Chapter 1092 - 449: Sacrificing Heaven and Earth

Chapter 1092: Chapter 449: Sacrificing Heaven and Earth

Wu Chang stepped onto the island, walking towards the center of the snowy terrain. From the dock to the center, there was a clear trail of footprints, indicating someone had just left.

Considering the timeline, the person who left must be the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites heading to the Kaiyang Immortal Mansion to activate the array eye.

He followed the footprints and arrived at a grove of plum blossoms.

In the center of the plum grove, there was a clear space, with a circle of square stone platforms arranged in a ring. Within the ring stood a slender middle-aged scholar, dressed in a black and white crane cloak, wearing a dark jade crown.

No guessing needed; the middle-aged scholar was the clone of the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master.

Wu Chang felt a similar mystical presence from him, akin to the Kaiyang Immortal Mansion Master. An Rong’s conclusion and the Favor of the Goddess of Fortune were indeed correct; there was indeed an immortal fate hidden within the Megrez Immortal Mansion.

Suppressing his excitement, he approached and saw the stone platforms surrounding the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master were actually stone chessboards.

Seeing his arrival, the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master pointed to one of the chessboards, signaling him to sit down.

The moment Wu Chang sat down, he instantly felt a familiar binding force; the fifth challenge would suppress his power again. If he refused, the trial wouldn’t initiate.

He ceased resisting, and moments later, his power was suppressed to the Mountain Opening Realm, representing a first-rate expert.

But seeing the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master walk opposite him, he almost cursed.

The Megrez Immortal Mansion Master’s realm wasn’t the Mountain Opening Realm, but the River Severing Realm, representing a Grandmaster.

He thought the enforced suppression of realm by the Kaiyang Immortal Mansion Master was already without ethics; who knew the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master represented true lack of ethics.

Well, that makes sense. Scholars usually play tricks, naturally lacking martial ethics.

Just from this start, it was evident that the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master was up to no good.

Wu Chang looked at the chessboard and saw a mid-game position. The black stones in his box meant he was playing as black.

The board had just finished the opening phase, with black already at a disadvantage. White stones were subtly closing in around the center, poised to form a massive siege, predicting defeat once surrounded.

Looking around, he found that the progress on the surrounding boards varied, but from the structure, they all started the same.

Some were trapped in hopeless situations just a few moves in. As games reached their end, it seemed the difference wasn’t much, yet the game was already settled, beyond recovery.

Just like the last test at Kaiyang Immortal Mansion, when the examinee sparred with the Immortal Mansion Master’s clone, other examinees could watch. At Megrez Immortal Mansion, these defeated games weren’t immediately cleared but were left for newcomers as reference.

The only unfinished game was currently locked in a complex fight, with the outcome still unclear.

This game should be the one by the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

The All-Knowing Crystal informed Wu Chang that the Junior Minister had a chance to win, but it was slim, relying not just on personal effort but also on any mistake by the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master.

Wu Chang knew little about Go; his entire knowledge stemmed from childhood cartoons and a particular college exam question on "Legitimate Moves, Brilliant Moves, Common Moves."

Of course, there was now the added cheating hand of the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master.

But he didn’t need to know; he just needed to delegate the thinking to the All-Knowing Crystal, acting merely as a stone-placing tool.

With the All-Knowing Crystal in play, even AlphaGo would struggle, let alone the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master’s clone.

It was time for the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master to experience the disparity in computing power.

Wu Chang, holding black, took the first move. The All-Knowing Crystal scanned the board, determining the best spot for the first stone.

He picked up a black stone, about to place it down, when a force blocked him, preventing the move.

In a moment of clarity, he realized this wasn’t a typical game of Go; he had to allocate part of his energy and attribute to the stone in hand to place it on the board.

The energy and attribute allocated to the stone determined its combat power. To enclose and capture stones, the opponent would have to allocate even more energy and attributes.

Thus, it tested not only skill but also strategic foresight.

He had to predict which stone was more vital, assigning suitable combat strength, and gauge how much energy and attribute the opponent would invest to capture them.

Every bit of energy and attribute allocation was crucial, not to be wasted.

Let’s not forget, the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master was a whole Great Realm above the examinees; failing to gain an advantage meant a major drawback.

But that was a problem for other examinees. As for value manipulation, Wu Chang wasn’t lacking either.

Leveraging the Master of Breaking the Game and the full-layer Immortal Mansion fortune, he raised the value by a Great Realm, even holding an advantage when factoring in attributes compared to the Megrez Immortal Mansion Master.

The complexity of the Megrez chess setup might stump ordinary AI like AlphaGo, but not the All-Knowing Crystal.

The additional conditions didn’t faze the All-Knowing Crystal, which quickly assessed and provided Wu Chang the necessary energy and attribute allocation for this move.

Wu Chang completed the allocation, placed the stone down, and immediately faced a test question similar to the fourth challenge, asking how he would construct an array someplace per requirements.

Before he could fully comprehend the question, the All-Knowing Crystal had already provided the answer.