Jiang Yichen untied the rope on his body and dismounted.
He gently patted the Little Brown Horse and said, "You've worked hard, little companion. Leave the rest to me. If it really comes to it, I'll have no choice but to start killing."
As he spoke, Jiang Yichen had already drawn his sword. He had not wanted to draw his sword, but the situation left him no choice.
If the pack of wolves would retreat after seeing blood, that would be for the best.
If they were to fly into a rage and fight to the death, I'm afraid both he and the Little Brown Horse would end up buried in the wolves' bellies today.
He turned around to face the pack of wolves alone.
Unexpectedly, the few wolves running in front and the Alpha Wolf stopped at the opening, baring their fangs and staring viciously at Jiang Yichen as if to intimidate him, yet they were apprehensive of something and dared not step even half a step out of the opening.
Heaven never blocks all paths.
Jiang Yichen did not know what the pack of wolves was afraid of, but seeing this scene, he was certain that the pack would not attack. Even if they had the patience to block the opening and wait for him to come out, he had enough time to rest and recuperate.
He put away his sword, collapsed directly onto the ground, picked up his conical hat to cover his face and block the light, and went to sleep!
Seeing his master's arrogant behavior, and after observing for a while that the pack of wolves at the opening was just staring and at most howling in unwillingness without any intention of rushing over, the Little Brown Horse also arrogantly lay down and went to sleep! It was as if it were saying to the pack of wolves, "There's nowhere to run anyway, so come if you want!"
He hadn't slept all night, or at least hadn't slept well, so he could finally sleep comfortably now.
Three hours later, the sunlight had already covered the Platform where Jiang Yichen and the Little Brown Horse were, and it also brought a warm blanket for them.
After a satisfying nap, Jiang Yichen was the first to wake up, waking up before the lazy horse. His first reaction was to look towards the opening, and as expected, the pack of wolves had already left.
He still did not understand why the pack of wolves dared not step into this place, but their departure was exactly what he had hoped for. Jiang Yichen began to observe the Platform in front of the Cliff.
Not far from him, there was a round Stone Table with some black and white Chess Pieces on it, and two stone stools were placed on either side of the table. Besides the fact that there was soil, grass, and flowers on this Platform, which he found quite surprising, the only other things were the man and the horse.
He shifted his line of sight to look beyond the Platform. Even for someone like Jiang Yichen, whose facial expressions were not rich, his eyes were wide open, his mouth was agape, and his jaw was almost dropping. The scene before his eyes was truly astonishing!
In the distance, a towering Great Peach Tree stood above the Lake Water. Jiang Yichen now had reason to suspect that he had accidentally stumbled into a celestial court. First, he had seen such large bowls in the Thousand Bamboo Forest Winery, and now he saw something even more exaggerated: a towering Great Peach Tree!
Jiang Yichen rubbed his eyes a few more times to make sure he hadn't seen it wrong.
Driven by curiosity, he could not remain unmoved after seeing such a strange scene.
He took the map out of his luggage and spread it out to confirm that the lake in front of him should be Biluo Lake. On the map, it was marked with a blue water circle with a pink mark smeared on top. Jiang Yichen couldn't help but mutter to himself, thinking that the person who drew the map had accidentally spilled pink paint. Who would have thought that this pink blob was actually meant to indicate that this peach tree occupied most of Biluo Lake? How could that be? What a lazy person!
（At this time, the Gossipmonger, who was far away in Gusu, suddenly sneezed: "Who? Who is badmouthing me behind my back?!"）
Jiang Yichen stood up, wishing he could fly to the Great Peach Tree immediately to investigate.
He walked forward a few steps and discovered that this was just a Cliff and not a sheer cliff. The height of the Platform was already reaching into the clouds, but the deep blue below was vaguely visible. Judging by Jiang Yichen's naked eye, relying on his Lightness Skill to slowly slide down would allow him to enter the area of Biluo Lake, and this might very well be the only way to escape from the Peach Valley Secluded Forest.
As for turning back through the passage in the mountain, Jiang Yichen did not plan to do so. First, he did not know if those wolves were still hiding somewhere in the passage, waiting by a tree stump to catch a rabbit. Second, even if he could return to the Peach Valley Secluded Forest in peace, not to mention encountering other dangers, he might get trapped in the maze again. If he wasted a few more days, he would miss the deadline to go to the Chrysanthemum Garden.
So, he had to descend this Cliff whether he wanted to or not. Besides, he really wanted to see the Great Peach Tree at Biluo Lake.
As for the situation he would encounter on the road ahead and whether he could successfully reach the Great Peach Tree, after his experience over the past day and night, he dared not think too much and could only take it one step at a time.
The current problem was, what about the Little Brown Horse? He could use his Lightness Skill to protect himself, but he couldn't help the Little Brown Horse descend this Cliff. Should he leave it here? Or should he wait until it had rested enough? It had really worked hard last night.
Jiang Yichen gently patted the neck of the Little Brown Horse. Horses usually sleep standing up; it must have been exhausted to be completely lying on the ground and fast asleep. If he hadn't seen the Little Brown Horse's breathing, he wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of exhaustion.
Recalling the Opportunity mentioned by Murong Jing and Liu Menghen, could it be this Great Peach Tree? That didn't seem right. If it were the Great Peach Tree, wouldn't those two have just told him to go directly to Biluo Lake? After all, the map clearly showed a path directly to Biluo Lake, so why go to such great lengths? Forget it, don't force what isn't meant to be.
Jiang Yichen waited quietly for the Little Brown Horse to wake up, his eyes fixed on the front, in the direction of the Great Peach Tree at Biluo Lake.
Although the distance was a bit far and he couldn't see it clearly, the pink of the peach blossoms, the deep blue of the Lake Water, and the emerald green of the surrounding mountain range made him completely immersed in a piece of tranquility. His thoughts gradually emptied, allowing him to enjoy it. How many times in one's life can one comfortably indulge in such a beautiful scene, ignoring everything else?
He did not know how much more time had passed, nor did he know why, but Jiang Yichen realized that he was now sitting on a stone stool, and he finally shifted his line of sight to the surface of the Stone Table.
There was a layer of dust on the surface of the Stone Table and the stools, which showed that no one had been here for many days, but the fact that there was only a layer of dust proved that this place was not completely unvisited.
A Go chessboard was carved onto the surface of the Stone Table. Jiang Yichen did not know how to Play Chess, but when he was on West Mountain Island, he had seen people on the island play it. What he could see was that the number of Chess Pieces here was too small. There should have been at least a hundred black and white Chess Pieces, but there were only nine of each on the table.
Jiang Yichen could not tell if the current arrangement of the Chess Pieces on the table was a so-called endgame, but he was thinking about what kind of Expert would have the ability and elegant mood to Play Chess and enjoy the scenery on the edge of a sheer cliff. They must not have been an ordinary person.
He casually picked up a piece and twirled it between his Fingertips. With an inadvertent glance, he was surprised to find that a character was carved on the back of the Chess Piece!
"Blade? What does this mean?" Finding it strange, Jiang Yichen's state of mind changed, and he became much calmer. He put down the Chess Piece in his hand and flipped over another one; it also had a character, "Split".
Sure enough, a character was carved on the back of all eighteen Chess Pieces.
Spreading out the Chess Pieces, Jiang Yichen also discovered that there were some slight, uniform indentations at the center of the chessboard where three pieces could be placed in a row.
It seemed to be a Combination of three pieces.
Jiang Yichen picked them out one by one: "Blade", "Sword", "Dagger", "Axe", "Sting", "Staff". There were six types of Weapons carved in the game.
"Earth Fiend", "Poison Kill", "Water Splitting", "Spirit Wind", "Mountain Splitting", "Blood Soul". Jiang Yichen sorted them out; this was the most likely character Combination, and the next step was to match them with the corresponding Weapons.
"Earth Fiend Blade, Poison Kill Dagger, Water Splitting Sword, Spirit Wind Sting, Mountain Splitting Axe, Blood Soul Staff? Let's try it." Three characters of the same color should form a group; that must be it.
A person who does not speak or rarely speaks in front of others does not mean they will not talk to themselves when they are alone. Jiang Yichen analyzed and nagged to himself for a long time, eventually waking up the Little Brown Horse.
The horse, which had a bad temper upon waking, nudged Jiang Yichen's back with its head, and Jiang Yichen, who was immersed in his analysis, was pushed out of that near-oblivious state of mind.
"Hey, little companion, you're awake. Wait a moment, I'll be done soon, and then I'll feed you." Jiang Yichen lightly patted the horse's head.
Turning back to look at the Chess Pieces on the table and the pairs of Martial Arts combinations, he figured this must be that great Opportunity.
"Six Martial Arts Manuals, six Opportunities? Which Expert could have left this behind?"
"With so few Chess Pieces here, could it be that previous visitors threw some of them down the mountain? If so, would these combinations be wrong? Placing three pieces into those indentations will likely only give me the chance to obtain one Martial Arts Manual." At this moment, Jiang Yichen was a bit anxious about gains and losses. After thinking it over, he decided on the Combination that was most practical for him and least likely to be wrong: "Water Splitting Sword".
After making his choice, Jiang Yichen placed the three white Chess Pieces with "Water Splitting Sword" written on the back into the indentations on the chessboard.
Although Jiang Yichen had prepared himself mentally, he was still shocked by the strange scene that followed, which was again something he could not understand.
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