On the other side, near the Northern Go Academy, inside a luxury apartnt.
A group of Go players surrounded a Go board, continuously moving the stones around, reviewing and analyzing the ga.
"Here, Zeng Jun's hane and connection were a bit slow, but it's hard to notice. Still, he precisely caught the problem with that move."
Kong Zi's expression was serious as he looked at the board and said, "Through the follow-up exchanges with the jump and the bump, this small mistake got magnified more than ten moves later."
"A guy who's never learned Go properly, getting this far just through self-study... it's honestly unimaginable."
A man in his early thirties stared intently at the board, slowly speaking, "The way he utilizes dead stones to this degree, it's kinda ridiculous."
Chen Shan squinted slightly, thought for a mont, and then pointed at the board, "Right here, he left a weakness. If Zeng Jun had used a surrounding attack, the white stones would have been in serious trouble."
"What if White sacrifices here?"
From within the crowd, Zhu Huaian suddenly asked while staring at the board.
"Sacrifice?"
Jiang Changdong frowned, pondered for a second, then showed an alternate variation, "If White sacrifices, the fight would get pretty intense — another wave of complex offense and defense."
They kept analyzing and reviewing the ga, feeling an undeniable turmoil inside.
Even though all of them were battle-hardened veterans, seasoned warriors of countless gas, facing moves like the 3-3 invasion, the Demon Blade sacrifice, the bump at the Small Point, the Shoulder Hit to the Unassailable Corner... none of them could stay calm.
How twisted must soone's mindset be to co up with plays like these?
After a while, a short-haired man close to forty years old stared at the board with a complicated expression, "Ten wins in a row in a Challenge Match... this is... unbelievable."
"It's a good thing, isn't it? We finally have a young player of this level now."
Hearing this, Zhuang Weisheng finally pulled his eyes away from the board and added, "It won't be long before he sits across from us."
"But for now, the priority is to prepare for the upcoming second Challenge Match."
——
Japan, Hokkaido.
An eighteen-year-old youth with long hair stared at his computer. On the screen, the record of the Hero's Pride Cup final ga was displayed. He kept clicking the mouse, reviewing every black and white move carefully.
Just then, the phone on his desk rang.
Hearing the ringtone, the young man finally snapped out of it, glanced at his phone, and picked up the call, "Hello?"
"Higashiyama Kaoru, did you watch the Challenge Match final?"
On the other end, a young voice quickly followed up, "My god, ten straight wins! That's insane! There's never been such a case in the history of Challenge Matches!"
"Of course I watched it."
Higashiyama Kaoru put the phone on speaker and placed it back on the desk. He clicked the mouse again, saying, "I'm actually rewatching the Hero's Pride Cup final right now."
Looking at the record, Higashiyama couldn't help but sigh, "Who would've thought? There's still such a young player in the Chinese Go scene."
"That Hero's Pride Cup ga? It was too bland compared to this one. This Life-and-Death capturing ga is already a historical masterpiece!"
The voice on the other end marveled non-stop, teasing, "Even you, who's made it into the Honinbo League, are feeling the pressure now, huh?"
Higashiyama didn't deny it. He scrolled the mouse and clicked to the next move, saying, "That's exactly why I really want to play a ga against him. Hopefully, he'll participate in the upcoming China-Japan-Korea Youth Team Tournant."
——
——
South Korea, Seoul Go Academy, Discussion Room.
"Too... too amazing! After Go Sage Zhu Huaian, it's been years since China has produced a young star, and now out of nowhere cos soone like this?"
A group of young professional players gathered around a Go board, watching the Challenge Match final that had just ended not long ago, unable to hide their shock.
"Ten straight wins?"
Even after watching the entire match live, they still felt like they were dreaming.
After all, even if it's just the first Challenge Match, winning ten gas in a row is almost impossible.
Not only does it require absolute skill, but you also have to be extrely young. Players who et both conditions are incredibly rare worldwide.
"Do you think he'll participate in the China-Japan-Korea Youth Team Tournant? I originally thought Lee Junhyuk's only rival would be Higashiyama Kaoru. If this guy joins, he'll be a serious threat too!"
Soone couldn't help but bring up the upcoming Youth Team Tournant.
"No worries, China's only got him. Lee Junhyuk might not even lose. But even if he does, there's still—"
A young man beside him shook his head, but midway through his sentence, he suddenly realized sothing. His face broke into a cold sweat, "Wait, no... two... there are two!"
"The Team Tournant is a five-player format. Win three gas, and you win the match. If both Yu Shao and Su Yiming join, China will actually be a major threat!"
Everyone exchanged glances.
"There's pressure, sure, but this is getting exciting!"
One of the young n clenched his fist, full of anticipation, "Since Zhu Huaian and Li You both turned nineteen, for years now it's just been us and Japan fighting for the championship!"
"Now China is finally back on its feet. If both of them participate this year, this China-Japan-Korea Team Tournant is going to be legendary!"
"This will be a pure, unfiltered battle of talent!"
——
——
USA, New York Go Academy.
"The comnt sections are blowing up."
A young professional Go player looked at his phone, his expression a bit ugly.
"They already played their best. Losing hurts the players the most, doesn't it?"
The other players nearby also looked gloomy.
In the end, everyone fell silent.
After a while, soone let out a heavy sigh.
The first Challenge Match had officially ended.
But the impact it left was beyond imagination. The entire world was in shock, and the buzz was overwhelming.
Ten straight wins in a Challenge Match!
Even if it was just the first of two, it was enough to make history.
——
Yu Shao rested well at the hotel for a night, then returned ho and continued resting.
He actually had two National Master Tournants scheduled during this period, but he skipped them because of the Challenge Match.
Although he missed those gas, it was understandable since Challenge Match participants are exempt.
In fact, both during the Challenge Match and for ten days afterward, any tournants involving participants would be rescheduled to give them recovery ti.
As for the prize money, it wouldn’t be distributed until after the second Challenge Match finished, since even the total prize pool was still unknown.
According to the Challenge Match rules: if the sponsor wins one and loses one, they pay the standard prize. But if they lose both matches, they pay triple the prize money.
The Hero's Pride Cup was over. The first Challenge Match was over. Right now, Yu Shao only had the National Master Tournant left.
Normally, unless there’s a title match, professional players would also enter other tournants regularly.
So after resting for two days at ho, Yu Shao had to start thinking about what tournant to register for next.
"The China-Japan-Korea Team Tournant!"
Wu Zhixuan’s voice ca through his headphones. "Sign up for the China-Japan-Korea Team Tournant. We've lost five years straight already!"
"China-Japan-Korea Team Tournant?"
Yu Shao tapped the mouse lightly, playing a stone, suddenly recalling that Zheng Qin had ntioned this to him before.
"Yeah, it’s an annual event. We haven’t even been runners-up in the past five years. And the last ti we won was seven years ago!"
Wu Zhixuan took a deep breath, then said, "You’re the Hero's Pride Cup champion, so you don’t even need to go through prelims — you’ve got a direct spot. So sign up! Just sign up!"
"You sound like one of those livestream shopping hosts."
Yu Shao couldn’t help but tease, "If you weren’t playing Go, you’d be wasting your talent not doing e-comrce."
"We’ve lost too miserably these past few years, always finishing third. We have to take it back this year!"
Wu Zhixuan said imdiately, "Plus, this tournant has the biggest prize pool! And don’t you want to play against Higashiyama Kaoru and Lee Junhyuk? They're just as insanely strong as you!"
She tried to provoke him, "Even if you win twenty gas in a row in Challenge Matches, if you don’t go up against them, you’ll never be recognized as the number one young player!"
"Number one young player!"
Wu Zhixuan’s voice was full of temptation, "Yu Shao, just think about it! Doesn’t that get you fired up? If you beat them too, who could argue that you’re not the strongest of the younger generation?"
Yu Shao chuckled, "Even if I win one ga, it doesn’t an much. Unless I win seven out of ten, no one would acknowledge it."
"I acknowledge it! As long as you win, that’s enough!"
On the other side of the headset, Wu Zhixuan said playfully, "So, are you signing up or not?"
Hearing Wu Zhixuan ntion Higashiyama Kaoru, Yu Shao couldn’t help but recall the ga Zheng Qin had analyzed for him before.
"Alright, let’s sign up for this one."
Yu Shao thought for a mont and finally agreed.
With the tournant picked, Yu Shao had nothing urgent left to do. Since he had missed two National Master gas, there was still ti before the next one.
The second Challenge Match was scheduled for seven days after the first, just a few days away. However, the Go Academy hadn’t contacted him to comntate, likely not planning to have him explain the first match.
After playing ten consecutive rounds, Yu Shao was happy to get a few extra days of rest at ho, occasionally playing online with Xu Zijin, Wu Zhixuan, Le Haoqiang, Zhou De, and the others.
Thanks to their ti spent preparing for the Challenge Match together, Yu Shao had beco quite familiar with Le Haoqiang’s group, so when they invited him to play online, he didn’t refuse.
Interestingly, during an online ga against Zhou De, who played with a five-stone handicap, Zhou De finally scored his first win and was so excited that he posted five friend-circle updates and eight status ssages in one night, leaving Yu Shao speechless.
Since the second Challenge Match was still coming up, the buzz around Challenge Matches stayed high. In fact, the hype for the second one seed even greater than the first.
After all, the twenty players in the second Challenge Match were on a whole different level in terms of fa.
Any one of them, just by na alone, was known far and wide, each having produced at least one legendary ga that left people in awe.
Four days flew by.
Finally, as everyone eagerly waited—
The second Challenge Match was about to begin.
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