Chapter 100: Chapter too: A Sword Splits Open
Translator: 549690339 | r
Well… Sir, I have to work, if I step out even for a moment, they’ll dock a crystal from my pay!” The shop assistant seemed somewhat troubled.
Yang Zhen glared, “What kind of boss is so unreasonable? Bring him here, 1 want to have a few words with him. Forget it, just tell me the way.” “Go straight ahead until the end of the street, then turn left to the first intersection and turn right for twelve steps, then turn right again. You’ll see it there.”
Yang Zhen stood there, stunned and gawking at the assistant’s proud face, before retorting grumpily,”If I were your boss, I’d deduct your crystals every day.” and walked away.
After stepping outside, he turned left as guided, but just as he lifted his head he almost cursed. Turning left and going straight ended with him nearly tumbling into a ditch. There wasn’t even the first intersection!
Hmm?
A small alley seemed to be the actual path.
Yang Zhen wandered for a long time until he saw a crowd gathered. He figured that must be the place where the headwoman was posing her riddles.
He was about to elbow his way into the crowd when a hand slapped on his shoulder, startling him.
Turning his head around, he saw a guy who looked like an extra, grinning illicitly and asking him with a wink, “Sir, do you want some?”
Upon hearing this, Yang Zhen’s heart lurched, could this chap be from his time?
This… profession had a promising future, they even had items to sell?
“Is it Mizuhara’s or Hara’s?” Yang Zhen asked quietly.
The man looked completely bewildered, “What are you talking about sir, I don’t have any vegetables!”
“No vegetables? Then what are you selling?” Yang Zhen was slightly disappointed, he thought he had met a fellow time-traveller, but it turned out to be a beautiful misunderstanding.
The man chuckled and said, “Seeing sir’s air of elegance, I consider you must be here to answer riddles and join the lady boss in her journey. I got most of the riddles here, you want to buy? They’re really cheap.”
“Huh?” Yang Zhen brightened up, “Are you a ticket scalper?”
I am a human, a real human!” the man solemnly asserted.
“Forget it!” Yang Zhen scowled, “Tell me, where did you get these questions from, are the answers accurate?”
The man shook his head, giving Yang Zhen a strange look, “What are you saying sir? Of course, the questions are compiled by me. As for the answers… if I had those, would I be idling around with you?”
Damn!
Yang Zhen stared blankly at the scalper. This guy was utterly inept considering his line of work, wasn’t he?
“So, sir do you want them?”
“No!” Yang Zhen sneered, “Would I, an honorable man, cheat to answer a question? Not to boast, but if it were thirty questions instead of three, I’d still ace them. You do know that my nickname is ‘Scholar King1, right? You all should be calling me ’King Scholar1!”
“Oh, such haughty words, young sir. You do realize you have offended everyone here with that statement?”
A sneering voice rang out, carrying undertones of discord. For some reason upon hearing this voice, Yang Zhen felt a chill down his spine, his hair standing on end.
This voice… sounded uncomfortably like a eunuch from a TV drama.
Yang Zhen looked up defiantly, and sure enough, there was a fancy man with a smirk on his face, even the thick rouge on his face was discernible from far way.
The scalper’s face paled, hastily retracting his steps as he managed a forced smile, “Young Master Liang, there’s a misunderstanding. We were simply discussing the price, we didn’t mean to belittle anyone. Everyone here is a genius from across the land, we wouldn’t dare to be presumptuous.”
Ignoring his comment, Young Master Liang took out a pink handkerchief to dab his nose, and suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my! Young Master Niu has pulled out a riddle!”
“How to dry sweat off the fastest?”
“Well… naturally it’s to wipe it off using the most absorbent towel!”
“I don’t think it’s that simple. The lady boss’s riddles have always been cryptic and unconventional. Perhaps this is also a test of the depths of our energy reserves, I believe, we should use fire-related martial arts to evaporate the sweat off.”
“That is indeed an unconventional answer, I truly admire it!”
“I think, perhaps flicking sweat off the face might be the quickest way. After all, it takes time to find anything. What if there isn’t a towel nearby?”
The crowd was buzzing with discussion about the answer to the question when the cock-eyed Young Master Niu turned red in the face. He stared at the quiz card, trembling all over, before suddenly spewing a mouthful of fresh blood and rigidly toppling backward.
“Oh my, Young Master Niu has collapsed too! This question is indeed too hard, quick, help him up!”
Seeing this from the back of the crowd, Yang Zhen was dumbstruck. He asked the man next to him who was selling some kind of chips, “Are these people all idiots? Do they actually vomit blood from answering a question?”
The man shook his head and explained, “What you don’t understand, sir, is that the questions posed by the ma’am are usually incredibly tricky. Those quiz cards come with all sorts of restrictions, meant to test the mentality and strength of the ones answering. This is why no one has been able to correctly answer three questions despite the time that has passed.”
As he finished speaking, he saw Yang Zhen’s eagerness to try and swiftly pulled out a bunch of wooden chips from his bosom. “Sir,” he begun, “these chips are exact replicas of ma’am’s questions. They might just help you.”
Yang Zhen was taken aback. Seeing the anticipation in the chip seller’s eyes, he patted the man’s shoulder and said, “From now on, don’t tell people that you’re a chip seller. How are you going to get rich with such low-level marketing techniques?”
“Then…what should I say?” The chip seller looked puzzled.
Yang Zhen stared into his eyes, “I’ll give you a suggestion, for free. Just remember me when you become rich.”
“Please, sir, tell me!”
“These chips… I mean, quiz cards, from now on they’re not called chips. They’re called ‘Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests!”‘
“Five years of college entrance exams, three years of mock tests?” The chip seller looked intrigued, but hesistated, “What is a college entrance exam?” “It’s something from my hometown, an ordeal that countless practitioners must face. Only a very few prodigies can get through the ordeal. It is incredibly brutal!” 7
Then let’s call it ‘Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests!’” The chip seller excitedly chimed in. “The questions that the ma’am comes up with are probably even more brutal than the college entrance exams in your hometown, it’s downright ruthless!”
Yang Zhen laughed heartily and moved towards the crowd, “Excuse me, excuse me, this enthusiast over here would like to give solving the riddles a shot. Would you guys mind making some space?”
The enthusiast?
An old man pointed at Yang Zhen, “Young man, trying to take advantage of us aren’t you?”
Yang Zhen hastily bowed, making a scholarly gesture. He said, “No, no, not at all. I’m an enthusiast because I have a wealth of knowledge. The people in my neighborhood respect that and called me ‘Yang Baba1!”
“So you’re Yang Baba, the scholarly enthusiast?”
“Oh wow, you are smart! Have you managed to answer any of the ma’am’s three questions correctly?”
The man’s face turned red with excitement. He asked, “Yang Baba, do you think
I could answer her three questions?”
“Well, how would we know if we don’t try?” Yang Zhen politely responded. “In my hometown, there’s a saying that has always been a motivator for numerous aspiring scholars, relentlessly striving on the path of learning, motivating generations over generations.”
“Oh?” The man looked surprised, and asked, “Such a wise saying, would you
care to share it with me?”
Yang Zhen nodded, “The saying goes like this, ‘Trying may not necessarily lead
to success, but not trying guarantees failure…’”
Upon hearing these words, everyone nodded in agreement, their eyes lighting
up as they focused their attention on Yang Zhen.
Yang Zhen delicately cleared his throat, and continued, “Only when you try, can you know…”
Know what?” The man asked with anticipation.
“Just how stupid you are!”
What!
Everyone was dumbstruck, staring at Yang Zhen in utter confusion.
Good god, was that a wise saying?
Only when you try, can you know how stupid you are?
Well, it seems…not wrong.
While everyone was still in a dazed state, Yang Zhen walked over to the card that Young Master Niu had drawn. The chilling light of the Thunderbolt Sword flashed in his hand, splitting the card in two. Half fell to the ground, the other half remained in place, dancing dragons and phoenixes adorning it, but only retaining half of its character:
Dry!