Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171: He Did Not Seek Victory; Capturing One Stone Was Success!
After seeing Chang Ningxiao off, Cheng Yu had just been about to make arrangements for his transfer to the Great Qian Capital when he suddenly heard an extremely excited voice from outside the door.
“Miraculous! Little Friend Cheng, you are truly miraculous. This old man is thoroughly convinced!”
Cheng Yu looked over.
He saw Ma Minnong walking over with incomparable joy written across his face, a bundle of painting scrolls tucked under his arm.
His entire person was brimming with excitement, without the slightest trace of the steady elder he had been before.
Although Cheng Yu had won the wager between them, and Ma Minnong not only had to follow Cheng Yu and become a member of the Jinyiwei, but also had to hand over a treasure, Divine Physician Ma was still so excited that words could hardly describe it.
Even Cheng Yu was somewhat puzzled. Why was the other party so excited?
“Divine Physician Ma, did something good happen? To make a figure like you this excited?”
Ma Minnong walked up to Cheng Yu, bowed deeply, and revealed a smile of pure sincerity.
“This old man thanks Lord Cheng on behalf of all the people of Jiannan Circuit, and even Jiangnan!”
The reason he was so happy was precisely because the Jinyiwei had exterminated Prince Qing’s Remnants.
Ma Minnong unfurled the painting scroll he had brought.
It was clearly a scene of a blood-red, demonic flood dragon slaughtering all life and bringing destruction to the world.
Cheng Yu was somewhat surprised when he looked at it.
That was because, on one side of the scroll, he saw a group of people cutting their own throats in sacrifice.
The terrifying flood dragon in the painting had also flown out from that very place.
This scene was truly familiar.
Was this not exactly the same as when Xiao Teng, the leader of Prince Qing’s Remnants, slaughtered his own clansmen, gathered Dragon Blood, and transformed it into a blood-colored flood dragon?
Ma Minnong explained, “This is an ancestral painting scroll in this old man’s collection. It depicts the scene of an ancient Blood Demon Flood Dragon emerging and bringing disaster to a region!”
“After checking ancient books and scattered historical records, I found that the ancient Blood Demon Flood Dragon needed to parasitize martial artists with Dragon Blood and absorb their power, using that to wreak havoc upon the world.”
“If it had grown into a true calamity, the harm would have been boundless! I never expected that by insisting on exterminating Prince Qing’s Remnants, Little Friend Cheng would actually eliminate such a disaster in advance!”
An ancient Blood Demon Flood Dragon?
Cheng Yu frowned. Any demonic creature recorded in history as having wreaked havoc upon the world was surely something even a Grandmaster would have found difficult to handle.
He had not expected that Prince Qing’s Lineage’s inheritance had actually originated from such a thing.
Ma Minnong continued, “This creature is extremely sinister and strange. It parasitizes martial artists with Dragon Blood, making them agitated, irritable, and prone to madness, all so the flood dragon can use this to revive itself.”
Cheng Yu nodded.
Back then, after Prince Qing obtained the inheritance and entered the Grandmaster realm, he had dared to assassinate the Great Qian Emperor and usurp the throne with that mere power.
After that, every generation of Prince Qing’s descendants had gone mad, insisting on rebellion.
Then came Xiao Qian stabbing her father in the back, and Xiao Teng slaughtering his clansmen.
It was difficult to say that there had been no problem with these people’s mental states. Clearly, it had been the effect of that seemingly powerful Dragon Blood.
“That Dragon Blood was absorbed by the Demon-Slaying Sword, so there should not be any problem.”
In the end, all the Dragon Blood had come to Cheng Yu.
It had transformed into pure Dragon Intent within his Sword Intent, and with the power of the Demon-Slaying Sword suppressing it, nothing should go wrong.
As for the inheritance within that Dragon Scale, it was obvious that some powerful expert had suppressed the Blood Demon Flood Dragon and other such things, only for Prince Qing and the others to seize it as an inheritance.
Now, all of it had fallen into Cheng Yu’s hands.
Ma Minnong felt a lingering fear. “If it had been left alone until the Blood Demon Flood Dragon matured enough to emerge on its own, then things would truly have become troublesome!”
Great Qian was no longer in its golden age. Back then, internal and external troubles had not been so serious, and if a calamity appeared, everyone could still work together to resolve it.
But now, if a demon that even Grandmasters could hardly defeat appeared, the harm it caused would be far greater than imagined.
“Others do not know how terrifying these things are, but this old man is now utterly convinced by Little Friend Cheng!”
“Little Friend, you are a true hero. You saved the people from fire and flood. That far surpasses the decades this old man spent practicing medicine and treating illnesses!”
Cheng Yu smiled and shook his head. “Divine Physician Ma, you overpraise me. This was merely my duty as a member of the Jinyiwei.”
Seeing that he did not take pride in his achievement, Ma Minnong admired Cheng Yu even more. He was the complete opposite of those people of the Jianghu who only knew how to pay lip service.
Ma Minnong continued, “Since you won the wager, Little Friend, this old man will naturally accept defeat. From now on, I can only call you Lord Cheng!”
He had already admired Cheng Yu before. After this matter, his thoughts became even firmer.
So what if those fellows laughed at him and called him an Imperial Hound for following someone like Cheng Yu?
“In addition, this item should finally be handed over to its Fated Person.”
“What item?”
Under Cheng Yu’s puzzled gaze, Ma Minnong opened his palm, and a pattern shaped like a chessboard appeared.
The next moment, an incomparably profound and mysterious aura erupted. The pattern in Ma Minnong’s hand grew brighter and brighter.
A simple and ancient chessboard with a mysterious aura appeared.
Cheng Yu stared at it with a frown, only feeling that this object was extraordinarily remarkable.
The feeling it gave him was even more extraordinary than the Dragon-Dethroning Xiuchun Saber at his waist, which had already reached the High-Grade Heaven-Rank.
The next moment, a beam of light shot straight toward Cheng Yu. The scene before his eyes changed, as though he had entered another world.
Ma Minnong was not surprised when he saw this scene. He gritted his teeth, a trace of yearning appearing on his face.
“With how extraordinary Lord Cheng is, he will surely gain this item’s recognition!”
On the other side, Cheng Yu’s consciousness had already entered another space.
It was filled with soft light, giving him an incomparably comfortable feeling. After that, a stretch of grassland appeared.
However, Cheng Yu was extremely tense.
This scene had already gone beyond his control!
He could not treat such a situation casually, so he hurriedly circulated the Demon-Slaying Dao Canon and the Taiji Profound Origin Body-Protecting Art.
A reassuring, miraculous power emerged.
Yin and yang revolved in Cheng Yu’s eyes. A phantom slowly appeared, carrying a faint look of curiosity.
“Hm?”
The phantom looked for a short while, then vanished at once.
How boring!
Cheng Yu felt much more at ease. There was no danger here!
He began to examine his surroundings and sensed a faint, almost imperceptible aura suppressing him.
Even the Dragon Abyss Sword on the Supreme Weapon Ranking Under Heaven had not given him this much pressure back then.
At this moment, Cheng Yu finally thought of the chessboard’s identity.
It was the Heaven-Reckoning Disk, ranked among the very top of the Supreme Weapon Ranking Under Heaven, the Sect-Guarding Treasure of Taiyi Sect.
He knew Ma Minnong had some connection with Dan Qingzi.
However, he had never expected that Ma Minnong had even managed to get his hands on another sect’s Sect-Guarding Treasure, and that he seemingly intended to give it to Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu did not think further. Instead, he looked toward the grassland before him.
A chessboard slowly appeared.
Then, a translucent figure with an ethereal bearing but an indistinct face appeared with game pieces in hand, nodding and beckoning to Cheng Yu.
“Would you like to play a game?”
Cheng Yu frowned and sat down before the chessboard. There was no other choice but to play.
The translucent figure nodded, but it did not begin the match. Instead, it started writing words with its hand.
Line after line, they were all clearly the rules of the game.
Cheng Yu raised his brows and grumbled inwardly, So many rules.
He did not read those rules carefully.
That was because he had only learned a little about chess, and his skill was extremely weak.
There was a very high chance that he would lose, so reading them would be pointless.
Seeing that Cheng Yu was not reading the rules, the translucent figure shook its head slightly and helped Cheng Yu place his piece on the opposite star point.
Then it gestured for Cheng Yu to take the white stones and move first.
Cheng Yu did not seek victory. Ignoring everything else, he casually began chasing down the other party’s black stones.
He did not need to win. Capturing one stone would count as success!
The phantom had its own strategy and layout, but when faced with Cheng Yu’s frenzied, chase-to-the-death style of play, one of its stones really was captured.
A faint smile appeared on Cheng Yu’s face. He picked up that black stone and placed it on the table, just as he was about to continue.
Suddenly, he saw the translucent phantom freeze on the spot.
The next moment, it actually raised its hand and pointed at the black stone Cheng Yu had tossed onto the table.
Violation!
Cheng Yu’s eyes widened. He was practically handing the other party the win, and it still wanted to play like this?
His hand moved directly toward the Dragon-Dethroning Xiuchun Saber.