“The Stone of Insight that we use is known as the Inferior Stone of Insight, and it can only detect Soul Depth of 9.0 and below. That is to say, we can only check the Soul Depth of one below the level of a 3-star master teacher. Once it exceeds that level… the Stone of Insight will crumble.”
Pavilion Master Jiang nodded as he pointed at the powder on the floor. “Otherwise, given how resilient the Stones of Insight are, how could it possibly shatter upon contact.
“Now that you speak of it, it does make sense!”
Everyone was stunned once more.
As a precious jade, the Stone of Insight was extremely tough. It would be difficult for even a sword to leave a mark on it. Yet, it crumbled upon contact. The situation was indeed bizarre.
“Pavilion master means to say that… Zhang shi’s Soul Depth is possibly… above 9.0?”
Catching the gist of the other party’s words, Elder Zhu said in a quivering tone.
What did 9.0 mean?
It was the standard of a 3-star master teacher! A fellow who wasn’t even twenty yet had reached such a level?
Upon hearing those words, everyone immediately understood the underlying meaning behind this situation.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
The heck! Just moments ago, you were tested to have achieved 5.1, and it would already be astounding for you to breakthrough to 6.0. Yet, judging from Pavilion Master Jiang’s words, it wasn’t capped at that level…
“It is simple to check whether the conjecture is true or not. I have an Intermediate Stone of Insight with me. We will know the answer once we put it to the test!”
With a grim expression, Pavilion Master Jiang flicked his wrist, and a jade stone appeared in his hand.
Unlike the Stone of Insight Elder Zhu just passed him, it assumed a more brilliant and eye-catching appearance. The lines on its surface were much more compact and those with low cultivation would find themselves suffering severe vertigo from a mere glance at it.
Intermediate Stone of Insight! Every single one of those was incomparably valuable.
In the entire Tianwu Kingdom Master Teacher Pavilion, there was only one of it.
“Senior Zhang, I will have to trouble you to give it a test!”
Pavilion Master Jiang handed the Stone of Insight over.
After the cultivation technique was relayed to him, he had already affirmed Zhang Xuan to be Yang shi’s student. Thus, he began to call him senior.
The pavilion master of the Master Teacher Pavilion was a figure which could even disregard the emperor of the kingdom. If it was anyone else, he would definitely be troubled to have to call a fellow who was younger than his son as senior.
However, after personally witnessing ‘Yang shi’s’ fearsome abilities, coupled with the saying among master teachers that ‘Capability, instead of age, is what that determines one’s seniority’, he did not feel as awkward addressing Zhang Xuan as senior after addressing him once.
“Un!”
Zhang Xuan took the Stone of Insight and grabbed it in his hand. After which, he started to enter the Heart of Tranquil Water once more.
Weng!
Hearing a light buzz, Zhang Xuan glanced downward.
A bright radiance shot out from the Intermediate Stone of Insight, illuminating the surroundings. Slowly, a line of digits floated into appearance.
Upon seeing the numbers on it, everyone was stunned.
For a moment, the entire Master Teacher Pavilion went silent.
Then, an uproar broke out.
“Te-te… 10.1?”
“His Soul Depth is… 10.1?”
They had thought that the other party was bragging, but to think that… it had reached 10.1!
At 3.0, one was eligible for the 1-star master teacher examination. At 6.0, one could take the 2-star examination. At 10.1… It was more than sufficient for one to take the 3-star examination!
“Wasn’t it… 5.1 just now? Why…”
Mo Hongyi was on the verge of tears.
He felt as though the other party was here just to embarrass him.
Putting aside the fact the other party broke all of his records, more importantly, he refuted every single thing that he doubted. When he said that his supporting occupations didn’t meet the requirement, the other party took out his emblems. When he said that the other party hasn’t reached Zongshi realm yet, he achieved a breakthrough on the spot. And the worse part… when he said that his Soul Depth was insufficient, he showed him a Soul Depth that was sufficient for him to even take the 3-star master teacher examination.
Couldn’t you play fairly?
If there was a burrow in the ground, he would definitely dive in immediately. He didn’t even feel like living on anymore.
Lu Xun also felt a sweet sensation at his throat as he nearly spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.
When he reached Heart of Tranquil Water and his Soul Depth was tested to be 1.8, he was so excited that he couldn’t sleep for the entire night. He had thought that he was a genius and that he could wander around the vast world freely. However, when he saw Zhang shi’s Soul Depth, he realized that… the little bit of Soul Depth he had meant nothing at all.
He turned to Mo Hongyi and shook his head in sympathy.
This number one genius had suffered so much blows that… it would be a huge blessing if he could recover this trauma at all.
Zhang laoshi, that’s enough of you!
Even a powerful figure like Mo Hongyi had been reduced to such a state because of you.
Knowing that the gap between him and Zhang laoshi was irreconcilable, Lu Xun gave up on all thoughts of comparing with the latter.
“Reached 10.1?”
Zhang Xuan was also astonished for a moment before nodding in agreement.
Seemed like the golden page didn’t cancel out his previously accumulated Soul Depth. Instead, it was as impressive as before, increasing his Soul Depth by 5.0 once more.
“…”
“…”
Originally, everyone was already despondent from this situation, but after seeing Zhang Xuan’s look of realization, they spurted blood once more.
You didn’t even know your own Soul Depth… Can you not be so dense?
“Zhang shi, it is hard to raise one’s Soul Depth. This is…”
Suppressing his shock, Elder Zhu couldn’t hold himself back any longer and asked.
Soul Depth assumed a similar concept as one’s age. Even if one had a good method to cultivate it, one could only accumulate it bit by bit.
To increase it from 5.1 to 10.1 in an instant, wasn’t this a little too fast?
Furthermore, to not even know the extent of the growth of his Soul Depth…
Could you be any more foolish?
Upon hearing Elder Zhu’s question, everyone swiftly turned over to look, curious to know what had happened.
“This…”
Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment, a look of difficulty apparent on his face, before he sighed, “Never mind, I doubt all of you will give up if I don’t account for it today. It is indeed true that I don’t know how much my Soul Depth had increased by. That’s because back then when I reached Heart of Tranquil Water, my teacher sealed my Soul Depth, and he sternly instructed me to only unseal it when my strength reaches a certain level… It must be because I had reached Zongshi realm and regained some of my Soul Depth that my Soul Depth experienced a sudden leap!”
Zhang Xuan couldn’t possibly speak about the golden page and the Library of Heaven’s Path, so he had conjured up an excuse beforehand and pushed the blame to that imaginary teacher.
“Sealed your Soul Depth? There is such a thing?”
“How strong must your Soul Depth be that it had to be sealed?”
A commotion broke out.
A sealed Soul Depth was unheard of. But if that wasn’t the case, then there was really no other way to explain the sudden increase by 5.0 of Zhang Xuan’s Soul Depth!
Shocked, they surveyed Zhang Xuan as though examining a freak.
How high must one’s Soul Depth be to require sealing?
And what master teacher rank had his teacher achieved to be capable of such a feat?
Initially, they had thought that Zhang Xuan was harboring some incredible method to raise one’s Soul Depth. However, after listening to his explanation, they realized that his Soul Depth was something that came with him since birth, and it was impossible for them to match up to him.
“Some people are indeed born with overwhelming Soul Depth. Rumor has it that Empyrean Kong shi possessed Innate Saint Soul Depth, which was comparable to that of a 9-star master teacher. From birth, he was already destined to be extraordinary. Eventually, he went on to climb to the peak of the world and achieved many great things!”
Pavilion Master Jiang said.
“Innate Saint Soul Depth? Comparable to a 9-star master teacher?”
Everyone was shocked.
Although they didn’t know how much Soul Depth one needed to become a 9-star master teacher, going by the 3.0 per rank convention, a 9-star master teacher should possess a Soul Depth of 27.0 or above.
A Soul Depth of 27 from birth?
“Kong shi wasn’t the only one. There was a genius in Xuanyuan Conferred Kingdom Master Teacher Pavilion that reached Heart of Tranquil Water at seventeen. During his first test, his Soul Depth had already reached a frightening level of 9.3, which is sufficient for one to take the 3-star master teacher examination.”
As the pavilion master, Jiang Shu was well-informed of a lot of secrets. “These talents may be rare, but they definitely exist! Even so, if one’s Soul Depth is too high and one’s cultivation is unable to catch up, it could possibly result in unwanted consequences. Perhaps it was due to this that your teacher chose to seal your Soul Depth.”
With this, he turned to look at Zhang Xuan in envy.
It was no wonder why a formidable figure like Yang shi would take him in as his student. Possessing such Soul Depth from birth made him a rare genius destined to be a master teacher. As long as he doesn’t die, he would definitely join the ranks of a 4-star master teacher.
“So that’s the case…”
“That’s true. Soul Depth is extremely hard to raise. One could only raise it by zero point something or one point something with decades of effort. If everyone were to start out the same as us, how could there possibly be 6-star, 7-star, or even higher ranked master teachers in the world?”
“Indeed. The world is big, and there are countless experts. Even though Tianwu Kingdom is the largest country among the thirteen surrounding states, we are only a countryside kingdom to the truly powerful countries.”
…
…
After hearing Pavilion Master Jiang’s explanation, everyone came to a realization.
The world was big and it was filled with countless experts. Many things that seemed illogical to them was simply because of ignorance from their lack of exposure.
Similarly, the thought of anyone possessing such high Soul Depth at birth had never crossed Zhang Xuan’s mind. Therefore, when he heard Pavilion Master Jiang’s words, he too was surprised.
However, since Pavilion Master Jiang had justified his case for him, he couldn’t be bothered to refute his words. With that, he turned to Mo Hongyi once more.
“Occupation, cultivation, and Soul Depth, I have fulfilled all them. Mo shi, is there any more prerequisites to taking the 2-star master teacher examination? Why don’t you list them all out at a single go, so that I can make preparations for them together?”
“There isn’t anything else…”
Mo Hongyi felt a burning sensation on his face. His body trembled, and his face was as bitter as a bitter gourd.
He wanted to stop the other party from taking the examination so that he could amaze others, yet… not only did he not amaze anyone, he only made a fool out of himself.
“Since there isn’t anything else, then… I should be able to take the 2-star master teacher examination, right?” Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.
“Of course…”
Mo Hongyi suppressed his urge to spurt blood.
He already knew how monstrous this fellow was, so why did he still pit himself against him for nothing? Not only did he lose his reputation as the number one genius of Tianwu Kingdom, he even became an egotistic laughingstock…
“Since the criteria are met, let’s start the examination now!”
Afraid that Mo Hongyi would commit suicide if Zhang Xuan were to continue asking, Elder Zhu hurriedly interjected.
“There are also five tests to the 2-star master teacher examination, and they consist of the same Supporting Occupation Pavilion, Puppet Hall, Cultivation Technique Ocean, and Unerring Pavilion, albeit with a higher level of difficulty. For example, in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion, an apothecary will have to guide the puppet to forge a grade-2 pill, and a painter will have to guide the puppet to create a fourth level painting!”
“These four tests are the same, and the only difference is the House of Trust!”
“The first test, House of Trust, tests the Trust Level of a master teacher’s students. In the 1-star examination, the chosen students can be under one’s tutelage for several years with no age limit. Thus, many people chose to circumvent the rules by bringing a student whom they’ve taught from young. Naturally, the student would be extremely close to them, making it easy for them to pass the test… However, the 2-star examination won’t be that easy.”
“For the 2-star examination, the examinee has to accept a student on the spot and within ten days, one has to establish a Trust Level of 40 with them.”
Elder Zhu explained the rules of the tests of the 2-star master teacher examination.
