Xianxia> The Chessmaster_

In an urban bamboo courtyard, the golden sun was clearly visible from within the bamboo leaves.

The fragrance of magnolia flowers was spreading from the tree plantations. Covering the entire courtyard from all directions, living only a single stone paved pathway.

It was like a paradise on earth.

The scene in the courtyard contradicted this atmosphere.

Forget lacking beautiful women, only old men were present. Each of them giving off an aggressive vibe. They clearly seemed like gangsters fighting over territory.

A young man among them, wearing a white comfy sweatpants and sneakers was the perpetrator.

He was dressed casually, but his face had a cocky look to it. His eyes revealed a carefree demeanor that surprisingly didn't seem out of place.

Aggressive old men kept staring at the young man, as he made his chess moves.

Tock! Tock!Tock!

Every single passing time, this sound of something hitting the board was heard and the expressions of the old men become agitated.

From time to time, the hand if an old man would be seen placing a chess piece on the board and the young man placing another.

It was just that compared to the old man, the young man had a grin on his face all the time. He also even had the time to look at the group of old men surrounding him from time to time with a gloating expression.

Situ Feng was a chess genius and he had even added the word Tian after his name, to show that whenever chess was being played he was the heaven.

"Old Lei! You also can't do it!" He commented casually as he placed another piece on the board.

Snort! 

"You have no respect for seniority at all!" Old Lei clearly was reaching a boiling point with Situ Feng.

"Can't blame me! In here I am considered the senior! Most of you are ants. Oh! Old Lei, where do you think you lie? After all I see a no fellow taoist in this courtyard." Situ didn't let things slide.

He was clearly using the classification of ranks based on his favorite fantasy. The strongest are called senior out of fear and respect, while weaker ones are ants. Those ants with background are called little friend, while fellow taoist is someone on the same level. 

The use of this words was clearly very offensive for talking smack.

Old Lei clearly was not happy with the way the young man was talking to him as though he had already stepped into the coffin. He was half a foot in the coffin and not yet there.

As a man, he still had an ego and pride in his bones. 

But other than agitation, the group of old men clearly seemed to have been used to this young man talking smack about them during the game.

He was a completely different person from when he wasn't playing.

"Hehe! Old Lei why didn't you admit defeat and save some face." He continued to speak without even noticing the hidden mischievous smile on Old Lei's face.

Among the old man gathered, two old men seemed to have seen this and shook their head secretly. They even had some kind of disdain for the old man.

"Is old Wei going to erupt again?" One of them asked in a low voice.

"Hehe! You can't blame him. This little kid is clearly stimulating him. He deserves it." The other one said casually.

It was as though they were watching an interesting drama.

Over the years, Situ Feng made it big as Professional Chess player. It was just that as his skills increased, this competition became meaningless. He has accumulated some wealth to live a good life. 

He was so addicted to the game that he moved back to his hometown, the place of origin of his chess career.

This old men are veterans that have retired and staying in this elderly home.

He visits everytime to compete with them, even though he wins eventually, he has a different feeling from when he thrushes others in professional competitions 

This feeling is very difficult to explain and he kept coming back for this. When he walks out of this Elderly home, no one wants to talk to him, and they aren't are enthusiastic as when he arrives.

He found this situation far more exciting than in the professional games and thus he didn't miss out on his games. What was even shocking was that he learned a lot from just competing with this retired old veterans.

Tick! 

When he placed the piece on the board, he had already cornered Old Lei.

"Checkmate! Old Lei! You are indeed old! Even though you can last long, how can you attempt to resist when Tian is present." Situ said with an evil smile.

Clearly Situ was claiming that he was the heaven and the old man's struggle was futile at the end of the day.

The old man's hand trembled slightly before he stood up, his expression become relaxed.

"I can't argue with a baby that has yet to even grow facial hair. If my hands were half what they used to be, you might have not even taken four moves from me." Old Lei didn't go down peacefully. 

He made sure to put up some defense, just like his predecessors that had met Situ('Tian'). It was though trying to put out their protest and resistance.

"Old Lei, you can't resist the night of Tian!" He didn't argue with the old man but just asserted his nickname.

"Little Feng brat! Just you wait, this old man will show you who is Tian here." As he said this, he walked out of the seat.

"Hey old Li! Calm down. The Feng boy is it even a quarter your age. He is just a small baby in your eyes." The voice of an old woman finally sounded.

The moment he heard this sound, Situ Feng felt insulted.

The old woman had no chess skills but was good at talking down on others.

"Damn? Where did this witch come from?" He complained without hidding his voice and the old men gathered burst out into laughter.

Granny Chen was not some good natured lady. Her mouth was poisonous that she might even make grown men cry. How dare he stand there and let her unleash her word bank on him.

Even though he was afraid of this old woman, he had no plans of retreating. She had appeared, it meant she came to seek trouble.

Situ Feng couldn't help but erupt, "Granny Chen! Why are you here. I thought your grand daughter was visiting you in your dreams soon."

"Snort based child, do you think this old lady is already senile is something?" She instantly countered.

Even Situ had to say interacting with Granny Chen was very productive as it allowed him to refine his smack talk.

He looked at her with a sneer and said, "I though you were an honest old woman, until you told me your daughter was once as beautiful as you in your youth. Granny Chen, you really should stop making such jokes."

The old men around, didn't continue to check the chess game but felt this discussion between Granny Chen and Situ was interesting.

The thing that was even more funny was how he insisted on putting the word Granny before her name, while he just called the others old.

"What? Do you even know what a beauty looks like young brat? Look at you playing with wooden toys at your age." The moment she said this, she was throwing indiscriminate jabs and Situ was not the only victim.

Just like the way it is said, the old people didn't have filters in their words, he was being roasted, but the other old men couldn't escape this either.

When the old women kept speaking, even Situ couldn't keep up.

"What a waste of talent!" He complained as he decided to ignore her.

He couldn't win and accepted that he had tried enough for today. He was already ready to leave as he had played enough for the day. 

"Feng boy! your chess skills are not bad, how staying a bit longer.." Listening to the challange Situ couldn't pause, but he still didn't chose to stay.

Looking at his disappearing back, the two old men shook their heads.

"This kid has his own fate. Since he didn't chose to stay, I won't meddle." As he said this he closed this eyes.

The man next to him was not interested in interfering, rather kept watching all of this as though it had nothing to do with him.

While Situ walked out of the elderly home, he looked at the magnolia flowers on both sides of the road with a relaxed mind. He felt happy, for some reason, but after walking for about half an hour, he discovered the distance had become endless.

"How do you like my chess skills little Feng brat?" He then heard Old Lei's voice coming from all directions.

"Huh!" He looked around and wondered what the old man was saying.

"Do you think this old man is more like Tian?" This time, the voice sounded in his mind.

He then discovered the magnolia flowers had vanished and he was in the middle of stars instead.

"Old Lei?" He called out and asked.

"Hehe! Little Feng brat! I can see that you are already bored with your ordinary life, don't worry this old man will send you a chance. I just wonder whether you have what it takes to dare use that name Tian again in the future!" The old voice laughed in an evil tone. It was just exactly how Situ acted when playing chess.

After hearing this words, he felt his vision was blurring, his body weakening.

"What is going on?" That was his final thought before collapsing into darkness.

"Damn, Huang Di old thing, you actually dared to tear the dimensional barrier?" This was the last thing he heard. It was a roar filled with anger, but he didn't know the source at all.

Without a body, Situ's stand of spirit was wrapped by a strange force, before pluming into the Origin River.