The world of film and television begins with Hikaru no Go

The game continues.

Time marches on, becoming increasingly chaotic and utterly disordered.

Sometimes we get bogged down in one place for too long, and sometimes we suddenly dart off to another place without a care in the world.

After several moves, even he himself felt something was wrong, and he regretted it the moment he placed a piece.

Ban Heng's response was calm and composed, with each move perfectly timed.

He didn't intentionally try to kill the White pieces, but the White pieces' influence spread silently like a tide, gradually compressing the Black pieces' living space.

By the thirtieth move, a large dragon of Time was surrounded.

He stared at the chessboard, his hand hovering in mid-air, unsure of where to place it.

In reality, given the current situation, it doesn't really matter where the fall occurs.

"Here," Ban Heng pointed to a spot on the chessboard, "if you had placed here, there might still have been a chance to save us."

Time followed his finger and looked for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out.

"can't read?"

Time shook his head, his face turning even redder.

Ban Heng did not continue explaining, but let time continue the game.

After another dozen or so moves, Black's situation became even worse. Chu Ying couldn't bear to look at it any longer and simply disappeared.

A large dragon was devoured, its lower right corner was hollowed out, and several lone pieces in the middle were also dead.

"I lost."

Time put the chess pieces back into the chess basket, bowing its head and speaking very softly.

Ban Heng leaned back in his chair and remained silent for a while.

"How long have you been learning chess?"

"I've only been learning for a few days..."

"Who is the teacher?"

"There was no teacher; I just played by myself."

Ban Heng nodded and did not ask any further questions.

He glanced at the unfinished game on the chessboard, then at Shi Guang, and carefully considered his words: "Shi Guang, to be honest with you, your foundation... is very weak. You haven't systematically learned basic tesuji, joseki, or life and death problems."

Time itself bowed its head lower.

"The dojo usually only accepts students with a certain foundation." Ban Heng's tone was gentle, but his words made Shi Guang's heart grow heavier and heavier. "Your current level is indeed quite lacking."

Shiguang bit her lip and remained silent.

Chu Ying had floated back at some point, opened her mouth as if to offer comfort, but didn't know where to begin.

"However, it's quite surprising that you can play like this after only a few days of learning chess without a teacher." Ban Heng suddenly changed the subject. "And some of your moves just now were quite good. It's clear that you have a good feel for the game."

Time raises its head.

"What I mean is—" Ban Heng smiled, "A weak foundation can be improved, but a feel for the game is innate and cannot be taught. You have this foundation, so if you practice hard, you might just be able to succeed."

Time's eyes suddenly lit up, and the previous disappointment vanished.

"But—" Ban Heng tapped the table lightly, "you need to be mentally prepared. The pace at the dojo is very fast. What others can digest in a day, you'll need two or even three times as long. It will be very tough. Can you handle that?"

"Yes!" Shi Guang nodded quickly. "Teacher, I'm not afraid of hard work!"

Ban Heng smiled when he saw his serious expression.

"Okay, then stay here. Don't worry about the formalities, you can submit the necessary documents later. I'll take you to your dorm to settle in first."

Time stood up, and the heavy weight in my heart finally lifted.

He stole a glance at Chu Ying, who was smiling at him. Chu Ying seemed even happier than him to hear that he could stay.

"Thank you, Teacher Ban!"

Ban Heng walked to the door, opened it, glanced back at him, and said, "By the way, you and Zhang Rui—"

"We have nothing to do with each other!"

While tidying up the chessboard, he hurriedly answered, giving off a rather blatantly obvious feeling.

Ban Heng smiled but didn't expose him.

Actually, he chose to stay for the time slot mostly out of respect for Zhang Rui.

I said that just to save time and avoid being too harsh; it was also a form of encouragement.

Ban Heng led Shi Guang out of the office and slowly walked down the corridor.

"The training ground isn't big, but it has everything you need. Over there is the canteen and the game room, the second floor is the faculty dormitory, the third to fifth floors are the boys' dormitory, and the sixth floor is the girls' dormitory." Ban Heng introduced as they walked. "My name is Ban Heng, the teacher in charge of Group Two. You'll be in Group Two from now on."

"Teacher—" Shi Guang followed beside him, "What's the difference between Group One and Group Two?"

"To put it simply—" Ban Heng adjusted his glasses, "The top three in a group have about a 38.6% chance of successfully achieving a professional ranking. The top eight have an 11.5% chance. The tenth-place finisher only has a 5.1% chance, and the probability decreases as you go further down the list."

Time silently counted in his mind: thirty-eight, eleven, five... The numbers got smaller and smaller, making him feel uneasy just listening to them.

"What about Group Two?"

Ban Heng glanced at him and smiled: "The students in Group Two, well, they have a long way to go."

Time seemed to pause for a moment: "How do you get promoted from Group Two to Group One?"

"The dojo will assign each person twenty opponents to complete a practice match within their group. You must ensure that you finish in the top two of Group Two to advance to the next group. Be prepared, for a long time ahead, you might suffer some crushing defeats against other players."

Shiguang pursed her lips and remained silent.

Chu Ying floated beside him and gently patted his shoulder. Of course, she couldn't actually touch him, but the gesture itself was already a comfort.

"I will try my best!"

Ban Heng looked at his serious expression, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

The two continued walking forward, passing a wall at the corner of the corridor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something and couldn't help but stop and take a closer look.

A large sign hangs on the wall, with a line of text written vertically on the left: "Yi Jianghu Dojo Training Match Results".

Several forms were nailed to the sign. The leftmost column was the ranking and number, with 16 in group one and 32 in group two; the second column should be the names of each student.

Each name is followed by a string of red circles and black dots, arranged neatly in a row.

"Oh, this is the leaderboard." Ban Heng stopped when he saw him stop, and he stopped as well. "Your scores for each game will be posted here. Red circles represent wins, and black dots represent losses. The rankings for each month will be announced in the following month. Good luck."

"Hmm!" Shi Guang nodded, turning his gaze away from the list.

The third floor was noticeably quieter than the ground floor, with both doors closed.

"The students at the dojo spend most of their daytime in the practice room," Ban Heng explained as they walked. "In the morning, there are lectures from the teachers, group practice sessions in the afternoon, and free training in the evenings. They can set up their own pieces or find someone to play with. This is how it is from Monday to Saturday, and Sunday is a rest day."

Time silently recorded the passage. Ban Heng led him to a room at the end of the corridor and pushed open the door.