The woman in front of me is Mu Ying, the granddaughter of the leader of the Shiling Tribe!
Liang Yan was a little surprised by her arrival.
This was not the first time the two met. That night the high priest acted as a matchmaker and wanted Liang Yan to choose one of the four beauties from the Shiling tribe to be a Taoist companion, and Mu Ying was one of them.
At that time, Liang Yan had clearly rejected the high priest. Logically speaking, if the two met again, there would definitely be some embarrassment.
But at this time, Mu Ying didn't feel embarrassed at all, and instead looked relaxed and generous.
"Fellow Daoist Liang, we meet again." Mu Ying said with a slight smile.
"Nice to meet you!"
Liang Yan's expression remained unchanged and he chuckled softly: "Miss Mu came to my place, what's the matter?"
"If there's nothing else, can't you come and see me?"
Mu Ying put her hands behind her back and blinked, with a playful look on her face.
"Miss Mu is joking. Liang is also a member of the Stone Spirit Clan now. You can see me anytime you want."
Liang Yan laughed, but felt a little suspicious in his heart.
This woman is the granddaughter of the clan leader, and her status in the Stone Spirit Clan is not low. She was rejected by him at the banquet that night, which was considered a loss of face. Why is she still looking for her today?
Just as he was thinking secretly, Mu Ying sighed softly and said: "Actually, this is not the first time Mu Ying has come. But every time you are practicing in seclusion, you are lucky today. Brother, you have just come out of seclusion.
I just caught up!"
Having said this, he stood on tiptoes again, looked inside the room, and asked softly: "Can you invite me in to sit down?"
"sure."
Liang Yan shrugged indifferently: "Liang is not a big shot. Since Miss Mu wants to come in and sit down, then please invite her."
"Really!"
Mu Ying opened her eyes wide and seemed a little flattered.
The next moment, she flashed and had already entered the yard, like a docile kitten, following Liang Yan with a smile.
The two walked through the courtyard and walked into the room. Liang Yan made her a cup of spiritual tea and sat opposite each other at a wooden table.
Mu Ying was very enthusiastic. As soon as she sat down, she said with a smile:
"Brother Liang, I heard from the high priest that you have joined our Stone Spirit Clan and are a family from now on! If you encounter any trouble here in the future, don't worry, just tell my little sister directly!"
"Thank you, Miss Mu, for your love."
Liang Yan's face was noncommittal, and he smiled slightly and said: "Everything is fine in Shiling Village. I can practice here peacefully, and I haven't encountered any trouble so far. Of course, if there is a need in the future, I may have to trouble Miss Mu."
"As long as Brother Liang is satisfied!"
Mu Ying's smile was very sweet, and her eyes curved into crescent moons.
"By the way. I brought some pastries this time. Brother Liang, please try them!"
With that said, he took out an exquisite snack box from the storage ring and pushed it in front of Liang Yan.
"This is?"
Liang Yan smelled a faint fragrance, and before the lid of the box was opened, it actually aroused his appetite.
"Mu Ying made this by herself. It's called 'Yu Ling Cake'. The main ingredient is 'Sanhua Yu' from the medicinal forest. It's sweet but not greasy, and has a mellow taste. Eating it can also nourish qi and blood." Mu Ying said.
Ying's voice was clear and pleasant, and there was a hint of expectation in her eyes.
"Really?"
Liang Yan smiled slightly, opened the lid of the box, and saw nine exquisite pastries lying inside.
Take out one of the pieces at random, put it under your nose and smell it. It seems that you are savoring the aroma of the pastry, but in fact you are checking to see if there is anything strange in the pastry.
“It smells good!”
After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the pastry, Liang Yan praised it with a smile, then put the piece of "Yuling Cake" into his mouth and chewed it carefully.
Sure enough, as Mu Ying said, it was sweet but not greasy, and the taste was mellow. After taking this bite, Liang Yan moved his index finger and had the urge to eat the whole box of pastries.
"Miss Mu is really good at craftsmanship. This feather spirit cake tastes good. Liang is in a good mood today." Liang Yan said with a smile.
Hearing his praise, Mu Ying's eyes brightened obviously and she looked very happy.
"Muying's skills are not limited to this, I know a lot of things!"
The granddaughter of the leader of the Stone Spirit Clan leaned forward slightly and got closer to Liang Yan.
The intoxicating fragrance came towards him. Liang Yan looked up and saw Mu Ying biting her lips, lowering her head slightly, and her voice became very soft:
"Brother Liang, if you like it, I can cook it for you every day."
The room suddenly became quiet, and the atmosphere was somewhat charming.
"Miss Mu, I think you have misunderstood."
Liang Yan's voice broke the silence.
He put down the Feather Spirit Cake in his hand and said calmly: "Liang Mou is seeking the truth and doesn't care about other things. The reason why he joined the Stone Spirit Clan this time is just because the high priest agreed to my conditions. Miss Mu
He is a smart man and should be able to understand what I mean."
As soon as these words came out, Mu Ying's face immediately turned pale.
But she is worthy of being the granddaughter of the leader of the Stone Spirit Tribe. In this case, the look of disappointment on her face only flashed across her face.
Soon, she calmed down, her face remained as usual, and she said with a smile: "Brother Liang misunderstood, Mu Ying admires you very much and is willing to make 'Yuling Cake' for you, but she has no other meaning. As for me
I came here this time entirely because of my grandfather."
"Your grandfather? The leader of the Shiling Clan?" Liang Yan raised his eyebrows.
"Isn't it? Grandpa plays puppets every day and doesn't care about the affairs in the village. Not long ago, he went out to collect information and it took him a whole month to come back. I heard that you were taken into the clan by the high priest.
, Grandpa is also a little curious and wants to meet you, so he asked me to invite you."
Mu Ying finished speaking in one breath, and a bright smile appeared on her face. She could not see the embarrassment just now at all, which made Liang Yan have to admire her emotional transformation.
As for the grandfather he mentioned, he was naturally Mu Chunhua, the patriarch of the Shiling Clan.
A month ago, when Liang Yan followed Lu Dayou into the village, he met this person on the road. He remembered that his cultivation level should be in the late stage of Jindan, and his aura was profound, and his magical powers were definitely not weak.
"I see." Liang Yan pondered for a moment and then asked, "Where is Chief Mu now?"
"My grandfather built a villa on Baifengpo just outside the village. When he is bored, he usually plays chess and fishes in the villa."
"good."
Liang Yan nodded, cupped his fists towards Mu Ying and said, "Liang is now also a member of the Shiling Clan. Since the clan leader wants to see me, Liang can't refuse, so let's ask Miss Mu to lead the way."
Mu Ying smiled sweetly after hearing this.
"My grandpa is a very interesting person. He likes to play chess and play with puppets. When you two meet later, we may have many topics to talk about."
"It's just like what you said. Liang is really looking forward to it."
Liang Yan laughed and walked out of the house with Mu Ying.
There is a carriage outside the door, which has been waiting for a long time.
Seeing the two people coming out, the coachman opened the curtain, invited the two people into the carriage, then whipped up his whip and drove slowly towards the outside of the village.
Baifeng Slope is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with beautiful scenery. There is a strange stone at the bottom of the slope, which is as crystal clear as jade, as clear as ice and flawless, and looks like a white phoenix spreading its wings, so it got its name.
There is a forest on the slope with peach blossoms in full bloom and a gurgling stream.
As the sound of horse hooves clattered, a gray carriage approached from far away and finally stopped outside the woods.
Two people came out of the car, a man and a woman. The man was tall and handsome, and the woman was dressed in white as snow, dignified and elegant.
"This is Baifengpo? The scenery is really beautiful!"
Liang Yan praised him, glanced around, and finally landed deep in the woods, with an interesting expression on his face.
"Brother Liang, what are you looking at?"
Mu Ying also jumped out of the car. Seeing Liang Yan's expression, she couldn't help but ask.
"Chief Mu is extraordinary."
Liang Yan smiled softly, pointed to the woods in front of him and said: "This forest looks ordinary, but in fact it hides mysteries. It seems that Chief Mu is also very good at Qimen Dunjia and mechanism formations. If someone with unknown intentions breaks into the woods,
I’m just afraid that something big will happen.”
"You actually saw it at a glance?" Mu Ying was a little surprised, and said with her eyes widened: "Grandpa used to brag to me, saying that he had set up this 'Peach Blossom Gang Evil Formation', and ordinary people couldn't tell the clues.
, even those with Jindan realm cultivation will be trapped in the formation and unable to escape!"
"Your grandpa didn't lie to you, this formation is really good." Liang Yan nodded, quite approving of Lin Zhong's formation.
"Brother Liang is really amazing. Gu Xingyun and the others have also been here, but they didn't find the magic circle left by grandpa. No wonder he lost to you in the competition!" Mu Ying said, with a look of admiration on her face.
In response to her compliment, Liang Yan just smiled with a noncommittal expression.
"It's getting late, let's go see Chief Mulao."
As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Yan had already spread his legs and walked towards the entrance of the woods.
Where he couldn't see, Mu Ying lightly tapped her foot, seemingly complaining, but in the end she quickly followed.
The two of them walked along the forest path for half a cup of tea, when they suddenly saw that the road ahead gradually opened up, revealing a large open space.
There is a mountain villa on the open space. Outside the villa, a gurgling stream and flowers are blooming. The scenery is very beautiful.
But Liang Yan didn't look at the villa.
Because there are countless criss-crossing scratches in the open space outside the villa. At first glance, it seems to be a giant Go board. However, upon closer inspection, I find that it has nothing to do with Go.
The criss-crossing scratches divided the open space into countless squares, with hundreds of puppets of different sizes and colors standing inside the squares.
There is a stone pillar at each end of the clearing, which is about seven feet high and exceeds the nearby woods. An old man is sitting on one of the stone pillars.
The old man has white clothes and white hair, and a kind face. He is Mu Chunhua, the patriarch of the Shiling tribe.
"I've met the old patriarch!"
Liang Yan stopped in front of the open space and bowed to Mu Chunhua.
"You don't have to be polite, little friend."
Mu Chunhua glanced over, looked up and down for a moment, then smiled slightly and said: "My little friend, you are indeed extraordinary. No wonder Yi Yin fell in love with you at first sight!"
"The old patriarch is so complimentary." Liang Yan's expression remained unchanged and he just responded lightly.
"Last time we had a quick meeting, because I was busy with something, so I didn't have time to talk in detail. Today, my little friend came to visit, which really made me happy. I wonder if my little friend knows how to play chess and can we talk about a game?"
"Playing chess?" Liang Yan raised his eyebrows and glanced at the open space around him.
He does know how to play chess, but there is no chessboard here and there are no chess pieces around. How should he play?
Mu Chunhua saw the doubts in his heart, stroked his beard, and said with a smile: "Little friend, please go to the 'Beacon Tower'!"
"Beacon Tower?"
Liang Yan was stunned for a moment, with a trace of doubt in his eyes.
When he followed Mu Chunhua's gaze, he realized that the so-called "beacon tower" was the two stone pillars standing on the edge of the open space.
Mu Chunhua was already sitting on one of the stone pillars, so the remaining one was naturally reserved for him.
"Mu Chunhua, what kind of medicine is sold in the gourd?"
Liang Yan cursed and secretly observed the stone pillar, but found nothing suspicious.
"He is the leader of the clan, and my 'Five Colored Soil' still needs to be in his hands. Since he wants to play chess, I will play a game with him."
Thinking of this, Liang Yan did not refuse, nodded and said: "Since Patriarch Mu kindly invites you, then Liang will show his shame."
As soon as he finished speaking, he tapped his toes lightly on the ground, and his body flew up like a feather, landing right on the stone pillar.
"Chief Mu, since we are playing chess, why don't we see the chessboard and the chess pieces?" Liang Yan asked with a puzzled look on his face.
After hearing this, Mu Chunhua smiled slightly: "My little friend, I don't know, the chessboard and chess pieces are right under our feet."
"oh?"
Liang Yan raised his eyebrows and looked down from above.
I saw that the entire open space was divided into thousands of squares by criss-crossing scratches, and there were about a hundred puppets distributed among these squares.
There are seven puppet colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo, and purple. The puppets of each color are concentrated in an open space.
For example, the blue puppet occupies the open space upstream of the creek, the yellow puppet occupies a high soil slope, and the cyan puppet occupies a green grassland.
"What Mu Lao means is that this open space is the chessboard, and these puppets are the chess pieces?"
"Yes, this is the 'chess of national destruction'!"
"Chess to destroy the country?" Liang Yan's eyes narrowed slightly, with a thoughtful look on his face.
Just listen to Mu Chunhua's voice and continue: "The seven colors of chess pieces represent the seven countries competing in the Central Plains. They are about to start a fight. In the end, only one country can unify the world."
"What Chief Mu means is that we each control a country and then play chess?" Liang Yan asked.
"No! We don't belong to any country. We are the ones behind the scenes."
As Mu Chunhua spoke, he waved his sleeves, and two rays of light shot out from his sleeves and fell outside the chessboard.
Liang Yan looked at it carefully and saw two identical puppets, except that there were two different red letters carved on the chests of the puppets, one of which was "vertical" and the other was "horizontal".
"These two chess pieces represent you and me. We can travel among the seven kingdoms, stir up the wind and clouds, and control the situation vertically and horizontally! Whoever can support one country and eventually destroy the other six countries will be the winner."
