Chapter 581: The Test Is on Reading Books?
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
"He committed suicide?"
"Zhang shi actually convinced... the Otherworldly Demon to commit suicide?"
...
The crowd went completely silent.
The Otherworldly Demonic Tribe was known for being terrifying!
And the one before them was a Consonant Spirit realm expert! Except for Hong shi, there was no one else present who was a match for him. And yet, the other party... was actually convinced by Zhang shi to commit suicide...
Did it have to be so fantastical?
Could it be that we’re dreaming?
"It’s... Impartation of Heaven’s Will!"
"Isn’t it an ability that only could be executed in the midst of a lesson?"
"As long the content of one’s words are logical and without flaws, one can infuse one’s Soul Depth into one’s words to beguile another to do things they might have never done! It seemed like what Zhang shi said previously was correct, and through such, he managed to agitate the Otherworldly Demon to a corner and force him to commit suicide!"
"Impartation of Heaven’s Will can actually convince a person to commit suicide? Doesn’t that mean that... master teachers can easily kill one as long as they can find something true to speak about?"
"It’s not that easy. Not only must the matter be true, it must also be aligned with the internal thoughts of the person in question for it to be effective. Take cultivation for example, the main reason why Impartation of Heaven’s Will is effective on the cultivation of most cultivators is due to their subconscious minds acknowledging the need to cultivate, and thus, they would instinctively accept the effects of Impartation of Heaven’s Will! Even though this Otherworldly Demon possessed a savage nature, he was still raised by humans, and inculcated within him are our values. The guilt he felt over his actions was the main reason why Zhang shi was able to persuade him to commit suicide!"
"I see..."
"However, to be able to beguile a Consonant Spirit realm Otherworldly Demon, even the Soul Depth of a 4-star pinnacle master teacher would be insufficient... Exactly how high is Zhang shi’s Soul Depth? 15.0? 16.0?"
...
A moment later, the crowd below also learnt of the ins and outs of the matter, and a commotion broke out.
It was clear that the reason why the Otherworldly Demon committed suicide was due to the effects of Impartation of Heaven’s Will.
But... the Soul Depth of a 4-star master teacher would only allow one to beguile a Transcendent Mortal 4-dan expert. A 5-dan expert would require an even higher Soul Depth.
Not to mention, the Otherworldly Demon before them possessed an extraordinarily powerful soul. Even so, he was still beguiled. Since that was the case... exactly how high was Zhang shi’s Soul Depth then?
This was way too fearsome!
"He was actually killed... by words?"
The sight before them sent tears flowing down Pavilion Master Kang and the other master teachers faces.
They thought that Zhang shi’s daze was stirring up trouble in itself, but it seemed like they were underestimating the latter.
Of the two tests that had been conducted, he wrecked the both of them entirely...
If they didn’t know better, they would have thought his primary motive here was to stir trouble...
...
Beneath the stage, Ruohuan gongzi, Luo Xuan, and the others were rendered speechless.
They had witnessed how fearsome that huge fellow was for themselves, and they knew that they would have never been able to stand their ground against such frightening killing intent. And yet, not only was Zhang shi fine, he even convinced the latter to commit suicide...
Are you sure that this fellow is truly ten years younger than us?
Could he be a 6-star or 7-star master teacher in disguise?
The mouth of Liao Wuzhi, who was looking down on Zhang Xuan just a moment ago, twitched in fright, and he didn’t dare to utter a single more word.
...
Disregarding the thoughts of the crowd. Zhang Xuan glanced at the massive carcass on the ground and heaved a sigh of relief.
The reason why he had been ’dazing off’ previously was due to the immense shock he felt from reading the vile deeds this fellow had committed. He was already enraged from reading those events, and upon seeing how that fellow knew no repent, even going to the extent of insulting humanity as a whole, he couldn’t hold back his rage any longer and utilized the Impartation of Heaven’s Will to kill the other party!
His current Soul Depth had reached 16.1, which was at the level of most 5-star master teacher. Even so, it still wasn’t easy for him to beguile an Otherworldly Demon to commit suicide, and it had exhausted him greatly. If not for a strong will driving him on, he might have collapsed then.
(Zhang Xuan possessed 0.1 Soul Depth at the very start. The usage of two golden pages increased by Soul Depth by 10.0, the Soul Tempering of a Mentor’s Calligraphy 1.0, two occasions of acknowledgement of Celestial Master Teacher 3.0, Soul Enlightenment 2.0, thus adding up to a total of 16.1)
But it was fortunate that he succeeded.
Taking a deep breath, he conditioned the internal state of his body. After which, he turned around to look at Hong shi, only to see the latter’s mouth twitching uncontrollably.
The current Hong shi was indeed on the verge of a mental breakdown.
That Ghost Domain Illusory City was already his entire fortune. After it was destroyed, he was banking on bringing this Otherworldly Demon to the headquarters and submit it to recoup his losses. And yet...
In the blink of an eye, the Otherworldly Demon was convinced to commit suicide!
Big Brother, are you trying to drive me into a corner as well?
Are you here to participate in the Master Teacher Tournament or are you here to cause trouble?
Besides... We’re only halfway through the Courage test, how am I supposed to continue on with the test under such circumstances?
It was one thing for the first test to end like this, but for the second test to be like that as well... Are you actually trying to annul the Master Teacher Tournament?
Just as Hong shi was considering whether he should kick that fellow out of the Master Teacher Tournament, the latter’s voice sounded.
"Hong shi, what do I do with the carcass?"
"Otherworldly Demons are callous in nature, killing one of them can be considered to be a meritorious contribution to society. You don’t have to worry about the carcass, someone will clear it later on!"
Even though Hong shi’s heart was bleeding, he could only force a smile on and reply in such a manner.
Anyway, there was nothing he could do anymore. The Otherworldly Demon was already dead, and there was no point pursuing the matter. On the contrary, it would only make the master teachers think that he was siding with the Otherworldly Demons.
"With the death of the Otherworldly Demon, the Courage test is unable to proceed on as planned. So, with the exception of the trio who escaped earlier, all remaining fifty-three master teachers on the stage shall proceed on to the next test!"
Knowing that there was no point feeling conflicted over this, Hong shi forced a smile on his face and proceeded on with the tournament.
"Yes!"
Hearing those words, the unkempt master teachers who were lying on the floor stood up and heaved a sigh of relief. They shot a glance of gratitude toward Zhang shi.
If not for this Zhang shi, most of them would have been unable to clear the test.
It was fortunate for them that Zhang shi had caused such a huge uproar.
Ignoring everyone’s reactions, Hong shi announced, "Moving on to the third test, this shall be a test of wisdom!"
"Wisdom forms the basis for a cultivator to learning new knowledge. The higher one’s wisdom is, the stronger one’s capability to learn, and thus, the greater potential a master teacher wields! Don’t worry, this test won’t be as dangerous as the one before. It only involves... reading!"
"Reading?"
Everyone was taken aback.
"Un. There’s a total of fifty-six bookshelves here, and there are five thousand books on each shelf. These are from my individual collection, and I can assure you that the books on each shelf are identical and it is impossible for any competitor here to have read them before. The subjects the books span from cultivation techniques, battle techniques, rearing spirit beasts, all the way to my personal comprehension toward cultivation. I’ll give you two hours to browse and memorize the contents of these books!"
With a wave of his hands, the fog covering the center of the stage vanished, and row after row of bookshelves appeared before everyone’s sight.
Each shelf was completely filled with books, or to be exact, five thousand each.
"The rules behind this test is simple, you just have to read the books on the bookshelf. In two hours, I’ll use a unique method to test your understanding of the content, and through this, determine your wisdom," Hong shi said.
"This is the test?"
Hearing the rules, Zhang Xuan scratched his head in embarrassment.
He might not be confident in anything else, but in terms of reading... To put it in terms of a marathon, he was innumerable streets ahead of all other competitors. Even an 8-star master teacher would have to kneel in defeat before him!
For this to be the test... He felt as though he was bullying the other competitors.
"Forget it. I’ll just intentionally make a few mistakes when answering the questions later on... Anyway, my goal is just to pass the test... And this time, I’ve to make sure that I don’t break anything else of Hong shi’s!"
Zhang Xuan made up his mind.
He did feel guilty for messing up the test, thus causing the other competitors to be unable to take the test.
But he really didn’t do it intentionally... In the first test, he only planned to stop the formation. How could he have known that his clone would accidentally exert too much strength and destroy the stone pedestal?
As for the second test, there was no one in the world who would able to hold themselves back after hearing of the atrocities the Otherworldly Demon had committed. Honestly, Zhang Xuan felt that he had let the other party off the hook too easily by allowing him to commit suicide. If this wasn’t the Master Teacher Pavilion, Zhang Xuan would have surely punished that Otherworldly Demon personally...
But of course, it was likely that Zhang Xuan wasn’t a match for the other party, so it was fortunate that that wasn’t the case.
Regardless of whether he had done so intentionally or not, it was the truth that he had caused immense damage in his wake for the previous two tests. Thus, he was determined not to allow the same mistake to occur in this test. At most, he would just read fewer books, or perhaps... intentionally make some mistakes in the answering of the question. It would suffice as long as he passes the test.
Low profile!
Zhang Xuan thought that it would be best to keep a low profile and not attract too much attention!
If the others were to learn of his thoughts, they would surely burst into tears.
You call this keeping a low profile?
Look at Hong shi, he’s already on the verge of going insane. If you call this low profile, all of the celebrities in the world would have been fired from their jobs already!
Gesturing grandly, Hong shi declared, "Alright, choose a bookshelf each. The time starts... now!"
"Quick!"
"Memorize five thousand books within two hours? How can that possibly be done?"
"Are you a fool? Hong shi didn’t say that we must take in the content of all five thousand books! We just have to remember as many as we could..."
"Indeed. Even though, as 4-star master teachers, we possess photographic memory, it would still be difficult for us to memorize the content of a few hundred books within this span of time. Five thousand books... even a 6-star master teacher would be incapable of such a feat!"
...
Hearing that the test had started, all of the participants quickly rushed forward to one of the bookshelves.
On the other hand, Zhang Xuan leisurely walked up to the last bookshelf remaining after everyone was done picking their own.
The books on the bookshelves were clearly new. Most likely, they were freshly copied over. The labels were a little bizarre, and to Zhang Xuan’s surprise, he truly hadn’t seen any of them before.
He had collected innumerable books from several libraries, and while it might be an exaggeration to say that even combining the knowledge of everyone present here wouldn’t match up to his, it wasn’t too far away from the truth!
Given the huge collection of books he had read, Zhang Xuan actually hadn’t seen any one of these five thousand books before. It seemed like Hong shi had truly put a lot of effort into this tournament.
Gently sliding his finger across the books, Zhang Xuan collected them into the Library of Heaven’s Path.
"Hmm? There are loads of Transcendent Mortal 4-dan cultivation technique manuals here."
Taking a closer look into the books that he had collected, Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.
There were actually several hundred Transcendent Mortal 4-dan cultivation technique manuals on the bookshelf!
He had been struggling to find cultivation technique manuals of this tier, and it was a huge stroke of luck that he managed to find them here. With so many books here, he might be able to compile a complete Clarifying Turbidity Realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art, thus inducing a leap in his cultivation.
’Compile!’
On the outside, Zhang Xuan causally picked out a book and began flipping through it. However, his consciousness was actually immersed in the Library of Heaven’s Path.
The Library of Heaven’s Path shook, and all of the Transcendent Mortal 4-dan cultivation technique manuals which he had collected before gathered together.
Before long, a brand-new book appeared before his eyes.