Chapter 126 - Playing Weiqi at the Ding Long Clan
Along the way, more and more people followed Gu Hai.
Gu Hai didn"t pay much attention to them, nor did he hide his tracks. In fact, he didn"t need to hide his tracks. On the contrary, proceeding openly was by far the safest. He was the Ascendant Hall Water Throne Master. The forces on the righteous side would not dare to make a move on him, and with his notorious prestige, the underground forces would think twice before making a move on him.
After a short while, Gu Hai paused, for he had arrived at the Ding Long Clan.
At this moment, there were clouds circling around the Ding Long Clan, and countless cultivators gathered in front of it.
Vaguely, one could notice a giant island floating in the sky. The huge island was in tapered shape, with a flat top and pointed bottom. It looked incomparably marvelous.
The floating island had square-shaped clouds swimming around it. Surprisingly, each and every square-shaped cloud had a weiqi game upon it.
The weiqi games were spread out everywhere, moving slowly all over the Ding Long Clan.
In the distance, he could see a cultivator sitting on the ground. There was a cloud weiqi board before him. The cultivator was slowly placing a piece.
On another side, as another cultivator extended his hand in a grabbing motion, the cloud weiqi board surprisingly split into two. No, it should be that the exact copy of that endgame had fallen before him. The man was also studying the endgame on that cloud"s weiqi board at the same time.
"Weiqi board?" Gu Hai said, perplexed.
"Throne Master Gu, this is the endgame array laid out by the Ding Long Clan. They have promised that as long as anyone solves an endgame, he or she will be rewarded with ten high-grade spirit stones!" a nearby cultivator told Gu Hai.
"Oh?" An intrigued look appeared on Gu Hai"s face.
"These endgames are pretty good. There are three thousand endgames, and five hundred of them have already been solved. At first, only a hundred endgames were solved after one month, until the three Weiqi Kings of the Thousand Islands Seas appeared. After that, these endgames were solved much more quickly!" that cultivator explained.
Suddenly, a hum rose from the distance; apparently, an endgame had been solved. In the next moment, that cloud weiqi board abruptly collapsed, scattering into clouds that rose into the air towards the floating island. In a flash, the floating island blurred for a moment.
At the same time, the other weiqi board similarly vanished into nothing, giving the impression that as long as it had been solved, its existence was no longer significant.
At this time, a man dressed in yellow robes quickly walked out of the grand array that the clouds were lingering all across.
"Throne Master Gu, look, that"s a Ding Long Clan disciple!" the man next to Gu Hai explained.
The Ding Long Clan"s disciple took out ten high-grade spirit stones and handed them to the man who had solved the endgame respectfully.
At the sight of this, eyes of all the cultivators in the vicinity turned red with greed and envy. Ten high-grade spirit stones were equal to a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones. Such a sum was exceedingly high!
"Why do they want us to solve the weiqi game?" Gu Hai asked, furrowing his brow.
"I have no idea, it started about a month and a half back! All the powerful weiqi experts were invited inside the Ding Long Clan, perhaps they know!" the nearby man answered, shaking his head.
"Oh? You mean that the Three Weiqi Kings you spoke of have also gone in?" Gu Hai asked, puzzled.
"Yes, the Three Weiqi Kings are all Nascent Soul experts of the Thousand Islands Seas. Each of them has made a name for themselves with their weiqi skills. If anyone wants to be invited into the Ding Long Clan, all they have to do is solve an endgame. The more games one can solve, the more readily they will be invited in!" the man standing next to Gu Hai answered, shaking his head.
"Throne Master Gu, you have displayed your towering weiqi skills in the Xiantian Endgame World, why don"t you give it a try? If you can win even one game, you can gain ten high-grade spirit stones at least!" that man said in antic.i.p.ation.
"Yes, Mister Gu, you can also give it a try! We have been studying these endgames for a long time, but we still can"t solve them!"
Gu Hai furrowed his brow.
Suddenly, the man who had been speaking jumped up into the sky towards the weiqi boards circling around the Ding Long Clan and reached out to a weiqi board in a grabbing motion.
That cloud weiqi board divide into two, one of which was still swimming in the air, while its copy was pulled down. In the blink of an eye, the copied cloud weiqi board had arrived before Gu Hai.
"Mister Gu, would you like to try?" that man asked respectfully.
Gu Hai took a glance at the weiqi board, then turned his eyes to the Ding Long Clan. A complex look immediately appeared on his face.
Gu Hai reckoned that Ding Rui must be inside. He knew that the scheme of offering a reward wasn"t as ordinary as it looked. It was filled with a sense of urgent crisis. However, with the advancement of his strength, Gu Hai was also intrigued by the Nine-Five Island"s dragon vein.
As the saying goes, one should act according to their own capability. When Gu Hai was weak, he didn"t have any chance to partic.i.p.ate in this matter. But now, perhaps he could understand the situation.
"I guess, I might give it a try!" Nodding in agreement, Gu Hai sat down and began placing the pieces.
There was a special bowl on the weiqi board. When one picked up one piece, another one fell inside.
As Gu Hai placed the piece, the endgame also made its move accordingly.
At this moment, countless cultivators stared at Gu Hai as he placed the pieces.
Inside the Ding Long Clan...
Another round of confrontations began between Ding Rui and Long Wanqing.
As Long Wanqing"s body was s.h.i.+elded by the Dragon Drawing Jade, Ding Rui was powerless to do anything to her.
"Hmph, Long Wanqing, don"t be stubborn. I don"t want to kill you, otherwise, this Dragon Drawing Jade couldn"t save you!" Ding Rui said emotionlessly.
Long Wanqing coldly glared back at Ding Rui. "Ding Rui, you say you don"t want to kill me? You have imprisoned me now, what"s the difference between this and killing me?"
Ding Rui answered Long Wanqing with a cold stare of her own.
"Are you worried about grandpa? As long as I am alive, grandpa won"t investigate this too much, but if I die, grandpa will definitely investigate it, won"t he? Hahaha, in the end, you are still afraid of grandpa!" Long Wanqing sneered.
"Long Wanqing, I will get this dragon vein! I am giving you a bit more time, if you remain stubborn, hmph! Don"t you remember how your mother died, did your grandfather find anything then? He is not omnipotent, I can kill you just like your mother died!" Ding Rui stated in a cold voice.
"Hmm?" Long Wanqing"s pupils contracted suddenly as she stared coldly at Ding Rui. She could see that Ding Rui wasn"t lying at all.
"Au...Aunt!" Ding Tong"s anxious voice rose suddenly from outside the hall. He quickly rushed into the hall, looking at Long Wanqing with a complex gaze.
"Greetings, Ascendant Hall Lord!" Ding Tong respectfully greeted Long Wanqing.
"Hmph!" Long Wanqing just gave out a cold snort, ignoring him completely.
"What are you doing here?" Ding Rui asked coldly.
"Gu...Gu Hai is here!" Ding Tong said, a wry smile on his face.
"What?" Ding Rui"s face sank immediately upon hearing this.
"Gu Hai?" A sliver of a surprise also showed up Long Wanqing"s face.
"Yes, I also didn"t expect that old devil to run up to my Ding Long Clan after annihilating the Golden Tong and the Song Jia Sect! Aunt, what should we do? This Gu Hai is a ruthless man! My disciple has just informed me that Gu Hai alone ma.s.sacred all of the Song Jia Sect disciples, all by himself!" Ding Tong reported as a bitter smile crept up on his lips.
"Alone! He had ma.s.sacred all the Song Jia Sect disciples alone? Impossible!" Long Wanqing blurted out in surprise.
How is this possible? Just over half a year ago, he had just stepped into the Xiantian Stage under my supervision! How could someone who has just entered the Xiantian Stage completely kill off all the Song Jia Sect disciples? There should have been over five thousand of them!?
Ding Tong just smiled wryly to Long Wanqing, indicating that it was the truth.
Long Wanqing"s eyelids immediately started twitching madly. Only at this instant did Long Wanqing felt that although she herself had praised Gu Hai for his ability, she still had underestimated him.
I thought that achieving such a result in the Xiantian Endgame World was because of his weiqi skills, but it seems that his success couldn"t be explained just by that, his ability certainly played a part in it as well!
Gu Hai, the Ascendant Hall Water Throne Master?
Suddenly, a bright gleam manifested in Long Wanqing"s eyes. Gu Hai is here, wouldn"t that mean...?
Ding Rui turned her head and looked at Long Wanqing, she pursed her lips into a sneer as she said scornfully, "Long Wanqing, are you expecting Gu Hai to come and save you?"
"Hmm?"
"Don"t count on it, I will capture him and imprison him right in front of you immediately! What are you going to do then?" Ding Rui declared with a sneer on her lips.
"Ding Rui?" Long Wanqing coldly scowled at Ding Rui.
"Au...Aunt, perhaps we can"t capture him yet..." Ding Tong said. Another wry smile appeared on his face.
"Huh?" Both of them immediately turned their gazes at Ding Tong, confused.
"Gu Hai has solved endgames!" Ding Tong reported, smiling wryly.
"So what?" Ding Rui rebuked him, perplexed at this statement.
"This Gu Hai"s weiqi skills are simply amazing, he has already solved a hundred endgames in this short time!" Ding Tong explained with a self-mocking, wry smile.
"A hundred? Are you kidding me? How long did he take?" Ding Rui asked, simply astounded.
"Eight hours!" Ding Tong answered.
"Impossible, how could he solve a hundred endgames in just eight hours?" Ding Rui flared up in surprise.
"It"s true, Gu Hai, he is playing five games at the same time! And as easily as floating clouds and flowing water, he, after solving five endgames at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed, continued to solve another five. He… he is treating those endgames like he is playing against a beginner. Then..." Ding Tong continued to smile, self-mockingly.
"Playing five games at the same time? What the h.e.l.l!" Ding Rui blurted out, shocked.
"He is finis.h.i.+ng five endgames at the same time as well!"
Ding Rui was rendered speechless. "...!"
Long Wanqing was also shocked. "This Gu Hai"s weiqi skills are simply marvelous!"
"Aunt, are you still going to capture him? He has solved a hundred endgames in just eight hours, and he is continuing. He is far faster than the Three Weiqi Kings we invited!" Ding Tong continued, not hiding his amazement.
Hearing this, Ding Rui"s eyes flickered with an ever-changing expression.
Capture Gu Hai? But Ding Rui wanted to solve those three thousand endgames as soon as possible...
"Very well, let him continue!" Ding Rui ordered in an emotionless voice.
A light chuckle immediately escaped Long Wanqing"s lips. At this moment, she finally understood Grandmaster Liunian"s words: If someone is useful, his ability is his best protection!
"Long Wanqing, you better think it over, you don"t have much time!" Ding Rui let out a cold snort as she turned around and started taking her leave.
"Ding Rui, since you want to kill me, you are not going to leave a trace, right? Does that mean you are going to kill everyone who knows about it? Are you going to decimate the entire Ding Long Clan? Spare no one, as only the dead can"t speak!" Long Wanqing stated as a cold smile appeared on her lips.
Long Wanqing was speaking to Ding Rui"s back, however, her eyes were focused on the nearby Ding Tong.
Hearing this, Ding Tong"s entire body shuddered. Turning his head, he looked over at Ding Rui. However, he didn"t say anything at all as he followed Ding Rui out of the palace slowly.
With a bang, the gates of the palace were slammed shut once again.
Nonetheless, a sliver of cold smile was still present on Long Wanqing"s lips.
In a small courtyard of Ding Long Clan...
An old man dressed in red robes was playing a game of weiqi. He was surrounded by a hundred cultivators who were whispering to each other, discussing...
"Master is solving this game as naturally as floating clouds and flowing water!"
"Keep it down, master is competing with the Southern Weiqi King in speed, don"t disturb him!"
"Yes!"
"Senior Brother, although master, as the Northern Weiqi King, isn"t directly dealing with the Southern Weiqi King, but why don"t they play a game against each other to decide once and for all? Why are they using this method?"
"Yes, ten high-grade spirit stones for winning a game might be very precious to the others, but it isn"t anything remarkable for our teacher!"
"The Southern Weiqi King is doing the same over there as well, they have come all the way to Nine-Five Island to play at the Ding Long Clan, it"s truly strange!"
"Perhaps… perhaps it has something to do with those few people in that building!"...
Everyone was discussing with each other, while glancing at a nearby loft. The Northern Weiqi King had already given instruction to everybody that no one was to intrude on that loft. Although the Northern Weiqi King had come to the Ding Long Clan with his own company, no one could disturb it.
His people could go anywhere, they could even go to the side of Southern Weiqi King, but they could not disturb that loft!
In that loft, a white-robed man was leaning against the window, drinking fragrant wine and looking over at the Northern Weiqi King"s weiqi board with narrowed eyes.
The field of view of this attic was pretty good. Not only could he see the weiqi board that was surrounded by a crowd clearly, he could also see the Southern Weiqi King"s weiqi board on the other side, as well.
"Southern Weiqi King, Northern Weiqi King! You are trying all means to become my subst.i.tute and get my inheritance, it"s just that your weiqi skills are (sigh) barely satisfactory!" the white-robed man said with a cold smile, while taking a sip of wine.
At this time, a gray-robed subordinate ran over and whispered, "Ninth Young Master, Gu Hai has also arrived!"
"Oh?" The Ninth Young Master immediately narrowed his eyes.
"He is solving the games outside, and very quickly at that!"
"Gu Hai! He is here, good, good!" Ninth Young Master"s eyes lit up immediately.
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