"All of them? Well, all it is then," Laughing Wolf was stunned for a moment. He had originally thought it would be just one of them—usually it was like this, trying one first.

However, since they wanted all of them, then all it would be. Anyway, the people hosting the problems had plenty of time—their whole year was dedicated to this.

Soon, Laughing Wolf had the problem hosts come over and set up, preparing to begin.

"We can start now. Which one would you like to try first?" Laughing Wolf asked.

"Let's do the chess game and detoxification together first," Xiaoyao said.

After hearing Xiaoyao's words, the Demonic Sound Sect people's expressions changed somewhat. Xiaoyao actually wanted to do two at once—one was already giving them a headache, yet he wanted to multitask.

"Oh, then get ready and begin," Laughing Wolf nodded, waiting for the people opposite to come up. In his mind, this should be a division of labor, not thinking it would be Xiaoyao alone.

"Alright, you can begin," Xiaoyao came before the medical detoxification person. In front of him was a chicken, and the Heartless Poison was also prepared.

...

"Using a chicken for testing is a bit forced. Go ahead and feed the chicken the Heartless Poison," Xiaoyao said, seeing they hadn't started yet.

"Xiaoyao, you're going to do this? You know medicine?" Laughing Wolf hadn't expected Xiaoyao to be the first one up and was somewhat surprised.

"Mm!" Xiaoyao nodded.

"Why aren't you starting?" Laughing Wolf was just confirming, then asked why those people weren't beginning yet.

"Don't you need to prepare anything?" those people asked Xiaoyao. He hadn't prepared anything and was starting like this, which they found unexpected.

They felt that even if there was a solution method, medicines should be prepared beforehand and some things arranged. Who would start detoxifying immediately?

"Prepare what? If someone is poisoned, would others give you time to prepare?" Xiaoyao asked back.

"..."

That was true—if poisoned, where would there be time to prepare so much? However, this was a test after all, and preparation time was allowed.

"Let's also start the chess game over there," Xiaoyao looked at the chess game and said.

"?? What do you mean? Don't tell me you're going to solve the problems alone, and plan to start simultaneously?" Laughing Wolf asked puzzledly. This was also the confusion of the problem hosts.

Looking at Xiaoyao's stance, it was obvious he was preparing to go alone, and simultaneously at that.

"Yes. For the chess game, I only need to say where to place pieces—we can start simultaneously," Xiaoyao nodded. This left Laughing Wolf and others stunned—it really was like this.

But could he really manage it?

Though the Wanderer Family people had doubts in their hearts, they didn't mock him aloud, because they felt they would see the answer soon—whether he could do it or not would be known quickly. Why say more?

Soon they would know whether this young man was just pretending or really had ability.

Next, everyone saw Xiaoyao inserting needles into the chicken that had been fed the Heartless Poison. This immediately stunned people—did chickens have acupoints too? And where exactly were these acupoints?

If Xiaoyao could truly master this, just this one skill alone would make all the medical practitioners present bow in admiration. However, currently everyone couldn't be certain whether Xiaoyao truly understood this—they had to see the results to know.

Soon the results appeared. Although everyone didn't know if the Heartless Poison was truly cured, they could see that the poison seemed to have been slowed down. Just this point alone, no one present could compare, because they couldn't even achieve this much slowing.

What made people even more admiring was that at this time, Xiaoyao was simultaneously playing chess, multitasking. Although this chess playing was very controversial and made people feel he was completely improvising—anyone who could play wouldn't play like this.

Xiaoyao's moves were actually seeking death, not defending against the offensive but instead sacrificing most of his territory, seeming to increasingly enter desperate straits.

This made the chess experts present show disdain. Although Xiaoyao's medical skills might be strong, his chess playing was really poor.

However, next they discovered the situation seemed to be changing—it wasn't as they had imagined. After repeatedly seeking death, this chess game in desperate straits actually found new paths. This truly embodied the saying: "置之死地而后生" (place in death's ground and then live).

That's right—this endgame required sacrificing pieces to break through. Sometimes having more didn't represent good things. One had to understand how to give up some things, then survive and have chances to turn the tables.

Many times, people just didn't like giving up—wanting to preserve everything without the determination to cut off a limb to save the body, ultimately preserving nothing and instead falling into desperate straits.

This chess game conveyed roughly this meaning. Moreover, this wasn't just once or twice—if it were only once or twice, everyone could discover it. This chess game required continuous sacrifice until sacrificing to the point where you almost couldn't sacrifice anymore, then you could begin the desperate comeback. This prevented many people from discovering this point.

Or it could be said that no one had such determination to sacrifice so many things, which was why this chess game had never been solved.

Xiaoyao had also tried many methods at the time, finally thinking of this approach. When he figured it out, Wang Yanyu was stunned, staring at Xiaoyao for a long while without speaking. Of course, Xiaoyao was still contemplating the chess game then and didn't pay attention to Wang Yanyu's reaction.

"Gather herbs, brew medicine, and give it to drink—then it'll be fine," Xiaoyao wrote a prescription, completely solving this problem. It was already almost done—this prescription was to completely end the poison.

This prescription could not only clear residual poison but also completely treat the full Heartless Poison without problems, though it would take much longer.

However, without Xiaoyao's needlework and cultivation methods, this prescription was more practical.

Therefore, everyone understood that Xiaoyao had completely solved this challenge without any problems, earning the respect of the medical practitioners present. This level of medical skill was beyond their comparison.

At this time, the chess game also showed changes—reaching an unpredictable degree, meaning the chess game's outcome was no longer clear. Although Xiaoyao was currently at a disadvantage, at least it wasn't desperate straits.

At this point, it depended on one's chess skills. It could be said this endgame was already broken, but because it was a test question, the game still had to continue—winning was necessary to count.

With Xiaoyao's chess skills, winning was just a matter of time. This question was already passed—now to see the last one. When Xiaoyao finished the medical problem, he immediately began that task while continuing to play chess.

For him, chess only required speaking—he could still proceed simultaneously.

"Prepare blacksmithing tools for me."

"Blacksmithing?"

Everyone was momentarily confused but quickly understood.

Xiaoyao wanted to change the iron's shape. This didn't seem to be restricted. It only said to make iron float on water without borrowing other things, but didn't specify what shape the iron should be.

This point seemed to be overlooked by everyone, because from the beginning, everyone felt this might be testing intelligence or knowledge—seeing who could know what kind of water could make iron float.

Under such circumstances, almost no one thought of changing the iron's shape. Sometimes things were like this—changing your thinking could solve problems, and quite easily at that.

However, even so, some people still felt this approach was futile—a completely unconstructive idea!

"Hmph, so what if you change the iron's shape? Iron will still sink the same."

Someone raised this doubt. In this world, everyone only felt that things that could float on water were light things, like wood.

Ships could float on water because ships were made of wood. Even ironclad ships had iron covering wood, not pure iron.

Therefore, very few people would think that if iron were made into a ship, it could also float on water, but the internal space had to be large enough to float.

Soon, Xiaoyao proved for everyone this theory they thought impossible. He forged the iron block into an exquisite small boat. Just considering this blacksmithing skill alone impressed some people, though blacksmithing was something few people did or paid attention to.

Everyone just learned that iron could indeed float this way.

At this time, the chess game also reached its conclusion. Xiaoyao went over and placed the final piece, ending the game. He won.

All three problems were solved—solved somewhat too easily. Although there was a large degree of luck involved, with two questions being ones Xiaoyao had previously studied, and the last one not being too difficult a problem. If given more time, they probably would have figured it out too.

Therefore, Xiaoyao instantly solved this matter—luck was involved, but sometimes luck was also a type of strength. Moreover, these problems were originally solved by Xiaoyao. Even if he hadn't encountered them before, he could still solve them—it was just a matter of time.

"Who would have thought, Xiaoyao, that you're actually a remarkable person! Your realm in medicine and chess is so high. Hehe, this truly matches your name," Laughing Wolf said with a smile, patting Xiaoyao's shoulder.

"I just studied them before—it's nothing special," Xiaoyao said modestly.

"Alright, since you've completed this, I'll go report to my master. I believe your things will be returned soon. As for when you're prepared to leave, that's up to you—please feel free. Xiaoyao, come with me. I'll introduce you to my master and bring you into the sect," Laughing Wolf said to Hei Xue and the others, then pulled Xiaoyao away.

Xiaoyao originally didn't want to go—he hadn't had time to rest yet. However, to see the Carefree Sect's martial arts classics earlier, he felt he should go first. He could still hold out and rest afterward.

(End of Chapter)