Heaven Near Person had left, but the Plum Gathering naturally had to continue. Many cultivators merely felt some regret at having missed the chance to seek guidance from a master.
Guodong, a disciple of the Water-Moon Convent, had taken first place in the zither contest. Next came the contest in the Way of Go.
At previous Plum Gatherings, the contest in the Way of Go had attracted the least attention, not because people were uninterested, but because the outcome had long been predetermined.
Just like the saying, "The Water-Moon Convent wins anyway," when it came to playing Go... Tong Yan won anyway.
This year, however, things were slightly different, and the contest in the Way of Go drew more attention.
Of course, no one doubted that the ultimate winner would still be Tong Yan.
Only yesterday, outside the Old Plum Garden, he had defeated Scholar Guo, the foremost Go player of the current dynasty, in the middle game, then beaten more than a dozen Go experts from Chaoge City in succession. His momentum was without precedent, past or present.
But something had drawn many people's attention to someone else: Jing Jiu.
In the cultivation world, Jing Jiu was already famous.
He was a Disciple of a Disciple of True Person Jingyang, and he and Zhao Layue were the Green Mountain Sect's youngest Second-Generation Masters.
Jing Jiu had taken first place in the Chess Battle at the Four Seas Banquet.
But in the Curtain Rollers' booklet, he still ranked near the bottom, nowhere near enough to threaten Tong Yan. He might not even get to face Tong Yan in the Chess Battle.
Many people wondered why Tong Yan had asked Jing Jiu to look at that game and said those words.
Why, after Jing Jiu had finally placed that black stone