Chapter 5 The Test

"The condition for learning these techniques and secret arts is this?" Ji Ning stared in astonishment at the large characters on the bookshelf.

The patriarch had said earlier that he must pass a simple test to learn the techniques and secret arts, and Ji Ning had mentally prepared himself, thinking the test would be easy. But this was too easy... Sweeping the mountain path of Mount Fangcun once? Anyone who could enter the Immortal Palace was no ordinary mortal; they could probably sweep that mountain path in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Ji Ning casually picked up a swordplay book and flipped through it, secretly shocked—it was definitely on the level of the *Little Five Elements Sword Manual*.

"Wow, this is an immortal-level qi cultivation method!" Xiaoqing exclaimed.

"This formation book is no less than the *Nine Volumes of Formations*!" Baishui Ze said, also excited.

Ji Ning swept his gaze across the huge bookshelves filled with countless books, each bearing the large characters: 'Sweep the mountain path of Mount Fangcun once, and you may choose any one technique.' Clearly, the condition for selecting any book on the first floor of the Immortal Palace was the same.

The white-robed handsome man beside him shook his head and laughed: "There's an old saying on Mount Fangcun: 'The techniques and secret arts in the Immortal Palace, if learned, can make one a Celestial Immortal or a Heavenly Immortal. The divine abilities and secret arts in the Three Realms Palace, if learned, can allow one to roam freely across the Three Realms.'"

"The master knows the Three Realms in a dream, so naturally he has collected formidable divine abilities and secret arts."

"This Immortal Palace has gathered countless techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts from the ancient world to the present, beyond counting. Even this first floor of the Immortal Palace, the lowest level, is considered decent when placed in the mortal world." The white-robed Silvermoon senior apprentice-brother said.

Ji Ning nodded slightly.

Yes, the master knows the Three Realms in a dream, so his collection of various techniques would indeed be astonishing.

"Senior apprentice-brother, is the test for learning from this first floor just this?" Ji Ning pointed at the line of characters.

"Yes, sweeping the mountain path must be done by hand with a broom, layer by layer. Even for a cultivator, it would probably take half a day." Silvermoon said.

Ji Ning nodded. If he used spells, it would be much faster, but using a broom would indeed be much slower.

"This first floor is too simple. Junior apprentice-brother, come up with me." Silvermoon said.

"Alright."

...

Ji Ning, Baishui Ze, and Xiaoqing followed the Immortal Palace's steward, Silvermoon, up the stairs.

They arrived at the second floor of the Immortal Palace.

On the bookshelves of the second floor, a line of characters was also carved: "Wipe all the tables and desks in the Immortal Palace clean, and you may choose any one technique."

"Really simple." Ji Ning blinked, then looked down at the swordplay manual. "This is already comparable to some of the top manuals at the Black-White College."

"A treasure land." Baishui Ze was deeply shocked.

"This is only the second floor? I've never seen such profound techniques before!" Xiaoqing's eyes were completely red with envy.

"Haha, come on, let's go see the third floor." Silvermoon said with a laugh.

...

They arrived at the third floor.

On the bookshelf was still a line of characters: "Remove all weeds within a hundred li, and you may choose any one technique."

Silvermoon said from the side: "Removing the weeds must be done by hand, pulling out each weed one by one. For weeds within a hundred li, pulling them one by one... would take about a month."

"Harder." Ji Ning nodded.

He also noticed that each floor was harder than the last. Although they were all manual labor tasks, they all consumed time.

"One technique requires pulling weeds within a hundred li. How long would it take to learn ten or a hundred techniques?" Xiaoqing muttered.

"Let's go see the fourth floor." Ji Ning continued upward.

...

The fourth floor.

The line of characters on the bookshelf had changed to: "Plant ten thousand fruit trees by hand, and you may choose any one technique."

"Seems easier than weeding." Xiaoqing said doubtfully.

Ji Ning also nodded.

Weeding required removing weeds within a hundred li, so the quantity was definitely huge.

"You don't know this, but these fruit trees are not ordinary mortal fruit trees; they are immortal fruit and spirit fruit trees. Naturally, they must be planted with great care. Even for a skilled cultivator, planting each tree carefully by hand, planting ten thousand trees would take half a year." Silvermoon said.

"Half a year?"

"Working hard for half a year to learn one technique? And this is only the fourth floor." Xiaoqing stared wide-eyed.

Ji Ning remained calm and continued toward the fifth floor.

...

Floor by floor upward.

The test for the first floor could be completed in half a day.

The chores for the second floor took three days.

The chores for the third floor took a month.

The chores for the fourth floor took half a year.

The fifth floor took three years.

The sixth floor took a full twenty years.

The seventh floor took a hundred years.

...

"This is the eighth floor." Although full of doubts, Ji Ning maintained a calm exterior as he arrived at the eighth floor of the Immortal Palace.

The books on the eighth floor were noticeably fewer.

The qi cultivation methods here had surpassed the Pure Yang level and reached the 'Grand Luo' level.

The divine abilities and secret arts here, if one were taken out, would be enough to serve as the Xia Emperor's clan's clan-guarding technique.

Ji Ning, Baishui Ze, and Xiaoqing's gazes simultaneously fell on the bookshelf, where there was a line of characters: "Serve as a gatekeeper boy at the Slanting Moon Three-Star Cave for a thousand years, and you may choose any one technique."

"The seventh floor required a hundred years to learn one technique, and now it takes a thousand years." Xiaoqing couldn't help saying. "How long would we have to stay at the Slanting Moon Three-Star Cave before we could go down the mountain?"

"But the techniques and secret arts here are probably more profound than even the clan-guarding techniques of the Shaoyin and Beishan clans." Ji Ning remained calm. "Come on, let's go see the ninth floor."

...

The ninth floor was also the last floor of the Immortal Palace.

There were only three bookshelves on this floor, and the books on them were not many, but they were true masterpieces. Any one of them, if used, could make one a formidable expert in the Three Realms. They could completely serve as a trump card. This was also the limit of the techniques and secret arts that normal disciples of the Mount Fangcun lineage could learn!

Only personal disciples and those specially permitted by Patriarch Bodhi could go to the Three Realms Palace.

"Eh?" Ji Ning noticed with surprise that the bookshelf was pitch black, with no writing on it.

"Why are there no characters? Does that mean the techniques on the ninth floor are not allowed to be learned?" Xiaoqing wondered.

Ji Ning turned to look at Silvermoon beside him: "Senior apprentice-brother, for the first eight floors of the Immortal Palace, the further back you go, the longer the chores take. But is there no test for the ninth floor? And... to learn the techniques of the 'Immortal Palace,' do you have to do chores? For the eighth floor, learning one technique requires serving as a gatekeeper boy for a thousand years. Does learning ten techniques require ten thousand years?"

He had originally mentally prepared to study for a few decades or a century before returning to the Grand Xia world.

He had made a pact with Yu Wei!

Studying at Mount Fangcun for ten thousand years?

That would be too late!

"Haha... Junior apprentice-brother is truly clever." Silvermoon shook his feather fan leisurely. "The test for the Immortal Palace is of two kinds. One is naturally doing these simple chores, which only take a long time. Those with poorer comprehension and duller wits usually choose this method. Serving as a gatekeeper boy for a thousand years to learn a powerful technique from the eighth floor is worth it."

Ji Ning nodded.

Once one reached the Nascent Soul stage, one's lifespan became infinite, but one still had to endure the Three Tribulations and Nine Calamities. Spending a thousand years to obtain a powerful technique was indeed worth it.

"This is also the master's grace to our Mount Fangcun lineage. As the saying goes, the Way should not be lightly transmitted. The master only set a simple test." Silvermoon said. "Of course, if one is a truly exceptional genius with high comprehension, naturally there is no need to do chores; there are other tests."

"What test?" Ji Ning asked.

Silvermoon smiled: "Junior apprentice-brother, did you notice earlier the open space beside the Immortal Palace, where the humans, demons, and gods gathered? That open space contains some formation restrictions."

Ji Ning recalled and nodded: "Yes, there were some formation restriction runes on that open space."

"That open space is the battleground." Silvermoon said. "The master set up nine puppets: first-rank puppet, second-rank puppet, third-rank puppet... up to eighth-rank puppet and ninth-rank puppet. No matter who it is, if they defeat the first-rank puppet once, they can choose any technique from the first floor of the Immortal Palace."

"Defeat the second-rank puppet once, and you can choose any technique from the second floor of the Immortal Palace. Defeat it twice, choose two techniques. Defeat it three times, choose three techniques, and so on."

"Defeat the third-rank puppet, and you can choose techniques from the third floor."

"The principle is the same. If you defeat the ninth-rank puppet, you can naturally choose techniques from the ninth floor."

Silvermoon looked at Ji Ning with a smile. "Junior apprentice-brother, do you understand?"

"This test is simple and clear." Ji Ning nodded, then asked doubtfully, "Defeat it once to choose one technique, defeat it twice to choose two. Does that mean the more times you fight, the stronger you are?"

"You'll know when you actually compete." Silvermoon didn't say much. "But remember, this competition tests your comprehension of the Dao! So you are forbidden to use any divine abilities, any formations, or even forbidden techniques or secret arts. I heard you are a sword immortal, so you only need to hold your sword and display your sword techniques—show off the power of your sword art to the fullest."

Ji Ning nodded.

"Doing chores allows you to learn techniques up to the eighth floor of the Immortal Palace. Only by defeating the puppets can you learn techniques from the ninth floor." Silvermoon looked at Ji Ning. "Junior apprentice-brother, when you defeat the ninth-rank puppet and learn a technique from the ninth floor, you can go to the Three Realms Palace."

"Mm." Ji Ning nodded, then asked, "Senior apprentice-brother, which rank puppet should I fight now?"

"Those inferior sword techniques and secret arts are of little use to you. Start from a higher level! Since the master accepted you as a disciple, you must be a rare genius... How about trying the sixth-rank puppet?" Silvermoon suggested. He knew nothing about Ji Ning's strength.

But he guessed that Ji Ning should have extraordinary talent.

"Sixth rank? The sixth floor?" Ji Ning remembered that the swordplay books on the sixth floor were already more profound than the complete nine forms of the *Three-Foot Sword*! Any sword technique taken from there far surpassed those of the Black-White College.

"I'm only at the Wanxiang stage." Ji Ning said worriedly. "Would it be..."

"Don't worry. The nine puppets left by the master are extraordinary. They will exert power according to the opponent's strength level. Since you are at the Wanxiang stage, the puppet's internal energy will also be at the Wanxiang stage. If you were at the Returning Void Earth Immortal stage, the puppet's energy would also reach the Returning Void stage. So this competition tests your comprehension of the Dao! It has nothing to do with whether you are a Wanxiang True Person, a Nascent Soul Daoist, or a Returning Void Earth Immortal." Silvermoon said.

Ji Ning was immediately reassured: "Alright, I'll compete with this sixth-rank puppet."

"Let's go to the battleground." Silvermoon immediately led Ji Ning back down the nine-story Immortal Palace to the open space outside.

...