The girl in white led Liang Yan to another corner of the bamboo forest, then, as if performing a magic trick, produced a white jade chessboard from her storage bag and placed it on a large rock. She then took out two bowls of chess pieces, one black and one white.
After the two finished guessing for sides, the girl in white took the black pieces to move first, while Liang Yan took the white pieces to move second.
The girl in white extended her slender fingers, pinched a black piece, and with a crisp "snap," placed it right in the center of the board.
"Tengen!" Liang Yan’s eyes narrowed, a faint spark of anger rising within him.
In Go, one values the corners, then the sides, and finally the center. The standard approach is to occupy the corners first, then extend along the sides, and only then develop toward the center.
To play at Tengen on the very first move was an act of disrespect toward one's opponent. It implied that her skill was far superior to his, a clear sign of contempt for Liang Yan.
Liang Yan suppressed his anger, thinking to himself, "I’ll let you be arrogant for now; I’ll make you pay later!" With this thought, he quickly took a white piece from the bowl and placed it on the board. The girl in white followed immediately with another move. The two went back and forth, engaging in a silent battle of wits amidst the bamboo forest.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, dusk arrived. By now, Liang Yan’s lips were pressed tight, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He had originally been confident in his chess skills, but he was increasingly alarmed as the game progressed. By this point, he felt as though he had reached a dead end.
In contrast, the girl in white maintained a relaxed and carefree expression, even humming a little tune from time to time.
After half a day, Liang Yan finally placed another piece. The girl in white glanced at it briefly and immediately followed with a move of her own. As her piece landed, Liang Yan looked up to see that the black pieces had formed an unstoppable momentum, while his white pieces were utterly routed, scattered across the board like a defeated army. He could only sigh helplessly and concede the game.
The girl in white giggled, putting on an air of seniority as she said, "Little Junior Brother, your chess skills are passable. You barely managed to make me use thirty percent of my strength. You still have much to learn."
She continued, "But a bet is a bet. Now, you must respectfully call me 'Senior Sister' three times!" She emphasized the word "respectfully" as she spoke.
Liang Yan looked helpless, but since he had given his word, he had no choice but to accept the loss. He cupped his hands toward the girl, bowed, and respectfully called out "Senior Sister" three times.
The girl in white squinted, looking thoroughly satisfied. She patted Liang Yan on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Junior Brother, your aptitude is decent, but the way of chess requires diligent study and practice. If you persevere, you may yet make a name for yourself in the future."
Seeing that she was only about his age—thirteen or fourteen—yet acting like a senior master giving him pointers, Liang Yan found the scene rather comical.
Being a youth at heart, he couldn't help himself and let out a sudden, "Pfft!"
The girl had been standing with her left hand behind her back and her right hand on Liang Yan’s shoulder, looking like a master of the world. Liang Yan’s laughter ruined the atmosphere, causing her expression to darken.
However, her eyes rolled, and she said, "Don't blame Senior Sister for not giving you a chance. If you aren't convinced, you can challenge me again tomorrow night at the peak of Cangmu Peak. If you can win even one game against me, I will hand over the Barrier-Breaking Pill."
"Is that true?" Liang Yan’s eyes lit up.
"Don't be ridiculous. Would I lie to you over a mere Barrier-Breaking Pill?" The girl in white tossed him a token.
"Don't say I didn't give you a chance. This is a token for disciples of the Chess Path. With this, you can go to the Chess Path library to borrow manuals and books. With your current level of skill, it's impossible for you to be my opponent."
Liang Yan reached out and took the token. It had a stone chessboard depicted on it. There was no indication of whether it was for inner or outer sect disciples; only the character "Die" (Butterfly) was carved beneath the chessboard. After putting the token away, Liang Yan nodded and said, "Fine, I will definitely be there tomorrow night."
The girl in white looked satisfied. Suddenly remembering something, she added, "Oh, right, I almost forgot. This Cangmu Peak... never mind, take this too!" She took out a piece of parchment and handed it to him.
Liang Yan looked down and discovered it was a map. The route drawn on it was crooked, and the destination was indeed Cangmu Peak. It was only then that Liang Yan suddenly remembered that the sect map given to him by Uncle Zhou previously did not contain any mention of a Cangmu Peak.
When he looked up to ask, he found that the girl in white had already walked away. The sound of her humming a tune still drifted through the bamboo forest, and she seemed to be in quite a good mood. Liang Yan shook his head with a bitter smile, put away the map, and turned to head down the mountain.
That night, Liang Yan went straight to the Chess Path library, borrowed a book he deemed decent, and returned to his dormitory to study it all night. He was a competitive youth, and losing to a girl had caused him to lose face, which only fueled his fighting spirit.
Since he couldn't make any progress in his cultivation anyway, he decided to focus on surpassing this girl in chess, especially with the Barrier-Breaking Pill as a wager.
Liang Yan studied the book all night, finding that these immortal-style chess manuals were truly extraordinary and vastly different from what he had known before. After staying up all night, he felt as though he had been enlightened, discovering a whole new world.
The next evening, Liang Yan followed the map to the peak of Cangmu Peak. The entire mountain was barren, with withered grass and trees, yet at the very top stood a towering, lush green tree.
The girl in white was sitting under the tree, a chessboard in front of her displaying an endgame scenario. She held a white piece in her hand, seemingly hesitant.
Liang Yan walked silently to her side and looked down at the board. The black pieces were like a fierce tiger, baring its fangs and claws, having already turned its gaping maw toward the white pieces, ready to devour them in the next move. Although the white pieces were struggling, they were like a dragon trapped in shallow water with no way to ascend to the heavens.
Liang Yan watched for a long time, and no matter how he looked at it, the white pieces were doomed. He sighed and said, "The white pieces have run out of luck; I fear there is no way to turn this around."
The girl in white came to her senses, glanced at him, and said, "You say that too? This endgame is too hard to solve." She paused, then added, "But did you know? Someone once solved this endgame."
Liang Yan was shocked. He looked at the board again, finding it completely unbelievable.
However, the girl in white began to clear the pieces from the board and smiled at him. "You're quite punctual. You came early."
Liang Yan thought to himself, "Didn't you come even earlier than me?"
The two sat down before the board. After guessing for sides, the girl in white moved first again. This time, however, she didn't play at Tengen, but at the *komoku* (corner star point). Liang Yan also abandoned his previous recklessness; from the very first move, he played cautiously and steadily.
Liang Yan’s talent for chess was actually quite good, but everything he had learned before was mundane, so how could it compete with the immortal way of chess? After his crushing defeat the day before, he had reflected deeply. Having spent the night studying the books from the Yixing Pavilion, while his skills couldn't have improved by leaps and bounds, his vision and insight had grown significantly.
Many of the traps and killing moves he hadn't understood yesterday were now faintly discernible to him today. He even managed to spot some of the changes in the girl's moves at key moments, barely managing to turn danger into safety.
In this game, the girl in white was the aggressor, like a general attacking a city, while Liang Yan was the defender, like a commander holding a besieged fortress.
The two went back and forth, and at the beginning, they were evenly matched.
However, the girl’s momentum was continuous, her attacks relentless. Although Liang Yan managed to defend for a few rounds, he lacked the stamina to keep up. Eventually, one misplaced move led to a total collapse.
Liang Yan felt bitter. With the girl’s chess skills being so formidable, getting that Barrier-Breaking Pill would be as difficult as ascending to heaven!
But this time, the girl didn't mock him. Instead, she stared at the board, lost in thought.
After a long while, she said softly, "What did you do last night? Did you really go to the library to study chess?"
Liang Yan smiled bitterly. "Indeed!"
The girl in white looked up and stared at him. "Are all the moves you played today learned from books?"
Liang Yan was stunned and replied subconsciously, "Yes!" But then he realized and shook his head. "Not entirely. The manuals in the books are static. Playing against you is not the same as playing against a manual. For example, this twenty-third move, I based it on your..."
Liang Yan explained his thought process move by move to the girl.
"...And for example, this one hundred and thirty-seventh move..." Before he could finish, the girl in white waved her hand to interrupt him.
"That's enough. I'm tired today. You can go back."
Liang Yan didn't understand why, but he looked at her blankly. Seeing that she didn't want to say anything more, he could only stand up to take his leave. Just as he turned to walk away, the girl’s crisp voice came from behind him: "From now on, you can come find me to play chess at this time every night. As long as you can win one game against me, the wager we agreed upon still stands."
Liang Yan felt a surge of joy, but without looking back, he said, "Then I thank you in advance for the pill, Miss!"
Hearing his lazy remark, the girl in white couldn't help but spit, "Pah! Keep dreaming!"
However, as she watched Liang Yan’s back disappear down the mountain path, she couldn't help but mutter to herself, "To describe this person's chess progress as 'a thousand miles a day' would not be an exaggeration. Could there really be such a genius in this world?"