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Zhuangzi’s Star Name was destroyed at Mount Hua, but she left behind a massive Daoist legacy.
Legend said that if one was able to find the place where Zhuangzi disappeared, they would be able to obtain this legacy. Among Star World’s Hundred Schools of Thought, Daoism was the premier school back then and was the forefather of the Hundred Schools. The Daoist legacy a sage left behind was sufficient to make any Star General or cultivator rapidly climb in Realm.
“The Daoist quintessence that Zhuangzi left is Star World’s ‘Seven Profound Theories,’ called ‘Zhuang’s Butterfly Dream.’ If we can fully grasp Zhuang’s Butterfly Dream, heh, heh, we can obtain instant success in Daoism.” Lu Xiujing’s eyes glinted.
After so many years, countless people had searched for the “Dream of Zhuangzi.” Even “Tyrant” Yang Guang had intentions of intruding upon Mount Hua, however, nearly a thousand years had passed, and Mount Hua’s Zhuang’s Butterfly Dream had yet to be found anyone. Slowly, people lost heart.
After Lu Xiujing joined Mount Hua, she was full of interest towards the Zhuang’s Butterfly Dream of the “Seven Profound Theories.” Practically the entirety of Mount Hua had been scoured after all these years. Other than Great Senior Sister Hupo’s Pure Water Fairyland, there were a few more places that could not be ascertained owing to various reasons.
This time, the place that Lu Xiujing and Chen Mo were searching was Mount Hua’s Ethereal Peak, Green Cloud Cave.
Ethereal Peak, Green Cloud Cave.1
From the outside, it appeared to be an ordinary stone chamber, one that could be found just about anywhere in Star World’s mountain ranges. However, Lu Xiujing walked before the stone chamber and stopped, hesitant.
“Would this place have Zhuangzi’s legacy?” No matter how Chen Mo looked at it, this stone chamber was too unpresentable.
“I’ve already asked around. The Ancestor has come to this stone chamber several times in the past. Each time, she would only emerge after a very long time. The Ancestor was Zhuangzi’s disciple, and my guess is that she only come here to reminisce. There must be a connection to Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream.” Lu Xiujing surmised.
Hearing her words, Chen Mo himself was also a bit curious.
They walked into the stone chamber. Inside, the arrangements were very plain. Verdant vines wrapped around the stone bed, stone table, and stone chair, decorating them with an air of simplicity.
For some reason, the stone chamber was filled with a ancient calm.
They were unable to penetrate the stone chamber using Divine Intent, but it did not seem to have any mechanisms.
Lu Xiujing walked in front of the stone table and sat down. She gently blew away the dust on the table. A game record was carved into the table. To be precise, it was a record of an endgame.
Chen Mo curiously walked up and inspected it. This should be the game that Lu Xiujing previously mentioned?
“I investigated the stone chamber, and there isn’t anything special about it. But, this is Zhuangzi’s tomb, after all. Star World’s ‘Seven Profound Theories’ are naturally endless in their mystery. If we can solve this endgame, perhaps we can solve the theory.” Lu Xiujing solemnly said. She was very confident in her analytical capabilities.
Her words were somewhat reasonable.
But Chen Mo could not think of how chess could be related to Zhuangzi. At any rate, he was not too knowledgeable about him in the history he was familiar with. If he needed to say something, then Zhuangi’s “sitting in oblivion” state actually was a bit analogous to playing chess.
“You played against the Ancestor when you just arrived at Mount Hua, your chess skills should be pretty good, right? Can you solve it?” Lu Xiujing asked very eagerly.
“I’ll try.” Chen Mo did not have great hopes.
“Good.”
Chen Mo carefully inspected the game record carved into the table. He racked his brain to recall all kinds of materials pertaining to ancient chess. Chen Mo’s skill actually was inherently average, but after his chance game against Chen Tuan on Azure Dragon Mountain, his skill improved massively, and add on some modern and advanced chess knowledge, Chen Mo was quite experienced with chess.
Very quickly, Chen Mo noticed what the game record on the table was.
White moved towards the origin of Heaven. At the third node, there was a drooping lotus, correlating with the origin of Heaven’s first node. The ancients called this the “Supreme Ultimate Diagram” chess situation. It could even be said to be the cosmic style ancient chess.
Cosmic style was the creation of Japan’s super first-rate chess master Masaki Takemiya. It was a chess style that focused on obtaining the moyo in the center of the board. It was also called “sanrensei,” or a large scale “yonrensei” battle. His contributions to chess were very significant, and it came to be called a style that would last for two hundred years.
Chess from before the cosmic style appeared was a war, one that mostly valued advantage, namely, it strongly valued a three line arrangement, in order to acquire territory on the sides. Takemiya Masaki’s appearance brought changes to this style. He valued taking advantage on the outside, viewing the fourth line as more important than the third. He advocated that the pieces should tend towards the center rather than develop towards the sides. In most of the games he played as black, he valued occupying the fourth line via three star points in a row, and his other games mostly valued the fourth line.
As a result, this style of chess did not value territory, rather, this was a battle over the entire center, thus it was called cosmic style. The proper move was to adopt a move from classical rules, to stay firm and not advance prematurely, and its opposite was illogical moves and creating new plays.
But in old times, the “Supreme Ultimate Diagram state” truthfully was not highly valued.
Xu Xingyou’s “Double Hall Mountain Chess Chart” once had the evaluation, “setting about the Supreme Ultimate Diagram is not a reasonable path. As for corner approach, white must use the drooping lotus or dual ladder breaker to circle around. The Supreme Ultimate Diagram start is for discussion and is not practical nor sufficient.”
Chen Mo saw that white seemed about to lose.
However, the ancient Supreme Ultimate Diagram arrangement was somewhat limited and far from reaching Takemiya Masaki’s entire board style. There actually was a turn for the better.
Chen Mo settled his thoughts. His fingertip tapped an upper point, taking a corner piece.
In Chen Mo’s eyes, he seemed to see a change in the game state carved into the table. A black piece was placed, the genius of which need not be mentioned.
Chen Mo pondered slightly, taking sente with a knight’s move.
Black followed closely to stop him. The white piece was placed, and the game state formlessly crossed several rounds. Upon the last move, the drooping lotus was very perfectly executed. However, this was not enough for victory, and defeat was even possible.
Then, Chen Mo’s thinking shifted.
When the white set down a “stretch,” the black player apparently sunk into a long contemplation, no longer making swift decisions like a moment ago.
Chen Mo’s mouth slightly curled.
Sky style.
Sending up!
Lu Xiujing watched Chen Mo play from the side. Although she understood some things, the way of weiqi was more profound than she thought, for she was completely without a way to handle this endgame.
She saw Chen Mo remain as immovable as a mountain, setting down the pieces in his hand one by one onto the stone table. Lu Xiujing slowly saw possibility.
What is this chess strategy?
White’s previous disadvantage unfolded into a drooping lotus. During the following gradual advance, it bloomed everywhere. Very quickly, white was already evenly matched with black.
So incredible, just how did he do this?
Lu Xiujing looked at Chen Mo in astonishment. Chen Mo was apparently completely absorbed in the game, forgetting all of his surroundings. In front of him, there seemed to be a perfect opponent playing against him. Lu Xiujing watched with even more focus.
The gamestate on the stone table began to change, shifting from the Supreme Ultimate Diagram layout to a Five Ding Mountain Cut in an attempt to kill off the cosmic style’s expansion. Each move of weiqi was full of innumerable changes that could involve countless opportunities to kill. By the time the opponent sensed it, white was already unstoppable.
Eighty-eighth move, Chen Mo used a white suspension to exchange with black’s eighty-ninth move. Then, during the corner enclosure on the ninetieth move, he apparently foresaw black would use a suspension on the ninety-first move. White’s ninety-second move was an attachment, black turned around and white was cut off. The eighty-eight move instantly demonstrated its bait function.
The following cosmic and sky styles already unfolded unstoppably like a boundless galaxy.
Wedge, connect, and stretch.
Black used every means possible, but somehow, they had been deceived by Chen Mo. At this time, black could only reinforce its position. Otherwise, they would let Chen Mo’s white pieces crush them without doubt.
When the game reached this point, the situation was thoroughly in Chen Mo’s palm.
The next move went smoothly. Black was already without the strength to fight back and was completely defeated by the cosmic style.
After the quintessence of the final “reinforce” was complete, at the middle of the board, Chen Mo easily won.
The game state carved into the stone table completely vanished.
Chen Mo blinked. All of a sudden, the game record came to life and flew into the air. The scenery changed, and the stone room’s scene vanished instantly. He was now situated in a boundless world of stars.
Stars covered the surroundings. Fine lines crisscrossed, splitting the world into individual sections.
As if it had become a chessboard.
“Eh?”
Stars began to flicker along the interweaving lines, like pieces being exchanged.
Chen Mo saw two figures slowly take form in this cosmos. With the sky as the board and the stars as pieces, they played against each other. The two people appeared to be very close, yet they also seemed to be separated by a millennium. Chen Mo could only catch a hazy glimpse of them even while using the Deva Eyes.
But the two of them played honestly like immortals.
Scattered like stars in the sky, it was too wonderful words.
“Fellow who can solve the Supreme Ultimate Diagram, you have broadened our horizons. If you are not opposed, would Fellow be willing to play a few more games with us?”
Each words was mellow, the wonderful voice was a woman’s.
It was the first time Chen Mo had seen such a gorgeous game. He instantly forgot about everything.
“Chen Mo, you won?!” Lu Xiujing clenched her fists in excitement. She watched the defeat of the black pieces in the game, and she immediately began to search the stone room.
Since Chen Mo won this endgame, logically, some sort of profound theory should have appeared.
Lu Xiujing searched the room. The stone chamber was extremely quiet, and no auspicious signs appeared at all. Lu Xiujing wrinkled her brow. This isn’t right. Since he won the endgame, shouldn’t some change have appeared? Don’t tell me this is just a place to play chess?
Lu Xiujing was not very willing to believe such a senseless thing would occur.
After a long while, Lu Xiujing finally abandoned her delusions. There were no clues at all to Zhuangzi’s Dream. This stone room was probably an ordinary place to play chess. “Ai, I clearly felt Star Energy in this endgame. To think there would be no changes, this is truly strange. Forget it, Junior Brother Chen Mo, let’s give up on this place and go to the next one.”
“Perhaps we can go see Mount Hua’s Juling Shen Abyss. I heard there are still Star Generals cultivating there.” Lu Xiujing grumbled to herself when she suddenly noticed something was not right.
Chen Mo did not answer her.
Perplexed, she walked in front of him and saw that Chen Mo was motionless, his body stiff, and his eyes vacant. He was not even breathing.
Lu Xiujing patted Chen Mo’s shoulder. Five rays of True Dragon Breath rolled out and attacked her, but Chen Mo’s entire person showed no reaction, as if he was half dead. She could not feel the slightest hint of breath from him. The woman’s expression promptly changed.
He had lost his soul.
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- 空靈峰，青霞洞 ↩
I don’t know how Chinese Chess works, but if you find an endgame position where you can still make ninety moves and not stalemate, then it isn’t an endgame position at all…