Chapter 42: Merging Four into One
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
The Go stones on the twenty-eight-line-pair Go board on the tiny white crystal under the black Go stone in the space within Gu Hai’s forehead moved continuously. His consciousness’s illusory body stared at this Go board.
Three days had already passed since Gu Hai started staring at the Go board. His body unconsciously ate something, but his consciousness remained immersed in this Go board.
As Gu Hai watched, his consciousness seemed to comprehend something.
Gu Hai’s gaze slowly moved away from the white crystal, and he noticed the one hundred thousand Go puzzles trembling.
The one hundred thousand Go puzzles all trembled as though Gu Hai’s thoughts affected them.
Gu Hai narrowed his eyes. “The Go puzzles can be joined?”
Suddenly, he saw four Go boards out of the one hundred thousand Go boards move to the center.
Bang!
A loud sound rang out, and the four Go boards merged, forming one large Go board. From the initial nineteen line pairs, the large Go board now had thirty-eight.
After the four Go boards connected, the resulting board could hold one thousand four hundred forty-four Go stones. With the Go stones currently on them, boundless more variations appeared.
“They connected?” Gu Hai’s eyes lit up as if he found something that pleased him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Under Gu Hai’s control, the one hundred thousand Go puzzles started merging in sets of four, forming larger Go boards with one thousand four hundred forty-four positions.
After the initial Go boards merged in sets of four, they underwent a massive change, turning boundlessly complicated.
Gu Hai felt enlightened, like his vision suddenly expanded as he watched the Go boards merge, experiencing a sense of bliss. His mind even seemed to undergo a metamorphosis, a baptism, as a result of the merger. This ineffable feeling was like his consciousness had suddenly transcended.
It was not just any four Go puzzles that could merge into one. Instead, there were specific sets of four. Gu Hai’s consciousness seemed to split into two: one watched the one hundred thousand Go puzzles below merging, and the other continued observing the small Go board on the tiny white crystal.
Although the small Go board had only twenty-eight line pairs, it seemed to hide a great secret. Gu Hai had only observed halfway, and he already benefited greatly. He sensed that he could comprehend a lot from this Go board. Furthermore, he felt that as the Go stones on this small Go board moved, they gave off waves of energy. Perhaps this game could only be shown once. After this demonstration finished, it might not play again.
Hence, Gu Hai treasured this chance.
Bang! Bang!
The one hundred thousand Go puzzles continued to merge in sets of four, and Gu Hai remained immersed in his comprehension as he watched the small Go board.
——
Chen Tianshan and Gao Xianzhi stood watch outside the cave, while Xiaorou stayed on guard inside.
Xiaorou remained by Gu Hai’s side all the time. When she felt tired, she would sleep for a while. Upon waking up, she would stare at Gu Hai. She did not find this dry. Occasionally, she even blushed slightly as she stared at Gu Hai, whose eyes were closed.
“Benefactor, thank you for saving me. At that time, I already saw the Grim Reaper. It felt like the entire world wanted me dead. I felt very helpless, in despair. I felt very cold and very weak then. I might have died then. However, when I saw you walk over, you shone with light from your entire body, giving me warmth. Thank you, Benefactor,” Xiaorou muttered as she looked at Gu Hai, showing an increasingly warmer expression.
——
Outside the cave:
Gao Xianzhi looked up at the sky with a grave expression.
Rumble…!
The nine-headed snake started fighting another group of cloud beasts around the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree. As the nine-headed snake consumed more cloud beasts and golden Go stones, the nine-headed snake grew increasingly larger. Over the past few days, it had already grown to one thousand six hundred meters in length.
“Roar!”
The nine-headed snake roared. Its earth-shatteringly ferocious aura shook the sky and the ground. Right now, five of its heads bit down on five cloud beasts.
“Let go of us!”
“Damn it! I should have come later. I was too early!”
“Ah!”
A group of cultivators immediately gave up on their golden Go stones and cloud beasts, falling from the sky.
“Roar!”
The nine-headed snake roared as it consumed the five cloud beasts.
Buzz!
The nine-headed snake grew by another thirty meters.
As Ninth Young Master stood on the center snake head, he looked coldly at the five cultivators falling from the sky.
“Bunch of trash. To think that you only have so much Go skill despite there being so many of you. Humph!” Ninth Young Master snorted coldly.
The snake tail swept at the five cultivators.
Boom!
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
The snake tail immediately knocked back the five cultivators, causing them to vomit blood.
The battle in the sky came to an end.
Ninth Young Master looked down at the surroundings. “Bring it on. Don’t you want the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree? If you want it, then come and send yourselves to death!”
Ten cloud beasts hung about far on the horizon. However, this group of cloud beasts did not charge at Ninth Young Master. Instead, they watched coldly. After all, they were too small.
——
Gao Xianzhi narrowed his eyes as he stared at the tyrannical nine-headed snake.
Rustle! Rustle!
The sound of movements came from the nearby forest. It was Chen Tianshan coming back.
“Senior Chen, how is it?” Gao Xianzhi asked.
Chen Tianshan took a deep breath and replied, “I scouted the place. Every native dwelling has something that gives the golden Go stones. I also heard that the golden Go stones rarely appeared during the previous opening two centuries ago. However, this opening has golden Go stones spewing out like a spring.”
“Oh?”
“The information already leaked. Nearly all the outsiders rushed to the native dwellings, wanting to obtain golden Go stones. However, I do not know how to obtain them. I believe that there will be more people obtaining golden Go stones after this. There will be more cloud beasts as well,” Chen Tianshan said with a frown.
Gao Xianzhi looked at the nine-headed snake in the sky and the ten cloud beasts on the horizon.
“Gao Xianzhi, tell me, should we still wait?” Chen Tianshan said, feeling somewhat anxious.
Gao Xiaozhi took out his golden Go stone. After remaining silent for a while, he said, “We only need to link our minds with this golden Go stone, and it seems to be able to replicate our Go skills. We can also use it to sense the power of this world and form our own cloud beast?”
“Yes. Furthermore, it apparently can consume the cloud beasts of other people. It consumes the Go skills in the cloud beasts to grow larger?” Chen Tianshan frowned.
Gao Xianzhi nodded.
“The strength of the cloud beast is determined by Go skills. This truly is the independent world of the Heavenly Go Pavilion; everything is connected to Go!” Gao Xianzhi said with a frown.
“If we still do not make a move, won’t that nine-headed snake grow increasingly stronger?” Chen Tianshan asked worriedly.
Gao Xianzhi glanced at the nearby cave.
“The division master is currently in closed-door cultivation. If he comes out, he definitely would think the same as us. That is the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree, after all!” Chen Tianshan persuaded.
Gao Xianzhi nodded and said, “Indeed. The opportunity is here. If we let it slip, we will regret it.”
Chen Tianshan’s eyes lit up. “Then, we are going to start now?”
“No, wait. We have to tell Xiaorou first and make sure that the cave, which the division master is in, is well hidden.
“That’s fine!” Chen Tianshan nodded.
The two hid the cave and left some instructions for Xiaorou. Naturally, Xiaorou did not object to taking care of Gu Hai, immediately agreeing.
For the sake of caution, Gao Xianzhi led Chen Tianshan far away from Carefree Valley before they started to use the golden Go stones.
Chen Tianshan closed his eyes and held up his golden Go stone, sensing his surroundings.
Buzz!
Suddenly, surging clouds erupted around Chen Tianshan. Then, a three-hundred-meter-long beast slowly appeared within the clouds—a bull.
“Roar!” The gigantic bull roared, appearing arrogant. Chen Tianshan’s lower body was buried in the bull’s head. As he stood there, he felt delighted.
“So, this is what a cloud beast feels like. It is very strong!” Chen Tianshan said excitedly.
Then, Chen Tianshan turned his head to look at Gao Xianzhi.
Bang!
The surging clouds appeared once more. However, a six-hundred-meter-long dragon appeared this time. The ferocious dragon had a pair of wings on its back, looking extremely fiendish.
“Gasp! A winged dragon?” Chen Tianshan looked at the cloud beast that Gao Xianzhi formed, feeling shocked.
As Gao Xianzhi stood on the dragon’s head, he felt that it was very strong.
Clearly, Gao Xianzhi’s Go skills were significantly superior to Chen Tianshan’s, so his cloud beast was double Chen Tianshan’s in length.
“Gao Xianzhi, let’s go. Let’s go and get the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree. You attack from the south, and I’ll attack from the north!” Chen Tianshan said excitedly.
However, Gao Xianzhi shook his head and said, “No, we are not going to the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree!”
“Huh?” Chen Tianshan appeared confused.
“I agreed to make a move. However, I am not going to the nine-headed snake to seek death. We have an opportunity that others do not have: we are among the first to obtain a golden Go stone. We have the initiative to make our moves first!” Gao Xianzhi said.
“If we are not going to the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree, where are we going?” Chen Tianshan asked, feeling confused.
“We are going to consume other cloud beasts to strengthen ourselves!” Gao Xiaozhi said.
“Ah?!”
“If we go to the nine-headed snake as we are right now, we are just seeking death. Since the nine-headed snake can consume other cloud beasts to strengthen itself, why can’t we? The best time for us to snatch the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree is when we are stronger than the nine-headed snake.”
“That’s right!” Chen Tianshan’s eyes lit up.
“Furthermore, we can work together to consume other cloud beasts, allowing us to grow stronger even faster.”
“I’ll listen to you!” Chen Tianshan said, feeling excited.
“Let’s go!” Gao Xianzhi shouted.
Bang!
The winged dragon spread its wings, and the large bull stomped on the ground. Then, they rode on the clouds as they charged at one of the cloud beasts on the horizon.
Rumble…!
Not long later, the two surrounded a wolf cloud beast.
“What are you trying to do?” The man on the wolf cloud beast glared at them.
“Roar!”
“Roar!”
The winged dragon and the large bull ignored that person, immediately charging forward.
Rumble…!
The battle started.
——
At the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach Tree, Ninth Young Master’s expression suddenly changed when he saw a battle on the horizon. “Oh no!”
——
In a mountain forest below:
Meng Tai looked at the sky, and his face sank as well. “The big fish eating the small fish? Quickly find golden Go stones. The earlier we find them, the more opportunities we have. If we delay too long, we will not have an opportunity!”
“Yes!” the group of Elite Hall disciples answered.
