Chapter 130: The Great Dao Emerges in the Arithmetic Lesson! The Fatty Instantly Defeats the Peerless Prodigy
The afternoon sun shone warmly in the courtyard of the Mortal Dwelling.
The five little ones ran around the courtyard for a while to let their food settle before Lin Yuan called them back to the eastern wing.
"For this afternoon's class, we won't be learning characters; we'll learn some arithmetic."
Lin Yuan stood on the podium and pulled a large handful of small wooden sticks of varying lengths from his sleeve, placing them on the table.
These sticks were leftovers of the Primordial World Tree from when he shaved the Purple-Gold Wood Ruler and carved the wooden bird yesterday. He had picked them up casually, thinking they would serve perfectly as counting rods for the children.
"Arithmetic is very important in our daily lives. In the future, when you go to buy things, you'll be at a disadvantage if you calculate the money incorrectly."
Lin Yuan picked up a purple-gold wooden stick, held it in the air, and said to the little ones below, "Watch closely. This is one. Plus this one..."
He picked up another stick and placed the two side by side.
"This is two."
Below the podium, Zhang Xiaopang scratched his head, thinking this was too simple. Xiao Yuer and Xiao Lian also looked relaxed.
But in the back row...
Goudan, with his Natural Immortal Bone, and Tiezhu, the Ancient Demonic Fetus, were currently like clay statues or wooden carvings, staring intently at those two ordinary wooden sticks on the podium.
In their eyes, what Lin Yuan had picked up were not wooden sticks at all!
The moment the first stick appeared, a vast and boundless burst of Primordial Chaos Qi erupted, representing the "One" before the heavens and earth were opened! The beginning of the Dao!
When the second stick was laid side by side, Chaos split into two, turning into the two Qi of clear and turbid, evolving into the world's purest Yin and Yang Origin!
"Taiji generates the Two Polarities?!" Goudan cried out in shock in his heart, his eyes bloodshot as he desperately tried to imprint this scene into his mind.
Tiezhu's breathing even stopped. He saw the supreme Laws of life and death circulating between those two wooden sticks.
"Next, watch carefully."
Lin Yuan crossed two sticks into a cross shape, then placed a stick at each of the four corners.
"This is a simple demonstration model for addition and subtraction. You can try arranging them like this first."
Boom!
A monstrous wave instantly surged in the minds of Goudan and Tiezhu!
In their eyes, the crossed wooden sticks had transformed into the core of a supreme array that suppressed the Three Thousand Dao States! The four surrounding sticks represented the four Innate elements: Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind!
How was the teacher teaching arithmetic? He was clearly imparting the most profound Dao of Formation deduction in the myriad worlds!
"Old Wan, distribute these small sticks, one handful per person," Lin Yuan instructed.
Demon Venerable Wanhua walked onto the podium, carefully cradling those branches of the Primordial World Tree and handing them out to the five students below.
When Goudan and Tiezhu took the small purple-gold sticks, their hands trembled violently.
This was a divine object carrying the Origin of the Dao! Holding it in their hands, they could even feel the terrifying vitality and Law fragments contained within.
"Alright, now I'll test you."
Lin Yuan tapped the blackboard and set a problem: "Zhang Xiaopang, if I give you five copper coins and you spend three buying meat, how many do you have left?"
Zhang Xiaopang answered loudly without hesitation, "Two left! But teacher, three copper coins can only buy half a catty of offal; you can't buy good meat with that!"
"Hahaha, you certainly know your stuff." Lin Yuan nodded with a smile. "The answer is correct: two."
Lin Yuan turned his head to the back row.
"Goudan, Tiezhu. You two calculate this slightly harder problem."
Lin Yuan drew nine circles on the blackboard, arranged in a three-by-three square Formation.
"Place the sticks in your hands into these nine squares. The requirement is that the sum horizontally, vertically, and diagonally must be the same. This is called a Nine-Square Grid. Who can arrange it first?"
A Nine-Square Grid?!
Goudan and Tiezhu gasped.
Looking at those nine circles on the blackboard, they felt as if they were seeing nine Universe black holes that swallowed everything! They had to balance the Laws of all things in heaven and earth within nine Formation cores, making all changes of generation and overcoming reach a perfect consistency!
What a Heaven-Defying difficulty of deduction!
The two peerless Prodigies immediately lowered their heads, fiddling with the purple-gold sticks in their hands while drenched in sweat.
They mobilized all the Immortal Bone Origin and Demonic Fetus power in their bodies, frantically deducing the changes of the Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.
When one stick was placed, it affected the whole; the position of another stick had to be recalculated!
"No! The Yang Qi is too strong; the Formation is going to collapse!" Goudan was so anxious he was sweating profusely, unable to place the small stick in his hand.
"The power of destruction cannot balance the vitality; this grid is a dead end!" Tiezhu was also scratching his head in frustration, nearly on the verge of tears.
Just as the two peerless child prodigies were lost in endless Law deduction and were about to suffer Qi Deviation...
"Teacher, I've finished!"
Zhang Xiaopang in the front row suddenly raised his chubby little hand.
Goudan and Tiezhu snapped their heads up, looking at the snot-nosed little fatty in the front row in disbelief.
How could this be?!
This supreme killing array that even they, two peerless Geniuses with a hundred thousand years of foundation, couldn't solve—this Mortal child from a butcher's family actually solved it in just a few breaths?!
Lin Yuan stepped down from the podium and glanced at Zhang Xiaopang's desk.
He saw the sticks neatly arranged in nine positions on Zhang Xiaopang's desk: two and four as the shoulders, six and eight as the feet, three on the left and seven on the right, nine on top and one on the bottom, with five in the center.
Adding them horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they all equaled fifteen!
"Perfectly arranged." Lin Yuan rubbed Xiaopang's head appreciatively. "How did you calculate it so quickly?"
Zhang Xiaopang smiled ingenuously. "When my dad cuts pork, he often divides a piece of meat into nine portions. Meat has fat and lean parts; to make the weight of fat and lean in each portion about the same, my dad arranges them like this! I see it every day, so I remembered it long ago!"
Cu... cutting pork?!
In the back row, Goudan and Tiezhu felt their Dao Hearts suffer an unprecedented critical hit!
Just what kind of sacred being was that father who taught him how to cut pork?! To actually be able to perfectly integrate the Formation deduction of the supreme Dao into a mundane chore like cutting pork?!
Just how many terrifying forbidden existences were hidden in this Qingyun City?!
Goudan and Tiezhu were devastated; they finally cast aside the last trace of pride they held as peerless child prodigies and looked down at the wooden sticks on their desks with utter humility.
They finally understood that in this school, the Aptitude they were so proud of was not worth mentioning at all.
"Alright, Goudan and Tiezhu, keep working hard. Arithmetic relies on practice; practice makes perfect."
Lin Yuan looked at the two sweat-drenched little guys and gave a gentle word of encouragement.
In the air, inside the birdcage hanging under the pavilion...
The system bead acting as a night light flickered with a faint glow, emitting an electronic sound only it could hear.
["Ding! Detected the deduction of the supreme Hetu Luoshu Grand Array! The Little System is frantically recording and learning! Thank you, My Lord, for the gift of knowledge points! The Little System will definitely become the smartest night light in the heavens!"]
The purple-gold wooden bird in the cage opened its eyes in dissatisfaction and pecked at the system bead with its wooden beak, annoyed that it had disturbed its sleep.
["Ding! I'm sorry, Lord True Phoenix! The Little System will mute itself immediately!"]
Accompanied by the breeze in the courtyard, the first day of classes at Mortal Dwelling slowly came to an end amidst the rustling sounds of the children fiddling with their small wooden sticks.