Lei Gu Mountain

Lei Gu Mountain is the announced venue for a chess gathering organized by Su XingHe, a meeting that brings Duan Yu into contact with an invitation from the renowned Deaf Mute Old Man. Its place in the account is established through both the invitation’s date and Zhu DanChen’s directions to the mountain.

The Chess Invitation

Two visitors present Duan Yu with a red invitation card bearing Su XingHe’s respectful summons to the most talented chess players in the realm. It sets the gathering for the eighth day of the second lunar month at Lei Gu Mountain. Duan Yu accepts, saying that he has no pressing obligations and will attend, then asks how the visitors knew he could play chess. Their gestures make clear that they are mute, and Duan Yu cannot understand their reply.

The visitors also offer an invitation to Quan GuanQing. He declines, describing his chess ability as too poor for the meeting, while Duan Yu accepts. The mountain is thus introduced not as a place visited in the scene, but as the destination around which an invitation—and a distinction between those willing to attend and those who refuse—takes shape.

Location and Narrative Context

When Duan Yu asks whether Lei Gu Mountain is far away, Zhu DanChen later explains that it lies south of SongXian and northeast of QuYuan Ridge, and is not far from their present location. After hearing this, Duan Yu takes leave of Quan GuanQing and departs from the valley with Zhu DanChen. The directions provide the location’s only specific geographical definition in this episode.

Duan Yu then asks what kind of person Su XingHe is, wondering whether he is the Central Plains’ leading Go player. Zhu DanChen identifies him as the Deaf Mute Old Man and explains that he is a highly regarded Central Plains expert whose martial arts are formidable. That background gives the invitation’s chess setting a significance beyond a game: the meeting promises to gather skilled players around a figure known both for his intellect and for his martial reputation. The account establishes the promised gathering and its venue, but does not yet describe what happens at Lei Gu Mountain.