It was quiet on Chess Board Mountain.
Nobody spoke after Tong Yan had made the remark.
It was important to earn respect and to behave like a gentleman, but the result itself was still more important.
Tong Yan opened his eyes and turned toward Jing Jiu. "It's not true that I have never lost before. As a matter of fact, I lost seventeen games in a row to my master when I had just started learning how to play chess; however...I don't want to lose to you," he said.
Hearing the remark, the others didn't anything of it, other than thinking what Tong Yan said was merely a confrontation between geniuses. Yet Xiang Wanshu was rather startled. The big brother he knew was arrogant and distant, and Tong Yan didn't like or get along so well with his own big brother, Luo Huainan; but in chess playing, Tong Yan had always been a broad-minded person who would praise his opponents whenever they made extraordinary moves, paying a little more respect to those true high-level chess players, like Grand Scholar Guo and He Zhan.
But why did Tong Yan say those words after his loss to Jing Jiu?
"After today's game, do you still think chess is just a pastime?"
Tong Yan asked this while staring into Jing Jiu's eyes.
As the chess pieces landed on the chess board, thunder boomed, and heaven and earth responded; who could say such a chess game was just a pastime?
Jing Jiu thought about it and said, "Yes, I still think it's just a pastime."
Tong Yan opened his eyes wide, a trace of blood vaguely visible in them.
"In essence, that is what it is; it's not belittling. Perhaps the pastime itself has some meaning."
Jing Jiu added, "To experience the process and obtain the results, we can choose different ways for each path. Perhaps our life and even the whole world are simply a pastime."
"Is everything a pastime?"
Tong Yan asked this while staring into Jing Jiu's eyes. "Have you ever tried your hardest for something in your life?"
Jing Jiu didn't say anything.
He had never tried his hardest for anything in this or the previous life.
"You are indifferent to this world and keep your distance from everything. This is why I don't like you and don't want to lose to you."
Tong Yan said with a serious tone, "Yet I'm different. I'm willing to give all I have for many things."
Like a word of black and white.
Jing Jiu looked at him quietly, waiting for Tong Yan to say something more.
"Chess is my Dao."
"I thought I had done almost perfectly during our game, but I still lost...And I lost to someone like you, someone who doesn't even like playing chess, has no affection for it."
"I don't understand why someone like you could achieve so much in chess. If the Dao is indeed on the chess board, how could it allow such a thing to happen?"
"What do you expect me and those people outside the pavilion to think?"
"This is unfair."
"This will turn every endeavor into a meaningless effort."
A sorrowful expression appeared in Tong Yan's eyes.
After a moment of silence, Jing Jiu said, "The world is always unfair. Whether we like this world or not means nothing as far as the world itself is concerned."
--The humans are good at using beautiful words and concepts to comfort themselves, but the world has always been like this.
Zhao Layue recalled what Jing Jiu had said that night when they left the old plum garden, and she suddenly had a chilly feeling.
It seemed that those outside the pavilion had felt that same chill. It was deadly silent, and the atmosphere was gloomy for some unknown reason.
"No, I don't believe..."
Tong Yan mumbled, "Everything should be meaningful…must be meaningful."
There was no way for him to accept Jing Jiu's idea.
He had been studying chess since he was young. Guided by the masters of the Center Sect, he obtained a deep understanding of chess. What Tong Yan had been cultivating was to find the path toward heaven through chess.
The black and white pieces on the chess board, the changes between yin and yang, they all seemed mysterious and unpredictable; in fact, they had their own rules.
He was determined to find these rules.
This was his pursuit in life.
"All the objects in the world have their own rules, but it's hard to say that they all have Dao."
Jing Jiu continued, "In my opinion, the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting are all far away from the Dao, because they are too simple."
Upon hearing this, there was an uproar in the crowd.
It was well known that Go was the most complicated chess game, so who would dare say it was simple?
They intended to refute him, but fell silent again after suddenly recalling the chess game he had just played.
Jing Jiu perhaps was the only person in the world whom nobody was qualified to refute when he stated that chess playing was simple.
Unless you could beat him on the chess board.
"Though I didn't play chess before, I've played similar games. After I've played this chess game with you today, I found all the games had something in common."
Having said this, Jing Jiu slammed the chess table lightly.
The chess board bounced up slightly.
Hundreds of chess pieces flew out of the container, hovering in the air silently.
The hovering chess pieces were arranged in rows and columns, and in vertical lines, forming a three-dimensional chess game.
Though this scene looked quite amazing, it wasn't hard to do for Cultivation practitioners.
Many people were puzzled, wondering why Jing Jiu produced such a strange sight.
Some of them were shocked speechless after having figured out what Jing Jiu attempted to communicate, wondering how chess could be played this way?!
Queniang felt helpless as she looked at those hovering chess pieces blankly.
He Zhan furrowed his eyebrows tightly, thinking that if the chess pieces were enough, there would be nineteen lines for the rows, columns and vertical lines respectively. If so, how complicated would the chess game become?
Tong Yan looked at this cage-like object, composed of the black and white chess pieces, and remained reticent for a long time. "This is beyond human ability," he said.
"It's indeed very difficult. I can't do it myself right now; but the Cultivation practitioners are supposed to do what cannot be done by humans," responded Jing Jiu.
Tong Yan said, "Doing so would be very tiring, it's like you're tired now."
Jing Jiu confirmed, "Yes, today is the first time I have been this tired in a long time."
He said so in a serious tone.
Tong Yan said, "I don't feel relieved after saying so. Yet I'm worried that you might lose if you continued playing with others. I don't want to see the person who has defeated me lose to somebody else."
"Rest assured. I'm really tired, so I'm not going to continue the tournament," said Jing Jiu.
Having heard this, Tong Yan was somewhat lost, and those people outside the pavilion were quite surprised.
Since Jing Jiu had already beaten Tong Yan, who would be his match on the Chess Board Mountain currently? Even though the game he had played earlier was mentally consuming, Jing Jiu would be able to recover after a brief rest. It would be a dishonor for someone to force him to play another game right away in front of so many people!
Jing Jiu said, "This chess game between two of us started in Haizhou."
Tong Yan understood what he meant, so did all the others present.
Having heard this, Zhao Layue and Xiang Wanshu recalled the scenario in Haizhou.
At the Four-Seas Banquet back then, Jing Jiu's first place-winning was met with many negative comments.
Xiang Wanshu commented with a smile that he would be beaten by his big brother if he had played chess the way Jing Jiu did. The verbal exchanges followed after Zhao Layue heard the comment.
"Yes, I want to tell him that playing chess isn't a simple thing."
"I believe that playing chess is the simplest thing in the world for him."
"Really? I hope to have the opportunity to play with him someday"
"You're not good enough. Let your big brother do it."
Then Jing Jiu made the remark at the Sword Trial of Green Mountain.
"I have an appointment with Tong Yan of the Center Sect to play chess at next year's Plum Meeting."
"I have never said that I wanted to win first place in the chess tournament. I just wanted to play chess with you."
"Now, I'm finished."
Jing Jiu walked out of the pavilion, toward the bottom of the mountain along with Zhao Layue.
Those hovering chess pieces in the air fell down like the raindrops.