear to it and continued to study hard.

Ji Yuan, on the other hand, put down the bamboo slips and walked out from under the shade of the jujube tree. He looked at the clouds in the sky and smelled the moisture in the air.

“Ah, yes, before I realized it we have already arrived at Mangzhong. It’s time for the seasonal rains. Yin Qing, go home and collect your clothes from the line.”

“Mr. Ji, I didn’t hang out the laundry today!”

Yin Qing smiled at Ji Yuan and continued to read with Hu Yun.

“Then you should move to another place. It’s going to rain soon. Come inside the house.”

While Ji Yuan was speaking, he picked up the other two bamboo slips on the stone table and walked into the main house. He moved a chair and sat by the door. The boy and the fox outside were still reading intently.

After a while, the first drop of rain fell to the ground, followed by more and more, gradually turning into a heavy rain.

Yin Qing shrieked and hurriedly ran towards Ji Yuan with the book in his arms. The red fox looked even more comical as he ran on his hind legs with two paws covering his head.

Outside, they could hear the sounds of people bustling about in the rain. There were always some reckless folk who didn’t check the weather and would rush about hastily once it started raining.

“Oh my! Hurry up and get out of the rain!”

“This rain is too sudden!”

“Run, run!”

“Get the laundry first!”

……

For most of the villagers, the coming of rain was a time of joyful celebration. The rainfall made the rivers rise and carried abundant water to the fields, providing a good start for a new round of sowing seeds in the surrounding farmland of Ning’an County, and even in the entire Ji Province.

“Crash, shh, shh…”

The rain hit the roof, the courtyard, the branches and leaves of the jujube tree, and everything around him formed a beautiful picture of movement and stillness in the center of Ji Yuan’s mind.

Seeing Ji Yuan sitting at the door with his eyes closed, feeling the rain falling on the earth, Yin Qing and Hu Yun stopped reading, and moved a chair to sit at the door with him. The red fox sat on the ground beside Yin Qing, swishing his tail.

Half an hour later, when the rain began to gradually subside, Ji Yuan stood up from the chair, walked out the door, and stood under the eaves.

The courtyard gate of the small pavilion was only half-open. The rain had not yet stopped, but he heard three knocks on the gate at the other end of the house.

“Mr. Ying, please come in!”

“Ah, please excuse me!”

The Old Dragon Ying Hong pushed open the courtyard gate and entered the small pavilion. The rain fell on his body and clung to his clothes, but he didn’t care. He bowed to Ji Yuan.

By the time the Old Dragon had walked to the stone table at the front of the courtyard, the rain had stopped.

There was a frightened rustling sound among the branches and leaves of the jujube tree in the courtyard, but then it returned to silence. However, Yin Qing had already stood up in surprise.

“You are– You are the old gentleman who ate half a tree’s worth of jujubes in one bite and made my father drunk!”²

Yin Qing had an excellent memory, and the Old Dragon had made a deep impression. His clothing style had remained unchanged over the years, so he recognized him immediately even after only having seen him once.

“Hahaha, that’s me!”

The Old Dragon smiled, stroked his beard, and nodded. Meanwhile, Ji Yuan turned his head to look at Yin Qing and Hu Yun.

“You two go should return home. This old gentleman and I have something to discuss.”

Mr. Ji’s words meant that there was definitely something serious. The young man and fox responded almost in unison.

“Oh…”

Then they tiptoed out of the courtyard, still dripping water.

Ji Yuan then walked fully into the courtyard. He waved an arm to sweep away the rain water on the stone table and bench, then stretched out a hand to invite his guest.

“Mr. Ying, please take a seat!”

“Alright, Mr. Ji, thank you!”

As soon as the two took their seats, the Old Dragon began to tease him with a smile.

“This red fox must be the one that Mr. Ji rescued all the way back then. It’s quite interesting. That kid from the Yin family is also quite intelligent. Mr. Ji, do you plan to teach him?”

“I’m already teaching him, but it’s not about cultivating immortality or following the Tao. The Yin family father and son are dedicated to the people. Although Yin Qing is young and playful, he has a stable character. He is a great talent.”

The Old Dragon nodded and squinted his eyes in the direction of the Yin family house.

“To be praised by Mr. Ji, Teacher Yin must truly deserve to be called an ‘outstanding individual.’”

As he spoke, he watched Ji Yuan stretch out his right hand and wave. Suddenly, many bright red jujubes fell from the tree. They were caught by the spiritual energy in the air and gathered on the stone table.

A total of six jujubes lined up in a row, each bearing a faint fiery glow.

“Please have some, Old Lord, but don’t blame me for being stingy. The older these jujubes are, the more extraordinary they become. There are only a few dozen left from his batch, so I have to pick as few as I can.”

“Ah, you, I understand. Back then, you only gave me two, but at least today, there are a few more.”

As he spoke, the Old Dragon grabbed all the jujubes and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them whole with a crunching noise, without even bothering to spit out the jujube pits.

The Old Dragon was not stingy, so Ji Yuan could be more generous. Even though there were few jujubes, they were all from the original batch of fire jujubes. There had been ten left in total, and now there were only four.

“Old Man, have you been wandering around? Do you have any specific news to share?”

The Old Dragon naturally knew what Ji Yuan was asking about.

“It is rumored that the destiny of the southern corner of Yun Province is clouded. Perhaps this is why, in order to seek out the fated destiny, those who follow the orthodox path are mostly waiting and watching, unwilling to disturb the secular world.

“What’s even more interesting is that after the True Demon escaped, he deliberately released news that while Dazhen seems calm on the surface, it is in truth a dangerous place. Perhaps he wanted to annoy other beings…”³

The Old Dragon paused and continued.

“For this reason, the cultivators of Yuhuai Mountain seem unable to sit still, and they sent people to Tianji Pavilion to try and find a solution. It has been said that they had to fight with some evil demon along the way. Ah, I believe it was probably related to that True Demon; after all, he was quite angry. This all happened in the southern wilderness.”

Ji Yuan’s eyes were calm and still, but his mind was full of whirling thoughts.

“So that is what happened. Didn’t Tianji Pavilion close themselves away?”

“They still have some connections to those immortal sects. Although Yuhuai Mountain is not very well-known, it was still at the center of his incident. Tianji Pavilion might not necessarily have turned them away.”

T/n: Lots of things are happening! How exciting.

1. This is a discussion of tactics in Go that I don’t feel qualified explaining. Suffice it to say, sometimes there are important pieces to place that may end up being in an opponents “territory,” I guess, but are still fundamental to your overall strategy. He’s not saying LSJ is going to be evil or anything like that, just that his path is not with the orthodox/righteous. That’s also why I’m being very careful to say “monster” instead of “demon” as I’ve already made that distinction
2. T/n: LOL that’s how he’s going to be remembered by this kid for all of posterity
3. Lit: dragon’s pond and tiger’s den

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read