Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Book 5: Chapter 100: Black Cat

Go Dao Mountain Manor, Human Path Secret Realm:

Escorted by Go Dao Mountain Manor disciples, an azure-haired old man’s soul appeared before Gu Hai.

Gu Hai pulled back his hood.

The Go Dao Mountain Manor disciples paled in fright. When they saw the Mortal Soul Register in Gu Hai’s hands, they appeared horrified.

“This old man, Yan Qingshan, greets the sages!” the azure-haired old man said gravely.

“Are you the Go Dao Mountain Manor’s manor lord?” Gu Hai asked.

“The mountain manor’s disciples are ignorant and have offended the sages. This humble one apologizes on their behalf,” Yan Qingshan said gravely.

“Oh?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.

However, Yan Qingshan turned his head to look coldly at the earlier Ninth Young Master. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he asked coldly, “Little Ninth, did you just completely disregard my words?”

Plop!

Ninth Young Master immediately knelt.

“Manor Lord, I…I… The manor lord has been in closed-door cultivation without coming out during all these years. I felt that those Go Dao cultivators could no longer help Manor Lord and would only cause trouble. So…so…,” Ninth Young Master said anxiously.

“So, you killed all the Go Dao cultivators that came here, preventing them from spreading the word?” Yan Qingshan glared.

“I…I…I…” Ninth Young Master appeared anxious.

“Manor Lord, we made this decision together,” the souls at the side called out.

“You made the decision together? All you needed to do was manage the Go Dao Mountain Manor; that was all!” Yan Qingshan glared.

“I…Manor Lord, pardon our offense!” The souls all knelt.

“Humph! I’ll deal with you when we return.” Yan Qingshan glared.

The souls did not dare to talk back.

“Sages, I am very sorry about that.” Yan Qingshan bowed gravely.

Gu Hai remained silent for a while before nodding. He could tell that Yan Qingshan had not known what was going on.

“Might I ask how Sage’s Go Dao is?” Yan Qingshan asked.

“This humble one is Gu Hai. I came here after seeing the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle that Old Mister Guan Qi left in Reincarnation City.”

“Mister Gu’s Go skills are indeed extraordinary. You came for the Go puzzle that Old Mister Guan Qi left behind, right? This humble one has invited many Go Dao cultivators to study it over the past eight hundred years and has already mostly solved it. If Mister Gu does not think it beneath you, how about you come and solve it with us?” Yan Qingshan invited.

“Oh? Old Mister Guan Qi left a Go puzzle here?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.

“These volcanoes are Old Mister Guan Qi’s Go stones,” Yan Qingshan said gravely.

“I’ll have to trouble you, then.” Gu Hai nodded.

“Mister Gu, this way, please,” Yan Qingshan immediately said with a smile.

“Manor Lord, you’ve already solved most of that Go puzzle; it is about to be completely solved. All the benefits from it would go to our Go Dao Mountain Manor. Why should we include others?” Ninth Young Master said anxiously.

“Shut up!” Yan Qingshan glared.

The Go Dao Mountain Manor disciples appeared anxious. However, Yan Qingshan would not change his mind. Everyone felt helpless about it.

Gu Hai and Bing Ji exchanged looks before following Yan Qingshan into the Go Dao Mountain Manor.

There was a dark, deep cave in the depths of the mountain manor.

Gu Hai and Bing Ji followed Yan Qingshan into the cave.

Meow!

Meow!

A cat’s cry came from the depths of the cave. As the sound rang out, the entire cave shook.

“This is…a cat’s cry?” Bing Ji said, feeling confused.

Gu Hai felt confused as well.

The interior of the cave grew increasingly brighter. There was a large clearing in the depths of the cave. The light came from a massive lava pool in the center.

Lava roiled in the lava pool as if it would explode at any time as it churned. However, a stream of lava strangely flowed out at the side, forming a Go board, a lava Go board with nineteen line pairs.

The Go stones on the Go board were made of lava, black and white, in an extremely complicated arrangement.

Fifty Go Dao cultivators’ souls sat in the surroundings. They all had a small Go board in front of them and appeared to be analyzing the Go board before them.

“This is…?” Bing Ji said, feeling curious.

“These fifth Go Dao masters are like me. They each have laid out their own Go boards and are analyzing the Go puzzle on the lava. Mister Gu, what do you think of this Go puzzle?” Yan Qingshan smiled.

“A Go board made of lava? This is Old Mister Guan Qi’s work?” Gu Hai said, feeling puzzled.

Meow!

Suddenly, a cat’s cry came from the Go board. When it rang out, the space above the lava Go board trembled. There vaguely seemed to be a black cat glaring and baring its fangs and claws. However, the cat image vanished when the cry ended.

“This cat is sealed?” Bing Ji asked curiously.

“That’s right. We solved the Go puzzle to a certain extent thirty years ago and loosened the seal. From then on, the cat frequently appeared. That seal should contain an independent space. Once we solve this Go puzzle, we can open the seal and enter the independent space.” Confidence flashed in Yan Qingshan’s eyes.

“Did Old Mister Guan Qi seal it?” Bing Ji asked with a frown.

“It should not be. We guess that this cat had been sealed away in this world previously. Then, Old Mister Guan Qi discovered it and used his Go Dao to crack the seal. Then, he left it to the later souls to continue solving it and break it,” Yan Qingshan said with certainty.

“Then, why did Old Mister Guan Qi not fully break the seal back then?” Gu Hai frowned.

“I don’t know.” Yan Qingshan shook his head.

“Mister Gu, what do you think of this Go board?” Yan Qingshan asked.

Gu Hai looked at the Go board for a while, and his brows furrowed.

Yan Qingshan was in no hurry, waiting patiently.

After some time, Gu Hai took a deep breath and said, “The Thirty-Two Line-Pair World Go Puzzle!”

“What?” Yan Qingshan raised his eyebrows.

“What shameless boasting! How can this be the Thirty-Two?” a Go Dao cultivator at the side called out with raised eyebrows.

“That’s right. This is clearly the Thirty-One. How can it be the Thirty-Two? Stop trying to create a sensation!”

“We have been studying this for a century already, simulating it as the Thirty-One. Yet, you are telling us that it is the Thirty-Two? Have you even seen the Thirty-One?”

The Go Dao cultivators snapped out of their rumination and started scolding Gu Hai.

“Mister Gu, everyone here has seen the Thirty-One to some degree before. Although this Go board has nineteen line pairs, it is an incomplete board. We need to extrapolate and figure out the positions of the remaining Go stones. However, this is indeed the Thirty-One. Because of that, we managed to solve a part of this Go puzzle and loosened the seal,” Yan Qingshan said with a frown.

“The seal has loosened somewhat, but did anyone notice that the seal became stronger over the past two years?” Gu Hai smiled.

“Ah? It seems to be so. The cat cried less over the past two years?”

“I thought it was because the cat got tired?”

The Go Dao cultivators who believed Gu Hai felt shocked. However, most of the Go Dao cultivators were skeptical.

“What evidence is there for you to say that our solution is wrong? Why is it not the Thirty-One?” some of the Go Dao cultivators demanded in anger.

“Bring me a Go board!” Gu Hai said while shaking his head.

Yan Qingshan immediately brought a Go board over to Gu Hai.

Then, Gu Hai extended his hand to pick up Go stones and quickly arranged them on the Go board.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

Gu Hai laid out the Thirty-One Line-Pair World Go Puzzle.

“This is?” The Go Dao cultivators felt slightly startled.

“The foundation and initial point of the Thirty-One,” Gu Hai said.

“Oh?” The other Go Dao cultivators immediately went over and considered it carefully.

After looking for a while, all of them turned ashen.

“That’s right. It is the one. Back when I saw the Thirty-One, it was derived from this initial point.”

“This is the initial state. It’s right. After a few moves, it would reach the state that I saw back then.”

“I have a headache. What a complicated Go board!”

After looking for a while, the Go Dao cultivators no longer dared to look at Gu Hai’s Go board. However, they now believed what Gu Hai said.

Their gazes on Gu Hai changed.

“The solution we reached after all these years was wrong?” Yan Qingshan said with a bitter expression.

“It’s not completely wrong. At the very least, you solved a part of it,” Gu Hai said with a smile.

“Mister Gu, how about you try solving it?” Yan Qingshan coaxed.

“Indeed. Mister Gu, the Reincarnation King arranged for all the souls in this Human Path Secret Realm to search for anything extraordinary in this world. I guess that they are searching for this seal.”

“Indeed. The Reincarnation King obeys Heaven. It was Heaven who had him search for it. Perhaps this seal contains something that even Heaven wants.”

“Mister Gu, we just want to see what is in there. How about you solve it?”

All the Go Dao cultivators spoke politely to Gu Hai.

Seeing the Go Dao cultivators’ gazes, Gu Hai nodded. “I’ll give it a try.”

As Gu Hai sat before the lava Go board, he studied it.

Nineteen line pairs? Gu Hai immediately simulated a thirty-two line-pair Go board in his mind. After looking for one whole day, he finally made the first move.

Gu Hai extended his hand and tapped on a position on the Go board. Lava immediately formed a black Go stone that landed on the Go board.

Clack!

The moment the black Go stone landed, the lava suddenly formed a white Go stone and played it.

Clack!

Gu Hai used the Go board to break the seal.

——

Find the original at *hosted* .

While Gu Hai’s group could not see that black cat, that black cat could see Gu Hai as it stood in a dark space.

The left side of the black cat showed a scene of the lava-filled place where Gu Hai played. However, its right showed the snowy mountains and the Grand Mohist walking over.

“Meow! Bunch of fools! After trying to solve it for so long, you still can’t solve it. Fools! Fools! Fools!” the black cat cried out in depression.

Then, it turned its head to look at the Grand Mohist’s appearance on the right side.

“Myriad Age Daoist Sect? Meow! Lackeys of that old fool Six Paths. Lackey, you are here again? Here again? If I ever get out, I will swallow you all up! All you lackeys! Meow!” The black cat looked at the Grand Mohist sullenly. Unfortunately, its words could not carry over, only its meows.

“One thousand years ago? That old man fused a Go puzzle into the seal. You clearly could have solved it! You clearly could have solved it! To think that you stopped midway? Meow! When I get out, I will definitely eat you! Eat you! Meow! How frustrating! How frustrating!” The black cat seemed to go berserk.

——

Hey guys, you all probably have been seeing the occasional message about Patreon and how EIF isn’t doing very well financially. So I held out as long as I can, and unfortunately, things are not looking up. In the interest of being able to keep up a sustainable income to pay my bills and pay the team sufficiently, I’m going to have to lower the release rates of EIF in favor of picking up another . As of now, I have not found another yet, but I will be decreasing the release rates from May onwards so that I have time to search for the next . For now, the rates will be lowered to 30 chapters a month, essentially daily chapters.——Join the Discord to chat about the or anything else and earn the server currency that can be exchanged for advanced chapters: https://discord.gg/frtSDWeCheck out my Youtube channel to watch me play games as well as the occasional live translation session: https://www.youtube.com/c/dragoninwhiteAlso, check out my Twitch, give us a hand and drop me a follow. We do a weekly stream playing games while discussing Chinese cultivation, culture, and topics. I also do live translation sessions, or games. https://www.twitch.tv/dragoninwhiteDo support the Patreon as that is our only source of income. Also, you get advanced chapters to read ahead of the public release: https://www.patreon.com/DragonInWhiteCheck out DragonInWhite Merch at the DragonInWhite Merch Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DragonInWhiteShopIf you are looking to buy books online delivered to you, consider using Book Depository. I personally find their prices good, one of the cheapest I can find in my area. Of course, do make a price comparison with the other sites available to you first. If you do buy from Book Depository, consider using my affiliate link, it gives me a small commission at no extra cost to you: http://bit.ly/dragonbookdepositorynew.