Prehistoric: Twin lotuses with parallel stems

On the chessboard, black and white pieces are intertwined, each forming its own position, but the white pieces have long been trapped, struggling in vain and unable to rise again.

Qingxuan held Qinglian's hand and said earnestly:

"Qinglian, when playing chess, one should never regret a move. How can one easily regret a move?"

Qinglian hesitated, frowned, stared at Qingxuan for a long time, and then whispered: "Just once..."

"No, not even once. That's a sign of someone who can't afford to lose." Qingxuan shook his head and refused.

When Qinglian played chess with him in the past, she liked to cheat by snooping into his thoughts, and Qingxuan felt it necessary to correct this.

Qinglian withdrew his hand angrily and frowned in thought.

Qingxuan smiled and turned his gaze to the window.

There has been some unrest here these past two days, with cultivators in divine armor flying back and forth in the air, and their divine senses are eager to search this place from top to bottom.

Not only this market place, but also the surrounding areas of tens of thousands of miles are within the search range.

The nearby sects were also alarmed, and many cultivators were just looking for one person.

Chang'e, the daughter of the Emperor of Man, is missing.

Such a big commotion was caused by this incident.

The guard commander Wu Gang was extremely anxious, but there was nothing he could do.

Qingxuan was grilling fish with the ancestor witch Dijiang at that time, and was playing in the water with Qinglian.

He was sure that this matter had nothing to do with Dijiang and was not caused by the Ancestral Witch.

In fact, Qingxuan knew where Chang'e was, so it was normal that Wu Gang couldn't find her.

This is because Chang'e was not abducted by anyone at all, but she sneaked away on her own, with a magical treasure to conceal her own secrets and hide her whereabouts.

Of course, that level of concealment was useless in Qingxuan's eyes.

"Young shopkeeper, are you bullying your sister again? How about letting me, an old man, play the next two games?"

Qingxuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the guy sitting next to him with a hint of disdain in his eyes. This guy was really very sociable.

"I say, don't you need to practice? You come to my shop all day long."

"Young shopkeeper, this is wrong. How can you drive customers away when you are doing business?"

"But you don't buy anything. You just come here and sit here for a long time drinking tea." Qingxuan said speechlessly.

This old man named Muyun is a casual cultivator. In Qingxuan's opinion, he has no hope of becoming an immortal and is just an ordinary person.

I came to his shop some time ago and saw him teaching Qinglian how to play chess. I kept clamoring to play chess with him. After that, I came here every few days and was very familiar with him.

Qingxuan had no interest in playing chess with him. He taught Qinglian music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and also taught her cultivation, but those were all his own pastimes.

"Who said I don't want to buy it? It's just that I didn't see what I wanted to buy. How about you sell me this chess set? I don't have any other hobbies, but I am quite fascinated by chess. I have never seen a better chess set than this."

Old man Muyun stared at the chessboard with a fiery gaze, which made Qingxuan raise an eyebrow.

"It's no fun to bully a little girl, how about the old man play a few games of chess with the young shopkeeper?"

Qingxuan was silent for a moment, glanced at Qinglian who was frowning and thinking hard and couldn't make a move, and nodded.

It’s not that he suddenly became interested in playing chess, but he suddenly realized something.

Qinglian came into the world to practice enlightenment and comprehend the way of living beings.

But so far, there is no difference from the past.

And the reason for this was himself. Because of his existence, the only person Qinglian had really come into contact with from beginning to end was him, Qingxuan. What was the difference from the past?

If you enter this mundane world and want to understand the way of life, without interacting with others, how can you observe the various aspects of life and see all things in the world?

Qinglian needs to come into contact with more people and experience the true nature of living beings, their joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness, their greed, hatred, ignorance, and the five flavors of life. Only after experiencing these can it be considered her practice.

Qinglian is like this, and so is he. Or, in other words, not establishing relationships with others is also restricting Qinglian. In fact, they are still detached from the secular world and cannot be considered to be worldly.

Qingxuan asked Qinglian to sit next to him and gave his seat to Muyun.

Mu Yun was smiling happily, stroking the chess piece carved out of jade with his fingers. He looked so cautious and foolish.

"I have never seen this material before. It is a genuine product, a rare treasure. From the material to the workmanship, it is the only one I have ever seen in my life. This natural texture must be the work of a great master!"

Mu Yun became more and more excited as he spoke, and couldn't let go of the chess pieces.

I have to say that he still obtained it. Even if it was just a toy that Qingxuan polished in his spare time, it couldn't be an ordinary item. It's just that Qingxuan concealed its magical properties.

Qingxuan knocked on the chessboard, signaling him to start quickly.

The chess game ended very quickly, as both sides' understanding of the great principles of heaven and earth and their ability to deduce the chess game were not at the same level.

Mu Yun sat there in a daze, staring at the deadlocked chessboard for a long time without saying a word.

"You are a pretty good chess player. I guess you have spent a lot of energy on it. But I don't think this is your way of practice. If you put your energy into practice, you might make a breakthrough and won't live as long as you do now." Qingxuan said.

Mu Yun was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Who said that old men don't have much time left? There is no problem living for a few hundred more years. Aren't a few hundred years long enough?"

"A few hundred years is not really a long time for a monk."

"Haha, a few hundred years, that's not short. A mortal's life span is only a hundred years, not to mention that I've lived for thousands of years. I've experienced everything I should have experienced. Up to now, I don't know how many generations of descendants are still alive. All my relatives and friends have passed away. Why should I force myself to live longer?

Thousands of years is a lifetime, a hundred years is also a lifetime, my path has already come to an end."

There was an undisguised sense of vicissitudes in Mu Yun's words, and the air of old age could not be shaken off.

As if he had opened up a conversation box, Mu Yun told Qingxuan and the others about his past while packing up the chess pieces. Perhaps an old man would always talk more in front of young people.

Of course, he didn't know that the two people who seemed young in his eyes had actually lived much longer than him.

It’s just that time itself no longer has much meaning for people like them. It cannot leave any traces of time in their lives, and they will not become older with the passing of time.

Qingxuan fiddled with the chess pieces casually, and Qinglian listened with a vague understanding.

Deep in the mountains, far away from human habitation, the roars of monsters can often be heard and monsters lurk.

The two monsters revealed their true forms which were several meters long and fought each other, causing rocks to fly and the whole place to be in a mess, leaving behind puddles of blood and steaming murderous aura.

A young girl huddled behind a pile of rocks, not daring to move. She carefully concealed her breath, a look of panic on her face.

Just at this moment, two arrows broke through the air and accurately penetrated the heads of the two fighting monsters, killing them cleanly with one blow.

A sturdy young man jumped out with a large bow on his back, turned around and left with his prey.

As for the gorgeously dressed girl huddled aside, the young man turned his head to take a look, and after confirming that she was not a monster, he lost interest and could not eat her.

Moreover, the boss Dijiang who taught him the skills said that in their Wu clan, the last thing to mess with is a woman who looks weak. If he meets someone from the Wu clan in the future, he must remember this, because he cannot beat them, so he must be careful when he meets them and speaks to them in the future.

It is also said that there was a tribesman named Kuafu, who spoke too loudly not long ago because he did not think straight, and now he still walks with a limp.

Of the two people who came to his house not long ago, the eldest brother Dijiang was also very cautious in front of the little girl in blue who looked frail. He still remembers it vividly.

Obviously, no matter whether it was the Emperor of Heaven or the Emperor of Man, Boss Dijiang always looked down upon them, and even said that he had beaten the former Emperor of Heaven, who was much stronger than the current Emperor of Heaven.

But even such a boss as Dijiang actually had people he was afraid of. Yi kept this in mind and kept his distance from such people who looked weak.