The second white stone was placed, shockingly, on the Heavenly Origin—the very center of the Go board.

Placing the second white stone on the Heavenly Origin is exceptionally rare and defies conventional Go strategy. As soon as the stone was placed, the surrounding Go enthusiasts shook their heads. This was clearly the move of a novice. White was already at a disadvantage, and yet he played here. This game was as good as lost.

Ruan Lan looked anxious and was about to speak, but Yu Xiaoxiao and Li Li stopped her, reminding her of the "observe in silence" rule. Ruan Lan glared fiercely at Xu Lai. Damn brother-in-law. If you're planning to lose on purpose just so you can leave with Xiao Yu later, I, Ruan Lan, will never forgive you.

"Daddy's move is so cool!" Xu Yiyi's eyes twinkled.

Xu Lai laughed. "My daughter has good taste."

The crowd was speechless.

Xiao Yu gave Xu Lai a half-smile. Does he not want to win? she wondered, sighing softly to herself. Alas, it must be because I'm too charming.

Immediately after, Xiao Yu placed her black stone on the board with a crisp sound that echoed through the Go parlor. Xu Lai played his moves with astonishing speed, showing no signs of contemplation.

In the bystanders' eyes, Xu Lai's skills were atrocious; he was just placing stones haphazardly. Shaking their heads and sighing, more than half of the onlookers quickly left.

Only an elderly, white-haired man wearing reading glasses remained, his brow furrowed. He watched Xu Lai with a puzzled expression, lost in thought, sometimes shaking his head and other times nodding.

As the crowd dispersed, Xiao Yu, who thought victory was already hers, caught a glimpse of the elderly man from the corner of her eye. Surprised, she was about to speak when the old man simply chuckled and shook his head. Xiao Yu then took a deep breath, calmed her excitement, and focused wholeheartedly on the game.

CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.

The stones kept falling. Xu Lai was at a disadvantage across the board, with seemingly no hope of turning things around.

However, the game, which had seemed like a foregone conclusion, somehow never ended. Once, twice, three times—it was the same story. Whenever Xiao Yu tried to end the game quickly, she found it mired in a deadlock, a perpetual ninety-ten split in her favor.

But Xu Lai's stones were as stubborn as cockroaches, seemingly invincible. She could only manage to capture one or two white stones at a time. She had thought that as time passed, she would slowly devour Xu Lai's territory. Strangely, however, as they played on, the situation shifted from a ninety-ten split to an inexplicable seventy-thirty.

Fifteen minutes later, Xu Lai still played without a moment's thought. As soon as Xiao Yu placed a stone, he would respond instantly, his speed astonishingly fast. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu's hesitation, which had been a few seconds at the start, now stretched to thirty seconds, and then to a full minute each round.

Finally, Xiao Yu lost her composure. She suddenly realized with horror that, without her noticing, a group of nearly twenty black stones was on the verge of being captured, left with only a single liberty. The most critical yet inconspicuous position turned out to be the Heavenly Origin stone Xu Lai had placed at the very beginning.

Xiao Yu was utterly flabbergasted.

Just as she tried to salvage the situation, she discovered something even more terrifying: if she saved the twenty black stones in the center, she would lose at least thirty stones on the side. No matter how she calculated, she could find no solution. It seemed Xu Lai had used an unprecedented joseki, one that was both offensive and defensive.

After hesitating for a full three minutes, Xiao Yu finally played a black stone, protecting the side and abandoning the center.

"Sorry about that," Xu Lai said, placing a white stone and taking the last liberty from the twenty black stones in the middle of the board.

Xiao Yu's heart trembled. Twenty of her black stones had been captured. This single mistake squandered all her previous advantages. The situation was instantly reversed; it was no longer a seventy-thirty split, but an even fifty-fifty.

The onlooking crowd gasped, their expressions changing drastically. Goosebumps broke out across their skin.

Ruan Lan was even more stunned. What kind of joseki was this? She had never seen or even heard of it before. It completely exceeded her understanding.

Even the white-haired elder who had been watching from the very beginning furrowed his brows tightly. He couldn't be sure if this was a new joseki or a coincidence. If it was a new joseki... when did Xu Lai begin setting it up? Could it have been with that seemingly irrational Heavenly Origin stone at the very beginning?

But he knew one thing. Xiao Yu had lost, and it was a disastrous loss. Her black stones, which had seemed to have a chance, were now devoid of vitality. There was no hope for a reversal.

Ten minutes later, Xiao Yu also gradually realized this. She conceded when another group of her black stones was surrounded and on the verge of being captured.

"What joseki was that?" Xiao Yu asked, her gaze fixed on Xu Lai with a complex expression. He was no newbie at Go; he was a master playing the fool.

A joseki is a fundamental sequence of moves in Go that results in a fair outcome for both players, from which most games develop. But she had never seen Xu Lai's style of play before. Therefore, Xiao Yu suspected that Xu Lai had modified a joseki while playing with her, which had led to such a surprising victory.

"White Thirty-seven," Xu Lai said.

This was a white-stone strategy renowned throughout the Immortal Domain's Game of Go Path, with hundreds of derivatives. Its creator was the Second Divine General, Baize. Her style was jokingly referred to by Go fanatics as a joseki where "Black profits slightly in the opening, but White never loses."

"Ridiculous. You're an unknown player with no rank, yet you dare claim you've developed a new joseki," a middle-aged man among the spectators scoffed. "I think you just got lucky!"

The White Thirty-seven joseki had never appeared in the Hua Country's Go scene, let alone the world's, because it was a strategy from the Immortal Domain.

Xu Lai smiled without explaining.

After becoming The Supreme Emperor, the invincible Xu Lai found himself bored to death. He would routinely contemplate transcending his physical form, and to dissuade their lord from such thoughts, his Divine Generals spared no effort. Of course, that was except for the First Divine General, Taotie, who was just a brute. The Seventh Divine General took Xu Lai to taste all kinds of delicacies, which eventually made Xu Lai fall in love with cooking and traveling the starry skies in search of ingredients.

The Second Divine General, Baize, on the other hand, played games with Xu Lai—all kinds of games, but mostly Go. It was well-known that Baize had achieved enlightenment through Go. She was called the foremost Chess Saint of the Immortal Domain, unmatched in strategy.

As The Supreme Emperor, Xu Lai's Go skills were naturally formidable, yet he had lost to her for a full thirty thousand years. It was only in the last ten thousand years that Xu Lai began to hold his own against Baize, and now they were evenly matched.

Baize had created countless joseki, and she had invented White Thirty-seven when she was just thirteen years old. After that, her life became one of unbeatable success as she challenged the seventy-two Chess Saints of the Immortal Domain.

Seventy-two battles.

Seventy-two victories.

Furthermore, Baize never used anyone else's joseki, only her own. If ever she was countered or fell into a disadvantage, she would deduce a new approach and joseki on the spot. In the Game of Go Path, she was a goddess. For forty thousand years, Baize has never known defeat.

From then on, there was only one Chess Saint in the Immortal Domain, and her name was—

Baize.

Thus, ever since Baize joined the Heavenly Court as the Second Divine General, countless Go enthusiasts had sought positions there, willing to become even ordinary Heavenly Soldiers just to be near her.

"I won. Your bet with Ruan Lan is canceled," Xu Lai said, looking at Xiao Yu. He then took Xu Yiyi's hand and said, "It's time to go home and sleep, Yiyi."

"Mhmm!" Yiyi's eyes curved into a happy smile. Her father really was the most formidable person in the world.

Meanwhile, Ruan Lan, Yu Xiaoxiao, and Li Li were still in a state of shock.

Xiao Yu, an amateur sixth-dan player, had been defeated by Xu Lai, who supposedly never played Go. To Ruan Lan, it all felt like a dream. But… did this mean she didn't have to go to East Sea University to perform that striptease after all?

Overcome with excitement, Ruan Lan lunged at Xu Lai and, standing on her tiptoes, went in for a kiss.

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