join patreon.com/worldoffanfiction for advanced chapters and to support the daily update
Shen Tang asked curiously: "Is this encrypted Spirit Speech?" ["Looking horizontally, it's a range; looking sideways, it's a peak; far and near, high and low, each different."] She had seen it in Qishan's scrolls. According to the notes, it seemed to be a military formation Spirit Speech used to deceive people, highly misleading. The key to the entire Spirit Speech lay in the first half of the sentence. If opponents lacked experience and couldn't see through it, they would fall into the trap, a favorite of scheming strategists. However, the method of breaking it was also simple.
The key to breaking the formation lay in the second half—"cannot discern the true face of Mount Lu, only because one is in this mountain"—if one reacted in time, one only needed to create distance, weave and circle, protecting one's own front and rear, and not be cut down and scattered by the opponent, then one could see the true face of the military formation. In addition, there was an even simpler, all-purpose method—using absolute force to slaughter the enemy could also break the formation. Qishan's expression was solemn: "It seems so." Shen Tang asked again: "How do we crack it?" Unexpectedly, Qishan countered: "How would I know?" He said this, but his eyes and expression clearly indicated otherwise. Shen Tang choked on his words: "If even Yuanliang doesn't know, then I'm even less likely to. Are we just going to stare at each other?"
Staring was out of the question. Qishan wasn't that bored. He simply looked at Shen Tang in silence, who averted her eyes. After a long while, Shen Tang murmured softly, her voice sounding a little weak: "Yuanliang... did I cause trouble..." A silent atmosphere quietly flowed through the room. Qishan didn't speak, and she couldn't help but overthink—she really hadn't expected her luck to be so bad, encountering something like this even when going out to find work to earn money. She also hadn't expected the drawing paper from the courtesan to hide secrets, and such rare encrypted Spirit Speech at that. She knew instinctively that she was caught in unknown trouble.
Qishan, being close to her, would likely find it hard to stay out of it. Yet Qishan deliberately hid something... *Annoying! (＃￣～￣＃)* "Tsk, this can even be considered trouble?" Qishan lifted an eyelid, but the words he uttered surprised Shen Tang. He shed his usual laziness, his expression sharp. He meticulously arranged the drawing paper, leaving only the small figure drawing Shen Tang had made untouched. He chuckled, "I knew Xiaocheng was a murky pond and still dared to come, so naturally, I wouldn't be afraid of this little trouble. I'm not afraid of entering the game, only of not even finding the door to it."
To put it bluntly, he came looking for trouble, not for a peaceful life. Shen Tang's encounter actually played right into his hands. Young Master Shen was indeed formidable. It was only the second day, and she had already given him such a big surprise! "Youli, get some sleep early. Come get the painting tomorrow." Shen Tang looked at Qishan in a daze, only managing to catch a glimpse of his receding clothes. She opened her mouth for a long time, unsure of what to say. After a long while, she broke into a curse. "Damn it!" *Just because you know more, does that make you great?*
Suddenly, it was as if all the strength drained from her body. *Alright, knowing more *is* great!* She leaned back, lying on the wooden floor. She stared wide-eyed at the beams above, lost in thought. *Too, too, too annoying!* That inexplicable fire of anger raged in her chest, unable to find an outlet. The more she thought, the angrier she became; the angrier she became, the more furious she got, in a recurring cycle. Finally, she used her waist strength and sharply sat up. She snatched the small figure drawing, not having time to admire her proud work, and stared intently at the blank space on the paper. She closed her eyes, recalling Qishan's method just now, and condensed literary qi in her palm. The moment the literary qi touched the paper, the surrounding environment shifted from clear to blurry. She felt her consciousness entering a very subtle "異空間" (alternate dimension)—heaven and earth desolate, yin and yang intertwined—just as she was about to pull herself out of this eerie place, a chessboard of horizontal and vertical lines suddenly lit up beneath her feet, and a blurry figure appeared in the distance.
*Who is this person?* As soon as this thought arose in Shen Tang, her body suddenly sank, her consciousness returned to her body, and the Spirit Speech also appeared on the paper before her. ["Looking horizontally, it's a range; looking sideways, it's a peak."] "What does this mean..." Shen Tang composed herself and repeated it once more. With psychological preparation, when the chessboard reappeared, she calmly looked at the dark figure. Relying on her good eyesight, she could vaguely see that the dark figure was a tall, slender young man. His build initially resembled Qishan's, but his temperament had a touch more decadence than Qishan's.
His face was hidden in shadow, and he said nothing. Seeing Shen Tang appear, he merely raised his right hand and waved a folding fan. Shen Tang instantly tensed, ready to draw her Mother's Blade. Unexpectedly, a massive black disc condensed above the chessboard. Following the young man's movements, with a "smack," it decisively dropped. Immediately following, shouts of killing erupted, and black and white majestic cities rose on either side of the chessboard. The black and white pieces on the chessboard transformed into thousands of small soldiers, fighting fiercely without rest. Judging by the situation on the chessboard, the battle had clearly entered a white-hot stage, with victory and defeat about to be determined. Shen Tang: "..." *What should I do now?*
She blinked blankly, then tried to make a random move. The young man opposite immediately made his move. As his piece landed, it transformed into a small black figure that joined the fray. Shen Tang's white figures were cut and scattered by the black cavalry, forming isolated groups, helpless and alone. At this point, the outcome was obvious. A few breaths later, she suddenly opened her eyes, her face cycling between black, white, red, and green. It took her a long time to suppress the urge to flip the table. She thought encrypted Spirit Speech was simply encrypted Spirit Speech, the two being like the relationship between a safe and a password: with the decoding Spirit Speech, one could unlock it. Who knew that encrypted Spirit Speech was one side arranging a military formation, setting up an endgame, and the other side entering the battle to break it? Shen Tang stood with her arms crossed, glaring at the small figure drawing. She almost stared flames out of the paper. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
Next door. Qishan, sensing the surge of Shen Tang's literary qi, paused the paintbrush he was holding. A drop of ink spread into a small blob on the paper. Snapping back to reality, he glanced at the painting, frowned slightly, resisted the urge to use a fresh sheet, and a meaningful, subtle smile curved his lips. He had painted erotic scenes a few times before, some explicit, some implicit, featuring both men and women. Even if his hand was a bit rusty from not painting for a long time, he quickly regained his former state, feeling completely at ease. Until the sun rose and the roosters crowed. Qishan stretched, then collected the dried erotic painting, preparing to hand it to Shen Tang to submit—the mastermind behind it had other intentions, so how well it was painted wasn't important; a casual job would suffice. As he opened the door, he saw a familiar silhouette. "Young Master Shen?" The person was indeed Shen Tang. Qishan asked again: "You're up so early today?" Shen Tang heard the movement, turned around, and said irritably, "Can Yuanliang not know if I slept a wink last night? Where's the painting?"
Qishan handed her the painting, then said something out of the blue. "The one who arranged the formation is a master." If Young Master Shen, a half-baked amateur, could break the formation, countless literary heart strategists would be clutching their chests and spitting blood. Shen Tang said, "Did you break the formation?" Qishan shook his head: "No." Seeing Young Master Shen's dark circles, it was clear she hadn't had a good night's sleep. Her temper was so fiery that even her literary heart was agitated. Not being able to break it was normal; there was no need to get so worked up. Young people should learn from him; he was very calm. *What the hell...*