Chapter 7: Delusions of Grandeur

  Yesterday after Wentao arrived, Ma Yuzhen took him around to get familiar with everything. At this point, Wentao's memory of the room's layout is probably better than that of the two old people.

  She went into the living room and directly took out the Tieguanyin to brew, this is Hu Kaitu's favorite tea. Wentai himself took a bottle of drink from the refrigerator. Seeing Wentai being so natural and casual as if he was at his own home, Hu Kaitu showed a relieved smile, the sadness of Wentai wanting to leave earlier had truly reduced a lot.

  As people grow old and their children are no longer by their side, even if they live a wealthy life, it's hard to bear the loneliness. The more Wentai treats this place as his own home, the happier he becomes.

  He lightly blew on his tea bowl, and Hu Kai Zhu began to tell the story. The Kong family was a prominent clan in the country, not only with extensive economic connections but also holding a high position in the martial arts world. As for the martial arts world, Hu Kai Zhu wasn't very clear about it either, he had just heard from friends that Kong Jie was the eldest grandson of the Kong family's current generation, and at the age of ten or so, he became a publicly recognized martial arts prodigy, while his only other interest besides martial arts was Go.

  He is still a super genius in Go, and his domestic ranking has entered the top ten when he was over 20 years old. In recent years, he has become more powerful and has few opponents at home. Some time ago, he founded a company called Yingjie Group, which mainly has two major businesses: martial arts and Go.

  With Kong's outstanding talent and economic connections, the group rose rapidly. Moreover, he also proposed that in order for Chinese Go to lead the world again and surpass Japan and South Korea, domestic unification is necessary. Only then can we gather the best talents, develop the best professional system, select the best talents, and thus began a wave of mergers and acquisitions after rapid development.

  He gathered a group of experts, including himself, and challenged others everywhere. If the other party disagreed with being acquired, someone would come to challenge them constantly. Think about it, a chess club that is always being challenged by others, who would still be willing to come?

  "Is Naoya going to challenge the acquisition too?" What a crazy guy.

  Hu Kai nodded and said: "It seems to be the case, but I don't know much about it. It's another world, but he has caused a stir in the Go community."

  As Hu Kai said, Wen Tao increasingly felt that Kong Jie was very interesting. He was very dissatisfied with the current domestic training system. Those small chess clubs that only made money had no necessary existence. There must be a unified organization, and only the strong could exist. Everyone worked together to develop a new system.

  Of course, the price he acquired was also very good, plus the background of the Kong family. Most chess clubs did not need him to come to their doorsteps and had already surrendered, while some were defeated by him one after another and found it difficult to continue. Only those chess clubs that won two out of three games against him would have the qualification to continue participating in the new Go League.

  If Hu Kaiyu opened this chess club just for the money, he wouldn't be so troubled and could have sold it at a good price. But since it's purely out of interest, he can't bear to part with it, especially now that the situation is neck and neck. However, Wang Zhilin's unusual behavior has also made him extremely worried.

  Since helping Gu Han's master ascend for the first time, Wen Tao had already decided to take this path and see it through. Unfortunately, as Gu Han's master would say, Wen Tao and the Heavenly Path were destined to be apart. However, Wen Tao never gave up on the resolute idea in his heart. He wanted to go to the Immortal Realm and fly around twice, without ever thinking of failure. In his lifetime, all his efforts were focused on striving for this goal.

  Ordinary people say that the emperor takes turns, this year it's our turn, now Wén Tāo is going to see, what can't be done on this road to immortality and divinity. If it weren't for his physical peculiarity, even Gǔ Hán's master, a high-ranking official, would have made a judgment that he has no fate with the heavenly way, Wén Tāo wouldn't be so persistent.

  I remember that Guhan's master once sighed "heavenly will", but Wentai disliked being manipulated by others the most, and "heavenly will" was no exception. If heaven wanted him to be a certain way, then he would do the opposite and go against heaven.

  At this time, Ma Yuzhen's voice calling them to eat came over. Hu Kaitu said: "Look, what's the point of telling you these things? Don't worry about the chess club, your uncle will take care of it himself. Let's go and have dinner first. If your aunt finds out that you want to leave and not live at home, she'll be even more heartbroken."

  Wen Tao smiled helplessly and didn't say much. If he doesn't leave early, it will be even more difficult later. As for the Chess Society's affairs, he naturally had to take care of them, with the Eight Sound Soul Flute in hand. No matter who was competing with Kong Jie, Wen Tao could assist from the side, and his loved ones and those related to him would not be allowed to be bullied by anyone.

  When eating breakfast, Hu Kaitu told Ma Yuzhen the meaning of what Wentao said in the morning. Ma Yuzhen immediately put down her bowl and chopsticks, and tears flowed out. She and Hu Kaitu came to the big city from the countryside, and decades passed in a flash. Their children were not by their side, and they had no other relatives. When Hu Kaitu mentioned Wentao, she liked him so much that she often called him on the phone. Now that Wentao has come, she loves him even more.

  Unexpectedly, just arrived, had to leave, Wen Tao hurried over and explained and persuaded. After a lot of good words, in the end, he couldn't bear the old man's tears, and agreed to stay for a week before moving out.

  For the next three days, Wentai spent most of his time at Hu Kaitu's chess club, and from Hu Kaitu and others he gradually learned the whole story.

  Kong Jie's thinking is indeed a combination of ancient and modern, domestically, whether in the martial arts world or the Go world, there is no truly professional league. The organization of various Go events is mostly official, and then there are some invitation tournaments. Kong Jie wants to create a modernized league in both industries, expanding the influence of martial arts and Go.

  As for his various theories and sayings, they sound quite reasonable, whether it's a big truth or a small truth, both are quite reasonable.

  Only by putting aside local interests and small groups can martial arts and Go truly develop domestically, just like China's table tennis and America's basketball in the past. Going deep into people's hearts and having mass participation is the true way to development.

  This idea and concept made Wentai think of his past self, when he had obtained many cultivation methods and treasures. After being thoroughly judged by Guhan's master that the heavens did not allow him to comprehend the Great Dao, aside from despising the so-called heavenly will, he had thought about it before. If there was a method for cultivating immortality, why couldn't it be widely promoted?

  At that time, Gu Han's master told him that if he practiced or taught a few people, even more, it was nothing. If you want to let everyone practice, those old guys in Shu Mountain will definitely come out and intervene, involving too many problems and interests, and even various countries will intervene, which is not very realistic.

  It seems that Kong Jie's current approach will not be well received there either.

  At least for now, I won't let him join the Kai Bamboo Chess Club.

  Wang Lao refused to say another word, apparently the voice in his soul was a huge blow to him. Hu Kai Zhu had no idea what happened back then and seeing Wang Lao's state made him even more uncertain about their chances of winning the final battle.

  Kong Jie has been preparing for battle these past few days. Since he was the one who initiated the challenge, even if his opponent had invited two masters to fight him alone, he would not be intimidated.

  In the blink of an eye, three days have passed and the third match is about to begin. This time, the Hu Kezheng Chess Club is even more crowded. The spectator room is already packed, and Hu Kezheng had to connect a few TVs outside.

  "Mr. Wang, are you...alright?" Hu Kai Zhu looked at Wang Zhi Lin who had lost a lot of weight in just three days and asked with concern, fearing that he might not be able to hold on.

  "Is everything okay, has he arrived?" Wang Zhilin's voice was low and aged, as if he had grown ten years older in just a few days. The sound of that voice had been haunting him all this time. Given his identity and status, even if he lost, he wouldn't stoop to using cheating methods. He still wanted to communicate with that voice again, so over the past few days, he had people investigate a lot of information. It turned out that there were some domestic fantasy novels or Japanese manga about Go, where the protagonist had similar experiences to his own. Was it really possible that there was a ghost who could play Go, an old ghost speaking to him?!

  As they spoke, Kong Jie walked in from outside. Although he came to crash the scene, he still politely shook hands with Hu Kai Zhu and then bowed his head to Wang Zhi Lin, saying: "Wang Lao, today I'll learn from you again."

  Bang! Wang Zhilin's old face turned bright red, after all these years of practicing Go, he had cultivated his mind. But this embarrassing thing still made him hard to control himself. Wen Tao was also by the side, he had just placed a cup of tea next to Wang Zhilin, seeing Wang Zhilin's appearance, he thought that this old man was too straightforward.

  Everyone can see that he is abnormal. Fortunately, Kong Jie, who was confident and proud, did not say much, otherwise Wang Zhilin would not know how to react.

  Watching Wang Zhilin walk, he stumbled a bit, and his spirit was also dizzy. Wentai hurried over to support him and sat down.

  "Have a sip of tea, old man." Wentao handed over the tea and looked at the old man's demeanor. Even if he didn't make the move himself, it would be difficult to hold on to this game, and in the future, he would also fall ill. It was a sin that someone helped his uncle fight, but was scared like this by himself. Wentao naturally wouldn't hesitate to add some seasoning to his tea.

  Wen Tao has been nourished by the spiritual energy of his Ling clothes every day, and countless top-grade medicinal herbs have also nourished him. Now, even for those in the True Cultivation Realm, these medicines are extremely precious, but to Wen Tao, they have no effect whatsoever. As for giving them to Wang Lao, it's not even worth mentioning that he can't tolerate such low-grade elixirs.

  Hu Kai saw Wen Tao being so stubborn, he was relieved, but also worried that Wang Zhilin would not be able to hold on. But then Wang Zhilin persisted again, and Hu Kai had no choice.

  Kong Jie took a glance at Wen Tao and didn't pay much attention. After the two sat down, Wen Tao followed Hu Kai Zhu out, and the formal trial began.

  At this time, after drinking the two cups of tea, Wang Zhilin felt a sudden surge of energy throughout his body, feeling refreshed and invigorated. The chronic illness that had plagued him for years, as well as the fatigue of the past few days, all vanished in an instant. His mind was clearer than it had ever been before. This feeling... was even better than when he was at the peak of his powers, competing against Korea's number one master. At this moment, even without the mysterious voice's assistance, Wang Zhilin felt confident that he could take on Kong Jie in a battle.