Seeing Elder Qi's smiling gaze, Li Hao froze for a moment. His tangled thoughts settled into stillness, and his heart felt utterly peaceful. He smiled, showing his teeth, and said:
"Thank you, Senior."
Though the elder had not deliberately taught him, he had intentionally guided him. Having received the fruit, he ought to honor its source.
"To delve so deeply into such an obscure path at your age is quite rare."
Elder Qi chuckled.
Among the world's paths of cultivation, the Chess Dao could lead to sagehood and the Great Dao, but it was nowhere near as popular as the blades, spears, and staves everyone pursued.
Li Hao glanced at the Go board. The position he had already found profoundly mysterious had not become clearer or simpler after his enlightenment. Instead, it had grown even more unfathomable. Beyond the alternation of time and space, there were entanglements of cause and effect. He saw countless traces he had never noticed before.
Before entering the Dao, it was like gazing at the boundless sea. After entering the Dao, it was like beholding the Star River and the universe.
"Your Chess Dao truly is unfathomable, Seniors."
Li Hao's eyes brimmed with admiration. He knew their Chess Dao was far beyond thirteenth dan, far above his own and impossible to reach. "We've merely lived long enough and had nothing to do in our spare time."
Elder Qi spoke the truth. Had they not lived so long and had so little to do, they would never have explored other pursuits and discovered the Chess Dao as a diversion.
Over those long years, hundreds of thousands of years had passed. Even without devoting themselves to it, they could still explore it to extraordinary depths.
But the Chess Dao they had comprehended merely added flowers to the