Confucianism under Heaven

Chapter 39 Chess Battle

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Chess Battle

As soon as the words were spoken, the atmosphere suddenly became tense. The two sat down, each holding a chess piece.

Ye Ru had never played Go, but there were Go scores in the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries), so he learned about the rules and terminology of Go and studied them with great concentration.

At this moment, the chessboard has already begun to clash. Playing chess is like waging war; simply put, it's a game of occupying territory for both sides.

Xu Qingyuan, having gained the initiative, designed the star point opening move, which is a fixed position on the chessboard.

The star point opening is a set of relatively fixed moves that occur after one side occupies the star point in the corner of the board. These moves are generally considered to be a win-win situation for both sides.

After completing the opening move, Xu Qingyuan's attack suddenly became fierce, using his black pieces to suppress the opponent's white pieces. In an instant, Zhang Yuan's white pieces had one-fifth of the entire board captured, and a large area of ​​territory was also occupied by the black pieces.

Go is about overall planning and strategic thinking. The battlefield is a reflection of the battlefield. Ye Ru knew that if Xu Qingyuan were given a few more years of experience, he would definitely become a strategist on the battlefield.

Moreover, the two are just beginners. If they possess the spirit of Go, the place where they are will create a Chu River and Han Border, allowing them to deploy troops and arrange formations, making them omnipotent.

When Confucius reached the ninth level of the Way of Chess, he used the heavens and earth as a chessboard to create a celestial game, and used the stars as chess pieces to play against the Great Sage of the Demon Clan. In that battle, the stars of the Milky Way seemed to transform into heavenly soldiers and generals, and the battle was extremely fierce.

"Snapped!"

With a single move, Xu Qingyuan's large dragon on the chessboard was completely surrounded by Zhang Yuan, and it looked like these twenty-odd pieces were about to be swallowed by the white pieces.

Everyone was extremely uneasy. Magistrate Zhang clenched his fists, watching the two men locked in a fierce battle on the chessboard.

However, Xu Qingyuan remained calm and composed, placing a single character at the center of the dragon, like the finishing touch on a painting, instantly bringing the dragon to life.

After Da Long was revived, Xu Qingyuan became even more ruthless, forcing Zhang Yuan into a deadly predicament with every step.

Snapped!

Zhang Yuan still had more than a dozen chess pieces left, while Xu Qingyuan had several times more.

"Hmph, Brother Xu's chess skills are superb. I am willing to accept defeat."

After a while, Zhang Yuan realized that from the very beginning, he had already fallen into the other party's deadly trap.

The opponent spent so much time just to make their defeat look better.

After all, sportsmanship is equally important.

"Concession."

Xu Qingyuan nodded, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and the students below cheered.

Magistrate Zhang also loosened his fist.

The match was best of three, and Ruoqin won. No matter how strong she was in the third match, there was no need to play it.

"Wen Yin, go, do your best."

Magistrate Zhang said with a solemn expression.

"Ah."

Zhang Wenyin appeared on the Qin Duel Stage, holding a zither, while a woman from Ningfeng County also appeared.

He looks rather mean.

"Your Qingyun County is destined to lose this round."

"Not necessarily."

The woman smiled slightly, said nothing more, and immediately began to play the zither. A chilling aura quietly spread around them.

"Zheng~"

Zhang Wenying sensed the ferocity of the zither music and immediately became serious. Her fingers plucked the strings, and a sense of peace permeated half of the zither-playing platform.

"Ye Ru, who do you think has a better chance of winning?"

Fang Zifeng looked at the two women playing the zither in the arena and turned his head to speak.

"It's still too early to say. The opponent's music carries a chilling tone, clearly indicating that they are primarily using the War Qin Dao for attack."

"As for Sister Wenyin's zither playing, she mainly focuses on support skills, combining offense and defense. I'm afraid Sister Wenyin is relatively weak in this area."

Ye Ru sensed the pervasive musicality between the two and spoke in a deep voice.

Fang Zifeng nodded without saying anything.

In an instant, Zhang Wenyin's zither music suddenly soared, and flowers swirled around her.

"We need to use Fallen Flowers."

Fang Zifeng said.

Suddenly, the sound waves spread outwards, and then Zhang Wenyin manipulated the power of her zither, instantly urging the flower petals to shoot fiercely towards the woman.

As they passed by, the sound of air exploding echoed throughout the area.

Seeing this, the woman opposite was not flustered at all. She plucked a string on her zither, and a substantial wave of energy transformed into a series of holy swords of talent, which directly collided with the falling flowers.

boom!

The Sword of Talent clashed with the petals of talent, which were utterly crushed and then rushed directly towards Zhang Wenyin.

Seeing these powerful swords touch her fair neck, Zhang Wenying's delicate body stiffened instantly.

"Ningfeng County wins, the score is tied at one to one."

Unexpectedly, this inter-county literary contest ended in a draw, with the score tied at one to one.

Thinking of this, countless people turned their gazes to Ye Ru's calm face.

Some people, however, were looking towards Ningfeng County.

"Ye Ru, it's your turn..."

Magistrate Zhang looked at Ye Ru with a tense expression. If the latter lost, then the Book Heart would be completely out of their reach.

"As best as I can."

Ye Ru nodded.

"Is this young man really the contestant selected by your Qingyun County? This... I'm afraid he's not even a student yet."

Han Feng looked at Ye Ru's youthful face and loudly mocked him.

"A young child."

The people from Ningfeng County around them also laughed loudly.

"Your Excellency, is this young man really capable? You must know that this final round of the competition is of utmost importance."

Xu Qingyuan couldn't help but frown as he spoke.

"Now we can only try our best."

Magistrate Zhang frowned, then shook his head and said.

Surrounded by many suspicious gazes, Ye Ru didn't say much. Instead, he went up to the poetry duel platform and looked at Han Dingsheng.

Han Dingsheng slowly walked onto the stage, looked at Ye Ru, and, emboldened by his scholarly air, mocked:

"Brother Ye Ru, you've truly achieved fame at a young age. However, early success doesn't guarantee adult success. Why don't we sit down and discuss the Dao?"

This statement is quite harsh. It was said by Chen Wei, a Grand Master of the Palace during the Eastern Han Dynasty, to Kong Rong. It means that being clever when you are young does not necessarily mean you will be very talented when you grow up.

This is a derogatory statement that Ye Ru is remarkable now, but will become just an ordinary person when he grows up.

If a writer's confidence is slightly lower than Han Dingsheng's, they will be influenced by this statement, causing their confidence to be clouded and ultimately defeated.

Ye Ru ignored him, instead smiling at Han Dingsheng and bowing respectfully.

“Brother Han, you are mistaken. Everyone in Qingyun County knows that you have chosen another county for your future and betrayed Qingyun County. If I become just another ordinary person in the future, people will only laugh at me and it will not affect my descendants. But your act of betraying your clan is a violation of great etiquette and damages your literary reputation. I am afraid that it will affect your descendants for generations to come. Compared with you, I am just a small witch in comparison.”

Ye Ru did not directly answer Han Dingsheng's question, but instead used etiquette to retaliate.

The people of Qingyun County breathed a sigh of relief. Confucius established the rites, and the rites held a unique and supreme position in the Confucian and Taoist world.

This act of betraying one's ancestors is more serious than simply lacking talent.

"Hmph, my trip here is to acknowledge my ancestors and return to my roots; it is a matter of great righteousness."

Han Dingsheng's face was gloomy. This behavior had been ridiculed by many people. If he could not overcome this inner demon, it would be even more difficult for him to advance further on the path to sainthood.

Therefore, he must defeat Ye Ru to prove himself right.

After a moment, Han Dingsheng raised his head and shouted angrily.

"Well, since we've brought up the topic of 'book courage,' you're competing with Xu Ming in terms of book courage, so do you have the guts to compete with me in terms of book courage?"