Is that a Wisp?
chapter-54

After 'painfully' thinking, he still has a lot to understand about human habits. Krune and the others were preparing to start the testing. As Krune, of course, didn't have much to get ready, he was the first to come back to the Order Hall.

"I will start the sect entrance test now! Can you tell me where I should go?"

The illusory man, Hase Hasik, appeared again and gave a satisfied nod.

"Just stay where you are, I will teleport you over there."

Before being teleported, Krune asked if his companions could watch the test. Hasik didn't have anything against it, so he simply showed the testing room for them through the illusionary formation in the Order Hall.

After appearing inside, Krune looked around, and sure enough, it was indeed the place that was showed to everyone before. This dimensional room extended so far away that Krune couldn't see its the end.

'It should be this big because the ones who did the test in the past weren't just the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators. Core Formation and probably even Divine Soul cultivators also participated in this test before.'

Krune then saw those paint moving closer to him. Of course, the test was always adjusted according to the level of the cultivator. After the painting stopped at certain places, a somewhat robotic voice appeared in the room.

"The test will start now! Please, stand on the area marked by the turtle symbol."

After Krune moved over, the robotic voice continued.

"Each painting has a certain number of marks hidden behind the image painted. Those paintings have their back turned to you, and each one of them has a formation on their backs, preventing you from being able to see what is in the painting through the back."

"You can just tell which kind of painting it is without telling how many hidden marks are there. In this case, you can move to the next painting, obtaining a low accomplishment level. If you can tell how many hidden marks are inside the painting, you can move to the next painting with a high level of accomplishment."

"Once you have surpassed three paintings, regardless if you got only low accomplishment or high accomplishment, it will be considered as being successful. And you can try the next test."

" Those who pass three paintings with high accomplishment levels will also be considered successful. The participant will get one-thousand Rank Four low-quality spirit stones as a reward."

Krune was a little puzzled because there were a total of five paintings in the test, not three.

"What about those two furthest ones."

The voice answered:

"The reward is for the participants who have a high level of soul power and Divine Sense. You can give it a try if you guess the first three are correct. The last two have only one level of accomplishment. You must see which kind of painting it is and the hidden marks hidden inside."

"If you guess the fourth one is correct, you will gain five thousand Rank For middle-quality spirit stones, and ten thousand Rank Four high-quality spirit stones, if you guess the fifth one."

Krune took a deep breath!

'Ten thousand Rank Four high-quality spirit stones! I might be able to create my eighth Spiritual Energy Meridians with those.'

"Lastly, the marks you are searching inside are the same as the turtle symbol you are stepping at the moment. Your test starts now!"

Krune didn't waste time. When he spread his Divine Sense to cover the first painting, a robotic voice said that the back of the picture turned to him had a formation impeding his Divine Sense to see through it. He could only see what was hidden inside the front, which was turned away from him. Krune gave a quick check, and he soon saw the number of marks hidden inside the image.

"First painting, mountains with a river passing in between, seven hidden marks."

"Correct!"

Hase Hasik gave a satisfied nod back in the room where Krune's companions were watching the test.

'That was very fast! Maybe he can at least see what the image in the fourth painting is. That would be already very good!'

But then he heard a comment from Yusa who was watching the test.

"Don't you think all five paintings are way too close? I might not be able to see what is inside of the fifth one, but I would definitely be able to see the fourth without a problem."

Ao nodded.

"Maybe it is because Krune's test was adjusted to the 4th stage of the Foundation Establishment. When it comes our time, it should be a little further, since our cultivation is higher; but this is a good thing for Krune! After all, only Shinja, at the peak of the 9th stage, has a Divine Sense a little better than his."

Hasik was alarmed!

'Divine Sense almost comparable to a peak 9th stage Foundation Establishment cultivator? Is that even possible?!'

But he decided to keep paying attention to the test. If it was true, then he will be able to see that through this test.

Back at the testing room, Krune was checking the second image, 30 seconds later…

"Second Image, A house, 12 marks."

"Correct!."

Another thirty seconds.

"Third image, a sea of fishes, 5 marks."

"Correct!"

Thirty seconds again.

"Forth image, clouded sky, 9 marks.

"Correct!"

And then...

"Fifth image, a black tortoise, 10 marks."

"Correct! The test is over."

The teleportation formation, from where Krune appeared, started to shine. Krune also noticed that his spirit stones reward was beside the teleportation formation. He put the spirit stones inside his spatial ring and stepped on the formation. He soon appeared back in the room where Hasik and his companions were watching the test.

Yusa went forward and said.

"That seemed quite simple! The furthest painting was around 5500 meters away, and your Divine Sense can already touch the Eight Kilometers range, no?"

Krune nodded.

Hasik appeared. His face showed disbelief. Eight kilometers, 4th stage Foundation Establishment! That's a heaven-defying Divine Sense for someone at that level.

"How did you even train your soul? This level of Divine Sense is out of the charts! I have never seen such a powerful Divine Sense at your level before!"

Krune and the others just smiled.

"If I happen to obtain the Mohie Sect legacy and gain full control over this Secret Realm, then I will tell you. Until there, this is our little secret."

Hasik didn't get angry at that answer. To be able to achieve this level of Soul Power and Divine Sense, it was obviously something that can't be spread to outsiders that easily. If anything, he was pleased with Krune's answer.

Krune was also happy with those tests. He doesn't need to try to keep a low profile in this place. There is no one to see him after all! Krune was feeling like he was in paradise!

Yusa went forward and stepped on the formation.

"Let me try now! Those spirit stones are mine!"

Hase Hasik didn't mind. He teleported her over, and the test started. As expected, the paintings were placed further than when it was Krune's time. However, she was still able to see the marks inside the forth painting image. When Yusa was back into the room, she looked sad. Finally, she could see the fifth image but not the hidden marks inside. It was too far away from her.

"My beloved ten thousand spirit stones have gone just like that!"

She still grabbed the five thousand Rank Four middle-quality spirit stones as if it were her life, though.

"It's my time!"

Ao entered the formation and was teleported to the test room. His results were the same as Yusa. It just took a little longer for him to be able to see what the image of the fifth painting was. It was expected; Yusa had a better control over elements than him when they first met. So it's normal for her to have a little bit more advantage over him. He didn't mind, though. He will catch up sooner or later. After receiving his five thousand spirit stones, Ao left.

Shinja was the last one. Her control over the water element was already much better than Yusa and Ao due to her Pure Yin Body. So even with the little time she had spent with Krune and the others, she still benefited quite a few after the paintings were positioned according to her cultivation level. She was still able to see the fifth painting image. It was also possible to barely see the marks hidden inside it, but, in the end, she missed the right number by one. Thus she also received five thousand spirit stones as a reward.

Back at the Order Hall, Hasik was smiling from ear to ear. He would be happy if at least one of them could see the image from the forth painting! Not only were all of them able to see the images and hidden marks of the fourth image, but they were also able to see the images of the fifth paintings. Krune could even see the hidden marks with ease. How couldn't he be happy? He was almost tearing up already!

"The heavens have eyes! The heavens have eyes!"

Krune's mouth twitched a little, hearing that. The heavens almost turned him into a crispy wisp. No good impression of the Heavens at all!

Hasik expression turned serious again and said.

"Congratulations on successfully pass the first test of the Mohie Sect! To be honest, I don't think any of you will have any problem in passing the second test either. So, if you want, I can start straight away."

Krune then asked:

"In the second test, we are going to test endurance. In that case, can we purposely fail to further temper our souls?"

Hase Hasik was surprised that they thought about this point.

"You can! But once you pass the test, you will receive soul cultivation techniques anyway. Are you sure you want to spend time tempering your soul through the Divine Sense attacks?"

Yusa's eyes shined at that moment.

"But if we pass after resisting all the ten levels of Divine Sense attacks, our rewards will be much better, no?"

Hasik had a weird expression on his face after hearing that. In the past, no one cared for the spirit stones. It was their honor to simply be able to join the sect, but look at that now. Hasik couldn't help but sigh.

"There is, resist five levels of attacks to receive 1000 Rank Four spirit stones of low quality. Seven levels to receive 5000 of middle quality, and all ten levels to receive 10000 of high quality."

Krune's eyes lit up as well. He already has 10000 at the moment. And if he gets another 10000, he will definitely have enough to complete his eighth Spiritual Energy Meridian!

"I'm going first since I should be able to pass all the ten levels already! You guys can decide whether to train through the Divine Sense attacks to temper your soul first or pass straight away to get a soul cultivation technique. But I would recommend you to temper the soul first."

Ao and the other were puzzled and looked at Krune. It should be better to get the cultivation technique and start straight away, no?

Hase Hasik, on the other hand, got excited with Krune's words, but he didn't show it on his face.

"Is it because we might be able to get the 10000 high-quality spirit stones?"

Krune nodded but then shook his head.

"That's also true, but there is another reason for that."

Krune then turned around and asked Hase Hasik:

"Hase, this cultivation technique for the soul is not the same as tempering the soul, am I right?"

Hase had heard that and was dazed for a moment. Then he started to laugh out loudly.

"Great! You are right, this is not the same as tempering the soul. Well then, let me hear, can you guess why?"

Krune smiled and told the others.

"If I'm not wrong, to temper the soul is the same as to build a foundation for the soul cultivation technique. So the more tempered the soul is before start cultivating it, the better and faster the results will be."

Then he turned back to Hasik:

"How was it?"

Hase's eyes were shining. He couldn't help but think.

'The Mohie sect has finally found someone worthy! Well, maybe it won't be called Mohie for much longer. Master, I didn't let you down.'

He looked at everyone and then nodded.

"Krune is right, the better tempered your soul is before start cultivating, the better will be the results of the cultivation. The best result would be for all of you to be able to at least resist the ten levels of attacks of the second test. Of course, if you think you can't do it no matter what, you can simply give up after you have resisted at least five levels. You will still be considered a member of the Mohie Sect after that."

No one in that room wanted to stop at five levels. They have already decided, for the sake of their future, they have to temper their souls until they can resist all ten levels.

'And for the sake of the 10000 Rank Four high-quality spirit stones too!'

Thought Yusa and Krune.

"Are you all ready?"

Everyone nodded. A painful soul tempering session is about to start. While Yusa, Ao, and Shinja were excited to start, Krune was laughing inside. It was true that his objective was to help his companions to get stronger. But there was also another essential reason behind it.

'You guys will finally have a taste of my suffering! While you are crying during the tempering because of the pain, I will be outside enjoying your tears! Hahaha!'

Krune thought that perhaps Hase Hasik was right. The Heavens really have eyes!