Library of Heaven's Path

“That pill forging technique of yours…” the old man exclaimed in wonderment.

Other cultivators might not have been able to see anything special from the earlier silhouette, but as a skilled apothecary, he could tell that the movements were part of an extremely ingenious pill forging technique. In fact, it was far superior to what he used!

A moment later, the old man’s voice sounded once more. “Come in.”

At the same time, the doors to the straw cottage opened.

Jiya!

An old servant stepped forward and gestured for Zhang Xuan to enter.

With a smile, Zhang Xuan walked in without any hesitation, and Qi Ling-er and the others quickly followed him.

Based on the books that he had read, Zhang Xuan had found that the pill forging techniques used in the Firmament were quite similar to those on the Master Teacher Continent. In other words, the knowledge that he had learned back on the Master Teacher Continent was applicable here as well, making him a top-notch theoretical apothecary here.

The pill forging technique that he had displayed was just the tip of the iceberg of what he was capable of.

The courtyard of the straw cottage was not too large.

At the center of the courtyard, an old man was seated right before a stone table. This old man had three strands of beard that flowed with the wind, giving him the look of an enlightened hermit.

“Let’s start!”

Without even raising his head, the old man picked up his chess piece and stared intently at the chessboard. He did not bother mentioning the bet that they had spoken about earlier or the pill forging technique that Zhang Xuan had displayed.

With a smile, Zhang Xuan walked up to the stone table, but just as he was about to sit down, he saw the chess set on the stone table and frowned.

When he heard the word ‘chess’, he had immediately assumed that it would be the same as the one he played back on the Master Teacher Continent. Yet, who could have known that he would be faced with a chess set that he completely could not recognize at all?

He had read a lot of books regarding the chess of the Master Teacher Continent, and his skills are more than enough to make him a grandmaster among grandmasters. However, a different chess set meant different rules and different playing styles. How could he win in a game that he did not even know the rules of?

The heck! Since they were two different games, they should have used different names for them! How misleading!

Seeing how the young man was not sitting down at all, the old man finally raised his head and asked with a frown, “What’s wrong?”

“Elder, can you please spare me a moment? To me, chess is not just a hobby but a sacred ritual. I view every chess match with great respect, so I tend to take some time to condition my state of mind and prepare myself,” Zhang Xuan said without the slightest hint of embarrassment on his face.

Hearing those words, the old man’s eyes lit up with a slight hint of approval.

Only the truly skilled chess players would understand the sheer depths of the game and carry more respect for it.

Despite the young age of the person before him, it was respectable how the other party was able to take what others viewed as a mere game so seriously.

With a polite smile, Zhang Xuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His calm yet concentrated demeanor really made him look no different from a true grandmaster.

But the truth was that he was desperately sending telepathic messages to Qi Ling-er and Zhang Jia.

“Do either of you know the rules of chess?”

“Eh?” Qi Ling-er and Zhang Jia were shocked.

Did they not just hear with their own ears how the young man boasted about his chess skills? After all that had happened, it turned out that he did not even know the rules!

Bro, isn’t it too late for you to start asking us for the rules now?

This was especially so for Zhang Jia. It was so flabbergasted that it nearly froze up into a statue.

When its master spoke about how unrivaled he was in the art of chess, it had really thought that its master was such a multi-talented person who could do everything under the sun.

Words could not even express how speechless it was when its master asked if it knew the rules of the game!

Surely you can’t be thinking that you can defeat a true chess grandmaster just by learning the rules?