Inside Tide-Listening Pavilion, the Great Pillar of State personally watched the two riders depart from the palace. Smiling, he returned to the tower and sat across from his chief strategist, Li Yishan, asking softly, “Elder Brother Yuanying, do you think that scoundrel is more interested in deceiving the Yan family’s young lady, or in saving that bookworm Yan Chiji and his family’s sixty-nine souls?”

Li Yishan replied plainly, “Both.”

Xu Xiao laughed. “Does the position of Lingzhou Prefect really hold so little value? That old fool Yan Jiexi relies too much on armchair strategy. He thinks that by pulling strings with Imperial Protector Wang, even if his daughter luckily becomes an imperial consort, he can escape my grasp? Hiding in the capital to grumble about me—does he think that can topple me? He doesn’t stop to consider who’s responsible for all the gold and silver he’s accumulated over the years in this cold land. Without that wealth, what would he use to curry favor with Imperial Protector Wang, or to call that palace eunuch Han Diaosi his sworn brother? In this regard, Li Gongde is far more clever—he at least remembers who his true benefactor is. That kind of person can live a long life.”

Li Yishan said evenly, “Where would you find so many obedient hounds at your beck and call? Having a few mad dogs jump the wall from time to time—doesn’t that suit you perfectly? If the cold lands were peaceful year after year, without the military preparations at the borders, without ambitious so-called upright officials like Yan Jiexi stirring restlessly, wouldn’t your position be even harder to maintain? How many renowned ministers and generals have spent the latter half of their lives busy sullying and humiliating themselves? You’re already doing quite well—you were able to refuse the Princess’s marriage proposal. The empire’s scholars have cursed you for ten or twenty years, yet they still haven’t broken your spine. That’s enough to be proud of.”

The Great Pillar of State remained unmoved by this, offering no comment.

Li Yishan added with slight self-mockery, “That boy’s refined air has faded, but his rogue spirit has grown even stronger.”

When Xu Fengnian had first returned to the palace, he came upstairs to deliver wine and was pulled into playing several games. The result left Li Yishan quite irritated.

For Li Yishan, no matter how the nineteen paths of go shifted and changed, it remained ultimately a static, lifeless thing. No matter how grand the formations laid out, they were ghost arrays that didn’t touch the supreme Dao. Li Yishan had never liked the game, but young Xu Fengnian had been mischievous and ​visit our site​restless, unable to sit still. To nail that boy’s backside to a mat, after searching high and low, only this “sitting meditation” would do.

Li Yishan privately appreciated the boy’s innate exceptional memory. When the two played against each other, at first they had a board and stones, but later removed them entirely, making moves in empty air. The horizontal and vertical nineteen paths were agreed upon beforehand, with no takebacks allowed. After years of refinement through this method, Li Yishan won nine games out of ten.

Who would have thought that after this journey abroad, Xu Fengnian had learned an endless stream of unreasonable techniques from somewhere. The closer to the endgame, the more his wild punches knocked out the old master. Li Yishan suffered several solid defeats and nearly grabbed the wine pot to throw at this recklessly improvising brat.

Sitting cross-legged, Li Yishan showed a trace of helplessness and smiled lightly. “Our ten games at Tide-Listening Pavilion look set to end at four wins and four losses. This boy has picked up martial arts as I hoped, but now he’s also beaten me at go.”

Xu Xiao laughed heartily. “There are still two games left—no rush, no rush.”

Li Yishan raised his brush but held it suspended in mid-air, asking, “That High Priest from Shangyin Academy wants to come play go with you?”

Xu Xiao chuckled. “Exactly.”

Li Yishan sneered. “Back then they used nine kingdoms as chess pieces and half the empire as their board—what grand ambition! But I didn’t see them make any brilliant moves. Eyes high, hands low, all theory and no practice. After you finished slaughtering them, all their layouts and formations came to nothing.”

Xu Xiao said, “Weixiong is still studying there, so I must give some face. Otherwise, you know my temperament—scholarly [noodles]airs and righteous indignation are the two things I find most offensive.”

Li Yishan smiled without speaking.

Xu Xiao suddenly asked, “Do you think the Dark Martial should flourish or not?”

Li Yishan countered, “Wang Chonglou wasted his cultivation of that profound Daoist Great Yellow Court barrier for nothing—aren’t you afraid Wudang Mountain will turn against you?”

Xu Xiao dismissed this with a smile.

In a secluded courtyard of the Prince’s Palace.

Xu Fengnian and Old Kui sat cross-legged together in the courtyard corridor, slowly recounting every detail of that snowy slaughter. If a blade strike wasn’t decisive enough, if the blade speed was too fast without sufficient follow-through, or if his response was improper and wasted even a trace of strength, Old Kui would give him a sound beating with the blade’s back before offering a few terse, pointed comments.

Old Kui was, after all, a supreme expert with the blade. Even without being there in person, hearing Xu Fengnian’s account was as good as seeing it firsthand. Xu Fengnian wouldn’t ask for advanced techniques, and Old Kui didn’t volunteer his treasured secrets. The old man and the young one played a guessing game of sorts, competing to see whose patience was better.

White-haired Old Kui leaned against a vermillion-lacquered pillar and asked with a smile, “Little one, since you’re trying to retrieve that sword box from the city wall, why don’t you learn the sword instead? Wouldn’t that be more straightforward? Besides, when wandering the martial world, don’t all young people prefer wearing swords? Read on Jormuntl ‘One sword comes from the east, one sword goes west’—that sort of thing sounds much more graceful and impressive than using a blade. Ah, what’s that phrase… starts with ‘spring,’ I forgot for a moment.”

Xu Fengnian sat upright with Embroidered Winter laid across his knees, chuckling. “Highbrow and Rarified.”

“They call you ‘Xu the Good-for-Nothing’ in this cold land—what an injustice!” Old Kui slapped his thigh with one hand and clapped the Crown Prince’s shoulder with the other, nearly sending him sprawling forward. He barely managed to steady himself with a wobble.

Xu Fengnian said self-mockingly, “Old Grandpa, your judgment is truly mediocre—ten thousand miles worse than your blade technique.”

Old Kui laughed freely. “After I fight that horse-cleaving blade wielder Wei Beishan, I’ll really have to leave this place. Boy, have you thought about what comes next?”

Xu Fengnian placed his hand on Embroidered Winter’s sheath and smiled bitterly. “What else can I do? First go to the pavilion to find some quick-learn internal power manual, then leave it to fate. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just memorize all sorts of random martial arts from various schools by rote. When facing enemies in the future, I should be able to gain some small advantage. My natural aptitude is probably quite ordinary—I can’t possibly overcome ten techniques with one force like you, Old Grandpa. If I don’t use some underhanded tricks that can’t be shown on stage, when will I ever reach Martial Emperor City? By the way, did Wang Xianzhi really pinch and break the old generation sword god Li Chungang’s ‘Wooden Ox and Horse’ with just two fingers back then?”

Old Kui nodded, his heart stirred. For martial artists at the very pinnacle, the ancient monster Wang Xianzhi remained a mountain that had to be faced. To the point where never mind defeating him—just fighting him to a draw would secure a place among the Ten Great Masters. This showed how incomparably formidable that centenarian was.

Xu Fengnian slowly rose. He still had to get up early tomorrow.

Tonight, the household of the future imperial consort was probably visit our site already in complete chaos, wasn’t it?

The next day, an esteemed guest arrived at the Prince of Beiliang’s Palace—a teacher from Shangyin Academy. His status was said to be second only to the Academy’s High Priest, one of three Priests. These three were generally honored as Masters of Jixia, teaching not ordinary classics but the Great Dao of the Sages.

Students at Shangyin Academy came from all corners of the empire, regardless of region, status, or wealth. As long as they passed the Academy’s triennial examination, they could enroll and become Shangyin Scholars. These students who leaped through the dragon gate were also known as Jixia Students.

The current High Priest of the Academy, Qi Yanglong, served as Imperial Preceptor with transcendent status, appearing and disappearing like a dragon. The visiting Priest was known only by his surname, Wang. At Shangyin Academy he specialized in teaching the arts of diplomacy and strategies of hegemony. He had once participated in two famous debates that shook the empire, winning the first on name and reality but losing the second on heaven and humanity. Since then, he rarely appeared in public.

He was notoriously selective about students. In nearly ten years he had only accepted Xu Xiao the Butcher’s second daughter, Xu Weixiong, proclaiming she would be his final disciple to whom he could pass his mantle—this life was complete.

From the few letters exchanged with his second sister Xu Weixiong, Xu Fengnian vaguely learned that this Master of Jixia was obsessed with go and loved nothing more than watching games while commenting freely. As for his scholarly depth, Xu Fengnian didn’t doubt it. Anyone who could be Second Sister’s teacher couldn’t be too bad, no matter what.

A game was set up below Yellow Crane Tower.

Sworn son Yuan Zuozong stood at a distance, leaving only the Great Pillar of State Xu Xiao and the visiting Master of Jixia to enjoy their contest.

Xu Fengnian climbed to the mountain summit and only saw Master Wang’s profile—a gaunt visit our siteface, plain blue robes, hemp shoes, with a mutton-fat jade pendant at his waist.

Facing Xu Xiao across the board, he displayed complete confidence, his bearing undeniably elegant, his presence undeniably transcendent.

The Crown Prince thought to himself that this Shangyin Academy Priest truly had profound confidence. Any other expert, no matter how accomplished, wouldn’t dare breathe deeply before Xu Xiao, would they? How could they possess this man’s calm composure and unworldly grace?

A man beyond the mundane world—nothing more than this.

Xu Fengnian gathered his thoughts and approached respectfully. The Great Pillar of State and the Master of Jixia were both absorbed in their game, battle raging fiercely on the board. Neither looked up.

Holding reverent thoughts, Xu Fengnian fixed his gaze on the board—and nearly spat blood.

True go grandmasters were either vast as the ocean, subtle and profound, commanding from above; or intricate and clever, dense and precise, with killing intent at every step.

But these two?

Xu Fengnian naturally knew full well that Xu Xiao was a first-rate terrible player. At first, seeing the two compete, he thought Master Wang was matching great elegance to Xu Xiao’s great crudeness, but then… damn it, this game looked like a tangled mess no matter how ​stolen content​you viewed it! Like two children rolling and brawling in the mud, with absolutely no connection to grandmaster level—not even worth a copper coin.

From the looks of it, this Master of Jixia’s skill was perfectly matched with Xu Xiao’s—no wonder they were locked in such fierce combat.

What Xu Fengnian found most unbearable was that whenever this Master Wang thought he’d made a strong move, he accompanied it with self-congratulatory commentary, like: “Don’t play wasted moves or bump against your own stones—play proper moves, play big moves, make big dragons and slaughter big dragons!” or “When the game gets difficult, make a small diagonal—the elephant’s foot is rooted, pointing beats extending, heh, but I deliberately won’t point—this extension is truly marvelous, worthy of immortals!”

Xu Fengnian’s eyes bulged. He couldn’t see any marvel at all, only blunder after blunder, too painful to watch.

The Master of Jixia stared at the evenly matched position and declared proudly, “The go world has three schools with eighteen grandmasters total. Only Zhao Ding’an and Chen Xiping can defeat me—I can contend with all the rest.”

Xu Fengnian’s face twitched involuntarily.

Xu Xiao remained expressionless, holding a stone but refusing to place it.

The Master of Jixia finally looked up with a kind expression. “Crown Prince, what do you say—should the Great Pillar of State sacrifice this light stone or not?”

Xu Fengnian steadied his breathing and smiled broadly. “Hard to say. The Master of Jixia’s opening is meticulous, transcendent and profound— stolen content I’d say White is mostly losing.”

Unexpectedly, in a fit of anger, Xu Xiao stumbled into making a good move by mistake. The Master of Jixia finally felt threatened, but rather than responding calmly, he immediately reached out to lift Xu Xiao’s placed stone, laughing shamelessly. “Great Pillar of State, allow me to take back one move.”

Xu Xiao seemed accustomed to this and jutted his chin, indicating the Priest should help himself.

Xu Fengnian was somewhat dumbfounded.

The game ultimately ended with the Master of Jixia claiming a difficult victory after taking back more than ten moves. After watching it through, Xu Fengnian no longer held any reverence or admiration for Shangyin Academy.

The great Master Wang stood up and dusted himself off, refreshed and invigorated. “Throughout my life I’ve played countless games. To this day, I remain undefeated.”

Xu Fengnian smiled along. “The Master of Jixia truly is the preeminent grandmaster.”

Having finished his game, the grandmaster took his leave and descended the mountain. When not playing go, his bearing was indeed flawless—the very image of an immortal sage.

Xu Fengnian stood there in a daze, muttering, “What do you mean, undefeated?”

Xu Xiao laughed and cursed. “Undefeated is actually true. But only because he exclusively plays against people worse than him. When he’s not confident, he wisely remains a spectator.”

Xu Fengnian said glumly, “Second Sister studies strategic arts with a Master of Jixia like this?”

Xu Xiao rose and gazed toward the mountain’s base, chuckling softly. “If one can remain undefeated, isn’t that being a grandmaster?”