I've never felt happy to become an immortal.

Chapter 234 What man doesn't want to establish a government?
Northern Zhou Dynasty, Youzhou, a small village.

Inside the room, Young Master Taixu withdrew the golden needles and slowly exhaled: "Your physical condition is better than expected. I think you can start circulating your qi after another week of recuperation."

Bai Xuan moved his stiff wrists: "It's been half a month to recover to this point, which is already considered slow."

Since returning, I have been staying in the small village for a full two weeks.

The treatment and healing process was carried out step by step.

Because simply staying put was too boring, he also began to study medicine with Ouyang Qingfeng.

He shared a portion of the contents of the Qingnang Book with Ouyang Qingfeng, discussing and exchanging information to supplement his understanding of the advanced research on Snake King Valley and to learn the extent to which the poison techniques of Snake King Valley had developed.

After the treatment was completed, Ouyang Qingfeng was not in a hurry to leave.

Actually, when it comes to boredom, he and Bai Xuan are pretty much the same. There are very few people with vision in this small town, and even fewer who are capable of discussing things with him on equal footing. Bai Xuan's appearance satisfies his need for social interaction.

At first, he was quite reserved, but later, apart from having a sudden inspiration to verify the prescription, he spent almost the entire day talking to Bai Xuan... Although he was in a wheelchair, he was surprisingly talkative, or rather, he had too much to say and burst it out all at once.

After finishing today's treatment, Ouyang Qingfeng took out the chessboard and put it down. Without saying a word, he started the game on the side corners. At the same time, he said, "Your physique is quite ordinary among the masses. If you get injured, you will bleed. If you get injured again, you will be unable to move. If you continue to get injured, your life will be in danger."

Bai Xuan picked up the white piece, and as he placed it, he asked, "Isn't it natural that people die when they are killed?"

“Some special constitutions are different. In Snake King Valley, I’ve seen quite a few monsters born with special constitutions,” Ouyang Qingfeng recalled. “A considerable number of people in Snake King Valley are specifically responsible for researching these special constitutions, hoping to reproduce various peculiar constitutions, or to extract the essence of these constitutions and fuse them into a single individual…”

"Are you researching bloodline limits here?" Bai Xuan complained. "So, have you figured anything out yet?"

“There are successes and failures.” Ouyang Qingfeng said, “Directly performing postnatal modification surgery is considered a failure, but modifying from the womb is considered a success… although the success rate is very low.”

Bai Xuan looked at the chessboard, not quite understanding why Ouyang Qingfeng suddenly brought up this matter; was it just casual conversation?

"In short, there is a group of people in Snake King Valley who have been modified by drug experiments and have special physical constitutions. They form the 'Venomous Fang' organization in Snake King Valley, which is a terrifying armed force and is not mentioned in the Book of Mending the Heavens."

"You sound like you're absolutely certain I'll meet them," Bai Xuan asked. "You didn't sell my information, did you?"

“I can’t sell it. I’m not well-liked in Snake King Valley myself. Besides, we’re on different paths. I’m also very dissatisfied with many of Snake King Valley’s practices. It wouldn’t be surprising if I were to face a reckoning someday.” Ouyang Qingfeng took a sip of tea and placed another piece on the board. “You have a grudge against Snake King Valley, so it’s not a bad thing to learn more about it. Just in case you’re exposed one day and run into a venomous fang, you won’t even know who the other party is.”

"Then I really thank you for your kindness." Bai Xuan tossed the white chess piece in his hand and played with it. "If I'm not your opponent, at most I'll just die knowing why."

“Perhaps…” Ouyang Qingfeng placed a black piece: “Leaving aside what’s to come, you’re now heading into a dead end.”

During the chat, a rapid chess game had already entered its final stages.

Bai Xuan conceded defeat, throwing down his piece: "As expected, the first move has an advantage, with gold corners, silver edges, and grass belly pieces..."

His skill level is not bad, but in Go, the advantage of going first is huge.

He used to be a national champion in the Go world during the Qin Dynasty.

Later, in order to compete for the title of Go Saint, he fought for seven days and seven nights against the strongest Go player of the time, and finally defeated his opponent and became the Go Saint of the time.

But the truth is... Bai Xuan cheated.

The rules of Go at that time were not perfect. There was no time limit, only wins, losses, or draws. A game could last a long time, sometimes a whole day, and the longest it ever lasted was more than half a month.

He used the time difference to repeatedly travel between the modern world and the true cultivation world, using the computer's computing power to predict his opponent's moves. Whenever he encountered a brilliant move from his opponent, he would immediately stop the game and go back to the computer to simulate the best solution.

It's normal that they won in the end; how could humans possibly beat AlphaGo?

Don't rush to condemn him as despicable and shameless for using any means to win. It's true that Bai Xuan used despicable methods to win, but his underlying purpose was revenge.

His script in that life went like this: Two brothers became students of Go at the same time. The junior brother was jealous that his master hadn't passed on the Go manual to him, so he killed both his master and senior brother. The body Bai Xuan obtained happened to be the offspring of his master and senior brother. Yes, the master was a woman... The two of them actually had a marital relationship. In order to avenge his biological parents, he had to kill the junior brother who had stolen the Go manual. This junior brother was already a famous national player at the time, surrounded by experts. Therefore, in order to get revenge, he had to get close to him. The best way was to defeat him in the way of Go, to destroy his spirit before killing him.

Although they had to resort to using artificial intelligence to create a game, as long as they won, that was all that mattered.

After Bai Xuan defeated his opponent and became a chess master, he immediately revealed his identity, then picked up the chessboard and slammed his enemy to death.

After taking his revenge, he promptly committed suicide by poison, leaving no chance for others to pursue the matter.

This was certainly a huge scandal, and because of the deliberate cover-up by those with ulterior motives, not many people in later generations know about it. After clearing the chessboard, Ouyang Qingfeng asked Bai Xuan to start a new game. Seeing that Bai Xuan immediately opened with the center point, he asked, "You really do like the 'Heaven and Earth in Harmony' opening."

“I wouldn’t dare say ‘Great Harmony’,” Bai Xuan shook his head. “That’s already a sensitive, derogatory term.”

“Gold corner, silver edge, grass belly…” Ouyang Qingfeng continued to place pieces with silver edges: “What do you think the current situation is in Youzhou?”

"This statement was made during a chaotic period when various forces were vying for power, and it is not appropriate to apply it to Youzhou today."

Bai Xuan straightened up slightly. The moment politics was mentioned, he was no longer sleepy. Moreover, since they were talking about politics in another world, there was even less need to avoid suspicion.

"The fact that Youzhou is a separatist territory is an unacceptable outcome for the central government, not to mention that the control of Youzhou is not by a local governor, but by a local prefect."

"This has nothing to do with whether Gongsun Sheng can fight or not. It's purely an overreach of authority. Which dynasty could tolerate that?"

"It's just that the Northern Zhou royal family was too weak, which allowed him to take advantage of the situation and complete the de facto act of granting land and titles to kings."

"But its problems still exist objectively... and the most fundamental problem is that although Youzhou is a golden corner, it has no granary, and in the northwest, nomadic grassland people are constantly bleeding it dry."

Young Master Taixu nodded: "We share the same opinion. It seems you don't think highly of Gongsun Sheng either."

"His attitude towards the grassland people was too terrible, and now he's in a difficult situation."

"You also think that Youzhou should open trade routes with the grassland tribes?"

“That’s true from Youzhou’s perspective, but it’s not necessarily true from Gongsun Sheng’s perspective,” Bai Xuan said, shaking his head.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Ouyang Qingfeng leaned forward slightly, adopting an attitude of listening attentively.

"The current governor of Youzhou has been taken into control by Gongsun Sheng, and the previous trade was handled by this governor, which is why he has gained great political prestige in the area."

"If it weren't for the fact that a certain king from the grasslands sent a spy who exposed his identity, giving Gongsun Sheng the opportunity to stop the trade, do you think Youzhou would still be in Gongsun Sheng's hands if it had continued?"

"Gongsun Taishu's political prestige comes from his military victories, which are all based on his resistance against the grassland people. Once both sides abandon their disputes and choose peaceful development, he will not be able to win the hearts of the people even if he holds military power."

"So he has no choice but to fight, and he must fight... But war consumes resources, and the already scarce grain in Youzhou is being consumed even faster. The people are suffering more, their resentment is boiling more, and they miss the governor of Youzhou even more. With this ebb and flow, Gongsun Sheng will eventually lose control of the situation. When the other powerful families in Youzhou can no longer tolerate his exorbitant taxes and levies, they will rise up and rescue the governor. At that time, a bloody conflict will break out between the two sides."

“If Gongsun Sheng wins, he must kill the governor, otherwise this kind of thing will happen again; if he loses, he will be doomed.”

"So he is facing a dead end—unless he can sweep through the grassland royal court with his current five thousand Youzhou cavalry and win an epic victory, ensuring that the other side will not be able to invade again for ten years. In this way, he can return to Youzhou with great momentum and develop his internal affairs in time."

"But that's impossible."

Bai Xuan shook his head: "Even if Bai Wuji were reborn, it would be impossible for him to do so."

Ouyang Qingfeng's eyes flickered slightly. He held the chess piece, hesitating to make a move. He sighed, "You're right, this is a classic case of being caught in a dilemma... As a person of the martial world, you also have such foresight in politics. Is there anything you can't do?"

"I don't know Kamehameha."

"If you were Gongsun Sheng, what would you do? Would you submit to the court, or..."

"Accepting the leadership of the governor of Youzhou is the best option, but he may not be able to tolerate handing over Youzhou, which he has managed for so many years."

"What if you don't comply? Is there no other way to survive?"

“Hmm…” Bai Xuan thought for a moment: “If we look at it from the current stage, there is indeed no way out, but we can use our imagination a little.”

"what?"

"There is more than one dynasty in this world, the Northern Zhou."

Bai Xuan, the master of ideas, suggested: "Simply defecting to Southern Chu would also be an unprecedented and brilliant move."

As he placed a piece, he said, "What kind of ingenious chess game is this? It's just a desperate attempt to survive."

(End of this chapter)