The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 468: Entering the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda

Amid the crowd, Qi Luoyou watched the ongoing game of Go with an extremely grave expression, the hand hidden under his sleeve trembling uncontrollably.

With his sharp insight, it was naturally easy for him to discern the intricacies of this Go game’s rules. In his opinion, these rules far surpassed the traditional Seventeen-Line Go by a vast margin.

He asked himself in his heart: from now on, he would only engage in the more complex, wisdom-demanding Nineteen-Line Go. He would never touch the simpler Seventeen-Line Go again in his life.

Compared to Nineteen-Line Go, Seventeen-Line Go was nothing more than a child's game.

The widespread popularity of Nineteen-Line Go in this world was now inevitable. The outdated Seventeen-Line Go would inevitably be swept into the river of history, and the Gu cultivators who practiced the Path of Go would collectively improve today.

He couldn't help but feel shocked. Previously, the emergence of Go had already greatly enhanced the cultivation path of Go Gu.

And now, in such a short span of time, the Go Path was being strengthened again. "Where on earth are so many monstrous geniuses coming from in this world?" he thought, stunned.

As time passed, the game finally concluded.

Xiong Zhan's hand trembled as he dropped the Go piece into the container, the piece falling heavily.

He had actually lost — even though his opponent had given him a nine-stone handicap, he still lost. His eyes were filled with disbelief.

His Go skills were not bad, but his opponent’s bizarre moves were endless and completely foreign to him. The playing style of this Go Gu felt as though it didn’t even belong to this world, leaving him utterly unfamiliar.

Facing unknown strategies combined with unfamiliar rules, he suffered greatly. One misstep led to continuous setbacks. Eventually, his large formation was slaughtered, and he lost the entire game.

“Haha! Thank you for letting me win! Thank you! Next challenger, please! Still a nine-stone handicap! Who’s next to be abused?”

Long Xuan shouted arrogantly at the crowd.

That the Go Gu could still win even after giving a nine-stone handicap was beyond his imagination.

Since it was like this, he became even more brazen, using provocation to lure more challengers.

His tactic immediately worked. The crowd boiled with anger, and an old man in the back shouted loudly:

"Old man here will take you on! Haha! It's quite novel that someone dares to give me nine stones in a match."

Long Xuan looked at the old man, and upon seeing his face clearly, he was startled, cursing inwardly.

Good heavens — it was Qi Luoyou! Giving Qi Luoyou nine stones was sheer suicide! This game was as good as lost. Long Xuan silently mourned for the Go Gu.

A whole day passed quickly. The Go Gu, stubbornly insisting on giving a nine-stone handicap, ended up with two wins and two losses, playing continuously from morning till evening.

Normally, given how booming the business was at his Coffee Gu Specialty Shop, they should have closed long ago. But because of the Go Gu’s games, much time was wasted.

Playing Go itself was a time-consuming game. Moreover, with the expanded Nineteen-Line board filled with even more pieces, each match took several hours — perfectly normal under these circumstances.

Thus, the Coffee Gu Specialty Shop dragged operations until dusk before finally closing, while the reluctantly departing Gu cultivators kept looking back with deep yearning.

The Nineteen-Line Go was truly exciting and fascinating. Watching all day had deeply intoxicated them. The new Go rules had completely conquered their hearts, leaving them hopelessly addicted.

Once they left, they immediately crafted their own Nineteen-Line Go boards and started playing against each other all over the city, completely forgetting about going home or the passage of time.

Their games naturally attracted curious onlookers on the streets, who, upon seeing the different Go boards, showed astonishment and gathered around. For a while, exclamations filled the air.

Thus, the new Go rules began spreading rapidly in all directions on this very day.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone, after returning to the Academy, Qi Luoyou, the deputy dean of the academy’s branch, made a shocking decision:

He abolished the Seventeen-Line Go.

From now on, all students were required to play the more difficult Nineteen-Line Go, and the refinement of Go Gu would also follow the Nineteen-Line rules.

Unsurprisingly, this decision caused quite a stir throughout the academy.

As for Long Xuan, ignoring the growing commotion caused by the spread of Nineteen-Line Go in the city, he closed the shop, secured the locks, and, carrying the black card, immediately set off toward the Holy Gu Academy.

Having already experienced entering the Holy Gu Academy once, he soon arrived beside the towering Black Pagoda. Looking up at it, his eyes revealed undisguised shock.

Clenching his fists tightly to suppress his fear of what lay beneath the tower, he no longer hesitated and strode into the Pagoda.

He had a strong premonition: once he trained inside this tower, a breakthrough from the peak of the Spiritual Sea-stage would soon be within his grasp.

However, as he approached the entrance, two black-clad Gu King realm guards immediately stopped him. He was inwardly shocked — in the outside world, Gu Kings were extremely rare, yet here, they were merely gatekeepers — and there were two of them!

It was not difficult to guess: they were likely here to check his black card.

After all, the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda was a sacred training ground — not just anyone could enter.

Before the two guards could speak, Long Xuan proactively handed over his black card.

One of the black-clad Gu Kings inspected it carefully, glanced at Long Xuan, and said with a playful tone:

"Turns out it’s Xiong Zhan’s black card. Seems he’s betting you won't last long in the Nine-Floor Demon-Suppressing Pagoda; otherwise, he would never have gifted you a black card that still has three entries left."

Hearing this, Long Xuan frowned slightly.

What did he mean? Could it be that the time allowed for cultivating inside the tower was very short? Was he set up?

He furrowed his brows and asked, “What do you mean he’s betting I won’t last long inside?”

The other black-clad Gu King chuckled:

"Very simple. To prevent students from sending their entire extended families into the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, the academy made a rule: each student can only bind one black card."

"Black cards are registered to individuals; you can't have multiple simultaneously unless the previous one is lost."

"This way, even if geniuses lend their black cards to relatives, doing so means they sacrifice their own chance to train inside."

"Most Gu cultivators naturally wouldn’t lend their black card lightly — unless they were sure the borrower wouldn’t last long inside."

Hearing this, Long Xuan suddenly understood.

It seemed Xiong Zhan had indeed set him up, believing he couldn't stay long inside the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, so he generously gifted him the black card.

But wasn’t he underestimating him too much?

Without even knowing anything about him, Xiong Zhan dared to assume he couldn’t last?

Shortsighted fool! He would pay dearly for that misjudgment!

One of the black-clad Gu Kings teased,

"Out of curiosity, how long do you think you can last inside?"

Long Xuan raised one finger.

“What? One hour? That’s way too short!” the Gu King mocked, a faint ridicule in his voice.

Long Xuan shook his head and said coolly:

"Wrong. I mean, I will keep cultivating — indefinitely!"

With that, he put away the black card, now showing two remaining uses, and strode directly into the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

He wasn’t joking.

He had already decided: he would go into closed-door cultivation in this land of excellent spiritual energy, and he would not leave until he broke through to the Gu King peak!

Since Xiong Zhan dared to underestimate him, he would leave him waiting outside forever.

Hearing this, the two black-clad Gu Kings couldn’t help twitching their mouths.

To keep cultivating indefinitely... this guy really knows how to brag.