Ancient Heavenly Scroll

"Young master, today is the first day the new agreement officially took effect. Boss Ding built a huge workshop in the eastern city—oh, a wine factory! Old Zhou helped him build it, and we supplied the wine starter and Ting Rice ingredients. The first batch of wine has already been produced. Old Zhou weighed it over there: 863 jin in total. We charge three qian of silver per jin, which comes to... three times three is nine, three times six is eighteen, three times eight is twenty-four, 2,589 qian—258 taels and 9 qian of silver. Young master, we've suffered a huge loss! Under the old agreement, he would have had to give us 863 taels..."

Lin Su smiled. "You have to look at things with an eye toward development! Have some vision! What does it matter if we earn a little less today? Haining Tower plans to build eight wine factories like this, and they'll expand further in the future. Calculate it—eight factories, all at this same scale. How much silver will they be handing me for free every day?"

"Eight factories, 258 taels and 9 qian each... Young master, I can't calculate that in my head. Requesting permission to set up an equation..." Xiao Tao's peach-blossom eyes fluttered, and there was a touch of coquettishness in her voice.

"Granted!"

Xiao Tao raised her hand, picked up the chopsticks from the table, turned them upside down, and set up an equation on the ground:

Very quickly, she got the result: 2,071 taels and 2 qian!

"Not bad. Correct answer!" Lin Su said. "So, are we earning more or less?"

"Young master, you're still the clever one..." Xiao Tao was delighted. The money was increasing by the day, and as the little household steward, nothing made her happier.

Suddenly, she gave a violent start. A woman in white had appeared before her, staring blankly at the equation on the ground—the very one Xiao Tao had just set up. She knew the newcomer too. It was the celestial beauty who had come to visit the young master yesterday...

Zhang Yiyu stared at the equation on the ground, utterly baffled. There were all sorts of strange symbols there, and she did not recognize a single one. Yet why was it that with these symbols, such a complicated arithmetic problem could be solved in the blink of an eye by this little girl?

863 jin, at three qian per jin—how much would that be? If someone asked her, she certainly would not know the answer. She would need to use counting rods for half the day, yet this young woman had answered at once. She had even said she had calculated it mentally.

One factory produced 2,589 qian. How much would eight factories produce?

It was too terrifying. The numbers were enormous. If calculated with counting rods, the rods alone would have to be piled into a towering stack, yet this young woman had crouched on the ground and worked it out in mere moments.

Heavens, this girl was an Arithmetic Genius!

But what sort of equation had she used? Zhang Yiyu could not understand it at all...

"Xiao Tao, what kind of arithmetic method is this?" Zhang Yiyu slowly raised her head, her eyes shining brilliantly.

"How would I know what method it is? My young master taught me all of it. Young master, what is this called?" Xiao Tao asked proudly, lifting her chin toward him. Her chest rose as well. It was a part of her she took great pride in; it even seemed a little fuller than that fairy sister's in front of her.

"Multiplication. Didn't you spend three whole nights memorizing it? You still don't know its name?"

Zhang Yiyu was even more confused. "Multiplication? What is multiplication? And these symbols..."

Lin Su froze. He had entered the world of mathematics and forgotten where he was.

This world had no multiplication or division. All multiplication was converted into addition and subtraction. For instance, eight wine factories, each producing 2,589 qian—if ordinary people were asked to calculate it, they would directly bring out twenty thousand counting rods and count them one by one...

And how could they possibly understand Arabic numerals?

All numbers were written in Chinese characters, and traditional characters at that. How was anyone supposed to live like that?

"These are a new kind of numerical symbols. This is 1, this is 2... As for multiplication, it is distilled from addition and subtraction. It makes calculation simpler and increases efficiency a hundredfold..."

Zhang Yiyu's heartbeat quickened. Heavens, her brother had said that Lin Su was proficient in miscellaneous studies, but he had never said he was proficient to such an extent. Creating a secret method himself, increasing efficiency a hundredfold... When it came to the Ancient Heavenly Scroll, who else but him could possibly be worthy?

"Xiao Tao, I have something to discuss with your young master. Could you step out for a moment?"

Xiao Tao looked toward her young master.

Lin Su nodded lightly. "Go to the wine factory and tell Boss Ding that there's no need to settle accounts in cash every day. Settle once a month and use silver notes directly. There's no need to pile heaps of silver in the residence."

"Alright!" Xiao Tao left.

Lin Su poured Zhang Yiyu a cup of tea, his heartbeat quietly quickening. If his prediction was correct, she should bring up the Ancient Heavenly Scroll...

Zhang Yiyu held the teacup and took a light sip. In her heart, she went over every plan one final time, confirming it before she spoke. "I wonder if my brother mentioned something to you back then... the Ancient Heavenly Scroll."

Lin Su frowned. "I don't think so. What is the Ancient Heavenly Scroll?"

The Ancient Heavenly Scroll, named the Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll, had been obtained ten years ago by a Top-tier Elder of the Bishui Sect during an overseas expedition. Its contents were vast and profound. Countless cultivation experts had spent seven full years trying to decipher it, all without success.

Later, the people of the Bishui Sect began to wonder: since this heavenly book was called the Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll, did that mean it required a Literary Way Genius to decipher it?

So her brother had been brought up the mountain by her... He cultivated bitterly for three years and deciphered one of its scrolls. Sure enough, a Literary Way Genius worked!

But precisely because of his decipherment, the experts of the Bishui Sect came to believe that unlocking the ancient scroll had nothing to do with cultivation level, but was related to miscellaneous studies such as arithmetic, the Five Elements, and astronomy.

"It being related to things like arithmetic is somewhat interesting, but I'm afraid it wouldn't be convenient for me to take part. After all, this is the Immortal Sect's greatest secret."

"The heavenly book bears the name 'Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll.' It has actually already indicated that those of the Literary Way are the heaven-chosen sons meant to decipher it. If you decipher it, you will be acting in accordance with Heaven's will. How could the Immortal Sect defy Heaven and harm you? They would only be endlessly grateful to you."

"Of course I believe what you say. Then let's give it a try. Perhaps I simply won't be able to decipher it at all."

Zhang Yiyu raised her hand, and a book appeared out of thin air in her palm. Four large characters were written on its cover: Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll.

Lin Su opened the cover. The moment the records inside entered his eyes, his heartbeat quickened. In an instant, he understood that the people of the Bishui Immortal Sect had gotten it completely wrong.

Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll did not mean that it required a scholar to decipher it. Rather... this book was intimately connected to a man called Wen Wang.

He was King Wen of Zhou.

Why? Because Lin Su was exceedingly familiar with what was recorded inside. It was the principles of the Eight Trigrams.

King Wen of Zhou had lived during the Zhou Dynasty.

The Hundred Schools of Thought on Earth had come more than six hundred years after him.

But in this world, Lin Su could not make sense of it.

There were writings from the Hundred Schools of Thought, but there was nothing concerning King Wen of Zhou.

Now, a Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll had suddenly emerged, with the Eight Trigrams recorded within it.

He had seen the Eight Trigrams Diagram before. It now appeared clearly within his extraordinarily powerful memory system.

He read on at a glance, taking in ten lines at once. There were some markings in the first chapter, written in fresh ink. They had clearly been made by Zhang Haoran. This first chapter was the result he had spent three years deciphering. From that, it seemed the ancient scroll was not the original, but a rubbing. Otherwise, Zhang Haoran would never have been allowed to leave writing on it.

Yet Lin Su was utterly bewildered, because what was written here was both similar to and different from the Eight Trigrams in his memory.

In his memory, the Eight Trigrams began with a diagram, followed by a detailed explanation.

Where was the diagram?

From the first chapter to the second, all the way through the tenth chapter, there was no diagram at all.

Without the Eight Trigrams Diagram, what was there to discuss about the Eight Trigrams? If one only talked without anything to show, would it not become a heavenly book?

Lin Su suddenly froze. Could this be the fundamental reason the heavenly book had become a heavenly book? The single most crucial Eight Trigrams Diagram was missing!

He closed the book and slowly raised his head. Zhang Yiyu's beautiful eyes were fixed on him as well, full of hope.

"Did you see anything?"

"How could it be that easy? Let me look some more..."