Lanke Chess Edge

Chapter 379: Noise and Chaos

Since the local Land God mistook Ji Yuan for an ordinary passerby, Ji Yuan didn’t expose himself. He strolled leisurely along the riverbank, like a refined scholar appreciating the scenery, though he still continued to keep an eye on the Land God’s movements in his peripheral vision.Based on the fact that this Land God had a more hunched form and was shorter than the average old man, although he had a human appearance, he was probably not the kind of land god who had been a mortal in life, and then became a deity after death.

There were often several types of spirits and monsters that could be counted among the supernatural creatures aligned with the land, and their forms tended towards this same shape. As far as Ji Yuan was aware, around 30% of land gods had cultivated themselves from these kinds of spirits and monsters.

The local Land God in front of Ji Yuan was completely absorbed in his own world, unaware that he was being followed by someone whose cultivation level far surpassed his own.

As they walked along the riverbank, Ji Yuan began to see stains of ink flowing in the water. The Land God used his long cane to poke the water, creating a stream. He then grabbed the flowing ink, examined it closely, smelled it, and even put some in his mouth to taste it.

“Wait a minute, there’s no scent anymore. Could it be something else? Did I look in the wrong place again?”

The Land God tossed his handful of water back into the river, then hesitated for a moment before continuing to walk upstream.

It was obvious that he was looking for something, which piqued Ji Yuan’s curiosity. He wondered it it was possible that this Land God’s target was the same as his. If they were indeed looking for the same thing, Ji Yuan wouldn’t be in such a hurry to find those characters; he would have to see what was making the Land God search so intently.

Although this Land God was short in stature, he was surprisingly fast. He was the Land God, after all, a deity connected to the earth’s veins, and as such he could move very quickly over the land under his jurisdiction.

Occasionally, he would disappear directly into the ground, then reappear in the distance, looking around curiously. If Ji Yuan weren’t also a skilled individual, any other ordinary person would definitely have lost track of him.

About 15 minutes later, the Land God had circled around a very large area, inspecting many paces along the way, before he arrived at a large workshop built by the water.

Here, the scent of ink in the air grew much stronger, and the river water beside the workshop would occasionally turn almost black, clearly indicating that this was a workshop producing “Yuan ink.”1

Yuan ink was the signature treasure of Moyuan County in the country of Tingliang. Ji Yuan knew that a genuine piece of “Yuan ink” could fetch a high price in Dazhen, and scholars and literati flocked to own it. Not everyone could buy it.

This was mainly because, although Dazhen and Tingliang shared a border, they were separated by the continuous Tingqiu Mountain Range. The Tingqiu Mountain Range was not only treacherous and rugged, but was also full of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, making passage extremely difficult. It was be safer to travel from Dazhen to Tingliang through the country of Zuyue.

Although the diplomatic relations between Dazhen and Tingliang were good, trade was so difficult that “Yuan ink” was extremely scarce. Within Dazhen, it had become priceless. A piece of high-quality Yuan Ink was comparable to its same weight in silver, making it a first-class luxury item for scholars.

Of course, the exquisite and beautiful wood carvings and lacquerware tribute items from Ning’an County, Dazhen, were also extremely valuable in other countries, and the older the item, the more sought after it was.

For example, the yellow chrysanthemum wood brush stand that Ji Yuan owned was made by an old craftsman from Ning’an County. It cost more than two hundred coins at the time of purchase, but now, a brush holder like that at twenty years old would fetch an astronomical price even in places like the countries of Tingliang and Tianbao.

These thoughts only momentarily flashed by Ji Yuan’s mind. His main focus was on seeing the place where ink sticks were produced. As someone who enjoyed painting and writing, wielding a brush and ink, he couldn’t help but feel a little tempted.

‘Since I’ve come to Moyuan County, if it’s suitable, I should get a few pieces of Yuan Ink to use.’

Similarly to the desk ornaments of Ning’an County, the ink of Moyuan County was a meticulously crafted item. The superior quality products were infused with the spirit and energy of the maker, and contained a kind of devout spirit within them, or so Ji Yuan believed.

Such items, if they were to fall in Ji Yuan’s hands, he would immediately recognize their value, and might even be able to bring out a special kind of miraculous effect when using them.

The workshop hummed with constant noise, clearly engaged in the production of ink sticks and ink ingots. The Land God slowed down once he arrived.

The workshop consisted of about a dozen rooms of varying sizes, with a large open space in front and behind the building. The ink makers were busy moving raw materials and changing tools, bustling about the workshop.

The Land God didn’t enter the crowded areas. Instead, he wandered around the workshop a few times, before arriving at a very large room. He stared intently at the door for a long time.

“Hehe, it seems like we’ll make some progress today.”

Reaching out, he swiped a drop of ink from the door, brought it to his nose, and sniffed it. A smile appeared on the Land God’s face.

Ji Yuan had already arrived nearby, but was still only observing from a distance.

With his extraordinary hearing, Ji Yuan knew that the large room that the Land God stood in front of was actually empty. There were several similar large rooms, with no one inside.

The roof of this side building was particularly thick, with many thick straw mats and wooden planks on the outside. Even the door was covered with two old cotton quilts, giving the impression that this room was very “warm.”2

The Land God looked around, as if by habit, then tapped his cane on the ground twice, and his figure turned into a wisp of green smoke that disappeared underground. Ji Yuan suspected that he hadn’t left, but instead had gone inside.

Since that was the case, Ji Yuan simply leapt over the wall around the perimeter of the workshop and approached the outside of the room, but did not enter immediately. Instead, he listened from the outside, his supernatural eyes wide open.

Before he could hear anything, two workers carried a wooden box covered with a cloth toward him. A pleasant scent of ink wafted from the box. This was clearly fresh ink, of high quality.

“Go open the door, I’ll hold it.”

“Alright!”

One of the workers ran to the door, lifted the quilt, opened the latch, and then pushed open the heavy door with a creaking sound.

As soon as the door opened, an even stronger scent of ink drifted out from inside the room.

“Come on, hurry up, hang them up to dry, put them on the top-grade rack.”

Apart from a little light coming from the doorway, the interior was very dark, with only two small windows letting in a bit of light through their paper windows. The two workers practically felt their way along the walls as they hurried into the deepest part of the room.

Then, little by little, they removed the ink sticks and ink ingots from the wooden box and placed them on the shelf. Clearly, this was a room specifically used for drying ink.

After the ink was formed, it needed to be dried, which required extremely strict temperature control, with absolutely no direct sunlight. In addition to the high-quality materials, it was precisely this meticulous attention to detail in each step that made Yuan Ink so rare.

“Huh? Why are so many missing?”

“Yeah! This room’s top-quality section used to have at least two hundred top-grade ink sticks drying, so why does it seem like almost half are missing? Did one of the owner’s people come to collect them?”

One of the workers was puzzled, and even a little panicked. If they had been lost, it would be a huge loss, and the boss would definitely be furious.

“This… I… I don’t know either. But the ink here isn’t completely dry yet. Even when it is dry, we still still need to scrape the edges clean, wash it, and add gold gilding!”

“Oh no! I heard that many ink workshops in the county have been robbed recently. The thieves only stole the best ink sticks. Could it be that we’ve been robbed too?”

“Huh? Ah! But we were just here half an hour ago, and there were quite a few people here then. There were so many people in the ink workshop, but we didn’t see anyone come in. Besides, aren’t there martial arts masters guarding the shop?”

“We can’t make this conclusion ourselves, let’s go and inform the owner!”

“Let’s go, let’s go…”

The two ink makers hurriedly left the room with trepidation and ran towards the building in front of the ink workshop. As they left, the figure of the Land God rose from the floor of the room.

The land God, gripping his cane, raised his head and surveyed his surroundings with his hunched figure.

“Hmph! You petty thieves lingering here, you must be some kind of little monsters, stealing these ink sticks. Show yourselves and surrender to this Land God! If you can give me a proper explanation, I will be lenient with you!”

The Land God called out, but there was no response. He sneered and lightly slammed his cane on the ground.

The sound echoed throughout the room, accompanied by a faint flash of yellow light.

Suddenly, even Ji Yuan outside felt that the whole room had become much “heavier.” In his supernatural sight, the house was covered with a light layer of earthy yellow light, seemingly as solid as the earth itself.

The Land God’s questioning echoed inside the room, but no other sounds came. Even though the Land God didn’t sense anything unusual, based on the words of the two ink makers earlier, he was certain that something was wrong.

“You little thieves, if you don’t come out now, this Land God will burn this side building down! Let’s see if you can withstand being burned alive!”

These words had an immediate and remarkable effect; a cacophony of noises and shrill curses erupted from every corner of the room, with sharp, angry curses even directed at the Land God.

“You little old man, if you dare to do this, our master will beat you to death and your soul will be scattered to the winds!”

“That’s right, you old codger, you’re just a nobody, we… we’re not afraid of you!”

“Yeah, we’re not scared!”

“We’re not scared, we’re not scared!”

“Yes, yes, we’re not afraid!”

“Let us out quickly.”

“Let us out, and we won’t complain to our master!”

“But where is our master?”

“Master went north!”

“No, he went west!”

“No, he went north!”

3

In an instant, the room became a chaotic mess of noise and commotion…

The Land God looked surprised. He thought there were only one or at most two spirits, but it seemed there was a large group.

“Hmph! I don’t know who your master is, nor do I know if you’re truly unafraid of me. But it seems you’re afraid of fire. If you don’t surrender now, I’ll burn you all!”

The Land God snorted coldly and slammed his cane on the ground twice more, causing the room to shake violently as if an earthquake had struck. Ink sticks on the shelf fell to the ground and then disappeared into the floor.

The Earth God knew very well that the room itself was worthless; what was valuable were the ink sticks. As long as the ink sticks remained, even if the room burned down, the ink shop owner wouldn’t suffer much of a loss.

“If you don’t come out soon, I’m going to take action.”

A flame appeared on the Land God’s cane, instantly silencing the chattering noise inside. Then it quickly escalated into a cacophony of noise, with shouts, curses, and discussions filling the air, making it more chaotic than a vegetable market.

源 (yuán): root/source/origin. Decided to leave it in the pinyin since it was a name, but this is a very grandiose name i.e. insulated Ruckus of voices talking