The group split up to handle their respective tasks.
Girl in the Bamboo took the spirit pets to mooch a meal at the spirit-beast facility. Ye Chenyan and Chi Yantian went to approach other small sects in Central Province about joining the alliance, while Yu Qingtang and Scholar Xiao headed to the Chess School to win a few more points for the other two—and, with any luck, run into one of the school heads.
Yu Qingtang had barely stepped into the Chess School with Scholar Xiao when Dot Star Formation blocked their path and asked with perfect calm, “All right. How much do you want this time?”
Yu Qingtang obediently held up four fingers. “Forty. I’m collecting points for those two. Neither of them passed.”
Sympathy appeared in Dot Star Formation’s eyes. “How short were they?”
“One was seven short, the other three.” Yu Qingtang sighed mournfully and shook his head again and again. “Hopeless. Unlike me—I scored exactly enough to pass.”
Scholar Xiao turned to him. “Brother Yu, you only scored twenty. You passed because Academy Head Mei gave you those extra ten points. Otherwise, you would’ve been dead last.”
“How can you calculate it like that?” Yu Qingtang clicked his tongue and shook his head. “A pass is still better than a fail!”
Amused, Dot Star Formation tossed him two twenty-point bamboo tallies.
“Fine. Here. Take the points and stop going inside to terrorize them.”
She pointed behind her.
The senior and junior brothers who had gambled against Yu Qingtang twice before immediately paled in horror. They already looked ready to pick up their table and flee, nearly running straight out of their shoes.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
This was the first time in his life he had ever received treatment befitting some legendary final boss.
And of all places, it was at the illustrious Four Books Academy.
If he went back to Biehe Sect and bragged about this, his master probably wouldn’t even believe him.
“If you keep gambling with them,” Dot Star Formation said with a small shake of her head, “I’m afraid they’ll either shatter their Dao hearts or give up chess and switch to cultivating fortune instead. It’s only forty points. Just take them.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes curved into crescents. “Thank you, Senior Sister!”
“Oh, right. Senior Sister, do you know where Academy Head Mei is right now? She told me before that once I’d lost all my points, I could go find her...”
Dot Star Formation gave him an odd look. “What? Planning to squeeze some more points out of her?”
Yu Qingtang hurriedly shook his head. “How can you call it squeezing!”
“Oh.” Dot Star Formation nodded lightly. “Begging, then.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
“Just pretend I’m going to thank her for those ten points.”
“She’s usually at the Qin School,” Dot Star Formation said with a quiet laugh. “If you play well enough, she’ll appear.”
“That’s why there are always people over there showing off like peacocks with their tails spread, competing with each other just to lure Academy Head Mei out.”
“She may have told you that you could find her, but I doubt she ever considered how you were actually supposed to do it.”
“Oh...” Yu Qingtang looked disappointed. “Then what about your Chess School head? Is there any way to meet him?”
Dot Star Formation froze, then turned toward Scholar Xiao and asked quietly, “Did Academy Head Wen send you? Does he want Master to meet someone?”
“No. This is our own business.” Scholar Xiao deliberately left them hanging. “We need to meet one of the four school heads. Any one will do.”
“Academy Head Mei does whatever she feels like and comes and goes without warning. The Painting School head is constantly leaving to gather inspiration, and once he goes out, there’s no telling whether he’ll be gone for a year or six months. The Chess School head is the easiest to find. He’s guaranteed to be in his own room.”
“But he refuses to meet strangers. We need Senior Sister to get us through the door...”
Dot Star Formation narrowed her eyes. “What mysterious scheme are you two cooking up?”
“Nothing bad, I promise.” Yu Qingtang clasped his hands together. “Please, Senior Sister.”
Dot Star Formation sighed. “For the sake of that chessboard you gave me—which I really do like—I’ll take you to Master’s door.”
“But let me make this clear first. All I’ll do is call out to him once. Whether he opens his mouth or answers you afterward is beyond me.”
Yu Qingtang beamed. “Got it, got it!”
“Senior Sister gets us through the door. Getting him to talk is up to us!”
Dot Star Formation chuckled. “If you can actually make him talk, all the better. Saves me the trouble of worrying about it.”
She led the two deeper into the Chess School.
Black and white stones were arranged everywhere around them. Looking more closely, Yu Qingtang also noticed straight horizontal and vertical lines drawn across the ground.
He stared down at his feet.
“Hm? Why does the ground look different here? Don’t tell me the whole place is one gigantic chessboard.”
“It is.” Dot Star Formation kept walking without looking back. “Seen from the air, the entire Chess School is an unfinished game. Master once said that whoever solves it can succeed him as head of the Chess School.”
Yu Qingtang nodded slowly. “Then it must be an incredibly difficult game... Senior Sister, have you solved it?”
“No.” Dot Star Formation looked back at him. “And it isn’t difficult.”
“Huh?” Yu Qingtang’s eyes went wide. “It isn’t?”
“It used to be. This position came from one of the legendary unsolved games left behind from ancient times.” Dot Star Formation stopped in front of a house and pointed inside. “Then he solved it.”
“The whole world knows that he solved it. Every Chess School disciple has memorized every single move he used.”
Yu Qingtang’s mouth slowly fell open.
“...An open-book exam?”
“Then...”
He looked toward the door.
Dot Star Formation gave a low laugh. “He deliberately left that game there because he wants to dump the responsibilities of being Chess School head as soon as possible.”
“But since we know that, there’s no way we’re letting him get what he wants.”
She folded her arms.
“The Chess School’s unanimous position is this: unless someone comes up with a new solution, we refuse to solve the game.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
A long,幽幽 sigh drifted from inside the room.
“You come to my door first thing in the morning just to say all that.” The head of the Chess School sounded completely drained. “Are you deliberately trying to ruin my day?”
“Just thought I’d come irritate you a little.” Dot Star Formation lightly knocked on the door. “Scholar Xiao of the academy and Yu Qingtang of Biehe Sect in Jinzhou have come to pay you a visit.”
The Chess School head’s voice came out muffled, as though his head was buried beneath a blanket.
“I’m not here.”
Dot Star Formation: “...You are. If you don’t want to meet them, just say you don’t want to meet them.”
“Oh.”
The Chess School head spoke flatly.
“I don’t want to meet them.”
Dot Star Formation turned around and spread her hands at the two of them.
“See?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He scratched his head awkwardly, then turned to Scholar Xiao.
“Maybe we shouldn’t make things difficult for him. I kind of feel bad.”
Scholar Xiao pointed toward the Qin School. “Then we go play the qin and lure Academy Head Mei out?”
“That can be Plan B.”
Yu Qingtang sneaked a glance at Scholar Xiao and lowered his voice.
“Brother Xiao, um... you memorized the Chess School head’s solution too, didn’t you?”
“Naturally.” Scholar Xiao answered without thinking, then his gaze suddenly sharpened. “Wait. Brother Yu. Don’t tell me you want me to—”
Yu Qingtang gave him an idiotic grin.
“Interested in a promotion?”
Scholar Xiao: “...”
“Hm?” Dot Star Formation froze. She looked between them with a strange expression. “You two aren’t seriously planning to...”
Bang!
The door flew open.
For the first time, the Chess School head voluntarily stepped outside. He clung tightly to the doorframe, his voice actually trembling.
“You’re going to solve the game? Really?”
Scholar Xiao: “I’m not—”
“He isn’t a Chess School disciple,” Dot Star Formation reminded him.
“Even better!” The Chess School head still sounded weak and listless, but for once his voice lifted at the end, his delight impossible to conceal. “Then he won’t join you lot in conspiring against me!”
“If you don’t want him becoming academy head, you can solve the game first!”
Scholar Xiao opened his mouth, shoved Yu Qingtang down with one hand, then snapped open his folding fan with the other to block the overly excited Chess School head.
“Brother Yu, stop fooling around!”
“Changing a school head is a major matter for the academy! Besides, even if I did become the Chess School head, I wouldn’t immediately receive a copy. That would still take some time...”
“No!” the Chess School head said urgently. “If you’re willing, we can skip the formalities!”
“You want a copy? A copy of the Sage’s Book, right? Solve the unfinished game and I’ll give it to you right now!”
Dot Star Formation pinched the bridge of her nose.
Yu Qingtang hooked an arm around Scholar Xiao’s shoulders.
“Listen to me, Brother Xiao. Once you become a school head, wouldn’t you have the same authority as Academy Head Mei?”
Scholar Xiao froze. Almost unconsciously following Yu Qingtang’s train of thought, he answered, “The four school heads are equals. Academy Head Wen may have the greatest reputation nowadays, but their actual authority should be the same.”
“Not that I’m agreeing to become one, but if I really did become the Chess School head, then nominally speaking, I should have the same authority as Academy Head Mei... Why are you asking?”
Yu Qingtang smiled and patted his shoulder.
“How does your brain stop working at times like this, Brother Xiao?”
“You could give them an exceptional ten points too!”
Scholar Xiao: “...”
“Ten from you, five from the Sage’s Book.” Yu Qingtang patted his shoulder again, deeply moved. “With fifteen free points, even Flamelet could pass the exam, right? Those two are saved!”
Scholar Xiao closed his eyes in anguish.
“Brother Yu, you cannot turn Four Books Academy upside down just to make those two pass!”
“If Academy Head Wen finds out I became the Chess School head, I’ll probably be thrown out of Central Province right alongside you!”
“Then we’ll get thrown out together!” Yu Qingtang tightened his arm around Scholar Xiao’s shoulders. “Were you not planning to leave with us anyway?”
Scholar Xiao choked.
“I was planning to travel with you, yes, but I intended to walk out.”
“That’s just a matter of posture. Minor detail.”
Yu Qingtang abruptly turned toward the Chess School head.
“Senior, does your successor necessarily have to be someone from Four Books Academy?”
“No!” The Chess School head shook his head frantically. “Anyone is welcome, as long as they solve this unfinished game, have decent character, and don’t intend to harm Four Books Academy’s disciples!”
“You’re interested too?”
He was so excited he looked ready to rip the doorframe apart.
“Wonderful!”
“See?” Yu Qingtang turned solemnly toward Scholar Xiao. “If you refuse, I’ll go find Chi Yantian or Ye Chenyan.”
“Think carefully. Ye Chenyan could turn this entire place into one giant martial brawl. Chi Yantian would be even worse. Him refining artifacts here would be the least of your worries. What if he makes every Chess School disciple wear red? Pretty soon everyone’s name will start with ‘Fire,’ and Flamelet will be running loose all over the academy...”
A vision of hell seemed to unfurl before Scholar Xiao’s eyes.
He nearly blacked out.
He spun toward Dot Star Formation, cupped his fists, and bowed deeply.
“Senior Sister, save me!”
Dot Star Formation: “...”
“What exactly do you people want?”
“We want to see a copy of the Sage’s Book,” Yu Qingtang said sincerely. “And ideally, get some extra points too.”
Dot Star Formation turned toward the Chess School head.
“Hand over the copy.”
“No.”
The Chess School head clung tightly to the doorway and let out two sinister little chuckles.
“You want it? Become school head.”
Dot Star Formation: “...”
The two sides were still locked in a stalemate when someone suddenly laughed.
Scholar Xiao’s expression shifted. He turned around.
A disciple stood behind them.
He had refined, handsome features and was dressed like a scholar, but his expression was haughty, and even the way he looked at people carried a trace of provocation.
“Well, Scholar Xiao. You leave the academy for so long, and the moment you come back, you’re already trying to see a copy of the Sage’s Book...”
“Afraid you can’t pass the exam?”
Scholar Xiao glanced back.
“Hm? Junior Brother Wen?”
He sighed helplessly.
“Why are you calling me by my full name again? Call me Senior Brother.”
“Hmph.”
Wen Changjun gave a cold snort.
“Master sent me with a message. The Chess School head will not be replaced today.”
Before anyone else even had the chance to groan, the Chess School head slammed the door shut with a bang and let out a faint, pitiful whimper from inside.
Wen Changjun raised his chin.
“Stop looking for crooked shortcuts and take the exam properly.”
“I don’t even know where you found so many idiots who can’t score twenty or thirty points on their own.”
“He insulted me.” Yu Qingtang tugged on Scholar Xiao’s sleeve and promptly added fuel to the fire. “Insulting you is one thing, but he actually insulted us.”
“If my junior brother dared insult my friends, I certainly wouldn’t stand for it.”
Yu Qingtang bent down, picked up a branch from the ground, and stuffed it into Scholar Xiao’s hand.
“Go on. Spank him!”
Scholar Xiao: “...”
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