?

  The endgame is approaching, and the pieces on the board are almost all captured. Shang Quanyuan was about to make a move to prolong his life, but Zhou Xuan said: "Since you want to die, your neck is already so white, I'll fulfill your wish and give you one more move." He picked up a white piece and was just about to play it into the broken eye.

  Suddenly, Shang Zuan Yuan let out a strange "hmm" sound, as if something unusual had happened. Zhou Xuan didn't make his move and instead looked up at Shang Zuan Yuan, feeling that his eyes were very peculiar. His mouth was muttering something indistinctly. The chess piece that Zhou Xuan's finger was hovering over fell, but it didn't land on the broken corner. Instead, it filled in one of the eyes of his white dragon, turning a live piece into a dead one!

  "How could this be!"

  Zhou Xuan shouted loudly, he clearly made a move to break through the black chess eye, how could he fill his own white chess eye! Since learning chess, he has played thousands of games, and has never encountered such a strange thing, even if he was dizzy, he wouldn't do something like this!

  Shang Zhiyuan's eight-character eyebrows drooped, and he leisurely dropped a piece, filling in that black chess piece, then said: "You lost."

  Indeed, from the situation, Zhou Xuan's chess is doomed to lose, Shang Chuan Yuan's chess has come alive, and Zhou Xuan has lost a piece. Even if he had a great advantage before, it can't withstand losing a piece for nothing!

  "There must be ghosts!"

  Zhou Xuan's legs straightened as he stood up, his face red with rage, the veins on his neck bulging, his fingertips almost poking into Shang Zhaoyuan's face. "Tell me," he bellowed, "what kind of sorcery did you use on me!"

  Shang Zhuan Yuan sat still, not even glancing at Zhou Xuan, and said slowly and calmly: "I didn't grab your hand. The chess move was made by yourself, you lost your mind, who can be blamed for that!"

  Qin Que, Zhen, and Xu Danyuan have all arrived. As soon as Xu Danyuan saw the chessboard, her face fell, and she exclaimed: "How did this chess game end up like this?"

  Qin Que grasped Zhou Xuan's left wrist. He was going to take his pulse, but Zhou Xuan shook him off and angrily said: "I'm not sick, why are you taking my pulse!"

  Fan Pan-guan, Xu the Governor, Shu Prefecture's Chief Historian and three chess players from Qi State who had not yet made their moves all gathered around. Zhou Xuan set up the board for them to see and said indignantly: "Can I lose at this game? If I can lose at a game like this, what kind of game can I still play? Today, if we don't get to the bottom of this matter, I will not rest!"

  Shang Zhanyuan said: "Playing chess is all about results, I won this game, are you still trying to be dishonest?"

  "Get out of here!" Zhou Xuan slapped him in the face.

  Zhou Xuan's hand was heavy, and Shang Zhaoyuan's face instantly swelled up on one side. He covered his face and shouted loudly: "How dare you hit people! You don't behave like a chess player at all! Gentlemen, please do something about this for me!"

  Zhou Xuan's face turned red with anger and he sneered: "A chess player can't hit people, but I'll make an exception for a scum like you who loses at chess."

  Xu the historian was a chess expert. Pointing at the chessboard, he said to Fan the judge: "Judge Fan, white is absolutely advantageous here, and it's a winning position, why would you suddenly make such an unreasonable move? There must be something strange going on."

  Magistrate Fan nodded.

  Zhuang Zhuanyuan saw Zhou Xuan beating him in front of everyone, but the two officials turned a blind eye. Enraged, he said: "Anyway, I've already won this game, even if we make a fuss to the Emperor, I'll still win. Can the chess pieces that have been played be taken back?"

  Gu Liuquan had won the game and came over, learned about what happened, stroking his white beard said: "Mr. Shang, if old man didn't remember wrong, six years ago you also played a similar game with Huang Xueyou, that game you were at a disadvantage all along. But near the endgame, Huang Xueyou suddenly made a mysterious and inexplicable move, even after the game Huang Xueyou felt strange how he could have made such a move! Of course, compared to this game it's just small magic versus great magic. I don't believe that Zhou Gongzi would make a move that would kill his own piece no matter what!"

  Shang Zhuan-yuan saw Gu Liu-quan mention his past, a hint of panic flashed in his eyes. After becoming famous, he had only used this trick once, and this time against Zhou Xuan was the second time. He said loudly: "Who doesn't make mistakes when playing chess? This time, Zhou's mistake is just bigger and more foolish -" He waved his hand at Fan Pan-guan, Gu Liu-quan and others, "You Jiangzhou people, from officials to chess players, are ganging up to intimidate me, a Shuzhou person, and want me to win the game but admit defeat? My head can be cut off, I absolutely will not admit defeat in this game."

  Qin Que had been paying attention to Shang Chuan Yuan's every move, and saw the fleeting look of panic on his face. He asked Gu Liuquan: "Old Master Gu, what did Mr. Shang do before he became a chess player?"

  Gu Liuquan was familiar with the other seventeen grandmasters, saying: "Speaking of which, Mr. Shang and Miss Qin are also colleagues, fifteen years ago they were students at the provincial medical office, later became famous for playing chess and gave up their positions at the medical office."

  Qin Que further confirmed his speculation, saying to Fan Pan Guan and Xu Ci Shi: "Lord Fan, Lord Xu, Qin Que, a student of the Jiangzhou Medical Bureau, believes that this Shang Chuan Yuan has used 'curse magic' on Crown Prince Zhou!"

  At these words, Shang Chuan-yuan jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and shouted: "You"

  ”

  Zhou Xuan looked at Shang Zhaoyuan's flustered appearance and knew that Qin Que had touched his sore spot, so he hastily asked: "Que'er, what is a cursed seal?"

  Qin Que said: "The Tang Dynasty Medical Office has four departments, and the Department of Incantations is one of them. Jiangzhou Medical Office's Jiang Zhuojiao is a doctor of incantations, and my son learned some incantation techniques from him. Although he didn't master it, he understood its principles. It's a treatment that uses talismans, incantations, and prayers to drive out evil spirits and cure illnesses. A skilled practitioner can capture people's hearts and minds. This Shang Quanyuan must have used incantations on my husband, causing him to temporarily lose his mind, resulting in this inexplicable chess move."

  "I never thought I'd meet a medical student who understands the forbidden spell here. His face had already changed, and suddenly hearing the words 'husband', he seemed to have grasped a lifesaving straw, shouting: "Great, so you're Zhou Xuan's wife! How can this be believed!"

  "Master Xu, Master Du has arrived in person to watch the chess game."

  Xu Cishi sternly said to Shang Quanyuan, "Shang Quanyuan, if you really used a cursed seal to win the game, you won't be able to escape prison." Then he hastily bid farewell to Lin with Fan Pangguan.

  They have always required students to be kind and upright, with good moral character, in order to prevent the use of mantra recitation for evil purposes. Those who violate this rule are subject to severe punishment, including death or exile.

  Shang Zhuan's face was covered in cold sweat, but he forced a hard tone: "Very good, all of you have arrived to protect the adults. It's just right for me, Shang, to uphold justice. I don't believe that all officials in Jiangzhou are so biased as to only protect their own."

  —

  Zhou Xuan realized that the reason he made a wrong move was because of something similar to hypnosis in later generations. It was truly eye-opening, using curse techniques on Go, and Shang Chuan Yuan was quite talented. He laughed and said: "Mr. Shang, Lin Du Hu is most willing to take charge for the people, when he arrives, you just kneel down and wail, cry bitterly, and Lin Du Hu will definitely support you. You're really lucky, encountering a good official, your mother, bad people have good luck too."

  Shang Zhuan Yuan was filled with suspicion: "A young man surnamed Zhou would be so kind as to remind me!"

  Qin Que and Zhen both wanted to laugh, thinking: "Although husband's words are not elegant, he is also being bullied, this Shang Zhuan Yuan is too evil!"

  Lin Kuang wore a loose robe and belt, and came to the "Worry-Free Hall" surrounded by a group of officials. Along the way, Xu Shi had already reported the situation to Lin Du Hu.

  Zhou Xuan saw that Lin Hanyun had also arrived, still wearing a green robe and small hat. When she saw Zhou Xuan smile at her, she pouted her small mouth and rolled her big eyes, ignoring Zhou Xuan and making it clear that she didn't acknowledge him as her brother.

  Shang Zhuan Yuan indeed did as Zhou Xuan had taught, kneeling on the ground and shouting loudly: "Lord Lin, I, Shang Zhuan Yuan, was playing a game of Go with that scoundrel Zhou Xuan. Clearly, I won, but he refused to admit it and instead beat me up, Lord! Please take a look, my face is all swollen, and two teeth were knocked out, which unfortunately got swallowed by me, what suffering!"

  Lin didn't understand Go and asked Gu Liuquan: "Mr. Gu, before Zhou Xuan made a mistake in this game, who had the upper hand?"

  Gu Liuquan said: "To be frank, Bai You, in terms of the demeanor of a chess player, Mr. Shang should have conceded defeat long ago. It's really despicable to drag it out like this, and what's even more outrageous is that he used such a despicable trick to cause Zhou Gongzi to make a mistake, this——"

  "Nonsense!" Shang Quanyuan shouted loudly: "That was the sly commoner Zhou Xuan himself making a mistake in his chess move, I didn't grab his hand and force him to make that move, how can he blame me for it!"

  Lin shouted: "Twenty slaps on the palm!"

  Lin's voice was extremely loud, and this loud shout made the four walls and long windows all "shudder" in response. From behind him, two knife-wielding guards responded to his call, one of whom removed Shang Zuan Yuan's hairpin, grabbed his hair knot, lifted him off the chessboard, and slapped him with a bamboo ruler. When there was no bamboo ruler, they used their palms, slapping him five or ten times in a row, this time really knocking out all his teeth.

  Lin Huan looked around at the people present and said, "Zhou Xuan is the nephew of this prefecture's governor, his good character is well-known to all. This bandit actually dares to falsely accuse my virtuous nephew as a troublesome commoner, truly not knowing life from death!" Lin also took this opportunity to let everyone know that Zhou Xuan was his nephew, and the brother of Lin Hanyan.

  The governor of Shu state was shocked and secretly glad that he had not spoken up for Shang Quan Yuan earlier, as this would have offended the nephew of the governor, who was also in the wrong. This time, Shang Quan Yuan will be lucky if he doesn't lose his skin!

  Lin said to Xu, "Xu sir, this prisoner has used curses and black magic for evil purposes. The evidence is clear, so there's no need for a public trial. He will be exiled 500 miles away and serve as a soldier on the border for 50 years."

  Xu Steward bowed and said: "Yes."

  Shang Zhuan's mouth spewed out blood foam, and he fell paralyzed to the ground.

  After becoming famous, Shang Zhiyuan only used the forbidden technique twice in his matches. The first time was when he defeated Huang Xueyou and became a well-known figure among the top eighteen chess players. However, this second time has completely ruined him. He is now forty-three years old, and unless he lives a long life, he will be ninety-three years old by the time he finishes serving his fifty-year sentence.