Chapter 556: Chapter 556: The Test from the Golden Bell Prophet, A Competition of Deduction
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“We need to test this person.”
In the gloomy darkness, a youth stared at Li Qiankun’s shiny bald head, absent of even a single hair root, a touch of wariness flickering in his eyes.
This person was none other than the Paper Fan Young Master’s arch-enemy, the Golden Bell Prophet.
After his rebirth, he followed the sensations in his heart and tracked all the way to this city, where he found Li Qiankun divining for people.
The Golden Bell Prophet’s first instinct was to devour him.
But soon, he realized that Li Qiankun was already exceedingly astute. Even more fatally, the man was completely bald.
Such a being often turned out to be a master of deduction at the level of ashes.
Even if their cultivation level wasn’t high, their deduction abilities were strong.
“This person has made 435 predictions, with an accuracy rate close to ten out of ten. Coupled with a shiny bald head, this indicates exceptional deduction skills, definitely a top-tier deduction master on par with me.”
The Golden Bell Prophet murmured with a face full of wariness.
“However, this person might simply be naturally bald, so I need to test him. If he turns out to be all show and no substance, I will strike and devour him to increase my power.”
“And if he truly has strength… Hiss!”
Just thinking about the consequences made the Golden Bell Prophet sharply inhale.
One hour later.
“Time to pack up!” Li Qiankun felt a bit tired, ready to pack up and find a place to rest for the night.
“Leaving so soon, are you afraid of me?”
At that moment, an arrogant voice came.
Everyone turned to look where the voice originated.
On the street, the sun was setting in the west.
A youth with his hands behind his back walked slowly forward, his gaze hollow, his face cold.
With his back against the setting sun, it was hard to see his face clearly, but with his slow approach and commanding voice, he exuded a certain presence.
“Who are you?”
Wang Ping’an asked.
The youth glanced at Wang Ping’an and said, “I am ‘Tianji Shangren,’ specializing in divining the secrets of heaven. You all set up stall here, claiming to deduce everything, with quite the audacious claims, huh!”
“What’s that to you?” Li Qiankun asked.
“Dare you compete with me in five rounds of prediction?” the youth said coldly.
“Not interested.” Li Qiankun continued packing up.
“Bloody hell…” the youth cursed inwardly because Li Qiankun wasn’t playing by the expected script. “I am also skilled in deduction. I have specifically come over to challenge you. Do you dare to compete?”
Li Qiankun’s eyebrows perked up, his interest piqued.
“You can deduce, too?”
“Nonsense! As Tianji Shangren, how could I not understand deduction? As for you, if you dare not, it merely shows you’re a charlatan.”
The youth used reverse psychology.
“Let’s compete then. But how shall we do it?” Li Qiankun was keen to learn tips from someone skilled in deduction, hoping to borrow the opportunity to quickly strengthen himself.
“We compare our deducing skills! There are so many people here who need divination. We shall perform deductions for them. Five rounds, first to three wins, and see who can provide the most detailed deductions.”
The youth stated the rules.
Then, with a grand wave of his hand, a Taishi Chair appeared behind him, and he promptly seated himself.
“Fine!” Li Qiankun nodded his head.
He still had a lot of Evil Qi and could perform many divinations, so he wasn’t worried.
Several hundred meters away.
The Golden Bell Prophet sat by a window on the second floor of a teahouse, one hand holding a golden ancient bell, the other maintaining the posture of forming a hand seal.
On the table, there stood a paper figure.
If one observed closely, they would notice the paper figure’s features bore an eight-part resemblance to the youth sitting on the Taishi Chair.
“Heh heh, using a paper effigy in place of my real body, no need for me to show myself and risk exposure.”
The Golden Bell Prophet chuckled.
Back on the street.
Li Qiankun and the paper effigy sat facing each other, five meters apart.
A middle-aged man stood in the middle, bowing respectfully towards both and said, “Two Immortal Masters, I have someone I fancy, named ‘Liu Susu.’ I wish to know how many men she has been with.”
As soon as these words were uttered, the crowd almost burst into laughter.
Everyone looked at this middle-aged man, finding his question exceedingly peculiar.
If the answer turned out to be unfavorable, wouldn’t the woman named “Liu Susu” be socially doomed?
“This question is simple!”
The paper effigy immediately made the gesture of forming a seal, but in reality, it was only a decoy. The true Golden Bell Prophet, from his position in the teahouse, remotely acquired a strand of the middle-aged man’s hair and began to deduce.
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At the seats.
Li Qiankun was also making deductions.
“Thirteen men!” Before long, the paper effigy spoke up, causing the middle-aged man’s mouth to twitch and his eyes to fill with terror.
“Mm-hmm, indeed thirteen men,” Li Qiankun also spoke, “Moreover, one is sixty years old, three are fifty, and the rest are all around their twenties or thirties.”
“Eh!”
Above in the teahouse, Golden Bell Prophet’s gaze sharpened.
He had only divined that Liu Susu had been with thirteen men but had not figured out their ages. He never expected Li Qiankun to have done so, and so quickly at that.
However, this matter still needed to be verified.
Thus, the paper effigy spoke, “This needs to be verified. Someone, bring Liu Susu up here!”
The middle-aged man seeking divination hurriedly intervened, “No, no, Immortal Masters, let’s not! No matter how many men Susu has been with, I’m willing to be her last man!”
“Wow!”
The surrounding onlookers were shocked.
“So, who wins this round?” the paper effigy asked sternly, frowning deeply.
“Immortal Master Li’s details were more thorough; he wins.”
The onlookers unanimously declared.
“This!” Up in the teahouse, Golden Bell Prophet nearly spat out his tea. Although a bit discontented, with so many people speaking up, he had to concede the win to Li Qiankun.
“Still four more rounds to go, no rush!”
Golden Bell Prophet murmured to himself.
He and Li Qiankun had agreed to select five people, answer their posed questions through divination, and determine the winner in a best-of-five matchup.
“Who has the second question?”
Li Qiankun asked the onlookers present.
As posing questions was free during the competition, someone immediately rushed forward.
This was a graceful middle-aged woman with her face veiled by a light gauze. She gave the two men a deep bow and said,
“Both Immortal Masters, I have given birth to nine daughters, but I’m unclear which are truly my husband’s. I wonder if you can discern the truth so he may rest in peace, knowing in the afterlife.”
“Pfft!”
This time, it truly was a case of everyone spewing out their food.
The crowd widened their eyes at the middle-aged woman, seemingly able to see behind her a deceased man with a vast prairie atop his head.
“This woman, she’s not observing womanly conduct!”
Golden Bell Prophet looked disgusted but nevertheless started his divinations.
Li Qiankun started his deductions as well and wrote down his findings on a slip of paper, handing it to the middle-aged woman.
The paper effigy soon received information from Golden Bell Prophet, recorded the results, and also handed it over to the middle-aged woman.
“Ah! Not a single daughter is my husband’s, what should I do now!” Upon seeing the two sets of deductions, the woman’s face lost all color.
Right after, she lifted both pieces of paper into the air.
The slip from the paper effigy only had the word “none” written on it, while the one from Li Qiankun had the same word “none” at the beginning but then went on to list the names of the fathers of all nine daughters in detail.
The most outrageous part was, each of the nine daughters had a different father!
“I’ve lost again!”
Golden Bell Prophet furrowed his brows.
He realized that Li Qiankun’s method of deduction was indeed powerful, producing remarkably detailed and sophisticated results, surpassing his own.
“It seems that this person truly has genuine skills. With my current ability in divination, I am momentarily no match for him, time to withdraw!”
After only two rounds, Golden Bell Prophet admitted his inferiority.
He knocked the teahouse owner unconscious, stole all the Spirit Stones, and swiftly made his escape.
On the street.
The paper effigy suddenly stood up and said, “You win.”
Having said that, he immediately picked up the Taishi Chair and ran off into the distance, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Witnessing this scene, the onlookers had strange expressions on their faces.
“This guy, all high and mighty at first, and now after just two rounds, he grabs a chair and makes a run for it, really quite ludicrous.”
Someone couldn’t help but mock.
What followed was a burst of uproarious laughter.
In the distance.
Golden Bell Prophet’s nose was so crooked with anger.
[Taking a break from one update today, will make up for it tomorrow, sorry!]