The only light in the dimly lit room was the crackling of torches. Yun Zhe sat in the center of the room, deep in thought, staring at a Go board. The stones on the board were intertwined, especially fiercely battling in the center. Yun Zhe, playing white, was sweating profusely. The white stones were in a precarious position; if the center fell into trouble, he would have no choice but to resign.

But at this moment, Yun Zhe saw not a sliver of hope for a comeback. With his computing power, no matter how hard he tried, Black could always make eyes and survive, escape the ko, and even have the possibility of killing his large group.

Yun Zhe picked up and put down the chess pieces, and finally stopped struggling. He threw two pieces into a corner of the chessboard and conceded defeat.

"What, not going to think about it anymore?" A slightly aged voice rang out. Yun Zhe looked up and around, and found a middle-aged man walking towards him in the distance. The middle-aged man was wearing a gray-blue Taoist robe, and his hair was simply tied in a bun. He smiled and came to the other side of the chessboard.

Yun Zhe didn't speak, but leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

The middle-aged man looked down at the chessboard and slowly said, "You've calculated the edges and corners clearly, and your overall strategy isn't bad either. It's a pity you're one move behind. In fact, there are two paths in this game, one visible and one hidden. You only defended the visible one, but you didn't notice the one I was hiding."

Yun Zhe suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the chessboard, then at the middle-aged Taoist, his eyes full of doubt.

The Taoist laughed heartily, “Setting up the board and using established patterns to gain territory and advantage is a common way of playing. It’s normal that you only noticed this point. But on the small chessboard, although the established patterns are ever-changing, the strategy is still the same, which is nothing more than the word ‘exchange’.”

The Taoist priest paused for a moment, then sat down opposite Yun Zhe. Only then did Yun Zhe notice that the Taoist priest had a familiar Qiankun bag hanging from his waist.

“However, within the chessboard,” the Taoist’s eyes suddenly brightened as he stared at Yun Zhe and slowly said, “the battles within the chessboard are all fought piece by piece by those outside the board. If you want to win, just looking at the chessboard is not enough.”

Yun Zhe stared at the Taoist priest in front of him, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Seeing Yun Zhe's expression, the Taoist priest smiled helplessly and said, "Alright, I'll say a few more words."

"What kind of opening moves do you prefer? And what kind of opening moves do I prefer? Does the choice of opening moves really have absolutely nothing to do with you or me? You are indeed good at attacking, but am I only good at defending?"

Yun Zhe scanned the chessboard again, reflecting carefully. Every corner and edge had been fiercely contested today, completely different from the last game. This time, his opponent was clearly showing his strength, fighting tooth and nail at every turn. He hadn't noticed this while playing, simply responding to the established patterns, but by the middle game, he was already running out of steam and struggling to make ends meet.

As if he could see what Yun Zhe was thinking, the middle-aged Taoist first nodded slowly, and then sighed sadly.

Yun Zhe was overjoyed. It was as if he had opened the door to a new world, and he felt that his chess skills had improved by a lot.

The Taoist priest stopped speaking and simply began tidying up the chessboard piece by piece. Yun Zhe looked at the chessboard; the shapes formed by the black and white pieces seemed very familiar. Yun Zhe leaned closer to examine it closely, his face almost touching the chessboard.

A deep, aged sigh came from behind him. "Go." A powerful force pressed down on Yun Zhe's head, shoving him into the chessboard.

In an instant, before Yun Zhe could even feel fear, he saw dense forests, rushing rivers, cattle and sheep dotting the grasslands and farmlands, and wisps of smoke rising from distant villages and towns.

Yun Zhe found himself soaring through the sky, and below him lay the familiar Western Continent.

However, Yun Zhe soon discovered to his horror that the scenery of the Western Continent was divided into equal-sized squares by crisscrossing thin lines.

Where the silk threads intersect, the interplay of light and shadow resembles black and white chess pieces. The entire Western Continent is like a giant chessboard!

"I'll finish off the first round in the East Continent, but this round in the West Continent... I'm sorry to trouble you."

Yun Zhe suddenly woke up. Before him was no longer the boundless Western Continent, but wild grass, treetops, and Ellie's concerned gaze.

Yun Zhe gasped for breath. He got up and touched his chest; the Qiankun bag was still there. He touched Ellie's cheek, then touched the ground beside him. Only when he was sure it was real did his expression calm down.

Ellie looked at Yun Zhe with concern, "Did you have a nightmare?"

Yun Zhe nodded, then shook his head. It did seem far-fetched, but Yun Zhe was more convinced that it wasn't a dream, but a memory. Or rather, a dream adapted from real memories.

Yun Zhe looked around and, finding no one there, immediately took out the diaries from his Qiankun bag and began to read them one by one. Then he looked at Ellie and gave her a few as well, saying, "Help me take a look. Fold a corner over the parts related to Go, and I'll go check them out."

Ellie was taken aback. What kind of dream was this? Why was she reading and playing chess in her dream? Did she lose a game of chess in her dream?

Although Ellie was puzzled, she still flipped through the books one by one, folding up the parts that mentioned Go.

As dawn broke and the north wind blew, two people sat on the ground, leaning against each other, flipping through a large stack of books in front of them. This was the strange sight Gao witnessed.

"My lord..." Gao was at a loss for what to do in front of him and asked cautiously.

"What are you busy with, sir?"

Yun Zhe looked up at Gao, hurriedly stood up, "Gao, I'm here to check something. Gao, what brings you here?"

Gao Ao made a sound of surprise, and upon hearing Yun Zhe's question, he replied with a smile, "Good news, sir! Countess Serena has sent a cartload of money, a full thousand gold coins!"

Yun Zhe was taken aback, then immediately remembered what Serena had mentioned about mining a few months ago. It seemed that the dividends had arrived, and she had come to repay him.

“Great, Gao, with this money, we can properly arm our troops. Haven’t you been contacting those craftsmen recently? Ask them how much it would cost to order three hundred sets of leather armor and three hundred crossbows.”

"Sir, it should not exceed five hundred gold coins. Let me negotiate further; it might be cheaper."

“Yes, and also make custom shields according to my drawings. The shields are all made of wood, so they should be cheap…” Yun Zhe felt that it was still too expensive after hearing that it was less than 500 gold coins, so he couldn’t help but add.

"My lord, the shields... might not be cheap either, but I'll have them make three to five sets first. If you're satisfied, then I'll have them continue making more."

Yun Zhe nodded, waved for Gao to leave, and then continued to bury himself in his book.

Gao was taken aback for a moment, then saw Ellie's smiling eyes. "Gao, you go ahead and do your work. I'll stay here with Yunzhe, don't worry."

Gao nodded and turned to get busy.