Chapter Summaries

Dafflin lost a Go match by exactly twenty points, saving the villagers from severe taxes and food shortages, while Wenren Sheng explored a market town where Go decided everything from livelihoods to marriage. Wenren Sheng used his abilities to show Little Illusion how players’ mind images revealed the likely winner, and they saw that the man would defeat the woman despite the board’s apparent position.

• Dafflin lost by twenty points, and the villagers celebrated that they would pay only thirty percent in taxes, rent, and levies and have enough to eat.
• Dafflin realized his opponent had deliberately slowed down and thanked the villagers for taking him in, while the village chief and villagers thanked him for playing.
• Wenren Sheng arrived in a Go-focused market town using Big Cat’s body and observed a man and woman whose match would decide which family they married into.
• Wenren Sheng sensed that the players’ spiritual wills clashed through Go and inferred that the man’s strengthening will meant Heaven would help him win.
• Wenren Sheng used the Mystic Illusion Art and Mystic Spirit Communication Art to reveal a rabbit above the woman and a motionless cat above the man, showing Little Illusion that the man would win.

Wenren Sheng used simulations to master weiqi and hired Luo Qi to teach him, revealing that an Otherworldly User could defeat the AI that had crushed Luo Qi’s career. Wenren Sheng offered Luo Qi access to a world of weiqi, and Luo Qi eagerly accepted.

• Wenren Sheng learned that weiqi governed the world and began training by simulating vast numbers of games.
• Luo Qi struggled with his decline after realizing that he could not find a way to beat AI weiqi.
• An academy administrator offered Luo Qi a teaching job with Fragment World slots for his family, and Luo Qi accepted.
• After half a month of lessons, Luo Qi watched Wenren Sheng repeatedly defeat the top AI weiqi.
• Wenren Sheng pointed Luo Qi toward a world of weiqi, and Luo Qi agreed to go.

Wenren Sheng and Luo Qi arrived in Weiqi World, where Wenren Sheng helped a boy accept learning weiqi by making him experience hardship. After obtaining official residency, Luo Qi chose to join the Xing'an Weiqi Hobbyist Association.

• Luo Qi met a boy who had run away because he wanted to learn carpentry instead of weiqi.
• Wenren Sheng made the boy experience imagined hardships, and the boy returned determined to study weiqi.
• Zhao Changfa thanked Wenren Sheng and Luo Qi, then helped them settle in Tianxing Town.
• Wenren Sheng and Luo Qi registered for official residency by playing against Heaven without losing by twenty points.
• Luo Qi chose to join a civilian association, and Wenren Sheng recommended the Xing'an Weiqi Hobbyist Association.

Wenren Sheng and Luo Qi traveled to Xing'an Prefecture and joined its Weiqi association, where Luo Qi was urged to seek Rank 10 certification. As a crowd gathered for the certification match, Wenren Sheng watched for clues about how the Thirty-Three Heavens operated the world.

• Wenren Sheng and Luo Qi endured a two-day carriage ride from Tianxing Town to Xing'an Prefecture, where Wenren Sheng made Luo Qi float above his seat to ease the jolting.
• The two joined the Xing'an Weiqi Hobbyist Association after easily defeating Five Heavens by two stones.
• An old man urged Luo Qi to seek Rank 10 certification, mentioning that higher certification could bring him a house and a wife.
• The old man led Luo Qi to the rooftop, where people gathered and placed bets on whether he would succeed.
• Wenren Sheng observed the preparations, hoping to learn how the Thirty-Three Heavens operated the world and increase his Mystery Points limit.

Luo Qi defeated Ten Heavens and reached Rank 10, earning the right to become a feudal lord. In Xing'an Prefecture, Jiang Zinan and three other talented young people discussed how Go had limited their ambitions and resolved to change the game.

• Luo Qi played Black against Ten Heavens, and the two sides fought a decisive battle on the left side of the board.
• Ten Heavens resigned after Luo Qi won the ko fight, and the spectators celebrated his arrival at Rank 10.
• An old man advised Luo Qi to be modest and value moral character, but Luo Qi said he had not used his full strength.
• Wenren Sheng recognized that intense games stirred the emotions of the people serving as stones and helped extract Source Crystals.
• Jiang Zinan, Ding Yong, and two women complained that their talents were wasted in a world ruled by Go and agreed that they needed to change the game.

After attaining Rank 10, Luo Qi settled into a comfortable life and kept playing chess with Wenren Sheng. Jiang Zinan’s men abducted him to learn where he and his disciple came from, and Luo Qi accidentally revealed that they were from Earth before being sent home with a woman.

• A man with a folding fan decided that Luo Qi’s disciple could bring fresh blood to the chess world.
• Luo Qi praised the comforts of his new residence, lost a game to Wenren Sheng, and left to rebuild his confidence against a local player.
• Jiang Zinan’s men lured Luo Qi into the basement of Apricot Flower House and challenged him to chess to pressure him into revealing his origins.
• Luo Qi lost to Jiang Dong after overlooking a local rule, then blurted out that he and his disciple came from Earth.
• Jiang Zinan learned that Earth was a sphere within a universe, apologized to Luo Qi, and arranged for him to be escorted home with the woman who had lured him.

Wenren Sheng met Jiang Zinan and Ding Yong at a banquet, where Jiang proposed that they work together to challenge the Heavenly Weiqi Players. After exposing the pair’s imagined betrayal through Illusory Realm Simulation, Wenren Sheng accepted Jiang Zinan as a disciple and began making him a Heavenly Weiqi Player.

• Luo Qi confessed that he had revealed his background after Jiang Zinan and Ding Yong threatened him, and Wenren Sheng said the consequences were still under control.
• At a banquet hosted by the Jiang Family, Jiang Zinan invited Wenren Sheng to cooperate against the Heavenly Weiqi Players, while Luo Qi rejected the idea.
• Jiang Zinan explained that his family’s ancient journal said the world had once been different, and he wanted to challenge Go because he had mastered the other disciplines but lacked talent in it.
• Wenren Sheng used Illusory Realm Simulation to show Jiang Zinan and Ding Yong agreeing to betray them for positions as celestial Go attendants, then attacking the Heavenly Weiqi Players with an unbeatable strategy.
• Wenren Sheng revealed that the later events were only the men’s imagined dream, knocked them unconscious, and then woke them again.
• Jiang Zinan asked Wenren Sheng to take him as a disciple, and Wenren Sheng began transforming him into a Heavenly Weiqi Player; Jiang Zinan opened his eyes and said he understood.

Wenren Sheng discovered that people in Blood Island World were being drawn into the Weiqi World through a supposed game, where their souls gained new bodies and experienced time a thousand times faster. He joined the game’s group chat to investigate as players celebrated their extended lifespans and shared their experiences.

• Wenren Sheng reviewed the progress of Space Exploration and Blood Island World, then found a forum post advertising a realistic Weiqi game called A Real Game, a Second Life.
• Wenren Sheng questioned Little Illusion, who denied bringing people into the Weiqi World, and asked Shi Shi to identify the poster, Li Zicheng.
• Shi Shi showed Wenren Sheng that Li Zicheng had entered the Weiqi World after a pop-up appeared while he was playing online chess.
• Wenren Sheng concluded that Li Zicheng’s soul had entered a new body in the Weiqi World, where time passed roughly a thousand times faster, but warned that souls could still wear down and die.
• Wenren Sheng joined Li Zicheng’s group chat and saw players describing their new lives, their work, and the supposed thousandfold extension of their lifespans.

Wenren Sheng recognized the Fourth Calamity as an unprecedentedly dangerous mystery and warned the Patrol Division not to approach its creators carelessly. He entered Weiqi World as Big Cat to investigate and learned that players had built a stronghold near Xing'an Prefecture City.

• The Seed of Mystery displayed five question marks for the Fourth Calamity, prompting Wenren Sheng to search for the person behind it.
• Wenren Sheng warned Lao An that the Patrol Division must investigate cautiously and avoid approaching the village chief or seeking cooperation as officials.
• Wenren Sheng returned to Weiqi World in Big Cat's body and found that nearly three years had passed there.
• Wenren Sheng met Luo Qi, who had married three wives and had three children, and agreed to record his family life for him.
• Luo Qi told Wenren Sheng that a group of players had built a stronghold in the Mountain Hollows west of Xing'an Prefecture City, and that their names above their heads revealed they were outsiders.

Wenren Sheng investigated the players in Xing'an Prefecture and discovered how they used weiqi AI and earned rewards in the world. He joined their quarrying work to observe them firsthand, leaving the players’ growing stronghold under scrutiny.

• Luo Qi told Wenren Sheng that players had used AI to defeat the rebellion, and that Jiang Zinan had advised the Prefect Magistrate to appease them.
• Wenren Sheng traveled to the players’ western stronghold and heard its master forbid harming residents, revealing identities, or leaving Xing'an Prefecture.
• Wenren Sheng learned that players with enough points could use market weiqi AI, then discovered that they earned points through labor.
• A player explained that rewards from the world could be brought back to reality, and Wenren Sheng concluded the heavens were waiting to see whether the players would benefit them.
• Wenren Sheng chose quarrying and followed the workers to a mountainside construction site linked to the stronghold by slide tracks.

Wenren Sheng investigated the players’ labor and concluded that Lu Kuan, the Chieftain and Game GM, might know the game’s purpose. After Lu Kuan published a mission about an unknown entity watching the stockade, Wenren Sheng recognized that it likely referred to him but concealed his identity.

• Wenren Sheng learned that players knew they were being exploited for labor but hoped to rebel in later stages, and he considered what the Game GM wanted from the world.
• Lu Kuan reflected on his foothold in the Weiqi World and enjoyed his authority over the players before receiving a crisis warning that an unknown entity was watching the stockade.
• Lu Kuan published a temporary mission asking players to find the threat, offering points, Chieftain favorability, and a servant as rewards.
• Wenren Sheng returned to the stockade, heard players discussing the mission, and recognized that it likely targeted him while pretending to be an ordinary newcomer.

Wenren Sheng decided to wait ten years in the Weiqi World to see whether the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator would succumb to power and corruption. He arranged for Wang Wenwen to enter the game and monitor events, and she began exploring the mountain stronghold.

• Wenren Sheng reported the temporary mission to Lao An, who advised him not to provoke the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator while the Patrol Division monitored him undercover.
• Wenren Sheng asked Director An about how long it took people with great power to become corrupted, then decided to wait ten years in the Weiqi World.
• Wenren Sheng asked Little Illusion to enter the game, but she refused, so he recruited Wang Wenwen instead.
• Wenren Sheng had Shi Shi investigate the queue and secured Wang Wenwen an early place by arranging treatment for the father of the person at the front.
• Wang Wenwen entered the mountain stronghold, learned about the game's classes and guides, and headed toward East Side Academy.

Wenren Sheng learned that the three major guilds had imprisoned the game designer, Lu Kuan, in Weiqi World and went to investigate. He found Lu Kuan under guard and offered him a chance at freedom, leaving Lu Kuan ready to seize the turning point.

• Wang Wenwen told Wenren Sheng that the three major guilds had exploited a game loophole to trap the designer and make him their puppet.
• Wenren Sheng and Lao An located the designer in a guarded room at Hongtong Inn in Shengqi Prefecture.
• Wenren Sheng entered the hidden room and saw Lu Kuan bound to a bed while two wardens forced him to issue quests.
• Wenren Sheng quietly asked Lu Kuan whether he wanted freedom, and Lu Kuan resolved to seize the opportunity.

Wenren Sheng questioned Lu Kuan, who revealed that betrayal had left him imprisoned and explained how his Game Emulator worked. Wenren Sheng freed him, but the Seed of Mystery still had not confirmed the mystery was solved, so Wenren Sheng suspected Lu Kuan did not understand the Emulator’s full nature.

• Lu Kuan told Wenren Sheng that former friends had discovered he was the game designer and trapped him after learning players could become permanently stuck in their characters.
• Lu Kuan initially refused to reveal his secrets, but after Wenren Sheng returned half a day later, he agreed to explain that he had bound himself to a Game Emulator.
• Wenren Sheng learned the Emulator contained game-themed Small Worlds and could create bodies, but he could not locate the soul-bound object, and his Seed of Mystery gave no completion notice.
• Wenren Sheng caused Warden A and Warden B to faint, freed Lu Kuan, and carried him through a hole in the wall to an oasis.
• Lu Kuan explained that he had used points from the Game Emulator and players clearing worlds to alter his body, leading Wenren Sheng to suspect the points represented source power.

After Wenren Sheng rescued Lu Kuan, he urged him to address his weaknesses and brought him to the Patrol Division, where Lu Kuan agreed to join its Special Operations Group. Lu Kuan left trusting Wenren Sheng, who then learned the Patrol Division would study the Game Emulator and send him the results, adding to the many things he was already waiting on.

• Lu Kuan planned to find the hotel and expose its location, but Wenren Sheng told him to strengthen himself first and brought him back to the real world.
• Inspector Liu reprimanded Lu Kuan for acting alone, while Lao An defended him, and Lu Kuan agreed to join the Special Operations Group.
• Lu Kuan signed agreements with the Patrol Division and realized Wenren Sheng had no intention of taking his Game Emulator.
• Inspector Liu thanked Wenren Sheng for helping Lu Kuan trust the Patrol Division and promised to share the Game Emulator research.
• Wenren Sheng complained that he was waiting on too many research projects, and Inspector Liu joked that he might become Waiting Two Generations.

Wenren Sheng returned to Weiqi World to temper his skills and brought Little Illusion along, where she learned Weiqi from Luo Qi. Little Illusion continued playing after failing to beat Luo Qi, while Dafflin remained content in his growing village, focused on chess and training.

• Wenren Sheng relaxed at home with Little Illusion, then agreed to take her to Weiqi World after she complained about her Future Society believers urging her to improve.
• Wenren Sheng left Little Illusion with Luo Qi to learn Weiqi while he went to temper his skills.
• Little Illusion reached first dan after three days and argued that she had meant three days in the real world, or ten years in Weiqi World, when she promised to beat Luo Qi.
• Luo Qi went to sleep after staying awake to teach Little Illusion, and she went looking for someone else to play.
• Dafflin asked his villagers why they had not invented bicycles, and they replied that they would rather spend their effort playing Weiqi.

Little Illusion tried to grant an old man’s grandson talent for Go, but the spirit she turned into a Wooden Stick instead helped the boy excel at studying. After Wenren Sheng discovered that Dafflin had entered Weiqi World as an Otherworldly User, he took Little Illusion to the Capital City to challenge the Thirty-Three Heavens.

• Little Illusion turned a Go-loving spirit into a Wooden Stick and gave it to the old man for his grandson.
• The grandson played Go poorly but proved exceptionally gifted at studying, and a town teacher took him as a disciple.
• Little Illusion found Dafflin in the village, and Wenren Sheng learned that Dafflin had entered Weiqi World while playing Go.
• Wenren Sheng decided to challenge the Thirty-Three Heavens and submitted a challenge letter at Heavenly Crane Tower in the Capital City.
• Seven days later, Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion approached the tower as crowds gathered to watch the life-or-death match.

Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion arrived at Heavenly Crane Tower to challenge the Thirty-Three Heavens in a deadly ten-game Go match. Wenren Sheng won the first game by sacrificing five White Stones, and the match continued with his strategy of avoiding defeat.

• Little Illusion questioned the deadly wager at Heavenly Crane Tower, where captured Go stones fell from the unrailed platform, and Wenren Sheng prepared to play.
• Wenren Sheng stepped onto the board and accepted the rules for a ten-game match with alternating Black.
• Wenren Sheng and his opponent played through the opening and into a fierce middle game as spectators watched from below.
• Wenren Sheng captured five White Stones without hesitation, and they fell to their deaths from the tower.
• Wenren Sheng won the first game, earning the old man's approval.

After defeating the Thirty-Three Heavens, Wenren Sheng rejected immortality and the throne, asking only to visit Heaven. He accepted that he could never return, and the voice in the sky prepared to take him there.

• After winning a game by two points, Wenren Sheng faced a woman who condemned him for the deaths of twenty-one players, then revealed his Crimson Fierce Tiger form and vanished with Little Illusion.
• At an inn, Wenren Sheng told Little Illusion that no one who had visited Heaven had ever returned, and said he needed only six games to earn a chance to ascend.
• Wenren Sheng won six games in a row, prompting Emperor Yanping to prepare to abdicate after nine hundred years on the throne.
• Wenren Sheng rejected immortality and the dynasty, and the voice from the sky warned that he could ascend only if he never returned.
• Emperor Yanping explained that his family had pushed him to become emperor and that his own family line had died out; Wenren Sheng told him to keep the throne.
• Wenren Sheng declined to see anyone else, agreed to ascend, and prepared to leave with the voice from the sky.

Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion discovered that the promised heavenly realm was a post-nuclear wasteland and learned how humanity had been devastated by an alien invasion. They found a fortified city worshipping a nuclear warhead and reunited with the voice that had brought them there, which asked what they thought of the place.

• Little Illusion and Wenren Sheng explored the ruined wasteland and saw mutated animals, rusted nuclear warheads, and starving farmers.
• Little Illusion questioned a Scavenger, who explained that extraterrestrial monsters had triggered a nuclear war that destroyed civilization before withdrawing from Earth.
• Wenren Sheng gave the Scavenger a rice ball made from grass, and he and Little Illusion set off to find whoever had brought them to the wasteland.
• Little Illusion hurled away two mutated hunting dogs, and Wenren Sheng spotted a talking Two-Headed Crow and a massive nuclear warhead.
• Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion flew invisibly into a steel-walled city, where people worshipped the warhead as the great Mushroom.
• The familiar voice inside the warhead asked Wenren Sheng what he thought of the wasteland, and he said it was better than the abyssal hell he had imagined.