Moonlight in the Cup

Chen Xu held fifty bamboo slips engraved with questions and answers, yet he quietly sighed in his heart.

In the end, he had only memorized fifty questions, while he had a full sixty bamboo slips in hand.

He had still overestimated himself. Earlier, he should have added a little more Divine Soul to himself.

Still, Chen Xu felt a slight swelling pain between his brows. He understood that adding two points of Divine Soul at once was already the safest course, provided nothing unexpected happened.

That childish voice had been right before. To curb greed was also a great lesson one must learn in life.

Having obtained the Cauldron Scripture, he had indeed grown somewhat too frivolous and arrogant. From now on, he should take this as a warning and examine himself thrice each day.

Holding the bamboo slips and leaning on his cane, Chen Xu slowly walked deeper into the Bamboo Grove.

He guessed that after walking for a while, he might encounter Cui Yunqi and the others outside the Bamboo Grove, just as Ugly Monkey had said, since they had left before him.

Then, after Chen Xu had walked for a quarter of an hour, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He had actually stepped into empty air!

No, not into empty air. He had directly gone from the Little Bamboo Grove at the foot of the mountain to an endless expanse of rippling water.

What a wondrous sight was this?

Yet stranger still, the world before him, where water and sky met, clearly held an entire lakeful of moonlight.

Yes, moonlight.

There was no moonlight in the sky. The sky at this moment was clear and bright.

It was the third month of spring, and spring rain had fallen last night.

This morning, all of Jichuan County seemed to have been washed clean. The sky was azure, and not a cloud stretched across ten thousand miles.

Yet beneath Chen Xu's feet, within this vast stretch of jade-green water that seemed nearly boundless, there lay an enormous patch of moonlight.

The full moon swayed with the water's ripples. Chen Xu stepped upon the water, yet it felt as though he were treading on a soft, bright mirror.

There was a faint sensation of sinking, yet also the solid assurance of walking on level ground.

With every step, a circle of tiny ripples spread across the water beneath his feet.

It was truly wondrous beyond measure, impossible for words to describe even one or two parts in ten.

After Chen Xu had walked some distance over the mirror-like water, he suddenly saw several figures ahead turn around.

Every one of them was splendidly dressed in brocade and fine garments, yet sweat beaded on all their foreheads, and their expressions were miserable.

When they saw Chen Xu approach, their eyes first lit up as if in delight, but moments later, their expressions immediately dimmed again.

One youth dressed in dark green brocade said in disappointment, "Who are you? How did you get here? How many questions did you answer correctly, and how many bamboo slips did you take?"

Chen Xu had yet to understand the situation, so he cautiously replied, "I am Chen Xu of Jichuan County. Naturally, I came here because I passed the first trial of the Bamboo Grove."

The instant his words fell, a gust of wind suddenly rose over the lake ahead.

After the wind brushed past, a full moon roughly two feet in diameter leaped out of the water.

Then, that Jade Plate-like moonlight bounced and rolled its way before Chen Xu.

The familiar crisp childish voice rang out again. In a proud tone, the moonlight said, "Chen Xu of Jichuan County: sixty lots drawn, fifty questions answered, fifty correct. Ten points deducted, forty points gained. You may proceed another forty steps across Moon Lake."

Plop—

Ahead, that group of brocade-clad youths all widened their eyes.

Someone even blurted out, "What did you say? He answered fifty questions correctly? No, I don't believe it... Ah!"

Before his words had finished, the water beneath his feet suddenly swayed.

With the speed of lightning, too swift to cover one's ears, his entire body dropped violently downward and sank into the water.

Glug, glug. In the blink of an eye, the jade-green water shimmering with moonlight had completely swallowed him whole.

Someone beside him bent down in panic, wanting to pull him up, but only managed to touch the last corner of his robe.

And because he had seized that corner of cloth, the youth who had tried to pull him suddenly lost control and plunged headfirst down as well.

"Save me... Ah!" he cried.

Before the lingering echo faded, he too disappeared beneath the water.

Only desolation remained. Though the scene was as mysterious and magnificent as a myth, everyone present felt an indescribable, chilling murderous intent.

"Hmph!" A soft snort finally broke the frozen atmosphere.

The Jade Plate-like moonlight bounced about and said angrily, "What are you fools thinking? Could my master possibly be the sort of villain who kills indiscriminately? Idiots, blockheads, those two were merely eliminated and removed from the Star Array!"

"Do you still seek an audience with my master or not? If not, I shall send you all away at once!"

The Jade Plate shot across the water like a silk ribbon, raising waves that flew like arrows. It was clearly furious beyond measure.

If she had possessed a pair of hands at that moment, she would surely have planted them on her hips and glared at everyone.

Naturally, no one asked to leave of their own accord in the end.

After that sprite-like moonlight made it clear that the Star Array would not take lives, everyone subtly breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xu also quickly figured it out. To walk safely across this water, there were two conditions.

The first was to rely on the bamboo-slip points from the first trial. Chen Xu had earned forty points, so he could walk forty steps across the water.

After forty steps, palm-sized little moons would appear beneath the water.

These little moons gathered beneath one's feet and could be fished up by hand.

Fishing up one would produce a question. Answer correctly, and one could move forward a step; answer incorrectly, and one would sink three inches into the water.

Earlier, Cui Yunqi and the others had thought that sinking into the water meant death, so they had been especially nervous. Now that they knew they did not need to wager their lives, their expressions regained their composure.

They also clasped their fists toward Chen Xu and exchanged names with him.

Aside from Cui Yunqi, the two others who remained were named Wen Zicheng and Peng Xuan.

After exchanging names, Chen Xu went first.

He had already walked twenty steps just now, so he could still proceed another twenty.

After twenty steps, Cui Yunqi and the others behind him did not fish for questions. Instead, they deliberately watched Chen Xu, wanting to see what sort of question he would draw up first, and even more, how he would answer it.

Chen Xu crouched down and fished up a little moon. It leaped into the air and transformed into a cluster of golden words.

It was actually a couplet question. The first line read: "Three parts water, two parts bamboo, add one part bright moon."

The people behind him softly drew in breaths. This line unexpectedly matched the present scene perfectly.

Chen Xu, meanwhile, let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the question was not too difficult.

He only pondered for a moment before answering at once, "Travel ten thousand miles, a thousand miles of snow, behold a hundred miles of great river."

The wording was precise and the bearing unrestrained. The matching line was exquisitely composed.

The Jade Plate-like Moonlight Sprite bounced over, and the crisp childish voice giggled. "Ah, you got it right. You answered it so easily—then take one step forward."

Chen Xu stepped forward, then fished up a second little moon.

The little moon flew up and turned into words: "Water with insects grows turbid; water with fish becomes fishing water. Water, water, water—the rivers, streams, lakes, and vast waters."

This was actually a character-deconstruction couplet.

Behind him, Cui Yunqi could not help staring at the words of the couplet and racking his brains.