Chapter 1404: Tower of Master Teachers

His words sure were incoherent, Zhang Xuan remarked internally with a shake of his head.

He had thought that Hu Yiwei, as Yang shi's butler, would surely be an imposing and formidable figure, but who would have thought that he was such an unreliable figure?

But speaking of which, it was a little coincidental that the Innate Fetal Poison suddenly worked up just as Hu Yiwei placed his fingers on his pulse earlier. It was fortunate that he managed to suppress the Innate Fetal Poison from thrashing around via his Heaven's Path zhenqi and the lightning energy that he had absorbed earlier, or else it truly would have been awkward if he was labeled a poison master as a result of that.

In any case, since Hu Yiwei had already left at a speed even faster than Luo Xuanqing's, Zhang Xuan could not be bothered to dawdle any longer on his affairs anymore. Thus, he turned his gaze to Sun Qiang and asked telepathically, "You said that these pinnacle spirit stones are Elder Ge's compensation. What happened?"

"It's like this..." Sun Qiang quickly filled Zhang Xuan in on what had happened earlier.

"Y-you gave away your identity... and even cleared the assessment of the Teacher Acknowledgement Hall?" Zhang Xuan nearly keeled over after hearing the entire account of events.

This butler of his sure was courageous!

Despite being a fake, he actually brazenly pointed his finger at the real one and accused the latter of being a fake instead. He really should have been counting his blessing that he was still alive!

"I'll let this matter slide, but you'll really have to rein yourself in more in the future. As you know, my teacher is a low-profile person and likes his peace, so it wouldn't do for his butler to be so high profile. Understood?"

This had to be the reason the predecessors warned individuals against lying. Whether one liked it or not, it would always spiral out of control in one way or another.

While he was deeply frustrated by Sun Qiang's actions, to be fair, the latter was only working within the web of lies that he had crafted, so it was not fair to pin the blame entirely on him. With all that had been said and done, it was already impossible for him to back out of this matter. All he could do at this point was quickly meet the requirements for unsealing the Sanctum Head Token before Yang shi found out about his existence.

"Zhang shi, regarding the lightning tribulation earlier..." Zhan shi walked over and began speaking.

To be honest, he was still a little overwhelmed by what he had seen earlier.

Considering the sheer scale of the lightning tribulation, it would not have been surprising if it had torn down the Hall of Integrity, but who could have known that the fellow would actually scare it away!

"It's a technique that my teacher has imparted to me. It allows me to curb the might of a lightning tribulation, but at the same time, it deals grievous wounds to me. It'll take me quite some time to recover from the wounds that I have sustained this time around," Zhang Xuan explained.

At the same time, his face abruptly turned pale, and his body wobbled on the spot, seemingly ready to fall at any moment.

The keen-eyed Sun Qiang immediately caught the signal and rushed forward to support him.

"It's a technique that our teacher imparted to you? Why didn't he impart it to me too?" By the side, Feng Ziyi brooded unhappily over the unfair treatment between him and his senior.

He nearly died from the overwhelming might of a lightning tribulation back when he was facing his Leaving Aperture Ordeal. Yet, it turned out that his teacher actually possessed a technique to curb the might of a lightning tribulation... and his teacher had only taught it to his senior!

That would not do. He really needed to get in contact with his teacher soon to inquire about this matter.

Otherwise, he would just have to ask his senior to teach him!

They were from the same lineage anyway, so if his senior could grasp it, he would surely be able to do so, too!

"This..." Hearing those words, Zhan shi felt so stifled that his cheeks began twitching uncontrollably.

"Sanctum Head Zhan, this might not be the best occasion to ask about this matter, but I wish to enter the Inner Sanctum. May I know what conditions are required for that?" Knowing that the other party could tell that he was faking weakness, Zhang Xuan decisively changed the topic.

Through Sun Qiang's introduction, he had come to learn that Zhan shi was the incumbent deputy sanctum head, so he made sure to put on a respectful attitude.

Even though he was the only candidate in line for the sanctum head position, he was still lacking in strength and capability to inherit the position, so it would not be convenient for him to flaunt his identity yet. Thus, he could only assume the identity as an ordinary student before the other party for the time being.

"You wish to enter the Inner Sanctum?" Not expecting to hear such a question, Zhan shi pondered for a moment before replying. "There are two conditions that you have to meet in order to enter the Inner Sanctum. Firstly, your age must not be over forty, and secondly, you have to achieve proficiency of 8-star in your primary occupation. Zhang shi is registered at our Sanctum of Sages as a master teacher, so in order to enter the Inner Sanctum, you have to clear your 8-star master teacher examination!"

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan nodded.

Judging from Zhan shi's words, primary occupation clearly referred to one's main occupation, which was likely determined by which avenue one had enrolled into the Sanctum of Sages from. Bi Hongyin, for example, should have been nominated by the Demonic Tunist Guild, so she would have to achieve 8-star proficiency as a demonic tunist in order to enter the Inner Sanctum.

As Zhang Xuan had been nominated by the Master Teacher Pavilion, so his primary occupation was master teacher. In other words, having just his supporting occupation reach the proficiency of 8-star would not be sufficient. He would have to become an 8-star master teacher in order to be qualified to enter the Inner Sanctum.

In order to take the 8-star master teacher examination, I will require eight 8-star supporting occupations. Currently, the only 8-star occupations that I have are spirit awakener, physician, and formation master. As for beast tamer and demonic tunist, I should be able to acquire their emblems pretty easily as well... but even with that, I will still be lacking three supporting occupations! Zhang Xuan swiftly made a mental calculation and sighed.

He turned to Zhan shi and asked, "Sanctum Head Zhan, I am still lacking a couple of supporting occupations to clear the 8-star master teacher examination. May I know if there's a more efficient way for me to clear the examinations as quick as possible?"

At the current rate the news was spreading, not to mention that even Hu Yiwei was alerted of the matter, most likely, it would not take long for the real Yang shi to catch wind of the news.

And if he was not even an 8-star master teacher by the time Yang shi arrived, he would be in very deep trouble.

Well, considering his own talent, he was rather confident that even the real Yang shi would be more than glad to have him as his direct disciple, so the matter might not really as bad as he feared... but that would only be his final resort. After all, it would be unwise to leave one's fate to chance.

Furthermore, Luo Ruoxin had been punished by her own clan for revealing her reluctance to marry the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan, so he had to quickly gain sufficient strength in order to save her. As such, it was of the utmost importance for him to find Vicious' upper body so that he would at least have a powerful trump card to play should the situation truly turn awry.

Most importantly of all, there was a chance that he might be able to meet Luo Ruoxin if he entered the Inner Sanctum.

"You want to clear the examinations as quickly as possible?" Zhan shi frowned upon hearing those words.

"Due to the unique nature of the master teacher occupation, one must first meet a certain prerequisite in one's supporting occupations before one is allowed to take the promotion examination. Under normal circumstances, you would have to go around it systematically, clearing each of the supporting occupations individually before challenging the 8-star master teacher examination. However, the Sanctum of Sages happens to have a more efficient system to go around that, and that is... challenging the Tower of Master Teachers!"

"The Tower of Master Teachers?" Zhang Xuan asked.

Despite having read plenty of books in the Sanctum of Sages, he had never heard of the Tower of Master Teachers before.

"In essence, the Tower of Master Teachers is a trial. There are nine floors to it in total, the first eight of which are for the various supporting occupations you have studied before. Each of floor is guarded by the Inceptive Sage of the occupation, and as long as you can earn the other party's recognition, you will have cleared the floor, and the passageway to the next floor will open up. As for the ninth floor, it will be guarded by a young 8-star master teacher of the Sanctum of Sages. If you are able to clear his trial too, you will be granted the 8-star master teacher emblem," Zhan shi explained.

"However, I can tell you that the trial that you will face on every single floor will be of unimaginable difficulty. After all, the Inceptive Sages are representatives of the best of the younger generation in an occupation, so winning their recognition and getting past them won't be an easy feat. In fact, in the several dozen millenniums since the founding to the Sanctum of Sages, there have only been three people who have cleared the Tower of Master Teachers!"

"Three people?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.

To be able to receive the recognition of eight Inceptive Sages was, without a doubt, an incredibly arduous task. It was rather surprising to hear that there were a handful of people who had cleared this trial before.

"That's right. The first one to clear the Tower of Master Teachers was our Seventh Sanctum Head. Back then, he was still in his early thirties when he challenged it, and it took him three days to clear the entire tower and successfully become an 8-star master teacher. That incident eventually became a legend that students still speak of in admiration!"

"The second one was the current head of the Zhang Clan, Sword Saint Xingmeng. Like our Seventh Sanctum Head, he took just three days to clear the Tower of Master Teachers, and he was only in his early thirties, too."

"As for the last one..." At this point, Zhan shi could not help but shake his head bitterly before continuing. "Her record is far more frightening than her two predecessors!"

"Frightening?"

"Yes. In just four hours, she managed to dash up from the first floor to the ninth by forcing all of the Inceptive Sages to submit to her!"

Even though the incident had happened a few years ago, astonishment and wonderment still flickered across Zhan shi's eyes as he recalled the event. "More importantly, when that person cleared the Tower of Master Teachers, she was only seventeen years old!"

"Seventeen years old?" Zhang Xuan was astonished. "A seventeen-year-old 8-star master teacher? Could it be..."

He was already in his twenties, but he still was not an 8-star master teacher. On the other hand, the other party had already been an 8-star master teacher when she was seventeen years old. At this moment, a figure could not help but float into his mind.

"You should have heard of her as well!" Zhan shi chuckled. "She's none other than the little princess of the Luo Clan!"