“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?”


  Chapter 1197: Light Breeze Brushed Across the Chess, Another Amazing Performance!

  Translator: Lordbluefire

  This was how many people were. When they had one thing for over several decades, they’d naturally stop treasuring it.

  “Do you know what that chess soul told me when I was trying to purify him?”

  Sun Mo said in a deep voice.

  “What?”

  Qing Wuzi asked.

  “It thanked you for helping him to realize his Chess Sage dream. Although he had talent, he died at a young age and wasn’t able to realize his dream. Furthermore, he wished for me to tell you that he was very apologetic about the harm he had brought you.”

  Sun Mo let out a sigh. “Thereafter, before I completed the purification process, that chess soul has left by himself.”

  “The reason why he hadn’t left in the past was that he couldn’t bear to do so. He felt that you wouldn’t really hate him. However, your ‘heartfelt words’ from earlier had hurt his heart!”

  Qing Wuzi was stunned. He stumbled and fell onto the ground, breaking out in great tears.

  Sun Mo looked toward the Great Xia’s royal prince group. “It’s just a victory over a chess battle. So what if we have to give up the first place to you?”

  After saying that, Sun Mo turned to leave coolly.

  Li Ziqi quickly followed.

  (That’s right! I’m going to win the rest of the competitions anyway!)

  Pa pa pa!

  Seeing how domineering Sun Mo had replied to the Great Xia’s reproach of them cheating, the spectators all cheered.

  Anyone who wasn’t blind could tell that the Great Xia were the ones who had cheated. Moreover, the last part where Sun Mo had educated Qing Wuzi was really filled with a great teacher’s flair!

  Right now, a big gust of wind blew and moved the chess pieces.

  Splash! Splash!

  The chess pieces fell onto the floor.

  Hua!

  People at the spectators’ stand that could look down at the arena were all astonished and shot up to their feet.

  “What’s going on?”

  “What happened?”

  “There seem to be words on the arena?”

  The spectators all squeezed their way over.

  That was right. The black and white chess pieces that had fallen onto the arena formed two big words, ‘thank you!’

  This was clearly the chess soul thanking Sun Mo for helping him and Qing Wuzi bury the hatchet between them.

  “Teacher!”

  Sun Mo tugged at Sun Mo’s sleeves.

  Sun Mo turned back, saw a light breeze brushing past the chess pieces, and smiled.

  “I hope that you’ll be treated kindly by the world, even though life is always filled with harshness and deceit!”

  Sun Mo wished in a loud voice.

  The smile on his face was very light, like sunlight, like spring water, like the third lunar day of the year, filled with warmth!

  Swoosh!

  Golden light shot out of Sun Mo’s body and radiated in all directions.

  Priceless Advice erupted!

  The chess soul would become a wandering soul after leaving his host. He’d then eventually perish due to the lack of blood and energy supply after having depleted his remaining energy.

  But now, under Priceless Advice’s effect, this chess soul that had been shackled by Go for his entire life had been purified.

  He no longer had any other regrets!

  Hu!

  A great gust of wind blew the chess pieces all over the floor!

  Splash! Splash!

  The black and white chess pieces formed a sentence!

  “Thank you! Please allow me to be so impudent as to address you with respect in the last moment of my life. Teacher Sun, thank you!”

  The several thousand people around the arena who witnessed this scene were stunned.

  This……

  Had this mysterious chess soul also managed to break free due to Great Teacher Sun’s guidance?

  The countenances of Xia Taikang’s group were all extremely grim.

  Wei Wu`an assessed Sun Mo with an astonished gaze. The reason he had become a great teacher was only because he could. He hadn’t put in hard work into this. After all, he was going to be the Great Wei’s emperor in the future. Hence, he didn’t expect that a real great teacher was actually so amazing.

  Jiang Yuzhen blinked her big and beautiful eyes, looking at Sun Mo with curiosity.

  “Hope that you’ll be treated kindly by the world? Well said!”

  Although Jiang Yuzhen was seen as a Military God candidate and liked the art of battle formations, it was because she had seen a lot of massacres and deaths that she respected life more than any other people.

  Sun Mo’s words moved her a lot.

  “That’s too cool! That’s really too cool!”

  Lu Zhiruo grabbed Ying Baiwu’s arm and shook it vigorously. She felt that this was how a great teacher should be like. Not only would they be able to educate people, but they would give guidance to ghosts and dead souls as well.

  “How much did you record?”

  Qin Yaoguang held onto an image-recording stone and filmed while asking Tantai Yutang. “I’ve missed out on the ‘thank you’ in front.”

  “I have everything!”

  Although the sickly guy looked calm, he was filled with extreme admiration in his heart.

  His teacher was really sharp.

  “That’s great! This image-recording stone can definitely be sold for a great price!”

  Qin Yaoguang could already imagine herself raking in big bucks.

  “Grand Tutor Su, what do you think of this?”

  The Qi Emperor asked. He was surprised as well. This Sun Mo was really amazing.

  “We might have a new Saint in ten years!”

  Grand Tutor Su felt very emotional. “When I was his age, I couldn’t be compared to him!”

  Sun Mo returned to the Great Tang’s spectators’ stand.

  It was because there was still a performance-based competition coming up and he couldn’t leave.

  “Great Teacher Sun!”

  Li Xiu didn’t know what to say and could only give a toast with a cup of tea.

  At the sight of this, Li Ziqi was all smiles.

  Her aunt was very proud and in the entire Great Tang, not more than three men could enter her eyes. And now, her teacher was one of them too.

  Han Cangshui’s facial muscles twitched. He suddenly felt a little regretful to have come to Western Jing.

  F*ck, till now, there had been nothing to show off his sense of existence. Everything had been covered up by Sun Mo’s glow. To an 8-star great teacher, this was a humiliation.

  Li Xuan was suddenly a little regretful for having lashed out at Sun Mo.

  Someone like him would definitely be a person of great power in the great teachers world in the future.

  (Would it be too late if I were to apologize now?)

  “The Eldest Princess is too polite!”

  Sun Mo took the teacup and had a sip.

  He didn’t seem to show any emotions on the surface, but he was all smiles in his heart.

  He was raking in a lot from this.

  The favorable impression points he was receiving were filling up his vision. 100,000, 200,000……

  Ding!

  “Congratulations, you’ve received a total of +257,000 favorable impression points!”

  The system congratulated.

  “System, are there many women who want to give birth to my children?”

  Sun Mo had taken a brief look earlier. On average, the number of favorable impression points contributed by women were one-third more than the men.

  “Please remain modest and keep your cool. You’ve only gone so far.”

  The system said in disdain. However, it was true that Sun Mo’s looks had added a lot of points for him.

  “In this round, the Great Tang comes in first place!”

  The Qi Emperor announced the results. The Great Xia was second, the Great Wei was third, the Great Chu was fourth, and the Great Qi was fifth. This meant that no one had cheated and the ranking was done following the results of the matches.

  “There’ll be a performance-based competition up next. Anyone from the respective countries’ royal prince groups can seek guidance from the grand tutors of other countries to have a performance-based match.”

  There were three goals for such performance-based matches.

  Firstly, it was to give the princes and princesses a chance to display their brilliance. After all, they had traveled such a long distance to come here, so they couldn’t just possibly serve as a foil, right? Secondly, it was to drag out time and give the audience more time to talk about investments and improve the economy.

  The longer the competition drew out, the longer the tourists would stay in Western Jing. This would naturally bring about a huge raise for the local economy.

  Thirdly, it was to let the main participants have a chance to take a break so that they could prepare themselves for the third Calligraphy Battle.

  After the Qi Emperor said that, the four countries’ princes and princesses started moving urgently toward the spectators’ stand of the Great Tang.

  The sight of this scene caused Han Cangshui’s countenance to become even grimmer.

  No matter how stupid he was, he wouldn’t think that these people were here to ask him for a match.

  No!

  Maybe there was an exception?

  Turned out that Han Cangshui had thought too much.

  All the princes and princesses gathered in front of Sun Mo.

  “Great Teacher Sun, please give me your guidance!”

  “Great Teacher Sun! I bought your biography long ago and after finishing it in a day, I placed it on my pillow and would flip through it every night!”

  “Great Teacher Sun, please take me in as your disciple!”

  Some of them were reserved, while others wanted to grab this chance to shoot up to fame.

  Amongst these princes and princesses, some of them clearly didn’t have the chance to rise to the throne. However, even salted fish had dreams. They felt that after becoming Sun Mo’s students, they might be able to rely on his support to fight for the throne.

  No matter how bad things became, it couldn’t be any worse than how they were now, right?

  “Even if Great Teacher Sun wishes to take in disciples, we should have priority. Why would you guys have the chance?”

  The Great Tang’s princes and princesses were unhappy.

  They felt as if the rice sacks from their home were stolen from them.

  Suddenly, everyone got into a quarrel.

  The other delegations’ grand tutors were feeling so awkward.

  Li Xiu sneaked a glance at Han Cangshui. She felt that the reason her royal brother had let him be the leader of the delegation might have been a bad move. Yes, Han Cangshui was an ancestor-level alchemist, and the alchemical pills he refined were really precious. However, Sun Mo’s God Hands wasn’t bad either.

  She didn’t expect that even the Qi Emperor was so greedy to have Sun Mo and had invited him to his palace many times.

  “Great Teacher Sun’s popularity is really high!”

  The Qi Emperor praised. “Yuzhen, aren’t you going to ask him for a guidance match?”

  “No!”

  Jiang Yuzhen shook her head.

  These princes and princesses were too enthusiastic, and Sun Mo also wanted to get into a good relationship with the various countries’ royalty. Therefore, he didn’t refuse them.

  “Let’s go for a lucky number six. How about I do six matches at once?”

  Sun Mo got up to the arena and played against six opponents at the same time. He also gave them a handicap of three stones each.

  “Can Teacher do this?”

  Qin Yaoguang felt a little worried.

  If one was too proud in a situation like this and ended up losing, it’d be too embarrassing.

  “Don’t worry, Teacher is a grandmaster in Go. He’d definitely win even if he were to play ten matches at once!”

  Li Ziqi was very confident in Sun Mo’s chess skills.

  As expected, Sun Mo won against everyone.

  Although the system would occasionally block off some of his abilities, the skill books it gave were all very good and wouldn’t be discounted.

  Sun Mo’s skill in Go was at the national level.

  What did it mean?

  This meant that he was at the top of a country. Those who could compete with him wouldn’t exceed three to five people!

  By the afternoon, Sun Mo started playing ten matches concurrently.

  “Teacher won’t bring back another Chess Sage title, would he?”

  Xianyu Wei was surprised. She felt that there was nothing her teacher couldn’t do.

  Over two consecutive days, Sun Mo played a total of 60 matches and didn’t lose a single one of them. He showed an amazing performance again.

  After resting for one day, the third round, which was the Calligraphy Battle from the four categories—zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting—officially started.

  It was held in the morning as usual, but the weather wasn’t good. The sky was cloudy and a light drizzle fell.

  “They say that those who are studious will have a graceful elegance that makes them stand out from the rest!”

  The Qi Emperor spoke in a loud voice, “Everyone wants to be a person who is well-learned and can speak in verses and poems. No one wants to be at a loss for words when they see their beloved girl, being only able to say ‘I want to sleep with you!'”

  Hearing this, Grand Tutor Su’s lips kept on twitching.

  Laughters broke out amongst the crowd too.

  “The Qi Emperor is as impracticable as always!”

  Li Xiu shook her head and laughed. But someone simple-minded like him would definitely be very happy in life.

  “All the princes and princesses have studied under great teachers since a young age and are very learned. Therefore, it’d be meaningless to test you guys on these things. Why not have something new?”

  The topic decided for every Five Empires War Discussion could be traditional or decided by the emperor of the host country…… The impractical Qi Emperor was clearly up to something again.