Film & TV: Public Enemy of Justice

While observing the current situation, Lin Yaoxie racked his brains to recall if he had seen this situation before.

Lin Yaoxie originally thought that Elder Jingming would lure him into the Zhenlong Chess Game, and that he could break the deadlock by sacrificing a few black pieces. Unfortunately, this game was not the so-called Zhenlong Chess Game.

Lin Yaoxie seemed frozen in place; he realized that the final outcome would hinge entirely on the ko fight in the lower right corner…

At this moment, Lin Yaoxie suddenly realized that what Elder Jingming had set up was a celestial game, a chess game between the ancient chaos and heaven and earth. In order to live with dignity in the world, chaos was playing chess with heaven.

Heaven has granted Chaos permission that if it wins, Chaos will be free from the constraints of Heaven and Earth and can freely travel between the Six Realms.

Lin Yaoxie also knew the final result: although Chaos, who was playing chess with Heaven, won by half a move, he turned himself into a ko threat and was forever trapped on the chessboard.

Thinking of this, Lin Yaoxie counted the remaining pieces in his hand and found that he was indeed missing one. At this point, Lin Yaoxie only had two ways to pass Elder Jingming's test: one was to find a ko threat and turn it into a black piece; the other was to admit defeat to Elder Jingming and find another way to make the Mid-Autumn Festival appointment.

The game continued. Lin Yaoxie's black dragon, though dead, was still strong, becoming the best ko threat, forcing Elder Jingming to respond to each move until all the kos were captured. Elder Jingming's position was like that of a warrior trapped in a desperate situation, fighting a desperate battle in Lin Yaoxie's territory, keeping Lin Yaoxie busy and unable to spare any attention.

As expected, Lin Yaoxie ran out of chess pieces in the end, and the outcome hinged on a mere half-point.

Lin Yaoxie knew this game was dangerous; once he stepped into it, he would be imprisoned forever, and even the ancient demon king Chaos would not be spared. However, Lin Yaoxie was unwilling to give up now.

Concentrating his energy outside, the imagery of "Ambush from Ten Sides" still lingered faintly; Lin Yaoxie knew that the final decision, moment 5.3, had arrived.

Lin Yaoxie drew his Yilong Sword, shaved off a lock of hair from the back of his head, and shouted:

"In ancient times, people could cut off their hair to avoid punishment, but now even a single strand of Lin's hair can outwit fate."

A strand of Lin Yaoxie's long hair fell to the ground. The outcome of the final battle was decided, and Lin Yaoxie left Ningqi Residence without looking back.

After Lin Yaoxie left, Elder Jingming picked up the long hair that Lin Yaoxie had left in the courtyard and sighed:

"Fate, fate, such a promising young hero, yet in the end..."

After leaving the Qi Condensation Abode, Lin Yaoxie went straight to Elder Canggu. Elder Canggu informed him that Elder Qingwei was currently in seclusion and asked Lin Yaoxie to challenge Elder Qingwei in three days. Elder Canggu was also extremely surprised that Lin Yaoxie had found the Dragon Crystal Stone in just one day.

Chapter Seventy-Five: Minor Matters in Yuzhou [Second Update]

After leaving Mount Shu, Lin Yaoxie returned to the inn in Anning Village—Huang's Carriage Inn.

Xuejian and Longkui, using the excuse of being bored today, each went to a place that interested them.

Lin Yaoxie returned to the inn, only to find Chonglou and Changqing drinking. Upon seeing Lin Yaoxie, Changqing tossed him a wine gourd, saying:

"Little Lin, how was Elder Jingming's experience with the Heavenly Bureau?"

Speaking of the game, Lin Yaoxie is still somewhat shaken. If he hadn't ultimately won by cutting off his hair in lieu of his head, he would probably be imprisoned on the game like Chaos.

Lin Yaoxie laughed heartily:

"I haven't even passed Elder Qingwei's test yet, why are you two holding a celebration banquet for me ahead of time?"

Chonglou continued drinking his wine, letting out a soft hum:

My only responsibility is to appear at the Moon-Viewing Terrace on Mid-Autumn Festival night; everything else is none of my concern.

When Changqing saw Lin Yaoxie return, he got straight to the point:

"Elder Qingwei is currently in seclusion. How about we go on a trip to Yuzhou together?"

The next day, when Lin Yaoxie brought Xuejian and Longkui to the ancient road of Shushan, they found that Chonglou and Changqing had been waiting there for a long time.

Lin Yaoxie chuckled sheepishly and said:

"Please forgive us, ladies, but it's always a bit more troublesome for girls to go out than for men."

Changqing joked:

"We apologize, but I'm afraid you'll have to get past Miss Tang before we can forgive you."

Sure enough, when Lin Yaoxie turned around, he found that Tang Xuejian's invisible leg was already coming towards him. Xuejian said angrily:

"Who's lazing around in bed like a lazy pig? If it weren't for Longkui using her lightning spell, that person would probably still be dreaming in bed right now, right?"

“Thunder… Thunder Curse…” Lin Yaoxie pressed his sore right arm, thinking it was from overexertion yesterday.

"Let's go." Seeing that everyone had gathered, Chonglou said only one word and headed towards Yuzhou.

Yuzhou and Shushan are not far apart, and with Lin Yaoxie and his group traveling on their swords, they arrived in northern Yuzhou in no time.

Yuzhou is a transportation hub in central Sichuan and one of the places where Miao and Han people live together.

As soon as Xuejian returned to Yuzhou, she insisted on going back to the Tang Clan, but Changqing and Chonglou insisted on going to the largest restaurant in Yuzhou to taste the century-old Yuzhou Bamboo Leaf Green tea. As for Longkui, although she said she wanted to go with Lin Yaoxie, her imposter brother, her fondness for Yuzhou snacks showed that she hoped Lin Yaoxie would suggest going to the snack street with her.

Lin Yaoxie was temporarily overwhelmed with other matters, and it would be a shame to separate once they arrived in Yuzhou, as they had finally managed to steal a few days of leisure.

Lin Yaoxie pondered to himself how to get through these three days in a way that everyone could accept.

Just as Lin Yaoxie was pondering what to do next, a commotion broke his thoughts.

Lin Yaoxie looked closely and saw that it was a Han Chinese tycoon arguing with a Miao peasant woman.

The Miao woman was holding a pair of small sparrows in her arms, while the Han man held a magnificent myna bird and a silver ingot.

The Han tyrant grabbed the Miao woman and said:

"I'll trade this silver ingot and the myna bird for your two broken sparrows. What's there to be unsure about?"

The Miao village woman kept saying in broken Mandarin:

"No, no, I won't change it."

Lin Yaoxie was also somewhat surprised. The silver in the hands of the wealthy Han people should be enough for this Miao woman to live on for more than a year. In addition, if she didn't want to raise the myna bird, she could at least exchange it for several hundred coins, which would be enough for this Miao woman to live a carefree life for a while. So why didn't she exchange it?

Lin Yaoxie was puzzled. Could the sparrows in her hands be some rare treasure? But no matter how Lin Yaoxie looked at the two little sparrows, they didn't seem like any rare or exotic creatures. They were just ordinary sparrows.

This puzzled Lin Yaoxie greatly. Then he saw the wealthy man from the Han family snatch the sparrow from the Miao woman's hand, stuff the myna bird into the Miao woman's arms, and give her an extra silver ingot before leaving.

Seeing this, Xuejian was indignant and wanted to stop it, but Lin Yaoxie stopped her. Lin Yaoxie understood that there were too many injustices in the world, and that one or two people could not solve them with just a sense of loyalty.

Seeing Lin Yaoxie blocking her way, Xuejian couldn't help but say to Changqing:

"Brother Xu, aren't you Shushan heroes going to do anything about this forced buying and selling?"

Xu Changqing sighed:

"The injustices of the world are not limited to what is right before our eyes, so Mount Shu only cares about eliminating demons and ignores the troubles of the world."

Xuejian glanced at Chonglou again, who seemed to think the Han man had done the right thing; as for Longkui, when Xuejian saw that Longkui's gaze was still fixed on the talking myna bird, she knew that she had already given up hope.

Seeing how indifferent these people were, Xuejian was filled with righteous indignation;

"If you heroes won't take care of it, then I'll take care of it myself."

Xuejian helped the Miao woman who had fallen to the ground up and took her to the nearest tavern to find out what had happened.

It turns out that this Miao woman was called Bao Lüshi because her husband's surname was Bao and her own surname was Lü. People who knew her called her Aunt Bao.

Aunt Bao's family originally had two sons, but unfortunately, they went to the deep mountains to collect herbs in order to make a living, and their whereabouts became unknown one after another.

"Those two sparrows are keepsakes left to you by your son?" Xuejian asked, trying to sound clever.

Aunt Bao shook her head with tears in her eyes and recounted that she had encountered those two sparrows during a thousand-year winter.

Two winters ago, a heavy snow fell for three days and three nights. As usual, Aunt Bao went out to buy some daily necessities. But when she returned home, she found three sparrows in front of her door, one big and two small. The big sparrow seemed to be on the verge of death because it had not eaten for a long time. Under the protection of the big sparrow, the two little sparrows did not seem to feel the despair of this winter at all.

Aunt Bao was kind-hearted and felt sorry for these little lives, so she brought the sparrows into her home and fed them millet and other food. Unfortunately, the great sparrow was already exhausted and died.

The old woman was powerless to save him.

From then on, the two little sparrows miraculously survived under Aunt Bao's care. For the next year, the two little sparrows used them to wake Aunt Bao up every morning.

When Aunt Bao returns home exhausted every day, her two little creatures are always waiting for her at the door. If Aunt Bao goes out to buy groceries, the two little guys can fly ahead of her, and if there's a thief, they'll even peck at the thief's hand.

If Aunt Bao does some mending at home, the two sparrows will quietly perch on her lap like children; they have become an integral part of Aunt Bao's life.

But last month, that Han Chinese tycoon, Boss Zhu, somehow heard that Aunt Bao had such a novel item, so he spent his days thinking about how to get his hands on the two sparrows, supposedly as a congratulatory gift for some important person.

Chapter Seventy-Six: The Promise [First Update]

Aunt Bao recounted her experience in fits and starts, saying that Lin Yaoxie and his gang seemed to be chivalrous people, and she kept asking them for help.

Lin Yaoxie seemed to have no interest in helping this old lady. In his later words, even if he helped her get it back, there was no doubt that someone like Boss Zhu or Boss Gou would come and rob her again, because Aunt Bao couldn't protect these things at all.

Unlike Lin Yaoxie and the others, Xuejian seemed ready to immediately rush to help Aunt Bao get it back after hearing what she said. Lin Yaoxie kindly reminded her:

Instead of helping her get back the sparrows she lost, we should think about how to help her protect her own things.

Xuejian listened to Lin Yaoxie's words and felt they made a lot of sense. She immediately wrote a letter and casually pulled a hairpin from her hair, saying:

"Take this to the Tang Clan, and they'll give you some tasks. From then on, you'll be a member of the Tang Clan, and no one will dare to bully you."

Aunt Bao, after hearing Xuejian's words, left the group in tears. Lin Yaoxie thought the matter was over and was just about to have another drink with Changqing and the others when he heard Xuejian say:

"If you won't go, I'll go and seek justice for Aunt Bao. We'll meet in the bamboo forest north of the city in an hour."

Before Lin Yaoxie could stop her, Xuejian hurriedly disappeared from his sight.

An hour later, in the bamboo forest north of the city, Chonglou and the others, bored, learned a new form of entertainment from Lin Yaoxie—unfortunately, Chonglou's luck was off the charts:

"One-stop service"

This was the third time Chonglou had won a straight flush right from the start, and Lin Yaoxie was starting to feel overwhelmed. So, taking advantage of the fact that the group was not familiar with the rules, he said, "This isn't a win. Let's continue."

Unfortunately, Lin Yaoxie's luck seemed to be a bit bad today. Soon, the seventh pair of Changqing appeared in front of Lin Yaoxie.

Mahjong.

To argue illogically:

Lin Yaoxie simply refused to admit defeat.

This is also Xiao Hu, so we admit defeat. 〃々。

After Changqing won three rounds of "Qingyi" (a type of lottery game) and was repeatedly called a "small win" by Lin Yaoxie, Changqing's luck finally ran out.

Lin Yaoxie was secretly delighted. Although his younger sister Long Kui usually seemed shy, Lin Yaoxie never expected that she would cheat in a way that others wouldn't notice.

This was Longkui's tenth time as the dealer. Seeing the last tile, the game was over, and Lin Yaoxie finally breathed a sigh of relief. After ten rounds of mahjong, he was finally seeing a return on his investment. In this round, Chonglou hadn't won a straight flush, and Changqing hadn't won a pair. Lin Yaoxie breathed his final sigh of relief, but then heard Longkui push down the mahjong tiles and ask:

"Brother, is this called 'The Peacock Flies Southeast'?"

Looking at the four East and four South directions in front of Long Kui, and the despairing One of Bamboo in Long Kui's hand, Lin Yaoxie finally hardened his heart and said:

"Even if you count, he's still just a nobody."

In the following rounds, the teams traded wins and losses, but unfortunately, the victors were always Long Kui, Chang Qing, and Chong Lou, while the loser was always their master, Lin Yaoxie.

Finally, Lin Yaoxie won a very small card game by cheating with his magic, but to save face, he said:

"This is called 'fart bullshit,' it's the biggest one, you've all lost."