Chapter 96 - An Extra Rib (Part One)
Gu Hai, Scar, Shangguan Hen, and Gao Xianzhi jumped into the chasm and landed atop the turtle sh.e.l.l, gazing at the enormous weiqi board on it.
The turtle sh.e.l.l was set on the end of the dragon tail, and appeared to have been refined. It was as transparent as crystal.
"My Lord, perhaps we may not be able to take this dragon tail!" Shangguan Hen said, a wry smile pasted on his lips.
"Oh?" Gu Hai turned his gaze on Shangguan Hen, confused.
"Everyone knows that the dragon vein is beneficial, but do you know how strong a dragon vein is? Even if you can somehow unlock the seal, you must have the sufficient strength to capture it, and only then would you succeed. Furthermore, once this dragon tail is released, it will flee right away for sure. The dragon tail has a terrifying strength, you simply cannot succeed!" Shangguan Hen explained.
"What do you mean? Captain Shangguan, you mean to say that my Lord can't succeed even by relying on the cloud general, Xiang Yu?" Gao Xianzhi asked him, uncertain now.
"The dragon vein isn't formed by Nine-Five Island, but by the entire Thousand Islands Seas. It takes countless seas and islands to form a dragon vein. Do you know how strong you should be to capture this dragon vein?" Shangguan Hen rebuked, a wry smile on his face.
"How strong?" Gao Xianzhi asked, confused.
"At least you should be able to 'hold the island in your palm'!" Shangguan Hen answered solemnly.
"Hold...hold the island in the palm? Nine-Five Island?" Gao Xianzhi's eyes went wide in shock right away.
Shangguan Hen nodded his affirmation once again.
In contrast, Gu Hai's eyelids started twitching like crazy. The strength to hold Nine-Five Island in your palm? Nine-Five Island wasn't just a small piece of island, its sheer size was actually comparable to that of the planet Earth...
Shangguan Hen had quite mysterious origins. He seemed to know something about everything. Though Gu Hai had not made detailed inquiries, after a.n.a.lyzing his statement it was quite evident he was stating the truth.
Without paying any attention to the dragon vein any longer, Gu Hai stretched his hand out and grabbed the bone saber.
The seal on the turtle sh.e.l.l promptly blocked Gu Hai.
"Hmmm?" Gu Hai's face darkened immediately.
Everyone else made an attempt to grab the blade, but weren't able to. The seal of the turtle sh.e.l.l was simply too strong.
"This sealing turtle sh.e.l.l belongs to Bixi!" Shangguan Hen stated in a heavy voice.
"Bixi?" Gu Hai was taken aback.
"Yes! Moreover, it's from a dragon-transformed Bixi. A Bixi has the head of a dragon and body of a turtle. It has the blood of a dragon, allowing it to eventually transform into a dragon. However, it is extremely difficult. If a Bixi ate this dragon vein, it could then transform into a dragon. After it has transformed into a giant dragon, its turtle sh.e.l.l will fall off! This turtle sh.e.l.l is the very turtle sh.e.l.l fallen off after a Bixi has transformed into a dragon! Afterward, it was refined into this magical tool by Elder Guanqi," Shangguan Hen explained with absolute certainty.
Gu Hai sank into silence momentarily.
Did the Bixi I encountered during the s.h.i.+pwreck sense the dragon vein, and therefore, was moving towards the Nine-Five Island?
Gu Hai's gaze moved from the turtle sh.e.l.l to the dragon vein before finally landing on the bone saber that was exuding a slight black qi.
Gazing at the weiqi game on the sh.e.l.l, Gu Hai was slightly caught by surprise. "A 29x29 grid?"
Much to Gu Hai's astonishment, the weiqi board on the turtle sh.e.l.l had twenty-nine crisscrossed lines. Next to it were placed black pieces, as if waiting for someone to place the pieces.
"What a complex weiqi game!" A surprised look momentarily appeared on Gao Xianzhi's face.
Gu Hai, on the other hand, was lost in thought.
As far as the other people were concerned, this weiqi game was incomparably complex. However, for Gu Hai, it was still within the acceptable range. Gu Hai remained dignified and serene for the time it takes a joss stick to burn completely.
"What a terrific weiqi game! What a powerful array!" Gu Hai's eyes suddenly turned brighter.
Picking up a black piece, he slowly placed it on the weiqi board.
In response to Gu Hai, a white piece suddenly appeared on the weiqi board out of thin air.
It looked like someone was playing with Gu Hai...
---
Meanwhile, at the Dragon Turtle Palace...
A loud bang suddenly resounded as Chen Tianshan was sent flying towards another palace, which immediately collapsed.
"Captain, are you alright?" A group of his men promptly rushed over.
"Wei Yang, what are you doing?" Chen Tianshan roared furiously as he crawled out of the rubble.
At this moment, the blind Wei Yang, carrying a vegetative Li Wei, flew up into the sky.
"Thank Gu Hai for saving me. Tell him that whatever I told him is all true. It's just that he needs to be extremely cautious while dispelling the seal. You can only win, you can't lose. Losing a piece means losing a life!" Wei Yang shouted aloud.
Without further ado, Wei Yang, carrying Li Wei, flew out of the grand array.
"Losing a piece means death?" Chen Tianshan's face immediately distorted.
No wonder, Meng Tai didn't solve the game himself. It wasn't that his weiqi skills were inadequate. On the contrary, he simply didn't dare to!
"Captain, are you alright?" one of the subordinates rushed over.
"No, I am not alright! Step aside immediately, it's bad, it's extremely bad, my Lord is in danger!" Chen Tianshan's face changed for worse. Without chasing after Wei Yang, Chen Tianshan rushed straight back to the dragon vein valley.
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At the dragon vein valley...
Gu Hai kept on the placing the pieces one after another. Both sides were well-matched in the contest. Neither had captured its opponent's piece, not a single one.
"What an awesome game!" A serious look flashed past Gu Hai's eyes.
Gu Hai placed another piece on the board.
"My Lord has captured a piece!" Gao Xianzhi's eyes lit up.
Suddenly, a white piece was taken out.
Soon after, the seal burst forth with loud rumbles, as if the seal had loosened up a bit.
After that, the dragon vein started to move slowly, creating tremors in the ground around it. Slowly, the ground started to quake.
"My Lord, don't play the game, it will kill you!" At this time, Chen Tianshan rushed over.
Only to see Gu Hai already standing below. Gu Hai wasn't playing the game anymore.
With the loosening of the seal, the dragon vein was able to move slightly. As a result of this, the bone saber came closer and closer to Gu Hai. Very soon, the bone saber was already within his reach.
Although such a game was hard to come by, Gu Hai won't lose sight of his target just because of this game.
As the game was etched in his mind already, he first decided to take the bone saber.
When the bone saber was close by, Gu Hai took a closer look and noticed spider web-like cracks on the bone saber. It seemed to be broken!
"So, what Wei Yang said was true? The bone saber was broken and was absorbing the dragon vein's energy to recover?" Gu Hai's eyes lit up.
Chen Tianshan suddenly jumped down to join them.
"My Lord! Wei Yang ran away with Li Wei...!" Chen Tianshan recounted everything to Gu Hai, gasping for breath.
"I know, I let them go!" Gu Hai answered calmly, without turning around.
"Ah?" Chen Tianshan was taken by surprise for a moment. How come I didn't know this?
"Do you think that Wei Yang would come to trust me at first meeting? Since he could survive until now at the hands of Meng Tai, he isn’t any ordinary character. However, I have no enmity with him. I let him go because he has enmity with Meng Tai, he can help me contain Meng Tai!" Gu Hai explained.
"Ah?" Chen Tianshan was slightly taken aback by Gu Hai's explanation.
"My lord, please be careful, this bone saber has close relations with dark arts!" Shangguan Hen spoke up, frowning grimly.
Gu Hai nodded his understanding as he stretched his hand out to grab the weapon.
Immediately, dense black qi emerged from the bone saber, strongly rejecting Gu Hai.
"Yield!"
BOOM!
The bone saber, which seemed to weigh a thousand jin, was slowly pulled out by Gu Hai.
Suddenly, a dragon’s roar rang out from the dragon vein below them. Without the bone saber feeding it, this maggot on the tarsal bone, the dragon vein became much more active instantly.
