Chapter 37: Chap 37

 

“Has senior Hua Cheng explained the trials to you?”

“Not at all, senior Xu Fu.”

“Then, I will be brief. The first trial is Ten directions footwork.”

 

It is named after the technique, Ten directions footwork, that was stolen and spreaded outside. 

 

“There are 216 stone buttons on the ground, the walls, and the ceilings that are connected to the hidden mechanism of this floor. There will be subtle qi released from one of the buttons. The disciple must detect which button to press. After triggering one, qi will leak out from the next button. To open the gates, 124 buttons must be pressed. Pressing the wrong button or not applying qi while pressing on the button or failing to press the correct button after one second will reset the count. If you are ready, step forward and the trial will begin.”

 

To the dull mind, it’s a game of quick legs. In truth, it follows the practice laid out in the Ten directions footwork manual. There are multiple patterns written in the book, but the instruction is explicit, accompanied by diagrams. The trial will choose one pattern. When the count is reset, the new pattern will be randomised. As long as one is diligent, this test is a cakewalk.

 

As the mechanism registers her presence, the stones begin to emit qi consecutively at one-second duration each. Yun An walks over to the nearest button on the floor, waiting. Quite clever, that girl. Instead of chasing the sense of qi, she chose one and stood by. 

 

Then, the stone hopping exercise starts. A perfect performance would involve moving to the next one before the signal. For relying purely on her reaction, it was excellent enough. After one hundred and twenty four seconds, the second floor opens, welcoming its challenger and her witnesses. She had completed it in one try.

 

Now, the time to evaluate one’s Invisible sword has come. The second room has nine crotal bells. Each has a stone cover with only one opening. There is only one place on this floor where one has direct line of sight to the nine bells. To go on to the next floor, she ought to make all nine sing approximately no later than five seconds after the first bell starts.

 

These bells will only make sound when they receive a qi attack in a line shape. Thus, palms or punches won’t work. It needs to be a qi blade either with hands or edge weapons.

 

Yun An checks out one bell. No matter how she flicks or punches or cuts it, the head-size bell makes no sound. Qi. Put your qi on it then slash at it.

 

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A few more tries go by, and the first sound rings out.

 

There you go.

 

After playing around with it, she starts inspecting the gates much to the confusion of everyone. She put her hands on the crack between the doors. I wonder if she wants to open it by force. That would be one silly thing she shouldn’t try. The thick doors are specially made by a renowned workshop a long time ago. Even if thousands years of dust settled on those chunks of steel, only those in the peak of Qi forming stage can produce a reaction from-

 

Like tailor’s scissor through silk, the groaning of metal servers my thought. My ears and eyes open to the direction of the noise. My mind knows what it heard but I myself want to confirm the absurdity of the situation. Those around me are as silent as they can be. The only one who acts differently is the first senior master. He is having a genuinely good time with a refreshing laugh.

 

“This brat…” Zhao Ren mumbled.

 

Eventually, she creates a hole on the left door and crawls through it. Her small hands pull the right one apart to allow everyone to go through.

 

I examine the fingermarks on the slabs of steel. Apparently, she put qi in her left foot to use as the pillar, and in the left hand to use as the prying tool. The steel is but extra hard clay to her. It took time but was not impossible. She couldn’t force it open in one go, so she resolved to scooping away at it bit by bit till she could dig her fingers all the way in and expand the hole. First senior master, just what did you bring back to our sect?

 

“First senior master. The goal of the trials is to assess one’s prowess. Zhao Ren thinks she should not be allowed to slip through like this.”

“I agree. A trick is only fun the first time.” He calls out. “Yun An. Spare the other doors from your hands. We can’t have you turn this cave into door breaking trials.”

“Yes, master.”

“I hope you are pleased with this, Zhao Ren.”

 

Zhao Ren reluctantly concedes. His intention was clearly to disqualify her recent attempt, but what else can he say? Without our master here, the first senior master holds the most power. Even the other elders don’t want to be at odds with the first senior master.

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