Treasure Pavilion

The middle-aged man nodded. "That will do. The martial arts manuals you just exchanged for will be delivered to your residence within a day. Remember, these three martial arts are for your cultivation alone. You must not pass them on to anyone else without permission. If discovered, the lighter punishment will be the abolition of your cultivation and lifelong imprisonment; the heavier punishment will be immediate execution! Do you understand?"

"Yes, this disciple understands!" Liang Bo hurriedly replied.

"Still not enough points!" After leaving the main hall, Liang Bo wore a bitter smile.

He had originally thought three thousand points would be enough to exchange for quite a few good things, but now it seemed they were merely a drop in the bucket. Exchanging for one body-tempering technique and two martial arts manuals had already spent them all. He needed to obtain more points as soon as possible.

He remembered Du Chi mentioning that passing the first floor of the True Martial Tower would earn one thousand points. He wondered whether, after learning the first three layers of Wave Stacking, he would be able to pass the True Martial Tower's first floor.

At that moment, Du Chi had also finished exchanging for treasures and emerged from a nearby hall.

"Liang Bo, finished exchanging?"

"Mm."

"What martial arts did you exchange for?" Du Chi asked curiously.

"A blade technique called Wave Stacking, a movement technique called Flowing Light, and a body-tempering technique." Liang Bo did not hide it.

Du Chi was instantly taken aback. "What? You exchanged for Wave Stacking?"

"Yes. What's wrong? Is there a problem with that martial art?"

"Of course there's no problem, but do you know who created it?"

"Who? Don't tell me it was the Blade King?"

"That's right, it was him!" Du Chi nodded.

"It really was him?" Liang Bo froze for a moment.

The Blade King was the foremost expert of the True Martial Sect, and also the greatest expert in the world.

People had originally called him the Blade Emperor, but he himself insisted on being called only the Blade King, never the Blade Emperor. He had occupied the position of the world's strongest for nearly a hundred years and was the pillar of the human race in the present age. In countless clashes with the Demon Race, he had served as a pillar holding back the tide.

To the disciples of the True Martial Sect, the Blade King had become the embodiment of their spiritual totem, worshipped by every disciple.

Back when Liang Bo was still in Wan City, he had heard this man's name. After arriving at the True Martial Sect, he had heard it so often his ears had nearly grown calluses.

Yet he had never expected that the heaven-tier martial art Wave Stacking he had chosen had actually been created by this very man.

"Liang Bo, let me tell you, this martial art is famously difficult to cultivate in our True Martial Sect. Over the past hundred years or so, who knows how many martial artists have practiced it, but those who truly managed to get started and master the first layer were few and far between. Those who mastered the second layer were even rarer. The higher one went, the harder it became. As for the tenth and highest layer, apart from the Blade King himself, no one else has ever mastered it."

"So what?" Liang Bo asked with a smile.

Du Chi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. "Fine. Pretend I said nothing."

"By the way, are you going to exchange for anything else? If not, then let's go to the Treasure Pavilion and see whether we can obtain some treasure."

"Alright, to the Treasure Pavilion!" Du Chi's eyes lit up. He had clearly been looking forward to the Treasure Pavilion for a long time.

The two immediately left the True Martial Stele and rode a flying bird toward the Treasure Pavilion.

After registering at the entrance with their identity tokens, Liang Bo and Du Chi stepped eagerly into the Treasure Pavilion. They saw that a large group of people had already gathered before the various side halls, each of which had a stone stele standing in front of it.

"Liang Bo, see those stone steles? The test questions are written on them. As long as you solve a test question, you can obtain the treasure in the corresponding side hall," Du Chi said excitedly.

"Come on, let's take a look." Liang Bo's eyes lit up, and he walked straight to the stele before one of the side halls.

The stele read: "Inside the side hall is a puppet with strength equivalent to the early Human Origin Realm. Defeat the puppet, and you may obtain the treasure."

"Defeat a puppet at the early Human Origin Realm?" Liang Bo asked uncertainly. "Then if a Human Origin Realm martial artist came to solve this test question, wouldn't it be easy for them to obtain the treasure?"

Du Chi smiled. "You're right, but the sect seniors who set these test questions must have considered that as well. So I'd wager that the treasure inside this side hall is absolutely worthless to Human Origin Realm martial artists. It only has value to martial artists at the ninth grade of the Martial Path like us."

"So this test question was actually meant for ninth-grade Martial Path martial artists like us?"

"Exactly!" Du Chi explained. "Anyone with two-star authorization or above can enter the Treasure Pavilion, which means inner disciples can come here too. So under normal circumstances, disciples of our True Martial Sect will basically have visited this place before stepping into the Human Origin Realm. Most of the test questions in the Treasure Pavilion are also designed for ninth-grade Martial Path martial artists."

"I see!" Liang Bo asked thoughtfully, "Then do you know which side hall holds the most valuable treasure?"

"That's easy to tell. Look, every side hall has a number. Generally speaking, the smaller the number, the more valuable the treasure inside, though the test question will be more difficult as well. What, do you want to challenge the hardest test question?"

Liang Bo smiled. "How would I know without trying? Maybe I'll get lucky and encounter a test question I happen to know."

"That's true. Then I'll take a look too." The two headed together toward several side halls with lower numbers.

Before Side Hall Number Eight, the stele read: "Inside the side hall are ten spiritual herbs. Select three from among them and refine them into a human-tier pill. Time limit: three hours."

Liang Bo rolled his eyes. He had not the slightest knowledge of pill refinement, so naturally he could not solve this test question. He could only head toward the nearby hall.

Before Side Hall Number Seven, the stele read: "Inside the side hall is an incomplete martial art. Complete it within one hour, and you may obtain the treasure."

"Hm?" Liang Bo's eyes lit up, and he became interested in this test question.

Come to think of it, his ability could not only modify the proficiency of all kinds of martial arts, but could also deduce low-grade martial arts into higher-grade ones. It merely required skill points, so Liang Bo had never tried it before.

By his reasoning, since skill points could be used to deduce a low-grade martial art to a higher grade, then similarly, skill points should also be able to deduce an incomplete martial art into a complete one.

In other words, if he was willing to spend skill points, he should be able to solve this test question.

At the thought, Liang Bo could not help itching to give it a try.

"Du Chi, have you decided which test question to solve?"

"No. What about you?" Du Chi asked.

"I'm planning to try this one." Liang Bo smiled faintly. Without waiting for Du Chi's response, he stepped into the side hall.

Du Chi froze for a moment, then hurried over to look at the test question for this side hall. Once he had read it, he muttered in astonishment, "Deduce an incomplete martial art into a complete one? How can martial artists like us, who haven't even reached the Human Origin Realm, possibly deduce martial arts? Liang Bo actually chose this test question. Has he gone mad?"