Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 1952: Chapter 996: The Final Journey (Part 8)

Outside City 5, a young man turned into a puppet by Zong Cheng stood at the border gate, with the old man and over a thousand Lif and painting scrolls behind him nowhere to be seen.

The young man walked into the city cheerfully with his hands behind his back. As he passed through the gate, a soldier stopped him: “Please show your electronic beacon.”

The young man smiled and said, “Trouble Silver Ginkgo Mountain with a notification, tell them Zong Cheng is visiting.”

Soon enough, a Door of Shadow decisively opened in front of Zong Cheng, Qing Ji watched him expressionlessly: “Let’s go, the old man is waiting for you at Silver Ginkgo Mountain.”

Zong Cheng stepped into the Door of Shadow, praising as he went: “This is one of the taboo objects I most desire, yet it has always been tightly controlled by Qing’s Family. If this thing were in my hands, it would certainly increase happiness.”

Qing Ji said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “Maybe you can reincarnate as my grandson next life, perhaps it will be handed down to you.”

Zong Cheng stood in front of the small wooden house halfway up the mountain, not bothered: “Maybe it won’t take that long… The old man truly has courage, being just an ordinary person, yet willing to have a face-to-face chat with me.”

The old man calmly sat inside the house, flipping through a chess manual: “You’re not too frightening, so I don’t need to be afraid. Come in, sit down, no matter the outcome today, one of us will vanish from this world forever. There won’t be any more chances to have tea together.”

Zong Cheng smiled and sat across from the old man: “Heroes share similar insights, I also think today is the day of the finale. However, I don’t believe I will lose.”

Qing Ji took out a chessboard and placed it between the two, then withdrew.

The old man placed the black piece: “Another round?”

“Another round then,” Zong Cheng smiled as he placed the white piece: “Are you not worried that Qing’s Family will lose? Or that Qing Chen will die?”

The old man said: “How will they lose?”

Zong Cheng said: “I know Qing Chen has taken the road to godhood, but Ren Xiaosu took over two hundred years to regain his memory too. How can you hope that Qing Chen will find memory in this war?”

The old man said calmly: “What if he does find it? You’re being inflexible in your empiricism, that’s not desirable. And who knows, even without memories, he might sweep West Continent off its feet.”

Zong Cheng continued: “You underestimate the Drama Masters, I have dealt with them. After I took the alias Liu Yue, I visited that land, thinking they were easier to deal with, only to find they located all the puppets on West Street and killed them one by one.”

The old man seemed a bit surprised.

Qing Chen had mentioned that puppets appeared on the West Continent, but didn’t expect that from beginning to end, all the world’s puppet masters were just this one person!

The Federation and Roosevelt Kingdom have endured for a thousand years, during which countless lives have come to this world and departed silently.

Yet this puppet master has always hidden in the corners, witnessing the vicissitudes of human life.

The old man mused: “Are you a street wanderer? You’re everywhere.”

“…That’s the first time someone called me that,” Zong Cheng laughed: “Given endless life, one ought to experience more of life. They thought it was my first visit to the West Continent, but little did they know I had visited many times over centuries. I have dealt with the Drama Master’s clan, and if you think their trump card in the final battle are just some foolish beast troops, you will be at a huge loss.”

“Oh?”

Zong Cheng said earnestly: “I even think, without my intervention, Qing Chen will die on the battlefield.”

The old man asked calmly: “What would their trump be?”

Zong Cheng smiled: “That’s the Drama Master’s trump card, how could I know? But I do know, from the beginning of this decisive battle, everything is within their calculations, the Drama Masters are always like this, you may unknowingly have your most crucial asset taken by them, and victory’s scales will tip.”

The old man placed a black piece: “This time it might not work, what they can’t see in fate, I can’t see either.”

Zong Cheng quickly placed a white piece: “The Drama Master’s planning ability is not just God’s perspective, just like your ability isn’t merely having the Universal Chessboard. While seeing fate is certainly an advantage, employing God’s perspective and Universal Chessboard efficiently requires far superior calculation than ordinary people. I, as an observer watching you play this game, am amazed at how you’ve made almost all the right choices, only by this can the weakened Eastern Continent hold its own against the West.”

The old man laughed: “You’ve praised me more than enough.”

Zong Cheng said seriously: “But the Drama Masters this time are scarier than you think. You know how to survive death, so do they.”

The old man chuckled: “If they are so terrifying… if Qing’s Family were to lose, how would you reap the benefits? You might not defeat them either.”

Zong Cheng thought: “I think I could.”

The old man responded with an “Oh”: “Just with your 12 A-Class painters and their lifetime works?”

Zong Cheng countered: “Who says among those painters, only A-Class? This vast world allows me to have my pick, if finding only 12 mediocre cultivators is all I could do, that would be too much of a failure.”

The old man said noncommittally: “Let’s play chess.”

Zong Cheng queried: “You aren’t worried?”

The old man picked up a black piece from the chess box: “There once was a friend who brought his son to play chess, I showed his son the path of the pieces, introducing him to a very harsh fate. He remained unaware, while I held a guilty conscience.”