After pondering for a moment.
Chu Jiang spoke calmly:
"What you have all seen are merely branches and leaves. The gate of life does not lie in any single stone, but in the transformation of momentum. Black's great dragon is not a trapped beast, but a hidden dragon. Even its shackles can become strength."
He raised a hand and pointed vaguely at an apparently insignificant empty intersection near the board's central tengen point. "This is not the gate of life, yet it is the eye of momentum. There is no need for three more moves. One move is enough—abandon the dragon!"
"Abandon the dragon?!"
The entire crowd erupted in an uproar, staring dumbstruck.
Chu Jiang continued, "Abandon this great dragon that appears to be the core, luring White deeper in until its momentum collapses on its own. Then, the scattered stones at three seemingly irrelevant edges and corners can ride the momentum into a linked chain, turning the hidden dragon's emergence from the abyss into a strike that severs White's great dragon at the waist. A trapped dragon does not ascend to heaven—it changes the heavens!"
As his words fell, the phantom image of the entire game board shook violently. The configuration reversed in an instant. Where Black had abandoned its stones, new life burst forth instead, driving White into a desperate corner.
A majestic, convention-shattering grand strategy revealed itself in full.
Xuanjizi rose from his seat, admiration blazing in his eyes. "Exquisite! Unbound by any one stone or one place, seeing through the whole board, using momentum to suppress momentum—even willing to sacrifice stones to contend for momentum. Such a vision deserves the highest grade!"
The brilliance in Princess Long Yao's gaze as she looked at Chu Jiang grew even more radiant.
Wu Yue's eyes, fixed on Chu Jiang,