Chapter 114: Chapter 105: The Chess Ga
Of the nine passages, eight held an Annihilation Array. They didn’t know which path led to life and which to death. If they chose wrong, wouldn’t they all perish inside?
This was an Annihilation Array that even an Early-Stage Ultimate Venerable Powerhouse could not survive. No one believed they would be lucky enough to escape with their lives!
"Do not panic!" The voice lingering in the air seed to notice their expressions and chuckled faintly. "Since you are my descendants, I will naturally not let all of you die. However, there must be a test. To obtain the treasure, you must first have courage, and then wisdom. Only with both courage and wisdom can you carry my legacy forward, rather than inviting disaster upon the family by possessing a treasure you cannot protect!"
Countless people of insufficient strength had gotten their entire clans annihilated for possessing treasures they couldn’t protect. Luoo Qu didn’t want his descendants to simply receive the treasure; they had to prove their courage and wisdom by passing his test!
No one in the group was an idiot, and they all nodded in understanding at this explanation.
"Passing through the fog of the first two trials has already proven you possess great courage and a certain degree of wisdom. However, that is not enough. Only by passing my final test will you be qualified! And my final test is this endga before you!"
"You will play as White. If you can make a single move that allows your pieces to live, I will tell you which passage is safe. If you make the wrong move, I’m sorry, but you will fail the test! You have only half an hour to study the board. If you have not found the correct move when ti is up, you will have one chance to enter a passage of your choice. I will not be responsible for any deaths or injuries!"
The voice rang out indifferently.
’Half an hour...’
Although none of them were particularly skilled at chess, they could still grasp the situation on the board. The black pieces had completely surrounded the white ones. White was blocked from the front and pursued from behind—the entire position was hopeless. Forget half an hour; they couldn’t hope to break through even if given ten days or a fortnight, let alone find a move to make the position live!
If they couldn’t solve the chess puzzle, they would have to choose a passage at random. Facing an eight-in-nine chance of death, a grim silence imdiately fell over the group.
After a mont of tense silence, Luoqing City suddenly asked, "Nie Yun, how are you at chess?"
Hearing her question, everyone’s eyes lit up.
After the events in Luoshui City, plus everything that had happened since entering the Stone Gate, the group had developed an instinctual trust in the young man before them. It was one thing for them, with their poor chess skills, to be unable to solve this hopeless puzzle, but ’perhaps he has a solution!’
"? My chess skills are even worse. Forget solving this puzzle, I can’t even understand the board..."
Seeing the hopeful looks in their eyes, Nie Yun shook his head in resignation.
’Even with the experience of two lifetis and all my knowledge, I’m completely clueless when it cos to chess. Forget playing well, I can’t even tell who’s winning or losing on the stone platform, let alone figure out how to make the position live!’
"You can’t even understand it?"
Hearing the young man’s words, everyone was rendered speechless.
’To not even understand the board... his chess skills must be worse than just bad!’
’Sigh, if only I had researched the Chess Dantian in my past life...’
Seeing the disappointnt return to their eyes, Nie Yun couldn’t help but shake his head.
Like Cultivation, chess also depended on talent. Those with the aptitude would automatically form a Chess Dantian in their Qi Sea. This Dantian could generate Chessboard Qi, allowing one’s thoughts to move like lightning during a ga and enabling one to beco a master of the Chess Dao!
’In my past life, I actually knew a few Qilin Masters, and every single one of them had a Chess Dantian. Unfortunately, back then, I considered chess a re pasti, useless for Cultivation, so I never paid it any mind!’
’If I had studied Chessboard Qi in my past life, I could have used my remaining un-aspected Dantian to form a Chess Dantian. Then I would have imdiately gained incredible talent for the Chess Dao, and saving this ga would have been easy!’
Seeing that Nie Yun was no help, Luoqing City gave a wry smile. "I’ve played chess with my master from ti to ti, but this is too difficult. Forget finding a path to survival in half an hour; I couldn’t do it in three days!"
"I’m no good at it, either," Nie Xiaotian added, shaking his head.
None of them had any talent for the Chess Dao, so they’d never seriously studied the ga and were far from proficient. Faced with such a difficult puzzle, they were completely stuck.
Without solving the puzzle, they couldn’t get Luoo Qu’s guidance and find the single safe passage. If they were really forced to choose one of the nine paths at random, they would likely all perish here!
After all, with an eight-in-nine chance of dying, the odds were simply too high!
"Since none of us can solve it, I have a proposal," Feng Xiao suddenly said, seeing that everyone was at their wits’ end.
"You have a plan?" Everyone turned to look at him.
"It’s simple. I’ll take the first passage. If I don’t co back out after half an hour, that proves it’s a dead end, and your odds of survival will improve to one in eight. Then you can just test the next one in line!" Feng Xiao said nonchalantly.
"Test them one by one? Absolutely not!" Nie Yun imdiately shot down the suggestion.
’Is he kidding ? One person dies with every attempt, and there are only six of us. What if the safe path is among the last few? All six of us would be dead! Who would get the treasure then? Those two Demons outside?’
"But we don’t have any other choice," Feng Xiao said. "Why don’t you keep studying the board? There’s still ti. We can discuss it again if you really can’t figure it out!"
"Well..."
The group hesitated once more.
Although Feng Xiao’s plan wasn’t a good one, it was indeed the only way forward they had. In their current situation, they would be killed by the two Demons if they left without the treasure, but they would also die if they randomly chose a passage.
Advancing was death, and retreating was death. They might as well sacrifice the few to save the many!
It was all a gamble anyway. What if the very first person who went in found the path to survival? Wouldn’t that be a perfect outco?
The group only thought this way because they didn’t know that Nie Yun could use the Demon Cores in his possession to dramatically increase his strength, giving him the power to defeat the two Demons in a short amount of ti!
After thinking for a mont, Nie Yun spoke up. "Since Senior Luoo Qu left this chess puzzle to test our wisdom, it surely can’t be related to pure chess skill. If we study it carefully, perhaps we can find the key to survival!"
’Luoo Qu’s ssage was very clear. This puzzle is a test of wisdom, so maybe you can find the solution even if you’re not a chess expert!’
Hearing his son’s explanation, Nie Xiaotian nodded and said slowly, "Yun’er is right. Let’s stop jumping to conclusions and take a look at this chess board together."
"Alright, then..."
Although they didn’t hold out much hope, everyone gathered around the chessboard and stared at the black and white pieces, hoping to find so kind of clue.
’The black pieces... the white pieces... what is the connection...’ Nie Yun also stared at the board, racking his brain. But his chess skills were just too poor; after staring for a long ti, he still couldn’t make sense of it. Just as he was about to give up, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
’Who cares if Black wins or White wins? All I need to know is which of the nine passages is the safe one! Why am I even here studying the chess ga?’
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