At the sa ti, on the other side—
Inside the U.S. team’s review room, all the players were staring at the screen. When they saw where Yu Shao placed his latest move, their faces were filled with shock.
“He actually... pushed straight down?”
Soone couldn’t believe what they were seeing and blurted out, “Even though it’s the Demon Blade, we’re still early in the sequence. It’s not complex enough yet for such a huge mistake, right?”
At those words, the others all fell silent, their expressions turning grim as they stared at the screen, not saying a word. Even Ma Dong was the sa.
It was true—if the ga had already entered deep into the Demon Blade variations, and chaos had broken out on the board, then Yu Shao—after so many consecutive gas—making a mistake would’ve been understandable.
But it was still early. You could even say the Demon Blade had just been unsheathed. Yu Shao playing that crude push to grab the corner—it just seed too unorthodox.
Unless… there was so deeper intent?
But if there really was sothing hidden in this move—then what was it?
At first glance, it looked like Black was at a major disadvantage. Sure, he got a big corner, but White was building massive outer influence. No matter how you looked at it, Black had nothing to counter with.
After Yu Shao’s push, White didn’t respond right away.
It was clear that in the Handtalk Room, Downes was caught off guard by this “crude push” and had fallen into deep thought.
After a long while, White finally responded.
And the mont White placed his stone, Black followed up imdiately—another move landed on the board.
Clack!Clack!Clack!
Under the astonished and confused gaze of the world, Black and White continued to alternate moves.
But as the stones fell, everyone’s confusion only grew deeper.
Because after Black’s push into the corner—it really seed like... there wasn’t any follow-up?
Black might’ve secured territory in the corner, but White’s outer wall was taking impressive shape!
Ti ticked on.
In the review room, their expressions began to shift. At so point, beads of cold sweat had ford at their temples. Their faces were full of disbelief.
After another ten moves landed, the players began quietly testing variations, pulling stones from the Go bowl.
Soon, they finished playing out one line of follow-up. Their expressions changed slightly.
They cald themselves and tried another variation. When they finished that one, their faces grew even darker.
Still unwilling to accept it, they laid out several more possibilities...
Until they exhausted every line they could think of.
The room turned chaotic. No one could believe what they were seeing. All eyes were locked on the now fully cluttered board, hearts pounding.
“How...”
“How can this be?!”
Duncan looked at the board in horror, unable to stay calm anymore. He finally broke the silence.
“Downes played every move well! But the more he played, the more White’s outer wall got suppressed. And now—even his formation is falling apart!”
No one responded. Even Ma Dong had gone completely quiet, his face heavy. For the first ti, he had no answer.
This had happened once before—during the fourth match of the team battle.
Back then, after a 3-3 invasion, Yu Shao’s every move had seed light and harmless—but each one landed sowhere more valuable. In the end, Ma Rui had unknowingly fallen into a losing position.
That ga, at least you could look back and understand what went wrong. But this one? The way the position evolved was utterly incomprehensible. It was insane.
Why?
“Downes noticed it too. He completely lost his focus.”
After a while, Ma Jie stared at the screen and said gravely, “That tiger’s mouth move should’ve been a diagonal cut. That way, even if White was behind, he could still tangle with Black.”
“But Downes got scared of a potential life-and-death issue and panicked. He chose to play the tiger’s mouth to patch the weakness. Sure, that White group lived—but it’s now completely suppressed on the bottom side.”
Ma Jie’s face was dark as he concluded, “White is now in a losing position.”
At those words, no one blad Downes.
After all, when a clearly favorable ga sohow turns against you without warning—and you don’t even know why—how many people on Earth could keep a cool head in that mont?
...
In the broadcast studio—
“White’s collapse is inevitable?”
Hong Yuhao stared at the board, which was almost completely tilted in Black’s favor. He couldn’t even process it.
Though the ga wasn’t over—there was still a lot of open space—the montum had already fully shifted. Black had constructed a massive frawork.
As long as Black didn’t make a huge mistake and successfully converted the frawork into solid territory, even playing a few slow moves wouldn’t matter. Victory was his.
Even though he wanted Yu Shao to win, seeing how he turned a losing situation into a winning one with nothing but ordinary-looking moves… all Hong Yuhao felt was utter shock.
“Why?” he asked in a daze, staring at the board. “Why did it turn out this way?”
“Because of that push.”
It was Chang Yan’s voice beside him.
“The push?”
Hong Yuhao turned to look at her.
To be honest, even before Yu Shao started turning the tables, he’d considered whether that crude push was the reason. It was, after all, the weirdest move White had responded to.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see how that push could reverse the situation. So he’d ruled it out.
And now Chang Yan was saying—it was that push?
Next to him, Chang Yan stared at the board and said, “Actually, it’s not that complicated. Just analyze it using the hand-cut thod, and everything becos clear.”
Hand-cut thod?
At that, Hong Yuhao froze. In his mind, a ntal board appeared. He began placing stones, using the hand-cut thod to play out the Demon Blade sequence.
Suddenly, he realized sothing. His mouth fell open. His mind buzzed. Even his scalp began to tingle.
If you used the hand-cut thod, the answer really was simple.
But...
Who would’ve thought to play that kind of crude push in the first place?
And even if soone did play it—who would think to analyze it using the hand-cut thod of all things?
“This...”
Hong Yuhao stared at the lower-left corner of the board, stunned. He opened his mouth to speak—but no words ca out.
Even after deducing the outco, he still couldn’t believe it.
“The Demon Blade... actually doesn’t work.”
At last, Chang Yan voiced the truth that Hong Yuhao couldn’t bring himself to say.
“I didn’t ntion it before, because the ga hadn’t reached the push yet.”
She paused, then continued, “But now, the current board situation is the strongest proof that the Demon Blade doesn’t hold up.”
As soon as those words fell, every viewer in front of a TV or computer was frozen in place.
Then, Chang Yan walked up to the big board and removed the stones from the lower-left corner.
One by one, she replayed the sequence—except this ti, she laid it out using the hand-cut thod, not the standard Demon Blade order.
Each ti she placed a stone, the room grew more silent.
More quiet...
And then quieter still.
Clack!Clack!Clack!
Finally, when she finished laying out the follow-up to Black’s push using the hand-cut thod, the entire world fell into a deathly silence.
Viewers everywhere stared at the screen, motionless. It was like soone had smashed them over the head—their minds went blank.
So leaned forward in their chairs, eyes wide in disbelief, trying to get a closer look, like they still couldn’t trust what they were seeing.
Even after seeing the truth with their own eyes, their first reaction was just like Hong Yuhao’s:
I still don’t believe it.
But the truth was right there, undeniable.
Analyzed through the hand-cut thod, that crude push after the Demon Blade didn’t bring Black an advantage—it brought him a massive lead.
The Demon Blade.
That legendary joseki, feared for centuries, with a reputation as one of the Three Most Difficult Patterns.
And now, it was like everyone could hear it—
This blade, once soaked in the blood of countless prodigies, suddenly shattered with a tallic “clang,” its wail echoing across the sky.
That wail—piercing, sorrowful—shook every Go player in the world to their core.
When that push was played, and its value analyzed through the hand-cut thod, the Demon Blade—passed down for hundreds of years, studied obsessively by generations of players—
“From this day forward, the Demon Blade is no more.”
The smile slowly faded from Chang Yan’s face. She looked into the cara, as if addressing the entire world.
“Yu Shao 2-dan had actually played this push variation before,” she said. “But that was in an unofficial match.”
“This is the first ti this push has ever appeared in an official ga against the Demon Blade. And it might be the last.”
“This match... is the one that seals the Demon Blade. Regardless of how exciting the rest of it is—it already carries historical weight.”
On the screen, Black and White were still alternating moves, gradually filling the board.
Clack.Clack.Clack.
Everyone stared in a daze. Each move that landed on the board seed to echo with the Demon Blade’s mournful cry. The sound of the stones falling was heartbreaking.
A long ti passed.
And then, under the world’s silent gaze, two white stones landed on the board—
Clack, clack!
Even through the screen, people felt like they could hear those two stones landing. The sound echoed in the Go world, stirring hearts everywhere.
Because this might be the final blood-stained cry—
From the Demon Blade, feared for centuries.
The Ga That Sealed the Demon Blade—played during the team battle.
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