Techniques and Dao

Chapter 23 The Divine Calculation Game (3)

What is it that Mieying possesses that allows her to exist outside the rules of the Heavenly Eye Trial?
Every participant must keep their specific number a secret during the game. If it is revealed, they will be eliminated.

Tianji deliberately revealed the other person's number, meaning that everyone in the cave now knew Mieying's number. Even if Mieying had told the other trial participants his number before entering the Divine Mind Calculation Bureau, Hua Sheng himself was unaware of it. Moreover, this was the first time he had ever seen Mieying.

The changes in the numbers on the cave wall meant that some participants had indeed been eliminated. It also indicated that at least one participant knew the true number of the Shadowbreaker.

Mieying should have quit long ago.

But she was there.

Not only there, but she also intends to destroy the Trial Rings and end the Heavenly Eye Trial.

The cave had fallen silent sometime earlier, with only feathers still fluttering in the air. Just like this game of divine intrigue, only Mieying and Tianjizi remained, standing at the very center.

No one dared to make a sound. Everyone held their breath, as if they had planned it beforehand.

If Shadow Destroyer destroys the Trial Ring, everyone will be eliminated from the game. If Celestial Child defeats Shadow Destroyer, he will continue searching for the remaining trial participants and eliminating them one by one.

For the other trial participants, all they could do was wait and see.

This trial of mental arithmetic becomes a contest between these two. Their decisions determine the fate of everyone involved in this game.

Hiding behind a rock, Hua Sheng lowered her voice and asked Xuan Wen beside her, "What secrets does this Mie Ying hold?"

Xuanwen replied, "When you first arrived at the cave, most of the trial participants were surrounding Tianjizi. Did you notice anything amiss in that scene?"

"Incoherent?"

Hua Sheng began to recall carefully. When he first arrived at the cave, his mind was blank. He did see many disciples surrounding Tian Jizi. But at that time, it was chaotic, and he had hidden behind a rock to avoid the immortal techniques used by many disciples, so he did not look closely to see if anything was wrong.

Instead, it was Taishang Xiaojun who said, "If you put it that way, there is indeed something wrong. If all the trial participants were within sight at the time, then I think the number seems a bit small."

He thought about it carefully and said with certainty, "Although it shows there are thirty-six trial participants, it doesn't seem like there are that many. But because it was quite chaotic, we didn't realize there was a problem."

"If there aren't thirty-six, wouldn't that mean there's an error in the count of the trial participants?" Hua Sheng asked.

Xuanwen shook his head and said, "The number of trial participants is correct. But what this person with connections said is also correct; the number you see is only about twenty."

Hua Sheng pressed further, "Have any of the trial participants hidden themselves?"

"No. All the trial participants were in the center of the cave at the time."

"Could it be invisibility?"

"No, it can't be said that they've become invisible. But in reality, you definitely can't see them, trial participants."

Hua Sheng didn't understand what Xuan Wen was talking about at all, and hurriedly asked, "Then what exactly happened? You mean that nearly ten people advanced from the Candlelight Battle by extinguishing the candles, and they are clearly in this cave now, but we can't see them?"

"Yes."

Hua Sheng grabbed Xuan Wen's arm and almost shouted, "Where did all the trial participants go?"

"You have no manners at all, you mole ant."

"Fine, fine! I'm an ant, okay? But you have to tell me what's going on!" Hua Sheng released Xuan Wen's arm, forced to admit defeat.

Xuanwen then said, "Do you remember what I said earlier? Mieying is the youngest of the nine twins. And she has eight older sisters with powerful magic?"

"That's right! So what do you want to say?"

"These eight sisters are also winners of the candlelight battle. Each of them extinguished a candle, thus reaching this round."

"What did you say? You mean all nine of them participated in the Heavenly Eye Trial together, and none of them were eliminated; they all won the first round?" Hua Sheng felt sweat dripping from his forehead and asked, "Could it be that the person in front of us isn't Mieying, but Mieying's older sister?"

"No! She is Shadow Extinction."

"Then where are her eight older sisters? Didn't you say they were all here?" Hua Sheng sensed something was amiss. "No way! Could it be?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun suddenly looked enlightened.

Hua Sheng hurriedly asked, "What? Did you guess it, Tai Shang Xiao Jun?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said to Xuan Wen, "You mean to say that Mie Ying has nine numbers in the Tianmu Trial?"

"good."

Hua Sheng felt his mind go blank: "What? Wasn't it said that each trial participant could only have one number? How could her sister give her number to Mie Ying?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "Of course not. But unless it's Mie Ying's sister, which is Mie Ying herself."

Hua Sheng felt a chill on his hand and realized he was already drenched in sweat, which dripped directly onto the back of his hand. "What do you mean? What do you mean by 'Mieying's sister'? Does that mean Mieying herself?"

Xuanwen slowly said, "This is what Nezha, the Fire Wheel Heavenly King, told my father. When Mieying's mother was pregnant with these nine babies, she was pregnant for three years and six months. When she was about to give birth, the eight older sisters were already dead at birth. When Mieying's family was in despair, they discovered that the youngest sister, who was born last, was alive, but she looked like she could die at any moment. Not only that, she was also born with a severe disability."

"Severe disability?"

"Yes, when Mieying was born, she had no facial features, only a torso, no limbs. She looked extremely terrifying. Because she couldn't breathe without facial features, her whole body was purple at birth. Mieying's family was nearly driven to despair. To save her life, they had to cut open her trachea with a knife. To feed her, they had to cut open her esophagus and pour milk into her through a bamboo tube. It can be said that Mieying was born into this world amidst intense pain and bloodshed."

Hua Sheng felt a pang of anxiety as she listened, unable to imagine what Mie Ying's family had gone through back then.

"Despite this, because she had no senses, Mieying's survival during infancy was extremely difficult. Until she was over six months old, she could only wriggle like a worm. One day, the Fire Wheel Heavenly King happened to be in Shengpingning. When he passed over Mieying's house, he saw Mieying lying on the grass in the backyard. Feeling pity, he took the initiative to find her family to save the child. Since he did not have any magical artifacts with him at the time, the Fire Wheel Heavenly King broke off a lotus flower and a section of lotus root from the lotus pond next to Mieying's house. He used the lotus heart to make facial features and the lotus root to make limbs. Using the same method that the Fire Wheel Heavenly King himself had used as a child, he allowed Mieying to grow facial features and limbs in the lotus flower, thus enabling her to be reborn."

Hua Sheng listened in silence for a long while, then asked, "What about her older sister? Wasn't it said that they both died at birth?"

Xuanwen said, "The reason why Nezha, the Fire Wheel Heavenly King, wanted to save Mieying was not only because of her pitiful background, but also because he discovered at first glance that there were actually nine souls living in Mieying's broken body, which looked like an insect."

Nine souls?!

"That means these nine twins, nine sisters, share one body."

"Won't so many souls crammed together start fighting?"

"No. Her sisters don't usually show up; only Mieying's own personality comes out. I don't know when or who will appear."

Hua Sheng asked, "Even so, she should only be considered as one person, Mie Ying. Why does she have nine numbers in this Heavenly Eye Trial?"

"Because that's how Saint Pingning is." It was Taishang Xiaojun who spoke. "Hua Sheng, you might not understand. Saint Pingning doesn't count the number of immortals, spirits, and humans based on visible entities. Instead, it counts them by souls. This is mainly because immortal arts include the art of creating clones. Those who understand the Dao can create clones. In population statistics, you can't count someone as a person just because they can create clones. Similarly, every blade of grass and every tree can be cultivated into an immortal spirit, and you can't exclude them just because they have a different shape. I think, when Mieying entered the Dao of Arts Academy, she probably occupied nine places by herself."

“The person with connections is right,” Xuanwen replied. “Similarly, in the first round, Mieying needs to extinguish nine candles to advance. If she doesn’t, then her corresponding sister, if she appears in the next round, will definitely be judged as having committed a foul. I think she might be disqualified.”

Hua Sheng sighed deeply: "Her background is so complicated."

As the three were talking, Mieying in the center of the cave pounced on the Trial Ring again, shooting out more than ten feathers from his long sleeves. Tianjizi neutralized them one by one, and the two fought fiercely, causing the cave to shake violently.

Mieying seemed exceptionally skilled at controlling hurricanes, using wind manipulation techniques to transform feathers into various shapes in an attempt to confuse Tianjizi and ultimately destroy Caihuan. Tianjizi, on the other hand, moved with ease through the hurricane. Just as the many onlookers hiding in the shadows thought the two were about to engage in a fierce battle, the hurricane suddenly stopped, and the feathers floating in the cave vanished without a trace.

Looking at Mie Ying again, it seemed that his magical power was somewhat depleted from chasing Tianjizi and attacking the Trial Ring, and he began to pant.

Tianjizi, who had been dodging, slowly descended from the sky. At the same time, he conjured a piece of white paper in his hand and a calligraphy brush in his right, writing several numbers in mid-air. He then folded the paper. Just as he was about to speak, Mieying, opposite him, suddenly began to mutter to himself.

Mieying's voice was weak and intermittent; Huasheng only heard half of it.

"Ninth Sister, why dawdle and deal with Tianjizi... Let Second Sister handle it..."

As Mie Ying muttered to himself, he suddenly curled up into a ball. Then, he abruptly straightened up. Upon closer inspection, Hua Sheng was astonished to see that Mie Ying's originally shoulder-length hair had become even shorter, only reaching halfway to his ears. His eyes had turned dark green. His previously slender body, clad in a loose-fitting Taoist robe, now fit him perfectly.

Mie Ying rolled up the sleeves of her Taoist robe, revealing her arms. The veins on those arms were bulging, making her look nothing like the frail little girl from before.

Immediately afterwards, Mie Ying took off the large glasses in front of him and threw them aside, saying casually, "Second sister told me a long time ago, don't read books all the time, don't read books all the time, now wearing glasses is such a hassle!"

(End of this chapter)