The black light was faint, but it was exceptionally conspicuous within the silver-white lake water.
As the black plate sank, the light grew brighter, illuminating the entire lake’s surface in the blink of an eye.
The moonlight on the water began to fluctuate violently, with silver-white light and black shadows intertwining to form a massive vortex.
At the center of the vortex, something was vibrating, causing the lake water to ripple and swell incessantly.
Chen Zhou narrowed his eyes, staring at the center of the vortex.
There, an indentation identical to the black plate was embedded in the rock at the bottom of the lake.
The black plate descended and fit precisely into that slot.
Click.
A soft sound echoed, like a latch snapping shut, and then the entire Celestial Maiden Spring jolted.
The lake water suddenly exploded, with spray flying and waves surging.
A powerful suction force pulled from the bottom of the lake. Chen Zhou felt his body grow light as he was sucked into the water.
The Plague Rat’s startled cry reached his ears: “My Lord—!”
Then came the sound of Jian Huaishuang drawing his sword, Lian’s sharp intake of breath, and the cry of the Longevity Deer.
But all sounds were instantly submerged.
Chen Zhou felt as if he had been stuffed into a giant millstone; his world spun until he could no longer tell north from south.
Everything around him was pitch black. He could see nothing and could only feel a powerful force tearing at his body, as if trying to rip him to pieces.
He gritted his teeth, mobilizing the death qi within him to expand his Ghost Domain and stabilize his soul.
But as soon as the death qi surged out, it was suppressed by that force, unable to circulate at all.
Chen Zhou’s heart sank.
Suppressed again?
First, he was suppressed by Mao Ri Ji’s Sunlight Array in the secret realm, and now he was being suppressed by this force.
Did this place, Qingzhou, specifically counter him?
Just as he was thinking this, the suction force suddenly vanished.
Chen Zhou felt his body lighten, and then he crashed heavily onto the ground.
He let out a muffled groan, climbed up, and looked around.
The surroundings were a hazy gray space with no visible borders or end.
There was no sky above and no earth below—only a vast void.
Gray mist drifted around like a thin veil, obscuring his vision.
Chen Zhou frowned and released his perception.
But as soon as his perception left his body, it was swallowed by the mist, detecting nothing.
He was about to try again when several muffled thuds sounded behind him.
He turned to see the Plague Rat falling from the sky, hitting the ground flat on its back.
Next, Jian Huaishuang and Lian fell one after another, landing in a heap.
The Plague Rat scrambled up, cursing, “What kind of hellhole is this?”
“Did the Old Pine and the Old Locust really used to soak in a place like this?”
Jian Huaishuang performed a kip-up, rising quickly with his hand on his sword hilt, his gaze alertly scanning the surroundings.
“My Lord, this place is eerie. My Paper Snow Sword Domain is suppressed; I cannot expand it.”
Chen Zhou nodded. “Mine as well.”
Lian crouched, pressing her hands against the ground. She closed her eyes to sense for a moment before opening them.
“My Lord, my black spots still work, but their power is greatly reduced.”
“And… I feel like something in this space is watching me.”
Chen Zhou didn't speak; he looked at the Longevity Deer.
The Longevity Deer was terrified. In the short day since returning to Qingzhou, it had experienced far too much stimulation. The moonlight on its antlers had completely extinguished, and the entire deer was curled into a ball.
Chen Zhou walked over and patted its head.
The Longevity Deer looked up at him pitifully and let out a few cries.
The Gold Dragon translated: “The old deer says it doesn't know what's going on either.”
“It has never entered the Celestial Maiden Spring before and didn't know the bottom of the spring looked like this.”
Chen Zhou nodded, not blaming it.
He stood up and looked around.
In the gray space, the mist was growing thicker, and visibility was worsening.
But in the distance, a cluster of light was faintly visible.
It wasn't very bright, appearing as if it might flicker out at any moment, pulsing at the edge of the mist.
Chen Zhou walked toward that light.
After a few steps, the ground beneath him suddenly changed.
The void gray was abruptly replaced by a massive stone slab.
The slab was very smooth, like a mirror, capable of reflecting shadows.
Horizontal and vertical lines were carved into the slab—nineteen of each, creating three hundred and sixty-one intersections.
Chen Zhou’s brow furrowed. This appeared to be a Go board.
The board was covered with stones.
Black and white stones were interspersed densely, occupying almost the entire board.
Chen Zhou observed carefully for a moment and found that this game was identical to the moonlight game he had seen on the lake surface.
The white stones were many, and the black stones were few.
The white stones had already surrounded the black stones completely, sealing off all paths of escape.
The black stones were trapped in a corner, left with only one final breath.
But it was that very breath that refused to expire.
Because the white stones’ attacks were relentless, coming wave after wave, leaving the black stones with no chance to counter.
Chen Zhou stared at the board for a long time.
Then he noticed a notch in one corner of the board.
It wasn't large, only about the size of a fingernail, and its shape and size were identical to the black plate.
Chen Zhou took the black plate from his robe and looked at it.
The plate was still there, but the patterns on it had changed. The fine lines had combined to form rows of strange, small characters.
Chen Zhou found that he could naturally understand them.
Divine Script again?
Why was Xuan Cai able to use Divine Script?
Puzzled, Chen Zhou read the text on the black plate word by word.
“The entrant must hold the black stones and break the white stones’ siege.”
A simple sentence with no further hints. Chen Zhou thought for a moment and then pressed the black plate into the notch on the board.
Click.
The black plate fit perfectly into the slot.
The board began to glow.
Black and white light surged from the board, intertwining to form a massive pillar of light that shot straight into the void.
The gray mist was dispersed by the pillar, revealing the pitch-black void above.
Deep in the void, stars were twinkling.
Chen Zhou felt his body lighten as his consciousness was pulled into the board by a powerful force.
When he came to his senses, he found himself standing on the Go board.
His body had turned black from head to toe.
Jian Huaishuang, the Plague Rat, Lian, and the Longevity Deer had also turned black.
They stood on the board, positioned where the black stones were located.
Surrounding them were dense rows of white stones.
Those white stones were moving slowly, as if alive, wandering around the black stones while searching for an opportunity to attack.
Chen Zhou counted; there were at least two hundred white stones.
On their side, there were only five black stones.
Himself, Jian Huaishuang, the Plague Rat, Lian, and the Longevity Deer.
Five against two hundred.
Furthermore, the rules on the board suppressed most of their abilities. Death qi couldn't circulate smoothly, the Ghost Domain couldn't be expanded, the sword domain was suppressed, and even Lian’s black spots were mostly weakened.
This was not going to be an easy fight.
Chen Zhou took a deep breath to calm himself.
He re-examined the board.
Though the white stones were many, their movements followed a pattern.
Every step landed on an intersection of the board; they never crossed lines or moved randomly.
Moreover, their movement paths were identical to the moonlight game he had seen on the lake earlier.
To be honest, Chen Zhou wasn't much of a Go player. He was decent at Gomoku, but he knew next to nothing about Go beyond the basic rules.
Asking him to enter the game and break this endgame was truly a bit much.
Chen Zhou tentatively lifted his right foot and took a step, stepping onto an intersection on the board.
The moment his foot landed, the board jolted.
The surrounding, writhing white stones stopped in their tracks simultaneously. Two hundred faceless heads turned in unison toward Chen Zhou.
Though they had no eyes, Chen Zhou could feel them watching him.
That sensation of being watched was similar to being tracked in the forest, but more direct and intense.
Chen Zhou remained expressionless, withdrew his foot, and stood back in his original spot.
The white stones watched him for a while, then slowly turned their heads and continued moving along their established paths.
After this round of testing, Chen Zhou had a general idea of the situation.
The rules of this game should be the same as normal Go.
Black moves first, then white.
White only moves after he takes a step.
If he didn't move, the white stones wouldn't move either; they would only wander along their set paths on the board.
This gave him time to think and react.
Chen Zhou looked back at Jian Huaishuang and the others.
“Stay where you are. Do not move.”
“I will play this game.”
Having said that, Chen Zhou turned back to face the board.
He began to take his second step.
This time he moved quickly, stepping onto another intersection without hesitation.
The board jolted again.
The white stones stopped once more, looking at him in unison.
The white stone closest to Chen Zhou suddenly expanded. Its body swelled like a balloon, its white skin stretching until it was transparent, revealing something writhing inside.
Pfft—
The white stone’s body exploded.
As flesh and blood flew, a massive amount of white threads erupted from within. Like spider silk, they were fine and dense, surging toward Chen Zhou to cover the sky.
The threads moved with incredible speed, binding Chen Zhou’s limbs in the blink of an eye.
Chen Zhou felt his body tighten as the threads constricted, cutting into his skin.
White marks were pressed into his black skin, and the threads began to devour the death qi within him.
Chen Zhou immediately mobilized the Hatred Fire in his body. Black flames surged from beneath his skin, burning the threads.
The threads were incinerated, drifting away as white ash.
But more threads surged forward.
Chen Zhou frowned. He was about to continue burning them when he noticed a problem.
The death qi in his body was decreasing.
Even though he had destroyed the threads, something was still extracting death qi from him.
Chen Zhou stopped and sensed carefully.
Then his expression changed.
It wasn't just death qi being drained; his merit and faith were also being siphoned away.
It was as if for every step he took, the board would extract a portion of his power as the price for entering the game.
Chen Zhou grew wary and did not continue walking.
He stared at the stone slab beneath his feet, looking at the intersecting lines. Deep within the lines, he could faintly see things flowing.
Golden, milky-white, and grayish-black.
The golden was merit, the milky-white was faith, and the grayish-black was death qi.
The three colors of light flowed slowly within the stone slab like rivers, converging toward the center of the board.
At the center of the board, at the Tianyuan position, there was a point.
It was tiny, only the size of a needle tip, but its light was blindingly bright.
The three colors of light gathered there, compressed, and then transformed into something else.
Chen Zhou couldn't see what it was, but he could feel that it was powerful.
So powerful it made his heart race.
“My Lord,” the Gold Dragon’s voice sounded again.
“This game is a trap.”
“With every step, the board extracts your merit and faith, converting them into another power.”
“If you continue, your power will drain even faster.”
“Not necessarily,” Chen Zhou said.
Faith was something he received in massive amounts of Evil God Points every day; it wasn't a non-renewable resource.
With Su Xue around, death qi could also be converted in large quantities through the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm.
Merit was more troublesome, but there were many ways to accumulate it. Losing a little wouldn't affect Chen Zhou’s foundation for now.
Chen Zhou remained silent for a few breaths and then asked an unrelated question.
“Gold Dragon, do you know Xuan Cai?”
The Gold Dragon was stunned for a moment and then said, “I do not. There is no such person in the Ancestral Dragon’s memories.”
“But his creation, Dou Mu Xie—I might know of him.”
“If it is a true Xiezhi body, then he must be loyal, honest, and upright, never bending the law for personal gain.”
Chen Zhou nodded.
He thought the same. If a Xiezhi was willing to serve Xuan Cai, then Xuan Cai was likely not a wicked person.
Most importantly, the system hadn't issued a warning, meaning the game wasn't a life-threatening danger.
But Chen Zhou didn't intend to continue. Why should the merit he worked so hard to accumulate be sucked away by this board?
He lifted his foot and stepped back to his starting position.
The board jolted violently.
This time, the vibration was more intense than any before. The entire board trembled, the lines on the slab began to distort, and the three colors of light surged wildly.
The white stones rioted.
Two hundred white stones expanded and exploded simultaneously. White threads filled the sky like a giant net, descending upon Chen Zhou and the others.
There were so many threads that even the light was blocked out, leaving the surroundings pitch black.
Chen Zhou didn't move.
He stood in place, watching the threads surge toward him.
When the threads were only a zhang away, he reached down and pried the black plate off the board.
The text on the plate was still glowing, the fine lines forming rows of small characters.
“The entrant must hold the black stones and break the white stones’ siege.”
This was what he had seen before.
But what if one didn't enter the game?
To not enter the game is to not need to break it.
Besides, he didn't know how to play Go anyway.
Even if Xuan Cai wasn't a treacherous villain, trying to tie him to the same boat this way and forcing him to understand his situation and take a side...
Chen Zhou could only say: you’re dreaming.
Chen Zhou wasn't sure if the opponent Xuan Cai was playing against was Bai Xing, but he hated being used as a pawn.
So, Chen Zhou crushed the black plate with one hand and then pulled out another black token.
【Zhaoye Ghost Decree】
【Believers are the foundation of the divine path and the source of a god’s power.】
【The holder of this decree can consume one Source of Divine Power to temporarily borrow the ability of any Devout Believer or higher under their command and temporarily elevate it to the Divine Technique level.】
【When borrowing an ability, the believer will not lose said ability. The firmer the faith, the more complete the borrowed ability and the longer the duration.】
【Note: Only one ability can be borrowed at a time.】
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