With Zou Lin's name revealed, the two scholars finally found their courage.
The panic and unease in their hearts instantly lessened considerably. After all, Great Qing's foremost chess player of old stood right before them. They firmly believed that with Zou Lin here, danger would surely turn to safety.
A chess player's strength was at its peak in the years after learning from childhood and reaching the age of twenty. After thirty, advancing age only became a burden.
Two hundred years ago, there had been a man hailed as the Chess Saint. He entered the ninth rank's Entering the Divine at nine, became invincible under heaven at fourteen, and the chess world had even created a "tenth rank" solely for him—above the first rank.
Though the Azure-Robed Daoist possessed formidable martial strength, in the realm of chess, they did not believe he could be mentioned in the same breath as Zou Lin.
Zou Lin merely waved a hand modestly and said, "I wouldn't dare accept such praise."
He was confident that his chess skill was renowned throughout a kingdom. Though he was no longer at his peak due to age, there were only a few people in Great Qing who could defeat him. He disliked this sort of probing arrangement, this so-called "casting bait."
Yet when his daughter's life and death were involved, he chose to tacitly permit it rather than object.
Zou Lin was not a rigid, old-fashioned man.
In chess, the thing one feared most when playing a stranger was unfamiliar or bizarre new moves.
Thus, having several people take the field first to test the Azure-Robed Daoist's style of play—
Would give him greater certainty of victory.
Feng Long was extraordinarily gifted, and his chess skill had reached the third rank.
The third rank was also called