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Chapter 254: On the Holy Mountain
Chapter 254: On the Holy Mountain
Chapter 254: On the Holy Mountain
"It's true!"
Chu Liang's eyes were filled with naive surprise as he glanced around at everyone and pushed his wall of tiles down.
The implication in his gaze seemed to suggest, "Beginner's luck is real!"
All in One Suit[1]! A Floating Win[2] Winning Draw![3]
In an instant, he swept away a significant portion of the chips in front of the other three players. What's more, the game ended just as they were entering the third round of discarding tiles, barely giving them time to organize their own tiles.[4]
This was already Chu Liang's fourth consecutive win and they had only played four rounds in total.
Was this beginner's luck? He must be lying!
"In our entire lives of playing mahjong, we've never seen anything like this," one of the players remarked. "This guy is clearly pretending he has never played mahjong before but he is secretly really good at playing mahjong!"
The other three disciples from Mount Shu, who had immersed themselves in the game for years, naturally didn't buy into Chu Liang's nonsense. They exchanged glances and silently reached a consensus.
In the first stage of the Mahjong Tournament, one out of every four participants would advance. After sixteen rounds, only one player from each table would move on to the next stage. With four rounds played and Chu Liang having won all four, he naturally became the target.
The other three were determined to advance to the next round, but more importantly, they wanted to ensure that Chu Liang gave back all the chips he had won!
Do you think you can still win if it's the three of us against you alone?
Bam!
"Is this called Pure Seven Pairs of Dragons[5]?"
Chu Liang had only played two rounds of tiles when he pushed his wall of tiles down again, wearing a bewildered expression as he looked around at everyone. The winning combination of tiles he revealed was indeed shocking to see.
"What?" The three were so astonished that their jaws dropped in disbelief.
If this weren't the venue of the Mount Shu Mahjong Tournament, they would have undoubtedly suspected that this person was cheating using divine abilities.
However, the venue of Mount Shu's tournament had been shielded by enchanted tools and formations, ensuring that any cheating methods involving the manipulation of foundational qi would be rendered ineffective. The person before them relied solely on either luck or skill.
But could such magical mahjong-playing skills really exist?
As cultivators, they were well aware of the strength of their mental faculties. They understood that achieving such a level without relying on divine abilities was almost impossible.
Even if the three of them were determined to target one person, they still needed opportunities to make their move! Now, it seemed like all the tiles were listening to his command. How could they even continue playing?
When Chu Liang consecutively won the tenth round, one of the disciples couldn't hold back any longer and stood up suddenly!
He stared at Chu Liang for a while before saying, "Senior Brother Chu, I don't want to compete against you anymore. Please accept me as your disciple! I want to learn how to play mahjong from you!"
Chu Liang quickly waved his hand and said with a smile, "I was just lucky."
"You can't possibly do all this relying on luck!" the disciple shouted loudly.
"Why not? Look at her..." Chu Liang raised his hand and pointed to the table next to them.
The disciples then realized that he was not only focused on the game but also keeping an eye on the table beside theirs. He pointed at a naive-looking girl who appeared clean and fair. She nervously clutched the tile she had just grabbed.
"Can you guys take a look at this? Did I just win again?" the girl asked nervously.
She was feeling scared as she sensed the growing anger radiating from the three in front of her.
Their anger intensified further when she effortlessly grabbed some tiles and achieved the Heavenly Winning Hand.[6]!
The girl was obviously Liu Xiaoyu'er from Silver Sword Peak. At this moment, she looked at the gloomy expressions of the three people at her table and cautiously asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," a male disciple across from her managed to force a smile. "You did great."
Chu Liang looked at the towering stacks of chips in front of Xiaoyu'er, taller than her head, and nodded approvingly. "Indeed, she's a true representative of Silver Sword Peak!"
Upon witnessing this, the others at the table felt a sense of unease creeping into their hearts.
Is Silver Sword Peak the birthplace of the god of gambling? Are all its disciples so terrifying when they play mahjong?
The moment this thought crossed their minds, they heard a thundering roar.
"DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLAY!"
Upon hearing that, Chu Liang looked over in shock. "Esteemed Teacher?"
He saw Di Nufeng stand up and point at a timid disciple in front of her, shouting at the top of her lungs, "You clearly knew the person after you wanted the bamboo tile, yet you still discarded it? Are you colluding with him secretly? Where is the elder? There's corruption at my table! I refuse to be eliminated like this! AHHHHHHHHH—"
Seeing Di Nufeng about to explode in anger, Chu Liang hurriedly stepped forward to restrain her, repeatedly advising, "Teacher! Calm down! You still have me and Xiaoyu'er here; we can definitely win for the Silver Sword Peak! Don't get angry! Don't get angry!"
But Di Nufeng lost her temper and started wreaking havoc, sending people and tiles flying in all directions.
The scene momentarily descended into complete chaos.
...
The Holy Mountain of the Northern Regions.
In the far north, beyond the Northern Regions, lies a range of snow-capped mountains. Among them towers the tallest and grandest peak, piercing the icy sky like a sharp sword.
In the Northern Regions, there existed a legend. It was said that atop this Holy Mountain resided the most revered figure of the Buddhist sect in the mortal realm.
Every year, countless youngsters set out northward to hike up this mountain, seeking to catch a glimpse of the noble one mentioned in the legend.
According to legend, only the talented ones would be given the opportunity to see the dharma seat of the noble one and become a disciple. Those lacking in talent would only behold a cold and frosty, empty snowy mountain, gaining nothing from the journey.
Aside from religious devotion driving people to hike up this Holy Mountain and become disciples of the venerable one, another major reason was the famous deeds of this revered figure.
In the world of immortality cultivators, most people knew that this Noble Dharma was a human cultivator who had lived the longest and had taught so many famous disciples.
Five hundred years ago, a disciple who was taught by him descended this Holy Mountain and went to the capital of Yu, the most prosperous city of human societies, and built a temple outside of that city. That temple was named the Monastery Tower.
Indeed, it was the Nation Guard Monastery Tower, one of the sects in the Terrestrial Ten.
Two hundred years ago, a disciple who had learned the art of the saber from him descended this Holy Mountain and established his own sect by the North Sea.
When the human world fell into turmoil, this sect rose to prominence, becoming one of the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten. This sect was called the Night-Saber Sect.
The members of the sect would cross the North Sea at night, wielding their sabers.
The leader of the Night-Saber Sect was now known as the Celestial Saber of the North, renowned and unmatched in the entire Northern Regions. Many years ago, he was also one of the youngsters who hiked up this Holy Mountain to seek the venerable one as his teacher.
How could future generations resist the urge to follow in their footsteps?
However, without the legend and the famous figures in the world, this mountain would just be an ordinary snowy peak.
On the snowy mountain, there sat a simple, pure white temple, hidden amidst the mist and clouds, making it difficult for ordinary people to see.
The side hall of the temple was filled with abundant spiritual qi.
A young girl, appearing rather youthful, sat upright in the hall with her eyes tightly closed. Her face revealed a pained expression, and several chains were wrapped around her body. The entire ground was drawn with complex enchanted formation diagrams.
The enchanted formation flashed red. Whenever it did, the chains around the girl's body trembled, and black qi flowed out of her.
Outside the side hall, the Whale-Riding Immortal, wearing a bamboo hat, observed the scene inside with great concern. A hint of worry flashed in his eyes as he murmured, "It's been forty-nine days... Will this really work?"
He brought the girl who came out of the Immortals' Marsh to the Holy Mountain in the Northern Regions to find the way to resolve the karmic calamities within her. He did find the way, but even as this process was reaching completion, he felt somewhat nervous.
"So far, everything seems to be going smoothly," remarked the slightly balding middle-aged monk standing beside him. He was of shorter stature and a bit overweight, clad in a thick cotton monk's robe with a face bearing a hint of kindness.
Faced with the Whale-Riding Immortal's question, the monk answered in a very gentle tone, "I have already cleansed the deathly qi accumulated in her body. However, Ba are beings of yin energy that have transformed into yang energy, gaining life from death. As long as she continues to live, she will accumulate deathly qi. Wherever she goes, she will attract and activate the evil yin of the heavens and earth, thereby unleashing various calamities. By invoking these calamities, her blood-stained aura will grow stronger. If we succeed this time, she should remain on the Holy Mountain."
"Should we stay here?" The Whale-Riding Immortal pondered.
Just then, a sharp cry echoed from the hall... "Ahhhhhh—"
The young girl's brows furrowed tightly, as if she were on the verge of opening her eyes. The iron chains around her seemed to tightly suppress her soul, preventing her from awakening fully. Every struggle caused the iron chains to tremble violently, and with each tremor, the recoil grew stronger against her body.
Boom!
The flickering of the enchanted formation abruptly ceased, replaced by a steady glow that filled the area with the scorching heat of red light, resembling a sea of fire! Amidst this sea of fire, the girl screamed in agony, exhaling a large cloud of black qi.
Boom!
The black qi surged dangerously towards the dome of the side hall, almost breaking through. However, it was ultimately refined by the pervasive red light, dissipating into nothingness.
The iron chains, depleted of their spiritual energy, lost their power to bind the girl who had just exhaled the cloud of black qi. They crashed to the ground as the little girl herself slumped backward and collapsed.
The Whale-Riding Immortal hurried into the side hall and assisted the little girl to her feet. "How are you feeling?" he asked with concern.
"Ahhh..." the little girl mouthed.
The Whale-Riding Immortal asked caringly, "what do you want to say?"
The little girl opened her eyes slowly and uttered a word with much difficulty, "Fr-ui-ts..."
The Whale-Riding Immortal fell silent for a moment.
Great. Still thinking about food at this time.
1. Refers to a winning hand where all the tiles belong to the same suit in Mahjong. This means that all the tiles in the player's hand are either bamboo, characters, or dots. ?
2. In the Mahjong rules of the northeastern region of China, if a player's hand contains four consecutive sequences, each with the same point value, and there's also a pair of identical tiles, then the player can win by a "Floating Win" (??). ?
3. Refers to a winning hand that is declared immediately after a player has drawn a tile to complete a set of four tiles in a melded triplet (And you will shout 'Peng!' or 'Gang!'). This action allows the player to declare a win without needing to wait for their turn to discard a tile. ?
4. To explain this round. The players are supposed to take turns drawing and discarding tiles in clockwise order. On their turn, a player can either draw a tile from the wall or claim a tile discarded by another player to complete a set of tiles that they can organize. So they only did this three times when Chu Liang won. ?
5. It's a combination of tiles where a player has seven pairs, and each pair consists of a dragon tile (red, green, or white). ?
6. Translated ?? as Heavenly Winning Hand. This refers to a special winning hand in Mahjong. It is when a player wins the game immediately after drawing the initial set of tiles without needing to draw any additional tiles. It's considered a rare and highly fortunate occurrence, often associated with luck or divine intervention. ?