Chapter 483: Deciphering

The Gate of Life and Death.

Chen Changyuan was covered in blood, in extreme pain, and furious to the utmost.

If Bing Yi still insisted on forcing him, then he would have to expose the existence of the Dream Ancient Divine Beast.

He had also been left dazed by Bing Yi's words just now, and at this moment, his heart was set on the idea of exterminating Bing Yi.

This person is as dangerous as Chen Yan.

Dangerous in a different way.

It was also at this moment.

"Bing Yi, you are the one with the most names!" the sculpture's voice rang out.

Chen Yan, still high in the air, paused slightly; he looked toward the geniuses of the five clans not far away.

At this moment, no one spoke.

But clearly, there were still more people who had written his name.

Those who wrote his name fell into two categories.

The first category, the simplest, was that they had already determined Bing Yi was the one most likely to be chosen, and to ensure their own safety, they further increased the probability of Bing Yi being selected.

The second category thought Bing Yi's previous success was just luck and that he might not have truly solved the mystery, so they wanted to use the third opportunity to see if Bing Yi had real ability.

If it was real ability, they wanted to seek out the true pattern from the room numbers Bing Yi chose.

After all, no one doesn't want an opportunity.

Chen Yan glanced indifferently at Chen Changyuan, who had been beaten into a pulp by him, his eyes narrowing beneath his mask.

Just a moment ago, he had clearly sensed that boiling malice within Chen Changyuan's body.

It was intense to the extreme.

What was that?

Chen Changyuan was clearly not an Ancient Divine Beast; could it be that an Ancient Divine Beast was hidden inside Chen Changyuan's body?

Killing Chen Changyuan here was clearly not an option.

Chen Changyuan was a guest advisor of Ji Province, and Ji Chuxi had not made a move all along, partly because he wanted Bing Yi to teach Chen Changyuan a lesson.

But it was impossible to allow Chen Changyuan to be killed.

Chen Yan said nothing, and under everyone's gaze, he walked toward those rows of houses.

The shadows dissipated, and the ice spear in Chen Yan's hand also vanished with a 'hissing' sound.

Chen Yunyou looked at Chen Yan's back with an ugly expression; if Bing Yi could still find a Blood-Qi Treasure Medicine, then it would confirm that Bing Yi had completely solved the mystery.

Chen Changyuan gasped for air, also looking up, blood constantly flowing from the corners of his mouth.

It was at this moment that Chen Yan arrived in front of room number twenty-two, paused for a moment, and then pushed the door open.

Creak.

The sound of the door opening echoed within the world of malice.

Everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

Even Chen Qi and the others were listening quietly.

Until the next moment, everyone's expressions froze.

They saw that from within room number twenty-two, a scarlet precious light spilled out, and the fragrant scent of a Blood-Qi Treasure Medicine, unique to the Sun-Level Grade B, rushed toward them.

Another Pre-Heart Treasure Medicine!

"Bing Yi, it really wasn't just luck!" someone spoke, their voice somewhat distorted.

"Why is it twenty-two? What kind of pattern is there between these rooms?!"

"This... another Pre-Heart Treasure Medicine!"

Sounds of shock rang out one after another.

At this moment, there was no one who wasn't covetous.

A Pre-Heart Treasure Medicine, and a Blood-Qi one at that, plus the Dragon Flame branch containing rich body-tempering energy that Bing Yi had obtained earlier.

Bing Yi's harvest today would make even an Eighth-Rank covetous.

Chen Yan stored this Pre-Heart Treasure Medicine into his Origin Space, his expression calm.

The secret to this Life and Death Trial is actually carrying over!

Yes!

Carrying over!

【Great dreams seek the phoenix, finally finding life,

Summer departs, autumn arrives, the shadow remains alone.

The goddess transforms into a man, feelings hard to advance,

Exchanging heart for nature, the intent is restrained.

Surviving the tribulation, dwelling within the dream.】

This is an acrostic poem, and also a telestich poem!

The acrostic was just to distract everyone's attention from the telestich.

【Born in the carrying over】!

Vitality exists within the carrying over!

How to understand this?

What does 【Life/Birth】 represent?

That's right, it is five.

This Divine General Temple had long ago hinted at the number five.

Beside the plaza where one enters the Divine General Temple, there are five bricks between every street tree.

Trees represent vitality.

This is one hint.

This poem has five lines; this is the second hint.

These one hundred and twenty-five houses follow a 5x25 configuration.

This is the third hint.

This is the answer; in fact, everyone has seen these things.

Because there were too many hints.

But knowing it is five is not enough; one must also know why it is five.

Why was there an opportunity in Room 10 for the first reward of Body Tempering Precious Medicine?

Why was there none in Room 10 for the second reward of Blood Qi Precious Medicine?

Clearly, just knowing it is five is far from enough.

Only after discovering there was no precious medicine in Room 10 during the Blood Qi Precious Medicine reward did Chen Yan begin to truly ponder the meaning of five.

It is actually very simple.

The character for "life" (sheng) has five strokes.

That is why it is five.

If there are five precious medicines within the one hundred and twenty-five rooms, which rooms would these precious medicines be in?

One could judge that by the number of bricks between the street trees in the plaza.

Walking five bricks brings one to the first tree.

Walking ten bricks brings one to the second tree.

And so on: fifteen, twenty, twenty-five.

In other words.

The houses containing vitality are in rooms five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five, respectively.

But choosing houses this way is definitely wrong.

Because there is another rule.

That is, "Life exists within the base."

What does this "base" represent?

The numbers used by the human race generally use base ten.

But within other bases, numerical calculations can be performed just the same.

When Chen Yan received the Body Tempering energy reward, he found the precious medicine in Room 10.

On one hand, it was indeed because this stage presented a reversal of life and death compared to the first stage.

But on the other hand, this was also a hint from the Divine General Temple.

Because within the base-eleven calculation method, the number ten is represented as ten.

Why base eleven?

Because the character for "temper" (cui) has eleven strokes.

Therefore, in the first stage's Body Tempering Precious Medicine reward, the numbers five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five needed to be expressed in base eleven.

Which is 5, 10, 14, 19, and 23.

And in the Blood Qi Precious Medicine reward stage, the base changed again.

Because the character for "qi" (qi) has four strokes.

Therefore, in this stage, the numbers five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five needed to be expressed in base four.

Which is 11, 22, 33, 110, and 121.

This is also the reason why the rules between the Blood Qi Precious Medicine reward and the Body Tempering Precious Medicine reward are different.

Because the only things that changed were the Blood Qi and the Body Tempering.

The rules are precisely generated from these two changes.

However, Chen Yan still has a conjecture at this moment.

A very terrifying conjecture.

Chen Yan took a deep breath; he did not leave immediately at this moment. After placing the Heart-Origin Precious Medicine into his own origin space, Chen Yan began to examine this entire room.

This is a small twenty-square-meter room; the walls were already gray and black, but unlike the other rooms, there were a few withered, yellowed papers lying on the floor.

They were withered and yellowed beyond recognition.

But even if the paper is withered and yellowed, the ink of a diagram can still leave traces.

Chen Yan unfolded these few papers and began to observe them.

The one on top is a map.

The layout of Myriad Appearances Island shares commonalities with Qinzhou.

Both have the Military Martial Guard and the Martial Suppression Division, and each district also has a branch of the Martial Suppression Division.

Xiaolong Park, it seems Qinzhou has one too.

Pagoda Mountain, South Mountain, Hard-Refinement Temple, Brocade Palace...

Chen Yan scanned it at a glance and committed the contents of this map to his heart.

Chen Yan flipped to the second sheet; it was a suggestive photograph.

The third sheet was an introduction to the Brocade Palace on Myriad Appearances Island, mainly advertising copy for tourism.

Upon reaching the last sheet, Chen Yan's pupils constricted.

It is a secret.

Back then, the Director of the Great Xia Imperial Observatory proposed that Xia Weimin serve as the next State Overseer, but Xia Weimin was unwilling and once had a huge argument with the then-State Overseer in front of all the civil and military officials.

Chen Yan had seen this news before, but he had not known the content previously.

This piece of paper, however, introduced it very clearly.

【The State Overseer said: "Possessing the talent to rectify the world, one should take on the responsibilities of the world. To be able to act but choose not to is an act that defies the Dao, lacks loyalty, and is devoid of righteousness."】

【Divine General Wei Ming said: "Disregarding the living beings of Ten Thousand Aspects Island is defying the Dao; ignoring the safety of the Great Xia territory is lacking loyalty; abandoning the life and death of brothers in the army is being devoid of righteousness."】

Chen Yan frowned; since Xia Weimin spoke so grandiosely, why did he slaughter ten million people on Ten Thousand Aspects Island that day?

He continued reading, and immediately narrowed his eyes.

The next paragraph of this article.

【The Grand Minister of Rites brought out the secret method of the Blood-Drawing Array and angrily rebuked Divine General Wei Ming: "How dare you privately create such a terrifying Blood-Drawing Array? This is an act against Heaven that brings disaster upon the common people; what crime should you be charged with!"】

This was the turning point of that meeting.

The Great Xia Grand Minister of Rites at the time conducted a secret investigation and discovered that Xia Weimin had been studying the Blood-Drawing Array in private, which shook the imperial court.

Xia Weimin began to quibble, but was impeached by the hundred officials.

The then-State Overseer no longer proposed that Xia Weimin become the next State Overseer, and the two even erupted into a father-son quarrel.

Afterwards, Xia Weimin returned to Ten Thousand Aspects Island.

Chen Yan calculated the timeline.

One year later, Chen Yi, the eldest legitimate son of the Chen Clan who had once been defeated by Xia Weimin, arrived at Ten Thousand Aspects Island.

The second day.

Xia Weimin slaughtered the living beings.

Chen Yan saw it in the memories of Lin Yi.

After Xia Weimin slaughtered the living beings, he deployed the Blood-Drawing Array, intending to refine the flesh and blood of the ten million living beings.

Everything had foreshadowing; Xia Weimin had long been studying the Blood-Drawing Array.