Chapter 32 - The Life and Death Game of Weiqi, Part Two
However, away from the crowd, Gu Hai narrowed his eyes as he said to himself, "Wrong, Meng Tai made a mistake from the start!"
"What?" Chen Tianshan looked at Gu Hai doubtfully.
Gu Hai shook his head and didn"t bother to explain.
As expected, after swallowing the fifteenth piece, his expression changed as his face became pallid.
"Throne Master Meng, quickly place the piece!" everyone shouted anxiously.
With many victories in succession, and having devoured fifteen sky sabers, Meng Tai"s dragon True Qi had already grown to sixty Zhangs in length, becoming imposing and dreadful as it roared.
However, Meng Tai was profusely sweating. The white piece in his hand seemed like it could not be placed.
"How is it possible? How could this be?" Meng Tai looked at the weiqi board in horror.
"Throne Master Meng, quick!" shouted everyone anxiously.
"Shut up!" shouted Meng Tai angrily, pouring water on everyone"s excitement. Everyone looked at Meng Tai, perplexed.
SCREE-CHING
As the thirty breaths of time were soon to be over, a sky saber hung above Meng Tai"s head. At this moment, he had to place the piece. Meng Tai had no choice but to quickly place the white piece.
Tok
As the white piece was placed, a black piece immediately appeared as well.
"Dragon slaying?" Gao Xianzhi"s countenance changed.
"Ah? What"s dragon slaying? Is it slaying the dragon True Qi?" asked Little Rou, puzzled.
"No, dragon slaying is a weiqi term; it means that a large chain of Meng Tai"s white pieces will be strangled by his opponent instantly!" explained Gao Xianzhi.
As expected, with the appearance of that black piece...
THUMP THUMP THUMP ...
A lot of white pieces were taken out as they had been eaten by the black pieces. In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. The momentum of Meng Tai who had won fifteen pieces was gone..
Meng Tai had swallowed fifteen black pieces using fifteen turns.
However, Elder Guanqi’s formation had swallowed thirty-eight white pieces in just one turn.
All of a sudden, the outcome was decided.
After thirty-eight pieces were swallowed, the black pieces won overwhelmingly. In a heartbeat, it seemed the white pieces had nowhere to escape. The white pieces had suffered a crus.h.i.+ng defeat and were routed.
"NO!"
"How can this be? Throne Master Meng was still winning just a moment ago!"
"Why this is happening, why?"
Countless cultivators became dumb as wooden chickens as they looked at the weiqi board in horror.
Meng Tai"s face also had a horrified look. My dragon has been slain in just a moment?
"Hahaha, the black piece won!" Ninth Young Master"s bright laughter resounded in the dark clouds.
His laughter was filled with contempt, scorning Meng Tai.
BOOM!
Suddenly, thirty-eight sky sabers appeared in the clouds.
Once the huge group of sky sabers appeared, a chilling Slaughter Qi stormed out, the air seemed to have been frozen by the Slaughter Qi as if it was snow.
Thirty-eight sky sabers with a huge imposing manner were about to exterminate Meng Tai once and for all in the next moment.
"No! b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I am the Earth Throne Master of Ascendant Hall, don"t you dare!" shouted Meng Tai in fear.
BOOM!
Thirty-eight sky sabers came cras.h.i.+ng down with a loud bang. In the blink of an eye, a catastrophic aura had rushed out towards Meng Tai.
ROAR!
Meng Tai"s dragon True Qi charged towards the sky with a loud roar. The sixty-zhang long dragon True Qi soared towards the group of sky sabers in a dreadful manner.
BOOM!
The collision between the sky sabers and the dragon True Qi burst forth with a loud explosion before the scene was flooded with dazzling flashes of lights, so dazzling that no one could open their eyes. The subsequent violent aura seemed to have set off a storm, flinging everyone away in the blink of an eye.
BANG BANG BANG!
At the center of the explosion, ear-deafening collisions rang out endlessly.
ROOAAARRRR!
A sad dragon"s roar resounded. Gu Hai vaguely saw a brown dragon breaking apart amid the devastation.
BOOM!
After the final boom, everything calmed down. The two thousand cultivators got up from the ground and looked towards the center of billowing dust and smoke in horror.
The square weiqi platform was still there. After the lethal attacks of thirty-eight sky sabers, Meng Tai was actually still alive.
However, Meng Tai was completely mutilated at this moment. His body seemed to have been cut a thousand times as he lay in a giant crater.
Also inside the crater was a khaki-colored s.h.i.+eld. However, the yellow-brown s.h.i.+eld was covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
"Throne Master Meng is still alive?"
"That"s the Ascendant Hall"s Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld!? It has the strongest defense among the Nascent Soul Stage magical equipment!"
"The Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld has protected Throne Master Meng!? But the Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld is cracked!? The Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld also didn"t work!?"
"..."
Everyone"s faces were laced with horror.
"Throne Master!" The congregation of Ascendant Hall disciples quickly rushed over and raised Meng Tai as they quickly fed him a pill.
"Pooh!" Meng Tai spat out a mouthful of blood.
Looking at the dark clouds above, a horrified look appeared on his face as his body twitched. It seemed that even a bit of power could take his life in the blink of an eye.
The billowing dark clouds churned. "Humph, Ascendant Hall"s Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld? But that"s it. This time you got lucky because of Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld. However, the game is not yet over. It will be your turn soon again. I want to see how many times your Earth Divine s.h.i.+eld can save you!"
Meng Tai quivered.
"Throne Master, what should we do now?" an Ascendant Hall disciple asked, worried.
Everyone looked at Meng Tai. He was the only one to survive, even though his injuries were too horrible to look at.
"De-delay, the Weiqi Empyrean Court will not-will not disregard!" Meng Tai spoke with difficulty.
Having said this, Meng Tai seemed barely able to move. He limped down after taking the pill.
The Ascendant Hall disciples quickly guarded Meng Tai.
A look of despair blanketed everyone’s faces as they looked overhead. The more miserably one lost, the more tragic would be the attack of the array!
Who was going to be next?
"It"s all right, Throne Master said we have to stall for time, we will stall for sure!" shouted Song Qingshu.
Everyone nodded, but the look of despair in their eyes didn"t vanish. Wait for Weiqi Empyrean Court Great Elder"s rescue? Is that possible?
------
Xiantian Endgame World, at an entrance of a huge hall...
The giant doors of the great hall opened, but the inner part of the great hall was completely dark and silent; no one could see the inside. A black-robed man knelt on one knee outside the great hall.
"Great Elder, Ninth Young Master has besieged two thousand or so outsiders with the Sky Saber Life and Death Board at the Carefree Valley. All the elders are deliberating and have different opinions; Great Elder, please command!" the black-robed man asked respectfully.
The dark and silent great hall was completely quiet. Only after a long while did a faint sound came.
"I know about Little Nine"s doings, my Weiqi Empyrean Court will not intervene with the outsiders, but they really went over the top this time!" a faint voice came.
"Great Elder, we won"t stop Ninth Young Master?" the black-robed man said respectfully.
"It"s not necessary, wait till Carefree Valley"s matter is finished and then inform Little Nine to not take any action and also teach rules to these outsiders. Although the Grandmaster has fallen, my Weiqi Empyrean Court once used to be a top sect. Anyone who comes here cannot be presumptuous!" came the faint voice.
"Yes, The Subordinate understands!"
------
Inside the Carefree Valley...
"No, no, no, not me, just not me!"
As a beam of light covered a man dressed in gray clothes, the man collapsed on the spot, extremely terrified.
While the gray-robed man was terrified, no one embarked on the weiqi platform. He kneeled and beg for mercy loudly at the dark clouds in fright, and also asking others to take his turn.
BOOM!
A sky saber came cutting down in the blink of an eye. The gray-robed man didn"t even have the time to so much as shriek before he was cut into two as his entrails lay bare on the ground.
Suddenly, screams of panic once again resounded in the valley. An endless despair covered everyone"s heart.
"Despair, I like hearing these desperate screams, hahaha, once again!" a sinister laughter rang out from the dark clouds.
BUZZ!
Suddenly, another beam of light came shooting down, covering another person in the blink of an eye.
"Song Qingshu?" shouted the nearby Chen Tianshan in shock.
Having been covered by the beam of light, Song Qingshu was chosen as the next one to die!
"No? Throne Master Meng, save me please, help me! Why is it me? I don"t want to die!" Song Qingshu screamed in horror immediately.
"Stall for time! Play like I played before, wait for Weiqi Empyrean Court to take action!" Meng Tai spoke this sentence with difficulty, controlling his breathing before entering meditation once again.
"Stall for time?" Song Qingshu slowly stepped on the weiqi stage with an ugly look on his face.
The instant Song Qingshu stepped on the weiqi stage, everyone immediately lowered their heads, seemingly afraid of coming in contact with Song Qingshu"s gaze.
Standing on the stage, Song Qingshu glanced around with an ugly look on his face. Wherever his gaze went, many people would evade his eyes one after other, as if escaping from the G.o.d of plague.
"I need to choose an opponent within thirty breath, who should I choose? Just who?" Song Qingshu was anxious.
His gaze inadvertently fell upon Meng Tai as he thought, Perhaps Meng Tai cannot play anymore. If I chose him, he is sure to lose. I can stall a bit longer but for how long? Furthermore...
Song Qingshu held back this desire and his gaze continued scanning everyone. Suddenly, Song Qingshu"s countenance changed as he saw Gu Hai and his party.
"Gu Hai?" Suddenly, Song Qingshu"s eyes went wide in anger.
"En?" Below the stage, Gu Hai slightly knit his eyebrows.
The cultivators around Gu Hai retreated one by one. In the wink of an eye, Gu Hai and his party were exposed before everyone.
"I choose him, I choose Gu Hai!" shouted Song Qingshu, pointing at Gu Hai.
BUZZ!
Suddenly, a beam of light from the dark clouds fell upon Gu Hai. Gu Hai had been chosen.
"Kid, quickly come to the stage, otherwise, the sky saber will cut you in two!" someone shouted with good intentions.
"Song Qingshu, you are audacious, you want Throne Master to die?" Chen Tianshan"s expression became ugly as he rebuked Song Qingshu, glaring.
A grim look appeared on Song Qingshu"s face as he retorted, "Someone has to die once the players are chosen. Either I die first, or he dies first! Humph, Gu Hai, you should resign yourself to your fate, my weiqi skills might not be as good as Throne Master Meng, but you are someone who hasn"t played with anyone in last three decades. I am definitely stronger than you, you are going to die! I want you to die!"
A sliver of a cold smile appeared on Gu Hai"s face, "Song Qingshu, I already gave you three chances, this is the fourth time you have schemed against me!"
Slowly, Gu Hai walked to the weiqi stage.
"You think someone like you who hasn"t played against anyone in three decades can win against me?" spat Song Qingshu coldly.
------
Outside the Xiantian Endgame World, on the flying s.h.i.+p White Cloud...
Long Wanqing and Grandmaster Liunian were playing weiqi.
"No, Grandmaster, Gu Hai said he hadn’t played weiqi with anyone for three decades, wasn"t he going through the motions with me? Why is his laying-out strategy so strong, then!?" Long Wanqing asked, frowning.
Grandmaster Liunian answered, shaking his head, "He wasn"t giving you a perfunctory reply, he just didn"t want to win against you!"
"Then he lied to me?" Long w.a.n.gqing asked, knitting her brows.
"That"s wrong, too; you just didn"t understand what he said, that"s all!" Grandmaster Liunian said, shaking his head and smiling.
"Oh?"
"He didn"t play weiqi with anyone in three decades doesn"t mean he didn"t play weiqi!" stated Grandmaster Liunian with a smile.
"Isn"t that the same?" asked Long Wanqing, perplexed.
"That"s not the same!" Grandmaster Liunian shook his head.