LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 215 Array Genius
Class D's lessons started in the morning and only ended at dusk, and outside of Class D, a group of sword holders had already gathered noisily.
These sword holders temporarily acted as Attendant Students, and when classes ended, they would run to greet their masters.
However, when Tian Lin left the classroom, Yu'er couldn't get close to him, and those sword holders eagerly watched their masters flocking around Tian Lin, who was unrelated to them.
"Tian, what exactly is Sword Intent, and how did you cultivate it?"
"Tian, teach me Sword Intent later, and I'll teach you Funeral Science."
A group of people chattered incessantly, all with the heart to become Sword Cultivators.
Tian Lin was also helpless; he didn't know how to cultivate Sword Intent.
His Sword Intent was increased by eating Water Spirit Rice, but this method only worked for him; he couldn't possibly let these people eat Water Spirit Rice as well, could he?
"Fellow Senior Brothers, the method to cultivate Sword Intent is already detailed in books by the sages. I, born as Huahua Lang, do not have better means to teach than the sages."
"Forget it, if someone wants to keep their secrets, what can we do to force them?"
Someone dissatisfied murmured and simply walked away with a flick of their sleeves.
However, many present were reasonable; even if they felt Tian Lin was keeping secrets, they could understand.
The group exchanged formalities and then found their respective sword holders to leave.
As soon as Tian Lin returned to his cave mansion, he took out beast skins and other items from his Storage Bag.
Inside the small cave mansion, a stench filled the air.
"My lord, what's this smell?"
"This is homework assigned by Senior Brother Changxue today; he asked us to make talisman paper to submit tomorrow."
Upon hearing Tian Lin's words, Yu'er hurriedly offered: "Let this servant help the lord."
Tian Lin waved his hand: "It's homework, where's the reason to let others intervene?"
He rolled up his sleeves himself, had Cui'er bring a basin of water, took some medicine, and started tanning the beast skins.
A Talisman Maker always has medicine for drying beast skins; Tian Lin finished the process in half an hour.
He cut the beast skins into strips, then made them into uniformly sized squares, and then started drawing talismans with a talisman pen.
Actually, Tian Lin wasn't very interested in drawing talismans, but to advance to Class C, he must pass exams for five selective subjects each month.
He spent the whole night drawing talismans and engraving Array Patterns.
"Whether it's talisman making or array setting, I have no talent. As for the few Heterodox subjects in the future, as long as I can handle the monthly exams, there's no need to put much effort."
Tian Lin actually had another method, which was the 'Cold Fragrance Leaf' in his Storage Bag.
Mei Immortal took about twenty Cold Fragrance Leaves from the Divine Lady Tree for Tian Lin; these twenty or so leaves were equivalent to twenty or so cups of Enlightenment Tea.
The clue for Enlightenment Tea is that it's a treasure that can be used to comprehend the Dao, and not just for Divine Skills or Magic.
Talisman making and array setting are one of the Three Thousand Great Ways; if one uses Enlightenment Tea to understand, the mysteries of talisman making and array setting could be easily penetrated.
But Tian Lin was quite reluctant to use the Cold Fragrance Leaves, his priority being the Five Elements Dharma Body.
Currently, only the Heavenly Birth Water Pill can achieve the Water Element Dharma Body; for the other four elements, Tian Lin hasn't found auxiliary elixirs yet.
Tian Lin planned to use the Enlightenment Tea as a substitute when lacking auxiliary elixirs, so he was not willing to use it lightly.
Days passed, and while Tian Lin had not been in Class D for long, the time came for Class D's monthly exam.
Early in the morning, the entire Gourd Peak and even the entire Wendaos Sect were filled with crying.
Because Funeral Science was easy to pass the assessment, nearly ninety percent of the Outer Disciples studied this subject.
This ninety percent of disciples wailing together was indeed earth-shattering.
Although Tian Lin had only attended a few days of classes, he also joined this mourning procession.
After mourning came writing eulogies silently; fortunately, the exam topics issued by Class D were not too difficult, and Tian Lin achieved a 'below average' grade.
"The array setting exam, as usual, involves candidates setting questions for each other."
The monthly exam for Class D was presided over by Senior Brother Changxue, but today's chief examiner included not only the Teaching Elder but also Elder Xue.
And because Elder Xue, a Nascent Soul Expert, was present, the candidates of Class D were particularly serious.
"Fellow Junior Brothers, there are twenty-one bamboo sticks in this holder. You each draw one, and those with the same number will set questions for each other."
After Senior Brother Changxue finished speaking, he suddenly flashed a sly smile: "The person who draws the number eleven will have me set questions mutually with him."
The students of Class D obviously understood the rules, so they knew that this rule was not very fair, but no one said anything.
Soon, they drew their bamboo sticks, and finally, it was Tian Lin's turn.
He took out a bamboo stick from the holder, glanced at the 'four' character on it, and felt neither sorrow nor joy.
Only a chubby student held his stick with a bitter face, looking pitifully at Senior Brother Changxue:
"Brother, how can I compare with you in array setting? I admit defeat."
Before Senior Brother Changxue could respond, the Teaching Elder above reprimanded: "As cultivators in Seeking Immortality, how can you admit defeat? Speak nonsense again, and I will send you to the Chores Courtyard to be a servant disciple."
The chubby student's face turned pale, and he dared not speak further.
Tian Lin also took a deep breath at this moment, raising the bamboo stick in his hand and loudly said, "I have drawn number four, is there any Senior Brother who has also drawn the same number?"
Upon hearing Tian Lin's words, a tall figure stepped forward. He bowed slightly to Tian Lin and said, "I am number four, Junior Brother Tian, please be patient. Let's wait for the other Senior Brothers to compete first."
Soon, the disciples who drew 'one' came forward. After exchanging formalities with each other, a Teaching Elder stood up and marked two circles on the vast hillside.
These simple two circles were in fact prohibitions casually set up by the Teaching Elder. Those within the circles could not see what was happening outside.
Onlookers like Tian Lin watched as the two disciples in the circles began to set up their Arrays—
The students from Class D did not have any particularly impressive Array setting techniques, their materials consisted only of engraving array stones and Five Elements Spirit Stones.
"Senior Brother Xiao is planning to set up the Fire Spirit Array, he used seven engraving array stones—eh? What is Yu doing? Is he trying to set up a Five-star Array?"
"A Five-star Array is not so easy to set up—sure enough, Yu failed."
The disciples outside the circle quietly discussed and weren't afraid they could be heard by those inside the circle due to the prohibition set by the Teaching Elder which blocked sound.
Tian Lin wasn't familiar with the Five-star Array or the Fire Spirit Array; he couldn't even afford engraving array stones now, let alone carve Array Patterns.
Today, in the monthly test, he hadn't worried about his performance at all, attending merely for the sake of broadening his horizons.
Soon, Yu on the right side stopped setting up his Array, holding a cracked engraving array stone, his face filled with despondence.
An hour passed, and Xiao on the left had already completed his array setup.
The Teaching Elder standing next to Elder Xue raised his hand, and the prohibitions in the circles were lifted, allowing those inside to finally see outside and their opponents' conditions.
"Both disciples may now break the arrays."
After the Teaching Elder finished speaking, Yu and Xiao swapped places.
Both eyed the empty ground in front of them cautiously.
There, Xiao stepped into the circle where Yu was, holding a compass in his hand.
The Array Compass showed no response, but Xiao remained cautious.
He took his first step, followed closely by a second.
His cautious probing movements looked somewhat laughable to those in the know.
Many disciples wore mocking expressions, amused by Xiao's predicament.
At the same time, Yu also stepped into the circle Xiao had previously arranged.
As he entered, his compass began to shake.
He closely observed the compass needle, quickly moving to a patch of weeds according to the needle's direction.
Seeing the weeds on the ground, Yu smiled confidently, raising his hand and directly striking the weeds with his Finger Force.
With this strike, the weeds cracked and revealed their true form—it was actually an engraving array stone disguised as weeds.
Outside the circle, many disciples shook their heads upon seeing this.
Tian overheard a Senior Brother next to him: "Although the Array Compass can detect the engraving array stone, this particular stone was obviously placed in plain sight by Xiao as a trap for Yu to find."
Indeed, the stone disguised as weeds, despite being shattered, triggered the activation of the Fire Spirit Array.
In an instant, seven fireballs flew from seven directions within the circle.
It was fortunate that not all the fireballs flew towards Yu, allowing him to easily block the two fireballs with his flying sword.
But these seven fireballs were just the beginning, with more and more fireballs continuously flying towards Yu from all directions.
The fireballs flew thicker and faster, getting to a point where they were almost impossible to avoid.
During this time, Yu could only focus on defending against the fireballs, with no time left to search for the engraving array stones on the ground.
He dashed left and right, and after an hour, he was covered in dust and ash.
Onlookers both admired his strength and sympathized with him.
After an hour, the Fire Spirit Stones used to activate the array had already exhausted their Fire Spiritual Energy. The array finally broke down due to insufficient Spiritual Energy.
A disheveled Yu, overwhelmed with shame, bowed to the opposite Xiao and said, "Senior Brother's mastery in arrays is profound, I willingly admit my inferiority."
At this point, Xiao already knew Yu had failed in setting up his array, so there was truly no need for him to break the array.
From the beginning, he had already won.
"Junior Brother, why be disheartened? Although my array is stronger than yours, my Alchemy Dao is weaker than yours. Let's in the future—"
Before he could finish, the Teaching Elder, clearly agitated, interrupted: "You two messed up your array setting to this extent and still have the face to boast to each other? Both of you go and join the Alchemy Dao test."
Senior Brother Changxue then said, "The rest will continue with the Array Dao test, while Junior Brother Xiao and Junior Brother Yu will move on to the Alchemy Dao test."
Fortunately, the site was spacious enough so it didn't obstruct setting aside an area for Xiao and Yu to be tested in Alchemy Dao.
Soon, more disciples finished their array tests and moved on to participate in the Alchemy Dao tests.
Finally, it was Tian Lin's turn for the Array Dao test.
Elder Xue, who had been observing coldly from the sidelines, now narrowed his eyes, his attention fully on Tian Lin.
The Teaching Elder was not blind, and by now, he knew that Elder Xue was here for Tian Lin's sake.
He too narrowed his eyes, wanting to see for himself what extraordinary skills Tian Lin might possess to garner the attention of a Nascent Soul Expert.
Yet, when he noticed Tian Lin entering the scene empty-handed, he frowned and thought to himself: "This young man is not only a genius in the Sword Dao, but could it be that his skill in array setting is also so profound that he can set up arrays out of thin air?"