The chessboard dispersed, leaving only silence along the banks of the Wei River.
The assembled guests stared at the gleaming white piece now resting in Ming Zhu's hand, struggling to process what they had just witnessed. She had actually broken the endgame puzzle of that young master of the Zhangsun Clan?!
A cultivator at merely the Nine Mansions level had solved this chess puzzle?!
Chu Wujiu thought to himself—it was more than that. In her path to solving the puzzle, she had not placed a single unnecessary piece.
Even cultivators well-versed in both formations and chess were not all capable of finding the optimal solution in such a short span of time.
Gu Congshan did not understand all the intricacies, his face simply showing amazement at the scene before him. He had known Ming Zhu's talent was extraordinary, but he had never imagined it could reach this level.
Among all those present, only Gu Congshan knew that a little over a month ago, when they first met in the Wuyin Forest, Ming Zhu had not even lit her Life Star yet.
Amid the crowd's astonished gazes, the expression of the Qu Clan elder was especially cold and sinister.
Even if Qu Pingsheng had failed to solve the puzzle, all would not have been lost—as long as within these two days, the Qu Clan could put forward another junior capable of breaking the puzzle.
But now that Ming Zhu had already solved it, all of the Qu Clan's previous schemes had come to naught, and the benefits they had promised the Jiang Clan had gone down the drain.
Moreover, Ming Zhu had solved the puzzle so quickly, showing not the slightest regard for social sensibilities, grinding Qu Pingsheng into the dirt by comparison. Naturally, the Qu Clan also felt their face had been lost.
For great aristocratic clans, nothing mattered more than their reputation.
Ming Zhu paid no attention to these glances and murmurs laden with various meanings. She waited a moment, and seeing that the Jiang Clan Patriarch was still staring at her as if pondering something, she opened her palm and urged: "Can you give me the Jade Slip now?"
Only then did the Jiang Clan Patriarch snap back to his senses. Without taking offense at Ming Zhu's impatience, he gestured for a servant to present the scroll of Formation Essentials.
He still wanted to say something more, but Ming Zhu had already turned around, intending only to find a place to see what was written within.
The Jiang Clan Patriarch's words caught in his throat. She really left that decisively.
When Gu Congshan saw Ming Zhu walking toward him, and felt the gazes of varying intent around them, he cast aside all hesitation and hastily pulled her along, head down, back toward the Jiang residence.
This time, they had truly made a spectacle!
If anyone found out that Ming Zhu's Nine Mansions cultivation base had been achieved in just over a month, things would get even more troublesome.
Gu Congshan had learned from experience over the years. He knew better than to assume these watching gazes held any goodwill toward Ming Zhu.
Even those that seemed well-intentioned were merely waiting to appraise her worth.
Just as Gu Congshan had thought, many aristocratic clans were already estimating Ming Zhu's value in their minds.
The talent she had displayed in the way of formations was truly extraordinary, but her cultivation base was far too low. From that perspective, the return on investment in nurturing her would be quite limited. Thus, at this moment, Ming Zhu had not yet reached the point where they would set aside their aristocratic pride and personally seek her out.
Gu Congshan secretly rejoiced at this as well. Turning away those who tried to strike up conversation, he hurried back. At an occasion like the Spring Banquet, no matter what one wished to ask Ming Zhu, it would not do to press the matter in full view of everyone.
The reason Gu Congshan was so eager to take Ming Zhu away was also because he was afraid—he had not yet taught her how to lie. If she revealed how long she had actually been cultivating, then they truly would not be able to leave.
Returning to the Jiang residence would likely still invite some probing questions, but given the Jiang Clan's standing in Pingxiang Town, not just anyone could easily come knocking at their door. That alone would be enough to block many ill-intentioned gazes.
Chu Wujiu followed unhurriedly behind them. He was clearly right there, yet the cultivators around them seemed to collectively ignore him—no one's gaze fell upon him.
They had only just returned to the Jiang Clan estate when a maidservant from Jiang Yuan's side arrived at the outer courtyard, requesting their presence for a meeting.
His reaction was truly swift.
Gu Congshan instinctively looked toward Ming Zhu, but she only kept her head lowered, staring at the Jade Slip in her hands, as if she hadn't heard a word they were saying.
Ever since the journey back, she had devoted her entire mind to this volume of Formation Essentials, walking the whole way by clutching the hem of Gu Congshan's robe.
Seeing this, the maidservant looked at her and asked again.
"Not meeting." Only when the maidservant asked a second time did Ming Zhu finally spare a moment of attention, replying without lifting her head, causing the maidservant's smile to stiffen slightly.
Previously, it was Jiang Yuan who felt he needn't meet Gu Congshan and Ming Zhu. Now Ming Zhu felt the same way.
She didn't know Jiang Yuan, nor did she want to know him—what was there to meet about?
Gu Congshan offered the maidservant an apologetic smile, saying placating words to smooth things over, since they were, after all, staying at the Jiang Clan's residence.
But it was probably for the best that Ming Zhu wasn't going to meet him—who knew what she might say to Jiang Yuan. Gu Congshan felt his heart truly couldn't withstand this many shocks in a single day.
Using the excuse that Ming Zhu had exhausted her spiritual energy breaking the formation at the Spring Banquet, Gu Congshan raised his hands in a salute and said, "I shall go in her stead to thank the young lord of the Jiang Clan for his hospitality."
The maidservant hesitated for a moment, then agreed—this wouldn't violate the young master's instructions after all.
As they walked out of the courtyard gate, Chu Wujiu, who had been perched on the railing, finally spoke: "It seems you can see much that ordinary people cannot."
This was likely also how she had been able to break through Zhangsun Heng's chess game.
Was this her heavenly mandate? Chu Wujiu kept the question to himself.
To his words, Ming Zhu responded with a casual hum, offering no rebuttal.
Just as Chu Wujiu had said, that Chess Formation was like a mist-shrouded mountain to ordinary cultivators, but to Ming Zhu, the changes in the formation caused by each person's move were clearly visible to her eyes.
When she had looked at the chess game, she had seen the white stone that served as the Formation Eye, and the circuits built upon it that constructed the formation.
So every cultivator who attempted to break the formation was, without a doubt, testing the wrong paths for her. Ming Zhu only needed to calculate the sequence of moves that wouldn't trigger the Formation Eye's attack.
In her view, this wasn't anything difficult, but Chu Wujiu knew this was no simple matter.
To be able to calculate the correct sequence of moves, both the strength of her Divine Sense and her aptitude in the art of formations were nothing short of extraordinary.
Ming Zhu's gaze finally lifted from the volume of Formation Essentials in her hands. She looked at Chu Wujiu. "But on you, I saw nothing at all."
The first time she had met Gu Congshan, Ming Zhu had seen the Life Star shining within his body, along with the hundred or so stars surrounding it.
The paths along which spiritual breath flowed between the stars, their rates of vibration, the way they revolved around the Life Star—she could see it all with perfect clarity.
It was precisely because she had seen all of it that, after Gu Congshan used the Fire Art, Ming Zhu could easily replicate it.
At the Spring Banquet, she could vaguely sense the general state of even cultivators in the Twenty Mansions realm.
But on Chu Wujiu, Ming Zhu could see nothing.
Meeting her gaze, Chu Wujiu smiled. "That is likely because I do not wish to be seen."
As he spoke, he released the suppression on his aura.
Ming Zhu vaguely perceived the Life Star lighting up within his body. The stars around it lit one by one, mansion by mansion, and his aura grew stronger with them.
In ancient times, the Wu Xian clan created the Star Map to transmit its methods, mapping the acupoints in a cultivator's body to the stars in the heavens. From then on, throughout the Nine Provinces, a cultivator's acupoints were referred to by their corresponding stars. The acupoints common to all cultivators were called Primary Stars; the rest were Additional Stars.
A cultivator’s apparent realm was determined by how many Primary Stars they had awakened.
Take Ming Zhu, for example—she had awakened the Primary Stars of the Nine Mansions, so others perceived her to be at the Nine Mansions realm. As for how many Additional Stars she had within her body, even cultivators of the Upper Three Realms could not easily discern.
This also meant that, in many cases, one's realm did not necessarily equal one's true strength.
"These acupoints—or rather, stars—can be concealed from others’ perception if deliberately suppressed." After awakening his Primary Stars across nine mansions, Chu Wujiu once again suppressed his own aura.
However, most cultivators would not normally do this, as suppressing one's aura would affect the circulation of the Cultivation Method, slowing the rate at which the Life Star generated spiritual breath, which was of no benefit to cultivation.
Chu Wujiu had come to the State of Jin without any intention of drawing attention, which was why he had deliberately suppressed his aura.
He had entered the State of Jin from the State of Chen, and while passing through Zhuxi Village, he sensed an unusual aura, so he went to investigate.
But he had arrived a step too late, missing the fight between Ming Zhu and the clay statue. He only saw the already-shattered statue outside Zhuxi Village.
Even if the clay statue had been broken, the consciousness born within it might not have truly dissipated. A wild god born from ignorant faith, if allowed to grow, could develop into something extremely terrifying.
Learning from the villagers that this was the work of Ming Zhu and Gu Congshan, and worried that the consciousness within the statue might have attached itself to them, Chu Wujiu had followed them.
Originally, once he confirmed that no remnant of the statue's consciousness remained, he had planned to leave quietly. But then he saw Ming Zhu make her move in the bamboo grove, which stirred a bit of extra curiosity in him.
Ming Zhu's breaking of the formation at the Spring Banquet had undoubtedly confirmed his suspicions.
"So I truly mean no harm," Chu Wujiu said to Ming Zhu.
Ming Zhu gave an "oh" in acknowledgment, accepting his explanation.
Just as Chu Wujiu did not ask Ming Zhu why she could see what ordinary people could not, Ming Zhu also did not press him about his identity.
Compared to Chu Wujiu's origins, she was more interested in his method of suppressing his aura.
"Want to learn?" Chu Wujiu asked with a smile, hands clasped behind his back.
Ming Zhu nodded honestly. There was no need for words—she simply looked up at him, and few could bear to refuse.
Chu Wujiu did not put on airs or hold anything back. To him, this was not some secret art that could not be shared. But she had never even heard of acupoints, as if she had only recently begun cultivating.
Wait—a thought stirred in Chu Wujiu's mind.
He suddenly asked, "How long have you been cultivating, up to now?"
Ming Zhu looked at him, calculating briefly: "Thirty-seven days."
So that was it—
The discrepancy between Ming Zhu's evident talent and her seemingly mismatched realm suddenly had an explanation.
Thirty-seven days to ignite the Life Star and awaken the stars of nine mansions—wherever this was known, it would be enough to cause a stir.
Chu Wujiu did not press further on why Ming Zhu had started cultivating so late. He thought to himself that he had already asked enough questions today.
"This matter—in the future, it would be best not to tell others easily."
With such high aptitude, such low cultivation, and without a sufficiently distinguished background, she was no different from a child carrying gold through a busy market—it would only invite covetous eyes.
Chu Wujiu didn't explain why, but Ming Zhu could tell it was likely a well-meaning reminder, so she decided to note it down first. "I understand."
She looked at Chu Wujiu, thinking that since he had just helped clarify things for her, she should address him properly to show respect. So she said, "Stalker."
The smile on Chu Wujiu's face nearly faltered. "Didn't I already explain that?"
Why hadn't she given up on that title yet!
"You never told me your name either," Ming Zhu replied matter-of-factly.
Chu Wujiu almost suspected she was doing it on purpose, but Ming Zhu's expression was serious, as if she meant nothing more by it.
He decided not to make an issue of it and extended his hand proactively. "Chu Wujiu."
“I chose this name for myself—Chu Wujiu.”
Ming Zhu seemed to recall something and paused for a moment before mimicking his gesture and raising her hand in return. "Someone else gave me my name—Ming Zhu."
Two years ago, amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, Pei Xuantong sheathed his sword before her.
In the thick darkness, only a single faint candle flame flickered to life.
From that moment on, she finally had a name.
Chu Wujiu smiled, meeting Ming Zhu's hand. Their palms touched, producing a crisp sound.