Chapter 26: The Divine Mind's Calculation (6)

Seeing this, Blossom hurried to the edge of the pit, sweeping away the dust and broken stones.

“Stop, stop, stop!” The girl’s voice rang out again. Blossom realized it was Shadow herself shouting.

Shadow’s left hand pressed against her raised right hand, her figure shifting ceaselessly between golden-brown curls and short red hair, as if flipping back and forth between two paintings.

“Dear sister, please stop! I know Third Sister cares for me the most,” said Shadow with golden-brown curls. “Don’t collapse this pit. We still have to take on Celestial Extremity. If this cave falls in, how will we proceed to the next round?”

Blossom watched Shadow talking to herself, as if two sisters were at odds. It was the Seventh Sister with golden-brown curls who was persuading Third Sister. So, even the nine sisters within Shadow were not always of one mind.

Suddenly, Blossom realized this was the perfect opportunity to persuade Shadow. Shadow, for reasons unknown, shared his goal: to prevent Celestial Extremity from claiming ten consecutive victories in the Heavenly Eye Trial.

Though the outcome of Shadow’s confrontation with Celestial Extremity was still undecided, judging from the sisters’ brief display of skills, Shadow’s potential far exceeded what had already been revealed. Moreover, Blossom had just witnessed the fiery wheel of the red-haired Third Sister. Clearly, as Xuan Wen had said, the Heavenly Wheel King Nezha not only accepted Shadow as his foster daughter, but also bestowed upon her his magical treasures.

Thus, it was obvious that with Shadow’s immortal arts, there was no need to rely on other disciples; she could challenge Celestial Extremity alone. If she held back the other disciples in the Divine Calculation Round and advanced by herself, she might truly topple Celestial Extremity.

But for Blossom to willingly give up in this round was out of the question.

What to do? At this moment, Blossom recalled what Xuan Wen had said earlier.

Just now, Xuan Wen pieced together the slip of paper on which Celestial Extremity had written the answer. Blossom impulsively tried to snatch it, and Xuan Wen said:

“The number in my hand is just one slot for advancement. If you try to take it, I’ll burn it. Even if it’s burned, the number is in my mind. I can still advance.”

Exactly! This meant that they had always been constrained by the trial’s rules, missing the most crucial information—the very method to win the Divine Calculation Round!

Blossom shouted, “Shadow!”

Shadow, shifting between Third Sister and Seventh Sister, spotted Blossom not far away.

Blossom continued, “We don’t need to force each other to reveal our numbers, nor do we need to eliminate anyone. I have a way for all of us remaining to win the Divine Calculation Round.”

Shadow’s form seemed to settle. The Seventh Sister with golden-brown curls asked, “You little ant, what clever idea could you possibly have?”

“I have a way! First, have Third Sister rein in her fiery wheel, lest she collapse the cave or damage the trial’s colored ring, making us all fail this round.”

Curly-haired Shadow pressed, “Why should I trust you?”

Blossom replied, “Weren’t you just persuading your Third Sister? You all want to reach the next round, don’t you? Our goals are aligned. I want to stop Celestial Extremity from winning this year’s Heavenly Eye Trial. So let’s join forces…”

Curly-haired Shadow laughed, “You’re joking. Why would I ally with you, an ant?”

“Take it as gaining a few extra helpers. Perhaps your magic is powerful, but we all know Celestial Extremity possesses supreme luck. You can’t guess what the next round’s rules will be. If you go alone, it’s a gamble. Just like now—you couldn't guess the answer, so you relied on destroying the trial’s colored ring to block Celestial Extremity. If in the next round, only you and Celestial Extremity remain, I suspect his luck will make the rules very unfavorable for you.”

Curly-haired Shadow narrowed her eyes, considering Blossom’s words.

Blossom seized the moment: “I want to stop Celestial Extremity too. Maybe the rest of us can help you. Don’t you want to defeat him in the next round?”

He waited for Shadow’s reply. Meanwhile, behind him, Supreme Young Lord muttered in a low voice:

“I didn’t lose to her just now, so why should I join forces with this split-spirited lunatic…”

Blossom turned and glared at Supreme Young Lord: “Be quiet!”

Supreme Young Lord froze. “You actually scold me? How heartbreaking. I’m going back to sleep.”

Blossom quickly soothed him: “Supreme Young Lord, let’s avoid making enemies if we can. Besides, Shadow is no ordinary opponent. We may not be able to defeat her. And if we proceed together to the next round, it might cause trouble for Celestial Extremity—wouldn’t that be even better?”

“So you say you can guarantee all trial participants will win?”

“Yes,” Blossom said. “Earlier, Xuan Wen said that even without the slip of paper, he still knows the sum of all numbers. Meaning, each person’s number exists only in their own mind. That gave me inspiration. I think I can find a way around the trial’s rules.”

“Oh? Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Let’s see what method you have.” Supreme Young Lord fell silent.

Blossom, seeing he’d convinced Supreme Young Lord, turned to Shadow: “Well? Lady Shadow! What do you think?”

Curly-haired Shadow lowered her head. “Sister, maybe we should see what this ant can do?”

Shadow shifted to red-haired form and said, “That ant and Supreme Young Lord are together. Both, like Celestial Extremity, are descendants of immortals, relying on their noble birth, prideful and unreliable.”

Curly-haired Shadow replied, “Please, sister. Let’s just see what the ant’s method is. If it gets us all to the next round, maybe it’ll trouble Celestial Extremity.”

Red-haired Shadow pondered for a moment. “Seventh Sister, you’re always the best at coaxing me. Fine, I’ll listen this once. If this ant and Supreme Young Lord play any tricks, call me out and I’ll burn their behinds with the fiery wheel.”

Supreme Young Lord smacked his lips behind Blossom: “Blossom, did you hear what she just said…”

Blossom signaled him to calm down.

Curly-haired Shadow kept her head low, clapping her hands. “Thank you, Sister! I knew you cared for me the most!”

Red-haired Shadow faded away, leaving only Shadow with golden-brown curls.

“Hey, you!” Curly-haired Shadow called out.

Blossom replied, “Actually, my name is Blossom.”

“Scorched Peanut? What peanut is scorched? Caramel peanut?” Shadow asked.

“Blossom. Flower as in blooming, and blossom as in thriving.”

“Oh! Blossom. Got it. Hey, don’t think I’ve forgotten what you just said! Tell me, what method do you have to bring us all to the next round?”

Blossom was about to answer.

Shadow added, “Think carefully. If you misspeak by half a word, I’ll make you crawl back to the academy!”

“There will be no mistake.” Blossom glanced at the two human male disciples.

One was stout, the other slim, both sitting on the ground, catching their breath.

After confirming their minds were clear, Blossom began, “According to the numbers on the stone wall, there are nine trialists here. Supreme Young Lord, the two human disciples, and myself—Shadow, you hold the remaining slots. Though there are nine slots, we actually have five people.”

“So what?” Shadow asked.

Blossom pointed to the words on the cave wall. “Let’s check the rules of the Divine Calculation Round again.”

Everyone looked up, rereading the rules.

“Trial rules:
1. When the last person advances from the Candlelight Battle, the Divine Calculation Round officially begins;
2. Trialists must accurately write the sum of all participants’ Heavenly Eye Trial numbers and toss the number into the trial’s colored ring. Those correct advance; those incorrect leave;
3. No trialist may reveal their own number or convert it into any guessable substitute;
4. If anyone’s number is discovered by another during the round, its owner immediately leaves. If the owner’s appearance is unknown, this does not apply;
5. Spells may be freely used. Offensive spells must stop short; trialists must not be harmed.”

Blossom continued, “Of these five rules, the first and fifth don’t really limit passing, just remind us not to harm or mark the start. So, the real constraints are the middle three.”

Shadow said, “I knew that long ago.”

Blossom said, “When I first registered, I told Supreme Young Lord my number. So he knows mine, and his own.”

“What’s the use? Supreme Young Lord doesn’t know our sisters’ numbers,” Shadow said.

“I really don’t know,” Supreme Young Lord admitted. “Blossom, I guess your method is to let us add our numbers together as one, and Shadow’s sisters can do the same for their group. But there’s a problem—the remaining two disciples must know each other’s numbers, or they can’t find their total.”

Shadow interjected, “If that’s your method, it’s too basic. Except Celestial Extremity, no one could guess these irregular numbers.”

“No, no, no!” Blossom said, repeating himself. “That’s not my method. I’m just proving two things: first, if someone’s number is known before this round, it doesn’t cause elimination; second, if everyone keeps their number in mind but writes a different number, they won’t be eliminated.”

Shadow said, “Rule three clearly states that if someone’s number can be guessed, they leave the trial.”

“Yes. So, I’ll have everyone write a number, but it won’t be their own.”

Supreme Young Lord said, “There can’t be any pattern. If there is, others can deduce the numbers.”

“No. The numbers won’t follow any pattern,” Blossom said.

“No pattern? Then everyone writes at random?” Shadow asked.

“Not random. Only I know the pattern,” Blossom said.

Supreme Young Lord asked, “If only you know the pattern, how can others write the right information?”

“By law!” Blossom conjured a sheet of rice paper and a brush, turned away and wrote on the paper. He returned and handed it to Shadow, saying, “Shadow, this paper has a string of numbers. Add your sisters’ numbers to this string and calculate the sum.”

Shadow, uncertain, opened the rice paper and looked at Blossom suspiciously. “You’re still here.”

“Of course I’m here,” Blossom smiled.

“So this number isn’t yours?”

“If it were, you’d know it now and I’d be out.”

“Whose number is it, then?”

“It’s nobody’s.”

Curly-haired Shadow suddenly understood. “I see! So that’s it!”

Blossom took back his sheet, burning it to ashes in a flash. “Once you write the sum, pass it to the next person and destroy the paper. The next person adds their own number and calculates the total. Pass it along until the last person gives it to me.”

“Hey! What a brilliant method!” Supreme Young Lord’s eyes widened. “This way, everyone writes a number, but nobody can deduce anyone else’s number. Each real number is hidden in a string, and no one knows each other’s numbers.”

Shadow wrote her number, walked over to the two male disciples, and said, “Hurry up!”

The stout disciple wrote, handed the slip to the slim disciple, and after both finished, they gave it to Supreme Young Lord.

Supreme Young Lord wrote his number and handed it to Blossom.

Blossom said, “Now, I just subtract the number I wrote from the sum, replace it with my real number, and we have everyone’s total. Each time someone leaves, the sum changes, so the remaining trialists repeat the process.”

Soon after, Blossom wrote the sum on the slip.

“Who would’ve thought, you’ve only been in Saint Peace for a short time, yet you’re full of clever tricks,” Shadow said, playing with her golden-brown curls.

Blossom folded the slip and said, “It’s not that I’m clever. The Academy disciples spend their days with immortality arts and forget that not everything must be solved with magic.”

Supreme Young Lord said, “We’re all the same. Take too many shortcuts and you forget what the original path was.”

Blossom continued, “Seeing the name ‘Divine Calculation Round’ should have made us realize that since it’s about calculation, perhaps there’s a way to find the answer without magic.”

Shadow said, “What if someone deliberately writes the wrong number?”

“We must guard against that.” Blossom crushed the slip into a small ball and tucked it into his sleeve. When his hand reappeared, he held five similar paper balls.

He explained, “Each time we get the sum, we randomly pick someone to put their paper ball in the trial ring. Shadow’s sisters have a special bond, so they won’t try to eliminate each other by writing wrong numbers. I have five paper balls—if anyone writes a wrong number on purpose, they risk being drawn, and if someone else is eliminated, everyone will know immediately. So it’s not worth it.”

Supreme Young Lord laughed, “This is foolproof. Now that we know the method, let’s hurry. The colored ring’s light is dimming fast.”

As he said, the trial ring flickered, so everyone rushed. The stout and slim disciples each took a slip, Supreme Young Lord took one, and Shadow summoned a slip to her.

“I got it! The paper says the number,” said the stout disciple. He bowed to Blossom. “Thank you, brother!”

He took the slip and fed it into the colored ring. A blue light flashed, and he left the cave.

The cave’s inscriptions changed.

Trialists: Eight
Advancers: Four

Blossom clenched his fist, inwardly relieved—the method clearly worked!

The group repeated the process, and the slim disciple was next. He tossed his slip into the ring and left the cave.

The inscription changed—

Trialists: Seven
Advancers: Five

Only Blossom, Shadow, and Supreme Young Lord remained. Blossom wrote the slip and handed it to Supreme Young Lord. “Go ahead, I’ll follow soon.”

“Alright. Be careful.” Supreme Young Lord took the slip and vanished in a blue light.

The wall now showed—

Trialists: Six
Advancers: Six

The spacious cave was now silent. Despite the earlier chaos leaving it battered, the colored glow from the walls still made the cave gleam like an ethereal realm.

Shadow pulled out a slip with a number, impatiently telling Blossom, “I’m growing tired of waiting. Blossom, this is our sisters’ sum. Add your number and hurry to Supreme Young Lord.”

“No rush.” Blossom’s lips curled in a mysterious smile, not reaching for the paper.

Shadow glared. “You damned ant! Are you mocking me? You may not be in a hurry, but I am! I need to settle accounts with Celestial Extremity!”

Blossom suddenly turned away, addressing the empty cave: “Disciple Blossom is about to leave the Divine Calculation Round. May the trial’s supervising immortal reveal themselves? Disciple gives thanks!”

He bowed three times to the emptiness. Yet, aside from his echoed words, the cave was silent.

“As I suspected. The act is over, isn’t it, Sister Shadow?” Blossom corrected himself, “No, perhaps I should address you as… the Divine Calculation Round’s Supervisor—Immortal Shadow!”