In her battle with An Youyi, Jiang Zichun had still used the Mind-Fixing Divine Ability, since her actual combat strength was no match for her opponent.
But for some reason, An Youyi had only lost focus for a very short time before coming to. As a result, Jiang Zichun had gained almost no advantage.
During the fight that followed, Jiang Zichun used the Mind-Fixing Divine Ability several more times, but An Youyi still recovered quickly. Jiang Zichun even had the uneasy feeling that her opponent was coming around faster and faster.
As soon as she realized this, she felt a bitter pang in her heart. She knew she probably had little chance of winning.
Although Jiang Zichun had known from the start that An Youyi was already a Three-Star Cultivator, a whole realm ahead of her, she was still unwilling to accept it. After all, this was her only chance to take first place; she might never get another opportunity like this.
But for some reason, her Mind-Fixing Divine Ability had little effect on her opponent.
Jiang Zichun didn't doubt the ability itself. After all, the contestants before An Youyi had already proved that it worked well. But An Youyi was strange. She really did lose focus; it was just that she only did so for a very, very short time.
As for An Youyi...
The more she fought, the more frustrated she became. The more she fought, the more frustrated she became.
Anyone would feel that way if they were in the middle of an exhilarating fight and suddenly got called away to answer a math problem.
Although An Youyi had tried every possible way to minimize the ability's effect on the real world, it still interrupted the rhythm of the fight.
It was like, well, you know—right when you were getting into it, the phone rang. Then, just as you were about to pick up where you left off, it rang again.
At that point, most people would feel like killing someone, let alone anything else.
So the more An Youyi fought, the more frustrated and furious she became. She wanted nothing more than to pound Jiang Zichun into the ground.
How dare this little bitch ruin her fun?
Huff! Huff!
Without realizing it, An Youyi put more and more strength into her hands, swinging her Copper Hammers faster and faster.
Clang! Clang!
Every so often, her hammer clashed with Jiang Zichun's sword, sending out a series of muffled thuds.
Suddenly, An Youyi swung a hammer straight at Jiang Zichun's face. Jiang Zichun had no time to dodge and nowhere to redirect the force, so all she could do was brace her sword with both hands and try to block the blow.
The instant the Copper Hammer struck the sword, the weapon formed by the Sword Formation Divine Ability bent sharply, twisting into an impossibly warped bow. Jiang Zichun seized the moment to retreat, so the heavy hammer wouldn't actually hit her.
"I surrender! Referee, I surrender!"
As she retreated, Jiang Zichun hurriedly called out.
Actually, Jiang Zichun didn't want to surrender so soon.
But there was nothing she could do about it. She had already blocked more than ten of her opponent's heavy blows with her sword, and her hands were still numb. She could barely keep hold of her weapon. How was she supposed to attack?
Besides, her Mind-Fixing Divine Ability was having less and less effect on An Youyi.
So Jiang Zichun felt her chances of winning dwindling by the moment, until they were practically nonexistent. She might as well surrender and be done with it, rather than risk getting hit and seriously injured.
The moment Jiang Zichun surrendered, An Youyi stopped attacking.
Even so, she still looked a little unsatisfied.
Although Jiang Zichun had fought like a monkey, dodging around and rarely meeting her head-on, she was the only person in the past few months who had managed to withstand so many of An Youyi's moves.
So An Youyi still felt the fight hadn't quite satisfied her. But her opponent had already surrendered, and there was nothing she could do about that. She couldn't force someone to keep fighting, after all.
Besides, that ability of Jiang Zichun's, the one that could pull people into an illusion during a fight, seemed pretty good. She would have to ask about it later and find out how it worked.
An Youyi figured that if she paired it with her own fighting style, she'd be invincible among cultivators of the same rank.
Once the other person lost focus, she could just swing her hammer and end the fight in an instant. How perfect was that?
And the ability would also be great for annoying people.
Just look at her, An Youyi.
Even though she thought she was usually quite well-mannered, that ability had nearly made her lose her temper.
So An Youyi was determined to get her hands on it.
As for whether Jiang Zichun was willing to teach it to her, An Youyi figured her persona as a big spender would still come in handy.
Besides, judging from what she'd seen, this was probably a newly released Divine Ability. With the hint "Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage," she could find it herself with a little effort.
Of course, if she could easily get what she wanted from Jiang Zichun, An Youyi would be more than happy to do that.
After all, why make things harder than they needed to be?
At around quarter past three in the afternoon, the tournament finally drew to a close.
The final rankings were out, with An Youyi still in first place.
Jiang Zichun, the newcomer, naturally took second.
As for Zhang Yurou, she came in fifth.
The rankings at this End-of-Month Grand Competition had been so unexpected that not only the contestants who had challenged the others were taken by surprise, but the spectators and teachers were too. None of them had expected such a dramatic shake-up.
Zhang Yurou's result wasn't too surprising, since everyone had already heard that her strength had improved by leaps and bounds.
But Jiang Zichun had managed to fight her way all the way to second place.
Naturally, everyone was stunned by the result.
They were also curious about Jiang Zichun's ability to make her opponents lose focus.
Was it a Divine Ability? A cultivation technique? Or something else?
Could they learn it too?
In truth, that last question was what they cared about most.
After Jiang Zichun and the others left, a few people in the crowd continued to watch them with gleaming eyes, wondering what they were thinking.
After the challenge matches ended, An Youyi returned to her dormitory, tidied up, and took a bath. Then she decided to find Jiang Zichun and ask what it would take for her to teach her the ability.
An Youyi knew where Jiang Zichun lived: Heavenly Grade Dormitory No. 9, assigned by the academy according to the competition rankings.
Heavenly Grade Dormitory No. 9.
The moment An Youyi pushed open the door, she was stunned by the scene inside.
Everyone in the top ten from this competition was there except her.
That included Cheng Mei, in third place; Yang Huan, in fourth; Zhang Yurou, in fifth; Jian Meng, in sixth...
And Kong Huiying, in tenth.
Everyone from second to tenth place was there. Not one was missing.
Seeing this, An Youyi thought, So you're all forming a little clique, and you just left me out?
Are my social skills really that bad?
For some reason, a faint bitterness rose in An Youyi's heart.
She rarely spent time with them, but that didn't mean they had to shut her out like this.
Although she thought that, An Youyi didn't let it show. She simply smiled naturally and found a seat.
Since Jiang Zichun, the host, had let her in, she clearly hadn't deliberately excluded her.
So An Youyi sat down without a second thought.
Jiang Zichun was a little surprised to see An Youyi show up. But she was already there, so it wasn't as if Jiang Zichun could turn her away. Besides, having the first-place winner on board would make her plan go more smoothly.
Once everyone had settled down, Jiang Zichun got straight to the point.
"I'm sure you're all curious about the trick I used to trap people in an illusion, right?"
As soon as Jiang Zichun finished speaking, Zhang Yurou hurriedly asked, "You're really going to tell us?"
Zhang Yurou could hardly believe it. Anyone who acquired an ability like that would keep it under wraps. Why would Jiang Zichun be so generous and announce it to everyone?
"Zichun, you're really going to tell us?"
"You're not going to keep it to yourself?"
The others in the small room all looked at Jiang Zichun with suspicion, not quite believing her.
It went against human nature. Why wouldn't Jiang Zichun keep it secret?
Truthfully, the only reason they had come to her room was that Jiang Zichun had sent them all a message saying she would explain what was going on.
Jiang Zichun looked at their disbelieving expressions and said frankly, "It's actually a Divine Ability. And it's one that only appeared yesterday. It's called 'Mathematics: Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage.' If you don't believe me, you can look it up in the Divine Ability Treasury."
Actually, Jiang Zichun wasn't that generous. She didn't want to tell the others, especially since they were all her competitors.
But it would be easy to find out that this was a Divine Ability. All they had to do was check the newest entries, and they would know which one it was.
Besides, the illusion involved the "Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage" problem. It was too obvious; she couldn't keep it secret for more than a few days.
So Jiang Zichun had no choice but to come clean.
At least she could win them over in the process.
As soon as Jiang Zichun named the ability, the others quickly found it in the Divine Ability Treasury.
After trying it for themselves, they confirmed that it was exactly the same as the one Jiang Zichun had used. They hurriedly bought it, as if they were afraid it would be taken down.
"It only costs 100 points?"
"It really is exactly the same."
"And you can adjust the difficulty of the questions. It's genuinely useful!"
"A combat Divine Ability based on illusions. That's the dream."
"Thank you, Zichun!"
"Zichun, I love you so much. Mwah!"
They showered Jiang Zichun with more praise and thanks.
Nearby, An Youyi was smiling brightly too. She tried the Mathematics Divine Ability herself, and it really was powerful. With it, she would be like a tiger with wings—or a fish in water.
So her fondness for Jiang Zichun skyrocketed, and she was just a little shy of becoming her closest friend.
"Zichun, do you have some kind of plan?"
An Youyi figured that since Jiang Zichun had been so straightforward about revealing her ability, and had even done so for free, she must have had some kind of plan.
Otherwise, the rest of them would have had to pay something in return.
She absolutely did not believe in free lunches.
At An Youyi's words, the others put their excitement aside and looked at Jiang Zichun.
Knowing they wouldn't rest easy if she didn't explain, Jiang Zichun didn't hold back. She told them her plan outright:
"You all know this Divine Ability is easy to find and really useful. So I figure it'll spread across the country within a few days at most, and become all the rage."
"That's true! They even called it 'Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage.' They could've been a little more subtle."
"Exactly! They didn't even try to hide it. It's way too obvious."
"I bet someone's already found the Divine Ability. It just hasn't spread widely yet."
"If only they'd given it a less conspicuous name. Then they could've kept it secret for longer."
"Hey, they're selling a Divine Ability. Of course they'd choose a catchy name, and one that fits. They can't just call it anything."
"Right! Actually, this name's pretty good. It's accurate and straightforward. Much better than all those weird names."
None of them disagreed that the ability would soon spread across the country.
After all, it was right there in the Divine Ability Treasury for everyone to see. Someone was bound to discover it. They couldn't just hope everyone else was blind.
Besides, gold would always shine.
It was only a matter of time before someone else found the ability.
Seeing that everyone agreed with her, Jiang Zichun continued, "So we only have a few days' head start, maybe just today."
"Since we don't have much time, I was thinking we could challenge the top ten at the nearby academies and wager on the matches to earn Earth Luck Points. What do you think?"
As soon as Jiang Zichun finished speaking, Zhang Yurou said, "I'm in. I worked hard to get fifth place, and I only got sixty Earth Luck Points. That's not enough to buy even the cheapest Divine Ability. If we challenge a few more academies, we might earn several hundred."
"Exactly. I had twenty points last time, but I dropped one place this time and now I've only got ten. At this rate, it'll be the Year of the Monkey before I can buy a Divine Ability." Kong Huiying joined in the complaints.
"Yeah, the academy rewards are way too small. We have to earn back what we spent on the Divine Ability just now, or we'll be out of pocket."
"We have to hurry. The Divine Ability might spread tomorrow, and then we won't have an advantage anymore."
"Exactly! Exactly!"
The eyes of all ten of them lit up at the thought of earning Earth Luck Points.
Among the ten, everyone except An Youyi was short on Earth Luck Points.
It wasn't that their families were poor.
To be honest, since they had all made it into this advanced academy, their families were doing all right. They weren't especially rich or powerful, but they were at least middle class, and could spare a few Earth Luck Points.
But they had other brothers and sisters at home, so their families couldn't give them much support. Especially since society still favored men over women to some extent.
So some things, they had to fight for themselves.
As for An Youyi, she certainly wasn't short on Earth Luck Points. But the thought of getting to fight together had her blood boiling, so she quickly agreed.
After that, they discussed how to organize their challenges and which academy to visit first.
They planned to sweep through every academy in Liyao City, Great Chu Kingdom, that very day, just in case something unexpected happened.
At that moment, Jiang Zichun suddenly turned to An Youyi and said, "An Youyi, can I ask you something?"
"How did you escape the illusion so quickly?"
The others stopped talking and looked over too.
In fact, they had also noticed that An Youyi had escaped the illusion much faster than they had—far faster.
Now that they had learned the illusion Divine Ability themselves, they were eager to figure out how to escape it quickly.
If they understood what was going on, they could exploit the weakness and think of ways to make up for it.
And the next time they encountered this illusion Divine Ability, they would be able to react quickly instead of getting taken out in a single move like they had in this competition.
An Youyi saw the eager looks in their eyes and knew she had to explain everything today. Otherwise, she would be left out all over again.
Actually, if there were enough at stake, being excluded might be worth it.
But this method was simple. If the others studied it carefully, they might figure it out anyway, so there was no need to hide it.
An Youyi answered directly, "I burned Human Luck to speed up my thinking, and I also used the Heavenly Origin Technique. That's how I got out so quickly."
At that, Cheng Mei smacked her forehead. "Burning Human Luck? How did I not think of that?"
"Burning one point of Human Luck can double your thinking speed for an hour. So even if we push it to the maximum, multiplying our thinking speed by ten, it'll only take one point of Human Luck. We can maintain it for more than six minutes, which is enough for a short battle."
"That really could work!"
"Then the problems that used to take us twenty seconds to solve might only take two now."
"And with the Heavenly Origin Technique, maybe less than a second."
"The time ratio between the illusion and the real world is at least ten to one, so one second inside the illusion is at most a tenth of a second outside. No wonder you got out so fast."
"And I think if we master the Heavenly Origin Technique, we could get even faster. Maybe then it'll be almost like we never lost focus at all."
"True. It'd be great if we could speed up our thoughts even more. Then this divine ability would affect us even less."
"Don't even think about it. Those of us below four stars can only speed up our thought processes tenfold at most. Anything beyond that will have to wait until we advance to four stars."
"Right!"
"Hey, do you think there's a faster way to solve the problems? This still feels like it takes too long."
"A faster way? Of course!"
"There is?"
"Sure. I checked, and the question bank for this divine ability only has a little over two hundred problems. We just need to memorize all the answers, and then we can answer instantly. Wouldn't that get us out quickly?"
"That method... actually could work."
"And it's pretty slick!"
"Exactly! Pretty slick!"
"But what if our opponents memorize the questions too? What then?"
"Well... we'd have to get the author, 'Anonymous,' to add more questions to the bank. Otherwise, if everyone memorizes the answers, this divine ability will be practically useless."
Just then, Jiang Zichun said, "I'll leave a message tonight and see if I can get the author to add more questions."
"Maybe leave a message tomorrow instead."
"Yeah, tomorrow would be better."
"For now, let's memorize the answers, so nobody can use this trick against us."
"Exactly!"
They all agreed this was the best plan.
Besides, having only a few hundred questions was a real advantage for them.
And if they couldn't memorize everything, they could write the answers in their Soul Space and cheat. When they needed them, they could just look them up.
Once they had everything ready, they prepared to challenge the other academies.
They were brimming with confidence, ready to make a grand entrance and give it everything they had.
As for their first target, naturally, it was Changyu Academy, the one closest to them.
Changyu Academy often used sparring as an excuse to come pick fights with them. Now it was time for payback.
Just then, An Youyi suddenly said, "Zichun, wait a moment. I have a suggestion. You should report this divine ability you discovered to our academy. I think it could be useful for more than you realize."
Jiang Zichun asked, puzzled, "More useful?"
An Youyi nodded. "Mm! I don't know if it's really as useful as I think, but you should report it to the academy first. If it turns out to be important, they'll definitely reward you."
Since An Youyi hadn't explained exactly what the ability might be useful for, Jiang Zichun didn't feel it was appropriate to press her.
She knew that someone like An Youyi, from a prominent family, would surely know things ordinary people didn't. There was no need to pry—what if it involved something confidential?
Besides, this could only benefit her and had no downside, so she readily agreed. "All right! I'll go now. Wait here for me."
With that, Jiang Zichun hurried out of the dormitory.
Before you continue