Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 148

Blood was flowing from the corners of his mouth, and every time he placed a stone, the white stones had become blood stones due to the blood flowing from his arms.

“…Around fifty moves, he might collapse within that range.”

Seol Jung-cheon remained silent.

“…Palace Lord, I apologize for saying this twice, but… shouldn’t you intervene?”

“Hyeon Sim.”

“…Yes.”

“There are times when a man must never retreat. Do you know when that is?”

“…Isn’t it when engaging in a life-or-death battle?”

Seol Jung-cheon shook his head.

“That’s as a martial artist, not as a man. A man’s path lies in deeper places.”

“…”

“As a man, one must never retreat from the path one believes is right. Right now, Woon-hwi is being crushed by Kang Cheon-u’s momentum and bleeding, yet he’s trying to walk the path of Go he chose to the very end.”

Seol Jung-cheon’s eyes deepened.

“Like stones on a Go board, every choice in life has its reason. If someone tries to shake that choice, it’s not mere interference but tantamount to denying one’s very existence. Woon-hwi knows this, which is why he doesn’t retreat.”

Hyeon Sim bowed his head.

“It’s also right to refrain from others’ interference. It would be no different from lacking respect.”

“…”

“As a man, there are times when one must protect one’s path even while bleeding. What Woon-hwi is showing right now is exactly that.”

Deep pride dwelled in Seol Jung-cheon’s eyes.

Hyeon Sim no longer opened his mouth.

Because he wanted to watch.

What kind of appearance would Woon-hwi show before the Sichuan Overlord who leads the massive organization called the Four Heaven Alliance?

* * *

The Go board installed in the center of the training ground was being crushed by enormous energy.

The intangible force unleashed every time a stone was placed twisted the space, and three sections of the training ground’s walls had already collapsed.

The fragments of the Great Hall’s door that had collapsed earlier covered the training ground floor, with pieces scattering through the air.

Woon-hwi’s long robe was also already stained with blood.

Nevertheless, Woon-hwi’s eyes remained clear and calm.

His concentration also showed not the slightest disturbance.

Kang Cheon-u was greatly surprised at this moment, though he didn’t show it.

Surely his insides must be churning and his mental strength itself must be depleting in real-time due to the crushing energy around him, yet he maintained such composure.

It was incomprehensible.

Soon, Kang Cheon-u placed a black stone.

The air split with a thunderous roar of “Paaaang-” as it struck Woon-hwi’s right shoulder hard. His white daopo tore and red blood splattered.

Woon-hwi only slightly furrowed his brow, his gaze still directed toward the Go board.

“…There is no retreat.”

Finally, Kang Cheon-u’s inner thoughts leaked out.

He could no longer hide it.

Admiration filled his eyes.

Woon-hwi, who had been staring at the Go board, slowly raised his head to look at Kang Cheon-u.

In those eyes, tranquility was seated deeper than pain.

“Is there any reason I should retreat?”

Kang Cheon-u smiled at Woon-hwi’s question.

“That’s right. Someone who devoured Jeok An and massacred my Four Heaven Alliance’s martial artists should have at least that much guts.”

Woon-hwi casually wiped the blood on his hands and placed a white stone. It was a position to counterattack against Kang Cheon-u’s full offensive.

“The expression ‘massacre’ is not appropriate. There were reasons worth killing for, and since they drew their swords before me, I merely swung my sword as well.”

“Yes, that would be so. But even if there are reasons, you as a human being cannot be explained by my common sense. How can a seventeen-year-old boy reach Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, already dominate four regions, and simultaneously face the Four Heaven Alliance, Martial Alliance, and Yang Empire?”

Kang Cheon-u placed another stone, and as energy exploded, one of the nearby trees was uprooted entirely.

Blood flowed from Woon-hwi’s mouth, but he answered without the slightest wavering.

“If I can endure Senior Kang’s momentum like this, couldn’t I have endured their blades?”

At those words, Kang Cheon-u’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh ho! So ultimately, everything lies in ‘endurance’?”

“It lies in endurance, and also in movement. Because I clearly recognized their carelessness, it was manageable, and because I had confidence in targeting their openings, I took aim. As a result, the situation tilted, and I ultimately obtained everything I wanted to have.”

“…Words are easy, but no one else could have put that into action. Your intellect, decisiveness, boldness, spirit… you have already far transcended the level of a ‘rising talent.'”

Woon-hwi only smiled and concentrated more on the Go game.

The white stone he was holding turned red.

“Will you not play?”

“I will play.”

Woon-hwi, having organized his thoughts, placed the blood stone.

That was the turning point.

Kang Cheon-u made a move, and Woon-hwi did as well.

Kang Cheon-u’s brow slightly furrowed. From some point, his territory had begun to be gradually pushed back.

“Alliance Leader Kang, Go is like a battlefield.”

Woon-hwi’s voice, speaking calmly as he placed a stone, pierced his ears.

“Sometimes we achieve great victory through small sacrifices, and sometimes we turn defeat in one place into victory in another.”

At his words, Kang Cheon-u rubbed his chin and nodded.

“Yes, you’re right. And your Go… is truly remarkable.”

The conversation between the two gradually decreased as their game passed fifty moves.

Now only the Go board and the movement of stones remained between them.

Kang Cheon-u’s momentum became even stronger, and the training ground was increasingly destroyed more miserably.

Won Yang and Han Mu-rin clenched their fists tightly.

They wanted to rush out immediately. Rush out and smash Kang Cheon-u’s face.

Great Void Formless or whatever, wasn’t this too excessive?

Woon-hwi’s clothes had originally been white.

Those white clothes were now dyed red, and blood was flowing from his mouth to the point where wiping it had become meaningless.

This wasn’t right.

Someone lightly grabbed both their shoulders.

It was Manager Seong.

“If you truly trust the Young Master, watching is the correct answer.”

Manager Seong’s gaze briefly turned to Ju So-ah.

Though Ju So-ah’s time with Woon-hwi wasn’t long, her trust in Woon-hwi remained unchanged.

And someone of her caliber understood what kind of situation this was.

A man’s fight.

A stage where the knot with the Four Heaven Alliance could be completely untied.

Here, watching was the right thing to do.

Though some anxiety could be seen in Ju So-ah’s appearance as she bit her lips hard, it wasn’t to the extent of these two.

Whew.

Manager Seong exhaled and raised his head to look at Woon-hwi.

That wasn’t ordinary Go.

No Go player could place proper stones in such a situation.

That was certain.

But he believed. In Woon-hwi.

* * *

Kang Cheon-u and Woon-hwi no longer opened their mouths.

A fierce life-or-death battle was unfolding on the Go board.

Kang Cheon-u’s black stones, starting from the upper left corner, formed vast territory and extended toward the center, while Woon-hwi’s white stones, positioned in the lower right corner, built solid walls to resist.

The collision of the two forces occurred in the center, where countless stones became entangled, creating a complex situation.

At this level, when placing each stone, tremendous possibilities were created.

One had to know and understand all those moves to seize the opportunity for victory.

As one of Woon-hwi’s blood stones was placed with a thud in the center, a formation surrounding five black stones was completed.

Kang Cheon-u’s eyes wavered.

It was a position he had not anticipated.

Placing a stone in such a location was a move that completely deviated from baduk orthodoxy, but the effect that stone created was astonishing.

The fate of the five black stones was reversed in an instant.

Though Woon-hwi’s body was covered in wounds, his mind was focused solely on baduk.

Woon-hwi’s eyes sparkled and sparkled again.

Every situation on the go board was being drawn in his mind.

The paths created by white stones and black stones.

The possibilities held within empty spaces. Even the hidden connection points created by the stones.

The three white stones sacrificed in the center drew the black stones’ attention like bait, while Woon-hwi established a solid formation in the upper right corner.

At first glance it was merely a small territory, but the potential hidden within it was tremendous.

If black stones attacked, it would become a trap itself, and if they didn’t attack, it would slowly grow to become a force capable of overturning the entire board situation.

When the black stone group surrounded one white stone in the lower left corner, Woon-hwi abandoned it and instead placed a new stone in the right center.

That single move began to reverse the flow of the entire go board, like a dam changing the course of a stream.

White stone influence penetrated deep into the territory occupied by black stones.

Each time Kang Cheon-u desperately placed black stones in the center, the exploding qi struck Woon-hwi’s body, but his eyes were already looking ahead to the next move, the move after that, and even beyond.

Blood flowed from Woon-hwi’s mouth each time a stone was placed, but his hands showed not the slightest tremor.

One white stone placed between two black stones. At first glance it seemed a reckless challenge, but that stone became a bridgehead connecting the left center and right center.

Now the white stones crossed the center like a river dividing the black stone group, and the black stones’ vast territory was split in two.

When Kang Cheon-u attacked the upper right corner and surrounded five white stones, Woon-hwi connected the stone he had hidden in the lower left corner to the center as if he had already anticipated it.

It was like an ambush that had been planned long ago.

He sacrificed five white stones, but in return it was a decisive move that neutralized thirteen black stones.

The white stones penetrated the black stones’ territory like living waves, and the go board began to be filled with white territory. The black stones’ massive formation was gradually separated, isolated, and finally surrounded by white stones.

The white stone in Woon-hwi’s hand was stained red with blood, but the moment it was placed on the go board, it displayed miraculous power like planting a victory flag.

Each stone was not simply a stone but part of a precise strategy, the completion of an artistic arrangement.

It tilted.

Everything.

It was a spectacular sight of gentle wisdom overwhelming powerful force, like water carving away rock.

The pain of his flesh felt distant, as if it belonged to another world.

Woon-hwi fell into complete selfless state, and even the blood flowing from his fingertips became part of the baduk.

The path to victory was visible.

Thud.

A white stone was placed.

Thud thud.

More white stones followed.

The training ground was completely devastated by Kang Cheon-u’s momentum, and the pavilions that had remained intact collapsed, but on the go board, another landscape was unfolding.

Kang Cheon-u’s black stones were gradually surrounded, and his territory crumbled piece by piece.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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