Chapter 85: Let the Tide Be Reversed!

Once the Man in Blue dissipated, you led Wan Da and Wan Er into the courtyard.

For a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, reattaching a severed limb was quite easy.

In the courtyard sat a stone table, though the Go board that had been on it was long gone.

You did not linger, continuing deeper.

"This should be the Holy City Lord's study," Wan Da said by way of introduction once you entered the room.

After confirming there was no danger inside, you stepped in, observing the room full of books.

You released your divine sense, sweeping the entire study, and failed to discover anything unusual.

"Boss, look!" Wan Da seemed to have found something and hurriedly waved you over.

You walked over to look. It was a Go board, and on it was an unfinished endgame.

"Do either of you know how to play Go?" You studied the board before you and suddenly asked.

Wan Da and Wan Er, hearing this, quickly shook their heads.

You thought for a moment, and something had occurred to you. You took a jade talisman from your ring — the very thing you had won from the earlier game of Go.

"The two of you, stand guard for me. I need to enter secluded cultivation for a while." You instructed the two of them, while simultaneously laying down a formation around yourself.

You split off a thread of divine sense and sent it inside. The jade talisman glowed faintly, and a Remnant Soul appeared — the old man you had played Go against earlier.

After the old man appeared, without another word, he directly began transmitting the technique to you.

You calmed your mind and earnestly studied and comprehended it.

A month later, the transmission ended, and the old man's Remnant Soul was about to dissipate.

"I am a disciple of the Chess Sage. Today I bestow my Master's inheritance upon you. I hope you can pass it on, and not sever the lineage of the Chess Sage!"

"This disciple will not fail the mission!" You cupped your fists and watched the old man depart.

A year later, you had fully absorbed and comprehended the old man's transmission. At this moment, your skill at Go had improved greatly.

Go is divided into nine ranks, and above the ninth rank is the Chess Sage.

The legendary Chess Sage could use all living beings as a board, and play against the Heavenly Dao.

You were now at the peak of the eighth rank, stuck at the ninth rank, unable to break through for a long time.

You looked at the jade talisman in your hand. It recorded the Chess Sage's inheritance, and only when your skill at Go broke through to the ninth rank could you obtain that inheritance.

The grand formation dispersed, and you emerged from seclusion.

Ignoring the two beside you, you went straight for the endgame.

You could now understand the endgame before you. After thinking for a while, you had some confidence in your heart.

You reached out, pinched a black stone, and placed it on the board.

As the black stone landed, the scene before you instantly changed. At this moment, you seemed to be within the Go board itself, and the game before you seemed to have become a battlefield.

In this moment, you had become the commander of the black stones. With a single stone you placed, you could affect the entire battlefield.

You raised your head and looked forward. In the white stone camp, a Man in Blue had appeared — the very Eerie Being from the courtyard earlier!

At this moment, he was like one bathed in a spring breeze, a faint smile on his face, without a trace of madness.

You forcibly suppressed the tremor in your heart and played against the Man in Blue.

Time flowed swiftly. After more than a hundred moves, your face was pale, your eyes hazy, your mind blank. This was a sign of excessive divine sense consumption.

You gritted your teeth, and with a trembling right hand, picked up a black stone and heavily placed it on the board!

In the board, the white stones held most of the advantage, gradually surrounding the black stones, as if victory was but a moment away.

But with this single stone of yours, like the dotting of a pupil, all the black stones in the board came alive!

Not only did they break through the white stones' encirclement, they even swallowed a great many white stones in one go. The overall situation began to reverse.

In your hands, the black stones pressed the advantage, leaving the white stones no path to survival.

In the end, not only did you reclaim the entire board, you even trapped the white stones completely.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" A hint of spirit appeared in the Man in Blue's eyes. Looking at the entire battlefield of the board, he praised you endlessly.

Your face was pale as you grinned at the Man in Blue. "Senior, you flatter me."

The Man in Blue waved his large hand, and the entire board vanished. He came before you, his gaze toward you full of appreciation.

"You are quite good! It's just a pity I cannot play against you with my own hands." The Man in Blue sighed.

"Why have you come here? I have only a wisp of Remnant Soul left. I fear I cannot give you much help."

"Dare I ask, Senior, is there a passage out of this City Lord's Mansion?" Your heart stirred, and you asked without betraying your expression.

"There is. It's in my study." The Man in Blue told you the way out.

Your heart settled greatly. You could hardly wait to leave this cursed place.

Before departing, you told the Man in Blue about the ever-smiling Eerie Being.

"Alas, that was all karma I created in the past!" The Man in Blue waved his hand, unwilling to say more on the matter.

The illusion vanished, and you returned to the study.

"Boss, what happened to you?" Seeing you come to your senses, Wan Da quickly asked.

You shook your head. "Nothing wrong with that. Let's prepare to leave."

You walked to one of the study walls and reached out, tearing off all the paintings on it, revealing a Go board on the wall.

Using spiritual power as stones, you began to play Go once more.

A quarter of an hour later, you finally won the game, and the entire wall began to tremble.

After the trembling, a passage appeared in the wall. You led the two of them deeper inside.

At the end of the passage, you saw an ancient teleportation formation.

You examined the formation. To your relief, it was not badly damaged and could barely still be used — though you had no way of knowing where it would send you.

You took out sixty thousand mid-grade spirit stones, trying to use them to activate the teleportation formation, but you failed.

You then took out two hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones. The formation flickered faintly, then went still again.

Your brow furrowed slightly. You took out another five hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones. This time, the entire formation operated at full power. A white light shone upon the three of you, carrying you into the teleportation passage.

You opened your eyes, looking at the tattered, worn teleportation passage that had not been used in several thousand years.

A nameless Void Creature suddenly appeared, opening its bloody maw and blocking your path.

You struck with one sword, leaving no mark at all on the Void Creature's body, but in doing so, you thoroughly enraged it.

A powerful suction force emanated from the Void Creature's mouth, trying to draw the three of you in one fell swoop!

In the critical moment, you could not care about anything else. One sword strike broke open the passage, and you fled into the void.

Fleeing into the void at least leaves a thread of survival. Swallowed by the Void Creature, certain death!