Chapter 42 - Four Combining Into One
Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok...
Inside Gu Hai"s glabella, the white pieces upon the small weiqi board hovering between the white crystal and the black piece moved constantly.
Meanwhile, Gu Hai"s illusionary body kept on staring at this weiqi board.
In a trance, three days had elapsed. Over these three days, Gu Hai"s real body ate some things unconsciously, but his mind had always been immersed in this game.
A realization seemed to have dawned upon Gu Hai"s illusionary body after having watched it for so long.
Slowly, he removed his gaze from the white crystal and looked at the one hundred thousand trembling endgames below.
The hundred thousand weiqi boards shuddered, seemingly feeling Gu Hai"s thoughts.
"Endgames can also be merged!?" Suddenly, Gu Hai"s narrowed his eyes.
Immediately after he spoke, four weiqi boards among the hundred thousand weiqi boards moved towards the center.
BANG!
Four weiqi boards combined into one weiqi board with a loud crash. Each of those boards had a 19x19 grid, but at this moment, they merged into a larger weiqi board with a 38x38 grid with a loud rumble and flash.
After those four weiqi boards merged, a big weiqi board with 1,444 weiqi positions was born. After the weiqi pieces were placed on it, there was a sudden increase in endless variables as well.
"Combined?" Gu Hai"s eyes lit up; it appeared as though he had found a new toy.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!...
Sets of four endgames after four endgames among the hundred thousand endgames started to combine under Gu Hai"s control, combining into large weiqi boards with 1,444 positions in succession.
The very first combination of four endgames brought forth a momentous change suddenly, bringing about extremely complex variations.
Gu Hai also seemed to have suddenly gained enlightenment as he felt his field of vision immediately getting bigger with the combining of these endgames, a divine inspiration kind of feeling. Gu Hai even felt as though his soul was baptized because of the joining of the endgames; what he felt was kind of inexplicable, as if his spirit had sublimely expanded all of a sudden.
More importantly, not just any four endgames could be merged into one, only a certain few could. Gu Hai"s consciousness seemed to have been divided into two parts; one part watching over the hundred thousand endgames as they merged, while the other part was keeping an eye on the small weiqi board above the crystal again.
Although the small weiqi board only had a 28x28 grid, it appeared to be hiding a big secret. Gu Hai benefited a lot after having watched it for just a while; he had a feeling that he could understand more from this game. Furthermore, Gu Hai also sensed energy was being consumed bit by bit with every move of weiqi piece on the weiqi board; perhaps this program could display the game only once. There would be nothing left once this game was over.
Therefore, Gu Hai cherished this opportunity.
BANG!
BANG!...
While Gu Hai was immersed in the inspiration from the small weiqi board, sets of four endgames continued to combine non-stop.
---
Back in the outside world, Chen Tianshan and Gao Xianzhi waited outside the cave, while Little Rou waited inside the cave.
Little Rou was on a constant watch by Gu Hai"s side. She would sleep for a while when she got tired; look at Gu Hai when awake. She never grew tired of watching Gu Hai. Occasionally, her face would get slightly flushed while looking at the meditating Gu Hai.
"Benefactor, thank you for saving me. At that moment, I had come face to face with death, it felt as if the whole world wanted me to die, I was helpless, desperate, freezing. I was so weak at that time that I might very well be dead. But at that moment, I saw you coming over, your whole body was releasing a glow that warmed me at once. Thank you, benefactor!" mumbled Little Rou to herself. Gazing at Gu Hai, her eyes s.h.i.+mmered with a gentle look.
---
Outside the cave...
As Gao Xianzhi raised his head to look at the sky, a rather solemn look appeared in his eyes.
BANG BOOM BANG!
The hydra once again clashed with a group of cloud beasts at the periphery of the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree. Furthermore, as the hydra swallowed other cloud beasts and golden pieces in the past few days, it grew bigger and bigger in size and reached an astonis.h.i.+ng size of five hundred zhang.
“ROAR!”
The hydra let out a roar as an ominous aura tore the heaven and earth apart before a shocking scene trembled the whole world. A grand total of five cloud beasts were all bitten by the five snakeheads at this moment.
"Let us go!"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I should have come a bit later, why did I come earlier!"
"AHHH!"...
The congregation of cultivators let go of their golden pieces and cloud beasts immediately, tumbling down straight towards the ground.
“ROAR!”
The hydra let out another roar as it swallowed all five cloud beasts together into its stomach.
BUZZ!
The hydra once again grew by ten zhang.
Ninth Young Master coldly stared at the five cultivators who were falling down from the sky, standing atop the centermost snakehead.
"A bunch of wastes, all of your weiqi skills can only amount to the previous wastes, hmph!" sneered Ninth Young Master coldly.
Meanwhile, the hydra flung its tail towards the five cultivators fiercely.
BOOM!
AHHH!
AHHH!...
The five cultivators spat mouthfuls of blood as they were sent flying.
This strike marked the end of the latest skirmish in the sky.
Ninth Young Master cast a glance around. "Come on, don"t you want the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree? Come and die if you so desire it!"
There were still ten cloud beasts scattered about on the horizon. However, these cloud beasts didn"t charge at Ninth young Master at all, but instead watched coldly. After all, these cloud beasts were too small.
Gao Xianzhi narrowed his eyes as he gazed at that tyrannical hydra.
Swish Swish
The sound of rustling gra.s.s came from the forest, but it was none other than Chen Tianshan who sprang out from the nearby trees.
"Senior Chen, how is it?" asked Gao Xianzhi right away.
Chen Tianshan took a deep breath and replied, "I have scouted every place where natives were residing, and a golden piece emerged at every place. I have heard that these golden pieces have seldom appeared in past two centuries, but this time, the golden pieces have emerged as if they are shooting out of a fountain."
"Oh?"
"This information is already out. Almost all the outsiders are rus.h.i.+ng at the natives" places of residence, hoping to get the golden piece. As for how to get it, I am not sure. Presumably, the number of people obtaining the golden piece would grow from here on in, and thus, the number of cloud beasts will grow, as well," stated Chen Tianshan as a frown crept up on his forehead.
Gao Xianzhi looked at the hydra, and the ten cloud beasts on the horizon, narrowing his eyes.
"Gao Xianzhi, tell me, are we still going to wait?" asked Chen Tianshan, a bit anxious.
Gao Xianzhi became silent for a while as he took out his own golden piece before speaking, "So this golden piece can read our weiqi skills as long as we communicate with our mind, and we can also feel heaven and earth forces through it, allowing us to congeal our cloud beasts?"
"Yes, yes, and it looks like, it can also engulf other cloud beasts and their weiqi skills as well, to grow bigger!?" ventured Chen Tianshan, frowning.
Gao Xianzhi nodded.
"How strong the cloud beasts are is determined by the weiqi skills of the piece’s owner; worthy of Weiqi Empyrean Court world, everything is related to weiqi!" said Gao Xianzhi with his brow furrowed.
"Are we still not going to take action? That hydra will only get stronger and stronger!" asked Chen Tianshan, worried.
Gao Xianzhi gazed at the cave.
"Throne Master is in his seclusion training at this moment. If he was out, his decision would have been the same as ours; that"s but a Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree!" advised Chen Tianshan.
Gao Xianzhi agreed as he nodded, "Indeed, the opportunity is right in front of us, if we let it go, we are sure going to regret it later on!"
Chen Tianshan"s eyes lit up as he said, "Then, we are going to start?"
"No, wait a minute, let"s notify Little Rou and hide the cave first, then we"re going to start!" said Gao Xianzhi calmly.
"Alright!" Nodded Chen Tianshan.
Next, Gao Xianzhi and Chen Tianshan explained to Little Rou after having hidden the cave. Naturally, Little Rou had no objection as she wanted to look after Gu Hai; as such, she agreed on the spot.
Just to be on safe side, Gao Xianzhi brought Chen Tianshan far away from the Carefree Valley and only then did they started controlling the golden piece.
As Chen Tianshan closed his eyes, holding the golden piece in his fingers, he began to sense the surroundings.
BUZZ!
Suddenly, billowing clouds appeared around Chen Tianshan, before a one hundred-zhang long giant beast emerged from the gathered mists. It was a one hundred-zhang long giant bull!
“MOOO!”
The giant bull bellowed as a wild and arrogant look crossed its face. Meanwhile, the lower half of Chen Tianshan"s body was inside the bull"s head, standing upright; nevertheless, he felt extremely comfortable.
"So this is what a cloud beast feels like, so strong!" exclaimed Chen Tianshan excitedly.
Chen Tianshan looked at Gao Xianzhi before turning his head.
BANG!
Once again, billowing clouds appeared, but at Gao Xianzhi"s location. A two hundred-zhang long giant dragon suddenly appeared among the clouds. A hideous expression and a pair of wings on its back gave it an incomparably vicious appearance.
"Hiss! Rain dragon[1]?" Chen Tianshan looked at the cloud beast congealed by Gao Xianzhi in surprise.
Gao Xianzhi stood atop the dragon"s head, feeling its mighty strength.
Apparently, Gao Xianzhi"s weiqi skills were a lot higher than Chen Tianshan. The cloud beast was twice the size of Chen Tianshan"s.
"Gao Xianzhi, let"s go and rob the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree. You attack from the south, I will attack from the north!" proposed Chen Tianshan, excited.
Gao Xianzhi, on the other hand, shook his head as he said, "No, we aren"t going to attack the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree!"
"Ah?" Chen Tianshan was confused.
"I indeed promised you that we are going to take action now, but if we went for the hydra, we would only be courting death. And as we were among the first to get the golden weiqi pieces and had the opportunity that others didn"t have, we should take one step at a time and proceed steadily!" said Gao Xianzhi in a calm manner.
"If we are not going for the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree, then for what?" Chen Tianshan was perplexed.
"We are going to swallow others" cloud beasts and grow our own!" stated Gao Xianzhi patiently.
"Ah?"
"If we attack the hydra, we will be courting death. If the hydra can grow bigger by swallowing other cloud beasts, then why can"t we? When our cloud beasts are as big as the hydra, then, that will be the best moment for us to plunder the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree!" explained Gao Xianzhi calmly.
"Ah, right!" Chen Tianshan"s eyes lit up.
"Furthermore, if we act together, our cloud beasts will grow stronger more quickly by swallowing the cloud beasts of others!" said Gao Xianzhi.
"I will listen to you!" agreed Chen Tianshan, he immediately grew excited.
"Let"s go!" Gao Xianzhi shouted at the top of his voice.
BANG!
The rain dragon flapped its wings, while the giant bull trod the air, as they charged towards a cloud beast on the horizon, racing the clouds.
BANG BOOM BANG!
Soon after, the two besieged a cloud wolf.
"What do you want to do?" the man on the cloud asked, staring at them.
“ROAR!”
“MOOO!”
The rain dragon and the giant bull simply didn"t pay any heed to him as they attacked immediately.
A great battle began in the sky.
---
In the vicinity of Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree, Ninth Young Master"s countenance immediately worsened as he watched the battle on the horizon, "Not good!"
---
Inside a copse of mountain forest on the ground...
Meng Tai"s expression also changed, gazing at the sky, "Big fish eat the small fish, huh? Find the golden weiqi piece for me as quickly as possible! The sooner you find it, the bigger the opportunity we will have. If we are delayed, we won"t have any opportunity!"
"Yes!" responded the congregation of Ascendant Hall disciples.
______________________
TLN:
[1] Rain Dragon (应龙) - Literally responsive dragon, it’s a winged dragon and a rain deity, so I have used rain dragon. If you want to know further, you can find it here.