Chapter 61 An Atmosphere of Intrigue

　　Within the lucid dream, the atmosphere turned strange.

　　Xuanyuan, Xing Tian, and even Shennong followed Zhu Jiuyin’s extended finger, looking at the bewildered museum owner. Xuanyuan and Xing Tian were first stunned, then their eyes showed the kind of anger one reserves for a traitor.

　　We thought you were one of us!

　　You were acting all along?!

　　You actually have a brain?!

　　Shennong was suspicious.

　　Even Wei Yuan's previous behavior made him seem unfathomable.

　　Could it be that this is a trait of the wise?

　　They like to pretend to be brainless, then mix in with the simpletons, observing their reactions while secretly gloating… Hiss… Come to think of it, doesn’t that seem a bit perverted?

　　Um, wait…

　　Mixing with the simpletons, observing their reactions, secretly gloating…

　　That sounds familiar.

　　Shennong's thoughts froze. His last shred of sanity prevented him from turning his head to look at the gray-robed man with ancient eyes, who also fit this description. Xing Tian roared, "You, you’re in league with them? You actually have a brain?!"

　　The face on his chest and abdomen roared, "That's right, that's right!"

　　"You were lying to us before?!"

　　"That's right, that's right!"

　　Wei Yuan subconsciously said, "No, I didn't…"

　　His voice stopped abruptly.

　　Wei Yuan snapped out of it, looking at Xing Tian and Xuanyuan, who appeared angry but were actually expectant.

　　As a member of the Tu Shan clan, he easily spotted the trap in this question. Xing Tian’s response was a trap whichever way you answered. Did you agree that you had a brain, that you were a wise man, and thus a traitor deserving of a beating? Or did you say you were brainless?

　　The truth is, these old geezers only seemed to have intellectual deficiencies when facing the Marquis Wu and Zhulong. When they were scheming against each other, their IQ instantly shot up.

　　Tu Shanyuan was silent.

　　He still had to bite the bullet and jump into the pit.

　　"I don't have a brain."

　　Xuanyuan was overjoyed, and Xing Tian was ecstatic. They opened their arms for a hug.

　　"Ahahaha, from today on, we are best friends!"

　　Wei Yuan's mouth twitched. "No, ancestors, the seniority is all messed up."

　　The white-robed strategist was thoughtful, gently waving his feather fan to conceal his expression. "A Yuan is only of average talent. If he were to enter this game, I'm afraid he would have to use himself as a chess piece, wouldn't he? His level of wit is insufficient to scheme against others. Scheming against Kai Ming would be like suicide."

　　Chī. (onomatopoeia for a sound like an arrow piercing the heart)

　　The air seemed to vibrate with the feeling of an arrow piercing the heart.

　　Museum Director Wei stiffened.

　　Better to commit suicide than that…

　　The young strategist said, "Therefore, I guess that the only way he can participate in this game is by relying on his ability to be reborn, laying out plans across the ages. He has no soldiers of his own, only advances and no retreats. Rather than entering the game, it would be more accurate to say that he charged into the chessboard in desperation, disrupting the layout."

　　"After all, although people can’t see themselves clearly, it's easy to predict their own behavior. However, most generals only know the enemy and not themselves. This is one of the biggest reasons for the collapse of famous generals. In Yuan’s case, was his brain not working well when he made the plans in that lifetime?"

　　Kū chī. (onomatopoeia for a sound like an arrow piercing the heart)

　　The air once again seemed to vibrate with the feeling of an arrow piercing the heart.

　　Wei Yuan's hand trembled slightly.

　　He thought of his Ming Dynasty self.

　　The young strategist added, "I'm not saying he was too stupid, but rather, he lacked self-awareness."

　　"On the contrary, this made his judgment of the overall situation even clearer. And only in this way…"

　　"Could A Yuan, who is so emotional, use himself as a chess piece? Otherwise, he would definitely hesitate and just flip the table. After all, although the Great Virtuous Teacher taught him Daoist magic, he grew up among the Yellow Turbans. In a sense, he grew up in a rebel nest."

　　"And the Great Virtuous Teacher is someone I've met who flipped the table the most thoroughly."

　　"I imagine A Yuan is similar."

　　The third heart-piercing sound came.

　　Museum Director Wei fell to the ground.

　　A Liang, you’re insulting me!

　　How is he insulting you?

　　He repeated what I did.

　　Zhu Jiuyin said, "You guessed correctly. But if it were you, what would you do?"

　　The white-robed strategist gently waved his feather fan and said calmly, "Create a diversion."

　　Wei Yuan was stunned.

　　The young strategist pondered and said, "The enemy is in the dark, and so am I. But the enemy's power is too great, and I am just a single soldier. I should create a diversion, placing pieces all over the land, leaving behind backups. Even after death, I can still play chess with Kai Ming across the ages. Although I am dead, the formation is still there, the plan is still there, and I can still repel the enemy."

　　"The first step is to interfere with the heavenly secrets, making the enemy misjudge my time of death."

　　"Confuse the enemy."

　　He extended a second finger and said calmly:

　　"Then, use another part of the backups to create another fictional person. Although I made the plans, these plans must be attributed to someone else, someone who does not exist. This nonexistent person will, after my death, play chess with Kai Ming in different places."

　　"Not to defeat him, but just to cause him some trouble."

　　"In this way, Kai Ming will be constrained to a certain extent by this nonexistent enemy."

　　"This person has caused him trouble, and yet he cannot find him."

　　"If he thinks this person is fake, he cannot find any evidence, because Liang has already passed away."

　　"Diversion two."

　　"When I revive, if this identity still exists, then I can advance, control the backups, and continue this game. If I retreat, I can use the identity I left behind, making this fictional identity real, turning falsehood into truth, and completely grasping the enemy in my hands."

　　The young strategist's eyes narrowed slightly. "Since this person existed in the past, exists now, and has traces in all of history from the past to the present, then it cannot be said that this person is fictional."

　　"This is the third strategy, 'attack by scheming.'"

　　"Diversion, confusing the enemy, is all for the sake of drawing the sword. If you cannot draw the sword, then it is meaningless."

　　The white-robed strategist extended a finger: "And the last step is probably what A Yuan would do."

　　"Leave something behind for himself to rise again, and then sacrifice himself with a single sword, cutting off the chessboard. On the one hand, use chaos to counter chaos, disrupting the chessboard. On the other hand, leave a deep enough impression on Kai Ming, letting him believe that I am indeed dead, and use Liang's death to complete the previous three steps."

　　"It's just a pity that A Yuan himself doesn't have long-term strategies. He probably only has the last step. But it is precisely because of this that it is difficult to predict his behavior. He occasionally makes moves that are like a gazelle hanging its horns, leaving no trace to be found."

　　Wei Yuan: "…………"

　　He was shot down.

　　Just now, when Zhu Jiuyin said that he was another chess player, the museum owner was secretly pleased, even feeling a bit elated. Now, he was sitting there in a burnt-out state, lost in a moment of clarity, with a sense of helplessness in his heart. The gap was too big, the earth was too frightening.

　　If he had followed A Liang's plan in that lifetime, he would probably be a chess player now.

　　An opponent that the Kai Ming beast would be endlessly wary of.

　　Thinking about it this way, his so-called travels around the world during the Ming Dynasty yielded too few results.

　　And can A Liang's words be realized?

　　"Dead Zhuge scares away Sima Yi." This story has been passed down for thousands of years. If Zhong Hu was like this, what's wrong with doing it again?

　　Wei Yuan never doubted A Liang's strategy.

　　To put it bluntly, in fact, the Ji Han was holding A Liang back.

　　But he felt a complex sense of frustration and pride.

　　"Even at the peak of my strategy, was I still so far away from A Liang?"

　　……………………

　　After the young strategist finished his plan, Zhu Jiuyin opened the barrier and calmly recounted what Wei Yuan had done during the Ming Dynasty, saying, "So, you know how to play this game of incomplete chess."

　　The young man was surprised, looked at the burnt-out Museum Director Wei, and gently waved his feather fan, saying:

　　"I see."

　　"However, after I woke up and saw A Yuan like this now, I actually felt fortunate…"

　　"Fortunate?" Shennong, the only one allowed to observe from the sidelines, the only one who could still keep up with the rhythm, was puzzled.

　　"Yes, it means that he lived a good life in the past."

　　The white-robed strategist gently waved his feather fan and sighed, "When would ordinary people have to use all their wits and courage just to survive? It must be a time of boundless despair and tragedy. During the Ming Dynasty, Yuan had no past, no future, no companions, and even no enemies."

　　"He could only remember that the world would be in chaos, that a great catastrophe would come."

　　"But he didn't know when it would happen or who would do it."

　　"It was as if the vast and boundless world was being walked by only one person. He didn't know when the earth would collapse, and everyone he knew could be Kai Ming's spy. Under this despair, people would use all their strength to use their wit, constantly deducing, thinking, and searching for the only way to survive, the only way to break the opponent's strategy."

　　The young man said, "He was like that at the end of the Han Dynasty."

　　"It's just that at that time, he didn't need to think about the opponent who would destroy the world. In that era, I was there too. But in the Ming Dynasty, he could only rely on himself, or rather, he finally made a desperate move, using himself as a chess piece, using the ages as a chessboard, and crashing into the chessboard of the Three Realms."

　　"Is it good to be alone and courageous, or is it good to be tragic with no retreat…"

　　The young man gently moved his feather fan and said:

　　"However, I am curious, what were you doing in that era, Zhu Jiuyin?"

　　"Were you observing from the sidelines again?"

　　Shennong's scalp went numb, and his face became bitter.

　　Here it comes again?

　　How can these two stab each other in the vitals so easily?

　　But the young man did not press further, but just smiled:

　　"However, I won't ask. When I faced Xuan De back then, I also had many thoughts. Moreover, the way to recognize people is to observe their courage in the face of disaster and their trustworthiness in the face of affairs. It seems that your true self appearing in this era is because Yuan's previous performance finally made you willing to trust him?"

　　"Before that, he was just a chess piece in this vast history, or an uncut jade."

　　The gray-robed man said calmly, "Zhuge Wuhou, do you like to test people so much?"

　　"I am just curious."

　　The gray-robed man indifferently said, "That's right, at that time, he was just one of the countless people in my eyes, no different from others. I should treat everyone equally. But I never thought that he would hone his edge in the chaos of the world. What is needed to change the world is a hero who is one in ten thousand."

　　"The past him was not qualified enough."

　　"Before you came out of the mountain, you subtly stirred up the world with the relationship of the Eight Geniuses of Water Mirror."

　　"You repeatedly cast Liu Xuande as a descendant of the Gaozu, with the posture of hegemony."

　　"In the end, Xu Shu, one of the Eight Geniuses of Water Mirror, brought you the person you needed to change the world, didn't he?"

　　??!!

　　Shennong's pupils contracted, and he felt a sense of scalp-tingling horror.

　　The young man's always smiling eyes seemed to open completely, reflecting the opposite side, not a calm lake, but an unfathomable abyss.

　　He smiled and said, "So, we are the same kind of people."

　　"But you said one thing wrong. The relationship between me and Xuan De is absolutely not fake."

　　He paused.

　　The young man's eyes were smiling again: "However, you compared your relationship with A Yuan to the relationship between me and Xuan De."

　　"Could it be that you think your relationship with A Yuan is similar?"

　　Shennong: "…………"

　　The gray-robed man muttered to himself:

　　"Fools are annoying, and smart people seem to be easily killed."

　　"Hahahaha, Tian Gang, are you comparing yourself to Yang Xiu, who is not as useful as chicken ribs?"

　　The young strategist laughed and then said:

　　"It seems that Zhu Jiuyin, you can at least be trusted. In this chaotic world, I hope we can work together and get along harmoniously."

　　The young man put down his feather fan, picked up his teacup, and smiled elegantly and gently, making people want to trust him subconsciously.

　　But it made Shennong feel a kind of inexplicable fear of being seen through, as if falling into an abyss.

　　Only now did he realize that these two people, from being at loggerheads with each other to forming an alliance, only took a few words and smiles. He stiffly raised his head and looked at the museum owner who was comforting his burnt-out self. A sentence suddenly appeared in his mind.

　　I should be there, not here.

　　"If you and I join forces, and with Yuan's bravery, we can still fight."

　　The gray-robed man raised his cup, and the two seemed to have finally reconciled.

　　The war without gunpowder smoke ended.

　　That's how it should have been…

　　Originally…

　　A moment later.

　　Shennong was holding a bowl of rice, looking at the scene in front of him.

　　Two pairs of chopsticks were holding the same piece of Longjing shrimp, refusing to let go.

　　The wise are always similar, with the same aloofness, the same arrogance, and even the same light tastes. Now, even Da Yi and Chi You couldn't eat anymore. The atmosphere was so tense that a group of ancient rice buckets on both sides of the table were holding bowls and chopsticks, but they couldn't bring themselves to eat.

　　The gray-robed man's eyes were ancient: "This seat put down the chopsticks first."

　　The white-robed strategist smiled calmly: "Is that so? I don't think so."

　　Da Yi nudged Wei Yuan with his elbow, and Wei Yuan turned his head.

　　The shy young man bit his chopsticks and pointed his head at the two people over there.

　　You go!

　　Xuanyuan, Xing Tian, and Chi You made the same movements.

　　You go, we want to eat!

　　The gray-robed man said calmly, "Cook?"

　　"Hey, I'm here."

　　Wei Yuan got up with a forced smile.

　　The gray-robed man said faintly, "You promised me."

　　Yes, he promised, and more than once…

　　First a meal, then three meals: past, present, and future.

　　Wei Yuan complained.

　　Damn it, Zhu Jiuyin, is this also in your calculations?!

　　There's no way around it, A Liang, I'll make it up to you later.

　　Just as he was about to speak, the young strategist sighed, his voice gentle:

　　"After Nanyang, until my death, I never ate your cooking again."

　　Wei Yuan: "…………"

　　He couldn't open his mouth.

　　The gray-robed man sneered:

　　"Using emotions to get what you want, a self-sacrificing strategy without having to suffer yourself, is that not despicable?"

　　The young strategist smiled gently:

　　"Using kindness to seek personal gain, what's wrong with that, just like Cao Mengde?"

　　"There was a promise before, what's wrong with that?"

　　"If kindness is like a teacher, and emotions are like brothers, affection and kinship are not subject to the law."

　　"A promise is worth a thousand gold, cook, are you right?"

　　"Using kindness to repay oneself…"

　　The young man paused.

　　He raised his head slightly and said calmly:

　　"Heh… I have never seen such a shameless person."

　　Wei Yuan fled with his bowl of rice:

　　"I'll make another serving!"

　　…………………………

　　In any case, in the end, the two brains completed a 'peaceful and friendly' epic meeting, with an exchange of strategies.

　　The secret plans and strategies can be revealed.

　　And at this time,

　　Jue, who had returned from Mount Tai, and the young woman A Zhao, returned to the old street, returned to the museum.

　　A Zhao raised her eyes and subconsciously looked in the direction of the museum.

　　Empress Wu, Marquis Wu.

　　Is it a passing encounter, or…

　　Who can hide from whom, and who will see through whom?

　　The old street was still peaceful.

　　ps: Today's first update… four thousand four hundred words.