Lu Zhenming, a young master of the Lu family, wore an arrogant expression and a cold smile. “So, Mo,” he said, “you’ve come to the Lu family to sponge off us?”
Before he could say anything more, Madam Lu’s face turned slightly cool. “Ming’er!”
Lu Zhenming’s expression froze.
“Mind your manners in front of a guest,” Madam Lu said with a stern voice. Though her features were pleasant, as the lady of the house she carried a natural authority. Even Lu Zhenming, the favored heir, did not dare defy his mother. He lowered his head a little and said, “Yes, Mother.”
Mo Hua’s gaze flickered.
Madam Lu looked at Mo Hua, the faint displeasure between her brows fading into a warm smile. “Ming’er has been spoiled since childhood and lacks proper manners. Please forgive him, Young Master Mo.”
Mo Hua nodded. “You’re too kind, Madam Lu.”
“It is Young Master Mo who is knowledgeable, polite, and knows how to handle himself,” Madam Lu said. Then, with a pointed glance at Lu Zhenming, she continued, “It’s only natural for young people to squabble and have a little fire.”
“But as a scion of a great clan, you should be broad-minded and put the greater good first. Only then can you take on great responsibilities and achieve something in the future.”
“What’s more, the great clans are already intertwined with one another. Marriage alliances connect them everywhere.”
“Go back a dozen or so generations, and everyone is related. At the end of the day, we’re all one family. Don’t let trifles create bad blood. Harmony brings wealth, and unity gets things done.” Madam Lu lectured earnestly.
Lu Zhenming sneered inwardly. Who is this Mo Hua to be family with me? One of these days, I’ll flay him alive and pull out his tendons...
But he dared not act rashly in front of Madam Lu. He lowered his head instead. “Yes, Mother. Your son takes your words to heart.”
Mo Hua was momentarily startled. As his thoughts turned, he could deeply feel how entangled the great clans were with one another. Go back a dozen generations, and everyone was related.
The great clans of this world were likely far more interconnected than he had imagined.
Still, none of that had anything to do with him. He was not a scion of any clan, and no matter how one tried to trace connections, he could never be related to these families.
But he still had to give Madam Lu face.
“Madam Lu is right,” Mo Hua said.
Madam Lu nodded and waved Lu Zhenming off. “Go do your own business.”
Lu Zhenming gave Mo Hua one more deep look, his eyes hiding a sliver of venom and hostility. Then he bowed to Madam Lu. “Yes, Mother. Your son will take his leave.”
With another bow, he left.
After Lu Zhenming left, Madam Lu gave Mo Hua a helpless sigh. “This child Ming’er has grown up, and his cultivation has risen, but now his heart has become stubborn and he is hard to control. Please forgive him, Young Master Mo.”
Mo Hua said gently, “Madam Lu is too modest. Young Master Lu is a man of distinguished bearing and talent, with outstanding natural aptitude. A bit of pride is only to be expected. In this world, which prodigy isn’t proud?”
Madam Lu looked at Mo Hua in slight surprise, and inwardly sighed. Not only is this Young Master Mo handsome, but he also speaks so properly. He is not at all the greedy, mean-spirited, arrogant wastrel that others describe.
It seems that most rumors in the world are false and not to be trusted.
Madam Lu nodded slightly. “Young Master Mo, please come with me.”
Mo Hua followed behind Madam Lu through a magnificent garden of resplendent buildings and jade-clear waters, until they reached a pavilion. A blue-jade table was set with fine wine, delicacies, and a few chessboards and other small amusements.
A young lady dressed in splendid gold-and-jade finery, looking like a flower of nobility, was sitting alone in the pavilion, playing chess to while away the boredom.
Mo Hua was a little surprised to see her, but not too surprised.
This young lady was Lu Zhenlong, daughter of Lu Chonglou, the head of the Lu family, and one of the foremost beauties on Kunzhou’s Top Ten Beauties list.
Lu Zhenlong, who had been propping her chin and playing chess by herself, looked up at the sound of footsteps. Seeing Mo Hua, she immediately furrowed her brows and let out an unhappy snort, like a little cat seeing an “enemy.”
“Zhenlong,” Madam Lu called.
Only then did Lu Zhenlong rise and bow to Madam Lu. “Mother.”
Madam Lu looked at Lu Zhenlong with tender eyes, then turned to Mo Hua and said, “This is Young Master Mo. You should know him. In the old days, you both studied in Qianzhou. Though you weren’t in the same sect, you could be said to... have some connection.”
Madam Lu gave an ambiguous smile.
Lu Zhenlong recalled the humiliation of the fireball from back then. Grinding her teeth, she whined, “Mother!”
Madam Lu said no more. “I need to discuss a few things with your Aunt Bai. You entertain Young Master Mo. You two are about the same age, and both studied in Qianzhou, so you should have things to talk about.”
Lu Zhenlong gave an unwilling “Oh.”
Madam Lu then looked at Mo Hua. “Please wait here for a moment, Young Master Mo.”
Mo Hua looked at Madam Lu, then at Lu Zhenlong. His expression was somewhat complicated. “Thank you for your trouble, Madam Lu.”
Madam Lu smiled and turned away. In the small pavilion, only Mo Hua and Lu Zhenlong were left.
With Madam Lu gone, Lu Zhenlong relaxed. She sat back down, glanced at Mo Hua, and said, “Sit down too.”
Mo Hua found a seat across from her.
Lu Zhenlong gestured at the table full of delicate snacks and dishes. “Help yourself. No need to be polite.”
Then she ignored Mo Hua entirely and went back to playing chess.
The pavilion fell quiet.
Looking around, Mo Hua noticed that the pavilion was an excellent vantage point. He could see the emerald garden, the resplendent buildings, and all kinds of refined landscapes. At the same time, however, it was also a spot that could be “observed.”
Mo Hua could sense several powerful but subtle threads of divine sense from afar, all fixed on the pavilion. Among them was Martial Aunt Bai.
But they did not seem to be “snooping.” They were simply watching the two of them, just in case something unexpected happened.
The pavilion was also surrounded by a highly sophisticated sound-isolation array. Nothing he and Lu Zhenlong said would carry beyond it.
This way, the space remained “open” while still ensuring a measure of “privacy.”
One had to admit that the great clans put a great deal of thought and care into such matters.
Mo Hua shook his head slightly. Then he turned his gaze back to Lu Zhenlong.
Lu Zhenlong was playing chess by herself, propping her delicate jaw on her jade-white hand, brows furrowed in deep thought.
On the board before her was a special kind of chess. It was called Eight Trigrams Chess, similar in principle to Five Elements Chess, but with more intricate pieces, trigram variations, and many more rule changes.
It was also one of the games the great clans used to enlighten Core Formation disciples and help them comprehend the changes of the Dao.
Lu Zhenlong was obviously not a very good player. Every move was a struggle.
As Mo Hua watched, the chess lover in him stirred, and his fingers itched. But he did not feel it was appropriate to speak up. He knew the truth of “A true gentleman watches chess without speaking.”
Just as Lu Zhenlong was stuck on a move, she suddenly looked up and saw Mo Hua staring fixedly at her board. Her heart tightened.
She knew Mo Hua was a man of almost demonic intellect. Back at the Qianzhou Sword Tournament, he had toyed with the prodigies of the Four Sects and Eight Schools as if they were puppets.
With that kind of scheming mind, his chess skills must also be the work of a supreme master, unfathomably profound.
Seeing Mo Hua watching her with a hint of provocation in his eyes, Lu Zhenlong grew serious.
But she had never been one to accept defeat, especially against the detestable Mo Hua.
After only a moment’s thought, she put on a solemn expression and, in the tone of one going to certain death, issued a challenge to this “strong enemy”:
“Mo Hua, want a game?”
Mo Hua, whose fingers had been itching for a while, nodded at once and calmly accepted, “Alright.”
Mo Hua’s composed demeanor made Lu Zhenlong feel an enormous mountain of pressure.
After all, her opponent was Mo Hua—the monster who had swept through Qianzhou, dominating the Four Sects, shaking the Eight Schools, and intimidating the Twelve Streams.
And now she would face such a monster alone across a chessboard to decide who was superior.
Lu Zhenlong’s expression turned grave. The picturesque pavilion suddenly seemed to hang with an oppressive, bloody atmosphere.
Then they reset the board, set the pieces, and began their battle on the Eight Trigrams Chess board.
Lu Zhenlong’s expression was tense, her gaze focused. She felt enormous pressure and barely dared to breathe, afraid that with one moment of carelessness she would be annihilated by the demonic-minded Mo Hua.
But as the game went on, Lu Zhenlong’s expression began to change.
After a few more moves, she was stunned.
A little later, her eyes were full of disbelief.
By the end, it was Lu Zhenlong who had wiped Mo Hua off the board. She looked at Mo Hua in silence with an extremely complicated expression.
Now it was Mo Hua’s turn to frown.
Staring at the utterly lost game, Mo Hua refused to accept it. “One more?”
Lu Zhenlong, having already won one game, naturally had no objections. Winning one game didn’t prove anything, after all. Victory and defeat were common matters for soldiers; a single game could not settle the final verdict. Maybe Mo Hua had been careless, or maybe she had just been lucky.
But once the second game was over, with two games as evidence, Lu Zhenlong understood immediately: Mo Hua had not been careless, and she had not been lucky.
Mo Hua hadn’t been careless. He was simply bad.
And she hadn’t been lucky. She was just strong!
Lu Zhenlong felt an immense swell of vindication.
Mo Hua, however, was deeply puzzled.
Lu Zhenlong was eager for more. “Another round!”
Mo Hua refused to give in. “Fine.”
Then they played a third game, a battle that darkened heaven and earth, and the result was no surprise. Mo Hua suffered another crushing defeat, routed decisively.
Looking at Mo Hua, whom she had crushed so thoroughly, Lu Zhenlong felt as if she were dreaming.
Then an inexplicable, indescribable heroic pride surged in her heart.
In her heart, no, in the hearts of all the prodigies at Qian Academy—Mo Hua was an out-and-out “evil dragon.” No one could do anything to that dragon.
And now she, by her own strength, had turned the tide, slaughtered the vicious “evil dragon” Mo Hua, and saved the world as a heroic maiden.
Even before this battle, she had never imagined she could win.
She never expected that she, Lu Zhenlong, could one day defeat Mo Hua with her own strength.
And she had won three times!
Mo Hua was still staring at the board, utterly baffled.
Lu Zhenlong’s brows danced with joy, and she couldn’t hold back the smile at the corner of her mouth. Looking at Mo Hua smugly, she thought: Damn you, Mo Hua. Even you have your day today.
Unable to contain herself, Lu Zhenlong laughed smugly a few times. Then she suddenly frowned, sensing something off, and asked Mo Hua, “You weren’t letting me win on purpose, were you?”
Mo Hua answered with a cold snort.
Seeing that cold snort, Lu Zhenlong nodded to herself. That’s right. How could a heartless monster like Mo Hua—someone who would blast his own face with a Fireball Technique—let her win?
He hadn’t been letting her win. He was just bad at chess.
Mo Hua, the chess duffer.
Lu Zhenlong beamed with joy.
But as she laughed, Lu Zhenlong’s eyes shifted, and she still felt something was off.
How could someone like Mo Hua, with powerful divine sense, a deep scheming mind, and a belly full of sinister plots—play chess this badly?
He was a skilled formation master, a formation genius.
No matter how difficult chess was, could it be more difficult than formations?
Something was wrong.
Lu Zhenlong calmed down and studied the endgame before her. She “replayed” Mo Hua’s moves from the first two games in her mind.
In the first game, she had been intimidated by Mo Hua’s “pressure,” so nervous that she hadn’t thought carefully.
In the second, she had been astonished to discover that Mo Hua was a novice; the fact had been too unbelievable, and she had no time to think.
In the third, she had been immersed in the joy of “slaughtering” Mo Hua, and had even less time to think.
But now, calm and carefully replaying the games, she gradually noticed something wrong.
When Mo Hua played chess, his “move placement” seemed a bit off.
He played differently from other people.
Others played according to the board’s own rules, calculating every step to maximize the benefit of each move.
But Mo Hua never played in that self-maximizing way.
He didn’t even follow the board’s own rules.
It was as if his mind automatically generated its own “rules” based on the board, and he only placed pieces according to those personal rules.
Lu Zhenlong frowned.
A style that ignored the rules of the board and other people’s lines, playing only by its own rules, was clearly insane. It would be a miracle if it could win.
Then she saw Mo Hua frowning, pondering, as if wondering why he always lost.
Lu Zhenlong didn’t know what to say.
Indeed, a monster’s mind was not something ordinary people could understand. Even its structure was different from a normal person’s.
Still baffled, Mo Hua looked up at Lu Zhenlong and said, “Another game?”
Lu Zhenlong really wanted to nod and agree. The feeling of “slaughtering” Mo Hua was too satisfying, even if only on a chessboard.
But she was afraid that if they played too many games, Mo Hua would wake up, break through his delusion, and turn around to crush her. That wouldn’t be good.
Better to stop while she was ahead and preserve her record.
Keep her undefeated record against Mo Hua in Eight Trigrams Chess...
This record might not be unprecedented, but there probably weren’t many after her who could match it.
And she, Lu Zhenlong, was the chess saint who had overpowered Mo Hua!
With that thought, Lu Zhenlong put down her piece and shook her head. “Chess is too mentally draining. I’ve exhausted my divine sense and need to rest.”
Then she sat down with a smile, reached out her jade hand, picked up a translucent emerald fruit, and placed it in her mouth, looking fully content.
Today’s emerald fruit was especially sweet.
Mo Hua sighed softly, and could only sit there drinking his wine in silence, puzzled, “Aren’t I a master of heavenly secrets? How can I not even beat Lu Zhenlong?”
“Or is there something wrong with how I play...?”