Chapter 23: Life from Rotting Wood

Liang Yan had failed repeatedly to break through his bottleneck. He had placed immense hope in the Obstacle-Breaking Pill, only to have it all slip through his fingers in the end. Under the weight of these successive blows, his mental state had nearly collapsed.

He let out a long sigh and walked out of his cave dwelling. It was already late at night, and the mountain paths were nearly devoid of people. Liang Yan looked up at the sky; the night was as black as ink, a waning moon was half-hidden, and there were few stars to be seen—a perfect reflection of his gloomy and bitter mood.

The Great Dao of Heaven and Earth felt infinitely distant and unreachable. For a moment, Liang Yan did not know where he should go or what he should do.

In a daze, his soul adrift, he wandered aimlessly through the valley. By the time he regained his senses, he realized that, without even noticing, he had once again arrived before Cangmu Peak.

Liang Yan sighed and gave a bitter smile. "It seems I still cannot forget the games played in these mountains."

Even though he knew that "Senior Sister Tang" would never return, he found himself walking up the mountain path of his own accord. When he reached the summit and looked beneath the tree, it was indeed empty; not a soul was there.

Liang Yan mocked himself inwardly. He was truly losing his mind; not only had Senior Sister Tang said she wouldn't return, but even in the past, they had never played chess here at such a late hour.

He strolled beneath the great tree, only to find a chessboard resting upon the giant rock, set with black and white pieces.

"Huh?" Liang Yan was puzzled. Could someone else be playing chess here at this hour?

He focused his gaze on the board and suddenly froze. Was this not the same unfinished game he had seen on his first day at Cangmu Peak?

On the board, the black pieces were still sprawling and aggressive, exuding an air of supreme arrogance. The white pieces, however, were constrained at every turn, like a trapped dragon struggling to fight, devoid of any vitality.

Liang Yan stared intently at the board. Suddenly, he felt as if the white pieces were exactly like the true qi and spiritual energy within his own body, restricted at every turn by his own innate talent; and the black pieces were like the bottleneck suppressing him, utterly invincible.

He gazed for a long time, when suddenly he felt a strange attraction that pulled his entire consciousness into the game. He became that white dragon, while the rolling black clouds roared above his head.

The vast expanse of stars and the heavens themselves transformed into this nineteen-by-nineteen grid. Immersed within it, he felt that every step was an opportunity, yet he was also startled to realize that every step was a lethal trap!

"Roar!" An indignant roar erupted from within him. He slowly scanned his surroundings, his mind gradually calming down. During the time he had known the girl in white, he had spent his days and nights painstakingly studying the Way of Chess. His skill had advanced by leaps and bounds, far surpassing when he had first encountered this unfinished game.

Now, having embodied the white dragon and entered the scene, Liang Yan realized that although the black clouds were powerful, they were not an impenetrable fortress. They seemed all-encompassing, but in reality, they were hollow inside.

"If I am willing to sacrifice my own territory and strike directly at the heart of these black pieces, I might just find a new world."

With this thought, Liang Yan reached out, picked up a white piece, and—*clack!*—dropped it onto the board.

The placement of this piece was like parting the clouds to reveal the sun or a hidden dragon ascending to the heavens; it caused Liang Yan's mental state to suddenly clear. On the board, the white dragon roared and soared into the sky, free to roam the vast world!

Liang Yan stared at the board for a long time before letting out a long, lingering sigh. The white pieces had been reborn, but what about himself? At this thought, he could not help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

Just as he was snapping out of his trance, a sudden sense of alarm struck him. He looked toward the other side of the tree and saw an old man standing there. Clad in green with white hair and a ruddy complexion, the man was watching him with a half-smile.

Liang Yan was terrified. He had been here for so long, yet he hadn't noticed another person nearby. When exactly had this man arrived? He hadn't felt a single thing.

Before he could think further, the white-haired elder spoke: "Who are you? How did you find your way to Cangmu Peak?"

After bowing respectfully, Liang Yan replied, "This junior was brought here by a Senior Sister."

"Oh? What does this Senior Sister of yours look like?"

Liang Yan gave a brief description based on his memory. The white-haired elder nodded secretly to himself, thinking, *So it was that girl Die Xian. She is quite mischievous; this is exactly the kind of thing she would do.*

With that thought, the elder turned his gaze toward the chessboard beneath the tree and said with a strange look in his eyes, "Under which master of the Way of Chess are you a disciple?"

"This junior is not a disciple of the Way of Chess. In truth, I am a miscellaneous disciple of the Array Line," Liang Yan answered awkwardly.

To his surprise, the old man burst into laughter. "A miscellaneous disciple? Hahahaha! A miscellaneous disciple of the Array Line! Marvelous, truly marvelous!"

After laughing for a while, the old man seemed to be in a much better mood. He looked at him and said, "Boy, are you willing to play a few games with this old man?"

Liang Yan was no longer the ignorant youth he once was; he knew the elder before him was undoubtedly an unfathomable senior. He simply cupped his hands and said, "This junior's chess skills are meager; I might ruin your enjoyment."

"No matter. Our meeting here is a matter of fate. In a game of hands, age does not matter. The past is but floating clouds, and the trivialities of the world are all contained within these nineteen lines."

"Very well. Since that is the case, this junior dares not disobey."

The two sat on the ground and began to play beneath the tree. Both were intensely focused. By the time three games had passed, the horizon had begun to turn pale with the dawn. Unsurprisingly, Liang Yan suffered total defeat in every game.

Liang Yan smiled bitterly and said to the elder, "My skills are too poor; I lack even the qualification to be your opponent. I have truly disturbed your pleasure."

Unexpectedly, the old man stroked his beard and stared at the board, smiling with apparent satisfaction. "Not at all, not at all. Your two hundred and thirty-third move in that last game actually contained a hidden scheme. It is a pity you failed to consider the consequences, wasting a magnificent game."

Liang Yan reviewed the game and found it was indeed as the elder said. However, it wasn't that he had failed to look ahead or behind; it was simply that he *couldn't* look far enough. This elder's moves were so rigorous, so interconnected, and so proactive that he often occupied the key positions a step ahead of Liang Yan. No matter how Liang Yan changed his tactics, the elder would preempt him, causing him to lose the initiative.

"Actually, with your talent and your third-level Qi Refinement cultivation, you would be qualified to participate in the trial for the outer disciples of the Way of Chess. Why not give it a try?"

Liang Yan's heart jolted. This was the first time someone had seen through his cultivation level to his face, which proved just how unfathomable this elder was. He did not dare to be casual and answered truthfully, "It is not that I won't, but that I cannot. My talent is too poor; I have been stuck at the peak of the third level of Qi Refinement for a long time. Even with the Obstacle-Breaking Pill, I cannot break through. I fear my cultivation will struggle to advance any further in this life."

Hearing this, the elder fell silent for a moment before saying leisurely, "Boy, do you know my name?"

Liang Yan was stunned, unsure of what the man meant, and could only reply, "This disciple does not know."

"My name is Xiumusheng."

Liang Yan had stayed in the Chess Heart Pavilion for over three years and had heard the names of many famous elders in the sect, but no matter how hard he racked his brain, he could not recall anyone named "Xiumusheng."

"You must be wondering who this Xiumusheng is," the elder said, seemingly reading his mind, with a chuckle.

"When I first stepped onto the path of immortality, although I became a disciple of a famous chess master, I was stuck at the third level of Qi Refinement for ten long years. At that time, every one of my senior and junior brothers was ahead of me. I felt too ashamed to face my master, so I took the name 'Xiumu' (Rotten Wood), meaning 'rotten wood that cannot be carved,' not to blame my master."

Liang Yan had not expected him to have such a past. The old man sitting before him now possessed an aura as deep as the ocean, clearly having undergone a complete transformation.

"Later, when I achieved the Golden Core stage, my master added the character 'Sheng' (Life/Rebirth) after 'Xiumu.' From then on, my name became Xiumusheng, meaning that even rotten wood can be reborn, and a diseased tree can meet the spring again."

Having said this, the elder fell silent, merely watching Liang Yan with piercing eyes.

Liang Yan took a deep breath, feeling as though he had been struck by a sudden realization that swept away the gloom in his heart. He stood up and bowed slightly to the elder.

"Thank you, Senior, for your guidance!"

Xiumusheng smiled and waved his hand. "I merely told you a story. The path of cultivation must still rely on oneself. Especially when breaking through bottlenecks; one must take it step by step, otherwise, your foundation may be unstable in the future, leading to great disaster."

As he spoke, he casually took a bamboo scroll from his sleeve and handed it to him. "This is a cultivation method I created myself. As a miscellaneous disciple, you have no right to borrow manuals from the Instruction Pavilion, and I imagine you have been practicing haphazardly. You might as well look at this one."

Liang Yan reached out to take it and saw five large, crookedly written characters on the scroll: "The Method of the Unsettled Mind."

His heart leaped with joy. *I have practiced the old monk's 'Hunchun' method for so long and still cannot break through the third level of Qi Refinement. As the saying goes, 'stones from other mountains can polish one's own jade.' Perhaps this 'Method of the Unsettled Mind' can truly help me break through!*

With this thought, Liang Yan took a deep breath and bowed respectfully to Xiumusheng. Xiumusheng looked quite pleased and smiled, "From now on, on the eighth of every month, if you wish to study the Way of Chess, you may come here to find me at the Hour of the Rat. We shall be age-defying chess friends."

Liang Yan also smiled and said, "This junior shall obey!"