Chapter 1198 - 1189: Liu Suifeng
Chapter 1198 - 1189: Liu Suifeng
Chen Rong swept her gaze over the students in the hall and said lightly:
"Figure it out yourselves."
With that, she left the hall.
After leaving the hall, Chen Rong crossed two main roads and several courtyards and came to a small garden.
The Imperial Chess Art Hall covered several hundred mu of land. In addition to pavilions and towers, all kinds of flowers and trees, ponds, pools, lakes, and little hills were arranged among them in a well‑proportioned layout, making for a very beautiful environment.
This little garden was in a relatively remote part of the Chess Art Hall. Few people usually came here. Wild grass grew along both sides of the path, and in some places the weeds even covered the path.
Before she even entered the garden, she could already hear the sound of a zither drifting out from within, simple and elegant, as if washing one’s heart clean.
The small courtyard gate was only half‑closed. Chen Rong gave it a gentle push and it opened.
She seemed very familiar with this place. Passing through the little garden, she went straight to a house at the front.
"Senior Brother, what refined taste. Your playing is getting better and better."
The sound of the zither cut off abruptly. A handsome young man was sitting upright in front of a guzheng. Not only was he good‑looking, his bearing was extraordinary, heroic spirit overflowing.
The young man glanced at Chen Rong and smiled faintly. With that smile, he suddenly became a lot more approachable, changing in an instant from a cold, aloof male god into the big brother next door.
"Rongmei, you’ve finished your game with the Emperor of Great Dragon?"
Chen Rong nodded.
The young man smiled again and said:
"Your chess skills have clearly already surpassed the Sitting and Illuminating Realm; you’ve got half a foot into the Divine already, and you’re still this modest?"
Chen Rong chuckled.
"How can my level compare with yours? You’re the one who’s truly in the Divine Realm. Sigh, if we were still on Earth right now, all those Samsung Cups, Fujitsu Cups, Xin Nong Cups—every Go title would be yours. That Li Changgao, that Stone Buddha, they’d all get slaughtered by you. What a pity, sigh—"
Chen Rong let out a long sigh. In her admiring gaze there was a trace of heartache as she looked at the young man.
The young man smiled slightly.
"Rongmei, you’re flattering me too much. Although my Liu Suifeng’s chess has broken through the Divine Realm, compared to Master, the old man himself, I’m still a bit worse."
There was full self‑confidence and pride in the young man’s tone.
Only being a bit worse than his master was naturally something to be proud of.
Liu Suifeng’s master was Chen Rong’s father, Chen Guohua, known as the Go Saint of Xuanming Country.
At his Peak, Chen Guohua single‑handedly swept through the Go world of Ice Wolf Island and Jun’an Country, taking all the major Go tournament titles and achieving the peak accomplishment of Xuanming Country’s Go scene, shaking the whole world.
In Go, being older doesn’t necessarily mean being stronger.
Go is especially brain‑burning. For most people, their teens to around thirty is their peak. After they pass their early thirties, even if their skills are exquisite, every game drains their mental energy, and over time the body just can’t take it anymore.
After the Go Saint Chen Guohua passed his prime, the Go scene of Xuanming Country began to decline, from dominating alone to later a three‑way stand‑off among Xuanming Country, Ice Wolf Island, and Jun’an Country.
After the Go Saint retired, he turned his energy toward cultivating outstanding talents, discovering one gifted player after another. The one he appreciated the most among them was Liu Suifeng.
Liu Suifeng did not let him down. Under the Go Saint’s meticulous guidance, his chess improved by leaps and bounds, and he achieved quite outstanding results in international tournaments, becoming the leading figure of the younger generation.
Liu Suifeng formally became the Go Saint’s disciple at the age of thirteen. It was from that time that he got to know Chen Rong.
Influenced by her father, Chen Rong’s talent in Go was exceptional, and since she had been playing with him since childhood, her chess skill was also extremely formidable.
At thirteen, Liu Suifeng had already won the national youth Go championship. After拜ing the Go Saint as his master, he was full of ambition, feeling that he would soon become number one under heaven. He looked down his nose at ordinary Go experts.
But then Liu Suifeng ran into Chen Rong.
Chen Rong was a year younger than him.
Liu Suifeng went to the Chess Art Hall to look for the Go Saint. Master wasn’t there; only Chen Rong sat quietly reading on the sofa in her father’s office.
Liu Suifeng assumed Chen Rong was also the Go Saint’s disciple. Bored while waiting for the Go Saint, he invited Chen Rong to play a game.
Chen Rong did not refuse. The two started playing right there, and the result made Liu Suifeng’s jaw drop: he actually lost three games in a row.
This was no ordinary shock!
Liu Suifeng was the national youth champion. The girl in front of him was about his age, so how could she be this strong? But then why hadn’t she played in the national youth Go championship?
At the time, Chen Rong gave Liu Suifeng a glance and said lightly:
"Liu Suifeng, right? Your chess is so‑so. How did you get that national title?"
Liu Suifeng’s face was burning with embarrassment. Though he was upset inside, he had nowhere to vent it and couldn’t even muster a temper, because this little girl in front of him had just beaten him three times straight. Before this, almost no one his age could defeat him. Even veteran players with rich experience and high skill found it hard to win three in a row so easily.
Liu Suifeng was utterly dumbfounded on the spot. He glanced at Chen Rong, then lowered his head in shame.
"You... you know my name?"
Chen Rong giggled, casually took a Go magazine off the Go Saint’s office rack, and tossed it in front of Liu Suifeng.
When Liu Suifeng looked down, the cover of the magazine was a photo of himself. It was a cover interview the magazine had done with him after he won the youth championship.
When he saw this magazine, Liu Suifeng felt even more embarrassed, because there was a huge headline on the cover: "National Youth Go Champion—Determined to Become the Second Go Saint, Sweeping All International Titles."
Those words were indeed what Liu Suifeng had said back then. He’d been so excited—young and successful. Wasn’t he allowed to be a little arrogant? With the reporter coaxing him on at the side, he’d just gone along and blurted out this so‑called "grand ambition."
If it had been any day before today, Liu Suifeng would not have felt ashamed seeing that magazine. On the contrary, he would’ve felt proud. But today he’d just lost three games in a row to this unfamiliar little girl, leaving him feeling unbearably awkward at this moment.
He couldn’t even beat the girl in front of him, yet he’d bragged about becoming the second Go Saint and sweeping all the major events?
Chen Rong herself was still little back then. She took a look at the stunned and embarrassed Liu Suifeng, chuckled softly, swung her bag over her shoulder, and strode off.
After Chen Rong left, Liu Suifeng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, steadied himself, and finally calmed his mind a bit. He casually glanced around the Go Saint’s office.
Under the glass on the desk, there were a few photographs. Besides the Go Saint’s own championship photo, there were several family photos. One of them was of the Go Saint with a little girl.
"Damn, why does this little girl look so familiar?"
Liu Suifeng slapped his thigh.
"Holy crap, isn’t that the girl from just now? So she’s Master’s daughter!"
(Alliance Hierarch Liu Suifeng’s cameo finally appears. He was originally scheduled to show up around the 2‑million‑word mark, but the plot went in a different direction later, so his debut got delayed this long. My bad!)
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