Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Latecomer Surpasses the Predecessor

The art of word-splitting couplets has always been considered a top-tier challenge within couplets.

It requires not only splitting words but also neatness and artistic conception. It wouldn’t be an issue if there was ample time to ponder over it, but adding a time limit really tests one’s talent and wit.

Cui Yunqi couldn’t help but think, “If it were me, how long would it take for me to come up with the second line?”

Yes, there is a time limit for answering the Moon Fishing questions.

The moonlight elf, round like a jade plate, hovered lightly over the lake, teasing, “Chen Xu, you only have ten breaths of time. If you can’t answer within ten breaths, it counts as a wrong answer.”

Ten breath limit!

Chen Xu felt his scalp tingle. Before he started fishing for the moon, this little elf hadn’t mentioned there was a time limit for answering.

Instinctively, he glanced at the Food Cauldron Celestial Book at this moment.

On the Celestial Book Plate, his count of likes had been increasing sporadically.

The current stats were:

[Total Likes: 613]

[Free Attribute Points: 16]

[Fireworks Value: 256]

Although he had previously used up two attribute points, the remaining balance had unexpectedly increased instead of decreased.

Chen Xu could add more attribute points to his Divine Soul at any time, drastically enhancing his thinking efficiency in a short period with the surge in attribute points.

But is this reasonable?

It’s important to know that these attribute points, when added to oneself, carry a permanent significance.

At this moment, Chen Xu’s Divine Soul Attribute had already reached 26 points, more than double his initial attribute!

Logic dictates that with such a significant increase in Divine Soul Attribute, his thinking ability should inherently far surpass what it was before, even reaching an extraordinary level.

Take Qi Blood, for instance; now with 24 points in Qi Blood, Chen Xu could split bamboo with his bare hands and make the cuts smooth.

His strength was at least two to three times greater than before, and when performing the Firewood Splitting Knife Technique, his stamina and endurance were exceptional.

However, in terms of Divine Soul, the substantial attribute increase didn’t seem to visibly transform him as much.

On careful reflection, the reason for such a huge disparity likely lies in the fact that Qi Blood is easier to comprehend and grasp, and secondly, because Chen Xu learned the Firewood Splitting Knife Technique, through which he effectively mastered his own strength.

To some extent, he truly understood what Qi Blood is!

So, what is Divine Soul? Does he understand it?

Chen Xu recalled his previous experiences learning Fire Control and remembered the faint sense of a mysterious power surging at his brow when his mind and spirit calmed down.

The heart and intention harmonize, the Qi and Essence integrate.

Thus, seeing the treasures within oneself and mastering the treasures within the body!

Suddenly, Chen Xu felt as though he had captured a glimmer of light within his Divine Soul.

In a flash, the heart can travel a thousand miles, and in an instant, countless thoughts can arise.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths…

In reality, just as the jade plate counted to the sixth breath, Chen Xu suddenly raised his eyes and said, “When water has insects, it becomes turbid; when water has fish, it becomes fishing; water water water, rivers and lakes are vast. I respond…”

“Under the wood is the root, above the wood is the end, wood wood wood, pine cypress camphor become dense.”

After completing the line, he frowned again.

Silently, he sighed a bit, feeling that although his response was neatly crafted, it lacked something in terms of artistic conception.

Behind him, Cui Yunqi was sweating profusely.

In six breaths, he also thought of using wood as the basis for word-splitting.

However, his idea wasn’t as neat as Chen Xu’s; he only managed to come up with half a line: “Wood dries without wind, wood grows ghosts becoming locusts, wood wood wood…”

He hadn’t managed to come up with the latter half when Chen Xu had already successfully answered.

Chen Xu took another step forward, bent down again, and scooped up a small moon.

Cui Yunqi was drenched in cold sweat, suddenly biting his teeth, reaching into his sleeve to take out a small elixir, which he swallowed in one gulp.

In his mind appeared his father’s instructions: “Yunqi, on your trip to Jichuan, given my understanding of that old friend, if you are not the most outstanding one, he will surely not see you.

But our Cui Family needs him, needs you to meet him. The situation is tumultuous, with evil paths appearing everywhere, and demons and ghosts causing chaos. The era of turmoil predicted by that Great Scholar forty years ago seems to be approaching!

Your aunt is facing many difficulties in the palace, and Mr. Zhou… he is not in Jade Capital, yet has gone south to Jichuan. There must be something suspicious about this.”

Cui Yunqi came with full confidence, arrogantly saying, “Father, how could any descendant in Jichuan possibly compare to me?”

He simply didn’t believe anyone could surpass him and meet Mr. Zhou.

He never expected an obscure scholar, from who knows where, to walk ahead of him.

With the elixir in his stomach, Cui Yunqi instantly felt his entire being’s Essence Qi boiling, a burning heat mixed with a strange, cooling sensation rushing straight to his brain.

Cui Yunqi immediately bent down and scooped up a small moon.

The moonlight transformed into four words in his hand: “To serve people’s will.”

Cui Yunqi frowned and quickly, with his extraordinarily swift mind, realized that this seemingly nonsensical line was actually a clipped sentence from the ’University’: “Is to serve people’s nature.”

This was a filling-in question. It didn’t seem hard, but saying it was easy, the question was indeed a bit tricky.

Fortunately, Cui Yunqi thought of the answer and confidently declared, “The student answers, what good people abhor, what bad people favor, is to serve people’s nature…”

Upon answering correctly, he took a step forward and looked up at Chen Xu ahead.

He saw that the poorly dressed young man was inexplicably thirteen steps ahead of him!

Clearly, Chen Xu had already moved ten steps ahead of him and had just taken three more steps, now far surpassing him.

Yet, Cui Yunqi’s confidence had returned. He murmured to himself, “A gentleman hides his power, waiting for his time. The latecomer surpasses the former! Falling behind by mere ten or so steps, what does that count for?”

Having said this, Cui Yunqi immediately bent down and scooped up another small moon.

This time, it was a divination math problem.

Cui Yunqi quickly calculated with his fingers, soon finding the correct answer, and stepped forward once more.

At the same time, Chen Xu ahead also scooped up another small moon, which turned into a line of text in his hand, and it was also a mathematical problem.

Seeing this problem, Chen Xu was taken aback.

Because it was actually a…

The question was: “Long ago, there was a Daoist of Taixu, who refined the Yin and Yang Two Jades into pendants. The Yang jade shaped like the Li Trigram, hollow inside with a curved path hidden; the Yin jade resembled the Kan Yao, the seams align, nine turns connect in rings…

This seems to be an “Artifact Refining Problem”?

No, it’s not.

Chen Xu looked carefully: “Yin and Yang overlap, the two pendants interlace their forms, integrally like the Taiji embracing circle. To separate Yin and Yang without destroying the jade, without breaking the mechanism, how to solve it?”

This, this is clearly a topology problem!

Topology in mathematics, the devil branch of advanced math.

Once, topology was the nightmare of many students. Despite being a science major in his previous life, Chen Xu also dreaded topology.

He never imagined that in the Moon of the Mythical Realm, topology could also appear.

Just at this moment, the familiar crisp voice echoed beside his ear: “This question follows the Daoist principle of Yin and Yang, containing the way of cultivation. The Mister said, if anyone fishes this question, they are granted a quarter of an hour.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep