“The Bat Ancestor? Humph! To think that an old thing like you is not dead yet. Answer my question, where is Nine-Five Island? Where is Gu Hai?” A cold, sinister shout came from above the sea.
“Yehua?” Chang Sheng’s expression changed.
Whoosh!
Chang Sheng and his son rushed to the sea’s surface.
Bang! The two charged out.
They saw that all the vampires and bat spirits had returned.
Now, half the sky above the calm sea had surging holy light, incredibly white and bright. Many angels flew in the air, accompanied by countless winged-baby images flying around.
The other half had surging black energy. A multitude of bats covered that half of the sky, and many vampires and bat spirits stood close to each other.
Yehua led the side with the holy light and angels. All the experts on the ten flying ships stood in formation and waited.
The Bat Ancestor led the dark side with the bats. The experts on their ten flying ships likewise stood in formation and waited.
Chang Sheng and Chang Ming immediately flew behind the Bat Ancestor and looked at the other side coldly.
Yehua showed a sullen expression as he looked around.
“Where is Nine-Five Island? Where did Nine-Five Island go?” Yehua shouted coldly at the Bat Ancestor.
“Why are you looking for Nine-Five Island?” the Bat Ancestor asked with a sullen expression.
Yehua narrowed his eyes slightly. Nine-Five Island had been here not long ago; there was no mistaking that. Back then, he had come over, using his projection. However, it now disappeared when he returned, leaving only these bats?
Are these vampires the reinforcements that Gu Hai called over?
The Bat Ancestor showed a sullen expression. He already felt depressed at failing to find Nine-Five Island. Now, there were a bunch of obstructions?
Yehua narrowed his eyes slightly. “Why am I looking for Nine-Five Island? Humph! Nine-Five Island would not disappear for no reason at all. You old thing, what are you doing here?”
“I’m the one asking the questions!” the Bat Ancestor said coldly.
Yehua and the Bat Ancestor seemed to know each other from before and apparently had a grudge against each other. The two coldly eyed each other, keeping their guard up. Both sides refused to reveal their purpose.
However, the two felt some curiosity. They both noticed that the other party seemed to have a grudge against Nine-Five Island.
However, only a trace of it showed. Both of them controlled their expressions, not exposing this.
Regardless of the situation, they both wanted to kill Gu Hai with their own hands, so they refused to give in to each other or work together.
“Yehua, go back to wherever you came from. This is not something for you to interfere in!” the Bat Ancestor said coldly.
“Ha! You old thing, you should be the one scramming. Is the previous lesson at the Solar Divine Palace insufficient?” Yehua said coldly.
“Humph! I’m letting you go only to give the Supreme Genesis face. If you insist on interfering, then don’t blame me for being ruthless. There is no Supreme Genesis here, and there is no Cross Annihilation. If you don’t want to die, scram!” the Bat Ancestor shouted coldly.
The two bore too deep a grudge against each other, unwilling to cooperate. Furthermore, they believed they could deal with Gu Hai themselves and did not need the other party. Thus, they saw each other as hindrances.
Yehua narrowed his eyes and revealed a faint, cold smile. “Ha! You old thing want me to scram? Even if Imperial Emperor Xi Yu were here, he would not dare say that to me! Humph!”
Boom!
As Yehua spoke, he threw a palm strike at the Bat Ancestor.
Buzz!
Suddenly, an enormous white palm manifested in the air. Along with the palm strike, a piercing light instantly appeared, and the manifested palm swept towards the Bat Ancestor with a powerful aura, leaving overwhelming sea waves in its wake.
“Do you think I fear you? You are seeking death!” the Bat Ancestor snorted coldly.
The Bat Ancestor countered with a palm strike, and black energy immediately surged out. An enormous black manifested palm clashed with Yehua’s white manifested palm.
Boom!
The full-powered strikes of two peak Middle Heavenly Palace cultivators clashed, sending powerful shock waves sweeping out in all directions. The surrounding water immediately sank and bounced back up, resulting in overwhelming waves.
Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech!
Countless bats rushed forward.
Waa! Waa! Waa!
Countless baby angel images charged forward.
Rumble…!
Angels and bats clashed. The sky turned dark, and strong winds swept through the region.
At the same time, the various experts on the flying ships charged forward as well.
“Kill!” Chang Sheng shouted.
Rumble…!
The four Chang Clan elders were Middle Heavenly Palace Realm cultivators. They immediately burst forth with powerful auras as they charged forward.
The experts on the other side’s flying ships shouted and charged forward as well.
Bang!
Two of these people revealed three pairs of wings when they spread their wings.
“Six-winged angels? Your wings are not mature yet, right? You just entered the Middle Heavenly Palace Realm!” Chang Sheng sneered.
“You are neither human nor ghost, and you want to fight my Solar Divine Palace?!” A six-winged angel flew towards Chang Sheng while wielding a holy light sword.
“Humph! We blood race members are spirit-assimilated by the Bat Ancestor. Aren’t you angels the same? You are just spirit-assimilated by seagulls, also spirit-assimilated cultivators. To think that you are not embarrassed to say that about us? What a joke!” Chang Sheng snorted coldly as he swung his saber.
Boom!
Chang Sheng’s saber shone crimson as it clashed with that six-winged angel’s sword. Crimson light and white light lit up the surroundings. The auras of two powerful Middle Heavenly Palace Realm cultivators flared.
Chang Ming’s second uncle, third uncle, and fourth uncle were all early-stage Middle Heavenly Palace Realm cultivators. However, their opponents were of equal strength. The entire sea surface turned turbulent.
“You old thing, old bat, you weren’t my opponent back then. All the more, you aren’t my opponent now. I will make you remain here forever today!” Yehua glared as he unleashed dazzling, white light from his hand. Then, three pairs of white wings erupted from his back, emitting light in all directions.
“I am an old thing? Well, you are an insignificant thing. Seagull spirit? You overestimate yourself!” the Bat Ancestor snorted coldly.
Boom!
Two energies—black and white—fought ferociously, churning the surrounding sea region. Shock waves swept through the sea in all directions.
——
At the bottom of the sea where Gu Hai was:
Gu Hai’s location also suffered from the turbulence. However, he was sitting on the light platform. The interior of the light platform was unaffected.
Gu Hai looked up.
The sea undulated wildly as if the apocalypse had arrived. Roars came from the sky.
“Yehua’s main body showed up in person? The Bat Ancestor is here too? Ha! To think that you started fighting with each other! Light and darkness? This is truly similar to the stories I read when I was young. Unfortunately, Yehua, you are not Jehovah. Bat Ancestor, you are not Cain.” Gu Hai smiled coldly.
[TL Note: As mentioned in a previous TL note, Jehovah is one of the names of the Christian God. Cain is a biblical character, the eldest son of Adam and Eve. In the Bible, God favored the offering of Abel, Cain’s younger brother, over Cain’s. This provoked jealousy, and Cain killed Abel. Here is a Wikipedia entry on Cain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain. Some modern novels in the 1990s portrayed Cain as the first vampire, and that idea caught on in some other fictional works.]
Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly and sneered. “Chang Sheng? You are a wise person. Chang Sheng? Mo Yike? And that blind Qin Yun? Imperial Emperor Xi Yu, you have good cards to play. However, I wonder, what can you achieve?”
Gu Hai sighed and ignored the battle outside to resume studying the Go board before him.
“Life and death can be decided with one move. Please be careful.” The Old Mister Guan Qi image smiled as he played a Go stone.
As Old Mister Guan Qi played his move, the situation on the Go board underwent a great upheaval. The Go stones started jumping around to Gu Hai’s eyes again.
The four thousand Gu Hai images in his forehead space stared at the Go board, looking like they were trying to solve it with all their might. These four thousand images were the crystallization of Gu Hai’s wisdom. When they all worked at full power, they naturally were very effective. The Go stones jumping wildly before his mind’s eye calmed down gradually.
Clack! Gu Hai played another Go stone.
——
At the same time, Guan Qi Hall, Heavenly Go Pavilion:
Five elders already sat at the side, with blood leaking out of the corners of their lips.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
“Such a level of Go skills… Be careful. I could not endure it. What a horrifying Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle!” warned one of the elders who had vomited blood.
Blargh!
Another elder exhausted himself and fell over while vomiting blood.
The various elders were fully focused. As Gu Hai made more moves, their focus got drawn in deeper, putting a greater drain on their minds.
Soon, only three elders remained staring at the scene with uncertain expressions: the first elder and two others.
Even though the strain on their minds was great, they continued staring. This was not simply just watching someone play Go but also a learning process. No one had seen the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle before. Now that there was a chance, who would let it slip?
“Gu Hai? He is not even flushed. To think that he can even spare some of his attention to observe the churning of the seawater?” one of the elders said in shock after vomiting blood and sitting down on the floor, holding his chest.
Since he had already vomited blood, he no longer dared to look at the Go board. Hence, he paid attention to the other details in the scene.
“How do you think Gu Hai’s Go skills compare to Ninth Young Master’s?” one of the elders asked with a frown.
“Ninth Young Master’s?” Everyone suddenly raised their eyebrows.
In the scene, Gu Hai’s speed of playing Go stones accelerated.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
The last three elders flushed red.
Blargh!
Another elder spewed blood and fainted. Two remained: the first elder and an ordinary-looking elder.
“Twelfth Elder? He is not the best in Go among us. Why can he last until now?”
“Indeed. Cough! Cough! Cough! When the twelfth elder played Go against me, he lost. To think that he could last as long as the first elder this time.”
“Something’s not right. Look, even the first elder’s expression is already twisted. Yet, the twelfth elder is only flushed?”
The elders looked at the last two elders—the first elder and the twelfth elder—in shock.
——
In the scene, the Go match seemed to have reached its climax.
“Life and death can be decided with one move. This is the last move. You win if you get it right,” the Old Mister Guan Qi image said seriously.
Gu Hai held a black Go stone and maintained that pose for thirty minutes.
The four thousand Go puzzles in his forehead space trembled. Suddenly, it seemed like a bright light flashed in his mind, and four Go puzzles clustered together.
Boom!
Those four Go puzzles finally merged.
Gu Hai had an epiphany. At that instant, a large explosion seemed to take place in his forehead space. The remaining Go puzzles that had been stuck started merging rapidly in sets of four.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The mergers took place extremely quickly—completed within five breaths of time—forming one thousand Go puzzles.
Phew! Gu Hai let out a drawn-out breath.
“Life and death can be decided in one move? Hahaha! So, that is what it means? I nearly entered a dead end. No, you set up a trap to lure me into a dead end. It is not that life and death can be decided in one move, but one should constantly think of both life and death. The thirty-one? I understand it now!” Gu Hai said with a smile.
As Gu Hai smiled, he played the black Go stone in his hand.
Clack!
The Old Mister Guan Qi image on the other side suddenly raised his eyebrows at Gu Hai’s move.
Whoosh!
Many white Go stones immediately flew off the Go board.
“Congratulations! You solved the thirty-one line-pair,” Old Mister Guan Qi said with a sigh.
——
Guan Qi Hall, Heavenly Go Pavilion:
Blargh! The first elder vomited blood and tumbled off his seat.
“That’s impossible! How could Gu Hai solve the thirty-one?” The first elder sat on the ground with a horrified expression, and his body seemed to shrivel up as though his vitality had been injured.
“Twelfth Elder, are you alright?” The others looked incredulously at the only elder who had not spewed out blood.
That elder turned his head and looked at them. Everyone appeared confused.
“When my mind sank into the Go puzzle, it was on the black Go stones’ side, so…,” the twelfth elder said with a bitter smile.
The other elders: “…”
Are you really a Heavenly Go Pavilion disciple? To think that you stood on the enemy’s side?
