Humanity's Great Sage

Chapter 925, Passing the First Test

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

Despite what he had just heard, Lu Ye decided to see it for himself, so he went to look around the area. However, just like what Nian Yuexian and Ying Wuji had said, everything they could see was the entirety of the Hidden Realm.

The valley entrance wasn’t connected to any place. It was a mass of nothingness with no road ahead. Lu Ye didn’t dare to barge into it. He had tried throwing a piece of Spirit Stone into it but heard nothing in response. It was a wonder what would happen if he entered it.

Although this small Hidden Realm didn’t have the Sun, Moon, and Stars, there were daytime and nighttime, which was strange.

After a night’s rest, Lu Ye and Ying Wuji obediently headed to the hut the next day.

Kong Kong was already seated in front of the hut. There were two mats before him. Lu Ye and Ying Wuji saluted him before they sat down properly and listened to Kong Kong’s lecture.

He didn’t ask if the two of them had any experience in making Artifacts before. He just started with the basics. Although he was old, he was good at teaching as he was able to explain complex concepts with simple language. Lu Ye and Ying Wuji were able to easily digest what he said and learn from him.

The same thing happened for the next few days. It wasn’t until three days later that he started teaching them something practical.

In Jiu Zhou, regardless of what External Ways they cultivated, they had to make use of Glyphs. There were exclusive Glyphs for the Way of Wards, the Way of Pills, and the Way of Artification. Glyphs were the foundation of these External Ways.

Therefore, an outstanding Glyphweaver would find it easier to study any External Way.

After teaching them the basic knowledge of Artifaction, Kong Kong started giving them lessons on how to build Glyphs.

This was Lu Ye’s forte, but he was careful not to fully show his talent in the Way of Glyphs. He only showed Kong Kong half of what he knew, but his performance was already excellent.

Ying Wuji wasn’t a match for Lu Ye when it came to his mastery of the Way of Glyphs. However, since he had learned the Way of Wards before, he naturally knew a thing or two about Glyphs.

It was just that he had never learned the Glyphs exclusive to Artification, so he couldn’t construct the Glyphs as smoothly as Lu Ye did. Although he appeared clumsy, he could still meet the demands.

Days went by peacefully. It wasn’t until half a month later that Lu Ye couldn’t take it anymore. After building a Glyph, he asked, “Sect Master, I have a question.”

“Go ahead.” Kong Kong looked gently at him. During this period, he was most satisfied with Lu Ye’s performance. He had been comparing the two of them. There was no doubt Lu Ye was talented in the Way of Glyphs. Even though he never fully showed his talent, he still did a great job. Compared with how clumsy Ying Wuji was, Lu Ye appeared gifted.

This made Kong Kong feel elated as he believed he had found someone to inherit the Sword and Tool Sect. Naturally, he pinned all his hopes on Lu Ye.

“Sect Master, given our progress, how much longer do you think it’ll take us to make flying swords that are good enough?”

Kong Kong replied with a smile, “What’s wrong? Are you running out of patience?” After a pause, he continued, “I could be considered one of the most talented cultivators in this Sect for the past hundreds of years. However, when I started learning the Way of Artification, it took me five years to create a flying sword that was suitable for me.”

[Five years…] Lu Ye and Ying Wuji felt their hearts turning cold.

Five years didn’t seem like a long time to Divine Ocean Realm Masters, but to energetic young men like them, the period was painfully long.

One had to know that it had only been three years since Lu Ye started cultivating, so he couldn’t imagine himself staying here for five years. Moreover, it was how long it took Kong Kong to create a satisfactory sword. The two of them might need a longer time.

Also, being able to craft a suitable flying sword was only the beginning. Kong Kong had said that once they achieved that goal, he would teach them the Way of Swords.

That sounded like a good opportunity, but it would take them a long time to experience everything. Naturally, it was difficult for them to stomach such an opportunity.

It was no wonder that this Inheritance Hidden Realm had been around for such a long time. Even if some people had entered this place before, they couldn’t possibly have persevered for such a long time.

This was giving Lu Ye a headache. He wouldn’t want to stay here forever, but he couldn’t leave unless he passed the tests. As for fighting Kong Kong, it wasn’t a feasible idea as even Nian Yuexian wasn’t a match for him. There was no doubt Lu Ye and Ying Wuji would end up in a horrible state if they did that.

Many ideas turned over in Lu Ye’s mind. Soon enough, he said brazenly, “Sect Master, it’s boring that we’ve been learning about Glyphs but not having hands-on experience in making Artifacts.” Regardless, it wouldn’t be wrong to hasten the progress of learning about Artification.

Kong Kong replied with a smile, “You have a lot to learn about the Way of Artification. Since you’ve just started out studying it, there isn’t a need to rush things through. You have to learn to take things slow to achieve great results.”

A stubborn Lu Ye said, “But Sect Master, I believe I’ve mastered these Glyphs, so there’s nothing else to learn. Now, I just want to start making Artifacts so that I’ll inherit your skills and make our Sect thrive sooner. I want you to be proud of me.”

Understanding his intention, Ying Wuji nodded and said, “My thoughts exactly!”

Kong Kong looked solemnly at Lu Ye in silence.

He was indeed satisfied with Lu Ye’s performance during this period, so he was more tolerant of him. After giving it some thought, he said, “In that case, I’ll give the two of you a test. If you can pass it, I’ll grant your wish.”

“Sure, Sect Master!”

Kong Kong spread his hands and activated his Spiritual Power. The next second, some patterns kept contorting and turned into Glyphs that were used for making Artifacts.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji watched intently. They soon discovered that Kong Kong had taught them some of these Glyphs, but some were new to them.

A moment later, Kong Kong retracted his hands and ran his fingers through his beard. “I’ve shown you ten Glyphs in total. If you can build at least seven of these Glyphs in four hours, you’ll pass the test.”

Ying Wuji appeared dejected. Without the need to give it a try, he knew he couldn’t achieve that. That was because five out of the ten Glyphs that Kong Kong had shown were new to him. There was no way he could build them when he had only seen them once.

He then turned to look at Lu Ye and saw him starting to construct the Glyphs.

At that moment, Lu Ye was glad that he never fully showed his talent when learning the Glyphs from Kong Kong. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been given this test.

Kong Kong thought Lu Ye and Ying Wuji surely couldn’t pass the test, which was why he showed them ten Glyphs and told them to build at least seven. Unbeknownst to him, Lu Ye was 80 per cent sure that he could pass the test.

As Lu Ye built the Glyphs, Kong Kong became surprised because he realised he had underestimated the young man’s capabilities.

Four hours soon passed. Even though time was up, Lu Ye was still trying to construct the last Glyph. This Glyph was complicated. Although he had made more than ten attempts, he still failed every time.

Another hour later, he successfully built the tenth Glyph.

Exhausted, he glanced at Kong Kong, the Sect Master of the Sword and Tool Sect. Kong Kong dipped his head. “You’ve passed the test. Go and get some rest. I’ll teach you how to make Artifacts tomorrow.”

“Yes.” Lu Ye let out a breath.

It had taken him half a month to pass the first test, so there was nothing jovial about it. As for what he had to do next, he had no idea.

He reckoned that he could only hasten his progress in learning the Way of Artification while trying to come up with a way to leave.

“What about me, Sect Master?” Ying Wuji asked.

“You’ll continue learning the Way of Glyphs,” Kong Kong replied nonchalantly.

He had accepted the two of them to be part of this Sect. It was good enough that one of them was gifted. Since the other one was merely an appendage, he was basically hopeless.

Ying Wuji was on the brink of tears. When they returned to their wooden houses, they saw Nian Yuexian seated on a chair in front of her place while Amber crouched on her lap.

Since they had spent so much time together, Amber was no longer afraid of her. The tiger was snoring as the woman petted it.

Lu Ye stepped forward and called out, “Madam.”

In the past half a month, he and Ying Wuji had been learning about Glyphs from Kong Kong while Nian Yuexian had been staying in her house to refine the Willow Catkin. She had just left her wooden house that day.

“How was it?” she asked.

Lu Ye then told her what they had experienced in the past half a month. There was nothing much to say as they had only been learning how to build the Glyphs used to make Artifacts. He also brought up what had happened earlier.

Nian Yuexian dipped her head. “It seems that only by hastening your progress can we leave this place sooner.”

“Regardless of how we hasten our progress, it’ll still take a long time. How I wish we could use the help of the Divine Opportunity Column.” Lu Ye sighed.

If they had access to the Divine Opportunity Column, they could make use of it to leave this place. However, only when they were on the Cloud River Battlefield could they summon the Divine Opportunity Column. It couldn’t be done in Jiu Zhou, not even in a Hidden Realm.

During this period, Lu Ye and Ying Wuji had something to do at the very least. On the other hand, Nian Yuexian had been stuck here doing nothing.

“Do you have anything else to tell us, Madam?”

Nian Yuexian shook her head. Just as Lu Ye was ready to take his leave, she continued, “Do you think the old man will chase us away if I take away all the flying swords on Sword Mountain?”

“That’s unlikely to happen.” Lu Ye shook his head. He thought that Kong Kong would probably teach the woman a lesson if she did that.

“Let’s just give it a go,” Nian Yuexian said and shot into the sky.

Amber fell from her lap and woke up at once. It squealed and anxiously landed on the ground.

Lu Ye lifted his gaze and saw Nian Yuexian shooting towards Sword Mountain. However, before she even arrived, she uncontrollably fell from the sky.

Seeing that, Lu Ye felt his eyelids twitching. He instantly realised that there must be an Aerial Lock Ward around Sword Mountain, so no one could fly up to the peak.

Nian Yuexian soon landed on the ground. Despite the embarrassment, she relentlessly hiked up the mountain and soon reached the first flying sword.

Before she could even pull out the flying sword, a turn of events happened all of a sudden. An illusory figure appeared out of nowhere and pulled out the sword from the mountain before saluting Nian Yuexian. “I’m a disciple from the Sword and Tool Sect of the 36th generation, Wang Yang. It’s an honour to contend with you!”