Dai Xiaomei and Zhou Niannian shivered when they heard this.
Originally, they thought the worst that could happen was a difficult path, but they didn't expect deadly traps.
"It's okay, I will protect you!"
Jiang Fan's voice was light, but the determination conveyed was heavier than a thousand pounds.
Zhou Niannian looked at Jiang Fan and suddenly felt less scared.
How many times had this man saved them from dire straits at the most dangerous moments?
As long as they followed him, even if the universe collapsed, she believed Jiang Fan could save them.
"What's there to fear from a few small mechanisms? Let's continue."
Zhou Niannian encouraged everyone.
Jiang Fan walked over and collected all the poison arrows scattered on the ground, putting them into his pack.
He possessed the [Perfect Aim] talent, and these poison arrows might become sharp weapons in his hands in the future.
To avoid being poisoned by the tips, Jiang Fan meticulously wrapped the arrowheads layer by layer with vines.
Then, with a casual wave of his hand, he set off.
The group quickly reached behind the waterfall and saw the cave entrance on the opposite side.
Jiang Fan signaled everyone to spread out and threw another stone towards the cave entrance.
This time, the stone did not trigger any mechanisms. It fell into the cave, creating a long echo, indicating that there was more beyond.
The cliff face on the other side was not steep, and even Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei could climb it with ease.
Having just experienced the arrow trap, Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei were now jumpy.
They, like Jiang Fan, picked up a pile of stones and put them in their pockets.
"Look, there's a patch of grass over there, there might be an ambush."
Zhou Niannian attacked the grass patch with a stone, as if she had discovered a new continent, and indeed, a rustling sound emerged.
"Look! There's a fierce beast lurking there, luckily I'm so vigilant."
Just as Zhou Niannian was feeling smug, Jiang Fan said helplessly.
"It's a hedgehog."
As expected, a family of hedgehogs scurried out of the grass patch, looking dejected.
They had been disturbed by Jiang Fan once and had barely managed to get back to their nest to sleep, only to be bothered by Zhou Niannian again.
"How did you know it was a hedgehog?"
Zhou Niannian asked Jiang Fan, touching her forehead, wondering if he could predict the future.
Jiang Fan flicked her forehead with his finger. Of course, it was because he had chased them away once before.
Before long, the group had climbed the high cliff opposite and were facing the dark cave entrance.
The cave entrance was wide enough to allow several people to enter at once.
Jiang Fan looked around and did not see the metal door he expected; it seemed to have retracted into the ground.
The mechanisms in this secret realm were designed with great ingenuity.
Jiang Fan led the way, with Yao at the rear, protecting Dai Xiaomei and Zhou Niannian in the center.
This time, Jiang Fan proceeded with extreme caution, as a torrent of arrows had shot out from the cave earlier.
Every few steps, he would toss a pebble to test for any mechanisms or traps ahead.
Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei were even more cautious, walking precisely in Jiang Fan's footsteps.
Having been subjected to the arrow rain, they were truly terrified.
Suddenly, Jiang Fan stopped.
Both Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei felt a jolt and rushed to ask.
"Why did you stop?"
"Is there a problem?"
Jiang Fan stepped aside, allowing Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei to see the situation ahead.
Zhou Niannian gasped when she looked.
"Wow!"
The cave ahead was completely different from the dark tunnel they had been through.
The cave walls were inlaid with countless glowing crystal-like objects, resembling a brilliant galaxy hanging in the night sky.
There were crystals of all colors—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—like stars in the sky, exceptionally beautiful.
The rocks on the walls were no longer the black basalt, but completely transparent, seemingly made of crystal as well.
Growing within the crystal rock was a strange, pale yellow grass, looking somewhat like coral, and somewhat like seaweed.
The grass swayed and danced in the strange, transparent crystal rock, as if moved by a breeze.
"It looks like crystal balls!"
Zhou Niannian had once bought crystal balls with seaweed and small fish sealed inside, and the entire cave looked as if it were made of countless giant crystal balls stacked together.
"Oh my god, this must be the legendary fairyland."
Zhou Niannian exclaimed aloud. In her memory, only a giant underwater glass aquarium could compare to the beauty of this cave.
The cavern was immensely spacious. In the center of the crystal cave, a table carved from crystal stood, with a crystal chessboard on it.
The pieces on the board were black and white, also made of crystal.
More than a hundred pieces had been placed, clearly indicating a complex Go endgame.
The group gathered around the table to examine the endgame.
"Is this the Zhenlong Chess Game?!"
Jiang Fan, who had a bit of knowledge of Go, immediately understood what was going on.
The Zhenlong Chess Game, or Zhenlong Qiju, was an endgame deliberately set up by Go masters to challenge others.
A typical Zhenlong Chess Game would have about ten stones, and a more complex one might have forty to fifty.
This Zhenlong Chess Game was no simple matter, with over two hundred pieces, almost a full game played out.
Jiang Fan glanced at it and immediately felt a headache.
The situation of this game was incredibly complex, with ko within ko and all sorts of techniques in Go.
For instance, common Go terms like—shared life, eternal life, counter-attack, reducing liberties, corner invasion—were all present.
In the live stream, the audience erupted.
"It's a Zhenlong Chess Game, a Zhenlong Chess Game."
"In 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils', Xu Zhu broke the Zhenlong Chess Game and obtained all of Xiaoyaozi's power."
"Are you saying Jiang Shen can also break the game and obtain Chi You's full inheritance?"
"Quick, fill in a stone on your largest group to commit suicide, and you'll win."
"Bullshit, what if you actually commit suicide?"
Jiang Fan stared at the chessboard. He had some skill in Go, but he wasn't a professional player. In this situation, he didn't have the leisure to play Go.
He couldn't help but ask Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei.
"Do you play Go? What do you think of this game?"
Zhou Niannian stared intently at the chessboard for a long time, then shook her head, a pained expression on her face.
"It's too complex, it makes my scalp tingle. I'm at most an amateur first dan level."
Dai Xiaomei patted her chest.
"Is it Gomoku? I know how to play Gomoku."
Jiang Fan thought, I shouldn't have expected anything. He turned to look at Yao, then withdrew his gaze.
How could you expect a wolf child who had survived in the wild with a pack of wolves for fifteen years to know how to play Go?
"Do we have to solve this game to proceed?"
Zhou Niannian asked Jiang Fan.
"Perhaps."
Jiang Fan shrugged helplessly. It was unlikely that a Go game would be set up here just for decoration.
Could it really be like in 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils', where committing suicide on a single group would lead to victory?
What if committing suicide actually meant committing suicide?
For a moment, the group was at a loss, not daring to touch the pieces on the board, and the situation reached a stalemate.