Chapter 153: Playing Chess Is a Simple Thing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was quiet on Chess Board Mountain.
Nobody spoke after Tong Yan had made the remark.
It was important to earn respect and to behave like a gentleman, but the result itself was still more important.
Tong Yan opened his eyes and turned toward Jing Jiu. “It’s not true that I have never lost before. As a matter of fact, I lost seventeen gas in a row to my master when I had just started learning how to play Go; however...I don’t want to lose to you,” he said.
Hearing the remark, the others didn’t anything of it, other than thinking what Tong Yan said was rely a confrontation between geniuses. Yet Xiang Wanshu was rather startled. The big brother he knew was arrogant and distant, and Tong Yan didn’t like or get along so well with his own big brother, Luo Huainan; but in Go playing, Tong Yan had always been a broad-minded person who would praise his opponents whenever they made extraordinary moves, paying a little more respect to those true high-level Go players, like Grand Scholar Guo and He Zhan.
But why did Tong Yan say those words after his loss to Jing Jiu?
“After today’s ga, do you still think Go is just a pasti?”
Tong Yan asked this while staring into Jing Jiu’s eyes.
As the Go pieces landed on the Go board, thunder bood, and heaven and earth responded; who could say such a Go ga was just a pasti?
Jing Jiu thought about it and said, “Yes, I still think it’s just a pasti.”
Tong Yan opened his eyes wide, a trace of blood vaguely visible in them.
“In essence, that is what it is; it’s not belittling. Perhaps the pasti itself has so aning.”
Jing Jiu added, “To experience the process and obtain the results, we can choose different ways for each path. Perhaps our life and even the whole world are simply a pasti.”
“Is everything a pasti?”
Tong Yan asked this while staring into Jing Jiu’s eyes. “Have you ever tried your hardest for sothing in your life?”
Jing Jiu didn’t say anything.
He had never tried his hardest for anything in this or the previous life.
“You are indifferent to this world and keep your distance from everything. This is why I don’t like you and don’t want to lose to you.”
Tong Yan said with a serious tone, “Yet I’m different. I’m willing to give all I have for many things.”
Like a word of black and white.
Jing Jiu looked at him quietly, waiting for Tong Yan to say sothing more.
“Go is my Dao.”
“I thought I had done almost perfectly during our ga, but I still lost...And I lost to soone like you, soone who doesn’t even like playing Go, has no affection for it.”
“I don’t understand why soone like you could achieve so much in Go. If the Dao is indeed on the Go board, how could it allow such a thing to happen?”
“What do you expect and those people outside the pavilion to think?”
“This is unfair.”
“This will turn every endeavor into a aningless effort.”
A sorrowful expression appeared in Tong Yan’s eyes.
After a mont of silence, Jing Jiu said, “The world is always unfair. Whether we like this world or not ans nothing as far as the world itself is concerned.”
–The humans are good at using beautiful words and concepts to comfort themselves, but the world has always been like this.
Zhao Layue recalled what Jing Jiu had said that night when they left the old plum garden, and she suddenly had a chilly feeling.
It seed that those outside the pavilion had felt that sa chill. It was deadly silent, and the atmosphere was gloomy for so unknown reason.
“No, I don’t believe...”
Tong Yan mumbled, “Everything should be aningful...must be aningful.”
There was no way for him to accept Jing Jiu’s idea.
He had been studying Go since he was young. Guided by the masters of the Center Sect, he obtained a deep understanding of Go. What Tong Yan had been cultivating was to find the path toward heaven through Go.
The black and white pieces on the Go board, the changes between yin and yang, they all seed mysterious and unpredictable; in fact, they had their own rules.
He was determined to find these rules.
This was his pursuit in life.
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“All the objects in the world have their own rules, but it’s hard to say that they all have Dao.”
Jing Jiu continued, “In my opinion, the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting are all far away from the Dao, because they are too simple.”
Upon hearing this, there was an uproar in the crowd.
It was well known that Go was the most complicated chess ga, so who would dare say it was simple?
They intended to refute him, but fell silent again after suddenly recalling the Go ga he had just played.
Jing Jiu perhaps was the only person in the world whom nobody was qualified to refute when he stated that Go playing was simple.
Unless you could beat him on the Go board.
“Though I didn’t play Go before, I’ve played similar gas. After I’ve played this Go ga with you today, I found all the gas had sothing in common.”
Having said this, Jing Jiu slamd the Go table lightly.
The Go board bounced up slightly.
Hundreds of Go pieces flew out of the container, hovering in the air silently.
The hovering Go pieces were arranged in rows and columns, and in vertical lines, forming a three-dinsional Go ga.
Though this scene looked quite amazing, it wasn’t hard to do for Cultivation practitioners.
Many people were puzzled, wondering why Jing Jiu produced such a strange sight.
So of them were shocked speechless after having figured out what Jing Jiu attempted to communicate, wondering how Go could be played this way?!
Queniang felt helpless as she looked at those hovering Go pieces blankly.
He Zhan furrowed his eyebrows tightly, thinking that if the Go pieces were enough, there would be nineteen lines for the rows, columns and vertical lines respectively. If so, how complicated would the Go ga beco?
Tong Yan looked at this cage-like object, composed of the black and white Go pieces, and remained reticent for a long ti. “This is beyond human ability,” he said.
“It’s indeed very difficult. I can’t do it myself right now; but the Cultivation practitioners are supposed to do what cannot be done by humans,” responded Jing Jiu.
Tong Yan said, “Doing so would be very tiring, it’s like you’re tired now.”
Jing Jiu confird, “Yes, today is the first ti I have been this tired in a long ti.”
He said so in a serious tone.
Tong Yan said, “I don’t feel relieved after saying so. Yet I’m worried that you might lose if you continued playing with others. I don’t want to see the person who has defeated lose to sobody else.”
“Rest assured. I’m really tired, so I’m not going to continue the tournant,” said Jing Jiu.
Having heard this, Tong Yan was sowhat lost, and those people outside the pavilion were quite surprised.
Since Jing Jiu had already beaten Tong Yan, who would be his match on the Chess Board Mountain currently? Even though the ga he had played earlier was ntally consuming, Jing Jiu would be able to recover after a brief rest. It would be a dishonor for soone to force him to play another ga right away in front of so many people!
Jing Jiu said, “This Go ga between two of us started in Haizhou.”
Tong Yan understood what he ant, so did all the others present.
Having heard this, Zhao Layue and Xiang Wanshu recalled the scenario in Haizhou.
At the Four-Seas Banquet back then, Jing Jiu’s first place-winning was t with many negative comnts.
Xiang Wanshu comnted with a smile that he would be beaten by his big brother if he had played Fo the way Jing Jiu did. The verbal exchanges followed after Zhao Layue heard the comnt.
“Yes, I want to tell him that playing Go isn’t a simple thing.”
“I believe that playing Go is the simplest thing in the world for him.”
“Really? I hope to have the opportunity to play with him soday”
“You’re not good enough. Let your big brother do it.”
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Then Jing Jiu made the remark at the Sword Trial of Green Mountain.
“I have an appointnt with Tong Yan of the Center Sect to play Go at next year’s Plum eting.”
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“I have never said that I wanted to win first place in the chess tournant. I just wanted to play Go with you.”
“Now, I’m finished.”
Jing Jiu walked out of the pavilion, toward the bottom of the mountain along with Zhao Layue.
Those hovering Go pieces in the air fell down like the raindrops.
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