Great Dao Lord through Deducing Myriad Arts

A chubby man was the first to take the stage. Smiling, he clasped his hands in a salute to the audience in all directions.

"Friends, neighbors, ladies, and gentlemen! Today is the grand opening of our Qingxiang Society! I’m not the most talented performer, and my skills are rather plain, but I hope my simple tricks can warm up the stage for you all. If I fall short in any way, I ask for your kind indulgence."

After this standard opening spiel of the trade, the man reached for a large square blanket on the table. He flashed both sides to the audience, showing there was nothing hidden, before draping it over his left shoulder.

"’With a flick, this blanket brings good fortune! Four feet wide and five feet long! Hang it east, it hides the sea! Hang it west, it blocks the sun!’"

As he finished the chant, the man gave the blanket a shake and produced a glass fishbowl from within it.

The fishbowl was even filled with water, with several goldfish swimming to and fro inside.

This sudden trick immediately earned thunderous applause from the entire audience.

Wu Mengchan was dumbfounded. "How did he do that?" she asked in amazement.

Next to her, Yang Lian’Er chuckled. "That’s a classic conjuring trick. Even if I told you how it’s done, you wouldn’t be able to pull it off without years of hard practice."

The man then proceeded to pull a brazier, a large flower vase, and other solid objects from under the blanket, successfully warming up the crowd.

After he bowed and left, the next act was a female performer. She was quite beautiful and wore a colorful costume, and her appearance immediately drew a series of wolf whistles from some of the young men in the audience.

The woman simply smiled, showing no signs of stage fright. She just stood there, poised and confident.

"Thank you to my fellow performer for that wonderful opening act. I don’t have any amazing talents myself, so I’ll just spin a few plates for you all."

As she spoke, she grabbed several porcelain plates from the table and suddenly tossed them into the air. Someone in the crowd gasped, but before the plates could fall, the woman produced several thin wooden sticks, caught each one, and set them spinning at high speed.

Only then did the audience relax, breaking into bursts of laughter.

But just then, a dissonant voice cut through the noise.

A sharp, biting voice rose from the crowd. "Spinning a few plates is supposed to be a skill? What a waste of money."

The voice was loud enough for nearly everyone in the theater to hear.

Watching from backstage, Jin Qiang frowned. He knew someone was deliberately trying to stir up trouble.

But he didn’t pay it too much mind. After all, in their years of traveling all over the country, they had seen it all. This sort of thing was especially common when they first arrived in Huangpu Guard and were just street performers.

Sure enough.

The performer on stage said nothing, but she suddenly used her foot to kick up the stack of plates resting on the table.

With a few whooshes, the plates all flew into the air. Then, in an instant, the woman used over a dozen wooden sticks to catch each and every one.

In an instant, the woman was spinning more than a dozen plates with both hands. She remained perfectly steady, appearing calm and unruffled.

The crowd below erupted in thunderous applause.

But the heckler from before still wouldn’t let up.

"Hmph, so what if you can spin a lot of plates? They’re not worth anything. If you ask me, you should just go home and breastfeed your kids."

This time, everyone—onstage and off—heard him. Backstage, Jin Qiang’s expression darkened.

This was clearly no longer a typical audience member’s heckling; it was a blatant provocation.

"Go see who’s causing trouble," Jin Qiang said in a low voice.

At his side, Liu Si nodded and immediately headed out.

The woman on stage remained unflustered. She suddenly tossed all the plates into the air, executed a clean, crisp backflip, and in that split second, kicked a large white porcelain jar up from the stage. She caught it perfectly on her head, then proceeded to catch every single one of the falling plates as well.

BOOM!

The crowd roared its approval. The reason was simple: the woman’s feat was just that clean, that spectacular.

Even Wu Liangchen couldn’t help but give a slight nod of approval.

’This woman must have some martial arts training, but she isn’t a true Martial Artist. To be able to do this, she must have put in an incredible amount of work.’

But just then, the grating voice rang out again.

"What is this garbage? Balancing a jar makes you so great? What a jo—"

Before he could finish, his words turned into a pained grunt, and then all was quiet again.

Hardly anyone even noticed.

Only Yang Lian’Er noticed that the cork from the wine bottle on their table was missing. She shot a questioning look at Wu Liangchen and asked in a low voice,

"Was that you?"

"Mm," Wu Liangchen replied coolly.

’His sister was enjoying the show, but some clown kept making a scene. He was probably targeting the Qingxiang Gang, but a fly buzzing incessantly in your ear is always irritating.’

So, after pinpointing the man’s location, Wu Liangchen casually flicked the cork from the table.

Though it was only a soft cork, propelled by Wu Liangchen’s immense strength, it became a dangerous projectile that smashed the heckler’s mouth to a pulp.

That was Wu Liangchen holding back; he didn’t want to blow things out of proportion. If he had used anything else, the man would be dead.

The show went on, but Liu Si saw a man clutching his mouth as he left the theater, blood dripping from between his fingers. Liu Si understood at once that Master Wu must have been the one to act. He hurried back backstage to report to Jin Qiang.

Jin Qiang nodded. "Tell the troupe," he said, "that we have an honored guest watching today. Everyone needs to be on their A-game and pull out all the stops."

"Got it!"

"Also, take Juanzi with you and go see Master Wu. First, thank him on my behalf. Then tell him I have to manage things backstage for now, but I’ll go over personally after the show."