Placing a Piece on the Board

Judging by the hairy legs beneath the war chariot, there were two additional rows totaling thirty-two hairy legs. It seemed Tianyu's status had been rising steadily, and recently at an exceptionally rapid pace. After a cumbersome series of procedures and ceremonies, Tianyu finally stepped down from the chariot, taking the opportunity to show off the new ornaments inlaid all over his body. His current aura was extraordinarily formidable, causing both the surrounding Great Shamans and the welcoming human Dharma Idol cultivators to shiver involuntarily. For no other reason than that this fellow had embedded three spiritual treasures into his body as ornaments. Fortunately, they were merely unactivated spiritual treasures. The gazes of otherworldly abominations lingered nearby, but made no further move. Among the humans, an inconspicuous cultivator at the early Dao Foundation realm suddenly spoke up: "These things hardly suit your stature, do they?" Tianyu froze as though struck by lightning. His eyes widened, and he dashed over, grabbing the little Dao Foundation cultivator's hands and exclaiming excitedly, "How did you know? How could you know?! Three spiritual treasures are the limit of this place, but they are definitely not the limit of me, Tianyu! Showing only three spiritual treasures every time, who knows how many more trips I'll have to make... Wait, you're Wei Yuan?!" The little Dao Foundation cultivator looked at Tianyu with a smile, his vision blurring slightly. After all, this body was frail; shaken a few times by Tianyu's excitement, it was already on the verge of falling apart. Tianyu looked the Dao Foundation cultivator up and down, then asked, "Are you really this cautious and afraid of dying? You couldn't even bear to use a higher-grade avatar? Did you think I'd harm you?" "You wouldn't, but other Shamans are another story. If a Heavenly Shaman issued a direct order, no Shaman would refuse." "I would..." Tianyu's voice grew smaller and smaller. Wei Yuan chuckled and said, "All right, don't boast. Why did you suddenly come over? There's a war going on right now!" Tianyu's eyes widened. "War is war, and business is business. Just because there's a war doesn't mean we stop doing business! Let them fight however they like over there; between the two of us, the songs go on and the dance continues! Look at what I brought this time." Wei Yuan glanced at the nearest freight wagon and was completely astonished—it was loaded entirely with grayish-white ore! This was the raw material for manufacturing gunpowder! Wei Yuan had already learned that this ore was extremely common among the Shamans; in many remote regions, they used it simply to build houses and stack courtyard walls. But in Qingming, after several processing steps, soaking spiritual wood fibers in the resulting solution, and finally treating it with spiritual power in an array before drying, it became the most fundamental and core component of gunpowder. Wei Yuan naturally would not refuse such a trade. Even though a small gray stone vein had already been discovered around Qingming, and several transactions had accumulated over a hundred million jin of gray stone, with strategic materials, the more the better. "What do you want this time?" "The usual. Strong liquor—as much as you have. Fine armor, fine statues, fine sabers and swords, loom-woven brocade, cotton cloth..." In short, Tianyu wanted almost everything Qingming produced, only with the word "fine" prepended to many of the items. Trade with the Shamans had been conducted many times, and both sides were thoroughly familiar with the procedures. Many of Qingming's goods were already stored in the warehouses of Ding'an City. Moments later, samples were hauled over. Without a second thought, Tianyu lifted a cask of liquor directly from a wagon, chugged down more than half of it in one breath, exhaled, and praised, "Why is your liquor so strong, and every time the taste is exactly the same? It's simply incredible!" Wei Yuan chuckled. "It doesn't hurt to tell you the secret recipe. I have a group of Dao Foundation cultivators in charge of purifying the liquor. The method is still distillation, but the entire process is controlled through their Dao arts. That's why the resulting liquor is stronger and of uniform quality." Tianyu looked somewhat disappointed. "I see. Then we can't do that! My clansmen can't sit still for a moment; if they don't fight for half a day, they itch all over. Forget it. What you have is as good as mine—I'll just buy directly from you from now on." Wei Yuan smiled. "Buying from me is the right move. Otherwise, you'll find that trying to match my quality will only cost you more money, and you won't get anywhere near this volume." Next, Tianyu routinely inspected the armor, sabers, swords, and statues, all bearing the label "fine." The armor and bladed weapons followed standard patterns, merely resized to fit Shaman physiques. Unlike ordinary wares, items labeled "fine" bore intricate, delicate, and beautiful decorative patterns. Some of the inlaid floral designs were even crafted from immortal silver, looking expensive at a glance. The flowers were delicate and vivid, and the grass leaves lifelike; the only issue was that every single flower and leaf was completely identical, without the slightest variation. Tianyu was immensely pleased. "Even the best craftsmen in my tribe could do no better than this! The floral pattern is just a bit monotonous. No matter—when I sell them to other tribes, I'll tell them every time that only these few pieces were ever made. Just change up the floral designs next time." That was indeed a fine idea, and Wei Yuan was naturally pleased as well. Carving flowers onto a saber multiplied its price tenfold. In Qingming, there were already several hundred Dao Foundation craftsmen dedicated solely to carving patterns. Each possessed a steady temperament and outstanding patience; seeking only a stable life, they treated this as their lifelong career. Consequently, the shipment volume of various "fine" goods soared, accounting for an increasingly high value in their trade. The statues were made entirely of steel, standing as tall as an ordinary Shaman. Though hollow, each statue still weighed tens of thousands of jin. Tianyu had ordered thirty of them in one go. Each statue depicted a Shaman with distinct expressions, exquisitely crafted and lifelike. Wei Yuan asked out of curiosity, "Who are these statues of? Why do you need so many?" Tianyu grinned. "Five of them are Desolate Shaman elders from our Desolate Ancestor Tribe. The rest are Grand Elders of powerful tribes along the route, including Nether Shamans and Spirit Shamans. That smallest one is actually a Heavenly Shaman. These are gifts I prepared for them, to deliver along the way while doing business. Besides, since they're made of high-grade steel, it'll be easy to justify back home if anyone asks." The transaction concluded smoothly, each side getting what they needed. Wei Yuan was still somewhat concerned for Tianyu, and asked, "Are you sure there's really no problem trading with me like this?" "Don't worry, nothing will happen," Tianyu said with supreme confidence. Handing over the goods would take some time, so Wei Yuan withdrew his consciousness from the avatar and returned to directing the war in the north. Several days later, the Shaman caravan returned to the Desolate Ancestor Tribe. At the same time, in the northern Shaman main camp, a new report was placed before two identical Shamans. "What is this?" The attending Great Shaman said cautiously, "This was submitted by a small tribe called the Desolate Ancestor Tribe. It is a gift inventory and a report on their trade with the humans." "Where is the inventory?" the two Shamans asked in unison. The Great Shaman presented an illustrated album. Inside were depictions of statues of the two Shamans—though according to the dimensions listed, far taller and grander than their actual bodies—followed by several sets of exquisite sabers, swords, and armor. The Great Shaman said, "These are tokens of respect from the Desolate Ancestor Tribe, already dispatched to your homeland." The two Shamans exchanged a look. "Even Desolate Shamans have grown brains?" Only then did they open the report, which read: "Our tribe has successfully deceived the humans, passing off building-grade gray stone as precious ore to trade for substantial strategic supplies, including three million jin of steel, medical provisions (medicinal liquor, bandage cotton cloth...), and more... The humans suffered catastrophic losses." The Shaman on the left said, "This is good! Report it to—" The Shaman on the right checked him. "Though it is good, if we report it, the tribute they gave us will also be exposed." The Shaman on the left understood at once. "Nothing must happen to the statues!" The two Shamans looked at the album a little longer, smiles spreading across their faces. They asked the Great Shaman, "Are the statues truly as depicted in the album?" The Great Shaman also breathed a sigh of relief. Presenting this report had carried immense risk for him; had Tianyu not given him so much... Seeing the two Shamans ask, and being quick on the uptake, he hurried to reply, "Completely identical!" *** Ever since the Shaman caravan departed, Wei Yuan had been pondering: why did Tianyu arrive at this particular time? Wei Yuan did not believe Tianyu wanted to harm him. In fact, if there were some scheme afoot, any Heavenly Shaman with half a brain on the opposing side would never choose Tianyu to execute it. Yet Wei Yuan also did not think Tianyu would make a pointless journey for no reason. At such a sensitive juncture, trading such sensitive materials, even if Tianyu wrote a report filled with sheer poetry upon his return, it would be impossible to pass muster. As Wei Yuan pondered, an answer gradually surfaced in his intuition. Moments later, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World also responded, yielding an incredible conclusion: through this caravan, the Heavenly Shaman had placed a piece on the board; now it was Wei Yuan's turn. This answer was remarkably close to Wei Yuan's intuition. Such an abrupt yet overt occurrence was not a conspiracy, but an invitation—an invitation to play a game of chess with Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan also found it hard to believe. Playing chess against an immortal? Was he even worthy? Even though he had clashed with the Left Sage King and won a round, Wei Yuan had only been a chess piece back then. The ones truly seated across the chessboard had been Yanshi and the Left Sage King. Even so, the process of Wei Yuan capturing a single piece had been thrilling and perilous. Wei Yuan racked his brains for a long time without finding an answer, whereupon an equally impossible thought floated up in his intuition: Could it be that the Heavenly Shaman's chess skills were so poor that they wanted to find an opponent they were guaranteed to beat? Wei Yuan cast that absurd thought from his mind and began contemplating what was truly amiss with this caravan, and where the Heavenly Shaman had placed their piece. If there was a problem, it could only lie in the freight wagons or the cargo. The cargo consisted entirely of gray stone, totaling thirty million jin—inspecting every piece was practically impossible. However, Wei Yuan had stacked the entire batch at the border depot; after all, it wouldn't be needed right away. So where had the Heavenly Shaman placed their piece?