Chapter 392: Starting to stack the heroic value

There are no fools in Imperial Academy.

Liu Canzhi was only tricked due to an information asymmetry, which doesn't mean he can't make correct judgments after knowing enough information.

“Alright, then let’s go make our arrangements,” Liu Canzhi replied.

The two agreed on their plans and then departed.

Li Qi immediately pulled out his terminal and started calling people.

“Bo Yue? What are you doing? What? Deducing lottery numbers? Stop deducing, my brother here is in trouble. I won’t delay your earning money; I’ll make up for the lottery winnings later. Hurry up and come, I’m in Shangyuan.”

“Senior Brother Yan Ke, are you busy lately? Ah, yes, yes, yes, I’ve encountered some trouble. What? You’re busy organizing a social gathering? Don’t organize it, I’ll introduce you to a few Wu Yu later. I’m telling you, I’ve been to the Eastern Ridge Mountains, and several Wu Yu there invited me in to sit down. Next time, I’ll bring you along. I’ve sent you the address.”

“Brother Zhong Minglou, how is your leg? Has it healed? Oh, it’s healed, that’s good. There’s something I wanted… Wait, you said you’re already at the entrance of Shangyuan? Coming in immediately? Alright then… You really understand.”

Li Qi put down his terminal, looked up, and saw Zhong Minglou, the charlatan, walking towards him with a faint smile.

His eyes were still covered by the black cloth, dressed like a blind man, yet he always managed to navigate through crowds and traffic freely on the street without being bumped into.

Behind him followed the young caregiver Li Qi had introduced to him earlier, responsible for looking after Zhong Minglou, who couldn’t care for himself.

It was evident that Zhong Minglou was well taken care of by her; even his fashion sense had changed.

Previously, Zhong Minglou’s clothes were perfunctory; basically, any piece of clothing would do, he wasn’t picky, it didn’t matter.

But now, he wore a white robe with cloud patterns embroidered on it, covered by a gauze veil, and his eyes were blindfolded. Although his appearance was ordinary, with his eyes covered, he exuded a sense of carefree elegance.

It was quite cool.

“Junior Brother, I’m here,” Zhong Minglou arrived gracefully.

“Thank you, Senior Brother, for your help. You’ve truly gone to great trouble,” Li Qi said, cupping his hands.

Zhong Minglou… he really had something. Charlatan he might be, but not a fake charlatan; he was a True God.

“No trouble at all. When one is out and about, mutual help is naturally needed. Besides, Miss Lan was also introduced to me by you. With her, my life has indeed become much more convenient, and that is also Junior Brother’s credit,” Zhong Minglou said with a smile.

After he finished speaking, Li Qi looked at the caregiver behind him.

The caregiver was a bit shy but still bowed, “Mr. Li, hello…”

“Mm, thank you, Miss, for taking care of my Senior Brother. Please accept these gifts,” Li Qi extended his hand and skillfully pinched out a handful of Qi beads.

Made on the spot, the benefits of being a Shaman were evident again.

Li Qi could now create Qi beads almost instinctively, emphasizing speed and swiftness.

This ‘Miss Lan’ quickly waved her hands, trying to refuse.

However, Zhong Minglou reached out, took the Qi beads from Li Qi, and handed them to Miss Lan, saying, “Take them. You’ll need them later.”

“Thank you, Young Master,” Miss Lan, seeing this, hesitated only slightly before accepting the Qi beads. Afterwards, she bowed repeatedly, expressing her thanks, and her attitude towards Li Qi became even more respectful.

She actually didn't want to accept them, because the salary this Young Master gave her was already not low, enough for her to complete her studies in Chang'an.

Although these Qi beads were nothing to Li Qi, just a casual pinch that caused a slight loss of cultivation, like pulling out a single hair, for a ninth-grade, this money was quite a lot.

But Zhong Minglou spoke… she dared not disobey.

It wasn’t that Zhong Minglou would do anything coercive, but in their half-year of interaction, she had suffered too many losses for not listening to Zhong Minglou’s words.

Young Master Zhong… his predictions were truly accurate. If he said she would need it, she would definitely need it later.

Now she had learned her lesson. Whatever Zhong Minglou said to do, she definitely had to finish it, otherwise, an accident would inevitably occur afterwards.

The most serious time, Zhong Minglou told her not to go home via Fuhua Road. She thought it was fine, but Zhong Minglou directly used his cultivation to stop her, absolutely refusing to let her leave.

Several hours later, Fuhua Road completely collapsed, The Axis of All Realms disconnected, and even the Mayor of the Capital appeared. Several fifth-grade officials personally went to inspect, saying that a famous ancient site called three lives ancient mirror there had issues.

She heard that many people were injured that time, which scared her terribly.

Coming to Chang’an from her hometown world… it was her first time seeing such a malicious incident. She heard that such an event hadn’t occurred in Chang’an for two hundred years.

Since that time, she had always kept Zhong Minglou’s advice in her heart.

As for Li Qi, after Miss Lan accepted the gifts, he no longer paid attention to the ninth-grade young lady, but looked at Zhong Minglou: “Senior Brother, now that you’re here, have you already made your plan?”

“Yes, I’ve thought most of it through. Junior Brother doesn’t need to arrange anything,” Zhong Minglou said with a smile.

Li Qi looked at his clean, bright smile and wiped away a sweat.

This charlatan… he’s invincible. He hasn’t even figured out the situation yet, and his plan is already made.

Is this what a true Diviner is like? Truly amazing!

Why doesn't Bo Yue have this level? Is it true that mathematics can't compare to metaphysics?

“Then, Senior Brother, do you have any instructions for me?” Li Qi quickly asked.

With a charlatan present, it's best to use him. He probably knows more about the current situation than I do.

Zhong Minglou nodded and said, “After Bo Yue arrives, you should have him go with you to find Lingxiao Flower Goddess. Only the two of you can do this, but I cannot tell you what to do now.”

Li Qi nodded, saying he had noted it down.

Then, Zhong Minglou continued, “After Yan Ke arrives, you should have him go among those Hanlin. He will serve his proper purpose.”

“Understood. What will Senior Brother do now?”

“As for me… I’ll sunbathe for a while and smell the flowers. It’s not easy to come to Shangyuan, how can I not appreciate the hundred flowers?” Zhong Minglou said.

“…Alright then, Senior Brother, you go ahead and be busy. I’ll go handle these matters first, lest it be too late,” Li Qi nodded.

What the charlatan says must be reasonable; we ordinary mortals shouldn't question it.

“Then, Miss Lan, I leave my Senior Brother in your care. Please don’t let him wander around. Although Shangyuan is safe, he is only eighth-grade after all, and it would be bad if his blindness caused him to bump into something,” Li Qi instructed.

This was true. Although Zhong Minglou seemed to see through everything, he always acted foolishly when it came to himself.

The last time he broke his leg, and before that, living like a homeless person at the Earth Flow Vehicle station—if Li Qi hadn’t helped him rent a house, he might really still be living at the train station now.

That’s why he needed a caregiver to help him manage his life, otherwise, who knows what he would have become.

“That is natural,” Miss Lan nodded repeatedly, indicating she understood.

After receiving a positive answer, Li Qi began to attend to other matters.

Not long after, Yan Ke arrived first.

However, he wasn't alone; around him... there were actually two or three women, all looking like young maidens, constantly circling him and occasionally glancing at Li Qi.

Li Qi didn't waste time, ignoring these women. He just pulled Yan Ke aside and quietly told him Zhong Minglou's arrangements.

After listening, Yan Ke glanced at the place where the Hanlin gathered, patted his chest, and said, “So that’s how it is. Leave it to me. I’m familiar with some of those Hanlin, and I can persuade some of them to leave. After all, I still have quite a bit of prestige, and they should give me some Face.”

Li Qi didn’t know how he had been so successful in the past six months, even gaining prestige among the Hanlin apprentices… but perhaps it was due to his good looks?

Li Qi nodded: “Then I’ll leave it to Senior Brother Yan.”

Yan Ke readily agreed, as easygoing and approachable as ever.

Li Qi watched him leave with a few girls, chatting and laughing along the way, as if there were no conflicts at all…

Invoker, Yan Ke’s ability to be so socially adept, could it be considered a standard for Invoker?

However, Li Qi himself wasn’t too bad either.

Yan Ke was able to get along well with others, but Li Qi upheld himself righteously, allowing others to place their trust in him.

Yan Ke left, and after a while, Bo Yue, sleepy-eyed, with dark circles under his eyes, looking half-dead, finally arrived.

He couldn’t compare to Yan Ke, who was always radiant and dashing. Bo Yue now looked like he was suffering from kidney deficiency and lack of sleep, on the verge of death at any moment.

His dark circles had extended to his nose, and his entire body seemed a bit hunched. It was unclear what he usually did.

“…Bo Yue, you, what have you been doing?” Li Qi saw his appearance, his eyebrows twitched, finding it a bit unbearable to look at.

“I used ‘Demonic Seed’ too many times, rewinding time too often, so I’m just a bit drained. It’s nothing, won’t kill me,” Bo Yue waved his hand, speaking weakly.

“Used Demonic Seed too many times? What did you do?” Li Qi asked, startled.

The Demonic Seed was Bo Yue’s Dao, just like Li Qi’s True Knowledge; both were their exclusive ‘cheats.’

Such cheats were not uncommon; basically, the younger generation of these major Dao Orthodoxy all had them.

The Demonic Seed possessed a peculiar function: it could drag others into fragments of time, where they would experience a period of real events. Afterwards, one could choose to make the fragment of time real or let it dissipate and become an illusion.

Essentially, this was a complete simulation of the future, and one could even ‘cut out’ futures they disliked. It was considered Bo Yue’s signature technique.

“Didn’t I tell you? Deducing lottery numbers! Hurry up, what do you need me to do? Once it’s done, I need to go back and continue deducing,” Bo Yue said grumpily.

Honestly, looking at him, Li Qi didn’t even dare to ask him to do anything, fearing he might die in front of him…

“You’re using the Demonic Seed to deduce lottery numbers? How much did you earn?” Li Qi couldn’t help but ask.

“Not a single cent,” Bo Yue said with a dark expression.

“Ah? You’ve used the Demonic Seed, couldn’t you just rewind and determine the numbers?” Li Qi frowned.

“It’s not that simple. At first, I just wanted to play a small casino’s lottery to get some living expenses, but I found that even after using the Demonic Seed several times, and clearly no one noticed, I still bought the wrong numbers every time, instead wasting a lot of money,” Bo Yue explained.

“Money is a small matter, but I can’t swallow this. So now I’m cracking the lottery’s anti-rewind mechanism. I’ve been doing this for the past two or three months,” Bo Yue said clearly.

Now the situation was very clear.

Bo Yue had gotten into a standoff with that lottery security mechanism, determined to break it, not for money, but to prove his strength and skill.

Looking at it this way, the Young Masters in Tang Nation were all having a good time; everyone had their own things to do.

Congratulations, congratulations.

Li Qi patted Bo Yue’s shoulder casually: “Then keep up the good work. I wish you early success. But for today, please help me with this matter first. Follow me.”

With that, he turned and walked towards Lingxiao Flower Goddess.

Bo Yue patted his Face, took a deep breath, then condensed two wisps of Life Qi in his hand, took out a medicine bottle, poured out a few Medicinal Pills, and swallowed them whole.

Then he inflated like a balloon; his dark circles quickly faded, and his spirit quickly recovered, returning to the aloof and cold Bo Yue Li Qi had first seen.

He quickly followed Li Qi’s footsteps, and the two soon arrived at the pavilion where Lingxiao Flower Goddess resided.

Facing them was a couplet hanging at the entrance of the literary gathering.

The first line: Cultivate emotions through decrees, writing and discourse should be logical, literary thoughts should deepen.

The second line: Display brilliance in odes and prose, poetry should be beautiful, praise and admiration should flow.

There was no horizontal inscription.

This couplet subtly exuded a certain Dao Resonance, as if one could see unrestrained brushstrokes, giving a spiritual touch.

Evidently, this couplet was also written by a master of calligraphy, and it was a work to celebrate Lingxiao Flower Goddess’s literary gathering.

Li Qi ignored these, walked directly through the couplet, and found Lingxiao Flower Goddess behind it.

She looked very busy, handling many incoming contracts, documents, and invitations, and giving appropriate replies.

Clearly, even in these one or two hours before the literary gathering began, she had many things to attend to.

However…

She was very beautiful.

Since ancient times, people have used flowers to describe beauty, with idioms like “beautiful as a flower,” “like a flower, like jade,” and so on.

In fact, everything has a reason.

That is, flowers… are truly beautiful.

A fifth-grade Flower Goddess, for this occasion, must have meticulously adorned herself.

Her hair was pulled up into a chignon, she wore a long robe, and a sash cinched her waist.

Her graceful voice soared to the clouds, and her delicate figure was slender.

Li Qi stepped forward, only to see Lingxiao Flower Goddess’s cherry lips slightly parted, her dimples appearing, as she looked towards Li Qi.

That posture, like a famous flower, adorned on a branch, her eyes seemed to greet the wind and dew, her spirit soaring.

Bo Yue originally had a stoic Face, but upon seeing Lingxiao Flower Goddess’s demeanor, the displeasure on his Face lessened considerably, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Her charm is unparalleled, gentle and exquisitely beautiful, truly rare. It is said her beauty is palatable; she truly embodies the Spiritual Qi of mountains and rivers, worthy of being a Flower Goddess.”

However, Lingxiao Flower Goddess blinked her bright eyes, rose, and said, “Young Masters, why did you visit so suddenly without even a greeting? I have not yet prepared tea, how rude of me.”

“Cut the crap, where is that Shamanic Silkworm Artifact woven robe?” Li Qi asked.

“It’s on my person, Young Master. Are you perhaps suggesting I take it off now?” Lingxiao Flower Goddess covered her mouth, asking in surprise.

My fists hardened.