Chapter 42 A Deadly Game in the Mortal Realm, The Game Enters the Middle Stage

Early morning in Zhaoge City was veiled in a lingering light mist, the air filled with the rustic scent of cooking smoke mixed with earth.

Chen Yuan stood within the threshold of his family manor, his small body held perfectly straight.

His clear, dark eyes quietly gazed at the courtyard across the street, which had been completely renovated overnight.

And at the gentle figure standing at the courtyard gate, who felt strangely familiar to him.

Yunxiao's heart skipped a beat the moment her eyes met those pure ones.

She tried her best to suppress the surging emotions deep within her Primordial Spirit, making her smile look more like that of a newly arrived neighbor woman.

Rather than an Upper Clarity Immortal who had lived through endless ages and could sever a river with a single finger.

“You're awake, little one.” Yunxiao's voice was so soft it could almost melt. She lifted the bamboo basket in her hand, which contained a few green vegetables she had just bought from the market.

“My name is Yun. I just moved here with my two younger sisters. We'll be neighbors from now on.”

Chen Yuan was not shy or timid like an ordinary child; he simply tilted his head.

His gaze moved from Yunxiao's face to the two figures flitting past inside the courtyard behind her.

One figure was fiery red, carrying a hint of irrepressible heroism and urgency—that was Bixiao.

The other was slightly timid, peeking out with eyes full of curiosity—that was Qiong Xiao.

The sense of familiarity grew even stronger.

It was as if... a long, long time ago, in a place shrouded in clouds and mist, they had also stood like this, watching him play chess from not far away.

“My name is Chen Yuan,” he spoke, his voice childish yet his tone exceptionally steady. “Your chessboard is new.”

His gaze landed precisely on the brand-new jade chessboard atop the stone table in the courtyard.

Yunxiao's heart jolted.

This child... was actually paying attention to the chessboard?

Just as she was about to answer, a crisp call interrupted her.

“Yuaner, it's time to go to the Primary School!” His mother Princess Yin Rong's voice came from inside the manor.

Chen Yuan withdrew his gaze and gave Yunxiao a slight nod as a greeting.

Then, carrying his small book bag, he walked toward the street corner with steady steps.

Watching that small figure disappear around the corner, Bixiao and Qiong Xiao quickly walked out.

“Big Sister! He... he still remembers chess!” Bixiao's tone was full of excitement.

“It's more than just chess,” Qiong Xiao's eyes reddened again. “The way he looked at us, it was as if... as if he recognized us...”

Yunxiao shook her head gently, her gaze complex.

“It is merely residual instinct. The depth of Revered Master's Seal is beyond our comprehension. Remember, we are Mortals now, his neighbors.”

She looked in the direction Chen Yuan had left and whispered, “The chess game of the Mortal World has only just begun its first moves.”

...

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away.

At the old course of the Yellow River, within the borders of Qingyuan County.

The once vast fertile fields had now become a massive, muddy construction site.

Tens of thousands of ragged laborers, under the supervision of government soldiers, were sweating profusely as they dug a massive diversion channel capable of swallowing an entire river.

The Great Shang General Chen Lie, clad in armor splattered with mud, stood atop a high slope with a face as somber as still water.

The map in his hand had come from Chen Yuan's own hand. According to the plan, in only ten more days...

This brand-new river channel could be completed. At that time, the old dikes could be breached to divert the Yellow River, and the crisis at Zhaoge would be resolved.

However, as the chess game reached mid-game, the most treacherous killing move arrived silently.

“General Chen! General Chen! Something is wrong!” A captain rushed up the high slope, scrambling on all fours, his voice carrying a sob.

“The Qian Family... the Qian Family of Qingyuan County has brought over a thousand servants and thugs to surround our downstream construction site!”

Chen Lie's brows furrowed as he grabbed the captain: “Surrounded? Do they intend to rebel?!”

“They... they say the channel we're digging has severed the Dragon Vein of their ancestral graves, that it's a scheme to end their lineage! They're inciting the commoners now, saying we are treacherous officials bringing calamity to the nation and the people!”

The captain said with a mournful face, “The brothers got into a conflict with them, and... dozens were injured!”

“A bunch of fools!” Chen Lie cursed, his gaze instantly turning icy cold.

“This General carries the King’s mandate and has the authority to execute first and report later! Pass my command: assemble the personal guard camp. Anyone who dares to obstruct the water works shall be treated as a traitor and executed on the spot!”

“General, you mustn't!” A steady and experienced lieutenant general beside him quickly held him back.

“Those are the servants of the local gentry, and they have the commoners behind them.”

“If we start a massacre, even if the water works succeed, once we return to the imperial court, people like Vice-Chancellor Fei Lian will surely impeach you for slaughtering the innocent. At that time, even the King won't be able to protect you!”

Chen Lie's chest heaved violently, his teeth grinding together.

He was a sharp sword of the battlefield, accustomed to slaying enemies, but he was not skilled at dealing with such intricate and sinister schemes.

Just as his anger was reaching its peak, another piece of bad news arrived.

A logistics officer in charge of supplies ran over with a face like ash and fell to his knees with a thud.

“General... the grain... the grain has been cut off!”

“What?!” Chen Lie felt as if he had been struck by lightning and hauled the man up.

“Weren't thirty thousand dan of grain just delivered from the county seat yesterday? It's enough to feed the army for half a month!”

“It... it was delivered.”

The logistics officer's voice was shaking uncontrollably.

“But just half an hour ago, the Qian, Li, and Sun families of Qingyuan County... the seven local Great Clans, jointly issued a notice to buy up all the grain on the market at triple the price!”

“Our... our granaries in the county seat have been surrounded by tens of thousands of commoners. They are holding money and demanding to buy grain; we... we simply cannot stop them!”

“And... and they've also spread word that our military grain was extorted from the people's hard-earned wealth, and that anyone who sells grain to us is an enemy of the entire Qingyuan County!”

Boom!

Chen Lie's head buzzed, his mind going blank.

How ruthless! What a poisonous plot!

The violent obstruction was merely a feint; cutting off the supplies from the root was the true killing blow!

The daily grain consumption of tens of thousands of laborers was an astronomical figure. Once the grain was cut off...

Without those thugs even having to lift a finger, this water conservancy army would mutiny and scatter on its own!

At that time, if the water works failed, his own execution would be a small matter, but the Yellow River dikes would breach, causing the deaths of countless living beings. He would become the eternal sinner of Great Shang!

He suddenly looked at the map. The diversion route planned by his son happened to pass right through several of the largest and most fertile fields belonging to those seven Great Clans.

So that was it.

This wasn't some dispute over a Dragon Vein at all; it was a naked war of interests!

Vice-Chancellor Fei Lian... these local clans must have his backing in the imperial court!

This was a trap, a dead end aimed at Chen Lie, and even at the entire water conservancy plan!

“Pfft!”

A mouthful of heart's blood could no longer be suppressed and sprayed from Chen Lie's mouth, staining the mud before him red.

This iron-blooded general, who had never retreated a single step on the battlefield, now felt a bone-chilling sense of powerlessness and despair.

He had lost.

“General!” The lieutenant and personal guards were shocked and hurried to support his swaying body.

Chen Lie waved them off, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a flash of determined madness appeared in his eyes.

He tore off a piece of his robe, bit his fingertip, and quickly wrote a few characters on it with blood, then shoved it firmly into the lieutenant's hand.

“Wang Fu! Take ten of the most elite scouts, change into civilian clothes, and at all costs, deliver this blood letter to Zhaoge at top speed! Deliver it to the manor!”

His voice was hoarse, yet it carried an unquestionable command.

“Remember, do not enter the palace, do not go to the Ministry of War—go directly back to the manor! Give it... give it to anyone!”

Wang Fu's eyes filled with tears as he nodded heavily, tucked the still-warm blood letter into his chest, turned, and led his men out like arrows released from a bow.

Chen Lie watched their departing figures and slowly drew the sword from his waist.

The blade was cold, reflecting his pale yet resolute face.

He could still buy them three more days.

...

Three days later, at dusk.

Zhaoge, Chen Manor.

A fast horse galloped down the long street. The rider was covered in blood, and upon reaching the gates of the Chen Manor, he fell from his saddle in exhaustion.

“Urgent report! Eight-hundred-li express from Qingyuan County!”

The rider, Wang Fu, roared with all his might, his voice startling the entire manor.

The steward and servants rushed out in a panic. Seeing Wang Fu's miserable state, they immediately fell into chaos.

“Quick! Go report to the Madam!”

“Something has happened to the General!”

Wang Fu struggled to pull out the blood-soaked cloth from his chest, his eyes full of despair.

He knew that the General having him return to the manor instead of the palace meant they were at their wit's end. But in the vast Chen Manor, the Madam was a woman of the inner chambers; what could she possibly do?

Just as his consciousness was about to fade, a small, warm hand gently rested on the blood letter he was holding out.

Wang Fu looked up with difficulty and met a pair of eyes that were unnervingly calm.

It was the Young Master of the manor, Chen Yuan.

Five-year-old Chen Yuan stood before him, his face showing none of the panic a child should have.

He simply looked at Wang Fu quietly, then used an unquestionable strength to pull the blood letter from Wang Fu's stiff hand.

He unfolded the blood letter and looked at the scrawled, desperate characters written in blood.

“Grain cut, troops in chaos, save us quickly.”

Six brief words, yet they contained a crisis like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

The panic and noise filling the courtyard seemed to have nothing to do with him.

Wang Fu closed his eyes in despair. It was over; the General's last hope had actually fallen into the hands of a five-year-old child.

However, in the next moment, he heard a series of steady footsteps that did not match the boy's age.

He forced his eyes open.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, that tiny five-year-old figure held the blood letter that concerned the lives of tens of thousands.

The blood letter that concerned the fate of the Great Shang nation. He did not cry out, nor did he go to find his mother.

He simply turned around and, step by step, with extraordinary determination, walked toward the new courtyard across from the manor, the one hanging two exquisite lanterns.

Then, he raised his hand.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

He knocked on that door.