Chapter 22: Nanlinghe-Answer
After returning to the wine country, Ye Jie found a wooden box next to him. As soon as he stepped into the hall, he saw Nan Linghe waiting anxiously in the corner.
"Woo...Brother Jie, I'm so scared."
Seeing Ye Jie return, Nan Linghe immediately came up to him, with a lingering fear still on his face, staring at Ye Jie with watery eyes.
"Don't worry, you are safe now. He will never bother you again." Ye Jie raised his eyebrows.
"That's great..." Nan Linghe patted her chest. Since Ye Jie said so, she could rest assured. Her eyes could not help but glance at the wooden box next to Ye Jie, "Brother Jie, why did you bring back a box?"
Ye Jie smiled and said, "This is a gift for you. Open it and take a look."
"Gift?" Nan Linghe blinked, and the worry she had just felt was instantly filled with unknown surprises. Although she didn't know what kind of gift Brother Jie brought back, she was very happy no matter what it was.
Nan Linghe opened the wooden box and saw a large, round, and solemn stone platform made of high-quality black jade in the middle. The surface of the stone platform had a crystal clear luster and felt smooth and delicate. The edges were engraved with exquisite carvings. The appearance was extraordinary. If you felt carefully, you could also sense the amazing flow of spiritual power from the stone platform.
"This is... a stone platform for transporting energy?" Nan Linghe exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands. Her surprise was beyond words. A blush appeared on her face, and she looked at Ye Jie with tender eyes. "Brother Jie, the stone platform for transporting energy is very expensive, right?"
Ye Jie waved his hands and smiled: "Speaking of which, this is all thanks to the boy who came to trouble you. In order to express his apology to you, he insisted on giving me all the Yin De he had. I couldn't stop him."
Nan Linghe opened his eyes wide and nodded repeatedly: "He is quite nice!"
Ye Jie moved the stone platform and soon returned to the basement with Nan Linghe.
As soon as she entered the door, Nan Linghe noticed something different. When she left, the basement was still cluttered with discarded items, and it looked very messy. Now it has become brand new. The piles of garbage have disappeared, and the dust and cobwebs have been swept away. The old and broken brick and tile walls have also been covered with a layer of new mud, and it looks very clean at a glance.
Nan Linghe was slightly stunned by all these changes. He thought he had come to the wrong place. It was not until he saw the wooden table that had been used to grind ink not long ago and the four spirit stones placed beside it that he came to his senses and realized that he had returned home.
"Brother Jie, did you do this?" Nan Linghe looked at Ye Jie with more and more surprise.
Ye Jie laughed heartily: "Since you said this is home, then of course it should look like home. How can it be too dirty and messy?"
Ye Jie looked around and chose the south side with the best feng shui. He placed the stone platform down and after a careful inspection, he said:
"This is the first piece of furniture we've added. It's truly a stone platform worth fifty thousand Yin De, specifically designed to aid cultivation. Simply sitting on it and circulating your spiritual energy will speed up your cultivation by thirty percent. While the effect may not be comparable to directly absorbing spiritual energy from the spirit stone, it's superior in long-term use. Even if it's only a thirty percent speed increase, in the long run, it can save a significant amount of cultivation time."
After placing the Qigong stone platform, Ye Jie looked at Nan Linghe again, but saw that the corners of her mouth were slightly raised, and her bright and clear eyes contained an unbreakable smile. He couldn't help but ask:
"Come to think of it... I still don't know the results of the imperial examination. Did you pass?"
"Yes! I passed!" Nan Linghe nodded repeatedly, and the waterfall-like black hair falling on her shoulders trembled.
When the test results were mentioned, Nan Linghe couldn't help but puff out his lips, his nose turned up, and he looked quite unconvinced:
"I thought I could answer at least six questions correctly, but I only got three right... What exactly are gold, wood, water, fire, and earth? What are the five elements? There were actually three similar questions, and I got them all wrong..."
"What are you talking about?" Ye Jie was stunned, his eyes showing a bit of confusion, "Hurry up and show me the test paper."
After opening the test paper, Nan Linghe saw that he had answered the first three questions correctly, but the last four were all wrong. He couldn't help but tilt his head: "How come I got the first three questions right? Did I get questions four, five, and six wrong? That's impossible... It must be the invigilator who made a mistake!"
Seeing Nan Linghe's confidence that his answer was correct, Ye Jie felt somewhat helpless: "Wait a minute... Didn't I tell you that if you have questions, just ask the dice?"
Nan Linghe opened his eyes wide: "But the answer of the dice is wrong!"
"What?" Ye Jie's mouth twitched. "Tell me why the answer from the dice is wrong."
Nan Linghe pointed at the fourth question on the test paper, took out two dice and threw them on the table, but saw that there was no dot on either dice. He couldn't help but ask Ye Jie, "Brother Jie, did you see that? How can the answer to this question be zero?"
Ye Jie held his forehead with his hand: "The answer to this question is really zero."
Nan Linghe didn't believe it and read the question, "There's a man-eating monster in Dongsheng Shenzhou. It needs to eat a living person every day. It has seven heads, eight bodies, twelve arms, and twenty-two legs... With so much to eat, how come it can't even fill its stomach in a day?"
Ye Jie patiently explained, "The purpose of this question is to tell you that the monsters in the east are cruel and will only eat living people. They won't eat any corpses, no matter how many. If there's no living person in the question, then that's zero, isn't it?"
Nan Linghe opened his mouth wide and let out a cry of "Ah!" He looked at the next question and threw the dice at the same time. The two dice added up to only one dot. "What about this question? There are zombies in Xiniu Hezhou. Three zombies need one incense stick to feed on three people. Nine zombies need nine people. Doesn't that mean it takes three incense sticks? Or... is it actually nine incense sticks?"
Ye Jie's eye twitched. "The purpose of this question is to tell you that the monsters in the West are of various kinds. In addition to zombies and living skeletons, there are also werewolves and vampires. The beast-shaped Palace Master and the Blood Pond Palace Master of the Western Yama Palace are demons from these two races. As for the answer... even if a hundred zombies devour a hundred people, it would still only take a stick of incense. They start eating at the same time, not one by one."
After Ye Jie's explanation, Nan Linghe also revealed a deep and thoughtful look, but there was still one thing in his mind: "What if a zombie eats very slowly?"
Ye Jie took a deep breath: "...you should look at the next question."
"Next question..."
Nan Linghe rolled the dice again, and this time both showed fours. She confidently placed her hands on her hips and said, "Isn't the answer to this question four? There's a one-legged mandrill in Uttarakuru. It goes to the market to buy shoes. A pair costs eight copper coins. It only needs to buy one, so that's four copper coins, right?"
"...You only bought one shoe?" Ye Jie was almost defeated by her. "The purpose of this question is to tell you that the northern immortal sect is powerful. Even monsters have to keep their tails between their legs. Just as humans buy a pair of shoes, monsters also have to buy a pair, even one-legged monsters are no exception. So the answer is eight copper coins."
After listening to Ye Jie's explanation, Nan Linghe looked at the test paper, then looked at the dice beside him, and couldn't help but cover his mouth and exclaimed.
"So, the answers given by the dice are all correct." Her eyes were filled with astonishment and disbelief. "What kind of magic weapon is this? It's amazing!"
Ye Jie almost gasped for breath: "It's not that the dice are powerful, it's that you are powerful, but you completely missed the correct answer... In short, if you encounter this kind of question again in the future, don't think about it, just trust the dice."
Nan Linghe nodded slightly, picked up the spirit stones on the table beside her, and handed them to Ye Jie with both hands: "Brother Jie gave me such a powerful dice magic weapon. I, I have nothing to repay you with. I only have these few spirit stones. I hope Brother Jie doesn't despise it."
"...I told you it was just an ordinary dice."
No matter how Ye Jie explained, Nan Linghe refused to believe it and insisted on forcing the spirit stone into his hands.
Ye Jie couldn't refuse, so he reluctantly accepted the three spirit stones. Nan Linghe, beaming with joy, then put the dice close to his body as if they were treasures. Now, even if Ye Jie wanted to get the dice back, it was impossible.
After a short break, Ye Jie reminded her, "Since you have successfully passed the imperial examination, you should go to Guangwang Palace and become an official ghost messenger!"