Techniques and Dao

Chapter 22 The Divine Calculation Game (2)

Hua Sheng was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He stammered, "W-what! Mie Ying is Nezha's goddaughter?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun also seemed quite surprised: "How come I've never heard Grandpa mention this before?"

"Do other deities have to register with your family before taking in goddaughters?" Xuanwen replied. "Besides, Mieying didn't publicize this too much. Unlike some high-profile people who keep saying they're so-and-so's grandson. Grandson, grandson, as if they're afraid others won't know they're grandsons."

Tai Shang Xiao Jun's expression was rather complicated: "Do you really have to put down everyone around you when you talk?"

Xuanwen did not respond.

Taishang Xiaojun continued, "But judging from Uncle Nezha's personality, he doesn't seem like someone who would casually adopt a daughter. And as you said, Mieying is of mediocre talent, so she shouldn't be favored by a deity of Nezha's status."

"Although her Shadow-Slaying ability is mediocre and she has a withdrawn personality, her eight older sisters are all highly powerful in magic."

"Shouldn't she have adopted her older sister as her goddaughter?" Hua Sheng found it unbelievable, but then thought that Nezha might have done this because he saw the potential of the Shadow Destroyer.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun pondered, "It seems that it wasn't easy for Mie Ying to enter the second round. Wasn't it very dangerous for him to casually expose himself in front of Tian Ji Zi..."

Before he could finish speaking, a strange wind swept through the cave. Along with the wind, countless deep blue and black feathers danced in the air. The wind grew stronger and stronger, blinding everyone.

Hua Sheng could only steady himself by leaning against the rocks: "Why did a tornado suddenly start blowing in this cave! Where did this strange wind come from?"

The wind seemed even stronger in the center of the cave, causing Tianjizi's Taoist robe to sway rapidly in the wind, but his figure did not sway at all.

Taking advantage of the moment when Tianjizi's attention was drawn to the raging wind, a dark figure suddenly darted out from behind him. Taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, the figure snatched the piece of paper from his hand.

Tianjizi frowned slightly.

The dark figure landed not far in front of him, showing no intention of dodging.

Through the crack in the rocks, Hua Sheng could see clearly that it was a slender, short-haired young girl. Her small face was framed by a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that were almost half the size of her head. She seemed to squint when looking at Tian Jizi, as if her eyesight wasn't very good. Because of her extremely thin frame, the Xiyuan martial arts uniform looked particularly large on her, like a huge sack.

Tianjizi asked, "Do you want to know the number on this piece of paper?"

The short-haired girl with glasses stared directly at Tenkiko without saying a word.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Tianjizi said, "I didn't expect that the weakness of this game lies in this Trial Ring. Once the ring is subjected to external impact, it will continuously shrink. I'm afraid this ring won't be able to withstand more than a few impacts before it falls apart."

The girl simply stood there, showing no intention of dodging. She held up the piece of paper in her hand. Surprisingly, she didn't open it at all. Instead, she crumpled the paper into a ball in her palm, rubbed it between her two hands, and the paper turned into powder, slipping through her fingers and scattering away.

"But since you've shown yourself, I might as well eliminate you." Tianjizi said dismissively when he saw the note was torn to shreds. "Looks like you have an interesting number. Your number is thirteen, isn't it?"

Hua Sheng hurriedly looked at the inscriptions on the cave wall.

The original text "Trial Participants: Twenty-one" has been changed to "Trial Participants: Twenty".

Hua Sheng inwardly exclaimed, "Oh dear!" and turned to Xuan Wen, saying, "This girl is too impulsive. Scratching the paper like this won't help. Tian Jizi can easily rewrite the numbers. What's the point of being eliminated like this..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Sheng's expression suddenly froze. He quickly rubbed his eyes and found that Tian Jizi's expression was almost the same as his.

The short-haired girl with glasses was still standing there perfectly fine!

"The number Tianjizi gave was wrong?" Hua Shengqing couldn't help but say. "No! The number on the cave wall has decreased, which means he got the number right."

Could it be that, like the illusion he had cast on the Tiger Spirit, the numbers on the cave wall were an illusion? No! Hua Sheng felt this was absolutely impossible. An illusion might be able to deceive the Tiger Spirit, whose immortal power was locked by the Linglong Ring, but it couldn't fool a master like Tianjizi.

The numbers on the cave wall are indeed the actual number of participants. Tianjizi was indeed referring to the girl's number.

Several participants were forced out of the game because Tianjizi guessed their numbers, which has repeatedly proven that the trial rule that "once your number is known by others in the game, you must leave" is not just a formality.

The strange question then arises: why wasn't this girl eliminated?

"Could there be something wrong with the trial rules?" Hua Sheng frowned. He couldn't imagine what the reason could be and exclaimed, "This is so illogical!"

In the center of the cave, Tianjizi seemed somewhat puzzled. He then said, "Hmm? Could it be that your number is... nine hundred and ninety-nine?"

Upon hearing this, Hua Sheng quickly looked up at the cave wall again.

"Trial participants: 20" immediately changed to "Trial participants: 19"!

But the girl in front of me was still standing there!

Tianjizi checked the numbers again. Then he stared intently at the girl in front of him, a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

What exactly is happening right now?

The strange wind inside the cave gradually subsided, and countless blue and black feathers began to fall between the bespectacled girl and Tenjiko. The atmosphere began to become eerie.

Hiding behind the rocks, Hua Sheng clutched her head and pressed Tai Shang Xiao Jun and Xuan Wen for answers: "What kind of illusion is this? Is it a Lingxiao-level illusion? Or is there some loophole in the rules of this Divine Mind Calculation Bureau?"

“Indeed. This girl is clearly still in the Divine Calculation Bureau, so why is the number of people decreasing?” Tai Shang Xiao Jun also looked puzzled. “Could it be that the one in front of us is a dummy?”

The girl's next move immediately overturned Tai Shang Xiao Jun's guess. With a flick of her sleeve, a black feather flew out and slammed heavily onto the trial ring. Sparks flew everywhere, and a crisp sound echoed through the cavern. After being struck, the ring began to shrink again, becoming only the size of a palm.

Moreover, cracks were clearly visible on the edges of the trial rings.

"Oh no! If it gets hit again, the Rainbow Ring will be destroyed!" Hua Sheng exclaimed. "What will happen if the Rainbow Ring is destroyed?"

“Then let’s assume everyone is eliminated in this round,” Xuanwen replied.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "Then all the disciples in this year's Tianmu Trial will be wiped out."

"Hey! Wait a minute! Is it possible for everyone to be wiped out in this trial?" Hua Sheng asked quickly.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun replied, "If no one can complete the trial, the first place winner of the year will receive a bye. Similar situations have occurred in previous years."

Hua Sheng became anxious upon hearing this: "Wouldn't all our efforts in the first round have been wasted? No way! I'm still thinking about how to defeat Tianjizi! Besides, I want to get the Shengfo Road Pass so I can have a chance to meet the legendary Sun Wukong!"

"Calm down! I think there are people who are more anxious than you," said Taishang Xiaojun.

On the other side, Tianjizi indeed seemed impatient and asked, "Who exactly are you? Destroying the trial ring means neither of us can advance to the next round. What benefit is there for you?"

"I don't want to win against you," the bespectacled girl suddenly spoke, her voice like a bird's song or a bell. "I just want you to not win this game."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the girl suddenly shot out two feathers from her sleeve. Almost simultaneously, Tianjizi, who was already on guard, swiftly thrust out a palm towards Caihuan. The two feathers were instantly shattered with a bang when they were less than ten feet away from Caihuan.

The atmosphere was so oppressive that Hua Sheng could hardly breathe; the trial ring's fate hung by a thread. Just as Tai Shang Xiao Jun had said, if the ring were struck by the feather again, this year's Heavenly Eye Trial would end in failure for everyone.

Although Tianjizi's ten-game winning streak came to an end, Huasheng didn't gain anything either. What's worse, he's completely bewildered and probably doesn't even know why he was eliminated.

If seeing is believing, then how did this mysterious girl manage to operate outside the rules of this divine calculation game? The numbers on the cave wall are accurate; two people were clearly missing just now. But the bespectacled girl didn't disappear. So who was it that vanished?

Hua Sheng looked at Xuan Wen beside him with a puzzled expression, hoping that Xuan Wen could give him an answer.

"She is Mieying. Now you understand why Nezha, the Fire Wheel Heavenly King, took her in as his adopted daughter."

Xuanwen seemed to have figured out what Huasheng wanted to ask.

"What Mie Ying possesses is something that even Tianji Zi, who possesses supreme fortune, might be powerless to counter!"

(End of this chapter)