That was, of course, the absolute truth.
When geniuses with physiques capable of dominating an entire era went out on trials, they seemed to handle everything independently. They endured hardship and suffering, weathered a thousand trials and ten thousand tribulations, and succeeded...
But how could the reality possibly be so simple!
Senior figures from their sects or the schools where they studied would follow them in secret.
Sometimes, the people from their own sects were even too familiar to them. Appearing too frequently would draw too much attention and might make the geniuses feel they had been under protection all along, leaving flaws in their mental fortitude...
So much so that several sects had to coordinate, paying a price to enlist senior figures from other sects to pose as accomplished elders encountered by chance.
They might offer some guidance in martial arts, or save a life. Some were even more shameless: old men several hundred years old would swear brotherhood with children and become their sworn brothers...
These all looked like unconventional approaches, but, frankly, they were perfectly normal practices. At most, the execution was a little flashy!
Many so-called genius trials, all that talk of a protagonist's template: jumping off a cliff and encountering a master, finding life in a hopeless situation, a benefactor appearing in a crisis; suddenly getting to rescue a beauty when bored, entering a dense forest and finding a horse king that was not only obedient but understood people...
Finding a cave in a remote mountain forest, with a skeleton and secret manuals inside...
That was what they called a protagonist's template.
But...
Never believe it!
The vast majority of those things were arranged. How could there be so many chance encounters under heaven?
There were so many experts in the world that the entire