At this moment, the smoke gradually faded, and Soren finally saw clearly the face of the Demon Continent princess, Wanyuan.
It was a face seductive to the bone.
Whether it was her features, her eyes, or her figure, everything about her was alluring to the extreme.
She was very beautiful, her appearance even surpassing Gui Qinshao. Yet because of that overwhelming seductiveness, people almost overlooked just how stunning she truly was.
Soren had never seen such a woman before. It was as though even the tips of her eyelashes carried charm and temptation.
Not to mention every curve of her devilish figure.
At this moment, she wore a long black dress tightly wrapped around her body. It looked both extremely conservative and extremely revealing.
Conservative because the dress was very long, almost covering her jade like feet, and the sleeves were also long, nearly hiding her delicate hands.
Revealing because the dress was so tight it seemed ready to burst around her chest, waist, and hips. Every inch of that devilish body looked capable of igniting desire in a person’s heart.
Furthermore, the neckline dipped very low, exposing a snowy white and captivating cleavage, deep beyond sight.
Most fatal of all, below her lower back the dress was hollowed out, revealing a snowy white and enchanting curve of her waist and hips.
In short, this woman was an enchantress, a true enchantress. One glance at her felt enough to steal a person’s soul.
In truth, when it came to pure curves and proportions, she was not as voluptuous as Liren or Naier.
Yet the overall shape of her figure was unbelievably seductive and fiery, like a moving flame of darkness.
Soren thought to himself that this woman had come to avenge Ashiro, but what exactly was her relationship with him? Lovers?
“Any last words? Hurry up and say them. You only get one sentence,” Princess Wanyuan said. “After that, you can die peacefully.”
She clearly was not planning to kill him immediately. The hatred in her eyes made that obvious. Otherwise, the dark poisonous mist earlier would already have been enough to rot his entire body and kill him miserably.
“I have no last words,” Soren said.
Wanyuan raised her seductive eyes slightly and sheathed her demonic blade. “Smart. You know I would not kill you easily. I paid an enormous price to capture you, how could I bear to kill you so quickly? Even a cat that catches a mouse will play with it for quite a while before biting it to death. I will definitely torment you until you beg for life but cannot live, beg for death but cannot die, until you regret ever being born into this world. Only then will my reputation as a demoness be worthy.”
Her tone remained charming and alluring, but the meaning behind her words sent chills down the spine.
Then, her enchantingly seductive eyes glanced at Soren and she said, “Next, welcome to hell.”
She waved her delicate hand. A strange fragrance entered his nose, and Soren immediately fainted.
…
When Soren woke up again, he found himself aboard a huge ship.
It was an enormous vessel, barely rocking at all, even larger than the thousand ton flagship from Rock Island. On the sea, one could hardly feel any movement.
The cabin he was in was magnificently luxurious, almost like being among the clouds.
Whether it was the carpet beneath him, the blanket covering him, or the items inside the room, every single thing was worth a fortune.
But immediately after, all of Soren’s attention was drawn to an incredibly captivating back figure.
Princess Wanyuan sat before a massive mirror, combing her hair.
“I bought this magic mirror from your family. It cost more than a thousand gold coins,” Wanyuan said with a smile as she turned around.
The moment Soren saw her face, he froze.
Was this magic?
Because today’s Wanyuan looked like an entirely different person.
It was still the same breathtakingly beautiful face, but the bone deep seductiveness from before had completely vanished. In its place was a noble and virtuous elegance, like a refined aristocratic young lady well versed in literature, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Her gentle and scholarly temperament was no less than Mentor Niya’s, though her appearance was far more beautiful.
Previously, her eyebrows and eyes had curved upward slightly, full of seductive allure.
Today, however, her clear eyes and willow leaf brows resembled distant mountains, making her truly look like a noble young lady from a scholarly family.
Even her dress had changed to white. Although it still displayed her graceful figure, there was no trace of fiery seduction left, only elegance and charm.
She truly seemed capable of sorcery.
From inside to outside, she really looked like a completely different person.
“Mr Soren, you must be very curious why I want to avenge Ashiro, correct?” Wanyuan said. “Perhaps you are guessing that I was his lover?”
“That thought did cross my mind,” Soren replied.
“No,” Wanyuan said. “He was my friend, my very best friend. In the Demon Continent he attempted suicide many times, and every time I saved him. I do not have many friends. He was almost the only one.”
Soren could imagine it. The woman before him was a demoness, and Ashiro was a monster of a man, so the two of them must have gotten along extremely well.
Then Princess Wanyuan continued, “Do you know who asked me to kill you? Who told me that you were the one who caused Ashiro’s death?”
“Zhili,” Soren answered.
“That’s right, him,” Wanyuan said. “And in order to kill you, I mobilised hundreds of Demon Continent experts, dozens of sorcerers, countless treasures, and paid an enormous price. Zhili spent more than ninety thousand gold coins for this, equivalent to the annual tax revenue of an entire province. He truly is generous. But killing you is absolutely worth it.”
Soren wondered if the ambush from the Demon Continent would have succeeded if Zhiyan had accompanied him back to Tianshui City.
“You are probably wondering whether we would have succeeded if Zhiyan had stayed by your side to protect you, right?” Princess Wanyuan asked.
Soren was startled. This ever changing enchantress almost seemed capable of reading minds.
Princess Wanyuan said, “Zhiyan’s martial arts are too powerful. Moreover, she comes from the Divine Dragon Temple. From thousands of metres away she could already sense our presence. So if she had been by your side, we would never have arranged this ambush, and you would never have fallen into my hands. Unfortunately, Zhiyan remained in Zhidu, enjoying pleasant conversations with Huai Bingyi, temporarily putting your safety aside.”
Wanyuan added, “Of course, Zhili paid such a huge price because he wanted me to kill you directly. But I cannot bear to kill you immediately. I want to play with you properly first. Only when I grow bored will I finally kill you.”
Very soon she finished combing her hair into an extremely ladylike style.
“I heard you are very intelligent, Lord Soren,” Wanyuan said. “Among all the men I have met, there are two with peerless intelligence.”
Soren thought that one of them was probably Ashiro.
“The second ranked is a man called Tianhai Mu. The first ranked is Huai Bingyi, who is currently getting along very well with Zhiyan,” Wanyuan said.
When she spoke Huai Bingyi’s name, her expression became complicated and full of resentment.
Hearing the name Huai Bingyi, Soren could not help recalling the pale and somewhat sickly face of that man.
From Wanyuan’s tone, it was obvious she both loved and hated Huai Bingyi.
The woman before him was undoubtedly at the peak of beauty and status alike.
Yet she had fallen for Huai Bingyi, which showed just how extraordinary that sickly young man truly was.
“What about Ashiro?” Soren could not help asking.
Princess Wanyuan replied, “Ashiro was very interesting, but not intelligent enough to rank among the very best.”
Soren was stunned. Ashiro was undoubtedly a genius. He simply disliked thinking too much most of the time, but he was still one of the smartest people Soren had ever met.
Yet in Wanyuan’s eyes, Ashiro’s intelligence did not even qualify for ranking.
And this Huai Bingyi was ranked first by her. Was he truly that brilliant?
Wanyuan said, “I heard from others that you are the smartest man in the Furious Wave Kingdom in recent years, so naturally I became interested and wanted to compete with you.”
Then she widened her beautiful eyes and looked at Soren. “How about this? Let us have an intelligence wager. Best two out of three. The stake will be your life. If you win, I will let you go. If you lose, you die in my hands. What do you think?”
Soren replied, “With others holding the knife and me being the fish on the chopping board, I have no choice but to agree.”
A life and death wager, best two out of three.
Princess Wanyuan of the Demon Continent possessed peerless intelligence and cunning, almost unmatched in schemes and wisdom.
In her entire life, she had only lost to one person, Huai Bingyi.
That was why her feelings toward him were such a mixture of love and hatred.
Over the past two years, Soren’s reputation had spread throughout the human kingdoms, his intelligence described as almost demonic. Naturally, the extraordinarily intelligent Princess Wanyuan would never miss the chance to compete against him.
And what she enjoyed most was crushing clever opponents with superior intellect.
Thus, Soren became one of the rare worthy opponents in her lonely life.
Even if he were to die, she would first completely defeat him intellectually before killing him.
…
Princess Wanyuan left the mirror and sat down at a table. “Lord Soren, what do you think intelligence is?”
Soren replied, “Terrifying memory, terrifying logic, terrifying inspiration.”
Wanyuan applauded, her delicate hands long and beautiful.
Then she said, “The first round of our wager begins. I heard your musical skill is unmatched?”
“You flatter me,” Soren replied.
Wanyuan said, “Then choose one. Shall we compete in music, or shall we play chess?”
Soren thought for a while before replying, “Let us play chess.”
Wanyuan said, “Does that mean your chess skill surpasses your musical skill? Yet I have never heard that you excel at chess.”
That was indeed true. Soren’s painting and musical talent were famous throughout the human kingdoms.
But nobody had ever heard of his chess ability, nor even seen him play.
Wanyuan said, “I have only ever lost at chess to one person. Are you certain you want to play against me?”
The only person she had lost to was undoubtedly Huai Bingyi.
Soren shook his head. “I will try. Besides, this is only the first round. Even if I lose, I still have two more chances.”
Wanyuan replied, “Very well, then we shall play chess.”
She personally brought over a chessboard along with two boxes of black and white pieces, one hundred and eighty of each colour.
Naturally, it was Go. When the Dragon Emperor transmigrated into this world, he had brought both Go and Chinese chess with him.
After thousands of years, Go had spread throughout all the human kingdoms.
Wanyuan picked up a black piece. “I am a lady, shall I make the first move?”
“Alright,” Soren replied.
Princess Wanyuan placed the first black piece onto the board.
Soren picked up a white piece and placed it down as well.
The two of them began placing pieces rapidly.
Back on Earth, Soren’s Go level could only be considered decent, and he had never received professional training. He merely enjoyed playing online every day.
Strictly speaking, his Earth level barely qualified as amateur third dan.
But after arriving in this other world, his spiritual power had improved several times. His spiritual talent had already surpassed the astonishing level of nine, one in a million.
Moreover, there was also the demonic star living inside his body.
With the demonic star assisting his brain, he had effectively become a top level artificial intelligence.
On Earth, Google’s AlphaGo artificial intelligence defeated the world’s top Go masters, including professional nine dan player Lee Sedol.
The human brain, whether in capability or precision, far exceeded Earth’s supercomputers.
However, supercomputers could carry out countless calculations simultaneously, while humans could not.
But now, Soren possessed incredibly powerful spiritual strength, and the demonic star far surpassed AlphaGo’s artificial intelligence. Soren’s brain itself surpassed a supercomputer. Combined together, their computational ability became utterly terrifying.
Previously, Soren lacked enough spiritual energy to support such extreme computation.
But now, compared to Earth, his spiritual power had increased thousands upon thousands of times.
So rather than saying Soren was playing chess, it was more accurate to say the demonic star was borrowing his brain and using computational ability beyond AlphaGo to play against Princess Wanyuan.
The demonic star combined with the human brain, together with terrifying spiritual power.
One could say such chess skill completely surpassed AlphaGo and every chess player on Earth.
Yet even so, at this moment Soren and Wanyuan were perfectly matched opponents.
Neither side held any advantage.
The two placed their pieces extremely quickly, almost without pauses for thought.
For the first thirty or so moves, both played very casually and freely, like heavenly steeds galloping across the sky.
But afterwards, Princess Wanyuan’s speed gradually slowed, and her thinking time grew longer and longer.
As she played, she became increasingly shocked.
In terms of chess skill, she truly stood above everyone except one person.
Other than Huai Bingyi, she had no rival.
And although Soren was rumoured to possess near demonic intelligence, that was mostly in planning and schemes. Such things did not necessarily translate into chess skill.
It was like the brilliant strategists of ancient China. Their schemes were extraordinary, and their chess ability might also be high, but it was difficult for them to stand at the absolute peak of chess.
Earth’s top chess players were almost without exception obsessive and single minded people. They often even appeared dull, nothing like master schemers.
Yet this Soren before her was calmly holding his own against someone like her, a top level master, without falling behind at all.
However, Soren himself was even more shocked internally.
The chess skill of this Demon Continent princess was simply heaven defying. If placed on Earth, she would already have become the world champion.
He possessed the demonic star, monstrous spiritual power, monstrous spiritual talent, and computational ability beyond AlphaGo, yet even now the match remained tied.
And Huai Bingyi was supposedly even stronger than Wanyuan. Just how monstrous was that man?
After more than an hour.
Wanyuan was, after all, relying only on a human brain. She could not compare with the tireless endless computations of the demonic star combined with Soren’s brain.
She gradually began to fall behind.
Her speed in placing pieces became slower and slower.
After two hours, her disadvantage had become obvious.
After two and a half hours.
Wanyuan stopped moving. She placed the piece in her hand back into the bowl and formally admitted defeat.
Princess Wanyuan widened her beautiful eyes and stared at Soren in disbelief. “In this world, I believed that apart from Huai Bingyi, I already had no equal. I never expected to lose to you. It truly is unbelievable.”
Soren stood up and said, “You let me win.”
However…
A smug smile appeared on Wanyuan’s breathtakingly beautiful face. “But Go is merely a form of entertainment. It does not count as true intelligence. And the first round of our intelligence wager was never actually about chess. The true factor deciding victory is a single question.”
Soren asked, “What question?”
Princess Wanyuan said, “Where exactly is our ship located right now?”
Soren froze.
He had been unconscious for several days and nights. Surrounded by the endless sea with no landmarks whatsoever, how could he possibly know where they were?
Wanyuan said, “I already gave you the exact answer during our chess match. During the opening when we played so freely, every move I made revealed information.”
Soren froze again.
Wanyuan said, “You once said intelligence means terrifying memory, terrifying logic, and terrifying inspiration. If you are truly intelligent, you should remember every detail and never overlook any information.”
“Now answer me. Where exactly is our ship?” Wanyuan asked. “If your answer is correct, you win the first round of our wager. If you answer incorrectly, you lose the first round. And losing comes with punishment.”
Wanyuan clapped her hands.
Immediately, three burly men entered the room, powerful Demon Continent warriors.
Each one was huge and terrifying, like savage beasts.
Then Princess Wanyuan’s beautiful eyes shone with a cruel light as she said, “And the punishment is that you will be assaulted by these three men. The suffering Ashiro once endured, you shall experience as well.”
Soren instantly felt his scalp go numb.
A demoness, a true devil woman. The woman before him was not merely an enchantress, but a horned she demon.
Wanyuan smiled. “Quickly answer me. Where exactly are we right now? The answer lies within the chess game just now.”
“If your answer is correct, you win. If it is wrong, then these three Demon Continent brutes will make you suffer beyond endurance.”
At this moment, all of Soren’s meridians had been sealed. He had absolutely no ability to resist.
After Princess Wanyuan spoke, the three Demon Continent warriors slowly approached Soren, revealing cruel and beastlike smiles.
A handsome man like Soren was exactly their favourite kind.
Only now did Soren truly realise that Princess Wanyuan’s desire to avenge Ashiro was genuine.
At the same time as competing with Soren intellectually, she also intended to avenge Ashiro.
Princess Wanyuan clapped her hands again. “I will count down from five. You must give your final answer. Where exactly are we now? Once time runs out, if you cannot answer, you are finished.”
Her beautiful eyes were filled with excitement as she began counting down.
“Five, four, three, two, one…”