Chapter 157: Half Fight for Success and Half Enlightenment

After passing through the corridor, Jiang Xiahua and Yu Shao soon arrived in front of an empty hall, pushed open the door and walked in.

At this time, the hall was empty and extremely quiet. There were about twenty chess tables neatly arranged with chess boards and chess boxes on them.

On the red wall of the main hall hangs a copybook with four large characters "棋逢對對" inscribed in a flamboyant style. The handwriting is vigorous and majestic, obviously from the pen of a famous calligrapher.

The hall was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood, which made people hold their breath involuntarily and be shocked by the solemn and dignified atmosphere.

I dare not speak loudly for fear of disturbing the Heavenly Being. "This is the chess room where the chess players usually play. This is also where we will play chess in the future. Of course, it doesn't have to be this room. There are many game rooms like this that can accommodate forty people in the chess academy."

Seeing Yu Shao staring at the four characters "A Chess Match" on the wall, Jiang Xiahua couldn't help but asked with a smile, "Do you know what's written in the game room?"

"There is also a two-player game room?"

Hearing this, Yu Shao couldn't help but be surprised and felt a little unbelievable.

In the past, no matter what kind of game it was, it was usually played in the same place and the winner was decided at the end. How could this world actually have a special two-player game room? Apart from anything else, at least the development of the Go industry in this world was beyond Yu Shao's imagination.

"Of course there are, and there are a lot more."

Jiang Xiahua nodded, looked at Yu Shao strangely, and explained: "This is usually the venue for major chess tournament qualifiers or promotion tournaments."

"If you enter the main tournament or the round-robin tournament, or even the finals and challenge tournaments, as well as the ten-game match and the challenge tournament, you will naturally play in the two-player game room, also called the hand-talk room."

Jiang Xiahua raised his eyebrows and continued, "Otherwise, if there are too many people, it will affect the performance and it won't show the style. There won't be that atmosphere, right?"

"That's true."

Yu Shao had already calmly accepted the differences between this world and his previous life, and asked curiously, "What's written on the calligraphy in the hand-talk room?"

"Leave it a little suspense."

Hearing Yu Shao's words, Jiang Xiahua smiled mysteriously and said, "Come with me, and you will know for yourself."

Yu Shao laughed dumbly, nodded, and said, "That's fine."

Soon, Yu Shao followed Jiang Xiahua, walked through a long corridor, and soon arrived outside a carved attic.

"Okay, here it is."

Jiang Xiahua greeted Yu Shao, then gently pushed open the door and walked in first. Yu Shao followed closely behind.

The small attic is elegantly decorated, with only a chess table in the middle and several long tables next to it, probably prepared for referees, scorekeepers, reporters, cameramen and others.

Yu Shao looked at the wall of the attic and soon saw a copybook hanging on the wall, on which were written a few large characters in a flamboyant style: Sit and Discuss the Dao! The handwriting was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the hall before, with the same vigorous and majestic handwriting, obviously from the pen of the same calligraphy master.

"How about it?"

Jiang Xiahua smiled proudly and said, "In a normal game room, the words on the wall are about meeting a worthy opponent, but in a hand-talk room like this, the words on the wall are about sitting and discussing."

“Don’t you think that playing chess in the chess room, even if you lose, it’s no big deal, but rather a privilege?

Jiang Xiahua also felt a little emotional for a moment, and said: "Because it is a discussion of the Tao, even if you lose, it means that you have already achieved the Tao. Go is half about winning and half about enlightenment."

Half fighting for success and half enlightenment? It's quite artistic! Hearing this, Yu Shao looked at Jiang Xiahua in surprise and asked, "Half fighting for success and half enlightenment, is this what you think?"

"You really think too highly of me. How could I have thought of such a thing?"

Jiang Xiahua looked at Yu Shao strangely, shook his head, and explained: "It was when Fang Xin revisited Shen Yi's former residence in his later years that he suddenly became inspired and said this famous quote. Don't you know this?"

Hearing this, Yu Shao felt a little embarrassed. He didn't know much about the modern Go world in this world, let alone the ancient Go world in this world.

He only knew that in this world, the East rose rapidly in the early days, so Go was widely spread seven or eight hundred years ago, spreading around the world and becoming the most influential chess sport today.

Even Western chess players have to choose oriental names for their chess pieces when playing. In a sense, this can be considered a kind of cultural conquest. No wonder the country attaches so much importance to Go.

"You just said that there are many such chat rooms?" Yu Shao asked curiously.

Jiang Xiahua nodded and replied, "Yes, there are still quite a few rooms. After all, there are many people who make it to the main tournament and the round-robin tournament in major chess tournaments. And if it is an international tournament, there are foreign chess players as well. How can a few rooms be enough?"

“Then there are quite a lot of people who have achieved enlightenment.”

Hearing this, Yu Shao couldn't help but laugh and said, "I thought there was only one room."

"It's great to be able to play in the game room. Why do you need a bicycle?"

Jiang Xiahua looked at the furnishings in the game room and said with a smile: "I will play chess with Master here in the Xinhuo Battle this afternoon."

"This time we can play chess here because of the Xinhuo War, but..."

Jiang Xiahua took a deep breath, his eyes were extremely firm, and he said: "After the Xinhuo War is over and I participate in various chess competitions, I will come here on my own."

Hearing this, Yu Shao suddenly thought of a question and asked, "By the way, who is playing against you today? Where is your opponent's nine-dan chess player?"

"Today I am playing against Bai Jingchuan. Bai Jingchuan's partner is naturally his master Lin Han, 9th Dan."

Jiang Xiahua's eyes were full of solemnity. He said, "Lin Han and Bai Jingchuan have the same chess style. They are both good at delicate entanglement. I hope we can establish an advantage in the middle game. Otherwise, it will be difficult to win."

While chatting, the two left the chess room and continued to wander around the Southern Chess Academy.

The Southern Chess Academy covers a very large area. In addition to various large and small game rooms, there are also some gardens and the scenery is also unique.

Yu Shao and Jiang Xiahua walked around for a long time before they finally toured the chess academy.

When it was almost half past eleven, Jiang Xiahua and Yu Shao walked towards the cafeteria of the chess academy together.

As a professional chess player, if there is a competition on that day, he does not have to pay for meals in the cafeteria of the Southern Chess Institute, but Yu Shao does not have a competition today, so he still has to pay for it himself.

The two quickly bought lunch and found an empty seat in the cafeteria.

Although it was not yet twelve o'clock, there were still many people eating in the cafeteria. The two unfamiliar faces of Yu Shao and Jiang Xiahua immediately attracted a lot of people's attention.

"That seems to be Yu Shao, right?"

A young man about eighteen years old looked at Yu Shao curiously and asked several friends beside him.

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"It seems so. There was a lot of noise on the Internet some time ago. I have seen his photo."

"He's an amateur, he's undefeated and even defeated Zhuang Fei. Damn, is he the next Zheng Qin? What's going on in our division? Why are the amateur players so strong? It puts a lot of pressure on me."

"Indeed... I beat Zheng Qin last year. Two months ago, I played another game with Zheng Qin. After I fell behind in the middle game, I couldn't catch up no matter what I did. In the end, I lost by 4.5 points. His chess skills have improved like a rocket. It's out of this world."

"If Zheng Qin was a young player, he would definitely have a place in the Fangyuan Cup. What a pity..."

As they chatted, the topic strayed from Yu Shao to this year's Fangyuan Cup, and they couldn't help but look gloomy.

Not far behind them, a beautiful woman in her thirties was eating silently, but after hearing their conversation, she stopped eating with her chopsticks.

The beautiful woman raised her head and looked towards Yu Shao.

Although she is over 30 years old, she still has charm, without a single wrinkle on her face, and she looks very beautiful. Her eyebrows are sharp, which adds a bit of heroic spirit to her.

She stared at Yu Shao for a while, then put down her chopsticks, walked towards Yu Shao, and soon came to the dining table of Yu Shao and Jiang Xiahua.

"I'm telling you..."

Jiang Xiahua was originally chatting with Yu Shao. When he saw the newcomer, he looked a little surprised. He immediately swallowed his words and called out, "Teacher Chang Yan."

Teacher Chang Yan?

Hearing this, Yu Shao couldn't help but be stunned. He looked at the beautiful woman beside him with a surprised look.

Is this Xu Zijin's teacher, Chang Yan, 9th Dan? As far as Yu Shao knows, the number of men's and women's Go players in the world is about the same, so there are six quotas for both the men's and women's groups in the Dan Ranking Tournament.

Although there are a large number of female Go players in this world, high-level female players are rare.

Because in this world, there are relatively few chess tournaments exclusively for female chess players, and there are not even any women's title tournaments. Almost all chess tournaments are open to both men and women.

Therefore, in this world, it may be much easier for female chess players to get promoted than male chess players, but if they want to reach a higher level, they still have to compete and fight with male chess players.

Although it is said that men and women are equal and Go is not a sport that tests physical strength, the fact is that the overall level of female players is still far behind that of male players.

It was like this in the previous life, and it is also like this in this life. Even Yu Shao couldn’t understand why this was happening.

However, although the overall level of women's Go is lower than that of men's Go, there are always some exceptions.

Some female chess players are as good as men and do not lose to male players in duels, and Chang Yan, 9th dan, is one of them.

Yu Shao remembered that Xu Zijin had mentioned before that Chang Yan, 9th dan, even held the title of Go Saint for a year. Although the title was taken away the following year, it still caused a huge sensation that year.

Chang Yan looked at Yu Shao, frowned slightly, and asked, "Are you Yu Shao?"

"right."

Yu Shao was a little confused about what Chang Yan wanted to talk to him about, but he nodded anyway.

"So I used that attack, and then used the hand-cutting method to break the demon sword's fixed pattern..."

Chang Yan took a deep look at Yu Shao and asked, "It's you?"

Hearing this, Jiang Xiahua, who was sitting opposite Yu Shao, was stunned.

What the hell?

The Demon Sword's formula has been cracked?! (End of this chapter)