Soon, the time for the afternoon competition arrived, and the third round turned out to be a Go game, which was no simple matter. Xiaoxiao found it much harder than chess—it required a high IQ, meticulous thought, and a strong overall strategy, capabilities that someone as straightforward as her lacked.
"Sister, you even know how to play Go?"
"A little bit," Wang Xiangxiang said modestly.
Then she went up to prepare. This time, it was battles in pairs, with the loser stepping down and the winner staying on the stage to keep competing until there was only one victor. It was not a single person against many, so she had time to think about her moves. However, she could not afford to be careless.
Sure enough, as she won one game after another, Wen Nuan also kept winning.
Eventually, only the two of them were left to compete.
Some began to talk below the stage, since from the first two rounds, it was clear that these two were the victors, and now they were up against each other—an early showdown was happening.
The two of them sat down, and Wen Nuan said with a smile, "I never thought I’d be facing you so soon."
"I just can’t understand why you wanted to enter this competition."
"Because I want that Blood Jade."
"..." Wen Nuan found it a bit odd. Did she not understand the significance of this competition? This was getting interesting. "I won’t be holding back."
"You better not," Wang Xiangxiang said, now fully treating Wen Nuan as a rival. She absolutely could not lose this match.
Both highly concentrated, they started playing the game. Neither willing to concede, their closely matched skills turned the atmosphere intense, causing the audience to tense up as well.
Xiaoxiao clutched at Yang Ming’s arm all the while, "What to do? That person seems very strong too."
"Don’t talk, don’t disturb them on the stage," Chu Lian said,... stopping them, as he too was very nervous and afraid they might disrupt her thoughts.
Indeed, it proved difficult to determine a winner; eventually, the organizers decided to give them one more period of burning incense. If they still couldn’t decide the winner, it would be called a draw.
The two of them remained deadlocked, and the third round ended in a draw.
Having relaxed a bit after the competition ended, both had a high regard for each other, acknowledging that if the contest had continued, either could have easily lost.
Wen Nuan very graciously said, "I didn’t expect your skills to be so brilliant; we’ll just have to wait for the next game to see who is superior."
"The feeling’s mutual."
After stepping off the stage, Xiaoxiao cheered, "Sister, you were incredible!"
"Sorry I didn’t win this round," Wang Xiangxiang said somewhat embarrassed. It seemed the Blood Jade was not so easily won.
"Sister, a draw is already incredible given how formidable that person seemed," Xiaoxiao truly admired her, not having known aside from being a businesswoman Wang Xiangxiang was also a talent. If she had gone up, she would be completely routed.
"Ada, go tell them to let those two decide the victory in the next match," Han Yongsheng instructed.
"..." Ada was somewhat helpless. Was the young master planning to choose directly between those two now, without considering anyone else?
But the young master’s command was not to be ignored, so he went to make arrangements. Before long, the host was back on stage.
"Based on the first three matches, it’s decided that number eight and number eighteen will go directly into the final showdown. The next match will directly decide the winner, who will receive the Blood Jade."