In his previous life, he had always adhered to the principle of "invincibility lies within oneself, victory lies in the opponent." In every ga, if there was even a one percent chance of reversal, he would abandon that line of play, choosing instead to observe patiently and strike only when the mont was right.
This strategy—winning without fighting—made him nearly unshakable. It helped him secure countless victories, but at the sa ti, it caused him to miss many opportunities.
Because in so gas, the only way to win was to engage in fierce combat, to use sheer strength to determine the outco.
This was precisely why, in his previous life, after reaching his peak, he was eventually surpassed by the next generation. His strength gradually declined to the point where he could barely hold onto a spot in the top five.
Even when AI erged later, allowing for ga reviews, AI sparring, and AI-assisted training, it did nothing to change this. Because at the core, it was a matter of choice.
Even if post-ga analysis revealed that AI recomnded aggressive play, so variations were too complex and difficult to control. If every move wasn’t executed with absolute precision, the situation could be reversed—or even worsen.
So, even knowing the optimal move, he often chose not to take it. After all, no one believed they could replicate AI’s flawless play move for move.
Because of this, even in his previous life, when training with AI, he never deliberately honed his mid-ga attacking skills. Instead, he focused on board control, late-ga maneuvers, and exploiting his strengths to the fullest.
As Yu Shao was lost in thought, his phone suddenly buzzed.
Snapping back to reality, he glanced down at the screen and saw a WeChat ssage from Wu Zhixuan.
[Wu Zhixuan: I’m going to be a recorder for this year’s Fla Inheritance Match. Surprised? Excited?]
"Recorder?"
Seeing her ssage, Yu Shao was a little taken aback.
A recorder, as the na suggested, was responsible for docunting every move played by both players during a match. In professional Go tournants, major events always had recorders specifically assigned to record the ga moves.
Typically, recorders were selected from among attractive female amateur players or low-dan female professionals. So, it wasn’t surprising that Wu Zhixuan would be chosen.
What did surprise Yu Shao was that the Fla Inheritance Match, being an exhibition event, even had recorders assigned to it.
Then again, after thinking it over, he found it reasonable. After all, the Fla Inheritance Match was the first battle for every new professional Go player.
He quickly typed out a reply:
"Alright, then you’ll get to see firsthand why I qualified as a professional with a flawless record."
A few days ago, when the promotion tournant results had just been released, Wu Zhixuan had bombarded him with ssages, asking how he had managed to go undefeated and showering him with admiration.
Her response ca quickly:
"Ohhh, I’ll be looking forward to it! Good luck, good luck, good luck!"
anwhile, on the other side…
Su Yiming continued to stare at the computer screen, watching the ongoing ga. His eyes reflected the intertwining black and white stones.
After a long while, he let out a slow breath.
"Lost… by six and a half points."
Though he had lost, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Still lost, huh…"
His mind drifted back over a hundred years to the countless gas he had won.
Back then, technology was nowhere near as advanced as it was today—no computers, no airplanes. If soone wanted to play a ga, they had to travel great distances, crossing mountains and rivers just for a single match.
But by the ti he was twenty-three, his na had already shaken the world. Nearly every day, challengers traveled miles just to play him. He was never short of gas.
Yet, among all those matches, he never lost a single one.
Even so, he could clearly feel that over those ten years of near-constant matches, his skills had steadily improved. By the ti he was thirty-three, he was significantly stronger than he had been at twenty-three.
For ten years, he kept winning, and his Go strength kept growing. The progress was slow, but it was there.
However, at thirty-three, he was suddenly struck by the realization—his Go skills had stopped improving. He had hit a bottleneck. No matter how many more gas he played, he could no longer make even the slightest progress.
And after realizing this, he fell gravely ill and remained bedridden until his eventual death.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself over a hundred and fifty years in the future, living as a teenager nad Su Yiming.
He didn’t know if he had broken the cycle of reincarnation or if he was simply a lingering spirit that had attached itself to this young man.
"I’ve often wondered… why did I, soone who should have died long ago, wake up more than a hundred and fifty years later as Su Yiming?"
"What is the purpose of my arrival in this era?"
Su Yiming stared at the computer screen, his gaze filled with a complex mix of emotions—lancholy, nostalgia, and… excitent.
"Now, I finally know the answer."
"I ca here to see a higher realm of Go. To understand that I can still move forward. To realize… that there is soone above ."
"Thank you for showing these gas."
"Even though I lost, I am truly grateful…"
"Because by losing, I now see the road ahead."
At that mont, Su Yiming recalled a conversation he had with Yu Shao on the last day of the promotion tournant.
Back then, he had said he had a dream—one where he kept winning ga after ga. And when he woke up, he found Go had beco effortless.
Yu Shao's response had been that in his dream, he had kept losing. And when he woke up, he also found that Go had beco easier.
Su Yiming hadn’t taken those words seriously at the ti. But now, he felt that Yu Shao’s answer was unexpectedly profound.
"It’s only by losing that you can see the way forward…"
"If you always win, eventually, you will stagnate."
Taking a deep breath, Su Yiming muttered to himself:
"Now, I am the one who has arrived."
In the following days, Yu Shao rested at ho for a week before finally returning to school on Monday.
"Oh, so you still rember to co back?"
Seeing Yu Shao return, Zhou De imdiately started making a scene.
"The great professional Go player Yu Shao has returned to his loyal Jiangling High School!"
"Shut up."
Yu Shao shot him a glare.
"Yu Shao, there’s now a tragic and insurmountable wall between us!"
A boy in the front row turned around with a betrayed look on his face.
"Seeing you all over the internet, I feel worse than if I’d died!"
"What about our bet? A hundred yuan—don’t tell you forgot?"
Zhou De stretched out his hand, demanding the bet from the boy in front of him. They had wagered last year on whether Yu Shao would beco a professional Go player. Now that Zhou De had won, he wanted his money.
"Damn it!"
The boy cursed, then said, "Next week. I’m broke this week."
Other students also glanced at Yu Shao with mixed emotions—shock, envy, admiration…
Even Zhang Wenbo, who usually dragged Yu Shao to play video gas, hesitated to speak. Looking at Yu Shao casually flipping through a textbook, he felt an unfamiliar distance between them.
Sitting in the front row, Cheng ngjie bit her lip, keeping her head down as she furiously worked on her assignnts, never once looking in Yu Shao’s direction.
Her deskmate, a slightly chubby girl, was tactful enough not to bring up Yu Shao at all.
Everything… felt different.
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