Recaps

Jing Jiu ignored the Brocade-Clad Young Man’s hostility and promised Se Se that he would do one thing for her, trusting her to choose wisely. After Luo Huainan warned Se Se to set limits on the promise, he threatened to break Jing Jiu’s sword, and Zhao Layue made her willingness to fight him clear.

• Jing Jiu disregarded the Brocade-Clad Young Man and asked Se Se her name, while Se Se offered Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu two precious Heart-Clearing Bells.
• Zhao Layue accepted her bell and said she would give Se Se a sword later; Jing Jiu promised to do one thing for Se Se whenever she asked.
• Luo Huainan emerged from the Old Nunnery and told Se Se not to ask Jing Jiu to commit evil, violate the way of immortal heroes, or harm himself.
• The Brocade-Clad Young Man challenged the meaning of Jing Jiu’s promise, and Jing Jiu replied that Se Se would trust him because he trusted her.
• Luo Huainan said he would break Jing Jiu’s sword to avenge Guo Nanshan, and Zhao Layue answered with a clear will to fight and kill him.

Luo Huainan left the Plum Grove after suspecting that Jing Jiu possessed the innate Formless Sword Body, while Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue weighed whether to seek a reading from the Heavenly Master. The young man in brocade and Consort Hu were both refused readings because their questions concerned Heaven’s mandate, and each interpreted the refusal as a sign of what the future held.

• Luo Huainan noticed Zhao Layue’s keen Sword Heart and Jing Jiu’s influence over her, then left while wondering whether rumors about Jing Jiu’s Formless Sword Body were true.
• The young man in brocade mocked Jing Jiu, but Jing Jiu ignored him and asked Zhao Layue whether she was worried about the Heavenly Master reading her secrets.
• A young attendant told the young man in brocade that the Heavenly Master could not read matters concerning Heaven’s mandate, and the young man left smiling.
• Se Se explained that the refusal implied Heaven’s mandate lay with the young man in brocade, while Consort Hu realized she could not have a son who became crown prince.
• The attendant gave Consort Hu the same refusal, and she left the Plum Grove overjoyed; Jing Jiu, Zhao Layue, and the woman from the Hanging Bell Sect considered the implications for the imperial dynasty.

Jing Jiu dismissed Heaven Near Person’s fortune-telling, but stopped when the blind master revealed he might know Jingyang’s whereabouts. In the hermitage, Heaven Near Person asked Jing Jiu why he had come if he cared nothing for the world.

• Jing Jiu challenged the boy’s claim that Heaven Near Person’s answers held profound meaning, while Se Se learned her mother would not remarry for at least ten years.
• The boy told Jing Jiu that Zhao Layue had left, then offered him a rare chance to meet Heaven Near Person, but Jing Jiu started to leave.
• A voice asked Jing Jiu whether he truly did not want to know Jingyang’s whereabouts, and Jing Jiu stopped and decided to meet its owner.
• Jing Jiu entered the hermitage and saw the blind Heaven Near Person writing with rested ink, then praised his calligraphy.
• Heaven Near Person asked Jing Jiu why he had come if he cared nothing for the world.

Jing Jiu visited Heaven Near Person in the Old Plum Garden and used his first question to learn what others had asked. After giving up his remaining questions, he faced Heaven Near Person’s attempt to see through him, and their silent gaze left the encounter unresolved.

• Jing Jiu asked Heaven Near Person what questions the other visitors had asked, and Heaven Near Person told him that Luo Huainan’s questions had been strange.
• Heaven Near Person recalled that Luo Huainan had asked what he saw when he looked at people and how long the Snow Nation’s cold weather—and hotpot’s popularity in the Nether Capital—would last.
• Heaven Near Person said Zhao Layue had hesitated but ultimately asked nothing.
• Jing Jiu declined to use his last two questions and pointed out that Heaven Near Person had let him in to ask him questions instead.
• Heaven Near Person challenged Jing Jiu by claiming he could see through him, and Jing Jiu asked whether he could withstand what he would see.
• Heaven Near Person raised his blind eyes to look at Jing Jiu, who returned his gaze as time in the room seemed to stop.

Heaven Near Person used a fragment of Divine Sense to probe Jing Jiu, but Jing Jiu detected the danger and destroyed it with his sword intent. Injured by the backlash, Heaven Near Person asked who Jing Jiu was, and Jing Jiu left without answering.

• A boy guarding the Old Nunnery recognized the eerie silence from an earlier visit by the Sect Master of the No-Grace Gate and wondered what Heaven Near Person was doing.
• Heaven Near Person’s Divine Sense slowed Jing Jiu’s thoughts and secretly traveled to his Dao Tree, threatening his cultivation and risking discovery of his secret.
• Jing Jiu deduced that leaving the fragment inside him was too dangerous, then sent more than three hundred strands of sword intent to destroy it.
• The fragment’s destruction caused an invisible thunderbolt that left Heaven Near Person trembling and bleeding.
• Heaven Near Person asked Jing Jiu who he was, and Jing Jiu said the answer was beyond him before taking the white paper and leaving the Nunnery.

Jing Jiu survived Heaven Near Person’s mental attack but left the nunnery injured, then discussed the encounter and the motives behind others’ questions with Zhao Layue. He began to tell her who he was, but she stopped him.

• Heaven Near Person recovered from Jing Jiu’s counterattack and wondered who he was.
• Jing Jiu left the Plum Grove injured, and Zhao Layue asked what had happened inside the nunnery.
• Jing Jiu reasoned that Luo Huainan and the brocade-clad young man knew each other and explained that public questions shaped how others judged the asker.
• Jing Jiu explained that the board-game player had not entered the nunnery because he was clever and proud, while Zhao Layue had stayed away because she feared the risk.
• Jing Jiu began to tell Zhao Layue that he was the person she suspected, but she raised her hand to stop him.

Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu that his identity did not matter to her, and the two walked hand in hand through Chaoge. At a Go stall, a young man challenged them to see whether they could understand his game, just as Scholar Guo prepared to play him.

• Zhao Layue explained that she did not want to know Jing Jiu's identity because she feared the answer, and Jing Jiu promised it would not be bad.
• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu he was important to her, then took his hand and led him toward the street.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue passed a young man who had driven the Go stalls away from the old Plum Garden by defeating their players.
• Scholar Guo arrived at the stall and challenged the young man, who said the old man could not beat him and that the stallholders would not accept clearing the street.
• The young man paused before playing Scholar Guo and asked Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue whether they wanted to try to understand his Go.

Jing Jiu prevented Zhao Layue from reacting to a young man’s deliberate insult and watched the young man play Go against Scholar Guo. As the celebrated game drew a crowd, Jing Jiu secretly calculated every move alongside the players, though no one noticed he was participating.

• Jing Jiu stopped Zhao Layue from retaliating against the young man and walked over to the Go stall.
• Scholar Guo focused himself while the young man prepared to play, and dozens of Chaoge City Go experts gathered to watch.
• The young man gave Scholar Guo the first move, and the two began a game whose early moves appeared ordinary to the spectators.
• Jing Jiu calculated the game from its first move and realized that following every variation was tiring.
• As the game continued and the crowd grew, Jing Jiu took out his bamboo chair and sat beside the board.

Jing Jiu watched Tong Yan defeat Scholar Guo in a public Go match, drawing attention from the crowd and Zhao Layue. Tong Yan then asked Jing Jiu whether he had understood the game, leaving the spectators wondering what the question meant.

• Scholar Guo invited Jing Jiu to drink Xinyang Maojian while playing Go against a young man.
• As the game continued into the evening, Zhao Layue noticed Jing Jiu moving his hand beneath his bamboo chair as he studied the board.
• Scholar Guo admitted defeat after failing to find a way through the young man's position.
• The crowd recognized the young man as Tong Yan of the Zhongzhou Sect, the world's greatest Go player.
• Tong Yan asked Jing Jiu whether he had understood what he had seen, and Jing Jiu removed his bamboo hat as the crowd recognized him.

Jing Jiu challenged Tong Yan’s belief that Go depended on intuition and the Great Dao rather than calculation. He left Tong Yan and Scholar Guo studying a move that seemed to sacrifice his own stones, while he explained his approach to Zhao Layue.

• Tong Yan criticized Jing Jiu’s calculating style of Go and said calculation could not lead to the Great Dao.
• Jing Jiu argued that Go and mahjong both required calculation and that no player could predict every move an opponent might make.
• Jing Jiu placed a black stone that sealed off many of his own stones, then left with Zhao Layue and challenged Tong Yan to beat him at the Plum Gathering.
• Tong Yan and Scholar Guo studied a different point on the board and acknowledged Jing Jiu’s move as impressive.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that he had used the unexpected move to show that opponents could not fully anticipate one another and that calculation should guide play.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed immortality, Tong Yan, and their own unfamiliarity with the cultivation world before parting. Elsewhere, Yuan Qijing watched the dark well, the Sect Master studied the sword sheath, and a young man reached a hidden entrance in Cold Mountain and called for Sword Evader.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that immortality could not be proven and said Tong Yan had sought him out because of his skill at chess and Go.
• Zhao Layue regretted that her words at the Four Seas Banquet had set later events in motion, then said she would ask her family about Tong Yan; Jing Jiu said he would ask his family too.
• Zhao Layue was astonished to learn Jing Jiu had once been forced to play mahjong.
• Yuan Qijing stood watching the bottom of the well in his cave abode, while the Sect Master examined the sword sheath embedded in a stone stele and the Origin Turtle watched him.
• A young man riding a yak crossed the snowy plains of Cold Mountain, received a letter by paper crane, and mocked Little Four for planning to use a charlatan against Jing Jiu.
• The young man found a sheer cliff, knocked on its solid rock face, and called for Sword Evader.

A young man confronted the Third-Generation Patriarch of the Profound Yin Sect, who remained hidden in a cliff, and asked him to become a mahjong partner. In Chaoge City, Jing Jiu studied the Go match and learned that Tong Yan was unwilling to marry Bai Zao because Luo Huainan was the Zhongzhou Sect Master's preferred son-in-law.

• A young man challenged the hidden Third-Generation Patriarch of the Profound Yin Sect to come out, but only a faint tremor answered him.
• The young man said he wanted to reclaim his mahjong tiles and asked the patriarch to be his new playing partner.
• Jing Jiu asked the Jing Household Eldest Brother whether he played mahjong, then asked if he could recover the bet on the Go match; he later requested books about Go.
• Jing Jiu replayed the game from the Old Plum Garden and found he could finish slightly ahead of Scholar Guo, though the effort made him cough.
• The Duke of Lu told Jing Jiu that Tong Yan was the Zhongzhou Sect Master's wife's chosen son-in-law for Bai Zao, but Tong Yan was unwilling because Luo Huainan was the Sect Master's choice.

Jing Jiu told the Duke of Lu that Heaven Near Person had tried to kill him and identified Fang Jingtian as responsible, then asked to enter the palace. After meeting the Divine Emperor, Jing Jiu returned to the residence, read books on Go through the night, and received the news he had been waiting for.

• Jing Jiu told the Duke of Lu that Heaven Near Person had tried to kill him at the Old Plum Garden and said Fang Jingtian was responsible.
• The Duke of Lu warned that Heaven Near Person was difficult to deal with and discussed the Divine Emperor's invitations to Heaven Near Person and the Zen Child.
• Jing Jiu asked to enter the palace immediately, and the Duke of Lu escorted him through a side gate.
• The Divine Emperor received Jing Jiu in the great hall while the Duke of Lu waited outside.
• Jing Jiu returned to the residence, read the Duke of Lu's books on Go through the night, and received the news he had been waiting for.

Heaven Near Person met the Zen Child at Pure Enlightenment Temple, where they discussed the Divine Emperor’s concerns about Fang Jingtian and Jing Jiu. The Zen Child revealed that he would intervene because Jing Jiu was also descended from an old friend, then left Heaven Near Person contemplating whether he would survive.

• The Zen Child invited Heaven Near Person to Pure Enlightenment Temple after receiving a letter from the Divine Emperor.
• Heaven Near Person said he had come to calculate the fate of their race, while the Zen Child asked about his prediction of a hundred-year span.
• The Zen Child said the Divine Emperor was worried about an old friend's descendant and asked if Fang Jingtian was involved.
• The Zen Child explained that he would intervene because Jing Jiu was also the descendant of an old friend.
• The Zen Child left white lotuses blooming with every step, and Heaven Near Person wondered if he would leave alive.

Heaven Near Person challenged the Zen Child’s illusion at Pure Enlightenment Temple, but realized too late that the visions were bound to his own thoughts and suffered a grievous injury. After he left Chaoge City, Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the rumors surrounding his departure, then learned that His Majesty was going to watch the game.

• Heaven Near Person used ancient copper coins and his cultivated intent to resist the illusions of lotuses, dancing women, and gods and Buddhas left by the Zen Child.
• As Heaven Near Person pressed his attack, he realized that his visions existed only because he could see them, and the illusion vanished.
• Heaven Near Person awoke bloodied and barely alive, then left Pure Enlightenment Temple with the boy and departed Chaoge City, unable to calculate heaven’s secrets for ten years.
• Rumors spread about Heaven Near Person’s departure, while Jing Jiu knew the truth and found the speculation troublesome.
• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu that His Majesty was going to watch the game.

The Chess Battle drew attention as cultivators speculated about Jing Jiu’s connection to Tong Yan, while Consort Hu learned that the Divine Emperor had ordered her to stop taking the Severance Pill. Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue he disliked the emperor’s prince and suggested the emperor might soon have another son.

• The Plum Gathering’s Way of Go contest drew interest because Tong Yan was expected to win and people wondered about his exchanges with Jing Jiu.
• Consort Hu looked forward to watching Tong Yan defeat Jing Jiu at the Chess Battle after the Divine Emperor agreed to attend with her.
• The old eunuch told Consort Hu that the Divine Emperor had ordered her to stop taking Severance Pills, and she fainted in shock and joy.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that he disliked the prince for lacking boundaries and suggested the Divine Emperor might soon have another son.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue learned that the Green Mountain Sect’s Chess Battle against the Zhongzhou Sect would decide a dispute over crystal-stone quotas, and Nan Wang demanded that Jing Jiu win. They reached Chessboard Mountain, where Se Se drew the gathered cultivators’ attention to Jing Jiu.

• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue received greetings from Green Mountain disciples at West Mountain Residence, whose members hoped Jing Jiu would advance far enough to face Tong Yan.
• Nan Wang told Jing Jiu that he must win and asked whether he could kill their opponents; Jing Jiu calmly agreed.
• Jing Jiu explained to Zhao Layue that he accepted because the contest was tied to cause and effect and his Dao heart.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue learned that the Chess Battle would settle the Green Mountain and Zhongzhou sects’ dispute over crystal-stone quotas, after the Divine Emperor’s planned attendance helped the proposal pass.
• At Chessboard Mountain, Se Se pointed out Jing Jiu to the gathered cultivators, drawing their attention and making her uncomfortable.

Jing Jiu entered Chessboard Mountain with Zhao Layue, Se Se, and Senior Sister Cui as spectators watched and doubted his ability to challenge Tong Yan. After passing several players, Jing Jiu encountered Shang Jiulou and a hostile boy who mocked his Go and warned him to stay away.

• Senior Sister Cui explained the Chess Battle's pavilion rules, while Se Se suggested that choosing a weak opponent could save effort.
• Zhao Layue admitted she disliked that only she believed Jing Jiu could win, and Jing Jiu did not understand her frustration.
• Jing Jiu passed Que Niang's pavilion and Senior Sister Cui identified her as a Mirror Sect disciple trained in the Way of Go.
• Shang Jiulou told Jing Jiu to go elsewhere, and Se Se objected that they could challenge him.
• A boy near a secluded pavilion mocked Jing Jiu's game records and warned him to stay away if he wanted to avoid an ugly defeat.

Jing Jiu reached a quiet stream while the Plum Gathering Go competitors gathered at Chessboard Mountain. Tong Yan arrived to face the leading players, and Shang Jiulou challenged him to a match.

• Senior Sister Cui told Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue that Gu Yuanyuan was a favored Go player, and Jing Jiu continued on without reacting to the competitors.
• Jing Jiu chose a clear stream as his resting place and told Se Se he had remembered the players she described.
• Nan Wang kept the Green Mountain disciples at West Mountain Residence until Jing Jiu reached the final, arguing that their presence would only distract him.
• Guodong of the Water-Moon Convent arrived at Chessboard Mountain, and Jing Jiu watched her intently.
• Tong Yan arrived to widespread greetings and walked to the clearing where the strongest Go players waited.
• Shang Jiulou told Tong Yan he would beat him, and Tong Yan questioned whether he had the talent to do so.

Tong Yan belittled Shang Jiulou and Gu Yuanyuan before He Zhan arrived and challenged him to a Chess Battle. As the gathering approached, Tong Yan waited at a cliff without choosing a pavilion, while Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue remained by the stream.

• Tong Yan mocked Shang Jiulou and Gu Yuanyuan, then told Que Niang to defeat Gu Yuanyuan.
• He Zhan emerged from the weeds, and Se Se explained his reputation as the Second Person to Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu.
• He Zhan told Tong Yan that he had improved and believed he could beat him, but Tong Yan said he had no chance.
• He Zhan approached Zhao Layue, asked whether she was the legendary figure, and invited Se Se to share Dragon Bone Wine and grilled fish.
• Tong Yan stood at the cliff without choosing a pavilion as the Chess Gathering drew near, and Zhao Layue stopped Jing Jiu from taking out his chair.

The Plum Gathering Chess Battle began as Jing Jiu and Tong Yan each headed directly for the same secluded pavilion to play their long-anticipated first match. The chapter ended with Tong Yan holding stones to determine who would move first.

• Duke He opened the Chess Battle while Tong Yan, He Zhan, and Jing Jiu initially remained apart from the chosen pavilions.
• He Zhan challenged Jing Jiu, saying Jing Jiu would have to beat him before facing Tong Yan, but Jing Jiu declined because he already had an arrangement.
• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan moved toward the same hidden pavilion among the plum trees, revealing that they had planned to meet for the opening game.
• Duke He sent word to the palace, while Nan Wang and the Green Mountain disciples and the Zen Child received news of the match.
• Tong Yan and Jing Jiu sat down at the board, and Tong Yan held stones to decide who would play first.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan began their highly anticipated chess match at the Plum Gathering, drawing nearly everyone on Chessboard Mountain to watch. Their opening moves looked ordinary to the crowd, but several skilled players reacted with grave concern, leaving the match’s deeper significance unclear.

• He Zhan and Se Se reached the pavilion as competitors and spectators gathered, and Duke He ordered the other chess games sealed until Jing Jiu and Tong Yan finished.
• Jing Jiu asked Tong Yan which color he wanted, and Tong Yan chose white.
• Jing Jiu announced that he held three stones, then opened with a black stone at the three-three point; Tong Yan answered by placing white beside it.
• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan continued making calm, ordinary-looking moves, puzzling spectators who could sense no obvious conflict or buildup.
• Nan Wang dismissed the crowd’s criticism and urged the Green Mountain disciples to judge the match by watching those who understood it.
• Shang Jiulou and Que Niang watched with grave expressions, while Gu Yuanyuan stared at the board and breathed heavily.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan’s seemingly ordinary Go match left experts and spectators sensing hidden complications, while news of the match unsettled Jing Shang in Chaoge City. Jing Shang arrived at Duke Cheng’s residence and asked whether he could withdraw his bet.

• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan played a series of moves that made He Zhan exclaim at their ruthlessness, though most spectators could not see what was remarkable about the game.
• The Zen Child placed a black stone on his board, then learned from the Daoist that the move did not seem to belong there.
• Duke He told an official that he had bet on Tong Yan because it seemed like a safe choice.
• Jing Shang heard that Jing Jiu’s first opponent was Tong Yan and left his office for Duke Cheng’s residence, where the Plum Gathering’s Chess Battle betting pool was held.
• Jing Shang asked the steward whether he could still withdraw his bet, and the steward smiled without answering.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan played a match so intricate that even the national Go masters struggled to follow it, while Jing Shang learned that Jing Jiu was holding his own. As the game entered its middle stage, Tong Yan made a perilous move just as thunder boomed over Chessboard Mountain.

• Jing Shang entered Duke Cheng's Residence and learned that the crowd was analyzing a move from Jing Jiu and Tong Yan's game.
• Scholar Guo explained the move's brilliance, saying Jing Jiu's skill was far beyond the national masters' and Tong Yan's attainments were unprecedented.
• Jing Shang discovered that the national masters could not tell who was winning, though some onlookers assumed Tong Yan would prevail.
• On Chessboard Mountain, Que Niang, Shang Jiulou, Gu Yuanyuan, and He Zhan struggled to keep pace with the players' thinking.
• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan paused to drink tea, then resumed as clouds gathered and the atmosphere grew tense.
• Tong Yan made his first long think and placed a white stone, prompting lightning to flash and thunder to boom.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan fought through the latter half of their Plum Gathering Go game as the match’s Sword Intent and shifting energies battered the spectators and darkened Chessboard Mountain. After the storm passed, Tong Yan held what seemed to be the game’s final white stone, with victory or defeat resting on where he placed it.

• Jing Jiu answered Tong Yan’s move by placing a black stone at three, nine, making He Zhan, Que Niang, and Shang Jiulou feel the game’s dangerous force.
• Zen Child judged the game too perilous to continue following, while Duke He learned that His Majesty was coming to Chessboard Mountain.
• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan fought through the latter half of the game, and Gu Yuanyuan fainted after seeing the stones as a battlefield of Snow Nation Soldiers.
• He Zhan shielded Que Niang and Shang Jiulou as the game’s Sword Intent overwhelmed them, while Zhao Layue recognized Jing Jiu’s unusual seriousness.
• Rain and thunder intensified as the game reached its final stage, then the storm cleared and sunlight returned.
• Tong Yan studied the water-covered board with a white stone in hand, preparing what appeared to be the final move.