Chapter 32 - The Life and Death Game of Weiqi, Part One
Carefree Valley...
Gu Hai walked out of the cove of the spirit pool. Nonetheless, no one noticed that a few extra people had appeared in the mountain valley.
Having covered the cave entrance with charred woods and all, their small group walked towards everyone, on the other side of the giant barrow.
"That aura is simply too terrifying. I feel like there is a saber hanging over my head in the dark clouds!" Gao Xianzhi looked up at the sky as an ugly look distorted his countenance.
"What array is this?" wondered Chen Tianshan as his face was also blanketed by an ugly expression.
Gu Hai looked at the sky, which was so covered by dark clouds it looked no different than the curtain of night. It was dotted with stars that were shooting beams of light down to the ground towards a center in the distance. Amid these beams of light, there were two beams of light shooting straight at the center that were the brightest of all.
At the center was a huge platform which was surrounded by 2,000 or so cultivators. Each and every face bore a horrified look as they looked at that enormous platform.
Laying under the platform were a couple hundred corpses, and all of these corpses had been split into two across their midlines, spilling entails and blood on the ground. The land around the platform was dyed red and was particularly horrifying.
Looking at these corpses, the crowd of two thousand or so cultivators was shuddering in fear. Some of the female cultivators were even sobbing incessantly. Fear had pervaded everyone"s heart.
Amid the crowd, Gu Hai caught sight of Song Qingshu.
At this instance, Song Qingshu"s eyes flickered with shock and confusion as he stared at the huge platform.
Atop the platform was a weiqi board. Each piece on the weiqi board was illuminated by the starlights, and the two brightest of all covered the two weiqi players.
Atop the sea of corpses, two players were having a game of weiqi, whereas two thousand or so people around them stared at that weiqi board in trepidation.
"What are they doing?" Little Rou looked at this scene, confused.
"That player is the Earth Throne Master of Ascendant Hall, Meng Tai!?" Chen Tianshan stated as his eyes lit up in shock.
"Meng Tai?" Gu Hai looked down the direction pointed by Chen Tianshan...
And saw a curly-bearded, robust fellow sitting on one side of the weiqi board, placing a white piece on the board.
Gu Hai narrowed his eyes; he still remembered the meaningful warning given by Grandmaster Liunian before he left.
The one holding the black piece was a white-robed male. However, at this moment, he was staring at the weiqi board with a fearful look in his eyes.
"No, no, no, I was clearly winning a moment ago, I was clearly winning!" the white-robed man cried out in fear.
Meng Tai took a long, deep breath before he stated, "The game is already set, I"m really sorry, but if you want to blame, then blame the lack of time!"
Snap
Meng Tai placed the white piece on the board.
BANG!
On the board, a large number of black pieces had been surrounded and were taken out immediately after.
THUMP!
Following which, the black pieces all disappeared as the outcome of the game was decided in the blink of an eye.
"White piece wins!" a thunderous voice suddenly reverberated through the dark clouds.
"Throne Master Meng won?" many people shouted.
"No, Meng Tai, you cheated me, you cheated me, I will kill you!" The white-robed man"s eyes went wide as he grabbed a sword and thrust towards Meng Tai.
BANG!
Meng Tai punched towards the sword tip, pus.h.i.+ng back the long sword immediately.
Whereupon, a grim look covered the white-robed man"s face as he wanted to thrust again, but at this moment, a saber"s cry suddenly resounded inside the dark clouds.
SCREE-CHING!
It was like a long saber was being unsheathed. Whereupon, a hundred-zhang wide huge Saber Qi dropped straight at the white-robed man.
The sound of Saber Qi cutting through the air was so ear-piercing that Gu Hai felt a bout of pain in his eardrums. The Saber Qi charged straight at the white-robed man with an unstoppable momentum; its speed was simply too fast.
The white-robed man simply didn"t have time to fight with Meng Tai anymore. All he could do was raise his sword immediately to meet with the Saber Qi. At the same time, a grim and panic-stricken look distorted the white-robed man"s face.
"No!" a cry of despair resounded in the valley as the white-robed man slashed his long sword towards the sky.
BOOM!
The Sword Qi and long sword were simply unable to block the violence of the hundred-zhang wide Saber Qi. In the blink of an eye, it was blasted away and the white-robed man could only give a horrible shriek as he was split into two, scattering his entrails and blood everywhere before it fell under the square platform as like the rest before.
"AHHH!" a burst of frightful screams once again rose all around.
"This?" Chen Tianshan and the others felt their scalps tingle.
Once anyone lost, they would be split into two by the Saber Qi congealed by the large array?
Gu Hai, Gao Xianzhi, and Little Rou"s countenance became ugly.
Screams of fear reverberated in the valley, yet no one left.
Whereas the weiqi pieces of the board were rearranged suddenly before a weiqi endgame appeared.
"Once again this endgame? Sky Saber Life and Death Game?"
"Getting picked up by the array is no different than death. If the piece isn’t placed within thirty breath, you die! Lose, you die!? What-what to do!?"
"I don"t want to die!"
"..."
Everyone with a fragile heart was frightened to the core.
Having listened to the panic-stricken crowd, Gu Hai"s expression also changed. Raising his head, he looked at the sky. Is this a peerless array!?
"Throne Master?" the congregation of Ascendant Hall disciples said anxiously.
Meng Tai took a long, deep breath as he rea.s.sured them, "May as well, according to the rules of this world, the remnant disciples of Weiqi Empyrean Court aren"t allowed to take actions against us, the outsiders. They have broken the rules for sure and the remnant Weiqi Empyrean Court disciples will soon report it to the Great Elder. As long as we hang on till then, someone will come to punish them."
"But?" the Ascendant Hall disciples said anxiously.
"Sky Saber Life and Death Game? I too want to see how formidable the game casually created by the top grandmaster in the world of weiqi, Elder Guanqi, is!" said Meng Tai coldly.
SCREE-CHING
Suddenly, a hundred zhang wide Saber Qi appeared amid the dark clouds, pointing right at Meng Tai. Feeling the catastrophic aura pressing right at him, Meng Tai"s countenance changed for worse; he dared not keep the white piece in his hand.
Snap
A white piece fell on the weiqi board.
"Thirty breaths, it seems if the piece isn"t placed within thirty breath, the sky saber will cut down!" stated Song Qingshu as the look on his face flickered.
Whereas Gu Hai stared at the weiqi board with his eyes focused, "Sky Saber Life and Death Game?"
Snap
Suddenly, a black piece seemingly pulled by the starlight, fell on the weiqi board.
Everyone kept their eyes upon Meng Tai. Meanwhile, Meng Tai picked up a weiqi piece, staring at the weiqi board; his mind seemingly completely immersed in it. It seemed he was waiting for the exact moment when the sky saber hanging over his head cut straight down.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Meng Tai"s forehead. He seemed to have already thought of where to place the piece, he was just dragging the time out until the thirty breaths of time was almost up.
Snap
The white piece fell on the board.
Snap
The black piece fell on the board automatically.
Slowly but surely, the weiqi game developed.
"This is a game against Elder Guanqi!?" an astonished look covered Chen Tianshan"s face.
Quietly, Gu Hai looked at the weiqi board, watching the game.
In contrast, the others looked at Meng Tai in antic.i.p.ation. After eighty pieces fell, a joyous look suddenly appeared on Meng Tai"s face.
Snap
A white piece fell, surrounding a group of black pieces immediately.
"What? The black pieces have been surrounded?" countless cultivators in valley exclaimed with looks of astonishment.
"Elder Guanqi"s black pieces have been surrounded? How"s that possible?"
"Great, the black pieces will be taken out. Did we win?"
"Will Throne Master Meng win? He will for sure. It"s just a game casually made by Elder Guanqi; furthermore, Elder Guanqi is already dead. It just a pre-set game, that"s all, it"s not like Elder Guanqi is playing. Throne Master Meng will win for sure! That"s so great!"
It was as if everyone could see the light of dawn after a long and dreary night. They were all inexplicably excited as they found a glimmer of hope. Everyone clenched their fists.
As expected, along with a thunderous roar, the dark clouds in the sky billowed before the surrounding black pieces flew to Meng Tai as if they had been taken out by him.
Whereas that sky saber above also rushed straight at Meng Tai.
"Not good!" Everyone"s expressions became distorted.
ROAR!
Suddenly, a dragon roar resounded within Meng Tai"s body as his True Qi transformed into a ten-zhang long brown dragon True Qi that circled around Meng Tai and faced the sky saber.
But this time, the sky saber didn"t cut towards Meng Tai, but rather seemed to have been drawn out and devoured by the dragon True Qi thereafter.
ROAR!
As the ten-zhang long dragon True Qi devoured the hundred-zhang long sky saber, the true dragon grew bigger bit by bit.
"Even when it is taken out, it burst with such a strong momentum?" Everyone"s expressions changed a bit.
"Awesome, Throne Master Meng is going to win, he is going to win!" Many people raised cheering cries.
A sliver of excitement also appeared on Meng Tai"s face.
Snap
Snap
...
The pieces from both sides continued to fall on board. Every now and then, Meng Tai would eat a group of black pieces after placing a few white pieces. The number of pieces placed on the board increased by the moment.
ROAR!
ROAR!
ROAR!
...
The dragon True Qi grew bigger and bigger. In just a short span of time, it had devoured thirty sky sabers already. At present, the dragon True Qi was fifty zhang long and gave a long howl towards the sky, as if vying with the large array hanging overhead.
In a short span of time, Meng Tai won again and again, it seemed he was immediately going to win.
"Long live Throne Master Meng!"
"Throne Master Meng is going to win quickly!"
"He is going to win, he is going to win! Finally, we are not going to die!"
“...”
The crowd of cultivators broke into cheers of joy; finally, their circ.u.mstances had changed for better, the victory was in their sight. Saved, have we been saved? Everyone shed tears of grat.i.tude as they gazed at Meng Tai. The Ascendant Hall disciples were all excited as well.