After travelling through the Burning Mountain Range for another few days in their beggar like appearances, Feng Chen and Zu Fei finally arrived at the entrance of the Flying Sword City... Only to hear the people about to enter the city talk about them like a random group of refugees from some recent war in that caused the Heavenly Sky Kingdom to fall apart-
"Wait... Refugees from the collapsing Heavenly Sky Kingdom!?"
Zu Fei stopped as she looked over at the group of people looking over towards her filled with pity, as she realized what their words meant. The Heavenly Sky Kingdom had collapsed! And she had only been gone for a few weeks at most!
"So, the Heavenly Sky Kingdom actually ended up collapsing... I wonder if that old ancestor died as well..." Muttering this with a relatively calm expression on his face, Feng Chen was not that surprised over the fact that the Heavenly Sky Kingdom had ended up collapsing.
After all, he still vividly remembered the fact that Shu Yao had entered some sort of deal with them to not help the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. In return, the Azure Sky Kingdom would leave after they finished off the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.
Feng Chen really wanted to rush back to the sect and find out if the Azure Sky Kingdom had really left the central region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom...
"Who are you and why have you come to the Flying Sword City? Refugees should-"
Hearing the voice from one of the guards at the entrance to the Flying Sword City, Feng Chen did not even bother answering him.
Whoosh!
Instead, he just showed off his sect master token before walking past the completely stunned guard together with Zu Fei. Disappearing from sight before the other guards had even managed to react.
There was no way he would stay around after having revealed his identity, or at the very least showed some proof that he was connected to the Sect Master in some way...
At the very least, the guards at the gate would not come running after him and Zu Fei as they dragged their still exhausted bodies back towards their pavilions to freshen up and recover from some of the deeper injuries they had received along the way and were unable to heal in a short period of time.
...
Thumb thumb~
Back at the library of the Formation Hall, Xuan Hao was slowly making his way over towards Fang Yu, when the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed out from the direction of the entrance to the library.
"Hm?"
Fang Yu, who had been completely focused on the book in her hand just a second ago. Instantly looked over towards the entrance of the library just behind her. Not noticing Xuan Hao who was only a few meters away from her at this point.
"Elder-"
"No need to speak so formally my child, I heard you managed to make to sneak your way back into the library by borrowing the help from another elder coming here to read!"
Calling out to the tall elderly woman who appeared from the entrance of the library, Fang Yu happily got up and greeted her before the person in question interrupted her greeting.
Squeeze~
Walking over to Fang Yu, the tall elderly woman hugged her tightly with a happy smile on her face. Almost lifting Fang Yu off the floor of the library in the process.
"G-grandma... C-can't... Breath!"
Trying her best to get out of the elderly lady's tight hug, Fang Yu could only helplessly beg for her to stop, as her cultivation at the Foundation Establishment Realm was rendered completely useless before the elderly woman.
"Hmph, fine! Is this perhaps the elder who you followed inside-!"
Reluctantly letting go of Fang Yu, who quickly escaped a few meters away from her, the elderly woman soon turned over in the direction of Xuan Hao standing a short distance away from her and Fang Yu.
"Elder Xuan!? It's a pleasure to meet you Elder Xuan, I have long since heard about you from the other elders!" Showing a shocked expression for a short moment after recognizing Xuan Hao, the elderly woman quickly greeted him respectfully under the shocked gaze of Fang Yu.
From what she knew, she had never seen her grandmother act so respectfully towards anyone other than the Sect Master and the Core Elders! Even those older elders at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm did not receive such respect from her!
Given that she had already seen what the Sect Master looked like, it could only mean that the elder she had followed inside the Formation Hall was one of the Core Elders!
"No need for the formalities, I am just here to read up on a few things..."
Waving his hand as he said this, Xuan Hao soon turned over towards Fang Yu standing to the side before continuing.
"Now that I have you here, I heard quite a bit about the child over there and was wondering why she have not been able to enter the Formation Hall. After all, given how dedicated to formations she is, I highly doubt she would be able to fail the simple test that the Formation Hall set up..."
"..."
"Is there perhaps some other reason as to why she could not enter the Formation Hall...?"
Seeing the hesitation and silence from the elderly woman, Xuan Hao could not help but grow curious.
From the sect mission, Xuan Hao clearly knew that there was some sort of problem with the entrance test of the Formation Hall and Fang Yu, but he still had no clue as to what it was exactly.
"Ehm... Elder Xuan... Do you perhaps know what the test for entering the Formation Hall is...?"
Looking over towards Fang Yu who had nervously steeped forward, Xuan Hao could only shake his head in denial.
The test that one was required to complete before entering the Formation Hall was a complete mystery to him. At this point in time, the only thing he knew about the test was the fact that it was an extremely easy test that disciples would normally be able to easily get through as long as they put in some effort in learning about formations.
"I see... The test for entering the Formation Hall is a simple one that requires the disciple to master three different beginner formations. One for lowering the temperature of the area it covers, while the second increases the temperature. These two formations can normally be learned within only a few days of practice.
The last one is the most difficult and is a formation that can continuously keep a small fire burning. This formation is also the one that takes the longest to learn and it takes a week to learn it and in some rare cases, it might even take an entire two weeks to learn...
I... Have still not been able to use the last formation after two years..." Stopping for a moment when her explanation reached the end, Fang Yu could not help but blush from embarrassment upon mentioning the fact that she had been unable to learn the last among the three formations even after two years of hard work.
Watching Fang Yu as she blushed from embarrassment, Xuan Hao could not help but feel shocked after learning the reason why she had not yet managed to enter the Formation Hall yet and at the same time a sense of helplessness washed over him.
How was he supposed to help her successfully pass the test and enter the Formation Hall if she had already been stuck learning the same formation over the past two years without any progress...
And for some reason, Xuan Hao felt like the system would most likely not consider the quest to be completed if he just used his status to forcefully have her enter the Formation Hall.
"Hm..."
Thinking about a way to help out Fang Yu and allow her to enter the Formation Hall, Xuan Hao inevitably looked over towards the tall elderly woman who had been called grandma by Fang Yu just a few seconds earlier.
Though, both of them do not look like they are related...
Not to be rude to Fang Yu or anything along that line, but she was really short for her age...
"Elder Xuan...? "
Seeing Xuan Hao looking over at her, the elderly woman could not help but ask in a curious tone.
"Ah... It's nothing, I was just wondering if... your grandchild? Would be willing to learn a bit from me given that we were fated to meet-"
"No problem, no problem! She is more than willing-"
"S-sorry for my grandmother's rude behaviour, I hope you can forgive her as she was just excited..." Before Xuan Hao even managed to finish his first ever attempt at sounding like some experienced scam- fortune teller, the elderly woman interrupted him with an excited expression on her face before her granddaughter jumped in and stopped her. Quickly apologising on her behave.
"No worries at all, I don't mind it! Seeing as it has already gotten quite late outside, I will be taking my leave for today. Show up in front of my pavilion at dawn tomorrow and we will look over your problem."
Waving his hand in an attempt to calm down both the grandmother and granddaughter, Xuan Hao decided that it would be a good time to take his leave.
"Y-yes!"
Calming down a bit after hearing Xuan Hao, Fang Yu quickly agreed with him.
"Great, then I will see you tomorrow at dawn!"
Whoosh~
Smiling kindly at Fang Yu after hearing her agree, Xuan Hao turned around and left the library of the Formation Hall before either of the two could say anything.