Hei Baizi snorted: "No."

Jiang Luofu asked in surprise, "You're refusing before I've even said what it is?"

Hei Baizi said, "I haven't seen him come here many times in recent years. I was wondering why he's suddenly become so attentive. It must be for no good reason."

Jiang Luofu smiled and said, "Fifth Senior Brother, don't be so stingy. I'm not asking for it for myself. I'm asking you for a discarded piece on behalf of Azu."

"A discarded pawn?" Zu'an was taken aback. What was that?

Hei Baizi frowned, clearly hesitant.

At this moment, Jiang Luofu said again, "This time, Azu will definitely face many dangers in the secret realm. If something happens, there will be no one to play chess with you, and you will never be able to avenge your loss to him."

Hei Baizi snorted: "Am I the kind of person who holds grudges? Humph, you're trying every trick in the book to trick him out of things, acting like he's your lover."

Jiang Luofu raised her eyebrows: "What nonsense are you talking about? He is my younger brother."

"Don't men and women always play the brother-sister, sister-brother relationship game? Do you think I don't know that?" Hei Baizi muttered, then took out two chess pieces, one black and one white, from his wide sleeves and handed them to Zu An. "In a critical moment, put the white piece on yourself and the black piece on someone else. This way, the attack you suffer will be taken by someone else. This is called sacrificing a piece. This item will be consumed after one use, so you must use it at the right time."

Zuan looked astonished: "There are such amazing things in the world?"

Hei Baizi stroked his beard, his face beaming with pride: "This is the culmination of my life's work, containing the ultimate principles of our chess school. Over the years, I've only practiced three pairs of sacrifice pieces. This thing has such a unique effect that if it falls into the hands of a wicked person, it will surely cause endless trouble, so I generally don't give it to others. However, since Mr. Zu is of noble character, I'm not worried about that."

Zu'an solemnly accepted the two discarded pieces: "Thank you, Fifth Senior Brother!"

"Don't mention thank you. Just fight me a few more times after you come out of the secret realm," Hei Baizi laughed. "Oh, right, I almost forgot to remind you, don't mix up the black and white, or you'll become someone else's pawn."

Zuan replied, "I don't think I'd be that stupid."

“That’s true,” Hei Baizi laughed, then pulled Zu An aside to talk about chess.

As a result, Jiang Luofu pulled Zu An away first: "Fifth Senior Brother, I still need to take him to other places. You can talk to him when you have time later."

Hei Baizi watched her retreating figure and couldn't help but curse, "Women are all the same, they're all ungrateful bastards... Xie Xiu, try to avoid women in the future, they're just annoying to look at."

Xie Xiu looked puzzled. "If you don't let me have contact with women, aren't you going to kill me?" But he dared not provoke anyone at this critical moment, so he quickly agreed.

On the other side, Zu'an asked Jiang Luofu, "Sister, who are we going to find now?"

"You'll find out when you get there," Jiang Luofu said with a mysterious smile.

Zuan fell into deep thought. The fact that the other party had deliberately found a scapegoat for him proved that the danger of this operation was probably beyond imagination.

Before long, the two arrived at a pool. Unlike the clear water they had seen before, the water in this pool was pitch black.

Zuan exclaimed in surprise, "Sister, be careful, it might be poisonous!"

"It's alright, it's just ink." Jiang Luofu smiled and then walked towards a pavilion by the pool.

"Ink?" Zuan then noticed that there were two large white geese swimming in the pool. If it were really poisonous, they would probably be dead by now.

How much ink would it take to dye such a pool of water black?

Wait a minute, if it's ink, why are the feathers of these two geese so white?

He looked closely and saw that there was a faint blue light flowing around the two large white geese, which was obviously the power of the magic array.

Turning the corner of the corridor, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a graceful young woman sitting in the pavilion, copying a stone tablet. With her reflection in the water, it was truly a beautiful painting of a lady.

The girl was very focused as she wrote. A gentle breeze lifted the strands of hair that fell from her temples, revealing a beautiful and familiar face.

“Miss Xie!” Zu An recalled that since he and his sister came to the capital, he had only seen Xie Daoyun once, but he had seen Xie Xiu several times.

Upon hearing his voice, Xie Daoyun visibly trembled, and a drop of ink fell from her brush, ruining the calligraphy she had just copied.

Zuan said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I ruined your post."

Xie Daoyun put down her pen and slowly shook her head: "It has nothing to do with you. It's just that I haven't reached the state of tranquility that the teacher spoke of."

Zuan couldn't help but sigh. After not seeing her for a while, she had a serene and otherworldly air about her, like a hermit in the mountains.

"Really?" Jiang Luofu laughed. "When I was standing next to you just now, your heart was very calm. Why did your heart become restless as soon as Azu spoke?"

Xie Daoyun's previously calm demeanor instantly crumbled, her neck turning slightly red, and she couldn't help but chide, "Teacher Jiang!"

"Alright, alright, let's get down to business," Jiang Luofu said with a smile. "Have you prepared what I told you about last time?"

Xie Daoyun hummed in agreement and took out an apricot-yellow talisman from a box beside her. It was covered with complex symbols drawn in cinnabar. She handed it to Zu An and said, “Brother Zu, we learned that you are going to venture into the secret realm. Unfortunately, we cannot be by your side to help you, so we specially prepared this talisman for you. We hope it can help you overcome difficulties in times of crisis.”

Jiang Luofu, standing to the side, laughed and said, "This is Senior Brother's Lifeline Talisman. When you wear it, it can reduce damage by 20% and leave you with a sliver of hope, hence the name Lifeline Talisman. This is Senior Brother's treasure. Even I might not be able to get one. Only Daoyun, his favorite disciple, was able to get this from that stingy guy."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!