560 Heavens Will (2/2)
He suddenly woke up and looked up at the silent black carriage with awe and horror. His voice trembled, ”It's heaven's will! It's heaven's will!”
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The monk struggled to stand up and bowed to the black carriage.
At that moment, the spectators finally confirmed that Sangsang was the winner and exclaimed. The cultivators versed in Go looked at the chess pieces with silent amazement. A feeling of admiration grew inside their hearts.
People looked up at the black carriage with a look of awe in their eyes.
Earlier, they bowed to the carriage in awe to show their respect for the authority of Lady of Light and the power of West-Hill Divine Palace. But now, it was her wit on the chessboard that won their respect.
Since they were cultivators, they knew what the pure wit stood for.
In the past two years, cultivators had vaguely learned that the inheritor of the former Divine Priest of Light was in Chang'an City. However, because of West-Hill Divine Palace's obscure attitude, they did not know what kind of person the Lady of Light was.
Later, when they knew she was the daughter of one of the officials in Tang Dynasty and the handmaiden of Mr. Thirteen from the Academy, they started to wonder what potential or ability she had to impress the Divine Palace and be selected as an inheritor. Now they finally understood.
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Even Ning Que found it hard to believe that Sangsang had solved the conundrum. He was happy of course, especially when he recalled the scene when Sangsang's crisp voice echoed in the silent Wa mountain. He felt somewhat sentimental, as if the little girl he knew had grown up.
When the old monk bowed and conceded, Ning Que suddenly noticed that the monk from Xuankong Temple under the bridge leaned forward behind curtains as if he was very interested in Sangsang. Ning Que grew alert again.
He looked away from the monk and asked, ”Can we go up the mountain now?”
Monk Guan Hai witnessed the entire procedure and sincerely praised, ”The legendary Lady of Light is indeed able to defy the heaven's will. Senior Brother, please.”
The Big Black Horse saw their respect for Sangsang and thought to himself that, although she was plain looking, she was indeed able-minded; he could not help but cheerily snort. The horses who were grazing on the ground beside streams heard the snorting and became afraid subconsciously. They ran up toward the grass slope in a hurry.
The carriage slowly drove onto the stone bridge and crossed Jumping Tiger Stream.
The cultivators looked at the carriage disappearing into the depths of Wa mountain in awe.
The South Jin Kingdom chessplayer suddenly thought about something. He rushed onto the stone bridge and ran toward the carriage.
The man successfully crossed the bridge even though he did not solve the conundrum. The old monk in yellow clothes should have stopped the somewhat crazy chessplayer, but he was just staring at the chessboard in silence.
He had studied the Luanke conundrum for decades and was confident to know everything about it. But now, he suddenly realized he did not understand it at all.
If he did not play the game today, the Black must have been defeated before Sangsang showed her awesome will. However, it was because he understood the conundrum more than anyone else in the world, he persisted for a longer time and his mind was greatly damaged.
There was a strong autumn breeze.
The monk's body suddenly shook and blood spilled over his lips.
”Luanke conundrum features its uniqueness and complexity. But its creators must not have expected that one girl could solve it merely by calculation.”
He wiped the blood with his sleeve and looked at the black and white chess pieces on the board. He said, ”The conundrum is meaningless now since it has been solved by someone who can defy the heaven's will. I'll leave it here.”
And then he waved his sleeve and took a leaf away from the chessboard.
Cheng Ziqing frowned and asked, ”Master, what will you do with the conundrum?”
”The conundrum has been solved. You can cross the stream as you wish.”
After finishing his words, the monk left gracefully.
Hearing his words, the cultivators under the big tree were overjoyed and all walked toward the stone bridge. A Taoist from the Kingdom of Song, known as an addict of chess, was left behind and he came to the stone table. He looked at the board and tried to pick up a white chess piece but found he couldn't.
The old monk had somehow embedded the black and white chess pieces in the board. From this day, the Luanke conundrum was left forever under the green tree beside Jumping Tiger Stream in Wa mountain and it would never change. There were only two of the legendary Three Conundrums left in Wa mountain.
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