Hearing this, Yu Shao could not help but freeze for a moment before looking toward Xu Ziqin.
Looking at Xu Ziqin's calm eyes, Yu Shao inexplicably sensed a certain resolve within them.
Yu Shao hesitated briefly before finally nodding. "All right."
Xu Ziqin said nothing. In silence, she began gathering the Go stones, quickly returning all the stones on the board to their respective Stone Boxes.
Xu Ziqin raised her head. A stubborn unwillingness to lose faintly showed on her refined, otherworldly face as she said, "Let's guess the first move."
With that, Xu Ziqin lightly pursed her lips, reached into the Stone Box, and grabbed a handful of white stones.
Yu Shao also reached into the Stone Box and clasped a black stone in his palm.
Seeing this, Xu Ziqin opened her hand. The stones bounced onto the Go Board, producing a crisp, metallic clatter.
Xu Ziqin extended her slender, fair fingers and separated the stones into pairs as she began counting. "Two, four, six... seven."
"Seven stones. An odd number."
After counting the stones, Xu Ziqin looked toward Yu Shao. Yu Shao opened his hand, revealing the single black stone in his palm and indicating that he had guessed correctly.
"You're Playing Black and will move first."
Xu Ziqin nodded at Yu Shao and said in a cool voice, "Please guide me."
Yu Shao immediately returned the courtesy, nodding as he said, "Please guide me."
Gazing at the Go Board, Yu Shao thought for a moment before taking out a stone and gently placing it in the upper-right corner.
Seventeenth column, fourth row—Mokuhou!
Xu Ziqin's beautiful eyes flickered. Right after Yu Shao, she took out a white stone.
Then—
Her hand descended from a great height!
Smack!
Fourth column, fourth row—star point!
Seeing Xu Ziqin like this, Zhong Yufei, who was standing nearby, could not help feeling his heart pound.
"She's incredibly imposing..."
Xu Ziqin was clearly one grade below him and was even a girl, yet Zhong Yufei felt a pressure from her now that made his scalp tingle.
Even as a bystander, he could not help becoming inexplicably nervous.
Xu Ziqin looked beautiful as ever, but at that moment she seemed almost inhumanly aloof, making people afraid to approach her. Compared with before, however, she somehow seemed even more stunning.
Yu Shao reached into the Stone Box and took out another black stone.
Fourth column, seventeenth row—Mokuhou!
Xu Ziqin immediately responded, placing a white stone.
Sixteenth column, sixteenth row—star point!
"Diagonal Mokuhou, then diagonal star-point opening."
Chen Jiaming gazed at the Go Board, thinking silently, This opening is absolutely brimming with the intent to fight...
The two sides soon played four more moves in succession. Black chose a Small Knight's move approach to secure the lower-left corner, while White played a Small knight's move approach in the upper-right corner. Black then played a nose attachment, and White followed with a Small Knight's move approach in the upper-left corner.
Now it was Black's turn again.
"Will he use a Small knight's move approach, or perhaps..."
Yu Shao glanced at Xu Ziqin across from him, then suddenly froze slightly.
Xu Ziqin was staring intently at him, seemingly... waiting for something.
Although Xu Ziqin had not said a word, Yu Shao understood what she was thinking.
"She..."
"Is waiting for my 3-3 Point?"
Yu Shao withdrew his gaze and looked back at the Go Board, his expression somewhat unreadable.
Soon, Yu Shao reached into the Stone Box. The clicking sound of stones colliding rang out immediately.
Yu Shao took out a stone and gently placed it down.
"Then let's do it!"
Tap!
Seventeenth column, seventeenth row!
3-3 Point!
"3-3 Point?!"
Seeing this move, Zhong Yufei's eyes nearly popped out. His mouth fell open uncontrollably, and he was completely stunned!
It was not only Zhong Yufei. Even Chen Jiaming, despite being an adult and a teacher, was dumbstruck upon seeing this move. He instinctively removed his glasses, wiped them, and then put them back on.
Only Xu Ziqin showed no surprise at all when she saw this move. She took out a stone from the Stone Box and immediately placed it down!
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
For a while, both sides continued placing stones one after another, the sounds of stones hitting the board rising and falling without end.
"White's moves are... incredibly sharp!"
Chen Jiaming stared at the game in astonishment.
"That Contact Play by White was a brilliant move. At first, I thought it was a slow move, but now it seems it was preparing for the attack on the Mokuhou!"
"But Black's move is even more extraordinary!"
"He directly used a cap, combined with the earlier press, to seal White against the bottom edge. If White chooses to play a Hane, White will create an extra liberty for Black and might even fail to live, becoming a dead group!"
"Black has the advantage?"
"But why?"
"Why has Black, after playing the 3-3 Point, seized such a massive advantage so quickly during the opening?!"
Chen Jiaming felt as though his entire understanding of life had been thrown into doubt.
"Black's 3-3 Point was unquestionably a bad move to begin with. What's more, after playing the 3-3 Point, Black didn't even choose to play a Hane, but instead chose to Crawl!"
"Anyone who knows even a little Go understands that Crawling on the second line is generally unfavorable. Besides, it's obvious to the naked eye that a Hane gains more points than a Crawl!"
"But why, despite White making no obvious mistake afterward, has Black instead seized the advantage as the game progressed? And why is that advantage continuing to expand at an astonishing speed?"
Chen Jiaming could not understand it at all.
The only explanation he could think of was that although White had made no obvious mistake afterward, some of White's moves had been slow. He could not see where White had been slow no matter how he looked at it, but perhaps Black had noticed.
Regardless of which side truly held the advantage, Chen Jiaming, despite being a teacher, had to admit—
The Go strength displayed by both Black and White in this game had already far surpassed his own!
Xu Ziqin lowered her eyes toward the Go Board and unconsciously bit her lower lip.
She had originally thought that if Yu Shao really played the 3-3 Point, things would be different when she faced it. But...
Her situation now seemed no better than Zheng Qin's before. In fact, it was even slightly worse.
Only after a long while did Xu Ziqin finally take out another stone and place it on the Go Board.
Black and White began alternating stones across the board once more.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap...
Finally, more than ten minutes later.
Amid complete silence—
"I resign."
Xu Ziqin gazed at the Go Board, slowly closed her eyes, then lowered her head and conceded by laying down her stone.
Chen Jiaming and Zhong Yufei watched in silence from the side, completely unable to say anything.
This game...
Black had completely suppressed White from beginning to end.
Black had gained the advantage during the opening, then rapidly widened the gap and extended the initiative, leaving White barely able to struggle on.
But once Black had accumulated enough strength and launched an attack, that torrential assault instantly drowned White. With overwhelming force, Black stormed into White's territory and brutally tore apart White's large dragon!
They could hardly imagine what Xu Ziqin, who had been slaughtered so thoroughly by her opponent, was feeling.
They did not even dare put themselves in White's position, because... it was simply too despairing, too powerless.
They even felt that Xu Ziqin had lost this game more miserably than Wang Rui.
That did not mean Wang Rui was stronger than Xu Ziqin. The truth was precisely the opposite.
It was exactly because Xu Ziqin was so much stronger than Wang Rui that if Black wanted to invade White's territory and slay the dragon, Black had to adopt an even more forceful posture and strike even more ruthlessly. Naturally, White's defeat... would be even more disastrous!
P.S. Please continue reading. I hope my dear readers will show me a little mercy.
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