Duosheng Danyuan

"Do you remember what we encountered at the Refining Heart Hall and the Nourishing Essence Hall?"

"What did I encounter? Weren't they just the teachers and senior brothers and sisters from the Refining Heart Hall, and the aunties and senior brothers and sisters serving meals at the Nourishing Origin Hall?" Lin Xu pondered for a moment before answering.

"That's right, we met them. Based on your analysis that you shared with me on the way, I think you should be able to notice that the layout of both Lianxin Hall and Yangyuanzhai is in a perfect balance for accommodating us new disciples and senior brothers and sisters."

"What do you mean?" Su Wanqing asked blankly, blinking her eyes.

"I roughly understand what Brother Changfeng means, and I have indeed noticed it. As an activity building for all disciples of a cultivation sect, the size of the Ancient Elixir Scripture Building is normal. Compared to it, the Nourishing Essence Hall and the Refining Heart Hall are too small. However, they are not simply small. For us disciples who enter the building, their smallness is just right. It's as if..."

"It's like a room custom-made for us?" Su Wanqing blurted out.

"That's right," Lin Xu nodded.

"I don't know what this coincidence means right now, but it's precisely because of this coincidence that we've all overlooked something."

"What's wrong?"

Number of people.

"Number of people?"

"Yes, the number of people. Elder Jianshan said that, apart from Mingling Residence, all the buildings in Shengdan Academy that are open to disciples are organized by class. The hidden meaning of this statement is that the senior brothers and sisters we met in Lianxin Hall, Yangyuan Zhai, and even the Ancient Elixir Scripture Building were all from the same class."

"Now that you mention it, it's true. I actually noticed that detail too, but back in the Refining Heart Hall, we were paired up with those so-called senior brothers and sisters to sit at the same table, weren't we?" Lin Xu said.

"However, later at Yangyuanzhai, there were indeed ten people. I was the last one to get food, and at that time there was only one seat left; all the other seats were taken up by those people!" Su Wanqing added.

"Nine people in one place, ten people in another, why is that? Is it because those guys from the Refining Heart Hall have already reached the Core Formation stage?"

"Don't overthink it," I shook my head and continued, "Have you forgotten? Back in the Ancient Elixir Pavilion, I left the central bronze cauldron and explored on my own for quite a while."

"What do you mean?"

"Were you counting people at that time?"

"Yes, they were counting people. The people Chen Yu bumped into, the people studying the scrolls by the bronze cauldron—I wasn't sure at first, but Elder Jian Chen said it himself, that they read the scrolls in the Ancient Elixir Scripture Building according to their class. So, they are disciples of the Shengdan Academy, just like us."

"Tsk!" Lin Xu suddenly understood after hearing my words, and then asked, "So, there were also ten senior brothers and sisters in the Ancient Elixir Scripture Pavilion back then?"

"Hmm. Seven on the first floor, three on the second floor, and none on the third floor. The third floor is the most spacious, with many gaps between the prayer shelves, and no corners where people could hide."

"No wonder you only stayed on the third floor for a few minutes."

"Confirming that no one is there is much simpler than finding them," I said, spreading my hands and shrugging my shoulders.

"But there's still a problem. Even though there are ten people in the Ancient Elixir Pavilion and the Nourishing Essence Hall, there were only nine people in the original Refining Heart Hall. What's going on?" Su Wanqing pondered for a long time before speaking.

"That's right, there are only nine people in the Refining Heart Hall no matter what. That's why I didn't pay much attention to the number of people in the Nourishing Essence Hall. After all, no one has ever said that the number of people in a class is fixed," Lin Xu echoed.

"Indeed, you're right. No one has ever said that the number of students in a class is fixed. But I can also say the other way around: no one has ever said that the number of students in a class is not fixed."

"That's cheating," Lin Xu said, frowning.

"I'm not trying to cheat, I just want to tell you that what you just said wasn't based on facts and logic, but on common sense, which is too subjective."

"...I admit it. So, your speculation is based on facts and logic?"

"Half, I guess."

"Half? What do you mean by half?" Su Wanqing asked curiously.

"Half the truth," I sighed, leaning back slightly on the sofa, and said with a hint of helplessness, "To put it bluntly, this isn't the real world; it might even be a fantasy world from online novels, comics, or TV dramas. Can the facts that happen in this world be converted to the facts that happen in our world?"

"...Maybe not." Lin Xu pondered for a moment before replying.

"Yes, but this world reveals the shadow of our world in many ways, whether it is the writing system, or the style of clothing, feng shui and etiquette, they are all very much in line with the values ​​of our people."

"So?" Su Wanqing asked tentatively.

"Therefore, I will venture to use the logic of the real world to reason about what I see. However, what I see is not entirely what I see; it also contains some of my conjectures about the world. So I say that I am basing my reasoning on half of the facts. Half of the facts I see and believe, and half of the facts I subjectively think should happen here."

"Uh..." A blank look, untouched by knowledge, crossed Su Wanqing's face again.

"I understand, go ahead and tell me," Lin Xu nodded.

"On our way to the Refining Heart Hall, we encountered someone. We stared at each other for a long time, and then I was being watched. Do you remember?"

"Yes, but I only glanced at that person. After all, I had just arrived in this world and knew nothing, so naturally I wanted to avoid making mistakes."

"Of course! I stared at him for a long time, just like you, and even considered asking him for help, but then, his stare at me became really scary..."

"That person, plus the nine from the Refining Heart Hall, makes a total of ten, doesn't it?"

"What!?"

"Impossible," Lin Xu immediately shook his head, then said firmly, "As soon as you mentioned this person, I guessed you might make this inference. But it's impossible. Not to mention that the person looks middle-aged, far younger than the nine people in the Refining Heart Hall; just the layout of the Refining Heart Hall room is wrong."

"Oh? What's wrong?" I said with a smile.

"As a painter, I am naturally familiar with architectural layouts. Although this place is gloomy, the design of some buildings is quite sophisticated. The layout of the doors and windows of Lianxin Hall, the arrangement of tables, chairs and windows in Yangyuanzhai, the circular staircase of Gudanjing Building and the bronze cauldron in the center of the building—the basic structure of these buildings and the placement of the displayed items are all very meticulous. I won't go into the specific technical terms, but I assure you, the layout of this place is definitely not just a casual arrangement."

"so?"

"So, would such an elaborately laid-out, even overly elaborate, place allow the Refining Heart Hall to lack tables and chairs? Impossible. Although the nine tables in the Refining Heart Hall are all double tables, that's an arrangement that conforms to the architectural layout. If there were really ten people in the Refining Heart Hall, it's impossible for two people to share a set of tables and chairs; there would definitely be ten tables and chairs there, not nine. This is also why I think the class sizes here are not fixed. Elder Jianshan could very well take us to a class of nine people and have us sit in on the classes with the original inhabitants of the Life Elixir Academy."

"Hmm, what you said makes sense." I nodded, not denying Lin Xu's reasoning, but simply closed my eyes to rest before speaking, "But that's reasoning based on the architectural structure of the real world, and it's also a kind of reasoning that follows the laws of physics."

"What do you mean?"

I opened my eyes again, leaned down, placed my hands on my lap, and said seriously, "First of all, you're wrong about the very first question. Who told you that age in this world is judged by appearance?"

"what?"

"The concepts of Qi Refining Stage, Core Formation Stage, and Transmission Elders are all concepts from the cultivation world. Since it's a cultivation world, there will be a concept of lifespan. An old man with graying temples may indeed be in his seventies, but a radiant young man may have already passed a hundred years old. Isn't that a very common thing?"

"Forehead......"

"It is indeed common," Su Wanqing nodded.

"Therefore, that person's appearance doesn't prove anything. In fact, the reason he looks older than the others in the Refining Heart Hall might just be because he often sneaks out. Isn't it unreasonable for an ambitious, lazy, and playful disciple to have a lower cultivation level, be older, and appear older?"

"That seems reasonable."

"...Alright, but even if you say that, what about the tables and chairs? There aren't any of his tables and chairs in the Refining Heart Hall. It's impossible that someone else hid them, right? I've read cultivation novels too; even if someone could use something like a Qiankun bag to store tables and chairs, it wouldn't directly change the layout of the entire Refining Heart Hall. If you were to stuff in a tenth table and chair, it would disrupt that perfect layout. And every place we've seen in the Life Pill Academy today has an absolutely perfect layout, including the current Tranquil Resting Abode!"

As he spoke, Lin Xu opened his arms, looked around, and nodded firmly.

Indeed, the interior design and furnishings of the Quiet Abode give one a strange, perfectly monitored feeling, as if one more person would make it feel crowded, and one less person would make it feel empty.

"I still maintain that you have a point. My speculation wasn't entirely based on facts, and it's perfectly normal for you to draw conclusions you can accept based on your guesses. But I still have to say, perhaps it's precisely this coincidence that caused the tenth table and chair that should have been there to disappear."

"ha?"

"Brother Lin, I think I understand." After listening to my words, Su Wanqing raised her right hand and said carefully, "Brother Gu means that the reason you think the tenth table and chair cannot exist is because the tenth table and chair never existed in the first place."

"What do you mean? If it doesn't exist, doesn't that mean his inference is wrong?"

"Lin Xu, Su Wanqing didn't say that the tenth table and chair didn't exist, but that it no longer exists, do you understand? Let me be clearer, the tenth table and chair originally existed, but after that truant left the Refining Heart Hall, the tenth table and chair were hidden, in order to achieve what you've been saying just now."

"..."

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant." Su Wanqing nodded and glanced at me with a smile.

"How could this be...?"

"Do you remember what happened outside the Quiet Abode just now?" I asked Lin Xu.

"What happened? A tenth person, and... two extra huts!"

“That’s right,” I nodded, spread my hands, took a deep breath, and then said, “These two extra huts are not the foundation I speculated about, but they are confirmation of my speculation. When those seven people didn’t come, there was only one hut for three people; after they came, there were two more huts, one like ours, and the other clearly a hut for four people.”

"..."

"If thatched huts can suddenly appear, why can't tables and chairs suddenly disappear? If tables and chairs can suddenly disappear, why can't the layout of the Refining Heart Hall suddenly change? This is my speculation; believe it or not is up to you."