Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability-Mathematics: Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage

While Lu Mingyuan was immersed in the Divine Ability Treasury, countless people across Tianyun Continent were doing the same thing.

They came in all ages, men and women; some were heirs to the Hundred Schools of Thought, some were royalty or nobility, and others were commoners...

Their reasons varied. Some were bored and wanted to pass the time; some hoped to find a suitable divine ability; still others wanted to study classics online...

At that moment, a young woman at Xiaoxiang Academy in the southern part of Tianyun Continent had also sunk her consciousness into the Divine Ability Treasury, browsing through it.

Xiaoxiang Academy was located in Liyao City, Great Chu Kingdom. It was a rare academy devoted exclusively to teaching women and training them in cultivation.

Unlike Qingshan Academy, where Lu Mingyuan studied, Xiaoxiang Academy accepted only women who were at least eighteen years old.

In other words, Xiaoxiang Academy admitted only adult women who had already awakened.

That made Xiaoxiang Academy an advanced academy, so to speak.

At least, it was more advanced than Qingshan Academy.

But back to the young woman. She was Jiang Zichun, an upper-year student at Xiaoxiang Academy, and her cultivation was already very close to the three-star realm.

Cultivation on Tianyun Continent was divided by Talent Qi into realms: one star, two stars, three stars, four stars, and so on. These star realms represented one inch of Talent Qi, two inches of Talent Qi, four inches of Talent Qi, eight inches of Talent Qi...

Night had fallen. Jiang Zichun had just returned to her dorm after a hard day of training. Once she had washed up, she sprawled lazily on her soft bed, thinking about tomorrow's competition and how she might earn a better ranking.

A better ranking meant more rewards.

Tomorrow was the day of Xiaoxiang Academy's monthly competition.

The monthly competition was held to check what the students had learned that month, and those who ranked well received rewards. It was much like monthly exams in the real world.

However, at Xiaoxiang Academy, only the top ten received rewards, and the higher the ranking, the better the reward.

Jiang Zichun's grades were quite good, but she usually hovered around ninth or tenth place, which was precarious.

She wanted to hold on to her ranking, but also climb higher.

But when it came to raw strength—her cultivation foundation, swordsmanship, and the like—there was no way she could make a sudden leap in a short time. So Jiang Zichun wondered if she could find a suitable divine ability to make up for her shortcomings quickly and boost her fighting strength.

Given the characteristics of the Fragrant Sword she practiced, Jiang Zichun wanted a restraining or immobilizing divine ability to support her in battle.

Preferably a cheap one, since she wasn't rich.

But the famous divine abilities either had too many restrictions and didn't suit her needs, consumed too much Spiritual Qi, or cost too much. Jiang Zichun couldn't afford to buy them, let alone use them.

So she had kept looking until now without finding anything suitable.

With no other choice, Jiang Zichun decided to browse the newly added divine abilities and see if she could find a hidden gem. After all, the stories said people sometimes stumbled upon incredible bargains.

She had heard that the powerful Taoist School divine ability, Dharma Heaven Dharma Earth, had initially sold for only a hundred points. Now it had risen to ten thousand.

Jiang Zichun figured she couldn't afford it even if she sold herself.

Over the past few days, she had looked through hundreds of new divine abilities, but none had satisfied her.

There was no need to mention lifestyle divine abilities that taught people to play chess or paint.

As for combat abilities, most of them simply summoned a long sword or released a Shockwave—nothing special.

A few years ago, Jiang Zichun would have envied those divine abilities. But now, they were no threat to her, let alone the people ranked above her.

After spending half the day browsing without finding anything, the usually gentle and approachable young woman grew irritable.

She felt like smashing things.

The competition was tomorrow. Would she, Jiang Zichun, really fail to hold on to a place in the top ten this time? She had heard that Zhang Yurou, who ranked twelfth last time, had made tremendous progress in swordsmanship recently, while she herself had barely improved.

So she was worried she might be knocked down tomorrow. If that happened, it would be humiliating.

Just then, the words "Peerless Great Divine Ability" appeared before Jiang Zichun's eyes.

"Another one of these clickbait titles. A peerless great divine ability? I might as well call it the number-one divine ability under heaven."

Jiang Zichun curled her lip at the words "Peerless Great Divine Ability." There were a few of these "peerless great divine abilities" every month, like clockwork.

Their existence was one thing, but their effects were always mediocre, so she usually passed them by.

But for some reason, this time she took a closer look. The divine ability's name read:

Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability—Mathematics: Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage.

Price: 100 points.

"Spirit-stabilizing? That should be similar to immobilizing someone.

"But immobilizing divine abilities cost a fortune—tens of thousands—and they require a high cultivation realm, too. I wonder how this one works.

"If it has even half the effect of an immobilizing divine ability, that'd be great."

If so, then this divine ability was exactly the kind Jiang Zichun wanted. "But Mathematics? What is that? I've never heard of it."

"And Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage?

"Isn't that a famous problem from the Classic of Sunzi? How does that stabilize someone's spirit? Is it another teaching-type divine ability, like Encouraging Learning?

"And isn't this arithmetic? Why call it Mathematics?

"Maybe I should take a look first..."

Jiang Zichun grew interested. This was the first time she had heard the word "Mathematics," and she was very curious about it. Besides, if it really was the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Problem she thought it was, she wanted to see how it could possibly stabilize someone's spirit.

Was it just another clickbait title?

Since this was an illusion-type divine ability that could be experienced directly, Jiang Zichun had the Divine Ability Treasury cast the "Peerless Great Divine Ability" on her.

The moment the divine ability took effect, Jiang Zichun was transported into the illusion.

And as soon as she entered the illusion, a message appeared in her mind.

The message wasn't long. It explained the concept of numbers, such as one, two, three, and four, and described the heads and legs of chickens and rabbits.

After reading the information, Jiang Zichun stood in the void and furrowed her brow. "That's it? Nothing else? Looks like this really is the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Problem! I thought there might be something different about it."

Jiang Zichun was a little disappointed. When she saw the divine ability's name, she had thought she might have stumbled upon a great bargain, but it looked like that wasn't happening.

"But since I'm already here, I might as well give it a try. Maybe there's something else hidden in it? Though the chances are slim."

Then, with little enthusiasm, Jiang Zichun said, "Begin."

Sure enough, the question appeared: A pheasant has one head and two legs; a rabbit has one head and four legs. There are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage, with thirty-five heads above and ninety-four legs below. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?

Jiang Zichun had studied the Classic of Sunzi before, and had even practiced problems like this.

With the help of counting rods, she solved it in less than ten seconds.

Answer: twenty-three pheasants and twelve rabbits.

Once she had answered the question, she could leave.

Jiang Zichun looked around the illusion space, concentrating, but noticed nothing else unusual. Disappointed, she left the illusion and returned to reality.

"What was that? It's just an ordinary problem-solving illusion.

"And they call it a Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability?

"Talk about clickbait! What a waste of my time."

After grumbling a little, Jiang Zichun prepared to continue browsing the Divine Ability Treasury and find a suitable divine ability as soon as possible. There wasn't much time left.

Just then, Jiang Zichun sensed something. She quickly put aside the idea of continuing to browse and tried the Peerless Great Divine Ability again.

This time, the question was different.

There are beasts with six heads and four legs, and birds with four heads and two legs. There are seventy-six heads above and forty-six legs below. How many birds and beasts are there?

This problem was a little harder than the last, but Jiang Zichun eventually solved it.

Answer: eight beasts and seven birds.

Once she had answered, she could leave. Again, there was nothing unusual.

Just as Jiang Zichun was about to leave, she suddenly noticed how long she had taken. This time, it had taken her about twenty seconds to solve the problem.

Looking at the time, Jiang Zichun suddenly realized something.

Wait, something wasn't right. Why hadn't it asked if I wanted to take the test? It just pulled me in, and then I could only say "Begin"?

Was it forced?

Could this be what makes it spirit-stabilizing?

Actually, when she first entered the illusion, Jiang Zichun had learned that time inside passed at one hundredth the rate of time outside. She had taken twenty seconds to get the answer, which meant her body outside had been deprived of control for 0.2 seconds.

From that perspective, this divine ability really did deserve to be called a "Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability."

The information had also said that the ratio could be reduced further, all the way to one to ten. At that point, Jiang Zichun would be dazed for two seconds.

Wait, no. According to experience, someone who lost consciousness could forcibly wake up after one second, so she would actually be dazed for just one second.

One second seemed brief, but even a mere second of being dazed in battle could turn life and death upside down.

At that thought, Jiang Zichun almost leaped for joy. With this divine ability, she would surely sweep the field tomorrow. She might even have a chance to take first place.

The moment she left the illusion, Jiang Zichun bought the divine ability, as if afraid it might disappear.

After paying the Qi Luck Points, a transparent phantom appeared in her Soul Space. It was the Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability.

Only after touching it with her mind did Jiang Zichun fully understand the divine ability's details.

The divine ability had to strike the point where a target's soul and body connected. For humans, that meant hitting the head.

Like most divine abilities, it also had a limited range.

Jiang Zichun currently had 3.8 inches of Talent Qi, so her divine ability could reach a distance of 3.8 meters around her. (Once her Talent Qi reached four inches, she could advance to three stars.)

Beyond that range, the divine ability had no effect.

As for the questions:

The divine ability could be set to draw questions from a specific range, limiting them to a selected category. Or it could draw questions at random.

By default, the questions were selected randomly from all categories.

Jiang Zichun, as its owner, could also adjust the questions' difficulty.

There were more than three hundred questions in all, divided into three levels by difficulty. The second question she had just tried was level two.

As for the third level, she tried it herself and found it was indeed difficult. Most people probably couldn't solve one in twenty seconds.

"Sure enough, it really lives up to its name as a Peerless Spirit-Stabilizing Great Divine Ability. Tomorrow... I'll show them what I can do."

As she spoke, Jiang Zichun nearly burst out laughing. Judging by her expression, she looked like a mouse that had stolen some oil.

But as she laughed, Jiang Zichun suddenly felt that something was off. Would this divine ability really work on other people?

If it did, why had she never heard of anyone using the Encouraging Learning Divine Ability in battle?

At that thought, Jiang Zichun hurriedly looked up the information in the Divine Ability Treasury.

After a while, having spent five Qi Luck Points, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out someone had indeed thought of using illusion-type divine abilities like Encouraging Learning in battle.

But unlike the Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage Divine Ability, Encouraging Learning required the other person's consent before it could pull them into an illusion.

They said this restriction existed because literary questions had no accurate answers—or, at least, no answer that all intelligent beings would accept.

The real reason was that the divine ability itself couldn't infer or deduce the answers to later questions from the small amount of preliminary information. That was why it couldn't force its way into someone's mind. For that to be possible, the logic had to be self-consistent, and the answer had to be deducible.

For example, the next line after "Study and practice what you have learned" in the Analects had no entirely standard answer.

Unless the entire Xue Er Chapter was given as preliminary information, in which case "Is it not a pleasure?" would count as the standard answer, allowing the divine ability to force its way in. Otherwise, if someone answered "one, two, three, four, five, six," you couldn't say their answer was wrong.

But if you gave them the answer, how could you trap them?

This was an illusion, after all. The moment you gave them the answer, they could recall everything in an instant, no matter how long the answer was. Or they could write it down or figure it out on the spot inside the illusion, and then they would still answer in a flash.

Of course, if the illusion wasn't forced, then all the other person had to do was give an answer that matched the one prepared in advance. That was the basis of the Encouraging Learning Divine Ability's test.

So in that respect, Encouraging Learning wasn't suitable for combat.

There was another reason: the more preliminary knowledge an illusion-type divine ability required, the more Spiritual Qi it consumed. Even the teachers at the academy usually only began studying this divine ability after advancing to four stars. That was why the four-star realm was also called the master realm, meaning one was fit to teach others.

At that point, they had at least eight inches of Talent Qi and could draw in more Spiritual Qi, so they could afford the Encouraging Learning Divine Ability.

Or rather, only then did they have the ability to use Encouraging Learning, which required so much preliminary knowledge. Even so, the preliminary knowledge in the divine ability was only a list of topics, not actual content, so it couldn't force others to fall for it.

There was another problem: the more Spiritual Qi a divine ability consumed, the longer it took to release.

They said that releasing the Encouraging Learning Divine Ability took around seven to eight seconds.

So in that regard, the Encouraging Learning Divine Ability was also unsuitable for ordinary combat.

To sum up, it had no accurate answer, couldn't maintain logical consistency and deduce an answer, and couldn't force someone to fall for it; or else it required too much preliminary knowledge, had too high a requirement to use, and took too long to release.

That was why, all these years, there hadn't been a low-level illusion-type divine ability that could be used in battle.

The Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage Divine Ability handled this problem very well. It required very little preliminary knowledge: just the concept and rules of numbers, and the concepts of heads and legs. It could all be explained in fewer than a hundred words.

The less preliminary knowledge it required, the less Spiritual Qi it consumed, and the less time it took to release.

So this Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage Divine Ability was practically instant.

Moreover, the answers to its questions could be deduced entirely from the preliminary information, giving it the basis to force its effect.

In other words, as long as someone was intelligent and understood the concept of numbers, they could theoretically solve the questions.

Of course, if they couldn't solve them, then their intelligence was simply too low.

At that thought, Jiang Zichun's eyes lit up.

"So that means this divine ability works on foreign races, too!"

Foreign races had numbers and intelligence as well. They could understand the preliminary information and deduce the answers.

"But if it really works, this is huge. No, I have to test it properly in a bit. Wait, I should first see who this great master is. They're incredibly impressive."

Jiang Zichun suppressed her impatience, wanting to learn the name of the divine ability's creator and pay her respects first.

Who would have thought that the moment she saw the name, Jiang Zichun would be utterly stunned, her mind filled with the questions, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"

"Anonymous? Is their surname Anonymous?"

"Anonymous? I've never heard of anyone with that surname."

"Wait, Anonymous also means an unnamed person. It refers to someone who doesn't want to reveal their name."

"So this great master might have some reason for not wanting to reveal who they are?"

After thinking it over, Jiang Zichun shook her head. "Forget it. I'll go test out this Peerless Divine Ability first! I still have to sweep the field tomorrow."

Changfeng City.

The moment Jiang Zichun bought the divine ability, Lu Mingyuan, who was still browsing the Divine Ability Treasury, received a notification that one copy of the divine ability he had just uploaded had been sold.

The news sent a wave of excitement surging through Lu Mingyuan.

But he knew he couldn't reveal this, or even mention it, so he could only think to himself: Who has such good taste? They acted so quickly.

Looks like I'll sleep well tonight.

Only now did Lu Mingyuan realize that he really was about to take off. And it looked like he wouldn't need to change his plan, either.