The group was suddenly silent. Because Xia Fei had only taken ten seconds to discover who was the impersonator!
“…No way! Did Brother Hyacinth fail again?” a member of the impersonator organization exclaimed in shock.
Everyone suddenly remembered after hearing this that Xia Fei had already seen through Hyacinth’s ruse before, and this time would be the second!
The most renowned impersonator in the Exiled Grounds ended up losing consecutively? Who would have believed this?
“Enough blathering! Do any of you know which is fake?”
“Nope.”
“I can’t tell them apart.”
“That’s right. Even we failed to see through Brother Hyacinth, so Ah Fei must’ve gotten lucky! Don’t forget that it isn’t just about spotting the impersonator. He must also provide the reason. It’s still considered a loss if he doesn’t provide a reasonable logic behind his choice.”
The crowd nodded their heads repeatedly. There were only two choices in such a true-or-false ruse, so there’s a 50% chance of getting it right. That was why they had to also provide a believable reason aside from identifying the impersonator from the real deal.
The reason why these juniors of Hyacinth were speechless was that Xia Fei had already differentiated the real from the fake. None of them had been able to make sense of this, so how could they know whether Xia Fei was right or wrong?”
“Brother Hyacinth, say something. Is he correct or not?”
“Do you even have to ask? He must’ve given a wild guess; why else do you think Brother Hyacinth is ignoring him?”
“Oh, so I see! I thought that Ah Fei had seen through him.”
“Heck, no. Brother Hyacinth is the greatest impersonator of all time. How could he lose like that?”
“We need to teach this conceited rascal a proper lesson, let him know just how great we impersonators are. To actually dare make a wild guess and muddle through this ruse-off, how utterly detestable!”
The juniors and disciples were all confident that Xia Fei had no clue.
The louder they got, the more hurt Hyacinth felt in his heart as he stood there on the bridge.
This was because Xia Fei had actually gotten the correct answer!
The two Hyacinths sweated profusely, one paled while the other went livid. The former’s calf shook ever so slightly, while the latter ground his teeth.
Everyone else was behind them, so none of them knew the torture that these two were currently experiencing.
The twenty-five years that they were so proud of, their fame that had spread across the stars, was shattered like dust in the wind at this moment, all due to Xia Fei’s answer! A completely emotionless reveal!
“You’re correct,” Hyacinth unwillingly admitted after quite some time passed.
He did not speak loudly, soft like the buzzing of a fly.
“Brother Hyacinth, what did you just say? We didn’t hear it. Say it once more for that pretentious rascal to hear!”
Those behind him were still deluding themselves, and every word they said was like a little knife that stabbed right into Hyacinth’s shivering heart.
“I. SAID. HE’S. CORRECT!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Hyacinth yelled his answer word by word. As if he was being slapped each time, his face turned red.
*Thunk*
Several men collapsed onto the ground. They were unable to accept the truth. Did the renowned Hyacinth actually lose?!
Some of the more disgruntled continued to shout after a pause, “Tell him to give us the reason! We’d tear him apart if he merely guessed the answer!”
“That’s right! What’s the reason? Speak or none of us will let you off today!”
“Brother Hyacinth, don’t worry. That kid must’ve been guessing!”
They were clutching onto this final straw. These juniors clamored once more, while a slight hope wavered in Hyacinth’s heart, hoping that Xia Fei had indeed just guessed correctly; the latter would suffer heavy reprisals if he failed to give a good reason.
Unfortunately, none of these people understood Xia Fei at all, and this hope of theirs would soon turn into despair.
“Not only do I know that the left is the impersonator, I even know that he is your Brother Hyacinth’s father.” Xia Fei smiled as he faced the crowd. “It’s because he has this lingering scent on him, an exotic beast scent, most likely the residue from his many years of rearing exotic beasts.”
At that moment, Hyacinth and those impersonators were all left speechless. Everyone knew that Hyacinth’s father, Otter, really liked exotic beasts, and he had a whole menagerie of beasts aside from his undead Nine-armored Land Drake. When he was not on assignment, Otter would spend his time surrounded by these beasts, and the teenager Sambo’s job was to help take care of these precious beasts of Otter’s.
There was once when Elder Otter borrowed a hefty sum of shared funds from Hyacinth all just to buy a Golden Wing Flying Serpent, only clearing this debt just two years ago. This matter had even caused quite a bit of criticism to be levied his way, and if it had not been for Hyacinth being far too powerful, someone would have stepped up to impeach the old man already.
To use public funds just so he could buy an exotic beast, it was evidence that Otter was truly a fanatic of exotic beasts. Everyone knew that what Xia Fei had said made sense, that it must have been the result of this lingering smell that exposed his identity.
Hyacinth had mulled over long and hard in order to find someone who could impersonate himself, ultimately deciding that only those closest to him would be able to pull it off impeccably. His father, wife, and daughter were all the best choices, and they had the cultivation to do it.
However, ever since Xia Fei saw through Sakura’s previous impersonation, Hyacinth could not help but have reservations, afraid that Xia Fei would pick out some feminine traits that they were unable to hide. He had witnessed Xia Fei’s keen observational skills first-hand, so his father, Otter, became the only choice.
Otter had raised him until adulthood and had gotten along with each other over several decades. They shared the same blood and were truly kin, so he figured that this should work well, believing that there was really no one else out there who could better impersonate him.
However, he still ended up surprised. Xia Fei had actually managed to see through his ruse again!
“Uncle Hyacinth’s Universal Spring Flourish is a top-rated aura suppression technique. Even if there’s any lingering scent of exotic beasts on Elder Otter, it should’ve been eliminated, so how could that be how he got discovered?” The honest Sambo was still shaking his head, wondering to himself.
This dissatisfied complaint was heard by the crowd, and that reminded everyone else about it.
“That’s right! Universal Spring Flourish is an ultimate technique of ours. No one has seen through it in twenty-five years, so how could it not work with Ah Fei?”
“There must be some trick to this! Could he be cheating us?”
“Explain yourself! Just how did you counter Universal Spring Flourish! How did you discover the smell of exotic beasts?”
The crowd was riled again. No one could believe that Xia Fei had managed to see through the ultimate technique that Hyacinth had painstakingly studied.
Hyacinth himself was suspicious of this explanation. His Universal Spring Flourish was similar to Xia Fei’s Breath Control, able to eliminate an individual’s presence, making it possible for the user to blend perfectly into a crowd. It also allowed for the synchronous control of the heart rate and blood pressure, so even people in their line of work could not see through the disguise at all. How could Xia Fei have succeeded?
The racket got louder, but Xia Fei merely let out a cold chuckle. “A bunch of fools. Do you all think I only depended on the scent to determine the fake?”
“What else could you have relied on then?”
“You’re the one who said that Elder Otter had the smell of exotic beasts on him.”
Xia Fei swept his mocking gaze over the crowd as he answered, “People who rear exotic beasts over a long time will carry a peculiar ferocity unique to exotic beasts. This sort of nature will seep deep into their very being, and every gesture they make will demonstrate this intensity. No amount of profound technique can mask that.
“Your Universal Spring Flourish can remove the scent that a nose is able to smell, but it can’t remove the ferocity that has seeped into his very bones. That is how I sensed him. Besides this unerasable scent on him, your disguise can’t be considered perfect, either.”
“There’s more?” the crowd explained in shock.
“The hair. The number of hair strands a person has is in the tens of thousands, and it is the hardest to hide. Furthermore, a person will gradually grow white hair as they get older, and this white hair will first begin to deteriorate from the roots, the color of the hair fading until it’s completely white. These are all flaws that you can’t completely cover up.”
“In any case, there’s hair that is half white, where the top half is white while the bottom is still black…”
Xia Fei explained casually, giving these self-proclaimed impersonators a lesson. Nobody would have thought that besides the factor of odor, Xia Fei had even found seven other flaws from Elder Otter’s impersonation! Every difference he pointed out was a fatal flaw in itself!
“Reality has proven that there’s simply no such thing as impeccable in this world, and it’s really just a matter of how keen a person’s observational skills are.”
Xia Fei was not too loud when he said this, but every word he said resonated loudly.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Nobody dared to believe that Xia Fei had even managed to count the number of hair strands on Hyacinth’s head, remembering all their positions, which were white and which were only greying. This was some powerful eyesight!
Everyone could not help but suspect if this young man before them was a monster or a human; how was it possible for his perception skills to have been honed to such a point, where it was even sharper than that of monsters?
Xia Fei smirked. “Don’t any of you doubt my observation skills? Miss Sakura has three imperceptible moles under her chin that are smaller than sesame seeds, arranged to form an irregular triangle. In my home planet, women who have such a feature enjoy eating sweet food, the sort who won’t get fat no matter how many they ate.”
Everyone ran over to Sakura’s side and carefully inspected her.
“I don’t see anything. Sakura, is what Ah Fei said true?”
“I have an electron microscope on me…”
Someone really pulled out an electron microscope from a spatial ring, pointing it right to Sakura’s chin. Meanwhile, Sakura herself had already been rendered speechless, her mouth hanging agape.
What shocked her was not if she had any mole on her chinl rather, she had been eating large amounts of candies every day, and she was able to maintain her figure despite the diet, where even a bit less would make her too skinny, and a bit more would make her seem too fat; it was exactly as what Xia Fei said! As for the three moles under her chin, even Sakura had no idea if that was true.
“I found them! There really are three moles.”
“Aren’t they too small? You need to use a microscope to even find them.”
“Right? Just how exactly did he spot them?”
Everyone was completely disturbed by what Xia Fei had just proven. After all, Xia Fei was standing on the bridge, while Sakura was over in the forest a good four hundred meters away!
For Xia Fei to have spotted this from such a distance away, just what sort of visual acuity did the man possess?
Unbeknown to any of these people, Xia Fei was someone who cultivated the Beast Spirit Codex, and when using ocular cognition, even a strand of hair would be unable to escape his eyes!
Xia Fei suddenly thought of a line from the ‘Journey to the West’ play: “The reason why you have yet to become the Saint Sun Wukong is that you have yet to meet the person who will give you your three moles.”
However, no matter how Xia Fei looked, the pretty Miss Sakura did not seem to look like a monkey, so it would be worth it if such a pretty monkey were to ascend. Who knew how his aid in discovering her three moles would have any impact on her life?
While Xia Fei was entertaining his random thoughts, the impersonators had all already been sufficiently satisfied. Just as how there was always something superior to another, their impersonation techniques were all useless against Xia Fei’s ocular cognition.
The despondent atmosphere hung heavy, and it was too bad that Xia Fei had no plans of letting them off just yet.
“I already said that I’d fully convince you. I’ve already seen your inferior acting, so you can prepare to die after!” Xia Fei coldly remarked.
Sakura was stunned. She suddenly remembered that there was a wager of life and death on this!
“Is… Is he willing to kill me?”
