𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫
“Spiritual sense is indeed not omnipotent. Apart from spiritual sense, experience and technique also play roles in divination. These latter two, however, require extensive time to accumulate. You guys are not even beginners; you’ve only scratched the surface, yet you dream of instant success. Better to be grounded and listen, practice more; you might have a chance to improve,” Yuan Tu said.
Jiang Chu glanced at Yuan Tu.
Though what Yuan Tu said might not sound pleasant, it struck at the core truth and was very reasonable.
“But that’s not right either. If poor spiritual sense results in inaccurate divination, then how can Jiang Chu do it?”
Chen Cheng pointed at Jiang Chu as if he’d thought of something.
“What?” Yuan Tu looked puzzled, “What did she divine?”
“Teacher Yuan, when you were away, we were divining. . . . . .” Hei Hou began, recounting what had just occurred, “Despite Jiang Chu using incorrect divination sticks and having the same low spiritual sense as us, why did she get it right? Could it just be a wild guess?”
“I did not guess.”
Jiang Chu corrected seriously, “I divined it.”
“Jiang Chu, using new divining sticks? Show them to me,” Yuan Tu approached her with interest.
“You can look, but don’t touch.”
Jiang Chu warned before taking out the divining sticks.
Her divining sticks were newly made and hadn’t been sufficiently “trained” to her preferences—a process that takes time. Until then, she didn’t want anyone else touching them, so as not to be contaminated by their energy.
Many people have the same requirement. Of course, Yuan Tu understood and nodded in agreement.
Jiang Chu spread her divining sticks on the ground, and Yuan Tu crouched down to look at them.
“Where did you get these divining sticks?” he asked with a curious expression.
The various symbols on the sticks were of Jiang Chu’s own design, each representing different divinations. Outsiders naturally wouldn’t understand them.
However, Yuan Tu, having seen many forms of divination, had some understanding of unusual symbols. He felt that he’d seen something similar to Jiang Chu’s symbols before but couldn’t remember where.
At the very least, the familiarity indicated that the symbols were not arbitrary; they had a function.
“I made them myself,” Jiang Chu said, “I saw something similar in a book once and found it interesting. After some trial and error and self-study, I found them to be effective and have been using them ever since.”
“From a book. . . . . .” Yuan Tu mumbled.
“Teacher, are these fake?” Hei Hou ran over and asked.
“Jiang Chu, do you still have spiritual sense?” Yuan Tu inquired.
“I do,” Jiang Chu nodded.
“Since you already know how to divine, then divine again in front of everyone,” Yuan Tu stood up, showing the palm of his right hand, “Right hand, five fingers. I’ll fold four fingers, extending only one. They can see which one it is, but you can’t.”
“You want me to divine which finger it is?” Jiang Chu asked.
“Exactly,” Yuan Tu nodded.
“Alright.”
Jiang Chu casually nodded and picked up her divining sticks.
At this moment, Yuan Tu clenched his right fist behind his back, adjusted, and circled around Jiang Chu so that all the students, except for her, could clearly see which finger he extended.
The students saw it but said nothing; everyone wanted to see what Jiang Chu would divine this time.
Jiang Chu began her divination in front of everyone. Her fingers moved over the wooden sticks and finally rested on one.
She examined the divining symbols on the stick, raised her eyebrows, then shifted her gaze from the stick to Yuan Tu’s face.
“So, do we have a result?” Yuan Tu asked.
“Yes, we do,” Jiang Chu nodded.
“So, which finger was it?” Yuan Tu curiously asked.
“. . . . . .None of them. The divination stick said you were making a fist,” Jiang Chu spoke, somewhat exasperated. “Teacher, you’re cheating.”
“. . . . . .”
At this moment, the entire room fell silent.
“My God, how is this possible!”
“Did anyone tip her off? This can’t be accurate!”
“Exactly, there’s no way she guessed it right. How did she do it?”
“I thought her spiritual sense was weak, how is this possible!”
All the students were stunned.
If you were to say Jiang Chu is a genius like Deng Ying and Zhong Huai, it would be understandable; they are naturally gifted and favored by the heavens.
But!
Why can Jiang Chu do it??
She’s only 18, and half the people in the room are stronger than her!
The other half are not much weaker!
Not just the students, even Yuan Tu was taken aback.
“Do you still have spiritual sense?” he asked again.
Jiang Chu looked up, “Yes.”
After completing the second task, her spiritual sense had improved; she could now perform three divinations a day without issue.
“Then let’s go again. . . . . .Deng Ying, you and her divinate together and announce your results at the same time,” Yuan Tu said.
“Okay.”
Deng Ying nodded in agreement, eager to try.
She was really looking forward to it!
“I’ve written a number between one and ten on this paper; guess what it is,” Yuan Tu went to the desk, picked up a pen and paper, and wrote down a number. “If you can’t guess the exact number, try to get the range as close as possible; the closest one wins.”
“Sure.”
Jiang Chu nodded.
Jiang Chu drew lots while Deng Ying shook hers; they finished at slightly different times, with Deng Ying being a bit faster. They were almost back-to-back.
“Are you both done? Announce your results then.”
Yuan Tu held the paper in his hand but did not immediately reveal it.
“Four.”
“Four or five.”
The former was Jiang Chu’s, the latter Deng Ying’s.
Again, the room fell silent.
Yuan Tu was somewhat stunned; he looked down at the number on the paper, questioning his life for a moment.
“Teacher, which one is correct?”
“Hurry up and announce it, is it four or five?”
“It can’t really be four, can it?”
The students were getting impatient.
Yuan Tu flipped the paper over.
The character for “four” was quietly sitting there.
Deng Ying looked at Jiang Chu, her face filled with astonishment, “. . . . . .How did you do it!”
Yes, how did she do it?
Once could be a fluke, twice lucky, but three times?
The level of difficulty was increasing; this was not about guessing anymore but actually divining!
“Actually…” Jiang Chu hesitated for a moment before speaking, “I’m not a beginner. I’ve been interested in divination since I was young, but my family preferred that I become a warrior. So, I reluctantly became a martial artist and enrolled in Martial College. However, my real interest lies in divination. I’ve been studying it secretly; my family doesn’t know.”
(End of Chapter)
