Dusk Returns to the Ruined Building

Chapter 1120 I Lay the Chessboard for the World

To observe the world is easy! To see the mortal realm is easy! To play the game of life is easy! To orchestrate the grand scheme of the world is easy!

Hidden in the misty air, the wind stirs the leaves, and the sound of the zither gradually fades away.

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, quietly looked at the chessboard in front of her, her expression somewhat forlorn. She was truly inferior to Ji Qing Yun.

Ji Xuanyan in white has figured out where she lost. She can't see herself clearly. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a Ji Xuanyan with a thousand faces. She lives in the eyes of the world, but not in her own eyes!

Bai Yi Ji Xuan Yan had another question: why did Ji Qing Yun always wear a veil?

After contemplating for a long time, the white-clad Ji Xuan Yan slid her hand behind her, and a melody from the zither accompanied by a murmur:

"Could it be that even Ji Qingyun can't see through his current self?"

The white-clad Ji Xuanyan suddenly looked up, waved her hand, and a beam of dark yellow light blocked the person who was about to push the door open.

"This is Hidden Smoke Abode, not Sacred Hidden Feather Garden. Please leave!"

"Yan girl, I've brewed a pot of this year's new tea. What, are you going to turn me away?"

"The person who loves tea has already entered Luowu Ancient City; your tea should be delivered to Yanquan!"

“If she were here, I wouldn’t have delivered it in person. Don’t you want to know why she loves Yunshuiyao’s tea?”

The white-clad Ji Xuanyan frowned. She loved drinking wine from Tianzong Mountain, while the black-clad Ji Xuanyan loved drinking tea from Yunshuiyao. For hundreds of years, their love had never changed, and the white-clad Ji Xuanyan had never thought of understanding the reason behind it.

"I promised everyone that no one is allowed to enter Hidden Smoke Abode!"

"Yan girl, come out and have a drink!"

"I also promised others that I would not step out of Hidden Smoke Abode!"

"Haha... When did the Ji family produce such a capable person? He managed to trap you in this tiny Hidden Smoke Abode. Sigh, look at what I'm saying. I'm getting old and often get confused. Hidden Smoke Abode is not small. How could Hidden Smoke Abode be small? This place is where the entire world is laid out!"

"Senior, you're joking. Please leave!"

"Hey, when did we become so distant? Uncle An, now you're my senior? What's wrong, Uncle An? Did I do something to hurt your feelings?"

Upon hearing this, Baiyi Ji Xuanyan shook her head.

"Uncle An, I'm being held captive. You should stay as far away from me as possible!"

"I've actually wanted to come see you for a long time, but I can't understand why you'd willingly stay in Hidden Smoke Residence. Sigh, is it for the young master's sake?"

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, knew that the young master this person was referring to was Shen Yi Chen, because Uncle An was the master of Yun Shui Yao and the head of the Ji family's lineage!

"Uncle An, you should go back. I can't say anything, I can't help you with anything, and you can't help me either. You don't need to say anything to me!"

"Hmph... It's really tiring talking to a bunch of cunning kids like you. I just wanted you to come out and have a sip of Yunshuiyao's new tea, to savor its flavor. You don't need to come out, and I won't go in either. Uncle and niece can have a cup of tea at the door; no one will bother you!"

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, was slightly taken aback. She turned her head to look at the chessboard, then got up and slowly walked out of the pavilion, arriving at the fence of Yin Yan Residence.

Under the warm sun and in the gentle breeze, a sprightly old man stood outside the fence, holding a tea set.

"Niece Ji Xuanyan greets Uncle An!"

Baiyi Ji Xuanyan still needs to observe basic etiquette.

"You're much better than Xiao Liu. Xiao Liu never smiles at me!"

Upon hearing this, Baiyi Ji Xuanyan shuddered. This tea was indeed awful!

"Uncle An, I don't like tea!"

"Try it. This is Yunshuiyao's second batch of new tea this year. The first batch was sent to the Demon Extermination Hall, where they only deserved to drink new tea with the dust of the past year. This second batch of tea is the freshest and most vibrant!"

A cup of tea was handed in from outside the fence, steaming hot and fragrant.

The white-clad Ji Xuan Yan took a gentle sniff!

"Uncle An, this tea smells so good!"

"Hmph, Yan'er, Uncle An has never lied to you!"

The white-clad Ji Xuanyan drank it all in one gulp, the fragrance filling her lungs, giving her a feeling of vitality.

Bai Yi Ji Xuan Yan was stunned, and after a long while, she murmured:

"No wonder she loves Yunshuiyao's tea so much!"

"Haha... One day, when she drinks the wine from Tianzong Mountain, she will have the same feeling: You two, sigh, you are clearly one person, but one of you is in the water and the other is on the shore. You see her as fake, and she sees you as fake. In the end, you yourselves will not know what is real!"

The people outside the fence left, but they left the tea on the fence.

"Uncle An, you, you..."

"I missed you, so I came to visit. Since you're at ease handing over the Demon Extermination Hall to a young man, I'm at ease too!"

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, shook her head, picked up her tea, and went into the pavilion.

"When did you get here?"

Inside the pavilion, Ji Qingyun was sitting in front of the guqin at some point.

"Senior, you've never heard me play the zither before! Today, I'll play a piece for you!"

"Hmph, if you don't trust me that much, you should imprison me. I can't stop outsiders from coming to Hidden Smoke Abode, and there are some people I shouldn't be stopping!"

Ji Qingyun acted as if she hadn't heard him and continued playing the guqin.

The more Baiyi Ji Xuan Yan listened, the more her brows furrowed!

"Yun Shuiyao's 'Sacrificial Music to the Immortals,' what are you, Ji Qingyun, going to do?"

"Senior, you're overthinking it. I grew up in Yunshuiyao, and this is the song I hear most often!"

Ji Qingyun slowly got up and sat down on the other side of the chessboard.

The white-clad Ji Xuan Yan frowned deeply, placed the tea behind her, and sat down at the other end of the chessboard, in her original spot.

"Don't come to Hidden Smoke Residence anymore. I want to stay here quietly, like her!"

Ji Qingyun ignored him and placed a chess piece directly at the Heart of Heaven and Earth!

"Senior, how did the woman who married into the Ji family in Luowu Ancient City die back then?"

"Haha... You should ask Yun Shuiyao's people. Coming to me is just a joke, isn't it?"

The white-clad Ji Xuan Yan also played chess, but this time, she actually placed her piece on the Heart of Heaven and Earth, right on top of the black pieces!

Ji Qingyun was still playing chess.

“I’ve been to the seventeenth floor of Fengling Tower, but there’s no record of this incident there at all. That shouldn’t be the case. The daughter of the Lord of Luowu Ancient City died, which is a major event for the Ji family. How could it not be recorded in Fengling Tower? After thinking about it, there’s only one possibility: Yongqing Prefecture handled this matter directly, right?”

"This is a matter concerning the Ji family's royal family. You shouldn't ask me. Even if you do, I won't know. If you really want to know, go after Ji Nian'an. He might tell you!"

"It seems that the Demon Slayer Hall is handling this matter!"

Baiyi Ji Xuanyan did not respond.

Inside the Hidden Smoke Residence, Ji Xuanyan, dressed in white, and Ji Qingyun played a very strange game of chess. The black and white pieces were stacked on top of each other, and finally, a single character appeared on the chessboard:

kill!

It was a situation where black and white were overlapping!

"Ji Qingyun, are you going to kill someone?"

"Senior, if one's heart is inclined towards good, one's actions must be evil; if one's heart harbors evil thoughts, one's actions must be virtuous. Yin and Yang are the essence of the heart. Senior, are you eager to know why Yi Chen did not die from the strongest arrow of the Returning Heart Arrow?"

Bai Yi Ji Xuan Yan was taken aback upon hearing this!

"Don't you know?"

"Hmph, of course. From the beginning of the universe, two forms were born, and between Yin and Yang there is a gap. Haha... I have laid out a killing move for this world. Haha...!"

Ji Qingyun laughed loudly as he left Hidden Smoke Residence!

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, was stunned. She stared silently at the "kill" symbol on the chessboard, a double "kill" symbol with black and white pieces overlapping!

After a long while, Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, looked horrified and exclaimed:

"Could it be that Brother Chen is a pawn to kill? Is he a pawn intended to kill the enemy, or a pawn to be killed?"

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, looked at the two "kill" characters, one black and one white. With a wave of her hand, the chess pieces scattered and fell.

"Ji Qingyun, are you insane?!"

Ji Xuan Yan, dressed in white, walked out of the pavilion. She was about to leave Yin Yan Residence, but she stopped at the door.

Ji Xuanyan, dressed in white, shook her head and walked into the pavilion step by step.

Soon, a melody of "Sacrificial Music to the Immortals" drifted from inside the pavilion. This was a gift from Ji Qingyun to Shen Yichen.

Ji Qingyun came here to convey only one meaning to Ji Xuanyan in white:

The strongest arrow of the Returning Heart Arrow ignited the killing intent within Shen Yichen, and all of this was caused by her—or rather, by the black-clad Ji Xuanyan.