Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Book 3: Chapter 123: Ten Thousand Gu Hais

“The Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle. Come and solve it!” Old Mister Guan Qi invited once more.

“Old Mister Guan Qi?” Gu Hai said, feeling puzzled.

“I am just a thought of Old Mister Guan Qi. I will scatter when someone solves this Go puzzle.” Old Mister Guan Qi smiled.

This Old Mister Guan Qi seemed to have independent thought.

“Oh? Another inheritance?” Gu Hai said, still feeling puzzled.

“The inheritance is only this Go puzzle.” That Old Mister Guan Qi smiled.

“Just this Go puzzle? It’s still pretty good. If I solve this Go puzzle, I will grasp another powerful ritual array. However, why did you set up these Go puzzles for people to solve? Is it just to leave your inheritance?” Gu Hai felt confused.

Old Mister Guan Qi smiled and shook his head.

“For the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle, if one lost, one died. What about this Go puzzle?” Gu Hai asked gravely.

“What do you think?” Old Mister Guan Qi countered, smiling.

Gu Hai’s face sank. He said with a bitter smile, “It also leads to death. My body is already submerged and unable to move. Furthermore, a powerful energy is currently eroding my protective barrier. I won’t be able to last for long. Furthermore, I cannot possibly hold my breath forever.”

“If you solve this Go puzzle, you can leave easily. If you fail, I can only wait for the next person,” Old Mister Guan Qi said indifferently.

“Wait for the next person?”

“Of the nine inheritors of Guan Qi, there will eventually be one who can solve this,” Old Mister Quan Qi said indifferently.

Gu Hai remained silent for a long time.

“So, time is limited. Make your move,” Old Mister Guan Qi prompted indifferently.

“How does this Go puzzle compare to the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle?” Gu Hai asked.

“The difference is like that between the twenty-eight and twenty-nine,” Old Mister Guan Qi replied indifferently.

Gu Hai: “…”

Gu Hai desired to find his match in Go. He would have been overjoyed if he had encountered this Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle during normal times, as he felt confident that solving it would just be a matter of time. However, he had no time now.

Back then, Gu Hai had taken one entire day to solve the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle. Furthermore, that was after he had experienced the low, medium, and high difficulty before arriving at the life puzzle of the life and death puzzles.

Did Gu Hai have an entire day now? He could only hold his breath for maybe six to eight hours at best. Furthermore, that sticky liquid was eroding his protective barrier. Did he have that much time?

The difference between the twenty-nine and the thirty was similar to the difference between the twenty-eight and twenty-nine. However, that difference was a whole world of difference.

“Time is limited. Please quickly make your move!” Old Mister Guan Qi said again.

Gu Hai: “…”

Not daring to hesitate, Gu Hai immediately looked at the Go board.

The Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle had thirty line pairs, making the Go puzzle countless times more complicated. Furthermore, this was a difficult Go puzzle designed by Old Mister Guan Qi. As Gu Hai studied it, it looked like a mysterious world.

If the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle were the frame of a house with no walls, the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle would be one with bricks laid in, forming a complete house. It was now a complete world on its own.

Gasp! Gu Hai inhaled sharply.

Gu Hai did not know whether to rejoice or grieve.

It was as Old Mister Guan Qi said, this Go puzzle was incredibly profound. Gu Hai could solve it, but he did not have time.

Gu Hai wanted to study this carefully, but he had insufficient time; he did not dare delve too deeply into this.

What should I do? What should I do?

Boom!

Suddenly, a loud sound rang out in Gu Hai’s forehead space.

The sound came from the one hundred thousand Go puzzles that he brought over from Earth.

Previously, eighty thousand of these Go puzzles had merged in sets of fours, condensing into twenty thousand extremely complicated Go puzzles with nineteen line pairs. Then, when Gu Hai solved the life puzzle, the remaining twenty thousand Go puzzles and the new twenty thousand Go puzzles started merging in sets of fours again. The process had been so slow that they finally completed the mergers only a moment earlier, forming ten thousand extremely complicated Go puzzles.

The ten thousand merged Go puzzles condensed Gu Hai’s boundless wisdom, intelligence, and boundless understanding of Go.

The ten thousand merged Go puzzles are completed?

“Please make your move!” Old Mister Guan Qi called out again.

How could Gu Hai casually make a move before he figured out the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle? However, he simply did not have enough time. What should he do?

Suddenly, Gu Hai raised his eyebrows, thinking of something.

These ten thousand Go puzzles are the culmination of my intelligence and wisdom. Can I merge my consciousness with them and control my own intelligence and wisdom accumulations? Gu Hai’s expression changed.

Upon thinking of this, Gu Hai immediately acted on it. His consciousness’s body slowly scattered.

Bang!

Gu Hai split his consciousness’s body into ten thousand bodies. Each one entered a Go puzzle.

Splitting the consciousness sounded hard, but it was not. It was just like how an ordinary person using his right hand to do something would be controlling his hand with his consciousness. However, when he worked with two hands, it was like splitting his consciousness into two. If he used both his hands and his feet, that would be four.

Now, Gu Hai split his consciousness into ten thousand to control the Go puzzles that contained his condensed wisdom and intelligence.

A vague figure appeared on each of the ten thousand Go puzzles. They looked like projections of Gu Hai, appearing extremely faint.

Ten thousand images of Gu Hai slowly opened their eyes.

Then, they controlled the ten thousand Go puzzles to fly over to the Go board, opposite Old Mister Guan Qi.

Now, the one facing Old Mister Guan Qi was no longer one person but ten thousand. Ten thousand Gu Hais used their wisdom and intelligence to analyze the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle.

The ten thousand Gu Hai’s intelligence and wisdom seemed connected.

Ten thousand Gu Hais faced Old Mister Guan Qi in Go.

Old Mister Guan Qi revealed some shock. “A Go soul? You used such a method to manifest your Go soul?”

Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine Gu Hais continued looking at the Go puzzle. Only one asked out of curiosity, “What is a Go soul?”

“We took different paths. My true body formed one Go soul and continuously strengthened it, expanding its consciousness. However, you formed ten thousand from your consciousness, forming Go soul clones? Perhaps you will merge the ten thousand Go soul clones into one someday. That will be when your Go soul fully takes form. A Go soul! Haha! You will be the second person to manifest a Go soul in this world!” Old Mister Guan Qi said in awe.

“Oh? The second? Who is the first?”

“The first is me,” Old Mister Guan Qi said indifferently.

“What is the use of a Go soul?” Gu Hai asked.

“That is your seventh physical soul,” Old Mister Guan Qi replied indifferently.

“What seventh physical soul?” Gu Hai asked, finding this strange.

“Everyone knows about three spiritual souls and seven physical souls. However, ordinary people can only find three spiritual souls and six physical souls,” Old Mister Guan Qi explained indifferently.

Gu Hai immediately recalled.

The three spiritual souls referred to the heavenly soul, the earthly soul, and the mortal soul.

In the Nascent Soul Realm, the nascent souls are the physical souls. There is a nascent soul in the dantian and one each in the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—for a total of six. There is no seventh physical soul. Am I forming a seventh physical soul?

Old Mister Guan Qi stopped speaking. Instead, he looked at the Go board as though he noticed something.

The only Gu Hai that spoke stopped speaking as well. Instead, he looked at the Go board together with the nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine other Gu Hais.

Ten thousand Gu Hais worked simultaneously on solving the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle.

Such analytical power was extremely incredible.

Boom!

After thirty minutes, one of the large Go boards that one of the Gu Hais sat on suddenly shrank. That was a large Go board formed by four Go puzzles, giving it four times the number of lines and Go stones.

Now, this large Go board shrank, returning to nineteen line pairs and eliminating all the pointless Go stones. This condensed the complexity of the initial four Go puzzles into one.

Boom!

A second large Go board with a Gu Hai sitting on it shrank into a smaller nineteen-line-pair Go board.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

An increasing number of large Go boards shrank.

As Gu Hai analyzed the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle, he managed to gain many comprehensions despite not having made a move.

It was like ten thousand Gu Hais entered this world together and split up, each one exploring a ten-thousandth of this world and quickly analyzing it.

As each Gu Hai gained a clearer picture of the puzzle, they all gained many comprehensions.

Two hours later, all of the ten thousand Go boards shrank into smaller ones.

Now, the ten thousand Gu Hai images appeared slightly more distinct.

Buzz!

Ten thousand Gu Hais looked up at the same time. In that instant, it seemed like the world lit up.

Old Mister Guan Qi showed a bitter smile as he said, “Congratulations, you solved it!”

Rumble…!

The ten thousand small Go boards suddenly started merging in sets of fours again.

Boom!

When four of the Go boards merged, the four Gu Hais on them merged as well. The resulting figure still appeared blurry, but it was much clearer than before. His Go soul would be born when the ten thousand Gu Hais all merged into one with the condensed wisdom and intelligence in the Go puzzles.

The others continued to merge. Clearly, the process would take a long time.

The only merged Gu Hai picked up a black Go stone.

“Old Mister Guan Qi, Gu Hai feels boundlessly grateful, regardless of your motive.”

Then, Gu Hai slowly placed the black Go stone on the Go board.

Clack!

Boom!

The entire Go board trembled. If anyone who understood Go looked at it, it would seem like the Go puzzle world crumbled and collapsed.

The entire Go board turned into an Old Mister Guan Qi with fog and smoke surrounding him.

“There’s no need to thank me. You will understand someday. I should thank you as well,” Old Mister Guan Qi said with a faint smile.

Bang!

Old Mister Guan Qi exploded into smoke and dissipated.

A Heavenly Go Stone fragment appeared amid the smoke. This fragment was even larger than the fragments he acquired in the past.

“Another one?” This slightly startled Gu Hai as his consciousness returned to his body.

Now, Gu Hai felt that he could move. Although the sticky liquid did not change, his body had a layer of light from the Heavenly Go Stone fragment, allowing him to move freely in this liquid.

I can move freely?

Gu Hai showed a fierce expression as his figure suddenly moved. He arrived by a wall.

This is the century lifespan immortality peach tree’s stomach, or rather, the furnace inside it?

“Refining living people? Refining souls and preventing them from reincarnating? This is nothing good. It should be destroyed!” Gu Hai’s eyes turned cold.

Shing!

Gu Hai suddenly stabbed with the Life Ender Saber, thrusting his saber at the furnace’s wall.

“The century lifespan immortality peach tree is a rare treasure. Absorb it. Help me destroy it. Absorb all its energy. There’s no need to send any of it to me. Just transform it all into bone. I want to destroy this hell!” Gu Hai roared with a ferocious expression.

Boom!

The Life Ender Saber stabbed into the furnace’s wall. Then, surging black energy with countless tiny skulls rushed out to consume the century lifespan immortality peach tree.