Xu Xian was speechless.
What was so bad about being illiterate? Did they really need to be so surprised?
He wanted to be literate, but circumstances didn't allow it.
The entire Houdao Village didn't have a single literate person. Only the old shaman woman in the village knew a few scribbles.
Besides, the language of this world wasn't Chinese characters.
It had taken him a great deal of effort to learn to speak the language of this world; literacy was simply a luxury.
More importantly, being literate in Houdao Village was useless. Hunting, fishing, farming, climbing trees, picking fruit—none of that required an education, right?
Xu Xian remained silent.
Zhang Yang, meanwhile, timidly asked, "Sister Lin, are you also illiterate?"
Lin Qianqian looked at the two of them with sympathy, sighing, her eyes filled with pity.
Being illiterate would bring them both immense suffering during cultivation, as they wouldn't even be able to understand cultivation manuals and secret techniques.
Their paths to immortality would be arduous.
Oh well...
She thought that at worst, she could just translate for them. If they couldn't read the words, understanding the spoken language would be just as good.
Seeing her sigh and look at him that way, Xu Xian probed:
"You're not really illiterate, are you?"
Logically, she shouldn't be. Lin Qianqian's demeanor and attire suggested she came from a prominent family.
Lin Qianqian looked deeply at the two of them, then gazed up at the stone stele. She raised a finger, pointing at the characters on it, and read them out, word by word:
"The game takes risky moves, the sword treads unconventional paths. Break before you build, heralding new life."
Zhang Yang counted on his fingers, "Brother Xian, it matches. Exactly sixteen characters, and there are sixteen on that thing."
Xu Xian looked at him as if he were an idiot.
Lin Qianqian also rolled her eyes, with a hint of girlish playfulness.
Xu Xian stroked his chin, pondering silently, the words echoing in his mind.
'The game takes risky moves, the sword treads unconventional paths. Break before you build, heralding new life.'
Zhang Yang imitated him, feigning deep thought, furrowing his brows and pouting his lips. He thought it looked very cool.
This is how a man should be.
Lin Qianqian asked, "Do you two know what this means?"
Zhang Yang shook his head without a second thought.
"What about you, Xu Xian?"
Xu Xian glanced at Lin Qianqian, then turned to Zhang Yang and said, "Come on, let's go touch the sword stele first."
"Oh!"
Lin Qianqian pouted, thinking, 'I knew it, they definitely didn't understand. You two shouldn't have bothered asking.'
Meanwhile, the two boys walked arm in arm toward the sword stele.
"Fatty, are you also from a village?"
"No, my hometown is Liehuo City. It's huge, swarming with people..."
Xu Xian indicated he hadn't heard of it and continued, "So, your family is poor?"
"Not poor at all. My family is quite powerful."
"Then why aren't you literate? Didn't you study?"
Zhang Yang replied with a look of disdain, "Not even a dog would read those books; they're too difficult."
Xu Xian was speechless and chose not to speak.
Zhang Yang retorted, "What about you, Brother Xian? Why didn't you study?"
Xu Xian answered evasively, "My family is also quite powerful."
Zhang Yang: "???"
He reached out to touch the sword stele.
As if connected to heaven and earth, a wisp of sword aura, imperceptible to ordinary people, entered his palm and plunged deep into his dantian. Though Xu Xian couldn't see it, he could feel it.
Something inside his body truly felt different.
His eyebrows twitched, and he clicked his tongue inwardly.
"Tsk, tsk, this is far more miraculous than science. Quite interesting."
He then walked towards the crowd, intending to get a closer look at the incomplete chess game. The little fatty, ever so sensible, walked ahead, using his physical advantage to easily clear a path for Xu Xian.
"Excuse me, excuse me, can't you see my Brother Xian is coming? Do you have any sense of awareness?"
It was a bit like a fox flaunting a tiger's might, or a dog relying on its master's power.
However.
Because the other party possessed a sword spirit root, and Xu Xian seemed to have some connection with that immortal, these disciples, whether willing or unwilling, still made way.
Xu Xian walked with a confident stride into the crowd, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, and with a sidelong glance, he mildly admonished:
"Fatty, you're being too boorish. We're all fellow disciples; how can you be so rude?"
He had mastered the art of projecting an aura perfectly.
Zhang Yang repeatedly agreed, saying he'd be careful next time. Many disciples around them cast friendly glances.
What cunning could boys of ten or so possess?
They felt Xu Xian was a decent person.
Though he seemed a bit unreliable.
In reality, he was quite friendly.
This scene made Li Qingshan, who was standing not far away, laugh and cry at the same time. He couldn't help but mutter.
"That brat, he's even better at putting on an act than me."
He felt.
That on the path of showing off, he had met his match.
Xu Xian took a good look.
Zhang Yang also took a good look.
"Hmm."
"Hmm!"
"Hmm?"
"Hmm...."
"Quite interesting."
Lin Qianqian stood nearby, seeing the two of them putting on a show, and pouted slightly.
"Do you two even understand it? Why are you making those 'hmm' sounds?"
Xu Xian and Zhang Yang shook their heads in unison.
"Not really."
"Not much."
A chorus of boos erupted from the surrounding disciples.
"What are they doing?"
"Are you kidding?"
'Not really.'
Yet you put on such an act of being an enlightened, worldly master.
Lin Qianqian slapped her forehead, speechless.
Xu Xian stroked his chin, his head tilted slightly, looking at the chess board, full of the marks of time, from a different angle. He asked, "May I ask, is the one who solves the game using black pieces or white pieces?"
Lin Qianqian was immediately exasperated. This wasn't 'not really understanding,' it was 'not understanding at all.'
She had just thought he was being modest, but now it seemed his showiness was just subtle.
"Black pieces."
"Oh!"
The gazes of the surrounding disciples towards Xu Xian largely changed.
They became strange.
With a hint of disdain.
Initially.
When they first saw Xu Xian awaken his sword spirit root, he was like a shining star in the sky, dazzling and incomparable. For their entire lives, they could only glimpse his back, their eyes full of envy and admiration.
Later.
Xu Xian was silent in the crowd, yet he took the lead in front of Heart Inquiry Forest, being the first to enter. Xu Xian was like a solitary swordsman, aloof, brave. If his sword remained sheathed, so be it; but once unsheathed, it would surely cleave open a realm. Their eyes were filled with approval and longing.
Even later.
They thought Xu Xian was just an ordinary person, a bit lazy, but with the aura of a leader.
Until this moment, looking at the young man before them, all their good impressions completely collapsed, and disdain and contempt uninhibitedly swelled.
They understood what was meant by 'mystery thrived on unfamiliarity, and beauty was born from distance.'
Lin Qianqian spoke, "Xu Xian, no need to look anymore. You can't solve this chess game. Not just you, even if a Chess Sage were alive today, they couldn't solve it."
Hearing Lin Qianqian speak with such conviction, everyone instinctively turned their gaze to her, their eyes blank, yet seeking knowledge.
"How so?"
Lin Qianqian pondered for a moment, then said meaningfully:
"Because this isn't an incomplete game at all; it's a deadlock."
"A deadlock?"
The crowd grew even more bewildered, each one completely muddled.
What was a deadlock?
Those who understood.
Those who didn't.
They could all understand.
But....
They gasped in surprise, whispering amongst themselves.
Lin Qianqian said with an air of exaggerated wisdom, "That's right, it's a deadlock. The black pieces in this game have already lost. An incomplete game can still be broken, but a deadlock is unsolvable. Otherwise, why would this chess game have been placed here for nearly ten thousand years, with no one able to solve it? So, don't bother; let's go..."
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly understood, and a chorus of complaints erupted all around.
"What do you mean? It was already lost?"
"Is that true?"
"No wonder I couldn't solve it after staring at it for so long. So it's a deadlock! Good thing my chess skills aren't the problem."
"Are you kidding? If it's already lost, why make people solve it? Isn't that just messing with us?"
"Unbelievable. Let's go, let's go. What a waste of my time."
The crowd grumbled and scattered like startled birds. The area in front of the sword stele and the incomplete chess game, once packed with people, was mostly dispersed in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Yang and Lin Qianqian also left, but when they turned back, they found Xu Xian still standing in place, with no intention of leaving.
Confused, they turned back to urge him:
"Brother Xian, let's go."
"Xu Xian, what are you staring at?"
Xu Xian, however, paid them no mind, still staring at the chessboard before him, lost in thought, muttering softly.
"The game takes risky moves, the sword treads unconventional paths."
His voice paused, and he slowly lifted his head, gazing once more at the sword stele.
"Break before you build, heralding new life..."
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