Elsewhere, in Dan Prefecture.
At noon, a white stone chess table stood in a bamboo grove behind Danyang Academy.
Dressed in Confucian robes, Mu Yunling sat to the right of the chess table. Broad-shouldered and powerfully built, he nonetheless had a decidedly scholarly air, looking like a middle-aged martial artist in his forties or fifties.
Across the table, Pill King Zhao Xiao wore a python robe. Though imposing himself, he was still a size smaller than Mu Yunling. After considerable deliberation, he placed a piece:
"The Hidden Immortal Sect has produced such an outstanding disciple, yet you haven't heard a thing about him, Mister Mu?"
Only a few years younger than Lu Wuzhen and the others, Mu Yunling was already eighty-four. He had studied under Ye Ci, the Dual Saints of the Book and Sword, and was a fellow disciple of Fan Li, the Chancellor of the Imperial College. He had inherited the "sword," however, while Fan Li had inherited the "book."
As Confucianism's top enforcer, Mu Yunling should have been stationed in the Capital City. Only after the Pill King received his fief in Danyang had he been transferred to the Academy, both to protect the Pill King and to serve as a "supervisor."
To prevent court officials from gossiping and branding them "Mu Yunling and the Pill King, two villains in league," the Pill King rarely interacted with Mu Yunling. Today, he had come to discuss a few minor matters.
"I'm not acquainted with those people from the Hidden Immortal Sect, but I did ask an elder the day before yesterday. The elder replied, 'Everything has its cause and consequence.'"
The Pill King looked somewhat puzzled:
"What does that mean?"
"Taken literally, it means the 'cause' of Xie Jinhuan leaving the mountains was planted in the past. But