Chapter Nineteen: The Candlelight Battlefield (5)

“Bang!”

Tiger Spirit hadn’t even reacted before his shoulder slammed into the doorframe and he tumbled onto the floor. Only then did he realize he’d been thrown into a wooden cabin.

He quickly glanced around. The room contained only simple wooden furniture, and beside him was a wooden ladder leading upward, suggesting the house had more than one level. Along one wall was a row of extinguished candles. Evidently, these candles had once survived his roaring, but were now all snuffed out.

A shadow entered, and with a loud clang, the door shut behind them. The room plunged into darkness.

Tiger Spirit grew uneasy. “Who’s there? Who are you?”

With a gentle sound, a window was flung open, and moonlight spilled in, along with fiery characters from the sky.

“Trial Participants: Four hundred and fifteen.
Number of Candles: Two.”

The candle count hadn’t changed, but clearly there were fewer contestants. By the dim light, Tiger Spirit saw that the shadow was the youth who had bound him earlier. He realized it was this person who had locked him up.

“Who are you? What gives you the right to tie me up and bring me here?”

“Remember your grandfather’s great name! I am Hua Sheng!”

“Hua Sheng? Peanut?”

“Hua Sheng!” the youth corrected.

Tiger Spirit suddenly recalled, “You’re the ant who burned down the Pavilion of Dreams!”

Hua Sheng yanked the hemp rope in his hand. Despite Tiger Spirit’s considerable weight, his immortal powers had been sealed, and he was hoisted half a foot off the ground, like a rabbit. Hua Sheng grabbed Tiger Spirit’s collar and drew his face close. “Call me an ant again, and I’ll make you eat shit!”

“If you do that, aren’t you afraid the Immortal Masters will punish you?” Tiger Spirit retorted.

“Do you know what kind of fire burned the Pavilion of Dreams? True Samadhi Fire! What level is that?”

“Ling—Lingxiao level…” Tiger Spirit stammered.

“Good, then you understand! I burned the Pavilion of Dreams, so you should know I’m not afraid to roast you as well!”

“Where is this place? Why is there a house at the mountaintop?”

“There used to be some candles hidden here. Unfortunately, they've all been extinguished just now.”

Tiger Spirit realized he was at a disadvantage and softened his tone. “You know injuring fellow disciples in the Celestial Eye Trial won’t be tolerated by the Immortal Masters. Especially since the overseer is Master Fire Thunder. With his temper, your fate won’t be pleasant. You’d best let me go.”

“I can let you go, but you need to hand over your candle.”

Tiger Spirit shook his head at the mention of candles. “Absolutely not! I only have one left; the other was already sold!”

“I don’t care whether you sold it or not!”

“I’ll never give it to you!”

“Then we’ll just wait it out.” Hua Sheng tossed Tiger Spirit to the ground, conjured a chair, and sat down comfortably.

Tiger Spirit panted heavily on the floor. Once he’d regained himself, he said, “How about this: you’ll be eliminated sooner or later. After I sell the candle, I’ll give you five thousand.”

“I only want the candle,” Hua Sheng replied.

“One thousand, surely that’s enough? The Celestial Eye Trial is just a training ground activity, why so serious? The winner will always be Sky Extreme. The rest of us are just here to keep him company.”

“I’m not here to keep him company. I’m here to drag him down.”

“You have quite the ego. You’re just a mortal, newly admitted to the academy. Do you think Saint Peaceful is your mortal world? Bragging is your only skill?” Tiger Spirit laughed. “You can’t beat Sky Extreme. Even without supreme luck, to him you’re as light as dust.”

“Then why are you here in the Celestial Eye Trial?”

“I’m here for a job. Every participant wants to advance, so I sell them hope.”

“Hope is the most expensive thing, wherever you are. Like those miracle drugs in your mortal world—when hope is at stake, paying a little more is nothing!”

“So you snuffed out all the candles?”

Tiger Spirit replied, “If hope is as common as tap water, what’s it worth? If you want a good price, you have to prove it to everyone instantly. The fewer there are, the higher the price. Not only will those who missed out regret it, but those who remain will be more desperate!”

“You shouldn’t be a tiger. You should be a cat—a lucky cat.”

Tiger Spirit roared with laughter. “Call me what you want. I’m here to make money.”

The room fell silent. Through the sole open window, the fiery characters still drifted in midair.

“Trial Participants: Three hundred and seventy.
Number of Candles: Two.”

Tiger Spirit noticed Hua Sheng, like himself, was watching those two lines of fire in the sky.

Suddenly, Hua Sheng broke the silence. “Have you ever considered something?”

Tiger Spirit said nothing.

“Do you remember the rules of the Candle Fire game?” Hua Sheng asked. “I do. There are three. First, participants must extinguish candles with their fingers. Extinguishing a candle means automatic exit and advancing to the next round. Second, spells can be freely used, but offensive spells must be restrained and must not harm other participants. Third, anyone who leaves Light Chronicle Mountain without extinguishing a candle is automatically eliminated.”

Tiger Spirit still didn’t answer.

Hua Sheng continued, “Three rules, and Master Fire Thunder started the trial. But don’t you think something important is missing from these rules?”

Tiger Spirit looked up. “Missing what?”

“Every game has a start—and an end.”

“When all the candles are snuffed out, isn’t it over? The rest can’t advance,” Tiger Spirit replied.

“Yes, it seems so. But only if all candles are found and extinguished. If not, when does the game end?”

“The last two are with me! If you won’t let me out, it’ll never end,” Tiger Spirit sneered.

“You’re wrong!” Hua Sheng waggled his finger. “Very wrong!”

Tiger Spirit snapped, “How am I wrong?”

“The Academy and Master Fire Thunder might not have expected a disciple would hoard candles without extinguishing them,” Hua Sheng explained, “But surely they considered what would happen if a candle remained on the mountain, never found?”

“What else? The trial would continue forever?”

“A day, two maybe—but what about ten, twenty days with no candle found?”

Tiger Spirit hesitated. “What then?”

“In that case, the candle game would never end. Participants might lose valuable cultivation time.”

“If they can’t hold out, they’d just quit, right?”

“Yes, some might quit, but others might keep searching endlessly. So since the trial has a start, there must be an end designed.”

“Wouldn’t Master Fire Thunder just call it off?”

“If candles remain unfound and the overseer arbitrarily ends it, that’s a loophole leading to unfairness. But such an obvious flaw wouldn’t exist.”

“So what’s your point?”

“If there’s a time limit, Master Fire Thunder would display it, so everyone knows when the game ends. If both time and candle count are limited, when either reaches zero, the game ends.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“That could lead to two outcomes. First, candles aren’t all found and time runs out. Second, all candles are found before time is up.”

“So? Wouldn’t the fiery script just announce the trial’s end? Or teleport everyone back to the academy?”

“That’s unnecessary. From the start, the candle game was designed so that time and candle count reach zero together,” Hua Sheng said.

“How could it be so coincidental? The last candle found just as time ends?”

“No, no. The candle game has a clear time limit visible to all. So there’s no need for a countdown. At certain moments, the game naturally ends.”

“When?”

“When the wax burns to ash—the candle fire runs out.”

Tiger Spirit’s eyes widened.

“The last two candles have been hidden by you. No one else can find them, and you haven’t sold them. You think the game will last forever?” Hua Sheng continued, “No, when those two candles burn out, the game ends on its own.”

Cold sweat streamed down Tiger Spirit’s forehead.

Hua Sheng rested his chin on his hand. “Did you ever think of that?”

Tiger Spirit’s eyes darted, then he suddenly burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Hua Sheng asked.

“You’re trying to trick me! You think I’m stupid? Even if candles burn out, the trial’s lasted several hours, and I just gave someone one recently. If the last two were noticeably shorter, I’d have noticed. So even if some wax is gone, there’s still plenty of time.”

“What if we keep waiting?”

“You won’t hold out!” Tiger Spirit sneered. “We’re still in the trial, which means we’re on Light Chronicle Mountain. Three hundred people are searching the mountain. This cabin might not be found right away, but by dawn, it’ll be exposed, and everyone will find it!”

Hua Sheng said nothing.

Tiger Spirit continued, “Once someone comes in, you can’t keep me tied up.”

“You’re wrong again.”

Tiger Spirit spat, “You’re talking nonsense.”

Hua Sheng spoke slowly, “Do you know why I care if the candles burn out?”

“Isn’t it because they’re just ordinary candles?”

“Exactly. As you said, they burn out naturally. But did you notice something else?”

“What?”

“Candles don’t have to burn out or be snuffed—they can go out on their own.”

“How could they? Not burnt up, not snuffed, not drenched—how could they go out?”

“You know there’s a glass cover over each candle. I once removed the cover and a candle was blown out by the wind. But I noticed the cover isn’t airtight; it has a few tiny holes for air flow, so the candle won’t go out from lack of oxygen, nor be snuffed by a breeze.”

“So what?”

“The holes are there to prevent the candle from going out quickly due to lack of oxygen. Surely you understand this simple principle?”

“What are you getting at?”

“But if you put it somewhere airtight, with no air, it’ll go out.”

Sweat dripped from Tiger Spirit’s forehead. “Nonsense! Why didn’t they go out before?”

Hua Sheng said, “I suspect you worried the candles’ heat would be sensed by immortal arts, so you deliberately hid them somewhere with no airflow. Every time someone paid you, you opened the hiding place, letting in fresh air, so none went out.”

Tiger Spirit gasped, his breath growing louder.

“And now, I suspect it’s been longer than you’ve ever left them sealed,” Hua Sheng continued. “If you don’t open that place soon, the candles will extinguish. If one goes out, you’ll have to choose between advancing and selling your last candle. You’ll regret it—you might miss your chance to earn big in the next round. If both go out, you’ll get nothing!”

Tiger Spirit’s brow furrowed. He was clearly agitated.

Hua Sheng crouched, looking Tiger Spirit in the eye. “Isn’t that so?”

“What makes you think the candles will go out soon? Maybe they’ll keep burning for hours, until the wax is gone.”

“Then you can gamble,” Hua Sheng said.

Tiger Spirit roared, “So what? I can afford to lose! I don’t care about this game—if I’ve only one candle, I’ll just sell it.”

“But I’ll never let you leave,” Hua Sheng replied.

Tiger Spirit sneered, “If I can’t sell the candle, you won’t gain anything either. We’ll both lose! Then—”

Suddenly, Tiger Spirit’s words stopped. His eyes stared outside the window.

During their argument, the fiery script in the sky had quietly changed.

“Trial Participants: Three hundred and eleven.
Number of Candles: One.”

One candle!

Tiger Spirit could hardly believe his eyes. He glared furiously at Hua Sheng.

Hua Sheng also noticed the fiery characters. Now, only one spot remained for advancement!

He seemed enraged, lunging at Tiger Spirit and roaring, “You bastard! Give me that last candle!”

At the moment Hua Sheng lunged, Tiger Spirit’s angry expression vanished, replaced by a mocking smile, as if he no longer cared what Hua Sheng would do.

“I’ve won,” Tiger Spirit said slowly.

“Win, my ass! You won’t get out of here, and even if I can’t win the candle game, I’ll never let you win!”

“You can’t stop me,” Tiger Spirit replied.

Hua Sheng hadn’t grasped his meaning when Tiger Spirit suddenly kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him flying onto a beam and then crashing to the floor.

With a snap, the hemp rope binding Tiger Spirit splintered into pieces.

“How can this be? That rope was enchanted! How could you break free?” Hua Sheng cried, bewildered.

Tiger Spirit brushed dust off his clothes. “You stinking ant, I’ve played with you enough!” He raised the ring on his wrist, pinched it, and it crumbled to powder.

In that moment, Hua Sheng understood. He remembered what Little Lord Supreme had told him: The ring was single-use—after one use, its magic might fail at any moment.

Tiger Spirit punched at Hua Sheng, sending a gust of force from his fist. Hua Sheng raised his hands to protect his face, but the impact still knocked him back several steps until he reached the wall.

“I’ve got no time for you! I have to retrieve the last candle.” Tiger Spirit recited the teleportation spell.

Hua Sheng sprang up, lunging at Tiger Spirit.

“Want to go with me?” Tiger Spirit punched Hua Sheng in the chest. “Scram, you stinking ant!”

Hua Sheng was barely able to touch Tiger Spirit’s clothes before being knocked back again. At the same time, with a whoosh, Tiger Spirit vanished on the spot.

He reappeared beside a lotus pond. Wiping sweat from his brow, he found his clothes drenched.

“That damned brat, that stinking ant wasted so much of my time, and I lost a candle for nothing. No matter—money’s what matters. I’ll sell the last candle to that rich young master and skip the next round.”

With that, Tiger Spirit recited a spell, and the lotus pond parted, revealing a path. He stepped carefully down the slippery rocks to the bottom of the lake. After only a few steps, he saw a faint candlelight.

“Good! The last one’s still here.”

Tiger Spirit rushed forward, and when he reached the candle, his eyes widened in shock and delight, barely able to believe what he saw.

At the bottom of the lotus pond, within the small array he’d set up with immortal arts, there were two candles!