The work of the Go master

Shi Xin remained silent for a moment: "Not long ago, the Star Array disappeared."

"The star array has disappeared?" Ke Zhiguang looked out the window in surprise... Although it was daytime, he still subconsciously looked out the window of the room, trying to find the bright moon that always radiated brilliant light.

But in broad daylight, it doesn't show itself, and it's unclear whether it's still there at all.

"Before Mr. Hanno passed away, he talked to me a lot about the outside world. He hoped that I could go out and see more of the world," Shi Xin said.

Ke Zhiguang nodded, thinking to himself, "Actually, I also really hope you can leave. Although you're a monk, you're really handsome..."

“I don’t know when my mindset started to loosen, but StarCraft clearly noticed it earlier than I did. It began to constantly hint to me that as long as I nodded, it would release me from my constraints... At that time, my chess moves would be known to everyone,” Shi Xin said.

"But the price is its disappearance, right?"

“That’s right… I can’t make this decision, but on the other hand, I’m increasingly longing for the outside world, especially after Mr. Hanno’s passing.”

The longing for the outside world that Shi Xin spoke of clearly did not refer to simply leaving this temple, but to the outside world in a deeper sense.

For him, only when his chess moves touch the outside world can he be considered to have truly come into the outside world.

"Just when I didn't know how to make a decision, Star Array made the decision for me... It chose to disappear automatically. From now on, the side I play against will no longer be troubled by losing the memory of the game."

"I see."

Ke Zhiguang gazed at the spring rain outside the balcony and felt a pang of sadness for a moment.

Many people failed to hold onto this spring, such as Yagami Kunikyo, Hanno-sensei, Zen who always followed Yagami Kunikyo, and Shixin's Xingzhen. It seems that everyone and everything turned into a cluster of fallen flowers in the spring rain, sinking into the soil, waiting for the next cycle of life.

Ke Zhiguang then asked, "In that case, it seems there's no need for you to immediately have a ten-game match with me. You're already free. If I were you, I would go on a world tour or something first, and we can make plans for the game later."

"The trip is naturally part of my plans, but it will have to wait until after these ten games are over." Shi Xin's voice hardened again. "And what about you? What are your plans after these ten games are over?"

"Is that even a question? I've already achieved almost all the glory in Japan. I've even finished high school and am just waiting to get my diploma... Now, I should start thinking about going back to China to develop my career."

"Back to China?" Shi Xin asked.

“That’s right, the world will become very exciting in the future, whether it’s the political landscape, economic development, or technological changes. After you’ve seen all of this, you’ll understand why Yagami Kunikyo wants immortality and to see the world better,” Ke Zhiguang said calmly. “The Go world will be even more exciting. In China, there will be generations of outstanding Go players. Depending on the era, they will be divided into the Dragon generation, the Tiger generation, and the Leopard generation. South Korea will also produce many formidable players. I look forward to playing against them.”

Are there large-scale chess tournaments between different countries?

"Of course it will. With the collapse of Japan's bubble economy, the prize money for title matches will decrease significantly, and the salaries of Go players will also drop considerably, leading to widespread unemployment. However, in its place, world-class Go competitions will emerge, and there may even be a Go Olympics held only once every four years. The number of world champions will be the sole standard for measuring a Go player's historical status, and the stage will become much larger."

"I will also plant a sapling that symbolizes the luck of chess. This time, the luck it brings will be purer and more abundant. It will ensure that no strange four-legged winged dragons will appear. Instead, there will only be auspicious Eastern dragons."

"Perhaps the General Administration of Sport will even bestow upon me the title of Chess Saint. Then I can use this title to openly name my dojo the Chess Saint Dojo and recruit disciples from all over the world. If you have a child at that time, you can also send him to study under me."

Listening to Ke Zhiguang's description, Shi Xin's expression showed a moment of longing, as if she could already see such an era appearing before her eyes.

"Let me say this last thing... I am neither a god nor a Buddha. I am simply someone who will kill any god or Buddha who gets in my way." Ke Zhiguang's final words were like a declaration of war.

Shi Xin nodded and sighed, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"And who will lead this era will all depend on this game of chess." Shi Xin's brows suddenly turned grim and sharp. "In the world of chess, the most free person is called the Chess Saint, isn't that right?"

"exactly."

After a series of exchanges, the emotions and atmosphere had reached their peak. Both sides' eyes were tense, and the belief in defeating each other and taking control of the next era was firmly etched in their hearts.

"Time's up, the match begins!" the 9-dan players announced from the referee's stand.

After the coin toss, Shi Xin's black piece fell from the top of the nebula, shattering layers of cloud barriers and landing on the chessboard!

The epic battle has begun.

Chapter Eleven: One day, everyone will hear the sound of this ten-game match.

Under the continuous spring rain, deep within the Yugenji Temple, everyone present held their breath, quietly observing this momentous match that would be recorded in history.

Drip... drip... drip... It's hard to tell if it's the sound of rain or chess pieces falling, but it always makes those around you feel immense pressure.

In the first four moves, each player occupied the four corners with a star-shaped formation. As expected, the 3-3 point was hit again on the fifth move, which was not surprising at all. Then, the two players agreed on the same new joseki.

After the battle at the Imperial Castle, this technique of playing the game spread throughout the Go world. Even the most stubborn and conservative Go players had to admit that this way of playing the game did make sense.

However, while there is some truth to it, most people still do not consider it the "correct answer." They believe it is merely a unique style created by Koji Mitsuaki, known as the "ultimate perfect version of the Hikaru style." They argue that as Go progresses, better techniques will inevitably emerge, and the current 3-3 point will only become a trend during a specific period in history.

The strategy is flexible, and Ke Zhiguang can't simply present a few hard-hitting win rate statistics to tell everyone that this is the only answer verified by the gods.

However, even if he could prove its superiority, he wouldn't say so, otherwise it would be too boring and restrictive for everyone to play chess in the same way.

However, at this moment, he had to make this move because his opponent was Shi Xin, the strongest fighter in the world on the surface. He had to go all out and show the same spirit he had when he defeated Ye Shen Guojing in the fourth game!

Thirteenth move! Ke Zhiguang swung his piece, and Xiao Fei nimbly swept it down. It was none other than Ke's Flying Knife, which had made great contributions in the fourth game against Ye Shen Guojing and established a time advantage in one fell swoop.

The fourteenth move was a simple yet powerful horizontal strike that rammed into Dao Xiaofei. It seemed to be another new type of strike.

"Wouldn't that resolve the previously complicated battle situation?" Xia Fuying asked, stroking his beard from the referee's stand.

The fifteenth move! The piece that had been blocked by three pieces bravely stood up, and both sides made three consecutive moves at high speed, as if this was not the opening move, but the endgame with a tight time limit, forcing the players to use the explosive power of calculation to make their moves.

Charge! Block! Break it off on the outside!

A dazzling golden light pierced through the chessboard!

Each time a piece was placed on the board, it stirred up a storm on the vast, empty board, like two colossal forces colliding.

Ke Zhiguang has long since been liberated from the ranks of mission executors, and his reception of special effects and symbolic spirits is generally poor. However, when facing Shi Xin, he can still feel endless pressure pouring down from the sky, cascading over him like a waterfall.

They are still playing a complex opening pattern centered around three threes, but both sides have increased their speed to the maximum, which can only mean one thing... Both sides were fully aware of all the subsequent changes in this pattern from the beginning, and their only consideration was which change would be more advantageous to them.

Sure enough, in a state of near isolation from the world, Shi Xin had mastered almost all the Go playing techniques of the artificial intelligence era under the tempering of the Star Array... In other words, he may have almost the same amount of experience as Ke Zhiguang.

This is a long-lost feeling, like a duel with an opponent from the same era, with no information gap between the two sides, and the winner is determined purely by their hard strength!

The thirty-fourth move! With a solid adhesion, this unprecedented opening move in human history finally came to an end.

In the metaphysical world, the saint clapped his hands, producing a deafening sonic boom, announcing the end of the partial phase.

"Is this... a duel between the two strongest Go players in the world today?" a 9-dan player asked, trembling.

Such a game is reminiscent of Shi Xiangxia and Fan Xiping, the pair of dragons who illuminated the era. Their ten games at Danghu Lake were incomprehensible to chess players a hundred years later.

If I remember correctly, these two were also Shi Xin's opponents in the Imperial City Chess Series!

Like a vast thread connecting a circle, the scene from a hundred years ago is replicated today.

"Don't overthink it, just memorize the game record," Saito said casually from the side.

"Got it... and then what?"

"Then when I get home, I'll have to pick a good time and slowly set up the board myself. Eventually, I'll understand something... Time will provide the answers for us." Saito seemed to understand this very well.

"To put it simply, other young people will provide the answers for us, right?" The ninth-dan master understood.

In this spacious and breezy corner, a group of young chess players had already set up the chessboard and were frantically placing pieces on it, seemingly trying to exhaust all the variations in this local area.

It makes one feel that the future will be very bright.

On the chessboard, two sharp blades are locked together in an extremely violent manner!

Move 52! Without warning, Ke Zhiguang placed his piece on the inside of the corner where his opponent made a small jump. It was a brilliant adaptive move, and he flipped it out at the most opportune moment!

"A fierce mid-game battle is about to begin."

This statement, like a prophecy, was reflected on the chessboard. With the bottom of the board as the battlefield, Ke Zhiguang's white pieces plunged into a vast ocean of formations. The pieces combined together, forming a magnetic field-like domain, with a dense concentration of ions in the chaotic air.

A long white dragon broke through the turbulent currents on the ground and roared as it rushed into the sky.

It was a free and unrestrained two-space high jump, the wide gap seemed like it could be cut off at any moment, but there was an invisible gravitational force that firmly held the pieces below, making the connection exceptionally good.

"It can't be cut off! It really can't be cut off. If we force it off, Black will end up with an isolated group of stones." This was the conclusion that Shiori Shika reached after setting up the stones on the board.

"However, this conclusion was drawn after precise placement of the pieces. As someone physically present on the chessboard, only able to deduce with his brain, Shi Xin might not easily let the Life Science Master shine; he might just snap his fingers..."

Just then, the sound of a piece being placed came from the chessboard.

In the sixty-fifth move, Black firmly moved the stone upwards, a remarkably calm move, so calm that it seemed as if icy vapor was constantly emanating from the stone.

Shi Xin himself, along with the chess piece, exuded a powerful aura. Only then did people realize how terrifying his expression was, his brows furrowed into the wrath of a Vajra, holding a sharp sword in one hand and a scepter in the other!

Ke Zhiguang also glanced at the other person's expression and couldn't help but smile.

I originally thought that my opponent was a stoic player like Yagami Kunikyo, and that no matter how the situation on the board changed, he couldn't shake his expression for a moment.

Ke Zhiguang finally recalled the two games he had previously played with Shi Xin, in which Shi Xin indeed had the same expression: focused, fierce, and full of bloodthirst.

"Alright, we underestimated this person's strength." Seeing Shi Xin make such a calm and skillful move, those who had previously doubted him quickly shut up.

As the game progresses from the opening to the middle game, the level of suspense not only does not decrease but actually increases. Amazing calculation details are revealed on the board, and seemingly ordinary moves conceal such enormous power.

Eighty-seven! Eighty-nine! Ninety-one!

On the chessboard splashed by torrential rain, Shi Xin suddenly turned around, his footsteps leaving silent ripples on the lake's surface. The ripples then crashed at the edge of the lake, creating a magnificent and awe-inspiring sound. It was not a lake wave at all, but a tsunami!

"This piece can also be sacrificed?"

As if cleaved by a giant axe, the black piece in the center of the chessboard suddenly broke apart and actively joined the white pieces' formation. In the blink of an eye, a very impressive thick wall flew up in the center of the chessboard, as if it was about to swallow up half of the chessboard!

Ninety-six! Ninety-eight! One hundred!

With a feint, he leaped from under Ke Zhiguang's feet, stepping onto the board like a ray of light. Blue sparks flashed at every point, and each spark propelled him upwards!

The shocking effect struck Shi Xin's forehead, and also struck everyone watching the game.

Within a few short moves, the course of the game was abruptly cut off, and the initiative that had just slipped into Shi Xin's hands suddenly changed course, flowing back into Ke Zhiguang's hands like a flowing stream.

"The relocation was successful?" someone in the research group exclaimed in surprise.

Before they could even set up their pieces to find a way to break through the enemy's defenses, Ke Zhiguang had already moved ahead of time, his speed surpassing everyone's thinking.

Just a moment ago, all the remaining pieces hidden in the black formation came into play, creating a space with abundant eye positions, and endless vitality burst forth in this small space!

For a moment, Shi Xin's mind went blank. Spring rain seemed to freeze in mid-air, and the whole world appeared to move in slow motion in his eyes.

He was slowly leaning backward under the immense impact, like a giant a thousand meters tall falling, his pupils reflecting a sky and sun he had never seen before.

Is this all the skill you've got? Ke Zhiguang...

Shi Xin is increasingly able to appreciate the wonder of this world that Teacher Banye spoke of—the wonder of the future, the wonder of another world.

In the future, more and more chess players like him will appear on the world stage.

And how could one not yearn for a world that can nurture and cultivate such chess players?

With a final pull, his waist twisted, and just as he was about to fall, he used the force of a somersault to stand up again, once more unleashing an awe-inspiring presence that seemed to look down on everything.

His hand reached into the chess box with a fierce force, making a sound like sand and gravel being crushed, and a chess piece with a gilded Buddhist light slammed down!