97: Please ask Lu Hao to take action?

"You, I told you long ago that if you encounter a crisis, that wooden carving can help you get through it. How could you forget? It's a pity about Elder Lin. If he were still alive, I would definitely share a drink with him."

In his heart, Lu Hao held the utmost respect for those who fought selflessly, driven only by their inner ideals.

Before his Transmigration, their happy lives were built by such people.

This emotion was deeply rooted in the deepest part of his heart.

"Sigh, Brother Lu, please don't mock me. I, too, am incredibly regretful."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. This time, we brought half of our harvest. Brother Lu, please do not think it beneath you."

"Oh right, Senior Lu, this is a small gift from our Sect. Thank you for the Puppet that helped us survive our Sect's annihilation crisis. Please do not think it beneath you."

At this moment, the trace of irritation in their hearts had vanished without a trace.

Now, they began to worry whether Lu Hao would even look at this junk of theirs...

The leaves of the Enlightenment Ancient Tree were far more precious than this junk.

Little did they know, Lu Hao was currently in need of these conventional Cultivate resources.

"Not at all, not at all. Brother Rong, since it is your kind intention, I will respectfully accept. Come, come, these are the leaves of the Enlightenment Ancient Tree. Don't be polite, one jin per person!"

Lu Hao smiled and accepted the hundreds of Storage Pouches, then casually grabbed a large handful of tea leaves and distributed them to everyone.

Everyone took the tea leaves one by one, their hands holding the leaves trembling uncontrollably.

Their excited hearts were already in their throats.

Worth it, it was truly so worth it!

They had actually exchanged a pile of junk for so many Dao treasures from Lu Hao!

At this moment, the group no longer had any doubts about Rong Yuanliang's previous decision.

Who said the Sect Master's decision was bad? This decision was simply perfect!

Everyone gradually calmed down and began to chat together.

"Brother Lu, how about a game of chess?"

Rong Yuanliang proposed first.

Lu Hao had no objections, casually took out a chess set, and prepared to start the game.

Rong Yuanliang waved his hands repeatedly.

"No, no, no. I don't want to play one-on-one with you; that's purely asking for abuse."

"How about a few of us from the Heaven Sword Sect play against you together?"

"So you want to bully me with numbers, right? No problem. I, the dignified Chess Saint, am not afraid of you bunch of cobblers!"

Lu Hao chuckled and said:

"Come, I'll even let you go first!"

The crowd from the Heaven Sword Sect rubbed their hands together, looking eager to try.

Xiangqi had already become popular within the Heaven Sword Sect, and they were very satisfied with this novel chess game.

Naturally, they had long heard from Rong Yuanliang that Lu Hao compared himself to a Chess Saint.

They had never met, so naturally, they were unconvinced.

Now that they had the opportunity to meet this Chess Saint, everyone's hearts began to stir with excitement.

Seeing the crowd from the Heaven Sword Sect looking so united, Lu Hao couldn't help but laugh inwardly:

"It seems you don't know yet that having many people playing chess isn't necessarily a good thing..."

In the neighborhood where he lived in his previous life, he often saw old men blowing their beards and staring in anger because they disagreed over chess moves.

As soon as the game started, the group from the Heaven Sword Sect was still carefully considering every move.

But as the middle game arrived, the complexity of the game increased sharply.

Disagreements began to arise among them.

"I believe this move should be Chariot 5 advances 4."

"Nonsense! If you play like that, we will definitely lose. In my opinion, Cannon 6 advances 8 is more appropriate!"

"No, no, no, you are both wrong. I think we should push the central pawn. Look, this piece..."

"It should be Chariot 5 advances 4; we can capture the opponent's Cannon, and then move one step to checkmate. What a good move!"

"You short-sighted fool, all you know is capturing the Cannon. You need to consider the overall situation and advance step by step."

"You old thing, who are you calling short-sighted?!!"

"I'm talking about you! Your skill is poor, yet you always love to give bad orders. If you're bad, practice more!"

"Stop arguing, both of you! Listen to me, push the central pawn!"

That person yelled, picked up the chess piece, and moved it.

With a bang, the central pawn pushed forward one step.

Seeing that the opponent had made their move, Lu Hao laughed and said:

"Capture the Chariot!"

"Ah?? Old Seven! You terrible chess player! The Chariot is gone, and you're still pushing the pawn? Push your head!"

Seeing his Chariot captured, Old Seven subconsciously wanted to reach out to take back the move.

"Hey, hey, hey! A gentleman does not regret a move once played."

"Old Seven, it's all your fault. The Chariot is gone, what's the point of playing? You play, I'm not playing this game anymore!"

Hearing this, Old Seven also started to retort:

"Which one of you moved this Chariot just now? You're all blaming me, but are you two any better?"

...

Consequently, the three flushed old men stopped playing and started cursing at each other on the side, neither willing to yield.

Rong Yuanliang stared blankly at these people, his eyes filled with helplessness.

"If I had known it would be like this, I would have been better off playing by myself..."

"Brother Rong, let me give you a piece of advice: a true gentleman does not speak while watching a game. Too many people playing chess will only affect your own train of thought."

Rong Yuanliang laughed and said:

"Brother Lu, I have been taught! I concede this game. Come, let's start another one!"

"Haha, that was your eighty-third consecutive defeat."

...

Everyone was very happy and didn't notice the passage of time at all.

Soon, the time for sunset arrived.

Unsurprisingly, Rong Yuanliang suffered another nine consecutive defeats from Lu Hao, bringing his total record to ninety-two consecutive defeats.

Rong Yuanliang suddenly remembered that there was another matter for coming here; he had almost forgotten it while playing.

"Brother Lu, to tell you the truth, we have another uninvited request for coming here this time. We would like to ask you to step in and help us."

"In return, we will give you the remaining half of the resources later."

After speaking, he gritted his teeth hard and added:

"And a Dao Grade Legacy, we will also give it to Brother Lu."

Rong Yuanliang originally thought that the half of the resources he sent at the beginning should be enough to ask Lu Hao to help once.

However, Lu Hao took out such treasures as the Enlightenment tea leaves as soon as they met, which left Rong Yuanliang with no face to ask.

But this matter was very important and could possibly affect the entire Sect, so he had to thicken his face and ask for help.

After thinking about it, Rong Yuanliang still felt embarrassed, so he gritted his teeth and took out the Dao Grade Legacy as well.

Although he felt that Lu Hao might not necessarily lack this Legacy, he took out the most precious item of the entire Heaven Sword Sect.

It could be considered as showing his attitude.

He was also forced by helplessness; otherwise, in his heart, he really did not want to trouble Lu Hao again.

Since they met, it had always been him troubling Lu Hao, while on the contrary, he had never been able to help Lu Hao with anything.

But in this Northern Wasteland, if Lu Hao could not solve this matter, then no one could help!