It was quiet on the Chess Board Mountain.
Nobody said anything after Tong Yan said this.
It was true that one's respectability and demeanor were important, but the result was the most important.
Tong Yan opened his eyes and turned to Jing Jiu, saying, "It's not that I haven't lost before. When I first learned how to play Go, I lost to Master's wife seventeen games in a row; but … I don't want to lose to you."
Hearing this, the others didn't feel anything, thinking that Tong Yan was talking about the competition for the limelight among the geniuses. Yet, Xiang Wanshu was startled. He knew that his Big Brother's temperament was aloof and proud, and he didn't even like or want to get close to his Big Brother Lo Huainan. Yet, his Big Brother was an elegant person when it came to playing Go. No matter who his opponent was, he wouldn't hesitate to praise his opponent as long as his opponent played well. He would also show more respect to the true Go masters, like Grand Scholar Guo and He Zhan.
Why did his Big Brother say such a thing after losing to Jing Jiu?
"After what happened today, do you still think Go is just a game?"
Asked Tong Yan while staring into Jing Jiu's eyes.
As the Go pieces were placed, thunder boomed, and heaven and earth responded. How could such a Go game be just a game?
Jing Jiu said after some thought, "Yes, I still think this is a game."
Tong Yan opened his eyes wide, bloodshot.
"That's the essence. I'm not belittling it; it's because the game itself is meaningful."
Jing Jiu said, "Going through the process and ushering in the result is different. Maybe our lives and the world are all games."
"Everything is a game?"
Asked Tong Yan while staring into his eyes. "Have you ever risked your life for anything in your life?"
Jing Jiu didn't say anything.
He hadn't risked his life for anything even in his previous life, to say nothing of this life.
"You are indifferent to this world and everything, and you keep your distance. This is why I don't like you and don't want to lose to you."
Tong Yan said sharply, "But I'm different. I'm willing to sacrifice everything for many things."
For example, the black and white world.
Jing Jiu looked at him in Silence, waiting for the rest of the story.
"Chess is my Dao."
"In the previous game, I thought that it was almost perfect, but I still lost … Moreover, I lost to someone like you who doesn't like chess and has no feelings for it."
"I don't understand how someone like you could reach such a level. If the Great Path really exists on the chessboard, why did it allow such a thing to happen?"
"What do you want me and the people outside to think?"
"This isn't fair."
"This will make everything meaningless."
Tong Yan's eyes were a little sad.
After a moment of silence, Jing Jiu said, "The world has always been unfair. No matter how much you and I love this world, it doesn't mean anything to the world."
We are humans who are good at comforting ourselves with beautiful words and definitions, and this is how the world is.
Zhao Layue remembered what he had said that night after they left the old plum garden. She suddenly felt a little cold.
The people outside the pavilion also seemed to feel the chill after the rain. There was dead silence, and the atmosphere was inexplicably gloomy.
"No, I don't believe it."
Tong Yan muttered, "Everything should have meaning, and it must have meaning."
He simply couldn't accept Jing Jiu's words.
He had studied the Dao of Chess since he was young, and under the guidance of his teachers at Zhongzhou School, he gradually reached a deeper level and cultivated the Dao of Chess.
The chessboard was divided into black and white, Yin and Yang alternating. It seemed mysterious and unpredictable, but there was actually a pattern to it.
And he wanted to find that pattern.
This was his lifelong pursuit.
…
…
"All things have a Dao, but many cannot be described as Great Paths."
Jing Jiu continued, "For example, in my view, the four arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting cannot approach the Great Path, because they are too simple."
Hearing this, the crowd was in an uproar.
It was universally acknowledged that the game of Chess was the most complex and profound. Who would dare to say that it was simple?
The crowd wanted to refute him, but then remembered the previous game and fell silent again.
Jing Jiu was the only person in the world who said that Chess was simple, and no one was qualified to refute him.
Unless you could win against him on the chessboard.
"I haven't played Chess before, but I've played a similar game before. After playing with you today, I feel that the two games have something in common."
Having said this, Jing Jiu slapped the table lightly.
The chessboard was shaken and jumped up slightly.
Hundreds of Go pieces flew up from the chessboard and the urns, hovering in the air in Silence.
The black and white Go pieces were arranged in a disorderly manner, intersecting horizontally and vertically, and many of them were arranged vertically, forming a three-dimensional Go game.
This scene was quite amazing, but it was not too difficult for a Cultivation practitioner to achieve.
Many people were taken aback, wondering why Jing Jiu had created such a strange thing.
Some people had figured out his intention, and were shocked speechless, wondering if it was possible to play like this.
Que Niang looked at the Go pieces in the air in a daze, feeling helpless.
He Zhan furrowed his eyebrows tightly, thinking that it was because there were not enough Go pieces. If there were nineteen lines in all three columns, how complicated would this Go game be?
Looking at the cage-like thing made of black and white Go pieces, Tong Yan said after a long moment of silence, "It's not something a human can achieve."
Jing Jiu said, "It's indeed very difficult, and I can't do it now. But Cultivation means doing things that a human can't do."
Tong Yan said, "It will be very tiring, just like how you are now."
"Yes," said Jing Jiu. "I haven't been as tired as I am today for many years."
He said this quite earnestly.
Tong Yan said, "I won't feel relieved because of this. I'm just worried that you might lose if you continue playing Go. I don't like it when someone who has defeated me loses to someone else. "
"Don't worry," said Jing Jiu. "I'm indeed a bit tired, so I'm not going to continue."
Upon hearing this, Tong Yan was somewhat puzzled, and the people outside the pavilion were even more surprised.
Jing Jiu had already defeated Tong Yan, so who on the Chess Board Mountain could be his match today? Even if the previous game of Go had consumed too much of his mental energy, he would be fine after a short rest. Who would dare to force him to play in front of so many people?
"The game of Go between you and me started in Haizhou," said Jing Jiu.
Tong Yan understood what Jing Jiu meant, and so did everyone else present.
Upon hearing this, both Zhao Layue and Xiang Wanshu recalled the scene at that time.
At the Four-Seas Banquet, Jing Jiu won first place in Go, but he attracted a lot of criticism.
Xiang Wanshu said with a smile that he would be beaten by his Big Brother if he played Go like Jing Jiu, but Zhao Layue heard him, which led to the following conversation.
"That's right. I want to tell him that playing Go is not so simple."
"Believe me, playing Go is the simplest thing in the world for him."
"Really? I hope I will have a chance to learn from him later. "
"You can't do it. Let your Big Brother do it."
…
…
Then, Jing Jiu said at the Sword Trial of Aoyama.
"I have an appointment with the Zhongzhou School to play Go with Tong Yan at the Plum Meeting next year."
…
…
"I have never said that I want to win the chess tournament at the Plum Meeting. I just want to play Go with you."
"Now, the game is over."
Jing Jiu walked out of the pavilion and led Zhao Layue down the mountain.
The Go pieces in the air fell down like raindrops.
…
…
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