CHAPTER 475: CHAPTER 475: I, RUAN LAN, THE CHESS SAINT OF HUA COUNTRY!_1

Xu Lai’s pupils contracted. Who had solved the endgame?

He glanced around and saw Little Glutton Yun Jin walking out of the restroom on the first floor. He asked in a deep voice, "Was it you?"

Yun Jin was startled. She fidgeted for a moment before saying aggrievedly, "The Supreme Emperor, I really didn’t mean to break the toothbrush. It was just too fragile."

Xu Lai was speechless.

A headache forming, he said, "I’m not asking about that. I’m talking about the Go board!"

"Oh, that," Yun Jin said, realization dawning on her. "I don’t know. But when I got up this morning, I saw Auntie Ruan Lan sitting here."

Following Yiyi’s example, Yun Jin also called Ruan Lan "Auntie."

Xu Lai was dumbfounded. "Ruan Lan???"

Could that terrible Go player really have solved the heritage trial left by the Founding Ancestor of the Star Origin Sect? How is that possible! Something that none of the past Sect Leaders of the Star Origin Sect, nor he and Baize—two Chess Saints—could accomplish, Ruan Lan had managed to do?

He simply couldn’t believe it, nor did he dare to.

Xu Lai closed his eyes. As time rewound, the scene from last night emerged in his mind.

When he saw his sister-in-law sneak downstairs after he left, sitting with one leg casually slung over the other as she played Go, Xu Lai felt a bit helpless. Be a bit more ladylike, will you? You’re about to have a wardrobe malfunction...

But very quickly, Xu Lai raised an eyebrow. Ruan Lan had actually placed the first black stone exactly where she had said it should go.

This is a wasted move. Once it’s placed here, the entire game is lost, Xu Lai thought, shaking his head.

But it wasn’t long before his brows furrowed deeply.

Something’s not right... Why are the white stones played by the Star Origin Sect’s Founding Ancestor also so haphazard, as if he were just messing around? Could it be... this is a special Go opening from nineteen eras ago?

With an attitude of learning and skepticism, Xu Lai watched as the next twenty black and white stones filled a 4x5 area of the board...

Xu Lai’s expression was strange; something felt very off. Anyone who actually knew how to play Go would never play like this.

Could it be that the Founding Ancestor of the Star Origin Sect didn’t know how to play Go? How is that possible!

One could get a glimpse of his terrifying mastery in the Game of Go Path just from the incredible power of the Starlight Array. After all, the Game of Go Path and the Array Path were interconnected.

However, when Xu Lai next saw his sister-in-law and the Founding Ancestor from nineteen eras ago both take back three moves simultaneously, followed by Ruan Lan getting indignant when her opponent tried to take back a fourth, his expression slowly grew numb.

Xu Lai was now absolutely certain.

The reason he and Baize couldn’t solve the endgame wasn’t because their mastery of the Game of Go Path was insufficient. It wasn’t even because the Founding Ancestor’s Go skills were superior.

It was because...

That old bastard didn’t have a damn clue how to play Go!!! I treated you like a peerless master, analyzing every move for its infinite possibilities. And now... you’re telling me you don’t even understand the rules??? This hundred-stone endgame was probably just some puzzle the old coot found somewhere!

Wait a minute, if he didn’t know how to play Go, how was his proficiency in formations so high...

Xu Lai’s scalp tingled as he thought of a terrifying possibility. Could the reason the Starlight Array was constructed so differently from those of the universe’s other Great Sects, Tao Lineages, and Holy Lands be that the Star Origin Sect’s Founding Ancestor had no idea how to lay down Array Patterns, so he had to invent his own way?

"..."

Veins throbbed on Xu Lai’s forehead. He had the distinct feeling of being played for a fool, accompanied by an urge to kill someone.

And to think he had revered the Founding Ancestor of the Star Origin Sect as a grandmaster of the Game of Go Path and a titan of the Array Path. It turned out he was not only a terrible Go player but also an amateur Array Master who couldn’t even set up Array Patterns.

No wonder the Star Origin Sect was wiped out by a Great Emperor nineteen eras ago. Perhaps that Great Emperor had also been duped and lashed out in a fit of rage. As for the claim that the sect was only destroyed after it used the Starlight Array to kill an Emperor Realm expert... they were probably just glorifying their own history!

"The Supreme Emperor, are... are you all right?" Little Glutton asked, her expression tense. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the sky outside the window instantly darken with roiling clouds.

The Supreme Emperor’s emotions could alter some of the world’s fundamental rules, and the weather was one of the most direct reflections of an Emperor Realm cultivator’s state of mind.

Xu Lai let out a long, heavy breath. "I’m fine."

"Oh, by the way, Auntie Ruan Lan said she needs to catch up on sleep today, so she was hoping you could handle the school registration, The Supreme Emperor." As she spoke, Yun Jin hesitated, as if there was something else she was unsure about saying.

"What else did she say?" Xu Lai raised an eyebrow.

"...It’s a bit hard for me to say."

"Say it. I won’t blame you."

At Xu Lai’s words, Yun Jin mustered her courage and relayed the message. "Stinky brother-in-law, your Go skills aren’t all that, either. Do you even know what a true clash of titans looks like? It’s a shame you didn’t get to witness this fairy’s supreme grace."

After a pause, Little Glutton added, "I, Ruan Lan, am the Chess Saint of Hua Country!"

"..."

Even though it was being recounted, Xu Lai could still hear his sister-in-law’s smug tone.

That’s it? One Go dummy won by taking back moves against another Go dummy. What is there to be so smug about?

Xu Lai waved his hand. "Go call Yiyi and the others for breakfast. I need a moment."

Even for someone in the Emperor Realm, Xu Lai felt the need to calm down. He hadn’t experienced such a rush of blood to the head in a long, long time.

"The Supreme Emperor, I discovered seventeen new patterns last night. Three of them can be used to solve endgame puzzles, and ten can guarantee a three-stone win..." the ever-composed Divine Sense of the Second Divine General sounded in Xu Lai’s ear.

These new patterns discovered by the Chess Saint could not only dominate on the Go board but could also be used as powerful offensive or defensive techniques. If news of them got out, the Go cultivators of the Immortal Domain would go mad for them.

Xu Lai’s expression was complicated. "Baize, have you ever considered the possibility that the Founding Ancestor of the Star Origin Sect didn’t know how to play Go and didn’t understand Array Patterns?"

Baize replied solemnly, "The Supreme Emperor, please don’t make such tasteless jokes. You saw the endgame yourself. No one short of a Chess Saint could have created it."

"Does Taotie often take our game records to go play against the Seventh Divine General?"

"..."

Baize was silent for a long while. Taotie was indeed constantly pestering her for game records. It wasn’t because the First Divine General was fond of Go or vain; it was purely an excuse to go to the Seventh Divine General’s place and freeload a meal.

Thinking of it that way...

Were she and The Supreme Emperor being played for fools?

The Second Divine General’s head spun. She, the strategist of the Heavenly Court, her schemes unparalleled, felt like a complete idiot at that moment.

Xu Lai didn’t comfort Baize. He was a complete idiot, too. The truly "smart" one was sound asleep in her room, muttering in her dreams, "Stinky brother-in-law, I, Ruan Lan... am the best... at Go..."

***

「The sixteenth day of the first lunar month.」

The New Year celebrations were officially over.

Yun Jin took her leave. She had to return to the Immortal Domain to continue expanding her big sister’s influence. Although Yiyi was sad to see her go, there was nothing to be done.

"I’ll come visit again when I have time," Yun Jin said with a smile. "After all, The Supreme Emperor and his lady are getting married soon."

"Mhm!" Yiyi nodded happily.

After dropping his wife and daughter off at the company and kindergarten, respectively, Xu Lai returned to the long-unvisited Dongli University.

The moment he stepped into the school’s medical office, he saw Liu Nanwei doubled over in laughter. "GIGGLE... Zhou Feng, are you blushing?"

Without having to guess, he knew Liu Nanwei was making suggestive jokes again.

"Director Xu!" Zhou Feng, blushing furiously, looked like he wanted to argue but couldn’t find the words. His face lit up with surprise when he saw Xu Lai.