I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 291: This Move… Is the Life and Death I’ve Comprehended

Ma Zhengyu's voice fell.

Yu Shao opened the lid of the Go bowl, reaching in first to grab a handful of white stones. As they settled into his palm, their icy chill seemed to seep into his entire body.

On the other side, seeing Yu Shao begin, Su Yiming remained composed. He reached into his bowl and picked out two black stones, placing them slowly on the board.

Yu Shao released his grip. The white stones clattered onto the board with a crisp tap-tap, as clear as the rain outside.

"Whoo..."

A cold gust of wind blew through the window, and even the sound of stones falling felt like it carried a wintry chill.

Yu Shao started counting—two by two. Soon, he finished.

Eight white stones. An even number.

That meant: Su Yiming would play Black. Yu Shao, White.

The crowd had completely surrounded the board, silently watching every move. As the two players returned the stones to their bowls, Su Yiming bowed his head first.

“Please guide me.”

Yu Shao bowed in return.

“Please guide me.”

With that, the match began.

Su Yiming quietly focused on the vast 19x19 grid before him. After a moment, he reached into the Go bowl. The stones inside clinked against each other.

Clack.

That sound... exactly like it was 180 years ago.

A hundred and eighty years ago, he too had sat like this, playing a game of Go.

The Southern Go Association now stood on the very site where, three centuries earlier, Yang Shirong and Gong Sheng had played their Ten-Game Match. And 180 years ago, he had also played here.

Now, after all this time, fate had brought him back to this same place—to play again.

180 years. Mountains had crumbled, seas had dried, the stars had shifted. Everything had changed…

But some things—never changed.

Three hundred years ago, 180 years ago, now… even 300 years into the future—

Finally, Su Yiming took out a stone and placed it on the board.

Tap!

Column 16, Row 4 — Star Point.

“First move: Star Point.”

In the crowd, Zheng Qin watched silently, instinctively recalling the game he’d played against Su Yiming not long ago.

That match had lasted only seventy moves. He had lost.

Even now, when he thought of that game, a chill lingered in his chest. The hidden brilliance within those moves had left him truly shaken.

“That game…”

Zheng Qin clenched his fist, unable to look away from the board.

Yu Shao calmly picked out his stone and responded.

Tap!

Column 4, Row 16 — Star Point.

Drip… drip… drip...

The rain outside intensified into a downpour. Wind rustled the trees, and the world seemed drowned in white noise.

But inside the playing room, only the sound of stones hitting the board could be heard.

Though it was daytime, the gloomy weather made the room feel especially dark and overcast.

“The lighting’s really bad... Should we turn on a light?”

Ma Zhengyu looked up, intending to ask the players—but both Yu Shao and Su Yiming were focused intently on the board, as if the world around them no longer existed.

He glanced at the others. Everyone else was just as entranced.

His words, already halfway out of his mouth, died before they left his lips.

Su Yiming reached into his bowl again.

Tap!

Column 16, Row 16 — Star Point.

Black had now formed the Double Star Points—the classic Two-Star Formation.

Yu Shao stared at the board, taking it all in. Then he slowly placed his response.

Tap!

Column 4, Row 4 — Star Point.

Now the board showed the famed layout: Two-Star vs. Two-Star.

For over a century, this opening had been the battleground for countless legendary matches, producing breathtaking attacks and defenses—its echoes still reverberated across the Go world.

Clack!

Another stone rustled in the bowl.

Su Yiming placed it.

Column 6, Row 17 — Small Knight’s Approach.

“He didn’t defend the corner—he went straight for a corner approach.”

The spectators’ expressions turned even more serious.

Yu Shao stared at the board without moving.

A long pause—then he drew a White stone and extended his hand to the top-right corner of the board.

His fingers dipped slightly.

Tap!

Column 17, Row 3 — 3-3 Point Invasion.

“White ignored the approach and tenuki’d to invade the 3-3 directly!”

The tension spiked. A storm was coming.

Facing Black’s approach, the standard reply would be something like small knight, low pincer, or high pincer—the normal flow.

But tenuki? It was rare. Aggressive. Provocative.

Xu Zijin looked up in surprise—but upon seeing Yu Shao’s face, she froze.

His expression showed nothing—as if the only thing in his world right now was this board.

In the dim light, his profile seemed sharp, solitary, and solemn—like he stood apart from the world itself.

Whoosh...

Outside, the rain picked up even more. Wind rattled the windows. The room grew darker still.

Yet neither player moved.

Su Yiming kept his eyes lowered, staring at the White stone now embedded at 17-3.

He reached into the bowl.

Tap!

Column 17, Row 4 — Block.

Clack!

Yu Shao responded instantly.

Tap!

Column 16, Row 3 — Extend.

In the crowd, Zheng Qin bit down without realizing it, the memory of that prior game flashing in his mind.

He had dissected it over and over… but never fully grasped it.

“Will Su Yiming… play the same way again?”

“Will he make that move?”

Su Yiming didn’t move right away.

His eyes calmly swept over the board. Images flickered in his mind—every move Yu Shao had ever made. All of them were still there.

“Thickness and thinness. Territory and influence...”

“Does Go really have an answer?”

“I don’t know. But I believe... there must be one.”

“180 years ago, I searched everywhere—but I couldn’t find it. If an answer did exist on the board, I couldn’t comprehend it.”

“Endless Ko fights. Lanterns burned down to ash. At last—moonlight, cold and distant.”

“When I first woke up in this time, I kept wondering: why did I, who should’ve been long dead, awaken again after over a century?”

“Now I understand. One person alone can’t find the answer.”

“It wasn’t a mistake. The heavens brought me across time—so I could see your game. So I could glimpse the hall of Go. So I could... play against you.”

“So I could finally... find the answer to Go.”

Clack!

Su Yiming’s hand dove into the bowl once more. The cold stones brushed his fingertips.

“Thank you... for letting me taste defeat again. For letting me lose those games. From those defeats... I saw it.”

“Now I’m sure—the answer exists.”

He took a Black stone.

His fingers lowered.

Just an inch—yet it felt like a drop from ten thousand feet.

Tap!

The stone landed.

Though the room was dim, that Black stone did not disappear into darkness.

BOOM!

Thunder roared outside the moment it hit. Rain exploded across Jiangling, drowning the world in a haze of silver.

It had been years since the city saw a storm like this.

Lightning split the sky, lighting up the room for a moment. Everything flashed—the world itself seemed to change.

And in that split-second, Su Yiming had already raised his head.

He looked straight at Yu Shao.

“If the heavens really sent me across 180 years of time just to play a game with you...”

“Then, Yu Shao—”

Su Yiming’s voice was calm. His face serene.

“This move... is the life and death I’ve comprehended.”

“My answer to you—and I believe... you’ll be satisfied.”

Column 14, Row 3 — Small Knight’s Move.

In the crowd, Zheng Qin’s pupils shrank. He couldn’t help but lean forward, his throat dry.

“It’s here!”

That game he'd lost in just seventy moves—it had started from this very move.

He had failed to read life and death. His blood had spilled on the board before he could even grasp it.

And the catalyst—was this move.

Small Knight’s Move.

In Go, some fights are like thunder—explosive, deadly.

Others are like water—flowing, persistent.

Some pursue long-term dominance. Others chase short-term glory.

Neither is inherently better.

It is the duality of Go that makes it eternal.

But this Small Knight’s Move—

It seeks decisive victory in this very life.

On the board—

Only those who can read life and death completely—can be called sage.

Black’s move had landed.

Now—

It was White’s turn to answer.