Absolute Great Teacher

“Xia Qiyun indeed cheated, but she has received her punishment. You can’t just condemn the others because of her wrongdoings!”

This princess spoke with great conviction, looking like she was aggrieved.

“Oh, then based on what you’re saying, then we can cheat too? If the person is caught, it’d just be that person’s mistake alone. If the person isn’t caught, then it’d be the team’s glory!”

Li Ziqi snorted disdainfully.

“That’s right. Your team has bad practices. At the very least, there’s no running away from the fact that Xia Taikang has been negligent in managing his team’s discipline!”

Jiang Yuzhen chipped in.

The Great Xia’s princess wanted to continue but was reproached by Xia Taikang.

“Shut up!”

Xia Taikang had the feeling that Li Ziqi might have discovered something. Continuing the argument might be disadvantageous for him.

“Why? Are you scared?”

Li Ziqi smirked, “I would like to ask His Highness, what do you think about your match that ended in a tie?”

The spectators all looked over. After all, Xia Taikang’s chess match was a little hard to justify.

“It’s understandable for the Chess Sage’s performance to not be up to standard in one or two rounds when he’s playing 15 matches concurrently!”

Someone helped.

“Then why is it that only the Great Xia managed to benefit from this advantage?”

Li Xiu stepped forth as well, saying with an aggressive tone, “Moreover, at the very last moment, the Chess Sage wanted to quickly clear out the rest of the participants in order to play against Ziqi. Therefore, he displayed exceptional chess skills. However, Xia Taikang was able to remain.”

Everyone whispered amongst themselves. It was true that this didn’t make sense.

“This is due to Qing Wuzi not performing up to standards. You guys can just ask him about it. Why are you chasing my royal brother for an answer?”

The other members of the Great Xia’s royal prince group also started to complain.

Li Ziqi looked toward Qing Wuzi. “I respect you as the Chess Sage, so I won’t ask you for the reason behind this. I don’t wish to continue to pursue this matter either. But from today onward, the reputation of a Chess Sage will be worth nothing to me!”

Qing Wuzi’s face flushed up. He also noticed that many great teachers were pointing fingers and discussing something amongst themselves softly.

Although Qing Wuzi couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could more or less guess what it was about.

If he had cheated, then he had tainted the Chess Sage title. In the future, the status of all Chess Sages in the Nine Provinces would plunge.

“Nice one!”

Li Xiu praised.

This was what it meant when they said that one’s status didn’t match their virtues!

One person alone had brought discredit to an occupation.

Li Ziqi’s move could be said to have pushed Qing Wuzi into a dilemma. (Qing Wuzi, you can deny it, but can you block everyone’s mouths?)

There were many great teachers here and if they were to go back to their schools to talk about this, and the students all found out about it, the parents would as well.

Chess Sages were standing at the very top of the Go domain. Therefore, Qing Wuzi had the obligation to protect the Go world and defend its honor. Otherwise, he wouldn’t deserve to be respected by predecessors.

“This is bad!”

Xia Taikang frowned as he tried to think of how he could salvage the situation. However, Qing Wuzi broke out laughing.

“Hahaha!”

After Qing Wuzi was done laughing, he suddenly swung his hand and swept off the chess pieces on the chessboard. Then, he flipped the entire Chinese Cedarwood chessboard and sent it flying far away.

“What Chess Sage? I’ve long since wanted to give up on being it!”

Qing Wuzi bellowed, “Do you guys think of it as a kind of glory? It’s just shackles for me!”

“I was originally a young man from Bamboo Town and had always liked practicing martial arts since young. My dream was to become the best swordmaster in the world. But when I found a charred blood-ignition chessboard in our house’s woodshed, I ended up getting possessed by the chess soul on it!”

Chess soul?

Many people gasped in surprise upon hearing this, perking their ears up.

This was the Chess Sage’s great secret and many people’s gossip side rose.

“Play chess! Play chess! Play chess!”

“That chess soul kept on enticing me to play chess!”

“The young man defeated the entire Bamboo Town and a school’s teacher. Even two great teachers weren’t a match for me! I liked this feeling of winning against others!”

“Without realizing it, my reputation grew and I was known as a child prodigy. Because of chess, I gained money, status, reputation…”

“In the end, I became a Chess Sage at a young age!”

“But life didn’t change. I’d be playing chess every single day. I’d be playing chess when I woke up and even when I slept. That chess soul didn’t even let me off when I was dreaming! He’d still want to play against me then!”

“It was to the extent that he caused me to be impotent so I’d have more time to play chess!”

“I’ve had enough of such a life! I want to break free from it, but it’s already too late! He has integrated into my blood!”

Qing Wuzi cried.

Lu Zhiruo poked Qin Yaoguang’s arm and asked softly, “What does impotent mean?”

“It means that he’s a eunuch!”

Qin Yaoguang explained.

“Huh?”

Lu Zhiruo gasped in surprise. It was no wonder this Chess Sage didn’t have any children. So this was the reason.

“What kind of f*cking life is this? Whoever wants to be this Chess Sage can come to take it!”

Qing Wuzi gave up.

“The Xia Country’s people approached you saying that they have a way to help you break free from the chess soul’s possession. However, the prerequisite is that you’d have to cheat and help Xia Taikang to win the chess battle. Is that right?”

Jiang Yuzhen pursued.

“That’s right!”

Qing Wuzi admitted it.

“You old dog! Don’t be spouting gibberish!”

“My royal brother won’t be so despicable!”

“That’s right, Royal Brother would always openly snatch things that he want and he doesn’t care for such tricks.”

The Great Xia’s princes and princesses were enraged. Someone even drew their sword and stopped addressing him with respect, calling him ‘old dog’.

“I understand now. You must be helping Li Ziqi to pass things off, right? You guys must have a secret transaction. You’ll malign my royal brother and then let Sun Mo help you dispel the chess soul!”

That Great Xia’s princess lashed out, wearing a ‘so that’s how it is’ expression.

“B*tch, be careful of your mouth!”

Jiang Leng reproached.

“Is my teacher’s name something you can say directly? Scram out here! I’ll have a life and death battle against you!”

Helian Beifang drew his blade.

Sun Mo’s other disciples felt upset too and glared at this princess.

“Why? Did I say it right and you guys got angry?”

The Great Xia’s princess sneered. “As the Chess Sage, Qing Wuzi’s status and connections definitely won’t be weak. However, they are still unable to resolve the problem of the chess soul. This means that this matter is very difficult. Then what can my royal brother possibly do?”

“But Sun… Great Teacher Sun is different!”

The Great Xia’s princess changed her way of address. It was because the stares from Sun Mo’s students seemed as if they were going to engulf her, making her heart beat a little faster.

“Great Teacher Sun got full marks in his spiritual control written exam before. Li Ziqi, whom he teaches, also got full marks in this. Therefore, I believe that he has a way to get rid of that chess soul.”

Some great teachers looked toward Sun Mo.

The words spoken by the Great Xia’s princess did sound reasonable.

Qing Wuzi’s problem was too big and only a genius like Sun Mo would be able to resolve it.

“I heard that Sun Mo understands the divine language of spiritual control!”

“That’s right, he also has the grandmaster spirit controller title!”

“Hehe, Sun Mo is too strong and this has become his flaw.”

Some great teachers murmured.

“Regardless, the ones who approached me were from Xia Country!”

After Qing Wuzi said that, he wanted to leave. “In the future, don’t call me the Chess Sage anymore! I’m not fit to have that title and I don’t wish to have it either!”

“Please hold on!” Sun Mo spoke up.

Qing Wuzi didn’t listen, so Sun Mo spoke again.

“Please hold on!”

Buzz!

Profound Words erupted.

Qing Wuzi wanted to move but couldn’t. He was frozen on the spot.

Sun Mo’s act astonished many people.

“What are you thinking of doing?”

Qing Wuzi questioned.

“Although you were complaining a lot about the chess soul earlier, I can tell that you do like Go!”

Sun Mo consoled him. “The fact that you sat down in front of Ziqi because she played an amazing move and played against her seriously proved this!”

Qing Wuzi was stunned!

“Has the chess soul ever harmed you before?”

Sun Mo asked again.

“It made me impotent. Is that considered harming me?”

If Qing Wuzi could beat the chess soul up, he’d definitely stomp out its brain matter. “And given how talented I am in Go, my aptitude in swordsmanship shouldn’t be weak either. Therefore, I should have been a Sword Saint, and it had held me up.”

How great would it be to become a Sword Saint? One would have a strong body and longevity. He wouldn’t have looked so old and aged before even reaching 100 years old.

“The reason you’re impotent should be because the chess soul is a spiritual being, and this is an effect brought to your body after being possessed. This isn’t its intent!”

Sun Mo explained. “As for sword arts, Qing Wuzi, liking something and being able to achieve something are two different things!”

“Hmph!”

Qing Wuzi refused to listen.

“I have the reputation of God Hands. You can go ask others. Therefore, I can be certain that you don’t have an aptitude for cultivation. If it wasn’t for that chess soul, you wouldn’t even be able to get into a famous school in this lifetime if you were to develop normally. In the end, you would only have been able to live a life as a sharecropper.”

Sun Mo looked at Qing Wuzi. “My spiritual control technique is quite alright and I can help you purge that chess soul. Let me ask you now, do you want to purge it?”

“Of course!”

Qing Wuzi replied extremely fast.

Sun Mo raised his hand.

Swoosh!

A beam of divine light shot out, hitting Qing Wuzi’s body. He immediately felt his body becoming light as if a heavy burden he had been carrying for many years was suddenly removed.

“You’re an ordinary person now!”

Sun Mo congratulated him.

However, Qing Wuzi wasn’t happy at all. Instead, he looked dispirited as if he had lost something very precious to him. He looked toward the black and white chess pieces that were scattered on the floor.

He squatted down and picked them up!

…

“I want to play chess with you for an entire lifetime!”

The chess soul said hopefully.

“Me too!”

The young Qing Wuzi thought of the oath he had made under the setting sun that he was going to become the number one Chess Sage in the Nine Provinces!

Pata! Pata!

Qing Wuzi’s tears flowed down silently. He thought of the times he had spent together with the chess soul.

(In the future, I’ll probably live a life of solitude, right?)

“It’s true that doing one thing for a long period will make one feel tired. At times like this, one must learn to divert their attention and not choose to hate this act!”

Sun Mo shared his experience. “For example, you can practice the sword. When you return to play chess again later on, you’ll discover a whole new novelty toward playing Go.”

“Will… Will it still be able to come back?”

Qing Wuzi felt a little nervous. He was asking about the chess soul. He was feeling extremely regretful now.

“Why do you only know how to treasure something after losing it?”

Sun Mo felt that this Qing Wuzi was too pretentious and had nothing better to do. Other people would probably go crazy from happiness if they could gain the Chess Sage title.

“I… I was wrong. Great Teacher Sun, can you think of something?”

Qing Wuzi dropped to his knees as he spoke, “Can you bring Little Teng back for me?”