The work of the Go master

Harushima Deer has been slated to become a rising star.

Saito has reserved the dragon throne

Now someone has reserved a famous player.

But before any major competition, someone always jumps out and throws a declaration of war at him.

This feeling isn't bad either; it raises expectations. Not only do you want to win the championship, but you also definitely want to crush your arch-rivals. Ideally, you should be able to crush your opponent in the final battle and then slap them in the face with a runner-up finish.

"I've said everything I needed to say, and it's time for me to go." Bamboo Blade stood up from the chessboard and looked out the window into the distance.

He didn't look like he was going back to his room; judging from his posture, it seemed more like he was going back to Tokyo.

"You're going back to Tokyo? Right now?"

"Yes, if we set off now, we can catch the midnight flight from Chitose Airport to Tokyo. I can't wait to test my skills on those colleagues and show them my newly acquired power."

Instead of going back to his room to pack his luggage, Zhu Daoduan put on a slightly thicker cotton-padded coat and set off. Perhaps he had a permanent room here, which could be considered his second home.

He walked out of the hotel, went to the parking garage next door, and got on a red snowmobile with a flame logo, instantly turning the whole scene into a punk one.

Driving this thing on snow must be incredibly cool.

"This... isn't this a bit too cool?" Ke Zhiguang suddenly imagined a GTA-style carjacking scene in his mind, where he would kick the other car aside and then drive away on this little mouse... oops, little motorcycle.

"You can drive this thing?" Ke Zhiguang asked, somewhat surprised.

"I am a native of Hokkaido."

"Don't tell me that being able to drive this thing is the average level for people from Hokkaido."

"If you also grew up in Hokkaido and happen to have some spare money, you'll love it as much as you love Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Once you've fallen in love with it, what can't you ride?"

Let's just consider this his hobby during the winter.

Ke Zhiguang looked into the garage and found another snowmobile like this inside.

“That vehicle is for my own use in case of emergency. The key is in the vehicle. You can try it when you have time. With your current financial resources, even if you break it, you should be able to afford to pay for it, right?” Zhu Daotong hung the windshield in front of his eyes, turned the handlebars of the snowmobile, and made a whirring sound as it warmed up.

"See you again in the battle of the famous generals."

"Goodbye."

With a press of the accelerator, the punk-style machine roared to life, carving a dragon-like trail through the snow, its headlights shooting into the distance.

And so, this brief meeting came to an end. No intense sparks flew between him and Shura; instead, they fell quietly like snowflakes.

After watching the beam of light disappear, Ke Zhiguang turned around and went back into the hotel to join the snowball fight, completing another item on his Hokkaido wish list.

The event finally ended at 10 p.m., and everyone went back to their rooms covered in wet, melting snow.

Back in his room, Ke Zhiguang was surprised to find something on the chessboard.

Snowmobile driving pass

This was certainly not something that dropped from the bamboo sword, but rather something that dropped after the event of "talking with him for so long" was triggered.

By the way, you can also farm items on this chessboard.

Sure enough, as long as you use the chessboard properly even once, you can use it to generate items.

But this doesn't explain why it didn't drop anything after I won that Yangchunliu game yesterday.

After wiping away the skill scroll, Ke Zhiguang sat down in front of the chessboard with a "heh heh" and began a self-play game, trying to see if he could summon something like the Snow Woman to play another game.

Although it didn't reveal anything yesterday, it still needs to be tested several more times to find out the bottom.

But Ke Zhiguang concentrated intently for a long time and set up half of the chess game himself, but unlike yesterday, he was not interrupted by an unknown force halfway through.

It looks like it's not coming today.

It was still snowing outside the window, but it was just a light, scattered snowfall, even smaller than the snowfall in Tokyo.

Perhaps it only comes riding on the snow when it is snowing heavily?

She might actually be a snow woman.

But compared to last night, there was hardly any wind tonight. Perhaps wind is one of the essential elements?

After some thought, Ke Zhiguang lay down on the bed and began to brainstorm during the mental daze before falling asleep.

First of all, the bamboo sword forging storyline should have reached its end, and this snowmobile skill scroll should be the end of this path.

Next up is the Cold War group; I need to find some time tomorrow to pry those two apart... Why does this description feel so weird? Oh well, weird if it is.

Another clue is the ongoing meeting of veteran 9-dan players nearby. The research method for this clue is simple: just carry a Go board over there and play one by one.

Their ninth dan ranking is mainly about honor, not skill. With my current strength, I should be able to easily defeat them, right?

If I had to say something, there seems to be another clue.

The shrine itself.

After this afternoon's on-site investigation, Ke Zhiguang is absolutely certain that this shrine is indeed the place where the Snow Woman is enshrined. His ability to arrive at this place so easily is probably due to its mysterious call, much like the "Call of Cthulhu."

When it comes to shrines, it's easy to think of shrine maidens.

Speaking of shrine maidens... it seems like we already have one in our team?

Chapter Eleven: Star Marriage

The next morning, a cold wind swept through the streets of Tokyo, casting a chilly hue over the entire city.

In room 2509 on the top floor of the women's dormitory, Inoue was fast asleep, with various dolls piled up beside her bed, all of which Koji had previously snatched from the claw machine downstairs.

Suddenly, the landline in the living room rang, waking the sleeping Border Collie. The Border Collie's barking then woke Inoue.

The Border Collie has now grown into a fully grown adult and has a very loud bark.

Inoue rubbed his eyes and reluctantly got out of bed, a few tufts of hair still sticking up on his head.

She was wearing orange pajamas, petting the dog with one hand, and answering the landline phone with the other: "Hello, this is the Harushima family."

"It's me, Ke Zhiguang."

"Oh, it's you, senior. I can hang up now." Inoue sighed.

"Ok?"

"I was just kidding. I was just annoyed that my precious day off was woken up by a phone call. What brings you here so early in the morning, senior?"

"Let me brag about my wonderful trip involving skiing, soaking in hot springs, and having a snowball fight. Do you believe me when I say that?"

"Hehe, this kind of prank only works on Harushima-senpai, it won't work on me... If I'm not mistaken, you've encountered some strange events again, and you need this half-baked shrine maiden to give you some advice, right?"

"You saw right through me?"

"Oh, actually I was just saying it casually, I didn't expect you to admit it so readily." Inoue chuckled softly, his morning drowsiness slightly dispelled.

"Okay, you got it. You scored this time. I want to ask, I encountered something like a Yuki-onna (snow woman), and it might be residing in an abandoned shrine. What should I do?"

Inoue was silent for a while: "Senior, I know that you are born with an extraordinary destiny and will encounter some strange things, but you brought up the Yuki-onna, a traditional yokai, right off the bat. It's hard for me to react at first."

"Actually, I don't know what the other party is. Anyway, I've been entangled with this thing recently. It suddenly intervenes when I'm setting up my pieces and playing a game of chess with myself without me even noticing."

Inoue's eyebrows twitched: "This...sounds really amazing, but wait, you said it's a Yuki-onna, so you mean it's another woman?"

"Probably, but I can't say for sure."

"Well, as expected of you, senior, you always manage to attract strange women like a magnet." Inoue shrugged helplessly.

This... seems to be true. I came to Hokkaido and inexplicably ran into a girl couple. I finally caught up with Brother Duan and was planning to have a passionate match with him, but he ran away overnight.

In short, Nan's character is truly terrible.

"As for how to deal with this Yuki-onna you mentioned, that's beyond my knowledge. If I had to say... maybe you, my sister, would know a bit more?"

“Inoue Seiya…” Ke Zhiguang repeated the name.

Although she is only 17 years old this year, a female chess player in the prime of her youth, her identity as a proper shrine maiden gives her a layer of mystery like a thick fog. In terms of mystery alone, the sense of mystery she gives people is no less than that of the holders of the three major titles.

The first time Ke Zhiguang saw the other person's photo, he had this feeling: a dangerous and mysterious aura hidden beneath the misty smile.

She also has a female title, Celestial Palace, which does indeed sound ethereal and gives her an extraordinary aura. Combined with her identity as a priestess, it makes her seem even more mysterious.

After getting a new number, Ke Zhiguang hung up.

After ending the call with Keiji, Inoue lay back down on the bed to continue enjoying the beautiful morning of his vacation.

"Speaking of which, I feel a bit like I'm sending a lamb to the slaughter by giving him my sister's contact information so easily," Inoue suddenly muttered to himself.

......

......

Located in Chuo Ward, Osaka, a shrine sits on an island in the middle of a lake, nestled along the river. At the entrance of the shrine stands a dog-shaped stone statue with eyebrows shaped like magatama.

Komainu (guardian lion-dogs) are often placed at the entrance of shrines. They are essentially a variant of the Chinese stone lions that were introduced to Japan. However, the komainu placed at this shrine are relatively gentle and less majestic, giving people a silly and cute feeling. But they are indeed genuine antiques.

The shrine doesn't have many visitors, but most of them are professional Go players, and they are mostly older ones.

The Kansai Ki-in is located in Osaka. Compared to the main Ki-in in Tokyo, the Kansai Ki-in has a relatively weak presence. Its main function is to support veteran players, and many of the less prominent veteran players play here. It is jokingly referred to as a retirement home.

Inside the main hall, Inoue Seiya was resting with her eyes closed in front of a chessboard.

Rather than saying he was resting with his eyes closed, it would be more accurate to say he was attentively listening to something.

"Yes, is it here?" She twisted her neck, as if listening intently.

He then picked up a chess piece from the chess box and placed it on a certain point on the chessboard.

Then he opened his eyes and looked at the position of the move.

It landed in a strange, unplanned position.

We've only played 20 moves, and it's still a steady opening phase, but on the 21st move, the game has suddenly escalated to the front line.

If this happened in an online chess game in a previous life, it would be much easier to understand; it's called "the mouse moved slightly and clicked the wrong place."

"Hmm... It seems like I made a mistake. Gods don't play here unless you remove the radical '礻' from the character 'God'..." Xingjia muttered to herself, but she didn't change the move. After all, removing the move would be like taking it back.

Just as she was about to continue sensing with her eyes closed, she suddenly heard a phone ringing.

Although there was no telephone line or landline installed in this main hall, she was still able to hear the voice.

"The person who was able to get through to this number must have been recommended by Xingcai, right? Who could it be?" Xingjia asked expectantly.