112: Play chess

"Oh my, so many years have passed, and yet someone is still able to come in!"

Just then, the voice of a weathered Old Man suddenly sounded in Wei Xun's ear.

Turning his head to look, he saw an Old Man in a white robe with a long beard sitting cross-legged beside a chessboard, holding a black piece in his hand.

"Who are you?" Wei Xun was completely dumbfounded to find someone in the tower.

"What a thing to say!" The Old Man tilted his head to glance at Wei Xun, then laughed and said, "You ran into my house, and you ask me who I am?"

"Your house?"

Wei Xun was even more confused after hearing the Old Man's words.

This Old Man had a full head of white hair, his eyebrows and beard were also white, and his face was covered in wrinkles.

Although he looked very aged, his eyes appeared full of light, and he looked quite spirited.

"What else could it be?" The Old Man stroked his beard and laughed, then beckoned to Wei Xun, "It is rare to have a guest, hurry over and play a game of chess with this Old Man!"

Wei Xun walked slowly to the chessboard after hearing this and looked at it.

This Old Man was playing Go.

Moreover, the containers holding the white and black pieces were placed in front of him; it looked as if he had been playing against himself all along.

"Do you want black or white?" The Old Man asked, looking at Wei Xun.

"I don't know how to play Go!" Wei Xun smiled awkwardly at the Old Man.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the Old Man's expression could not hide his disappointment, but then he came to his senses: "If you don't know, I can teach you!"

"Uh!" Wei Xun scratched his chin; in truth, he didn't really want to learn.

The Old Man seemed to perceive Wei Xun's thoughts, so he sighed leisurely: "Forget it, this Old Man will just play against himself!"

"Old Man!" Wei Xun asked curiously upon seeing this: "How did you come to live inside this tower?"

"Live inside?" The Old Man laughed after hearing this: "Who would want to live inside? This Old Man was locked in!"

"Locked in?" Wei Xun continued to ask: "Who locked you in, Old Man?"

"Oh!" The Old Man sighed: "That is a long story!"

Seeing that there was a story to be heard, Wei Xun sat down opposite the chessboard.

But the Old Man stopped mid-sentence, instead looking up at Wei Xun: "It's too long, better not tell it!"

"..."

Before Wei Xun could press him, the Old Man continued: "If you can play chess with me, I might be able to tell you slowly!"

"Then I will learn!" Seeing this, Wei Xun had no choice but to agree.

So the Old Man pointed at the black and white pieces on the board and slowly explained the rules of Go.

Things like Qi, capturing, heaven, star points, and various moves left Wei Xun completely bewildered.

The Old Man didn't care if Wei Xun understood or not; he pointed at the board and talked at length. After finishing his explanation, he was quite satisfied with himself.

"How is it? Do you understand?" The Old Man stroked his beard with a confident look.

"Uh!" Wei Xun smiled awkwardly: "How about you say it one more time?"

"You are a child who cannot be taught!" Unexpectedly, seeing Wei Xun's poor comprehension, the Old Man was so Qi-ed that he sighed.

"Old Man, do not Life Qi!" Wei Xun had to comfort him: "Why don't we play a game first, and I can learn while playing?"

Upon hearing this, the Old Man had no choice but to nod: "That will also do!"

So the Old Man handed the white pieces to Wei Xun, and the two began to pick up all the black pieces on the board and put them back into their respective containers.

Immediately after, the Old Man picked up a black piece and said: "Black moves first, watch closely!"

He saw the Old Man place the black piece on a star point in the top right corner of the board, then he looked up at Wei Xun: "It's your turn!"

Wei Xun imitated the Old Man, picking up a white piece with two fingers, and after hesitating slightly, he placed the white piece directly in the center of the board.

Seeing this scene, the Old Man was speechless: "How could you play on the Tengen?"

"Uh..." Seeing this, Wei Xun wanted to pick up the white piece, but his hand was slapped away by the Old Man.

"No regrets after placing a piece!"

Hearing this, Wei Xun could only smile awkwardly.

Then the Old Man continued to play his black pieces, landing on a star point in another corner.

This time, Wei Xun picked up a white piece again, not knowing where to place it; his finger kept circling over the board, and he observed the Old Man's expression.

"Forget it, forget it, let's stop playing!"

The Old Man was so annoyed by Wei Xun's actions that he lost all interest in playing, so he threw the piece in his hand back into the container and leaned back in his chair, wanting to sleep.

"Oh, Old Man!" Wei Xun said with a smile: "I am truly not good at Go, why don't I play Gomoku with you instead?"

"Hmm?" Hearing this, the Old Man opened his eyes and asked: "What is Gomoku?"

Seeing that the Old Man didn't know, Wei Xun immediately picked up the black and white pieces and set them up on the board.

"Gomoku is very simple; whoever connects five of their own pieces first wins."

Wei Xun explained the rules.

"Whether it's horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, it all counts."

"What's fun about that!" The Old Man shook his head.

"Just give it a try! We're idle anyway." Wei Xun, with a smile on his face, tried hard to invite him.

Seeing this, the Old Man had no choice but to sit back down beside the chessboard with a reluctant look.

"Then this Old Man will play a game with you!"

After putting the pieces back into his container, the Old Man picked up a black piece and, following his habit from Go, placed it directly in a corner of the board.

And Wei Xun continued to choose to place his piece in the very center, the Tengen position.

Then the Old Man continued to play, still following Go methods, completely ignoring Wei Xun's move in the center.

After a few moves, when Wei Xun set up a four-piece Formation in the center of the board, the Old Man finally felt something was wrong.

Although he had never played Gomoku, after hearing the rules, the Old Man finally placed a piece on the side to try and block him.

But by now it was too late; no matter where Wei Xun placed his piece, he could connect three pieces with the others.

After a few more tugs-of-war, Wei Xun finally connected four pieces on one of the diagonal lines.

Now, no matter which end the Old Man blocked, Wei Xun could immediately place a piece on the other end and connect five.

The Old Man realized he had lost, and only then did he become interested.

"This Gomoku actually has some clever aspects!" The Old Man stroked his beard with a chuckle: "Although the rules are simple, you have to use your brain to play it!"

"Of course!" Seeing that he had successfully piqued the Old Man's interest, Wei Xun immediately patted his chest and said: "To tell you the truth, Old Man, I was once the runner-up in the Shimen Cliff Elementary School Gomoku tournament!"

"Let's play another game!" The Old Man nodded and immediately began picking the pieces off the board.

Seeing this, Wei Xun could only immediately cooperate.

This time, black still went first.

However, the Old Man holding the black pieces seemed to have figured out the trick to Gomoku this time, and directly pressed the black piece into the center of the board.

After a dozen moves.

Wei Xun looked at the five connected black pieces of the Old Man and opened his mouth wide in surprise.