The interview lasted for nearly an entire hour before it finally ended.

When Yu Shao left the press room, dusk had already fallen. This game, which started at ten in the morning and continued until the end, plus the post-match interview, had taken up most of the day.

“A gamble with everything on the line...”

After parting ways with Su Yiming, Yu Shao walked down the road leaving the Southern Go Academy, and his mind involuntarily drifted back to Su Yiming’s earlier words. His thoughts became somewhat tangled again.

He knew Su Yiming was not wrong.

Just like in today’s game, if he had played Black, during the early and middle game he would have been confident to surpass Su Yiming. However, if it came down to the late game, he was afraid he could not compare to Su Yiming.

In the final endgame, Su Yiming was like a lone warrior facing a million soldiers, breaking through the encirclement and fighting a fierce battle of mutual destruction with an overwhelming army all on his own!

No predecessors ahead, no challengers behind.

This required not just skill in Go.

Courage, determination, fighting spirit!

None of the three could be missing!

But even knowing Su Yiming was right, Yu Shao could not immediately change his mindset. No matter how much he told himself to fight desperately, it was merely self-deception.

Lacking fighting spirit was just that—lacking fighting spirit. It was not something you could summon by telling yourself you should have it.

Yet with Su Yiming, he could truly feel that power.

If Su Yiming hadn’t said anything, it would have been fine. But once he spoke, Yu Shao immediately recalled many things.

In his previous life, among the top five players in the Go world, except for himself, all the others were new-generation players who rose after the AI era.

Players who experienced both the pre-AI and post-AI eras all more or less lacked fighting spirit, and only those who originally rose after the AI era could advance fearlessly.

Because they never experienced the collapse of Go perspectives, never felt the despair of having all their former beliefs denied, nor the sorrow of having all their past efforts wasted.

He once thought his skill declined because he was no longer young and could not compete with younger players, but now it seemed that might not be the case. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel•fire.net

“Perhaps... when I regain that fighting spirit again, my Go skills might not change much, but my strength in the game will soar.”

Yu Shao looked up at the setting sun on the horizon and took a deep, long breath.

“In this life, my sense of life and death, my attack and killing in complex positions have already been tempered. Though not yet at the peak, it is only a matter of time.”

“If I can completely integrate attack, killing, and board control, and simultaneously reclaim the fighting spirit I once had...”

“My Go skills might reach a whole new realm!”

At that moment, a shout behind him interrupted Yu Shao’s thoughts.

“Qiang Teng!”

Hearing no one call his name ahead, Wu Zhi stopped in her tracks, turned her head, and looked forward.

Not far ahead in the evening light, Yu Shao was waving his hand, walking slowly toward her. Ahead of him were Su Yiming, Han Sixuan, Xu Zijin, and others.

Slowly, Yu Shao was the first to reach behind Wu Zhi, then he reached out and firmly patted Qiang Teng’s shoulder, smiling, “Well played today, Wu Zhi! You all watched the entire game in the broadcast room.”

“That game was a win, so nothing special, right?”

Yu Shao smiled, removing Zheng Qin’s wrist from his shoulder, and said, “With such an advantage, winning was expected, wasn’t it?”

“Who said that? Doesn’t that make it even more impressive?”

Zheng Qin shook his head, laughing, “The quadruple ko cycle at the endgame was a battle worthy of legend. But even so, in the end, it was only a draw with you. Isn’t that impressive enough?”

Even now, recalling today’s game, Zheng Qin couldn’t help but be amazed and sighed, “Honestly, I didn’t expect it. Even at such a huge disadvantage, Su Yiming actually created a miracle, turning the tide at the last moment. Watching it made my blood boil. Yu Shao, looks like you still need to practice!”

Previously, Zheng Qin and Yu Shao often played at the Mountain Sea Go Club. Their relationship had become very good, reaching a stage where they could joke casually.

“Who said! Who said! Although Su Yiming’s endgame was indeed stunning, obviously Yu Shao is stronger, okay!”

Hearing Zheng Qin’s words, Wu Zhixuan immediately became displeased, raising her fist and scrunching her nose as she spoke up for Yu Shao, “Yu Shao is the strongest!”

“Indeed, Yu Shao is the strongest!”

Le Haoqiang nodded in agreement with Wu Zhixuan, then whispered, “Anyway, Su Yiming isn’t here.”

Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Why don’t we all go eat together?”

At that moment, Xu Zi tucked her bangs behind her ear, looked at Yu Shao, and suddenly said, “It’s on me.”

The group’s eyes lit up instantly.

Before Yu Shao could speak, Le Haoqiang raised his hand and said, “Let’s go!”

“I usually don’t let girls pay, unless they’re really, really rich!”

“How about hot pot?”

“Korean food isn’t bad either!”

Hearing their chatter, Yu Shao smiled slightly and walked outside the Southern Go Academy with Zheng Qin and the others, chatting as they went.

As they walked, Zheng Qin suddenly remembered something and asked, “By the way, Yu Shao, you’re signing up for the Phoenix Cup, right?”

“Yes, why?”

Yu Shao glanced at Zheng Qin and asked.

Zheng Qin smiled and said, “I signed up too.”

“You signed up?”

Yu Shao was a little surprised but then realized Zheng Qin had already entered the main event of the title match, so he did have the qualification to enter the world tournament.

“Yes.”

Zheng Qin nodded, his expression showing restrained excitement, “After all, it’s the world tournament, and it’s being held in China. Top players from all over the world will come to compete. Just thinking about it is thrilling!”

“Honinbo Shinwa, Sage An Hongshi, Kimura Go 9-dan... these were all names I could only see in books when I was learning Go. Behind every name lies a stirring legend of Go!”

“Now, I have the chance to face them as rivals!”

Zheng Qin raised his eyebrows at Yu Shao and said, “Maybe we’ll meet again as opponents.”

Le Haoqiang spoke up, “If that really happens, it’s not good news for Yu Shao.”

Everyone was stunned, and Zheng Qin was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

“Yu Shao played you as a rival before becoming a professional, right?”

Le Haoqiang joked, “He already earned the National Champion title. How come after all that, he still has to play a rivalry match with you?”

“What do you mean?!”

At first, Zheng Qin didn’t react, but after realizing, he immediately got furious, rolling up his sleeves, ready to battle Le Haoqiang both for skill and honor.

“I think it’s fine. The chance of meeting is not high.”

At that moment, Xu Zi spoke calmly, “Unless you meet from the very start. If you meet later on, I’d have to question the level of the world tournament.”

Hearing Xu Zi’s words, everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Yu Shao looked at Xu Zi with disbelief, not expecting such harsh words from her mouth.

“I... I...”

Zheng Qin angrily shouted, “Do you know what ‘Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side’ means?”

Everyone burst into laughter again, the atmosphere full of joy.

But in truth, Zheng Qin himself knew that attending the world tournament was mostly to experience the atmosphere. Achieving results was basically unlikely.

Although making it to the title match main event showed he was a top expert, on the world stage, that level was far from enough.

Having the strength to enter the title match main event was only the minimum requirement for the world tournament. But to get results, not to mention winning the championship, you at least needed the level of a titleholder.

Of course, this doesn’t mean only titleholders can achieve results. There have been nine-dan players without titles who defeated all titleholders and won the championship, like the Japanese player Kimura Go.

But those players, though without titles, were already at the titleholder level, far beyond ordinary nine-dans. They may have just underperformed in the title matches.

After all, there are only seven titles among all countries, but there may be many more players domestically with titleholder-level strength.

If there are too many monsters domestically, even if they are much stronger than other nine-dan players, a slight underperformance in the title matches might still prevent them from getting a title.

Therefore, they participate in the world tournament, appearing to be like Zheng Qin, having reached only the minimum level of entering the title match main event, but in reality, they are on a completely different level. Many titleholders avoid provoking them.

Moreover, participants definitely include players like Jiang Changdong and Fu Shunan, who lost their titles not even one or two years ago. Even without titles, they remain strong contenders for the world championship.

Players like Zheng Qin, who struggled to enter the title match main event, basically cannot make waves at the world tournament and only serve as atmosphere contributors.

“The world tournament...”

Yu Shao was momentarily dazed.

In his previous life, he barely played domestic matches. His only battlefield was the world tournament since he usually advanced as a seeded player.

Now, he was about to return to the battlefield he was most familiar with.

In this world, he had faced domestic players countless times, but for top foreign players, he basically only knew their names, never met them face to face.

“Since our overall strength ranks third in the world, besides players from Japan and South Korea, are there other strong players ranked below us?” Yu Shao wondered and asked curiously.

“Of course.”

Zheng Qin smiled wryly, “The world tournament and a country’s overall Go level are not the same. Some small countries may have overall strength far inferior to ours but still have extraordinarily strong individual players.”

“That’s why the world tournament is especially worth looking forward to. It’s a personal showcase for players from all countries. Only the strongest are chosen. You just need to be strong as an individual;

the rest doesn’t matter.”

“If you look down on an opponent just because they come from an obscure small country, you might pay a bloody price.”

Zheng Qin smiled and said, “Teacher Zhuang Weisheng has a bit to say about this.”

“Oh?”

Yu Shao was intrigued, “How so?”

“Germany’s Go level has always been low internationally. Even now, it remains so. Back then, Teacher Zhuang Weisheng lost to Honinbo Shinwa and dropped into the losers’ bracket, where he met Teacher Han Si.”

Zheng Qin thought for a moment and continued, “You might not know the name Han Si, but his Go name is Han Si. He is now the German master, King of Go, Tengen Sage, and Meijin titleholder—all five major titles.”

“Holding all five major titles?”

Yu Shao was somewhat surprised.

“Yes.”

Zheng Qin nodded, “But that was now. Back then, Teacher Han Si didn’t hold any titles and was unknown. Teacher Zhuang Weisheng underestimated him and was soundly defeated.”

“Later, Teacher Han Si revived from the losers’ bracket, fought all the way to the finals, and in the decisive match, shockingly upset Teacher An Hongshi. It was jaw-dropping and earned Germany its first-ever world championship in Go.”

Le Haoqiang nodded and hurried to add, “I also remember that final game;

it was breathtaking and brilliant. Both sides fought fiercely, and the result was decided by half a point in the endgame!”

“You have no idea how sensational this was! That was Teacher An Hongshi!”

Le Haoqiang exclaimed in amazement, “The entire internet exploded that year. No one believed Teacher An Hongshi could lose to a German player.”

“Yes, I also remember after the match, Germany celebrated nationwide with three days off because Teacher Han Si won the first world championship for the country. It was a national celebration.”

Zheng Qin nodded in astonishment, “Such examples happen almost every year. Every year, one or two unknown players from weak Go countries make good results in the world tournament.”

“From obscurity to world fame, sometimes only one game at the world tournament is needed.”

“A weak Go country, even with low overall strength, can raise its head high if a genius emerges!”

“These players also inspire other players in their countries. Like Germany, though the overall level is still not high, with Teacher Han Si and strong national support, it’s far better than before!”

“So, all players come to the world tournament carrying their country’s expectations and fight with all their might.”

Le Haoqiang nodded with anticipation, “In short, the world tournament is a true Go feast. I also need to work harder and try to enter the title match main event and participate in the world tournament soon!”

At this, Le Haoqiang’s expression darkened slightly, “I heard Qin Lang signed up for the Phoenix Cup as well.”

“Oh?”

Yu Shao was genuinely surprised and asked, “Qin Lang also entered the title match main event?”

“Yes, also from the Meijin Title Match.”

Le Haoqiang took a deep breath and said, “But I feel I’m close too. The next world tournament list will definitely have my name, Le Haoqiang!”

“Is that so...”

Listening to Le Haoqiang and Zheng Qin, Yu Shao became thoughtful and began to look forward to the world tournament in this Go world.

This world is different from the last. Players are scattered worldwide, the Go style is vigorous, and the competition is fierce. The minimum requirement to enter the world tournament is making it into the title match main event, which shows how valuable it is!

Dragons and snakes rise together;

heroes compete fiercely.

This will be a new battlefield!