Li Guanqi sat cross-legged atop the mountain peak, the surrounding area turned into a forbidden domain of thunder!
Within a radius of a thousand zhang, not a single soul dared draw near.
Looking at the Go board before him, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam flickering in his gaze.
Suddenly!
Li Guanqi extended his middle finger and pressed down hard on the white stone suspended in midair!
*Bang!*
The stone fell into place; Li Guanqi entered the game with his very self!
A cold sneer played at the corner of Li Guanqi's mouth as he slowly raised his head.
At that moment, countless arcs of lightning condensed into an illusory silhouette.
The figure stood a full zhang tall, its massive frame radiating an inexplicable sense of oppression.
This phantom was an imaginary foe manifested entirely from Li Guanqi's deduction of the current situation.
Yet right then, Li Guanqi suddenly looked down at the board before him, instantly breaking out into a cold sweat!
Using a Go board was a habit he had formed long ago; whenever he experienced something, he would treat it as a game of Go and seal it away within his sea of consciousness.
Now, as the board's expanse expanded, phantom remnants of past matches began to surface across the board!
In the blink of an eye, densely packed stones blanketed the entire board!
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth so hard that a chilling crunch sounded.
His sea of consciousness roared, and the board expanded twofold yet again!
Yet the moment the board materialized, dense clusters of stones appeared once more!
Li Guanqi's throat bobbed slightly. Before his eyes, a second imaginary silhouette had actually appeared!
For among them, the style of the stones on one of the boards was utterly incompatible with any match he had ever played up to now.
Li Guanqi's gaze shook violently, bloodshot threads creeping across his eyes as he murmured under his breath, "Two... Are there only two...?"
*Boom!*
Heaven shook and the earth trembled. Boulders tumbled down the mountain slopes, and tyrannical thunder surged upward as if seeking to pierce through the void.
Pengluo slammed a fist into Li Guanqi's face, roaring, "Stop! If you keep this up, you'll go mad!"
Without anyone noticing, the board had expanded to cover a radius of a hundred zhang!
Tens of thousands of densely clustered stones lay scattered across it; the matches here were no longer limited to what Li Guanqi had experienced.
Even the phantom games he usually deduced within his own mind had manifested.
If Pengluo left him be, Li Guanqi would completely exhaust all of his divine sense trying to deduce some incomprehensible match...
A game... that did not exist at all.
A match without end that would trap Li Guanqi's mind and soul forever!
At this moment, Pengluo suddenly felt a twinge of regret for having sparked Li Guanqi's realization earlier.
*Pfft!*
A full three breaths passed before Li Guanqi opened his mouth and violently spat out a mouthful of blood!
Pale as paper, Li Guanqi lay quietly atop the mountain peak. The surrounding thunder pool instantly dispersed.
All that remained was a mountain ravaged by lightning into scorched blackness, billowing with wisps of smoke.
Gu Li wanted to step forward out of concern, but a hand from the woman beside him held him back.
Looking at her back, Gu Li frowned. "Why stop me?"
Meng Wanshu turned and pulled Gu Li toward the Gu clan's main hall, saying softly, "Right now, he only wants to be left alone."
Gu Li turned and walked away dubiously, while Meng Wanshu took a long, searching look at the mountain peak.
She murmured softly in her heart, *You surely don't want anyone to see you in such a battered, helpless state...*
Bleeding from his seven apertures, Li Guanqi lay on the mountain peak, staring up at the star-studded sky.
The pitch-black night sky seemed to draw closer and closer, as if intending to swallow him whole into endless darkness.
A profound sense of helplessness washed over him.
He didn't know when it had begun, but he felt as though his life had suddenly spun out of his control.
It was as if... countless unseen giant hands were pulling the strings of his fate from the shadows.
"Heh..."
Li Guanqi gave a wry laugh, his thoughts drifting back to that afternoon bathed in a gentle breeze.
Back then, he had slit his wrists and lay beside the sword coffin, weak from blood loss.
And the sword spirit had stood proudly atop the sword coffin, looking down at him.
It seemed that from that very moment, he had embarked upon an extraordinary path of cultivation.
Li Guanqi tore open the robe he wore, revealing the blood sigils.
Only the final two lines of the Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils had yet to fade. He always felt that when the blood sigils sealing him completely faded, there were things he would finally understand.
Straightening his clothes, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and manifested the board once more.
Grabbing Pengluo with one hand, he tossed it aside. This time, the board had only one hundred and ninety lines across and down!
Yet such a board was still a full ten times larger than an ordinary one.
This time, the stones on the board reflected only the current situation, undisturbed by past memories.
Li Guanqi licked the blood from the corner of his lips, the coppery sweetness flooding his mouth.
Li Guanqi played a stone, frantically deducing in his mind everything they might encounter next.
An invisible giant hand suddenly placed a stone down!
Li Guanqi's expression remained calm, as though he had long anticipated this.
He raised his hand and played his next move without the slightest hesitation.
*Snap!*
Another black stone was laid down, and Li Guanqi played another move!
*Snap!*
*Snap, snap, snap!*
The crisp clacking of played stones rang out incessantly; the hands of Li Guanqi and the phantom placing stones moved so fast they blurred.
*Snap!*
Li Guanqi's hand holding a stone froze in midair. Hesitating for only a fraction of a second, he raised his hand and overturned the board. Spiritual light flashed, and the previous position reappeared!
*Snap, snap, snap, snap!*
Under the shroud of night, clad in white, Li Guanqi played against the phantom for an entire night.
Pengluo watched from the side all night long. By morning, shock had filled its eyes.
It could never have imagined that Li Guanqi's comprehension was so astounding!
In just a single night, Li Guanqi—who had been retreating step by step under his opponent's onslaught—had gained the ability to strike back.
In Li Guanqi's left hand, six stones had remained unplayed the entire time.
Gradually, Li Guanqi was forced to employ the stones in his left hand. The placement of any single one of these six stones would instantly shift the momentum substantially in his favor!
As though receiving some instructions, Xiang Huaizhi, Nangong Xuandu, and Youming left the Gu clan early the next morning.
After Gu Changsheng saw them off, Ye Xuan took his leave as well.
In the end, only Meng Jiangchu remained behind at the Gu clan.
Right up until the third day, there was still no news of the Sha organization.
Nor did anyone contact Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi simply continued to play against his imaginary adversary for three whole days and nights!
The final game.
The board of one hundred and ninety lines across and down was now densely covered with black and white stones.
One hundred and ninety lines across and down, three thousand six hundred and ten intersections!
Before Pengluo could even get a clear look, Li Guanqi raised his hand and swept the game away.
Radiating immense confidence, Li Guanqi had regained his former brilliance.
This time, the previous anxiety was gone.
It had been a long time since he had felt such an inexplicable sense of grounded assurance.
Within the sword coffin, the sword spirit drew a crimson thread from between her brows, hesitated for a moment, and raised her hand to sever it!
Finally, she glanced at Red Lotus, and surprisingly infused that crimson thread into the Red Lotus sword.
Red Lotus hummed, seemingly perplexed...
A trace more aloof chill settled between the sword spirit's brows.
Her demeanor aligned even closer to when Li Guanqi had first met her—that haughtiness in her eyes that looked down upon all living beings.
Closing her eyes to cultivate, the sword spirit gave Red Lotus a feeling that was at once foreign, yet somehow exactly as it ought to be.
Chapter 904