Chapter 22 Who is the Maker?
The morning air was as fresh and relaxing as usual.
In the imperial palace of Jiucai Kingdom, sixteen young eunuchs were in a palace, drafting the time, place, and rules of the competition.
After the writing is completed, the next round of older eunuchs will be responsible for reviewing and checking the content. After confirming that the content is correct, they will submit it to the chief eunuch for review one by one. The chief eunuch will read it carefully and finally stamp it for finality.
After all the operations were completed, the young eunuchs folded the prepared rice paper into a small piece and rolled it up, while one of the older eunuchs left the palace.
After a while, the older eunuch came in, bringing with him sixteen guards. These guards held a hemp rope in their left hands and a pigeon cage made of pure gold in their right hands. In the cages were carrier pigeons specially raised in the palace.
The young eunuchs passed the folded paper to the guards, who took out a carrier pigeon from a cage and tied the paper to the pigeon's feet with a hemp rope.
"go!"
Sixteen carrier pigeons quickly spread their wings and flew towards the palace and out of the palace under the gaze of the eunuchs and guards.
——
Xu Ren'er was sleeping soundly when the constant "cooing" outside the window immediately woke her up.
She was very angry, but then she thought it was a bit unreasonable to argue with the bird, so she got up and tried to open the window to drive away the bird that was shouting outside.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she opened the window, two carrier pigeons rushed in while she was not paying attention, and landed on the number card given by the competition.
One of the number cards was her "Seven", and the other was Mo Youli's "Sixteen" which was placed together with her number card.
Xu Rener: ???
"You're awake."
Mo Youli pushed the door open and saw Xu Ren'er standing stupidly by the table, and smiled.
Xu Ren'er took out his note, and when the note was taken out, the carrier pigeon quickly flapped its wings and flew out of the window.
She opened the envelope and pointed to another carrier pigeon standing on Mo Youli's number card, indicating Mo Youli to open it.
"The second round of the competition will be held in three days."
Xu Ren'er took a quick look and said casually.
"Where is it?"
Mo Youli sent the carrier pigeon away, then slowly unwrapped the note. When he heard Xu Ren'er's voice, he responded casually.
"Illusion Pile Pavilion."
Hearing this, Mo Youli raised his eyebrows. It was not Xu Ren'er who answered, but Tang Beiju.
Tang Beiju and Tang Qiuyue also received the notice. However, apart from martial arts books, they had no patience for other textual content. They just glanced at it casually, and after knowing the location and time of the competition, they threw the note aside.
The two of them strode out of the room and met by chance. They tacitly headed towards Mo Youli's room and decided to gather together to discuss.
As soon as he arrived at Mo Youli's room, he found that the door was not closed. Mo Youli asked a question at that time, so Tang Beiju answered it without thinking.
"Look at the rules."
When Tang Beiju closed the doors and windows, Tang Qiuyue leaned over to sit next to Xu Ren'er. She glanced at the content unwillingly, then with a headache, stepped back and continued to let Xu Ren'er explain:
"The second round will be a 16-choose-8 competition. Half of the 16 contestants will be eliminated directly. The third round will determine the ranking among the contestants."
Mo Youli carefully read the rules section and added:
"Before entering the Illusion Pillar Pavilion, each contestant must take a Illusion Pill and be blindfolded, blocking their vision. Led by guards, they must walk from the entrance of the Illusion Pillar Pavilion to the designated starting point. Only after confirming that the guards have left can the cloth bandages covering their eyes be removed."
Tang Beiju: "Did it say that the remaining half were eliminated?"
Xu Rener gave the answer:
"They will place 160 free-range chickens in Huanzhu Pavilion in advance. Among these 160 free-range chickens, eight of them have foreign objects in their bodies. As for what these foreign objects are, there is no detailed explanation.
Only after you have stayed in the Phantom Pile Pavilion for seven days will the gates open, and the first eight who emerge with the strange object will be eligible to enter the third round."
"That means we have to stay in there for seven days and seven nights, without food or water, and do everything we can to find the free-range chicken that's storing the foreign object. We also have to make sure that what we find isn't taken away by others."
After listening to Xu Ren'er's explanation, Tang Qiuyue gave a summary.
"It's not like we'll go without food or water. There are at least 160 free-range chickens in there, which is more than enough for us to eat for the next seven days."
Xu Ren'er refuted one of Tang Qiuyue's small summaries.
Time seemed to stand still, everyone was silent, and their brains were thinking rapidly.
Suddenly, Tang Qiuyue seemed to have thought of something, and she cried out "Ah", attracting everyone's attention.
"Food is prepared for us, but it's impossible for us to have a place to shower and change clothes. After all, it's a competition, and it's impossible for them to take care of everything. In other words..."
Tang Qiuyue looked at Tang Beiju hesitantly, and the others followed her gaze and turned their eyes to Tang Beiju.
Tang Beiju's face turned pale and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.
"Beiju, can your mysophobia be tolerated?"
Mo Youli asked as tactfully as possible.
Tang Beiju tried hard to control his expression and stiffly consoled himself: "Maybe they are prepared? This is a royal event."
For a martial arts tournament held by the royal family, the supplies should be of the best quality, and every aspect should be taken into consideration.
"Then you can't be naked in public, right? There are a lot of people watching this game.
Tang Qiuyue rudely shattered Tang Beiju's fantasy.
After these words were spoken, the scene became awkward and no one dared to speak.
After a long while, Xu Ren'er finally spoke, changing the subject and temporarily ignoring this little episode:
"What is the Illusion Pill?"
Including Mo Youli, who was well-read among them, they all shook their heads helplessly, indicating that they didn't know.
"Mu Shuangyan." Tang Beiju revealed the plan.
Everyone understood instantly that Mu Shuangyan was a native of Jiucai Country. She had extraordinary conversation and dignified words and deeds. It was obvious that she came from a famous family and must know a lot of knowledge.
The most important thing is that she has nothing to do with the competition and is Tang Qiuyue's friend, so there is no need to worry about being backstabbed.
It can be said that she is the best consulting person they know so far.
——
"This is a pill developed a few years ago by a doctor from Jiucai National High School. Once you take the Illusionary Consciousness Pillar, the scene you see when you enter the Illusionary Pillar Pavilion will be very different from the layout of the Pavilion itself. This will change your perception of the things around you."
Mu Shuangyan explained patiently.
Tang Qiuyue: "Difference? What's the difference? I don't really understand."
Mo Youli pondered for a moment, and a rough idea came to his mind. He organized his words and said slowly, "Can I understand it this way? Just as an example..."
Mo Youli raised his number card to the people around him and said, "Look what I'm holding in my hand?"
Xu Ren'er: "A jade plaque."
"Yes, it's a jade token, but if you take the Illusion Pill, then we might see a jade token with a human face staring at you with a smile, or there might not be a human face, but two flying white wings on both sides of the jade token.
In fact, what we saw was not a jade token at all. It had completely lost its appearance and had transformed into something else."
"Having said this, Mo Youli paused for a moment, then looked at Mu Shuangyan: "Is my understanding the same as what you described?"
Mu Shuangyan nodded appreciatively: "No problem at all."
"I have a question." Xu Ren'er covered his chin, frowned, and said, "This competition is still open. After the contestants take the Illusion Pill, the scenes they see will change significantly.
What about the organizers who are responsible for judging the results of the game? It's okay for the onlookers, but do the organizers take the Illusion Pill? If not, can they properly view this game?"
For a moment, several people fell into deep thought.
"This is something the organizers need to consider. Since they can think of this method, they must have corresponding measures. We don't need to worry about this."
After a while, Mo Youli put forward his idea, and then continued: "Compared to this, I am more worried about the impact of the Illusionary Consciousness Pill on people. Before this, the Illusionary Consciousness Pill was unheard of.
Most of the remaining sixteen contestants are from other countries and have excellent abilities. They have bright and promising futures.
If they tamper with this Illusion Pill, we will all be controlled."
"Don't worry about that." Mu Shuangyan smiled slowly after hearing Mo Youli's concerns. "Once other ingredients are added to the Illusion Pill, its efficacy will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult to properly match it with the furnishings of the Illusion Pillar Pavilion."
"Can you give me a detailed example?"
"Let's take the jade token in your hand as an example. Normally, if there are no other ingredients added to the Illusion Pill, then the jade token in your hand, even if it changes its appearance, it is still in your hand.
But if other ingredients are added to the Illusion Pill, then the jade token you see with your eyes may be in my hand, or in Qiuyue's hand, but in any case not in your hand.
And your hands, empty, will still retain the touch of the jade token.
Such a strong sense of separation makes it easy to detect a problem, so even if the organizers have bad intentions towards you, they won't tamper with the Illusion Pill, which is too obvious."
So that's how it is. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Shuangyan, you know so much, you're amazing." Tang Qiuyue praised without hesitation.
Others gave thumbs up to show their agreement.
"You don't have to think so highly of me. In fact, any local person from Jiucai Country can help you with these things.
It’s just that you happened to ask me about this, and I happened to know about this, which is why you think I’m knowledgeable.”
Mu Shuangyan said softly with a smile on her face.
"Speaking of which, who was the person who created the Illusion Pill? How could he have made this pill so ingeniously? Shuangyan, do you know this person?" Tang Qiuyue asked curiously.
Upon hearing this, Mu Shuangyan's eyes instantly became indifferent. If you look closely, you can find a hint of bitterness in them.
Fortunately, she managed her facial expressions perfectly and quickly calmed down without being noticed.
"He is the most famous imperial physician in Jiucai—Muren Jia."
She slowly spoke out what was generally acknowledged by the people of Jiucai Country.
Actually it’s me, Qiuyue.
Mu Shuangyan said silently in her heart: The person who created the Illusion Pill was actually me.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
