Techniques and Dao

Chapter 19 The Battle of Candlelight (5)

"Bang!"

Before Hu Ling could react, his shoulder slammed against the doorframe, and he fell to the ground. Only then did he realize that he had been thrown into a wooden hut.

He quickly glanced around. The room was furnished with simple wooden furniture, and a wooden staircase led to the upper floor. It was clear the room had more than one floor, and a row of extinguished candles sat against one wall. It seemed that some candles that had survived his roar had once been hidden in this room, but now they were all extinguished.

A dark figure walked in, and at the same time, the door slammed shut. The room became pitch black.

Tiger Spirit became uneasy: "Who! Who's there!"

With a soft sound, a window opened, and moonlight streamed in, along with the character for "fire" in the sky.

"Trial participants: 415 people."

Number of candles: Two.

The number of candles remained unchanged, but there were clearly fewer trial participants.

In the dim light, Hu Ling could see that the dark figure was the boy who had tied him up earlier. He was the one who had imprisoned him here.

"Who are you! What right do you have to kidnap me here!"

"Remember your grandfather's name well! My name is Hua Sheng!"

"peanut?"

"Flowers in full bloom!"

"I remember now!" Tiger Spirit exclaimed, "It's that mole ant that burned down Sixian Pavilion!"

Hua Sheng pulled the rope in his hand, and although Hu Ling weighed several hundred pounds, his magic was locked, and he was pulled half a foot off the ground, lifted up by Hua Sheng like a rabbit. Hua Sheng grabbed Hu Ling's collar and brought his face close, saying, "If you call me an ant again, I'll make you eat shit!"

Tiger Spirit said, "If you do this, aren't you afraid the immortal masters will punish you!"

"Do you know that the fire that burned down the Sixian Pavilion was the Samadhi True Fire! What level is the Samadhi True Fire?"

"Ling, Lingxiao level..."

"Good to know! I even burned down Sixian Pavilion, so you should know that I'm not afraid to roast you too!"

"Where is this? How come there are houses on the mountaintop?"

"There used to be some candles hidden here. Unfortunately, they were all put out just now."

Tiger Spirit knew he was at a disadvantage, so his tone softened: "You know that you injured a fellow disciple in the Heavenly Eye Trial, and the Immortal Masters will never let you off the hook. Besides, the Immortal Master supervising this round is Huo Lei. Knowing his temper, your outcome will definitely not be good. So, you'd better release me quickly."

"I can release you, but you need to hand over the candle."

Upon hearing about the candles, Hu Ling immediately shook his head: "Absolutely not! I only have one, and the other one has already been sold!"

I don't care if you sell it or not!

"I will never give it to you!"

"Then we can just wait it out like this." Hua Sheng threw Hu Ling on the ground, conjured a chair, and sat down comfortably.

Tiger Spirit sat on the ground, panting heavily. After calming down a bit, he said, "Here's what we'll do. You'll be eliminated sooner or later. After I sell the candles, I'll give you five thousand."

"I only need the candlelight," Hua Sheng said.

"Ten thousand, ten thousand should be enough, right? This Tianmu Trial is just an event of the Academy, why take it so seriously? In the end, the one who will win is always Tianjizi. Everyone else is just here to play along with him."

"I'm not here to play along with him. I'm here to hold him back."

"You're quite arrogant. You're just a mere mortal, and a newcomer to the academy. Do you think Shengping Ning is some kind of mortal realm? Is boasting your greatest skill?" Tiger Spirit laughed. "You can't defeat Tianjizi. Even without the Supreme Fortune, you're as insignificant as dust to him."

"Then what are you doing here at the Tianmu Trial?"

"I'm here to work. Every trial participant wants to advance, so I sell them my hope of advancement," Tiger Spirit said. "No matter where you are, hope is the most expensive thing. Just like those medicines for curing terminal illnesses in your mortal world, what does paying a little more price matter when you have hope!"

"So you put out all the candles?"

Tiger Spirit said, "If hope is like plain water, what's its value? If you want to sell it for a good price, you have to prove it to everyone immediately. The less there is, the more expensive it is. Not only will those who didn't buy it regret it, but those who are left will also be more willing to go all out!"

"You shouldn't be a tiger. You should be a cat. A lucky cat."

Hu Ling laughed heartily: "Say what you will. I'm here to make money."

The room fell silent, and through the only open window, the character for "fire" could still be seen floating in the air.

"Trial participants: 370."

Number of candles: Two.

At this moment, Hu Ling noticed that Hua Sheng, like him, was also looking at the two lines of fire characters in the sky.

Suddenly, Hanamoto broke the silence: "Have you ever thought about this?"

Tiger Spirit remained silent.

"Do you still remember the rules of the Candlelight Battle?" Hua Sheng asked. "I do remember. There are three rules: First, the contestants must extinguish the candles with their fingers. Extinguishing a candle automatically eliminates the contestant, who then advances to the next round. Second, spells can be used freely during the game. However, offensive spells must be used only when the target is injured and cannot harm other contestants. The last rule is that anyone who leaves Guangji Mountain without extinguishing their candle during the competition is automatically eliminated."

Tiger Spirit still did not answer.

Hua Sheng continued, "There are only three rules, yet the Fire and Thunder Immortal Master has already begun the trial. But don't you think that up to this point, these rules are missing a very important piece of information?"

Tiger Spirit looked up: "What? Are you missing something?"

Hua Sheng said, "Every competition has a beginning and an end."

“The candles have all been extinguished, so it’s over, right? The remaining people won’t be able to enter the second round,” Hu Ling replied.

"Yes, that seems to be the case. But that's on the premise that all the candles are found. If they can't all be extinguished, when will the game ever end?"

"The remaining two lamps are with me! If you don't let me out, this will never end," Tiger Spirit sneered.

"You're wrong!" Hua Sheng shook his finger. "Completely wrong!"

Hu Ling said irritably, "Where did I go wrong!"

"When the Academy of Arts and the Fire and Thunder Immortal Master designed this candlelight trap, they probably didn't expect that some disciples would claim the candlelight for themselves and not extinguish it," Hua Sheng said. "But didn't they consider what would happen if there was a candle somewhere on this mountain that could never be found?"

"What else can we do? Then the trials will just continue indefinitely."

"It might be possible in one or two days, but what if it hasn't been found after ten or twenty days?"

Hu Ling was taken aback and said, "Then what should we do?"

"In that case, this candlelight contest will never end. The trainees may be delayed here, which could affect their training in the Academy of Arts and Sciences."

"If we can't keep going, won't everyone just give up and quit?"

"Yes, some people may give up. But others may continue searching forever. So since this trial has a beginning, it must also be designed to end."

"Won't the Fire and Thunder Immortal Master call a halt?"

“If there are still candles that haven’t been found, and the supervising immortal master arbitrarily stops the trial, then that would be a loophole in the rules that would make the trial unfair.” Hua Sheng shook his head. “But this loophole is too obvious to possibly exist.”

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"If this trial has a time limit, the Fire and Thunder Immortal Master will definitely display that time to inform everyone when the game ends. If there are time and candle limit limits, the game ends when either one reaches zero."

"What's the problem?"

"But there are two possible outcomes. First, the candles are not all found before time runs out. Second, the candles are all found before time runs out."

"So what? Just display 'trial' as a fire symbol and it's over, right? Or just teleport the participants back to the Academy of Arts and Sciences, right?"

“But it doesn’t actually have to be that complicated. From the very beginning, the rules of this candlelight battle system have both the time limit and the number of remaining candles set to zero,” Hua Sheng said.

"How could it be such a coincidence? The trial time ended exactly at the same time the last candle was found?" "No, no. This candle-lighting challenge actually had a clear time limit set for all the participants from the beginning. So there was no need to set a countdown." Hua Sheng said, "Because at a certain time, the candle-lighting challenge will naturally end."

"When?"

"The candle has turned to ash, and the flame has burned out."

Hu Ling's eyes widened.

"You've been hiding the last two candles in this Candlelight Game, and the other trial participants can't find them. You haven't sold them either. Did you think the game would never end?" Hua Sheng continued. "You're wrong. Once these two candles burn out, the game will naturally end."

Cold sweat trickled down Hu Ling's forehead.

Hua Sheng rested her chin on her hand and slowly said, "Have you ever thought about this?"

Tiger Spirit's eyes darted around, and suddenly he threw his head back and burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Hua Sheng asked.

"Trying to fool me! Do you think I'm stupid?" Tiger Spirit laughed loudly. "Even if the candles will burn out, several hours have passed since the trial began. I gave one to someone else not long ago. If the remaining two were noticeably shorter, I should have noticed then. In other words, even if part of the candles has burned out, it's still early."

"What if we keep dragging this out?"

"You can't hold out any longer!" Hu Ling sneered. "The fact that we're still in this trial means we're still on Mount Guangji. And there are still over three hundred other trial participants searching the mountain. Our wooden hut might not be found for a while, but within a few hours, it will be dawn, and then the hut will be exposed to the light of day. It will be hard for anyone not to find it!"

Hua Sheng remained silent.

Tiger Spirit continued, "Once someone comes in, you won't be able to tie me up."

"You're wrong again."

"Hmph!" Hu Ling spat. "You're just talking nonsense."

Hua Sheng slowly said, "Do you know why I care that the candle flame will burn out?"

"Isn't it because it's just ordinary candlelight?"

"Yes. Like you said, it's just an ordinary candle flame that burns out, so have you noticed something else?"

"what?"

"The candle flame was neither completely burned out nor extinguished. It is possible that it extinguished itself naturally."

"It's not completely burned, no one's extinguishing it, and it hasn't been doused with water. How can we put it out?"

“You should know that there is a glass dome over the candle flame. I once caused a candle flame to be blown out by the wind because I removed the glass dome. But at the same time, I also discovered that the glass dome is not completely sealed. There are several small round holes on it. This allows air to circulate inside the dome without letting the candle flame be blown out by a strong wind.”

"So what?"

"The small hole is there in case the candle flame goes out quickly due to lack of oxygen. You can't be unaware of this simple principle, can you?"

"what do you want to say in the end?"

"But as long as you put it in a completely airtight place, it will go out once there is no air."

Large beads of sweat rolled down Hu Ling's forehead as he said, "Nonsense. Why weren't you wiped out before?"

Hua Sheng said, "I guess you were worried that the leaked temperature of the flames would make these candles detectable by magic. So you deliberately found a place where the air couldn't circulate to hide them. And every time someone paid you to buy them, when you opened the hiding place, fresh air was brought in, which is why none of the candles went out."

Tiger Spirit stared at the ground, panting heavily, its breath growing louder and louder.

“And now you’ve probably been at that hiding place longer than ever before,” Hua Sheng said. “Don’t you think the candles will go out if you don’t open that place soon? If one goes out, you’ll have to choose between entering the next trial and selling the only candle. You’ll regret it; you might miss out on making a lot of money in the next trial just to get this money now. And if both go out, you’ll get nothing at all!”

Hu Ling frowned, looking somewhat anxious.

Hua Sheng crouched down, looked directly into Hu Ling's eyes, and said, "Isn't that right?"

"What makes you so sure the candle will go out soon? It might burn for hours, until it's completely burned out."

Hua Sheng said, "Then you can take a gamble."

Tiger Spirit roared, "What? I can afford to lose! I don't care about this game at all. Even if there's only one lamp left, I can sell it."

Hua Sheng said, "But I will never let you leave."

Tiger Spirit sneered, "What? If I can't sell the candles, you won't get anything either! We'll all be finished! So what..."

Hu Ling suddenly stopped talking, her eyes fixed on the window.

While he was arguing with Hua Sheng, the fire character in the sky had quietly changed without him noticing.

"Trial participants: 311 people."

Number of candles: One.

One lamp!!

Hu Ling could hardly believe his eyes! He turned and glared fiercely at Hua Sheng.

Hanamori also noticed the words "flames burning" outside the window. Now, only one spot remains to advance to the next round!

He seemed to be consumed by rage, and lunged at Hu Ling, roaring, "You bastard! Give me the last candle!"

The moment Hu Ling saw Hua Sheng lunge at him, the furious expression on his face vanished as if evaporated. In its place was a mocking smile, as if he didn't care what Hua Sheng would do to him.

"I won," Tiger Spirit slowly uttered these three words.

"You won my ass! You're not leaving here. Even if I can't win the Candlelight Battle, I will never let you win!"

“You can’t stop me,” Tiger Spirit said.

Before Hua Sheng could understand what those words meant, Hu Ling suddenly kicked him hard in the stomach. He was sent flying into the beam before crashing heavily onto the floor tiles.

With a snap, the hemp ropes that had been binding Hu Ling tightly broke into several pieces.

"How is this possible! I used magic on this rope! How could you break free?" Hua Sheng's words were full of incomprehension.

Tiger Spirit shook the dust off his clothes: "You stinking ant, I've had enough of playing with you!" With that, he raised the exquisite ring on his wrist. He pinched the ring with his hand, and it instantly shattered into powder.

At that moment, Hua Sheng understood the reason. He remembered what Tai Shang Xiao Jun had once told him.

Taishang Xiaojun said: This exquisite ring is disposable. After it has been used once, the magic may become ineffective at any time.

Hu Ling threw a punch at Hua Sheng, a gust of wind shooting out from his hand. Hua Sheng immediately covered his face with both hands, but the huge impact still made him stagger back several steps until he reached the wall.

"I don't have time to play with you anymore! I have to hurry and get that last candle." Tiger Spirit silently recited the incantation for the teleportation spell.

Hua Sheng leaped into the air and pounced straight at Hu Ling.

"Want to come with me?" Hu Ling punched Hua Sheng squarely in the chest with his right fist. "Get lost, you stinking mole ant!"

Hua Sheng was just a hair's breadth away from touching Hu Ling's clothes, but was knocked away again.

At the same time, with a whoosh, Tiger Spirit vanished from the spot.

Tiger Spirit appeared beside a lotus pond. He wiped the sweat from his brow and found that his clothes were soaked through.

"That brat, that stinking ant, wasted so much of my time and even lost a candle for no reason. Oh well! Money is more important. I'll sell this last candle to that rich kid. I'm not going to the next round."

Having said that, Tiger Spirit commanded swiftly, and the lotus pond parted to create a path. Tiger Spirit carefully stepped onto the slippery rocks along the pond's edge and descended to the bottom. After only a few steps, it saw a faint candlelight emanating from the bottom of the pond.

"Thank goodness! The last one is still here."

Hu Ling strode forward, and when he reached the candlelight, his eyes widened in surprise and delight; he could hardly believe what was happening.

At the bottom of the lotus pond, within the small magic array he had set up using his immortal magic, there were actually two candles!

(End of this chapter)