Lanke Chess Edge

Chapter 382: Each With Its Own Unique Characteristics

Although the spiritual awareness of these characters had begun over a decade ago, they had actually been imbued Zuo Li’s spirit and intent from the very beginning of their creation.They did not completely forget the subsequent events they had encountered over the next century, but rather had a vague and conceptual memory of them.

This created a slightly contradictory reality: compared to beings like the Little Paper Crane or Hu Yun, these characters understood quite a bit. But unlike some spirits and monsters who had to start from scratch and learn everything slowly, their foundation wasn’t solid enough. So, like the “cloud players”1 that Ji Yuan often saw online in his previous life, they thought they understood, but in reality, they didn’t understand at all. They were frighteningly naive, and because of the nature of their writing, they were also full of the desire to express themselves.

Well, saying “desire to express themselves” wasn’t entirely accurate, because these characters even enjoyed just bickering with each other.

Talking to these little guys on the Sword Intent Inscription was undoubtedly a tiring task. It was a difficult and laborious task to understand the causes and consequences of certain situations and the processes involved.

Fortunately, Ji Yuan, this “master” held extraordinary authority in the eyes of these little characters. Even when they were arguing fiercely among themselves, a single word from Ji Yuan was enough to make all the little characters obey.

However, what could be explained in a single sentence often escalated into a major uproar throughout the entire “Sword Intent Inscription” due to a tiny provocation from a single character.

The key to understanding the situation was not to focus on just one character to question them about the events that had transpired, because some of the characters’ statements were contradictory, and each character firmly believed that they were right—they wouldn’t have been arguing otherwise. Furthermore, because it was a group activity, individual characters were sometimes distracted or even resting, and since they had been following other characters, their memories were incomplete.2

Fortunately, although these little guys loved to bicker with each other (which, in the characters’ eyes, was merely them insisting on their own truth), aside from their verbal squabbles, they were truly united. No matter how many characters “departed” together from the scroll, they never left their companions behind. Perhaps this was the true essence of the Sword Intent Inscription: an innate and profound family bond.

Given this situation, by the time Ji Yuan truly understood the entire process of these small characters “running away from home,” two hours had already passed.

The characters recounted how they had left the Sword Intent Inscription, how they had avoided numerous dangers, and how, in a state of constant fear, they had traveled to the north and to the west, frantically covering a distance of over 20 000 li over the years, before finally reaching the “paradise” of Moyuan County. The temptation was too strong, so they stayed for a while longer.

“So, you mean ordinary monsters, spirits, and ghosts have a hard time finding you? You answer that, the rest of you are not allowed to speak!”

Ji Yuan rubbed his temples, questioning the characters. After asking the question, he had to immediately point to one of the characters to emphasize the individual right to speak.

The character “sharp”3 that he had pointed to twisted left and right, as if looking around, before facing Ji Yuan.

“Replying to the Master, I don’t know if they find it difficult or not. Anyway, when we want to hide, no one but Master can find us. Once, we had a big argument and a monster overheard it, but as soon as we hid, he couldn’t find us and wandered around in the same spot for half a month. We hid for that half a month without daring to speak, we were so bored!”

Many characters on the Sword Intent Inscription suddenly stood up, clearly indicating a renewed desire to take the lead. It seemed everyone had something to say about this experience, but after Ji Yuan glared at them, they all obediently lay back down.

Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Did that monster see you at the beginning? You can answer, but don’t add anything else.”

“I…I didn’t notice…Everyone was yelling ‘Run!’ so I just ran along with them…”

“Haah…”

Ji Yuan took a breath and could only look at other characters.

“Does anyone know?”

As soon as he finished speaking…

“Me! Me! Me!”

“I know!”

“Sir, I know too!”

“They don’t know, but I know best!”

“I know better than you, you’re lying!”

“I know best that you’re spouting nonsense!”

“I was the first to discover it!”

“Oh dear…”

They began arguing almost instantly.

“Stop! You speak!”

Ji Yuan pointed to the character who claimed to have been the “first to discover it,” and all the other characters fell silent. The character for “mind”4 stood up with a smug look on its face.

Ji Yuan could clearly sense from the flow of ink on the characters that the little guy was indeed “smug.”5

“Reporting to Master, I was more careful that time and got a clear look at the monster’s appearance. It was an old dog with a big nose, and its body was somewhat human-like. It could stand up on its hind legs and walk. Moreover, it didn’t just guard the wilderness where we had been hiding for half a month. It cunningly left for a while and then suddenly came back!”

“Oh?”

Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes. It seemed that the dog knew perfectly well that the words had hidden rather than left . He might even have had very keen senses, able to detect that there was no danger, yet clearly aware that he had encountered an extraordinary spirit.

Indeed, the characters themselves were extraordinary, but when Ji Yuan said “extraordinary” he meant something else entirely. These characters were collectively known as the “Sword Intent Inscription,” but each character had its own unique characteristics. That was what Ji Yuan needed to confirm at present.

“Indeed, sir. At that time, ‘awareness,’6 ‘spirit,’7 and I all thought that the monster hadn’t really left, so we told everyone to keep hiding. Sure enough, the monster was hiding nearby. When it couldn’t find us, it even bared its teeth and snarled!”

“Hmm, well done!”

Ji Yuan smiled and praised it, making the character “mind” even more proud, swaying back and forth.

These characters indeed each possessed a different spiritual essence and personality. For example, “Mind” was more intelligent, “spirit” and “awareness” were more perceptive, “sword” and “sharp” were likely more courageous and sharper, and so on. Each character had its own unique characteristics.

Such pure spirits, especially as beings of writing, could likely cause some kind of wondrous transformation if someone were to devour them.

“Listen up, everyone. Don’t wander off like that anymore, understand?”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

“We understand!”

“Sir, you must take us with you!”

“We’re not going back to Yan Fei!”8

“That’s right!”

“If we go, we’ll run away again!”

“That’s right!”

“What if the master told us not to run away?”

“Huh!?”

“What would we do then?”

…

Ji Yuan tapped the table twice with his fingers, making a “thump-thump” sound that drowned out the noise and quieted everyone down.

“Don’t worry, I won’t send you away. Yan Fei has already studied the Sword Intent Inscription for quite a while, and it contained my imbued spirit. There’s no need for him to study it any further. You can just stay by my side.”

Just as the group of characters were about to cheer, Ji Yuan heard footsteps approaching. Before Ji Yuan could scold them, the group of characters suddenly fell silent.

Ji Yuan looked back at the “Sword Intent Inscription” and saw that the characters on it were quiet and still. He nodded and smiled, then rolled up the calligraphy and put it into his sleeve.

The footsteps grew closer, and before long there was a knock on the door.

“Mr. Ji, uh, it’s lunchtime. Would you like me to bring it to you, or would you like to have lunch with us in the temple kitchen?”

Ji Yuan thought for a moment and decided not to trouble them any further, so he replied.

“No need, I’ll go to the temple kitchen with you.”

With that, Ji Yuan stood up and walked to the door to open it. Before he could do so, the paper crane had already flown back into his arms.

Upon seeing Ji Yuan, the temple steward quickly bowed.

“Then Mr. Ji, please come with me. Not long ago, a wealthy family came to fulfill a vow, bringing a lot of delicious food. Uh, would you mind sharing a room with them, sir?”

“I shall follow my host’s lead,9 I don’t mind. Let’s go.”

“Alright, sir, please follow me!”

Seeing that Mr. Ji had no objections, the temple steward felt relieved and led him to the temple kitchen in the outer courtyard.

This Land God Temple was indeed quite large. The main hall was unusually spacious. Aside from a statue of the Land God, the rest of the space was filled with ever-burning lamps, which were specially lit by wealthy families in the surrounding area at considerable expense.

There was a reason why this local Land God Temple was so popular. Praying to gods and Buddhas was all about “effectiveness,” and the local Land God was one such efficient deity. According to local legend, the Land God of the village was very protective of the area, so the temple had always been very popular.

…

The kitchen of the Land God Temple in Lilong Township was actually divided into two connected halls, the back hall and the front hall. The back hall was used specifically for cooking, while the front hall functioned like the dining hall that one could find in other temples, with some tables and chairs.

The Land God Temple only had three staff, including the temple steward and the temple workers. These tables and chairs were naturally specially prepared for situations like today, where wealthy people would visit to fulfill vows or pray to the gods, then eat a meal that was supposed to ward off disasters and bring blessings, known as a “divine offering meal.”10

Most Buddhist temples served vegetarian food, but land god temples did not follow this rule; they did not discriminate between meat or vegetarian dishes, and they could even serve alcohol. However, there were rules for these divine offering meals: the food must first be offered to the Land God, before being brought down and served in the dining hall. This constituted the “divine offering” part of the meal, symbolizing sharing food with the gods to ward off disasters and difficulties.

There were already more than a dozen people sitting in the temple dining hall, with two temple staff and several servants from a wealthy household serving dishes and bowls.

The weather was still very hot, so even after it had been placed at the altar for some time, all the dishes, aside from the cold ones, were still steaming hot.

Today, the man who had come to fulfill his vow was Mr. Liu, the owner of a large ink shop. This morning, while he was dozing off, he dreamt of the local Land God telling him that the strange events that had happened these past few days had been resolved. Upon waking, he informed his wife, and they decided to come and give thanks immediately. Now, he and his wife were sitting at a round table, waiting for the meal to be served.

There were two tables set up in total. One table was for Mr. Liu’ family, the temple steward, and two trusted servants; the other was for the remaining servants and the two temple staff.

“Master Zheng, why isn’t Mr. Zhao here yet?”

“Oh, Uncle Zhao went to invite a guest who’s staying overnight at the temple. He’ll be here soon. Look, he has arrived!”

The temple staff set out the bowls and chopsticks, answering Mr. Liu’s question, just as the temple steward and Ji Yuan arrived at the door.

“Mr. Ji, this way please, please sit at that table.”

The temple steward pointed to Mr. Liu’s table, where there was plenty of room due to the smaller number of people sitting there, as opposed to the crowded table for the servants.

The temple steward then quickly went ahead and bowed to Mr. Liu and his wife.

“Mr. Liu, Madam Liu, Mr. Ji is an honored guest of our temple. Would you two mind if we dined together?”

“I don’t mind, not at all.”

Mr. Liu replied with a smile. He even stood up and bowed to Ji Yuan.

Once Ji Yuan nodded in return, he sat back down at the table. The temple steward then diligently set out the bowls and chopsticks and placed the wine cup for Ji Yuan. He even noticed a small stain on the table and, unable to find a tablecloth, quickly wiped it with his sleeve.

Mr. Liu observed all of this and immediately became curious about the newcomer. Even when the county magistrate had visited once before, the temple steward had never been this attentive.

云玩家 (yún wánjiā): lit. “cloud player,” someone who only knows the video game by watching others play but acts as if they’ve played the game themselves. T/n: oh my god JY just acquired 200 spiritual toddlers 锐 (ruì): sharp/acute 心 (xīn): heart/mind/intent/center/core –> translated to “mind” but there’s a LOT of connotation lost during translation T_T The personality of “Mind” (and as we will, see, the personality of all the other characters) are very subtle puns. “Smug” is spelled 得意 (déyì), and “Mind” is 心 (xīn). If you look at the 2nd character of smug, 意 (yì), you can see a small squashed version of 心 “mind” at the bottom. 觉 (jué): to feel, awake, aware 灵 líng: quick/alert/effective/spirit. You can tell why these characters were the ones to be cautious T/n: RIP Yan Fei, so hated so soon XD Phrase roughly meaning “when in Rome” 供 (gōng): to provide/to be for, 神 (shén): god/deity/spirit, 饭 (fàn): meal