“Zhang shi!” Upon seeing Zhang Xuan, the Inceptive Sage of the Seer Guild quickly greeted him with a clasped fist.
“Is Elder Feng still doing well?” Zhang Xuan replied the greeting.
Back then, while he was in the Shrine of Seers, he had unwittingly destroyed the other party’s treasure and tore down the entire place. In the end, he even caused the other party to be struck by lightning too, and that had left him feeling deeply guilt-ridden.
“He’s in the midst of a seclusion at the moment.” the Inceptive Sage of the Seer Guild replied. “He seems to be a little down at the moment for some reason…”
Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan scratched his head awkwardly.
He could still remember the imposing air that Elder Feng carried with him when they had first met, and he couldn’t help but feel that he was the cause of the other party’s slump.
“I know that Elder Feng intends to take you in as his direct disciple, but still, as one of the guardians of the Tower of Master Teachers, I can’t be going easy on you. This is to uphold the integrity and sanctity of the trial.” the Inceptive Sage said.
“Of course, I understand.” Zhang Xuan replied with a polite smile.
Of the supporting occupations he hadn’t reached a proficiency of 8-star yet, poison master and soul oracle were automatically excluded from the list of choices, so he had no choice but to pick seer as well. While he hadn’t read any books regarding the occupation, he didn’t think that it would be too difficult for him to clear its trial…
“Good. The assessment will be very simple. The both of us shall be divining an event simultaneously, and as long as your conclusion is the same as mine, I’ll consider it as your victory.” the Inceptive Sage explained the rules.
It went without saying that the assessment for seers would be related to divining. While each seer possessed a different level of ability from one another, as long as their divination was right, they should still arrive at the same conclusion.
“Understood.” Zhang Xuan nodded.
“Alright. I’ll divine that you won’t be able to clear the Tower of Master Teachers today.” the Inceptive Sage said with a smile.
“You are going to divine that I won’t be able to clear the Tower of Master Teachers today?” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
This was a paradoxical statement. Clearly, the other party was intentionally setting up a trap for him.
If he were to say something that he would be able to clear the trial, that would be at odds with the declaration made by the Inceptive Sage, thus spelling his instantaneous disqualification.
But even if he were to agree with the Inceptive Sage and temporarily clear this floor, the Inceptive Sage still had the option to choose not to ‘acknowledge’ his victory later on as long as there was a valid reason behind it. In other words, even if he were to clear the remaining six floors afterward, the Inceptive Sage could still revoke his acknowledgement under the grounds of his inaccurate divination, and thus, resulting in the overall failure of the trial.
This sure was a scheming move.
As expected of the Inceptive Sage of the Seer Guild, he sure knew how to corner others effectively.
“Indeed. As long as you agree with my words, I’ll let you pass right now.” the Inceptive Sage said with a smile.
To be honest, even though it wasn’t exactly the young man’s fault, he still couldn’t help but feel that the young man had some blame to play behind the Shrine of Seers’ collapse and Elder Feng’s slump. As the Inceptive Sage of the Seer Guild, he felt that he should get back at the other party a little.
Otherwise, what would become of their dignity as the most mysterious Upper Nine Paths occupation?
“Can we divine something else instead? Pardon me, but I don’t think that I’ll be able to answer that question of yours!” Zhang Xuan shook his head.
“Unfortunately, this is the only question I have for you.” the Inceptive Sage said with a wave of his hand.
The other party possessed the Discarnate Constitution of Divination, which meant that it was impossible to predict anything that had him in the picture. As such, a competition with the other party would simply result in his divination running awry. Since that was the case, he decided to play it foul just this once.
And to be honest, he was also very curious to see how the young man whom Elder Feng was so obsessed with would deal with such a situation too.
“This is the only question you have for me? I see… Alright, I understand.” Knowing that the other party was intentionally making things hard for him, Zhang Xuan shook his head helplessly.
With a thought, he accessed the Library of Heaven’s Path in his mind.
Kacha!
Before the Inceptive Sage could process what was going on, his body suddenly went completely numb—a bolt of lightning had fallen on him. Following which, more and more bolts of lightning struck down furiously one after another on the Inceptive Sage, and before long, he was already lying on the ground convulsing non-stop.
“What’s wrong?” Zhang Xuan immediately rushed forward with eyes widened in a mixture of astonishment and worry. “Have you revealed too many secrets of the heavens that you are suffering heavenly retribution at this moment?”
“I…”
Kacha! Kacha!
The Inceptive Sage could barely force out a single word before another two streaks of lightning fell upon him, causing his body to spasm once more.
“It seems like you aren’t in a really good state to assess me at the moment. Since that’s the case, it doesn’t seem appropriate for me to impose on you any further. If you have no rejections, I’ll be heading up first, alright?” Zhang Xuan clasped his fist.
“No…”
Kacha! Kacha!
Under the furious assault of lightning bolts, even speaking a single word was extremely arduous to the Inceptive Sage.
“I’ll thank you for your magnanimity then. If I have a chance in the future, I’ll surely pay you a visit to relay my gratitude to you.” Zhang Xuan clasped his fist before heading up the stairs.
If the other party didn’t make things difficult for him, he still could have considered competing fairly with the other party. But since the other party was bent on cornering him, there was no reason for him to hold back either.
In the first place, the actions of seers could be considered as not too much different from petty theft from the eyes of the heavens, so the other party was just reaping what he had sowed.
“You…” the Inceptive Sage exclaimed in agitation, wanting to stop Zhang Xuan from heading up.
However, he noticed that the lightning bolt above him had grown more compact instead. Horrified, he hurriedly tried to flee, but he realized that no matter how agilely he moved, he was unable to escape from the lightning bolts at all. Eventually, the resigned him could only find a place which was more comfortable for him to lie at, allowing the lightning bolts to ravage him with deadpan eyes.
On the fourth floor was the Inceptive Sage of the Painter Guild.
The moment Zhang Xuan stepped in, it felt as if he had stepped into an illusory world. Majestic mountains towered around him, creating a particularly aesthetic sight.
Knowing that he was in an 8-star painting, it didn’t take long for him to escape from it, thus clearing the assessment.
The supporting occupation for the fifth floor was terpsichore, the one for the sixth floor was appraiser, and the one for the seventh floor was demonic tunist, and the one for the eighth was apothecary…
Having read all of the books for those occupations, Zhang Xuan was able to clear those floors extremely quickly. In just a matter of minutes, he was already right before the final floor. Taking a deep breath, he walked toward his final assessment.
Since he had already cleared the prerequisite eight supporting occupation, all he had to do was to clear the final cultivation assessment and he would be able to be promoted as an 8-star master teacher.
Pushing the door and entering the room, as soon as Zhang Xuan got a clear sight of the person in the room, a tight knit immediately surfaced on his eyebrows.
“It’s you?”
The person before him was no other than the person who was viciously pummeled by the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast before, the Zhang Clan genius who owed him five pinnacle spirit stones—Zhang Chun!
“The Tower of Master Teachers requires an 8-star master teacher to invigilate the trial. Both Luo Xuanqing and I were qualified to be the invigilator, but it just happens that he has recently made a breakthrough to Half-Dimension Sundering realm, thus exceeding the cultivation realm allowable for one to serve as an invigilator here. So, I’ll be the one who will be assessing you today.” Zhang Chun chuckled softly.
With a flick of his wrist, he took out a jade container and flicked it over to Zhang Xuan’s direction, “Here are the five pinnacle spirit stones that I owe you.”
Catching the jade container, Zhang Xuan kept it into his storage ring without bothering to check on it. His eyes remained firmly on Zhang Chun as the knit between his eyebrows tightened.
Previously, he had the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast pummel the other party, so it could be said that there was a deep grudge in between the both of them. Now that there was such a good opportunity for the other party to exact vengeance, how could the other party possibly let him go easily?
The other party had already expressed his attitude clearly by returning the spirit stones—now that I owe nothing to you, I no longer need to have any reservations when dealing with you!
“May I know how will this assessment go?” Understanding this fact, Zhang Xuan heaved a deep sigh before asking.
“In order to become an 8-star master teacher, you need to possess strength equivalent to a Saint 6-dan Grand Dominion realm cultivator… Unfortunately, it appears that your cultivation realm is only at Half-Grand Dominion realm at the moment, so I’ll have to assess your strength personally to ensure that it has reached the required mark.”
A sharp glint flashed across Zhang Chun’s eyes as he looked at Zhang Xuan with a slightly unnerving smile, “Rest assured, my assessment will be very easy. As long as you can withstand three punches from me, I’ll consider it as your victory. If you fail to withstand it… I apologize, but I’m afraid that I’ll have no choice but to fail you!”
“Withstand three punches from you?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
Considering how the other party had once fought him with his cultivation suppressed, the other party should have known his true fighting prowess. And to propose such a duel despite that… clearly, the other party had no intentions of suppressing his cultivation at all.
While Zhang Xuan had made considerable advancement in his cultivation and fighting prowess recently, he was still a far way off from matching up to the Saint 7-dan Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle Zhang Chun.
Zhang Xuan’s mind swiftly whirred into action, but he was unable to find any way how he could clear this assessment fairly. Thus, after a slight moment of silence, he replied, “Fine by me. However, before the duel, I would like to change my clothes…”
“You want to change your clothes? Feel free.” Zhang Chun was a little bewildered by Zhang Xuan’s abrupt request, but he still waved his hands leisurely, not paying Zhang Xuan’s request any mind.
After all, the crux of a duel lay in one’s fighting prowess. It was not as if Zhang Xuan would be able to defeat him just by changing his clothes.
“Thank you.” With a casual wave of his hand, Zhang Xuan set up an isolation barrier by the corner of the room and walked in.
