Apprenticeship 2

Chu Moqing paused what he was doing when he heard this. "I know Senior Brother Sect Master is considering things for my sake, but I rather like this child.

"He is very clever, and clever people's comprehension will not be poor. As for his spiritual root, even if it is lacking, that does not matter. I happen to have a precious medicinal herb that can improve the purity of his spiritual root."

Seeing that he had said this much, Sect Master Qin Che sighed helplessly. "Since you have made up your mind, then do as you please."

While they were speaking, Feng Wuhen and the others had already stepped onto the Path of Heart-Questioning under the guidance of an outer sect senior brother.

Illusions only appeared halfway along the Path of Heart-Questioning, and there was more than one. They showed what a person feared most, desired most, and found hardest to let go of.

Only by seeing through all three illusions could one continue onward and reach the mountaintop.

When he reached the halfway point, Feng Wuhen felt somewhat tired. He sat on the steps to rest for a while, then turned over and continued climbing.

Before long, he encountered his first illusion. It showed what he desired most in his heart: a pair of faceless husband and wife walking toward him, raising their hands to touch his head.

Feng Wuhen sidestepped to avoid them, feeling that this illusion was nothing much. He strode toward the pair and passed right through their bodies.

Chu Moqing and the others watching his performance were all somewhat surprised. Wasn't this child breaking through the illusion a little too quickly?

They all knew what the first illusion was: the thing one desired most in one's heart. When they had faced this trial, they had all spent some time on it.

Even Chu Moqing, who had passed it the fastest among them, had taken the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Feng Wuhen had needed only a few breaths.

This immediately piqued the interest of the other peak masters as well. They leaned forward slightly, watching Feng Wuhen's figure in the water screen.

After climbing another few dozen steps, Feng Wuhen encountered his second illusion and faced the fear in his heart.

What he feared was the time he had nearly frozen to death. The blazing summer around him turned into a frozen wasteland in an instant, and the deep snow directly submerged him up to his chest.

His hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were all coated in frost. Even the air he exhaled turned into icy grains the instant it left his mouth.

Feng Wuhen seemed to return in an instant to that freezing winter. But the next moment, his eyes began to burn, and all the ice and snow before him vanished.

Realizing it was an illusion, Feng Wuhen continued onward. This time, he spent longer breaking through it than the previous one, but to the others, it was still incredibly fast.

Sect Master Qin Che praised him even more. "This child truly is remarkable. He has broken through two illusions in succession so quickly. Perhaps he can break the record for the fastest passage through the Path of Heart-Questioning."

Chu Moqing was even more satisfied with his future disciple. Clever and strong-willed, he was exactly the disciple he wanted.

Feng Wuhen arrived at the final illusion: the thing he was most reluctant to part with.

There, Feng Wuhen saw the villagers of Great Mountain Village: Widow Li, the tofu beauty, and her two mischievous children; the henpecked village chief with his wife tugging his ear; the exceptionally good-looking couple next door to his home; and the other familiar uncles and aunties. They smiled at him and called for him to come over.

Having gone through two illusions, Feng Wuhen understood that this too was an illusion. But after not seeing everyone for several months, he truly missed them terribly.

He carefully looked over every single one of them before turning away and leaving with his back to them. The instant he turned around, the figures behind him transformed into specks of light and slowly disappeared.

Feng Wuhen broke through the final illusion. Without stopping to rest, he held his breath and climbed to the mountaintop.

After ascending the final step, he was taken by the senior brother waiting above to have his spiritual root, bone structure, and comprehension tested.

Following the elder's instructions, he placed his hand on a transparent stone pillar. The moment his hand touched it, the pillar suddenly burst forth with a rich azure light, so deep in color that it seemed as though it could drip.

Within that azure radiance was a thick golden line stretching from the bottom all the way to the top. This represented a super-grade bone structure.

Then the blue-gold pillar began flashing repeatedly. This meant that besides possessing a supreme-grade spiritual root and super-grade bone structure, he also had exceptional comprehension!

The elder testing him was dumbfounded.

Unable to believe it, he tested Feng Wuhen again. The result was the same as before, and his eyebrows immediately seemed to dance with delight.

A supreme-grade wind spiritual root, super-grade bone structure, and exceptional comprehension!

Mount Grand Mystery had gained another peerless genius. The last person like Feng Wuhen was now the youngest Mahayana sword cultivator on the continent, Chu Moqing, known as the Canglan Sword Venerable.

The testing elder stroked his snow-white beard as he looked at Feng Wuhen waiting nearby, the wrinkles on his face deepening into several layers from his smile.

Qin Che and the others, who had been observing Feng Wuhen all along, were also stunned by his test results.

On the Qiankun Continent, spiritual roots ranked from highest to lowest as supreme-grade, high-grade, middle-grade, and low-grade.

Bone structures ranked from highest to lowest as super-grade, high-grade, middle-grade, and low-grade.

Comprehension was the same, ranking from highest to lowest as exceptional, excellent, average, and poor.

The sect master, peak masters, and elders seated here all had less talent than Feng Wuhen. He was exceptional in every aspect.

And the last person so perfect was sitting among them now.

Qin Che looked at Feng Wuhen's figure in the water screen, his gaze filled with satisfaction and a touch of regret.

"Junior Brother Chu truly has a keen eye. You chose such an outstanding disciple for yourself. I thought you had been too hasty earlier, but now it seems my own eye for talent is lacking."

A proud smile hung on Chu Moqing's lips. "What are you saying, Senior Brother Sect Master? He is my disciple, but he is also a disciple of Mount Grand Mystery. With such an outstanding disciple, Mount Grand Mystery will only grow stronger than before."

Qin Che and the other peak masters all laughed at this, and the atmosphere in the great hall became relaxed and cheerful.

After Feng Wuhen finished testing his spiritual root, he stood to one side and waited for those who had not yet arrived. After waiting for a while, he saw two familiar faces.

Shen Ziheng and Meng Hongying had also made it up, though both looked somewhat exhausted. They were surprised that he had arrived so quickly, but were quite happy for him.

After testing their spiritual roots, the two joined Feng Wuhen. Since they both looked exhausted, the three said nothing and simply continued waiting for those who had not yet arrived.

By the time the Path of Heart-Questioning closed, only a few hundred people had made it up. More than half of them had to enter the outer sect, some became menial disciples, and only a very small number followed behind Feng Wuhen into that magnificent great hall.

The moment Feng Wuhen entered, he felt a gaze fixed tightly on him, moving along with him. He knew that those seated here were far more powerful than the senior brothers and elders he had seen outside. He did not dare raise his head to look and only stared down at the floor tiles.

These floor tiles were actually quite attractive, with an ancient, imposing color that made them clearly no ordinary tiles.

The people beside him were chosen one by one, leaving only the three most outstanding.

As the daughter of the Beast-Taming Sect's sect master, Meng Hongying naturally had to study at Beast-Taming Peak, so she chose Beast-Taming Peak's master, Chen Tianze.

Shen Ziheng looked at the several peak masters and the sect master who had extended invitations to him, then ultimately chose Qin Che as his master.

And when he chose Qin Che as his master, Feng Wuhen saw a mass of black qi invisible to ordinary people disperse from Qin Che and envelop Shen Ziheng.