What a prodigy!
Ling Yun shook his head with a wry smile.
Seeing Su Yang and Li Zhong, he suddenly felt a sense of self-doubt, as if their cultivation method was the correct one, and true qi was actually suppressing their cultivation speed. But from ancient times to the present, true qi has always been the mainstream of cultivation; perhaps these two were truly prodigies.
Thinking of this, Ling Yun asked, "Young friend Su Yang, what brings you to the Ziyang Sect this time?"
Su Yang smiled faintly: "Play."
Play?
Ling Yun was stunned. His definition of the word "play" was very vague. It could be said that since he started cultivating, the word "play" had never appeared in his life. What to play? He had never thought about it. Even when Su Yang mentioned the word "play" to him just now, he was completely stunned.
Upon closer inspection, it seems he hasn't played this game in hundreds of years.
Aside from teaching disciples and handling sect affairs every day, he would at most drink tea to pass the time in his spare time, having long forgotten the definition of play.
Ling Yun asked, somewhat puzzled, "What can we still do at our age?"
Su Yang smiled and said, "Don't worry, it'll be a lot of fun. You can also invite one more person over, and together with my friend, we'll have a full table."
Let's get a table together?
Ling Yun looked at Su Yang with suspicion, but ever since he returned from his trip to Ziyun City, the sect leader had ordered that he must cultivate a good relationship with Su Yang. Since Su Yang had said so, he would just go and ask someone else to come along.
Who are you calling?
I've got it! Zhu Changqing, please!
...
Lingyun Hall outside the Lingyuan Garden.
The four sat around a smooth stone table, each person occupying a corner.
The most confused person was Zhu Changqing. He knew nothing about what was going on and was simply dragged here by Ling Yun. He didn't even know what he was here for.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
At this moment, Su Yang waved his hand, and countless jade stones fell onto the stone table, forming four walls like city walls. Each jade stone was square and smooth, and the back of each stone was emerald green. From the back, they were almost identical, with no difference whatsoever.
Ling Yun couldn't help but ask, "Young friend Su Yang, is this... what we're supposed to play with?"
Su Yang nodded and casually picked up a square piece of jade from the side. Except for the back, which was all emerald green, the front of the jade had five large dots.
Five of bamboo!
At this moment, Su Yang introduced: "In my hometown, we call this mahjong. It has a total of 108 tiles, which are divided into three different types. The one I have in my hand now is the five of bamboo, which belongs to the bamboo one-player group. The other two groups are 'wan' and 'tiao'."
As he spoke, Su Yang flipped over several more tiles and explained the difference between 'Wan' and 'Tiao' to the three of them. One of them, 'Yaoji', is the most unique tile in mahjong, and Su Yang explained it to the three of them in detail.
Once he understood the cards, Su Yang began explaining the rules.
In general, the mahjong set that Su Yang set up is the most common and simplest set. It has 108 tiles in total, with each player receiving 36 tiles. Each player starts with 13 tiles, while the "banker" draws 14 tiles. At this point, all four players must cover one set of tiles, which must be played. The "banker" is the first player to play a tile.
As for 'peng' and 'gang', they are easy to understand, and there are many ways to 'hu', but they are also very easy to teach.
Just as Su Yang said, you'll get the hang of it after playing a few rounds.
With Su Yang's explanation, the three of them roughly understood the rules of mahjong and started playing!
"First, you roll the dice. Starting from your own position, count sequentially. This time, I rolled 2 and 3, which is 5. So, you take cards from my position. The lowest number is 2, so you leave two stacks of cards and start taking cards from the third stack," Su Yang explained.
The three nodded thoughtfully.
"It doesn't seem too difficult," Ling Yun said thoughtfully.
"You'll know once you play it," Su Yang said with a smile.
Soon, they began to fight.
Playing without a missing suit is a Mahjong tradition; if you don't play without a missing suit, it's considered a "discarded hand". After learning the rules, most people start by playing with the fewest possible missing suit tiles, but they hesitate when they encounter a hand like 445.
Su Yang was quite understanding, considering he was a novice.
Soon, three rounds were over.
As expected, Su Yang won almost every game the fastest. Although the three of them weren't very good at the first game, they gradually understood the rules in the second and third games, and their speed became much closer to Su Yang's.
"So, you've got it all by now, right?" Su Yang asked.
“Hmm, this mahjong is quite interesting. I’ve never heard of these rules before, and there are many ways to ‘win’. I just realized that the tiles I drew could win, but I always thought I could only win with the other two,” Ling Yun said.
"Yes, it's definitely more interesting than just drinking tea and relaxing. You can also chat with other people, hahaha." Zhu Changqing smiled.
Only Li Zhong, who was standing to the side, remained silent, as if he were studying his own cards.
Su Yang looked at Li Zhong and asked, "How is it? Is it alright?"
Li Zhong said calmly, "It is indeed very novel. This is the first time I have ever seen a game that tests one's brainpower. Hmph, it's quite interesting."
Su Yang laughed and said, "Right! Think about it, when you spar with someone, you must also think about how to break through the opponent's defense as quickly as possible, so as to solve the opponent's problem efficiently. This requires a lot of brainpower!"
Li Zhong chuckled lightly: "I see. No wonder you consider all aspects so thoroughly when you're fighting. It turns out there are so many tricks to playing around."
Su Yang gave an awkward laugh.
There's no real trick to playing mahjong. For beginners, it does primarily test their eyesight and mental agility, but once you're skilled, the real test is memory and concentration. The only reason he might have this misconception is because he's a novice.
But this is already very good.
At least Li Zhong doesn't seem to be talking about sparring all the time like he did at the beginning, which is enough.
At this moment, Su Yang suggested, "Since everyone knows how to do it, let's have a prize."
The three were confused: "What prize?"
Su Yang said mysteriously, "Spirit stones!"
Spirit Stone?
They have quite a few spirit stones, but as a form of hard currency, they rarely use them. Using them to play cards seems a bit...
Su Yang said, "Don't worry, it will be more interesting with prizes. For example, I won this hand, but it's just the most common way to win, so I can only win one spirit stone. If I win with a pair, that's two spirit stones. If I win with a pure suit, that's four spirit stones. The highest number of rounds is eight spirit stones. What do you think?"
Ling Yun and Zhu Changqing exchanged a glance.
In this sense, it's like encouraging everyone to grow bigger and stronger. To get a better hand, you need to pay more attention to the cards others play and the cards you draw next. From this perspective, it seems more interesting.
Moreover, with a base price of one spirit stone, it's actually not that expensive.
“It’s feasible!” the two nodded.
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