“This is the Mauyin Temple,” the elder exclaimed.

‘Hmm? That’s the same thing that the wolf said…’

“It is an ancient temple that has existed for centuries. We are not the Ten High Peak Faction, but we are certainly associates with them. Like a symbiotic system, we work together in order to promote harmony in this mountain range.”

The monk moved his finger that held the plum blossom petal, catching even more petals on top as he continued.

“Langren Baohu Zhe did exist once in the past. His soul still wandered in this area—attempting to protect his temple further. He died exactly 100 years ago, and that mimic you fought of him was him from one century in the past. We had created an illusion array using Aura and allowed his soul to endlessly continue defending his temple until he himself decided not to.”

‘Hmm…’ Tyr mused, ‘I wonder if he succeeded to protect his temple until the end…’ He gazed at the monk, ‘Is this guy from the clan that Langren was against? Or is he a third party?’

“However… that all changed when you arrived. You were not meant to defeat Langren Baohu Zhe…” The monk frowned. “In fact… no faction cadet or recruit has ever defeated him. In reality, you were meant to lose to him in order to learn humility…”

Tyr raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Lose to him? He wanted to kill me. He nearly tore my head in two… in fact, it still hur—”

Tyr reached for his head, clutching it to show that the pain was still there. However, he noticed at that moment that all the pain from before had disappeared.

“Hohoho.” The monk was amused by this, “None of it was real, young man. However, what you have done by killing Langren Baohu Zhe is no small matter. You have forcibly freed his soul from the mortal realm… not by fulfilling his wants and giving him salvation… but by crushing his wants entirely and throwing him into the afterlife with many regrets.”

“What?” Tyr was taken aback by this. “So… he can never be seen in this world again?”

“Precisely… Langren’s salvation would have been to continue serving this temple until his natural end… but you have stripped that from him.”

Tyr paused, thinking, ‘If he was still here after dying… that means he hadn’t attained that salvation when he was living either. He must have failed to protect his temple 100 years ago.’

“Anyways… your power is no joke. The other monks are going nuts just thinking about how this could affect our temple moving forward…”

Tyr gulped, feeling slightly guilty now.

“But… that isn’t something for you to worry about. After all, without this knowledge, it was your natural instinct to defend yourself and slay Langren Baohu Zhe.”

The monk had a pile of petals on a single finger now. Seeing this, Tyr couldn’t help but be slightly mesmerized by the balance of the bald old man.

“Since you asked who I am, I will introduce myself. I go by Lao Heshang by my disciples. I am the elder monk of this temple and also the vice-chairman of the Ten Thousand Peak Mountain Range… although, that doesn’t really mean much.”

There was a short moment of silence where Tyr took all of this in.

‘If I remember correctly, that was the name of this mountain range, right? So… if this guy is the chairman, he must be stupidly powerful. Let’s see… Scan.’

[Error!]

[This subject’s power level exceeds 5x of your current strength.]

[Scan is unable to check their status.]

Tyr’s eyes slowly widened as he saw this message pop up in front of him.

‘What…’ he mused, at a loss for words. ‘306 times 5… that’s 1530. And yet… this old geezer is still above that?’

He had to take a few seconds to truly understand the implications of what he was seeing.

‘I get it… I get people are stronger in Eldraemar. But… how much fucking stronger!? Just how weak am I here? Tsk!’ Tyr became immediately frustrated, ‘I need to get stronger, damn it!’

.net

…

“So… what now?” Tyr asked, slightly impatient and in a worsened mood.

The monk couldn’t help but chuckle slightly again.

“Now… you will need to be tested. To enter the faction. Think of it more as an evaluation exam rather than an entrance exam.” The monk flicked his hand in the air, scattering the plum blossom petals.

“Your first task will be to catch all of these on the tip of your index finger.” The monk quickly said before turning around.

Tyr furrowed his brows, quickly pushing himself up to his feet as he stared at the dozens of petals falling from the sky.

“W-what!? You can’t just give me a crazy task like that and leave! Wait a second!” Tyr exclaimed, his eyes still locked onto the petals.

The monk stopped, still facing away from Tyr.

The young man raised his hand, attempting to catch a falling petal.

It looked as though it was going to land, but it moved slightly in the wind just before making contact with Tyr’s finger.

His focus went to the next petal, and this time Tyr took the initiative to make sure he made contact with the leaf and moved his finger up to touch it.

However, this slight motion disturbed the petal’s momentum, causing it to easily slip off of his finger and fall down.

His eyes darted down, his mind wanting to lower his hand and try to catch that slippery petal again.

However, as several more petals surrounded him, he was instantly overwhelmed.

His eyes blitzed between the different petals, above and below.

‘Should I go for the ones near the ground? That will save me… but then make every other petal above be near the ground as well. If I go for the petals higher up, the ones below will 100% land on the ground… fuck!’

In a mere 10 seconds, not only was there not a single petal left in the air, but Tyr had failed to balance even a single leaf on his finger.

Defeated, he gazed up at the monk, “This shit is impossible!” he exclaimed, “No… this can’t possibly be the test for the faction. What does it help me do anyways!? Even if I can do it, it will take me days to learn and complete!”

Without turning his head to face Tyr, Lao Heshang spoke calmly, “Although you have seen me do it before your very eyes, you doubt it is possible.” He paused.

Tyr raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback at those words.

‘Well… that’s true, but—’ Before he could continue thinking, the monk continued speaking:

“You understand you are much weaker than myself, yet you arrogantly proclaim that what I attempt to teach you may not do anything to help you…”

Tyr remained silent as the monk continued.

“And you are impatient to learn from those stronger than you… all of these traits… they will need to be fixed before you leave this place.” Finally, the monk turned his head to face Tyr one last time.

“Recruits have taken years to get out of this temple, boy.” Lao Heshang had a serious demeanor and expression.

Tyr sensed a tone of ferocity behind the man’s gaze.

“Try what you will… fly, dig, crawl… you will not leave here until you master my test or quit your goal of entering the Ten High Peak Faction.”

With those words, the monk veiled himself with his robe and disappeared into plum blossom petals.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep