Chapter 39 - Overloaded
"Play a game of weiqi with me and this golden weiqi piece will be yours!" The old man"s voice was completely lacking in emotions.
Gu Hai looked at the old man before him quietly. Nevertheless, he could not see the old man"s appearance clearly, as if it was covered in a mist. Inviting others to play a game? What is his intent?
Gao Xianzhi said that he didn"t feel uncomfortable at all, is this old man really giving pointers on weiqi? But how come Gao Xianzhi doesn"t remember what he played, otherwise how can this old man be teaching?
A board with a 20x20 grid, huh?
Having seen this weiqi board, Gu Hai had already felt that this weiqi board was far harder than the previous Sky Saber Life and Death Board; Gu Hai could feel this because his laying-out skills had already surpa.s.sed the 19x19 grid board. Every extra line would add countless variables to the weiqi layout, making it many times harder.
Although Gu Hai"s curiosity was greatly piqued, he still picked up a black piece.
Tok
The black piece was placed at the centermost position, the Tianyuan.
The old man grabbed a white piece.
Tok
The white piece was also placed on the board.
BOOM!
Suddenly, countless clouds from nearby covered Gu Hai, as if bouts of inexplicable power were pa.s.sing through Gu Hai"s illusionary body, one after another.
As the clouds pa.s.sed through Gu Hai"s body, endgames were congealed out of clouds on the sides, one after another.
"What?" Gu Hai watched with widened eyes.
A total of eighteen endgames shaped out from clouds emerged from Gu Hai"s illusionary body.
Gu Hai remembered these eighteen games, for these eighteen endgames were among the hundred thousand endgames placed below.
Is he copying my weiqi skills from my mind by playing a game with me?
Suddenly, Gu Hai looked at the white-haired old man sitting across him.
"Please place your piece!" exhorted the white-haired old man.
Gu Hai stared at him.
The eighteen copied endgame had already flown behind the white-haired old man, spread and tiled.
"You are not teaching me weiqi, but stealing my weiqi skills, my weiqi domain?" Gu Hai stared at him.
But it seemed as though the white-haired old man didn"t hear Gu Hai as he repeated, "Please place your piece!"
Narrowing his eyes, Gu Hai stared at the white-haired old man silently for a good long while.
"If I had played with you in a trance, you would have slowly copied and then stolen my weiqi skills? Apart from me, Gao Xianzhi"s, Chen Tianshan"s and the others" weiqi skills had been copied by you? How does stealing the computing ability of weiqi board help you?" Gu Hai said in a solemn tone.
"Please place your piece!" the white-haired old man repeated emotionlessly.
Gu Hai stared at the white-haired old man coldly. Gu Hai was already sure that this white-haired old man would never answer him, and would only urge him to play, in order to steal his weiqi skills.
Is this the reason Elder Guanqi left the magical items?Is this why Elder Guanqi let outsiders steal the magical items, so that they would enter this dreamland one after another, and then, the dreamland in the magical item would steal their weiqi skills and weiqi knowledge?
For what?
"Please place your piece!" the white-haired old man continued to urge.
But Gu Hai was already awake, this kind of urging was simply useless to Gu Hai.
Looking at the weiqi board, a cold and ridiculing look flickered in Gu Hai"s eyes.
"All right, until now I have been continuously deducing all my own for a game with 20x20 grid and never found someone to play with. Elder Guanqi, huh? Very well, let me take a look how strong the weiqi skills programmed are inside the puppet left by you. Is your puppet better, or am I better?" A sliver of a cold smile appeared on Gu Hai"s lips.
Tok
A black piece was placed.
Tok
A white piece was placed.
In a flash, a large number of clouds pa.s.sed through Gu Hai"s illusionary body, constantly copying the endgame diagrams that Gu Hai had brought from Earth.
Eighteen, thirty, fifty, eighty...
The two continued to place the pieces. Gu Hai kept on staring at the weiqi board. This game was indeed out of ordinary; he had gained a lot from it.
In the outside world, Gao Xianzhi and Chen Tianshan waited patiently. While Gu Hai was immersed in the dreamland, his true body"s hand was placed on the jade disc.
It was just that, unlike them, Gu Hai was awake in the dream.
Piece after piece after piece, the illusionary body in Gu Hai"s mind continued placing the pieces repeatedly.
The game between Gu Hai and the white-haired old man kept on going for a long time.
Slowly, the area behind the white-haired old man was filled with endgame diagrams; a thousand endgame diagrams had been copied already, and their number was still increasing.
The two continued placing the pieces.
---
Meanwhile, in the Guanqi Hall...
In the darkened great hall, someone among the elders sitting in cross-legged position cried out in surprise suddenly, "Look, look at that weiqi board?!"
Everyone turned their gaze at the weiqi board floating above the Elder Guanqi"s coffin.
Amid the two-hundred-and-one white pieces and one-hundred-and-sixty black pieces, a black piece twinkled quickly.
"It seems, that black piece has encountered a weiqi expert and is copying its opponent"s weiqi skill!?" the Great Elder exclaimed as a sliver of a smile crept upon his lips.
"That"s the "9-5 position"? Is the black piece at the 9-5 position going to turn white with just this[1]?"
"Impossible, a black piece turning into a white piece is an extremely long process. Even a weiqi expert may not be able to fill the 9-5 position!"
"But it is flas.h.i.+ng so intensely!"...
The elders burst into a discussion, gazing at that black piece on the 9-5 position together.
---
Meanwhile, in the Carefree Valley...
Gu Hai"s illusionary body was playing the game with the white-haired old man.
Tok
Tok
Tok...
The two were placing the pieces very quickly. As the pieces on the board increased, Gu Hai became unprecedentedly serious. Along with the pieces placed on the weiqi board, ten thousand endgames had already been copied behind the white-haired old man, bit by bit.
However, Gu Hai seemed like a bottomless abyss. Even if ten thousand endgames had been copied, it was impossible to empty Gu Hai out, as if Gu Hai"s weiqi skills were bottomless.
"I have one hundred thousand endgames, go ahead! I also want to see how much a puppet programmed by Elder Guanqi can bear!" A cold smile showed up on Gu Hai"s lips.
Tok
Tok
Tok...
Gu Hai stared at the weiqi board, while at the Guanqi Hall… the eighteen elders were also staring at the black piece on 9-5 position!
---
"Great Elder, more than half of the piece has already turned white!? What expert has it encountered this time?"
"It"s impossible to achieve with one person alone, perhaps it is collecting the weiqi skills of many people?"
"So quickly, it"s too strange!"
The Great Elder remained silent for a while, "This is good!"
Everyone nodded.
---
Carefree Valley...
The Gu Hai"s illusionary body kept on placing the pieces. After another day, the number of endgames copied behind the white-haired old man had already reached twenty thousand.
However, at this moment, it seemed the white-haired old man was approaching his limit. The cloudy endgames that had been copied had become a lot fuzzier.
Nonetheless, Gu Hai kept on staring at the weiqi board, his mind completely immersed in the game.
Gu Hai had learned a lot from this game of weiqi. As the pieces continued to be placed, the two vied with each other, while the game became even more intense.
In the outside world, a reddish hue suddenly emerged from the jade disc held by Gu Hai"s real body.
"Red light? What"s going on?" Little Rou cried out in surprise.
"The red light did not appear when we were playing!" A look of surprise also showed up on Chen Tianshan"s face.
Gao Xianzhi approached slowly, perplexed.
"So hot, the jade disc is getting hotter slowly?" stated Gao Xianzhi in astonishment.
"What"s the matter?" wondered Chen Tianshan.
"Will the Benefactor be alright?" said Little Rou, incomparably worried.
An indefinite look flashed across Gao Xianzhi"s face as he shook his head, indicating he didn"t know. At this moment, they also didn"t dare to disturb Gu Hai; all they could do was watch patiently.
---
In the Guanqi Hall...
BUZZ...
The black piece at the 9-5 position had completely turned white.
"Hahaha, another black piece has turned white, very good!"
"We have gained a lot this time!"
"It would be a lot better if this continues!"...
While everyone was beaming with joy, the Great Elder, on the other hand, spoke with a solemn tone, "Something isn"t right!"
"What"s wrong? Isn"t this better?" Everyone turned their gazes on the Great Elder.
"The black piece at the 9-5 position has indeed turned white, but it isn"t stopping?" said the Great Elder, perplexed.
"What! That"s right, it looks as if it is still turning white and getting brighter!? What"s going on?" everyone said with surprise.
"Who did it encounter?" wondered Great Elder solemnly.
---
The Carefree Valley...
The speed at which Gu Hai placed the pieces kept on getting faster and faster. Slowly, Gu Hai felt full and delighted. He had not felt so comfortable for a long time.
The endgames continued to be copied. In a flash, thirty thousand endgames had been copied already. However, at this moment, the white-haired old man seemed to have reached his limit.
The clouds were insufficient to congeal the copied endgames, so, along with the endgames being copied one after another, the clouds became thinner and thinner. At this point, the white-haired old man was also starting to become transparent.
However, Gu Hai didn"t stop placing the pieces, he simply didn"t give the white-haired old man a chance to stop.
Tok
Tok
Tok...
As the pieces continued to be placed, Gu Hai"s fighting spirit became more and more intense. Furthermore, after having played such an intense game for so long, after forty thousand endgames had been copied, a confident smile finally appeared on Gu Hai"s lips.
"From this black piece, the outcome of the game is finally decided. Unfortunately, I am going to win!" stated Gu Hai as a confident look appeared on his face.
Tok
A piece was placed. Suddenly, the white-haired old man stopped for a moment before many more endgames were copied again. However, the white-haired old man"s figure quivered, his body was on the brink of collapsing.
Tok
As the white piece was placed yet again, the endgames continued to be copied.
"The scales of victory and defeat have already tilted towards my side. Even if you place the piece again, you are still going to lose. Unfortunately, you are ultimately not Elder Guanqi. You are just a programmed puppet left behind by Elder Guanqi, that"s all. I am going to win, and you will place the piece again, the earlier copied endgames will collapse, you have to give it all up when it is nearly over!" Gu Hai said calmly.
Tok
Gu Hai kept on placing the pieces.
Tok
The white piece was placed.
---
In the world outside...
CRACK!
Suddenly, a crack appeared on the jade disc held by Gu Hai"s real body.
"What? Isn"t this a magical item refined by Elder Guanqi? According to Bodhisattva Lian Sheng, this is an array diagram, how can it crack?" Chen Tianshan cried out in surprise.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!...
More and more cracks appeared on the jade disc, and they were getting bigger and bigger as well, as if the jade disc was going to be broken into pieces.
The eyes of Gao Xianzhi, Little Rou, Chen Tianshan went wide in shock.
---
In the meantime, at the Guanqi Hall...
The eighteen elders also kept on staring at that white piece on the 9-5 position together. The brilliance of that white piece was getting brighter and brighter. Gradually, it seemed as if a bulb had lit up the great hall.
"Great Elder, what should we do? There is some problem with this weiqi piece!"
"However, we can"t do anything. We don"t know where are these weiqi skills are coming from or who it is. Even if we want to stop, we can"t!"
"What to do? It has already surpa.s.sed the range this weiqi piece could bear, it is overloaded!?
"Stop, it"s enough, it"s enough!"...
The elders were incomparably anxious. The white piece had already become bright to the extreme.
BANG!
Suddenly, the weiqi piece at the 9-5 position exploded with a loud crash, breaking up into a mist.
THUMP THUMP THUMP...
The eighteen elders stood up together immediately, watching that weiqi board with wide eyes.
"It exploded?"
"How is that possible?"
"What should we do now?"...
Everyone was inexplicably panic-stricken. Out of the three-hundred-and-sixty-one pieces on the board, one had exploded? Exploded due to overloading?"
"A major event has occurred!" shouted the Great Elder, as his countenance became ugly.
[1] If we go with the correct translation, the 9-5 position will be I5 position. The horizontal lines are numbered using English alphabets and vertical lines with numbers. But the size of weiqi board in this novel will eventually surpa.s.s, though I am not sure if where the pieces will be placed be mentioned. Anyway, so, I will be translating it into numbers only. 9-5 meaning, 9th horizontal line, and 5th vertical line.