Kong Yifu carefully observed their behaviors. Great, excellent. Even a mere illegitimate daughter of Murong family did not get to marry into Kong family. I’ll properly test the capabilities of this boy you found, he thought.
“Huai, you’re on the black side, right? Since I’m older than you, I’ll let you go first,” Kong Yifu said, smiling.
“You don’t have to let me go with black just because I’m younger. Let’s flip a coin, I’m usually really lucky,” Guo Huai said. However, luck was not on his side this time. Kong Yifu played as black while he played as white. This would not affect the end result though—a banished immortal who had been playing Go for tens of thousands of years would naturally not lose to a regular human being.
Kid, do you really think that you can win just because you won an unfinished game earlier? I’ll let you witness how a true professional plays, Kong Yifu thought. Actually, his strategy was indeed excellent—he could easily defeat any regular player. However, his opponent today was Guo Huai.
“Kong Yifu, you mustn’t get distracted when you play. Look, I easily took your huge dragon down,” Guo Huai said and placed a stone on the board, encircling a huge area of Kong Yifu.
“Did you just call me by my full name?!” Kong Xuan said. Looking at his huge dragon that got eaten, he could not help but become nervous.
Another ten minutes had pa.s.sed, Ceasewind Grandmaster walked over and looked at the board before shaking his head lightly.
“Yifu, let’s stop playing for this round. You’ve already lost,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said softly.
“Again!” Kong Yifu shouted. He immediately picked the black side and started another round. However, it was faster this time as he lost within ten minutes.
“Hahah, let’s not play anymore. Including the unfinished game with the old man earlier, I’ve played three rounds today. It’s meaningless to continue playing like this,” Guo Huai said. He immediately rejected Kong Yifu’s request.
“Hahah, it’s great that you’re this humble,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said and smiled. “If I had met you earlier, I would’ve been able to match up your skills in certain aspects. I’m afraid that’s no longer possible now. May I ask who your master is?” After looking at how Guo Huai played throughout the second match with Kong Xuan, he concluded that if Guo Huai were to play with him in the future, it was very unlikely for him to win a match.
“My master? I have a lot of masters, but I can’t reveal their ident.i.ties. I hope you can forgive me for doing so,” Guo Huai said with a smile. How am I supposed to explain to you? I was learning from the Monkey King in the beginning. After returning from the Journey to the West, I learned from some random immortals. After reaching ascension and entering heaven, my opponents included Taibai Jinxing (the servant of Jade Emperor), Taiyi Zhenren (mythological figure) and Tudigong (G.o.d of the Ground). Would you believe me if I told you the truth?
“Hahah, alright, I won’t force you to answer,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said. “Yifu, there are always things that happen unpredictably. I know that the tragedy of Kong Xuan has ma.s.sively affected Kong family, however, Weiwei is my disciple now, meaning she’s your junior sister. You should know what you’re supposed to do.” He noticed what Kong Yifu had been thinking today.
“I understand. It’s me at fault today, please forgive me,” Kong Yifu said. What had to be said had been said. Naturally, he understood what his master was trying to say. “Master, I’m needed at the a.s.sociation now. I’ll have to take my leave and visit you in the near future,” he said before leaving.
Looking at Kong Yifu’s back, Ceasewind Grandmaster said softly, “Sigh, I used to think Yifu was the best out of my four disciples. His character and behavior were really alike to mine when I was young. However, it seems like I have been looking at him wrongly.”
“Please don’t blame yourself, old man,” Guo Huai said with a smile. “Oh, do you know anything about the gourd provided to the charity auction by General Li Doutian? Do you have any treasure as well? I’d like to take a look.”
Guo Huai suddenly remembered that he had left quite some good stuff at Chen Household before ascending to heaven. He wanted to check if they were pa.s.sed down to his descendants or not. Some of the items could be used by him now.
“Doutian’s gourd? I don’t know much about it, but he had shown it to me when he first got it,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said. “I don’t have any gourds here, however, I have some other treasures pa.s.sed down by my ancestors. I’ll take them for you to have a look,” he said before walking into the house.
I don’t care about anything else, I just want the flying sword that I crafted with my own hands back then. I especially informed you all to pa.s.s it down to each generation. If it’s not here anymore, I’ll find you guys in h.e.l.l to punish you, Guo Huai thought.
“According to my elders, there were quite a number of items back then. However, after leaving Qinghai Province to Wucheng County, some were lost in the wars within the country, and between wars with other countries. There are only three treasures left,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said as he pushed a small trolley to the living room.
“Old man, why did you take the items out again?” Grandma Wu asked. She just finished cleaning the dining table and saw the old man pushing a trolley out.
“This little friend wants to take a look at them. I’m afraid that my words mean nothing to him, perhaps I can impress him with these treasures pa.s.sed down from the ancestors,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said and smiled.
These are the Sevenstar Compa.s.s and Heavenflip Seal. Although they’re both knockoffs, I had been relying on these toys to earn my meals back then, Guo Huai thought to himself after opening two boxes. However, it would be useless for him to get these items now. Based on the limited amount of divine power he currently had, activating these items would be the same as asking for death. Hanging himself on a rope would be faster and more efficient.
As he reached out to open the third open, he shouted in this mind, Flying sword! Please be the flying sword!
“Grandpa, these are quite impressive. I haven’t seen these many treasures after having spun around in the ancient market for so long. Can you explain to me what these are made of?” Guo Huai said with a smile. He tried his best to cover his excitement, because the moment he opened the third box, a very familiar sword appeared in sight. It was indeed the flying sword he crafted back then.
“This is a compa.s.s. There should be someone who excelled in feng shui back then who could use this tool. However, this compa.s.s is a lot smaller than the ones produced nowadays,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said.
[TL note: The feng shui practice discusses architecture in metaphoric terms of ‘invisible forces’ that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together, known as qi.]
“This should be an ancient seal. I can’t tell what words are carved on it, even after finding countless experts to verify. For this last item, I think it’s a toy that my ancestor made for his children. However, it has a really delicate craftwork. I bet they noticed this thing was overly sharp and decided to pa.s.s it onto the younger generations, and now it ended up in my hands,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said.
After listening to what Ceasewind Grandmaster said, Guo Huai had almost gone crazy. Using the knockoff Sevenstar Compa.s.s, inauthentic Heavenflip Seal, and Divine Flying Sword, Chen Qingyuan managed to ma.s.sacre the devils and save the world, earning countless karma which allowed him to singlehandedly resist the divine lightning during ascension. He did not expect these to be described this way after so many generations.
Go (围棋) literally means ‘encircling game’. Being invented thousands of years ago, it’s actually a really common game in China — almost everyone knows how to play the game there.
Karma (功德) – cosmic merit or demerit acc.u.mulated throughout one’s life based on one’s deeds. Determines which type of reincarnation (out of the Six Paths) they will experience in their next life.