Chapter 94

The Demon's Seal (94)

While Yenshen was grumbling, a voice suddenly came from beside him, making him jump and turn his head. An elderly man of similar age stood there with a smile.

"When did you come?"

In response to Yenshen’s question, Zhang San smiled and answered.

"It’s been a while."

Confusion appeared on Yenshen’s face.

That meant he had been watching Yenshen muttering to himself. Yenshen had been so engrossed in the chessboard that he hadn’t noticed someone standing right next to him.

Zhang San smiled at Yenshen, who let out a cough.

"The tasks you instructed have all been completed."

"Did you secure the promise?"

"Yes, for the next month, all the caravans of the escort company will have the same flag throughout their journey."

"Good work."

Yenshen nodded with satisfaction.

Zhang San, the chief manager who handled all the household and business affairs of the manor, was always meticulous in his work. Suddenly feeling a strange sensation, Yenshen looked up at Zhang San.

"Is there something else you want to say?"

Zhang San, who had been staring at the chessboard, nodded.

"If you place it there, the left-upper corner will become precarious."

"……!"

"If it were him, he would respond like this."

Zhang San picked up a black stone and placed it on the board.

Click.

Yenshen’s face crumpled at the sound of the stone.

"Why don’t you play more boldly in the center? If you did, it wouldn’t collapse so helplessly."

"……."

"Are you sulking?"

"I’m not sulking."

"Why doesn’t your chess improve at all?"

"I’m sulking now!"

Zhang San smiled at Yenshen’s irritated outburst.

"That’s why you always give instructions."

"What?"

"You said, ‘Moss does not grow on a rolling stone.’ You should humbly accept others’ advice and strive for constant improvement…."

"Do you think I’ll forget my own words?"

Yenshen said, determined to point this out.

"And I’ll watch over you."

Zhang San nodded with a smile, as if to say, "Of course."

"Yes, yes. I know."

Yenshen flared up at this.

"Do you have nothing to do? Is it okay for a chief manager to be so idle?"

"Well, there are those who spend the whole day by the chessboard."

Yenshen glared, and Zhang San quickly changed the subject with a look of feigned surprise.

"You will surely win next time."

"I hope so."

Yenshen sighed quietly.

"If we meet again…."

* * *

That evening.

A person entered the village outskirts, bathed in the burning sunset.

It was Chao Ailiang.

Chao Ailiang looked around the village, which had changed significantly from before.

"It has become quite a place for people to live."

The village, which had been desolate, now looked very welcoming and joyful, erasing the past with each passing year.

A small village with only about fifty households.

Flags of various colors fluttered between the long poles in front of each house, creating a picturesque scene.

After a moment of looking around with a pleased expression, Chao Ailiang started walking towards the manor on the hill.

Perhaps because it had been a long time since he set foot on his hometown soil.

Chao Ailiang, who had been making a playful face, leaped over the manor wall. At that moment, he saw an old man deeply engrossed in a game of chess in a pavilion far away.

Approaching quietly without making a sound, Chao Ailiang suddenly spoke.

"If it were me, I wouldn’t place it there."

"……!"

Thud.

Startled, Yenshen dropped the chess stone he was holding.

The black stone rolled on the board and came to rest at a peculiar spot.

It was the only move that could open a path in the precarious left-upper corner.

Chao Ailiang smiled and said.

"When I see you, I think of that saying. ‘A bad move at the end of a long game.’ You might as well just throw it there. It’s much better."

Yenshen turned his head sharply and glared at Chao Ailiang.

After a moment,

He shouted.

"Manager Zhang!"

A moment later.

Zhang San, who had been hurrying over, was startled to see Chao Ailiang. However, he soon smiled warmly and bowed respectfully.

Chao Ailiang also bowed in response.

In contrast, Yenshen shouted at Zhang San with a loud voice.

"Is the person standing in front of me a ghost or a human?"

"Isn’t it too early for ghosts to be wandering around?"

"Is it a human, then?"

"Exactly as you see, Master."

"Then go and give him a good scolding!"

Zhang San gave a look of disbelief.

"If I do that, I might really become a ghost."

"Fine! You’ve sinned, so you can’t do anything about it."

This kind of petty mischief wasn’t new to Zhang San, who shook his head with a familiar attitude.

"I’ll close the manor gates early today."

Zhang San bowed to Chao Ailiang again and left.

Only then could Chao Ailiang finally face his old friend.

His friend’s face, which seemed to have aged alone with the passage of time.

Seeing his friend, who had endured many hardships, made Chao Ailiang feel both sorrow and pity.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Chao Ailiang smiled slightly at Yenshen’s reprimand, as his gruff tone remained unchanged.

"You look really happy. Time has passed you by."

Chao Ailiang’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Yenshen.

"Let’s share the good things. What’s your secret?"

"Why? Do you finally want to learn martial arts now?"

Yenshen frowned deeply.

"At my age? Forget it."

Chao Ailiang chuckled and sat on a prepared mat, facing the chessboard.

The two men, sitting opposite each other with the chessboard between them, naturally began to tidy up the board and divide the stones.

For a moment, they rattled the stones in their hands.

Click.

Chao Ailiang placed a black stone at the center of the board, the Tianyuan point, which is the most central of the nine Huadian points.

Yenshen, as if he had been waiting, responded by placing a white stone on the Huadian point in the left-upper corner.

Chao Ailiang smiled.

No matter how much time passed, their personalities and chess styles remained unchanged.

Chao Ailiang nodded and was about to place another stone.

"I believed you were still alive."

Yenshen suddenly spoke. Chao Ailiang chuckled and looked at Yenshen.

"Then why did you spread so many flags?"

"……."

"Every escort caravan I met on the way here had the Yuanjianmianqi flag without exception."

It was a special flag used to express a desire to meet, an agreement they had made long ago.

It must have cost a considerable amount of money to spread it through the escort company.

"Did you make some money?"

"I made a lot."

Yenshen, who answered confidently, stared at Chao Ailiang.

"More importantly, how did you get involved with those scoundrels?"

"Scoundrels? Who?"

Chao Ailiang tilted his head, and Yenshen sighed softly.

"I mean those madmen holed up in Tangjiata. I heard you cut off the head of their leader?"

He was referring to the head of the Sichuan Tang family.

"Ah, the Thousand-Armed Demon?"

Although he had almost died, Chao Ailiang remained calm.

"I didn’t start the fight. They came at me without regard for their lives."

"The whole Chengdu area was in an uproar because of that."

Chao Ailiang snorted.

Despite the Tang family having ruled Sichuan alongside the Qingcheng Sect for a long time, he didn’t seem to care.

Yenshen’s eyes were filled with worry that couldn’t be erased.

"Sometimes I think…."

"……?"

"That Sichuan is pushing you away."

Chao Ailiang nodded quietly.

After all, it was here in Sichuan that he first earned the ominous title of Blood Water Venerable. And that was the reason he left his hometown and wandered through the Central Plains.

But Chao Ailiang didn’t pay much attention.

In the end, it was just another insignificant bad connection.

"Don’t worry. It wouldn’t be much different anywhere else."

Nowhere welcomed him.

The only place that welcomed him was here.

'Or, perhaps there’s one more now?'

Chao Ailiang smiled, thinking of Duan Aoxian.

Unlike before, he now had a place to return to.

A little while later, Zhang San returned with servants, carrying a tray full of snacks and wine.

"Are you planning to stay for a few days?"

Chao Ailiang nodded in response to Zhang San’s question.

"Yes, I plan to."

"Please stay comfortably. Oh, and drink alone."

Chao Ailiang looked at him in surprise, and Zhang San gave a wry smile towards Yenshen.

"Master has been drinking a lot. So much that I was worried something serious might happen."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. He was making a fuss about how his only friend had died and that he needed to find the body. It was like a funeral. The rumors in the martial world were quite alarming."

Yenshen frowned as he listened.

"Stop pretending to be close and go. People might think you’re my friend, not me!"

Zhang San was undeterred by Yenshen’s reprimand.

"At least I was here to calm him down. If I hadn’t, it really would have been a funeral. He would have cried himself to death or drowned in alcohol…."

"Ah, go! You’re good, but you talk too much."

Zhang San smiled and left with the servants.

Once they were alone, Chao Ailiang chuckled and asked.

"You believed I was alive?"

Yenshen, startled, soon nodded.

"I did."

"Then why did you look for the body?"

"Because I had to."

Yenshen’s face darkened.

"Whatever I desperately want always turns out the opposite."

Chao Ailiang silently raised his wine cup to his lips upon hearing this.

* * *

The next morning.

Yenshen, who had been locked in his workshop in the manor, clicked his tongue and stood up.

The pattern he was dyeing on the fabric wasn’t as satisfactory as usual. Perhaps because of Chao Ailiang’s unexpected visit, he couldn’t focus on his work.

After staring at the fabric, wax, and various dyes in jars for a moment, he turned away without a second thought, leaving the mountain of work behind.

Just as he was about to leave the workshop,

"Where are you going?"

"Che."

Yenshen clicked his tongue irritably at Zhang San’s voice, which came from somewhere.

He had run into the most troublesome person.

"Are you watching me?"

"Me?"

Zhang San replied with a look of disbelief.

"Do I look like I have the leisure to watch you when I have so much work to do?"

Yenshen frowned.

Zhang San, who was carrying a pile of documents, sighed and looked at the workshop.

"There are only ten days left."

"I know."

"You, who know this…."

Before Zhang San could start his nagging, Yenshen cut him off.

"I’ll catch a carp and then get back to work. You know, Chao would wake up from a deep sleep for a carp dish."

"I’ve already caught one. I just handed it over to the cook."

"What?"

Yenshen, taken aback, quickly came up with another excuse.

"Then I should at least pick some mountain pepper leaves. After all, for a braised carp…."

"I’ve already prepared those too."

"……."

Zhang San smiled and said.

"Just continue with your work."