Most of those in the square had been in the six outer dimensions, but without any clear directions and the limitations on their flight and Spiritual Perception, obtaining even a single crux would have been a huge stroke of luck. Yet, the young man before them had actually obtained four of them.
This was way too exaggerated!
In the sky, the lower jaws of Zhang Hongtian and Yang shi fell slack, nearly falling to the ground.
This was a situation that they had never dreamed of.
“They are all with you?” Ancient Sage Yan Qing’s cheeks twitched in disbelief.
Their Hundred Schools of Philosophers had gone to great lengths in order to obtain just a single crux. On the other hand, this fellow had singlehandedly obtained four of them.
Was he even human?
However, this worked in their favor as well. At the very least, they would be able to open the Prime Hall much faster.
“Un!” Zhang Xuan nodded, not hiding anything at all.
With a flick of his wrist, he took out the ice crystal and the koi fish. The two of them swiftly flew into the apertures beside the entrance of the Prime Hall, and the light radiating from the gates brightened even further.
“You have single-handedly won four slots for the Master Teacher Pavilion,” Ancient Sage Yan Qing murmured with a slightly bitter look on his face. Sighing deeply, he turned to look at the crowd once more and said, “All that is left is the crux of the stone forest dimension. May I know who is in possession of the crux?”
No one stepped forward, so the situation fell into a standstill once more.
“That stone forest dimension is filled with boulders recording cultivation techniques and battle techniques. There isn’t a crux in it, is there?”
“Indeed. I have been in the dimension for several hours, and I didn’t find anything that resembles the crux of the dimension!”
“Can you tell us what the crux of the stone forest dimension is supposed to be?”
…
There was a bout of commotion as the crowd turned to Ancient Sage Yan Qing in seek of answers.
Zhang Xuan was as perplexed as the rest of the crowd.
He had been to the stone forest dimension himself, and anyone who found the correct sequence to any one of the secret arts would be granted access to the Subordinate Hall. Judging from that, it did not seem like there was any crux to the dimension. So, what were they supposed to be placing in the aperture?
“The stone forest dimension has no tangible crux. Its crux is the secret art that allows one to enter the Hall of Divine Crusade and claim the Stone of Divine Crusade!” Ancient Sage Yan Qing revealed.
He seemed to be rather knowledgeable about the affairs concerning the various outer dimensions and Subordinate Halls.
“The secret art is the very crux of the dimension?” Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
He had been feeling a little embarrassed about taking the cruxes of four outer dimensions for himself… but all of a sudden, he realized that he had not obtained four but five cruxes!
It sure was really difficult to be low profile! How embarrassing!
“That’s right. As long as one imprints the correct sequence of the secret art into the last aperture, the Prime Hall will open. So, for the person who entered the stone forest dimension and comprehended its crux, I’ll have to invite you to step forward,” Ancient Sage Yan Qing replied.
Halfway through his words, he suddenly noticed a raised hand amid the crowd—Zhang Xuan.
Turning his gaze over, Ancient Sage Yan Qing asked, “What’s wrong?”
At the same time, a bad premonition seemed to creep into his heart. He had an inkling what the young man was going to say and do, but the notion of it was so ludicrous that he instinctively rejected it.
“Cough cough… It’s hard for me to say this, but it seems like the crux of the stone forest dimension is with me as well!” Zhang Xuan said with an awkward chuckle.
“…” Ancient Sage Yan Qing.
“…” Zhang Hongtian.
“…” The others.
Why the heck are you getting embarrassed?
If anything, we are the ones who should be feeling embarrassed, alright?
Of the four major powers and several thousand experts, we only managed to obtain one crux in total whereas you obtained a total of five of them…
All of a sudden, the crowd sudden felt an urge to simply drop dead.
Zhang Xuan chuckled awkwardly for a moment longer to soothe the atmosphere before walking up to the entrance of the Prime Hall. With a tap of his finger, he imprinted the formula of the secret art into the aperture.
Weng!
Light burst forth from the entrance of the Prime Hall as the entire place began to shake nonstop. With a deafening creak, the massive gates began to open.
Following which, a primordial aura drifted out from the interior of the Prime Hall, commanding an imposing, ancient air.
Seeing that the Prime Hall had finally been opened, Ancient Sage Yan Qing suppressed the stifled sensation in his chest and swiftly took command of the situation. “Since the slots have already been confirmed, I’d like to ask the four major powers to select their cultivators to enter the Prime Hall!”
The final distribution of the slots were seven for the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, six for the Master Teacher Pavilion and major powers of the Master Teacher Continent, one for the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, and one for the Beast Tribe.
This was based on the rules that they had agreed on earlier, so the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe and Beast Tribe had no way of refuting the distribution of slots.
Besides, whether one was able to obtain the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn or not was based heavily on luck. Numbers might not necessarily be an advantage in the Prime Hall.
It did not take long for the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, and Beast Tribe to select the men to enter the Prime Hall.
On top of the restriction that prevented any Ancient Sages from entering the premises, the Prime Hall appeared to also have an age limit of fifty years old. Anyone beyond fifty would be barred by the invisible seal around the Prime Hall.
Naturally, each major power chose the strongest members in their ranks who met those two restrictions in order to enter the Prime Hall.
“How do we determine the distribution of slots here?” one of the Ancient Sages of the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters asked.
Pretty much all of the slots had been won single-handedly by Zhang Xuan, so his opinion weighed a lot in determining the distribution of the slots among them.
“Me, Ruoxin, Zhao Ya, Ruyan, Yuan Tao, and… Qiqi as well. That makes up six!” Zhang Xuan said contemplatively.
The Ancient Sage nearly fainted on the spot upon hearing those words. “No matter what, shouldn’t you at least reserve two slots for the Master Teacher Pavilion?”
It was true that he had played a huge role in securing the slots for them, but it would not do for him to take them all away!
“Rest assured, I’ll reserve two slots for you. Right, Zheng Yang, Wang Ying, and Lu Chong are here too, aren’t they? Where are they at the moment? I’ll have to reserve three slots for them as well,” Zhang Xuan added.
Considering how huge an affair the opening of the Temple of Confucius was, it was certain that Zheng Yang, Wang Ying, Lu Chong, and the others would be there. It was just that there were too many people there, and the place was simply too large, resulting in them not meeting one another.
Hearing the calculation that Zhang Xuan was making, Yang shi could not help but politely remind him, “We only have a total of six slots.”
That was eleven slots, far beyond what they had at the moment!
“Six slots? Don’t worry, it won’t be six in a moment’s time,” Zhang Xuan said with a mysterious smile on his lips. He turned to Zhao Ya and the others and instructed, “Look for Zheng Yang and the others. Get them here as soon as possible!”
“Yes!” Zhao Ya and the others replied as they hurriedly took out their Jade Communication Tokens to send messages.
With the six outer dimensions connected with one another, it was already possible to communicate remotely.
“Alright! Since the members have already been decided, let’s enter the Prime Hall!” Ancient Sage Yan Qing commanded imposingly.
With a wave of his hand, the ‘Prime Amulet’ surfaced before him once more. A surge of energy poured forth from his Prime Amulet, enveloping the various experts chosen by the Hundred Schools of Philosophers.
Yan Xue was also one of those enveloped within the surge of energy.
“Let’s head over as well!”
There was only one slot for the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe and the Beast Tribe respectively. It went without saying that they were displeased with the situation, but they knew that it would be hard for them to renegotiate this matter.
Seeing that Zhang Xuan and the others were still dawdling, having yet to finalize the candidates that they would send into the Prime Hall, Yan Xue harrumphed coldly. “Stop wasting our time and hurry up!”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to wait for us. Feel free to go on ahead. We’ll follow soon!” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.
“You are telling us to enter ahead of you? Do you even understand what you are saying?” Taken aback by the words Zhang Xuan had spoken, Yan Xue was visibly stunned for a moment before his eyebrows knitted together.
Was there something wrong with their heads?
The Prime Amulet could only take fifteen people into the Prime Hall in a single go. Did those fellows naively think that they would come back for them after they entered the premises?
“Feel free to go ahead. We’ll quickly follow along once we have chosen our candidates!” Zhang Xuan replied affirmatively.
“Very well then!” Scoffing deeply in his heart, Yan Xue could not be bothered to waste his breath on a fool who could not even make sense of something as simple as this. Thus, he turned around and led the group toward the towering entrance of the Prime Hall.
Hula!
It took an instant for them to arrive right before the seal.
The ‘Prime Amulet’ emanated another burst of light, shrouding the group chosen by the four major powers.
“We won’t be waiting for them any longer. Let’s enter!” Unwilling to waste any more time, Yan Xue rushed in.
Padah! Padah! Padah!
An overwhelming surge of energy swept across the area. Before the group could get in, the defensive mechanism of the seal activated. In a single blast, they were sent flying into the distance, falling to the ground helplessly, and blood spurted into the air.
