Wandering Gods of Day and Night

Black captured by white, white embracing black, arranged in a way that mysteriously aligns with the natural order, intricate yet not chaotic, intertwined but not dazzling,

Mo Ya Monk once believed that playing chess wasn't about a life-and-death struggle; the final presentation of a game was an artistic creation by both black and white.

This game, in his eyes, was an unprecedented work of art in this lifetime, yet at this moment, he had no mood to appreciate his life's artistic highlights, instead he muttered foolishly, "What kind of chess formation is this?"

"The dual scrolls of the Valley True Inheritance, emerged from the Tao Ancestor's 'Taiqing Dao De True Scripture', knowing the strength, keeping the gentleness, being the stream of the world, knowing the glory, preserving the shame, being the valley of the world,

The True Scripture further states—know the white, guard the black, be the form of the world."

Zhou Xuan pointed to the white pieces, saying, "I know the might of the white pieces, clear about your black pieces' weakness, yet not moving to besiege with white, but embracing the black pieces, white bound to black, black hidden in white, thus creating this naturally formed Taoist chess formation—the form of the world."

"You… you… with your chess ability, how can you calculate such an exquisite chess formation?"

Mo Ya Monk said in astonishment.

To set up a chess formation, naturally, the idea must come first, but after all, playing chess is playing chess, any imaginative move needs the support of chess ability. In his eyes, Zhou Xuan's chess ability is no more than the level of a street enthusiast; how could he calculate with such precision?

"Demon Monk, to be honest, I'm not very good at playing chess—yet I have some keen insight when it comes to observing chess."

Zhou Xuan said, "Master Wu Ya is a chess expert; he made just one established move for me in my Kongming Mirror, I could deduce that he is the most adept chess player in the world."

In the world of the Kongming Mirror, to quickly gain Zhou Xuan's trust in his chess skills, Master Wu Ya used a tree branch to make a few established moves on the ground,

And these established moves, Zhou Xuan saw in a globally watched live broadcast in a previous life, these moves came from the strongest chess player of the past life—Mr. Dog.

"After I understood Master Wu Ya's chess power, I got an idea; I imagined the chess formation, he took charge of presenting it with chess ability,

From beginning to end, whenever I needed a particular chess formation, Master Wu Ya, who held the chess with me, could easily complete it, and without drawing your attention."

Zhou Xuan coldly smiled and said.

"How is it possible, how could his chess ability be so much higher than mine?"

"Very high." Zhou Xuan said.

Master Wu Ya switched to "Zhao Wuya" mode and asked, "Brother Xuan, how high am I exactly?"

"As high as dozens of floors."

Zhou Xuan said, "Mo Ya Monk, you are too confident in your chess ability. In reality, during the whole game, we left a not-so-small loophole, yet you thought we were like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat, overlooked it."

"What loophole?"

"When you first slaughtered the dragon, the white chess could borrow your momentum to form two precise twin snakes, one at East Market Street South Mountain, the other in the Old Hall; those precise, ingenious twin snakes, if not for extraordinary chess ability, how could they be laid at such an appropriate time?"

"Strategy… everything is calculation?"

"Just now, monk, you mentioned you played chess in Mo Ya Cave of Buddha Country for a cycle of sixty years, twelve games daily, never daring to pause. But do you know before I realized Zen, I was a weary woodcutter in the mountains, seeing two children playing chess, I watched beside them; by the end of a game, the handle of my axe had rotted away, returned to the village only to find decades had passed."

"Decades passed, seas change into mulberry fields, wives and children all deceased, profoundly puzzled, besides cutting wood, I entered the mountain to watch Lanke chess; in the mountain, unaware of time, I didn't know how many times I watched Lanke chess, eventually I myself became a cliff stone in the mountains."

Master Wu Ya said with a smile, "Each game of Lanke chess was bestowed by immortals, I watched such chess games several times, my chess skills had long reached the realm of immortals, your mere cycle of sixty years' chess ability, compared to mine, is just like starlight competing with the bright moon, how dare you vie for glory."

Mo Ya Monk, upon hearing this, suddenly burst into tears, then laughed sporadically, he placed the closing piece, only then did he realize—in the chess game of heaven and earth at the beginning, he had already lost.

With his chess ability, he simply couldn't compete against Master Wu Ya—being led by the nose through an entire game, such a blow even more diminished, even caused the collapse of his spirit.

"Such chess ability exists in the world… I played chess for a cycle of sixty years, turned out to be a joke, quite laughable indeed…"

Master Wu Ya saw the devastated and crazed Mo Ya Monk, held onto the last official piece, didn't play it.

The chess game was already in his grasp, what remained was for Zhou Xuan to use "the form of the world" to clear the remnants of the Mingjiang Prefecture.

Zhou Xuan stood up, gently patted Mo Ya Monk, feigned consolation saying, "Demon Monk, don't take it to heart, this is how the world is, when you think you are exceptionally talented, extremely hardworking, fought a hundred battles, practiced for decades, getting in front of others, only to realize, they have all played against the child serving chess."

"Pa!"

Mo Ya Monk was stimulated again, completely lost his demeanor, slamming the chess table, shouted like a fishwife scolding the street, "Zhou Xuan, don't think you have won, what difference does having 'the form of the world' make? You only have five incenses, only five… Star Covering is above nine incenses, Zhao Qingxiao also has nine incenses, what can you change?"

"Who told you I have only five incenses?"

"Aren't you just five incenses?"

"Hmm…"

Zhou Xuan said to Mo Ya Monk, "When you were arranging your hidden moves, I was also arranging mine; take a guess, what is my strongest hidden move?"

"Golden Bell of Ancestor's count?"

"This is the hidden move I least wish to see."

"Then is it your form of the world?"

"Consider it half."

"Then I can't guess." Mo Ya Monk said.

"It's the young man diagonally across my shop, Sister Cui's younger brother—Mu Hua."

"He… but just a mortal."

"He is my mirror person."

Zhou Xuan turned around, and leisurely entered the heaven and earth chess game of Mingjiang Prefecture; he entered the game with his body, only leaving behind a sentence that made Mo Ya Monk's heart dead gray—everything has a soul, just waiting for the mirror person!