Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 40: Comprehension

Xu Disheng walked back into the wooden cabin and looked at the tiger-headed demon’s vertically-slitted eyes before saying slowly, “There were only these 50 Udumbara Flowers here.”

The tiger-headed demon seemed to have anticipated that Xu Disheng would say this, and he immediately replied. “I have a lot of Udumbara Flower seeds here. If you take them and plant them in your flesh, they will blossom after an hour.”

When Xu Disheng heard this, he wasn’t convinced. “And?”

An angry look flashed through the tiger-headed demon’s eyes and it growled as if it was about to pounce and tear Xu Disheng to shreds. But in the end, it slowly said, “If you think it’s too painful to plant them in your flesh, you can just cut them off first. You have four limbs, and each one will let you grow 17 Udumbara Flowers.”

These words were incredibly sinister. If one limb could grow 17 flowers, he would need to cut off at least 3 limbs in order to get enough for the remaining 50 flowers.

Xu Disheng still wasn’t moved. Instead, he took a step forward and asked yet again, “What else?”

Strangely enough, the tiger-headed demon’s tone calmed a bit. “Or you could climb to the top of those tall trees. There should be several flowers on the top of each one.” After he finished speaking, he didn’t wait for Xu Disheng to reply. He muttered as if minding his own business, “You don’t need to plant them into your own flesh either. You could scatter them in the dirt and they would grow in an hour all the same.”

Xu Disheng looked at the tiger-headed human that had suddenly become somewhat mechanical, and his gaze became more pensive.

In the Nourishing Heart Hall, once every person had entered the multicolored vortex, the standing mirror transformed into 17 screens of light, which began to broadcast the scenes of each of the 17 participants in the Mirror World.

Some of them were total doormats, and were scared by the tiger-headed demon into planting the Udumbara Flower seeds into their own flesh. They would then sit there and endure the pain until the flowers sprouted.

Others were a bit smarter, and after taking into account the tiger-headed demon’s power, asked a few more questions. Then, they proceeded to chop off 3 limbs, only leaving a single leg, and passed through to the next part of the test. They had clearly known that it was just a fantasy world, so they wouldn’t actually lose their limbs. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺

Then there was Chu Qing’er, who had plucked 50 Udumbara Flowers, then tore each flower petal into two to make it look like 100 flowers. This method actually worked, and the tiger-headed demon let her pass.

The Affairs Hall disciple, Zhou Xin, was staring fixedly at the projections as he busily recorded down the results of the first part of the test.

On the list in his hand, the names were categorized based on their evaluation into Lacking, Fair, Good, and Superior. There were several names under Lacking and Fair, and under the Good category, there was only Chu Qing’er.

These evaluations weren’t actually being done by Zhou Xin. This standing mirror was a low-grade Magic Treasure with 3 fantasy dimensions within, and there was an Artifact Spirit inside the mirror. It was specifically used for providing a simple sect test for those from the Mortal Secret Realms. Although it wasn’t as all-encompassing of an examination as the sect test for those in the Human Realm entering the main sect, it was virtually the same, only differing on a few points. The biggest feature was that it was convenient to carry around, so when it was time to admit disciples, it made its way around to each of the 27 Mortal Secret Realms. Back in the day, a Saint Lord had refined it specifically for this purpose.

The tiger-headed demon inside the mirror was actually an Artifact Spirit, and it would come up with differing evaluations based on the person’s behavior. Therefore, all Zhou Xin was doing was writing down the results.

“Senior Martial Brother Chu, this Chu Qing’er is pretty good. Although, I’m not sure how she’ll do on comprehension,” Secret Realm Envoy Liu praised with a smile.

Emperor Chu was also somewhat surprised. In fact, the Shangqing Sacred Sect didn’t place that much importance on temperament, and it wasn’t nearly as crucial as comprehension and aptitude. In previous years, several people had managed to get a Fair evaluation and that was considered enough, but Chu Qing’er actually went so far as to get a Good evaluation. As he watched her enter the comprehension part of the test, he felt expectation rising in his chest. He was well aware that Chu Qing’er had Grade 1 Profound Meridians, which meant that her aptitude wasn’t too bad.

In the Mirror World, Xu Disheng was looking at the tiger-headed demon in front of him. “Why are you just sitting there, not doing anything?”

The tiger-headed demon’s ferocious face was frozen in place.

Xu Disheng continued, “When I first came to this place, a cold voice was transmitted into my ear, saying that I would pass through to the next test if I entered that multicolored vortex over there.” He pointed at the vortex behind the tiger-headed demon. “But you said that I needed to gather up 100 Udumbara Flowers before you would let me pass.”

The tiger-headed demon’s frozen, mechanical expression finally showed a bit of change, as if he was waiting for Xu Disheng to continue speaking.

“If it was any ordinary person, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed the small discrepancy. After all, with your Sea of Qi stage cultivation, they wouldn’t be able to force their way through unless you let them pass. So they had no choice but to follow your demands.”

Xu Disheng took another step forward, and the tiger-headed demon’s aura became even more intense. The demon energy around its body was exploding outwards, as if it was about to pounce at Xu Disheng in the next second.

Xu Disheng ignored his intuition that was warning him of the life-threatening danger. He put his foot down and said, “But if you could just kill me, what would be the purpose of this test then?”

The tiger-headed human’s aura remained unabated, but it didn’t take initiative to attack. It only sat there and continued to listen to Xu Disheng’s words.

Xu Disheng walked right up to the tiger-headed demon, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch. He brought his face right up to the tiger-headed demon’s ferocious, sinister-looking face, close enough to the point that he could examine the texture of the nearly foot long fangs extending out of its maw and smell the fishy odor from its mouth.

“And so, all I have to do is listen to that voice and walk straight into the vortex. Why would I have to look for any Udumbara Flowers?” Xu Disheng tossed the ball of flowers onto the ground with a laugh, then went around the tiger-headed demon’s massive body and walked straight into the multicolored vortex behind it.

The tiger-headed demon still didn’t move. But after Xu Disheng disappeared into the multicolored vortex, the tiger-headed demon turned into a strand of clear qi, then warped and dissipated along with the wooden cabin and the jungle.

“Xu Disheng?!” Zhou Xin cried out.

“What are you making a fuss about?” Secret Realm Envoy Liu said in a cold voice. As a disciple of the Affairs Hall, Zhou Xin being at a loss like this in front of Emperor Chu was making him lose a bit of face.

“Milord, there’s this youth called Xu Disheng… on the temperament test, he got a Superior evaluation.”

“Hmm?”

Emperor Chu and Secret Realm Envoy Liu looked over at the same time. There were too many light screens, and most of their attention was already on Chu Qing’er, who was currently in the middle of the comprehension test. They hadn’t been paying any special attention to Xu Disheng’s light screen.

Secret Realm Envoy Liu said in a low tone, “Continue to record the results for the comprehension test.”

The Daoist Lords in the hall were all shocked. A look of expectation flashed through Daoist Lord Qingxin’s eyes as he muttered, “Sheng’er…”

In the end, it was extremely rare for a person indigenous to the Secret Realms to have a Superior temperament. It wasn’t that people with Superior temperaments didn’t really exist, since there were a lot of them in the Sacred Sect from the Human Realm. It was just that the people indigenous to the Secret Realms were usually inexperienced and na?ve, and were just frogs at the bottom of a well. Due to these circumstances, there were practically no people with Superior temperaments appearing in the Secret Realms. At least in the Chu Clan’s territory, the Seventh Mortal Secret Realm, a Superior temperament hadn’t appeared in the last several hundred years.

Xu Disheng looked all around him, at the endless span of cyan. The Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy in this place was so thick and concentrated that it felt like it could condense into liquid and drip out of the atmosphere. The profound qi in his body was revolving extremely quickly.

About 10 meters in front of him, there was a towering stone stele with a cultivation method called ‘The First Scripture of Controlling Fire’ engraved into its surface. It was a technique that allowed one to convert Shangqing Profound Qi into controllable fire. There was only the first, most basic level of the cultivation method recorded on the stele, which meant that the extent of its power at this time would be transforming Shangqing Profound Qi into a single ball of fire.

A cold voice was again transmitted to his ears. “In this area abundant with Primordial Energy, cultivate the first scripture of Controlling Fire as quickly as you can. Your evaluation will be higher the less time you take, or the greater the strength of your fireball.”

As soon as the words faded, an undulating water screen appeared behind the stone stele. It was clearly for assessing the strength of the ball of fire after he finished cultivating the method.