Chapter 311: Thirty Flaws

Dead silence.

Exactly what they feared had happened!

The first and second trials of the No Mistake Hall were not separated but adjacent.

Normally, before entering, Master Wu would explain in advance how to activate the first trial.

Even if he didn't, any apprentice from the Heavenly Martial Kingdom would know the rules and not deviate much.

But this guy!

He barged in without knowing anything!

Even if he barged in, he didn't even touch the first trial and went straight to the second... What terrible luck!

"Can we go in and save him now?" Alchemist Hong Yun asked urgently.

"Once the No Mistake Hall is in operation, it can't be stopped until a result appears..." Master Wu's face turned pale. He hesitated, "Unless... the Hall Master comes personally and uses the Hall Master's Token to force entry."

"Then so be it!" Vice Hall Master Guan nodded and turned to leave. "I'll go find the Hall Master. I hope he can hold on until the Hall Master arrives..."

If a genius who had broken records in the previous trials were to perish here due to their mistake, the entire branch would suffer a great disaster.

"Hold on until the Hall Master returns... Is that possible?"

Master Wu's face turned pale.

A Tongxuan realm cultivator facing a Grandmaster would be killed almost instantly. How could he possibly hold on!

"I can only hope he has the blessings of the heavens..."

Knowing there was no other way, he could only look up at the door before him and silently pray.

...

In the room of the fifth trial, Zhang Xuan stared straight at the puppet before him.

Ling Xiaoxiao's descriptions of the first four trials were correct and not much different from Master Wu's, so he had paid no mind and pushed open the door to enter while everyone was chatting.

As soon as he entered, he realized something was wrong.

A puppet had pounced on him the moment he entered, but he knocked it to the ground, rendering it immobile.

Now a second puppet charged at him, clearly stronger than the first. If not for his speed, he might have been injured.

"A Grandmaster realm initial stage puppet? No wonder it's the final trial—much more formidable than the previous ones!"

Recognizing the puppet's strength, Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

The two puppets he fought in the third trial were only at the Tongxuan realm, but this one was directly at Grandmaster initial stage. No wonder so many people failed the master teacher exam—such a powerful opponent would be hard to defeat.

"But... it's nothing to me!"

Although the Grandmaster realm puppet was formidable, it was nothing to Zhang Xuan.

Having reached Half-Step Grandmaster with a strength of 1,500 ding, he could already contend with Grandmaster initial stage experts on pure power alone. Adding his Heaven's Path movement technique, fist techniques, and his ability to see through others' flaws, even Grandmaster mid-stage or late-stage cultivators might not defeat him in battle, let alone a puppet.

Whoosh!

He muttered to himself as the puppet before him suddenly charged.

With a flicker of his mind, he spotted seven or eight flaws. Zhang Xuan grinned, sidestepped, and, forming his fingers into a sword, struck at an opening.

Bang!

The move used little force, yet the puppet recoiled as if struck hard, its towering frame stumbling backward involuntarily.

Keep going!

Having landed a hit, Zhang Xuan didn't hesitate. He leaped forward and began pummeling the puppet's flaws without mercy.

Since this place was called the Flawless Hall, the idea was to attack flaws. The more flaws he struck, the higher his score would surely be.

The first puppet had charged too fast earlier, and he'd slapped it away before he could react. Now this one was stronger, perfect for practice.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fists, feet, elbows, thighs—every attack landed on the puppet, forcing it to retreat step by step.

Having crossed over, he'd barely fought at all. Now, going all out, Zhang Xuan felt his inner qi roar and surge through his body, bringing an indescribable comfort.

Crackle! Crackle!

The pure qi raced along his meridians, faster and faster, and in moments it broke through several bottlenecks that had been hard to breach in ordinary training.

It actually broke the Grandmaster barrier?

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

He hadn't expected that this assault would shatter the Grandmaster barrier he'd been unable to break for so long, leaving him on the verge of breakthrough at any moment.

Stepping into Grandmaster was like a fish transforming into a dragon—both lifespan and physical strength would see marked improvement.

Though he'd felt the barrier thinning before, he knew it would take months of hard training to cross it. He never imagined a single battle would pierce it.

No rush to break through—I can use this guy for practice!

Delighted, Zhang Xuan didn't hurry to break through.

Once he did, beating this puppet would be as easy as beating a dog, and that would be pointless.

Now was the perfect chance to hone his combat skills and his ability to exploit flaws.

...

Not in the Hall Master's chamber...

Not in the meeting hall...

Where could the Hall Master have gone?

Knowing that the genius was trapped in the Flawless Hall, Vice Hall Master Guan didn't pause for a moment. Unleashing his peak Grandmaster speed, he moved like a whirlwind.

Soon, he'd searched all the places the Hall Master frequented, but found not even a shadow.

He had always thought the Hall Master was in seclusion training. He never expected... that he wasn't in the Master Teacher Hall.

"Back courtyard!"

After searching the front, he turned around and ran toward the back courtyard.

Many renowned masters lived here; behind the Master Hall was a huge mansion divided into many courtyards, where the hall master resided.

Moving swiftly, in the time of six or seven breaths he reached the dean's courtyard. Before he could enter, he heard the roar of a savage beast.

"How could there be a savage beast?" Vice Hall Master Guan was startled.

This was the Master Hall, not the Beast Hall—where did a savage beast come from?

"Could the hall master be in danger?"

His pupils contracted. Forgetting all etiquette like announcing his arrival, he pushed open the door and rushed in.

"Hall Master..."

He shouted, ready to strike, but when he saw the scene in the courtyard, he froze in place.

The dean was indeed in the courtyard, and there was a savage beast, but it was not the battle he had imagined; rather, the former was feeding the latter with roasted meat.

A huge savage beast was eating excitedly, looking thoroughly pleased.

"Master Guan, why are you here in such a hurry? What happened?"

Seeing that he had burst in without announcing himself, the hall master frowned.

"Hall Master, something terrible has happened. A genius, taking the master examination, has fallen into the No-Error Hall..."

Knowing this was not the time to dwell on such issues, Vice Hall Master Guan quickly summarized the matter.

"You say... without knowing anything, he directly triggered the puppets of the second level?" The hall master was stunned, then also showed urgency: "How foolish! Let's go!"

Knowing there was no time to waste, the hall master stopped paying attention to the savage beast eating meat, shook his body, and rushed out.

The two peak Grandmaster realm experts moved extremely fast, like a gale, reaching the examination hall in a dozen breaths.

They expected to see everyone looking tense upon entering, but instead found them all wide-eyed, dazed, as if possessed.

"What's going on?" the hall master wondered.

With such a genius trapped in the No-Error Hall, shouldn't everyone be worried and anxious, hoping he would come to rescue the person?

Why were they all unconcerned, looking foolish?

"Hall Master... l-look!"

Just as he was wondering, Vice Hall Master Guan noticed something and pointed ahead.

Following his finger, he saw a row of numbers on the wall of the fifth level, shining brightly, hurting the eyes.

"Four hundred and sixty-five... What is this?"

His body trembled, and the hall master nearly fainted on the spot.

"It... it should be the score from finding errors..."

Vice Hall Master Guan swallowed his saliva.

"Score from finding errors?"

The hall master's face darkened; he felt like vomiting blood.

Didn't you say this fellow was in danger and about to be killed?

Didn't you say he was trapped and couldn't get out?

What the hell are these scores?

In the No-Error Hall, finding one error or flaw scores one point, finding two scores two points, three scores three points... and so on.

Others, no matter how talented, might find six or ten points at most, which would be an unbeatable record for a hundred years. But this guy... 465?

Damn!

"465 means... he found thirty flaws in the puppet..."

His heart trembled, his face twitching uncontrollably; the hall master felt he was going crazy.

The No-Error Hall, as its name implies, was error-free. The techniques and skills performed by the puppets were specially reviewed by four-star masters, and the moves they could execute were as powerful as those of a four-star master suppressing his cultivation.

Even if there were mistakes, at most one or two, hard to detect. But this guy...

Thirty flaws, 465 points...

Was the puppet made by your family?

"Are you sure... he entered the second level, not the first?"

After twitching his mouth for a long time, the hall master couldn't help asking.

A guy taking the one-star master exam accidentally stumbled into the second level and found thirty flaws in a Grandmaster-level puppet... Even someone taking the two-star master exam couldn't do that!

"The light on the first level wall is blue, the second level is red... When the level started, I saw it with my own eyes—it was red, no mistake!"

Vice Hall Master Guan also looked dazed.

He had anxiously invited the hall master over to rescue a genius from trouble, but instead, the guy was inside having a great time, enjoying himself.

How long had it been?

He had actually found over thirty flaws!

Vice Hall Master Guan swayed.

Even if they threw all the masters of the Master Hall in there, they couldn't find that many!

After all, these were puppets left by a four-star master. Unless one's insight surpassed his, finding so many loopholes was nearly impossible!

Creak!

As the two were going crazy, the door opened, and a young man walked out.

Seeing him emerge, Master Wu quickly went up to him: "Master Zhang, are you... all right?"

Having passed all five levels, he was certainly a master now, so he changed his address from 'Teacher Zhang' to 'Master Zhang'.

"What could happen in a normal exam?"

Zhang Xuan looked over with a strange expression, then added sheepishly: "But... I didn't control my strength well and broke that puppet apart. It should... be able to repair itself, right?"