White's overwhelming advantage had taken shape, a great dragon spanning the center of the board with the might to swallow mountains and rivers. Black's smaller dragons had been cut apart and surrounded, seemingly hanging by a thread, as though the next move would slay them and end the game.
Outside the pavilion, Qing Dai knew little of Go's intricacies, yet she could feel the invisible smoke of battle and the murderous intent lurking in every move. Cold sweat seeped into her palms as she watched, and she could barely resist drawing her sword.
Snow Robe was even more agitated, hopping back and forth on Qing Dai's shoulder, tiny eyes darting about, already considering making an escape.
Yet at that tense moment, Snow Robe seemed to sense something.
The bird abruptly stopped moving, tilted its head, and scanned the surroundings. A glint flashed through its tiny eyes. Then, as though confirming something, it suddenly relaxed, even preening the feathers on its chest with its little beak, regaining its leisurely air of a lord at ease.
At the very instant Snow Robe relaxed, the situation on the board underwent an astonishing reversal!
An isolated group of Lu Changfeng's stones, driven into a dead end, suddenly "plunged" into White's seemingly ironclad encirclement!
Courting death?
The thought had barely arisen in the old man's mind when his expression shifted. Instantly calculating the variations, he discovered that this seemingly suicidal move had triggered a chain reaction, tearing a fatal opening in his painstakingly constructed net. All of Lu Changfeng's earlier stones, which had seemed scattered and useless, now became supporting forces and seeds planted for this very moment!
"What a 'sacrifice for the initiative'! What a 'victory snatched from chaos'!"
A fierce gleam flared in the old man's eyes. Forced to respond with all his