Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Book 4: Chapter 141: Missing Nine-Five Island

Nine-Five Island floated five thousand kilometers in the sky. The air there was very thin, and the ordinary citizens found breathing somewhat difficult.

“Activate the ritual array!” Gu Qin operated the Life Trapper Ritual Array.

Buzz!

An energy barrier suddenly appeared around Nine-Five Island, and the air density within the barrier immediately returned to normal. Some fog even formed, preventing the sun from burning people.

When seen from a distance, the vast amount of fog made Nine-Five Island look like a white cloud floating high in the air. This incredibly gigantic, white cloud drifted towards the Divine Continent.

Dongfang Bubai stood at the edge of Nine-Five Island, narrowing his eyes at the surrounding cloud sea.

“What a mystical world!” Dongfang Bubai said, feeling moved.

This world was too mystical compared to the Black Wood Cliff of his memories. The more this was so, the more intense his desire to become a real person became.

As Nine-Five Island flew, it slowly stabilized. The countless citizens no longer felt the ground moving.

“Nine-Five Island has already found its balance. Han Nation citizens, we can now resume normal life. Officials of the various places, assist the citizens in repairing all the damage with everything you have!” Gu Qin instructed.

“Yes!” the various officials answered.

Everyone started working busily. Gu Qin and the others kept watch on the churning, dark clouds below, showing worry in their eyes.

Dark clouds filled the place, and a raft of lightning bolts struck Nine-Five Island’s original location. The dark clouds scattered only after two days. However, that sea region still had ferocious surging waves. Nonetheless, it was slowly calming down.

“The lightning is gone. Imperial Father should be safer now,” Gu Qin sighed.

Miao Chen and Bing Ji nodded. Gu Hai said that making the substitution and solving the puzzle would cause a great commotion. Previously, Gu Hai only substituted for Nine-Five Island. There would likely be another massive commotion when he solved the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle.

Although they wanted to remain, Gu Hai had issued his instructions. Thus, they could only follow Nine-Five Island and head slowly to the Divine Continent.

After another day, Nine-Five Island disappeared into the horizon.

——

Guan Qi Hall, Heavenly Go Pavilion:

The eighteen elders sullenly watched the scene in the Spy Scope.

Nine-Five Island had completely vanished, leaving only Gu Hai playing Go.

“The Thirty-One Line-Pair World Ritual Array? Can Gu Hai really solve it?” The elders looked at the first elder.

Given this, would the second of the pavilion master’s plans also fail?

“That’s impossible. Gu Hai cannot possibly solve the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle!” The first elder clenched his fist tightly as he glared at the scene.

“Had we known, we would not have let him leave back then!” one of the elders said hatefully.

However, no matter how depressed they felt, they could not do anything about it.

——

Gu Hai played Go at the seafloor.

Sitting cross-legged on a circular platform, Gu Hai studied the Go board with the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle before him. A vague image of a white-clad old man slowly manifested at the other side of the Go board.

The white-clad old man stared at Gu Hai and said, “You possess great Go skills. You even formed a Go soul?”

Gu Hai looked up at the white-clad old man. This was an image of Old Mister Guan Qi that Old Mister Guan Qi left behind.

“It is not complete yet.” Gu Hai smiled.

Old Mister Guan Qi did not appear angry as he watched Gu Hai place Go stones. Instead, a gleam flashed in his eyes. “This is the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle. My main body used it as a sealing method. I hope it will be useful to you.”

“Oh? Are you not angry with me for solving the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle?” Gu Hai looked at Old Mister Guan Qi, feeling bewildered.

Old Mister Guan Qi smiled faintly and said, “Angry? No! Would you be angry if you were me?”

“Huh?” Gu Hai looked at Old Mister Guan Qi in confusion.

“When no one in the world is worthy enough to match you in Go, will you still love Go?” Old Mister Guan Qi smiled.

When no one in the world is worthy of matching me?

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes. Gu Hai had experienced that before. Back then, no one in Nine-Five Island could beat him in Go. He had greatly desired a worthy opponent back then, but no one could, so he could only play Go against himself.

“I still love Go. However, I understand your feelings. It’s just that my Go skills continue to improve while yours did not. What is the point?” Gu Hai frowned.

“Who says that I am the best? Haven’t I already lost at Go?” Old Mister Guan Qi smiled bitterly.

“Oh? Your last match when you played Go against heaven?” Gu Hai raised his eyebrows.

Old Mister Guan Qi smiled faintly and did not pursue the topic. “Continue playing. I’ll help you solve it.”

“Oh?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Old Mister Guan Qi.

Old Mister Guan Qi still showed a kind and benevolent look. He pointed to the Go board, looking like he would give Gu Hai advice.

Gu Hai remained silent for a moment, then shook his head. “There’s no need. I don’t need others’ input when solving puzzles.”

“Oh?” Old Mister Guan Qi appeared slightly surprised.

“If you give me pointers, it would no longer be me playing. When I play, my Go skills improve slightly every time I play a piece. There’s no need to show me such care. Do the best with your lingering thoughts and attack me mercilessly!” Gu Hai performed a cupped-fist salute.

“Alright!” Old Mister Guan Qi smiled faintly.

Then, Old Mister Guan Qi picked up a white Go stone and played it.

Clack!

Gu Hai stared at the changed situation and pondered in silence.

Now, the one hundred thousand Go puzzles under the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal in Gu Hai’s forehead space had already merged, leaving ten thousand Go puzzles. Furthermore, these ten thousand Go puzzles had an image of Gu Hai sitting at each of them.

When Gu Hai’s main body started playing, all the Gu Hai images had opened their eyes to analyze the Go board.

The Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle was much more complicated than the Thirty Line-Pair World Go Puzzle.

Some of the ten thousand Go puzzles had already started merging. Now, the process happened even faster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Go puzzles merged, and only eight thousand remained in the blink of an eye. As Gu Hai played, more Go puzzles merged. He gained a lot within this short time.

Gu Hai sat there like this for five days.

Boom!

Of the ten thousand Go puzzles, eight thousand merged in sets of four, condensed into two thousand extremely complicated nineteen line-pair Go puzzles.

Eight thousand of Gu Hai’s images also merged in sets of fours and became two thousand clearer Gu Hai images.

“To think that the thirty-one line-pair is so much more complicated than the thirty line-pair?” Gu Hai said with a sigh.

On the other side, Old Mister Guan Qi frowned as he looked at the Go board.

“Your comprehension ability is truly incredible. Only a few days have passed, but you already solved it to this degree?” Old Mister Guan Qi marveled as he looked at Gu Hai.

Gu Hai took a deep breath and continued studying the Go board before him. The two thousand freshly merged Go puzzles and the other two thousand complicated Go puzzles left over started matching.

However, the further Gu Hai went, the harder it became.

Four thousand Gu Hai images stared at the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle, analyzing and gaining insights from it.

——

At this moment in the Heavenly Go Pavilion:

The first elder showed an extremely unsightly expression. A few days had passed, yet Gu Hai was still playing. Although Gu Hai played slowly, the game had not ended yet.

“First Elder, didn’t you say that the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle would crush him into powder once he loses? He is still fine. Is he not showing signs of defeat?” one of the elders asked worriedly.

The first elder showed an unsightly expression. As he shook his head, he said, “I don’t know yet.”

“But—” Everyone felt anxious.

Back in the scene, Gu Hai paused, holding a black Go stone. He stared at the Go board, trying to solve it.

——

The sea region where Nine-Five Island had been was now calm.

Ten flying ships sped over from a distance, with many vampires and bat spirits aboard.

The Bat Ancestor and the Chang Clan elders all showed excited expressions.

“Primogenitor, we will reach Nine-Five Island soon! Haha! We are about to arrive!” Chang Ming’s second uncle said excitedly.

The Bat Ancestor showed a ferocious expression, saying, “Indeed.”

“Primogenitor, I thought about it. We should not immediately kill the Nine-Five Island citizens. Is that fine? We should turn them into vampires and make them our blood slaves, not letting anyone go. We should torture them thoroughly!” Chang Ming’s third uncle said excitedly.

“Alright. We will do that. Humph! They can forget about escaping. It is their fault for being Gu Hai’s citizens. We cannot let them have a good time!” the Bat Ancestor said with a ferocious expression.

“There is Gu Hai’s son, Gu Qin, as well. Primogenitor, how about we turn him into a vampire and make him eat the hearts and livers of his citizens? Hahahaha!” Chang Ming’s fourth uncle said with a ferocious expression.

“Make them eat each other!” the Bat Ancestor said excitedly.

Not far away, Chang Sheng and Chang Ming showed extremely unsightly expressions. The Bat Ancestor’s and the Chang Clan elders’ words were becoming bloodier and more perverse.

The two exchanged looks, not saying anything.

Chang Ming understood that the Bat Ancestor and the others did this because they hated Gu Hai too much. Their hatred had grown pathological. Now that they had a chance for revenge, they naturally would try to repay tenfold—a hundredfold.

It was unfortunate for those citizens.

Chang Sheng sighed, feeling helpless.

“Have we arrived yet or not?” The Bat Ancestor looked at the nearby vampire at the helm with some excitement.

That vampire’s expression turned stiff as he said, “Soon. It should be soon.”

“Didn’t you say that we would arrive in at most two hours? It has been one hour already. Why are we not there yet?” Chang Ming’s second uncle demanded while glaring.

“I…I…” That vampire showed an unsightly expression.

“Speak!” the Bat Ancestor ordered, scowling.

“We…we might be lost!” That vampire showed an even more unsightly expression than crying.

The Bat Ancestor: “…”

The Chang Clan elders: “…”

We spoke for so long, were excited for so long, thinking of all sorts of ways to torture them. Now, you are telling me that we are lost?

“Lost?”

“You can die now!” The Bat Ancestor flared up in rage.

“Don’t! Don’t! Primogenitor, spare me!”

Boom!

That vampire exploded.

Lost? What a joke!

“Who knows where Nine-Five Island is? Who else?” the Bat Ancestor demanded with a glare.

A bat spirit said with an unsightly expression, “Primogenitor, our…our route was correct. We took the same route previously. But…”

“But what?”

“Nine-Five Island is missing!” that bat spirit said with a bitter expression.

“What do you mean Nine-Five Island is missing? How can an island be missing? Are you messing with me?” the Bat Ancestor said coldly.

“It’s true. It’s really gone. It should be somewhere here, but it’s gone. Should we go to the nearby islands and ask the people there about Nine-Five Island’s position?” that bat spirit said in fear.

“Why are you not on it yet, then?!” the Bat Ancestor roared.

Soon, the Bat Ancestor and the Chang Clan elders captured some citizens from the surrounding Nine-Four Island, Nine-Six Island, Eight-Five Island, and Ten-Five Island. However, everyone pointed to the same place.

Even so, all they saw was a vast, calm sea; the seawater was like a mirror.

“This is the place?” The Bat Ancestor looked coldly at the people captured from the surrounding islands over the past two days.

The captives from the surrounding islands nodded seriously.

Are you all messing with me? This endless sea is Nine-Five Island?