Chapter 104: The Apprenticeship Trial

City of the Gods, Divine Court, Hall of Enlightenment.

An ancient and colossal Tree of Enlightenment swayed gently, its golden leaves rustling beneath a crown of gold that blanketed the entire hall, releasing a sanctified radiance of wisdom.

In the world, there had originally been only one such tree, growing in the Black Tortoise Clan’s Water Cave.

Yet during the Grand Peach Banquet, the clan chief of the Black Tortoise Clan, the Divine Lord of the Black Tortoise, Blackheaven Martial, deliberately broke off a branch from the Tree of Enlightenment and presented it to the Divine Emperor, Southfall, as one of his gifts.

There was but one nourishment by which the Tree of Enlightenment could survive and grow: fortune.

Whether the fortune of a race or the fortune of a living being, either could sustain its life and growth.

However, compared with the fortune of an individual creature, unless one had already attained the Divine Emperor Sacred Realm, even someone as peerlessly mighty as Southfall could not bear the enormous fortune required for the tree’s survival and growth.

Thus, the Tree of Enlightenment was generally nurtured with the fortune of a race, or with the fortune of the Divine Court itself.

After receiving the branch, Divine Emperor Southfall planted it in one of the divine palaces and nourished it with the fortune of the Divine Court, allowing it to survive and grow.

The divine palace in which the Tree of Enlightenment grew was likewise named the Hall of Enlightenment.

After one hundred thousand years of cultivation, and after consuming countless streams of divine fortune, this Tree of Enlightenment had finally grown from a tiny sapling into a towering divine tree that overshadowed a whole domain of heaven and earth.

The Tree of Enlightenment had another remarkable trait: the leaves it produced took on forms determined by the nature of the fortune that nurtured it.

For example, if the Black Tortoise Clan’s fortune was chiefly of the Dark Nether Blackwater, then the leaves of enlightenment would take on a Dark Nether hue; whereas if the fortune of the Divine Court was composed of sacred golden light, then the leaves would manifest in a holy splendor.

An ancient and immense Tree of Enlightenment, its golden crown covering a whole realm, stirred countless sacred leaves of enlightenment, each shimmering with vast and dazzling divine brilliance.

What holiness and grandeur. What awe, beyond all words.

Anyone who first entered the Hall of Enlightenment, from Heaven Venerable to God King alike, would be shocked speechless by the majesty of the tree.

So exacting were the conditions for cultivating the Tree of Enlightenment that it had taken the Divine Court a full hundred thousand years of fortune merely to raise it into a true towering divine tree.

It must be understood: the fortune the Divine Court had poured into the tree over those hundred thousand years would have been enough to raise a single creature from an ordinary mortal with no cultivation at all to a fully perfected Divine Lord.

And note well: a fully perfected Divine Lord.

There were many ways to elevate a mortal into the Divine Lord realm, but most would produce nothing more than a false Divine Lord, one with power but no true realm.

Take Southfall, for instance. If he wished, he could right now make an ordinary mortal into a Divine Lord, but that Divine Lord would be nothing more than a counterfeit.

A single perfected God King would be enough to defeat such a false Divine Lord, powerful in force yet empty in realm.

To create life is easy; to shape its divine soul is hard.

To create a fully perfected Divine Lord was like creating the soul of life itself. How difficult that was.

A fully perfected Divine Lord and a false one were as far apart as heaven and earth; they could not even be mentioned in the same breath.

So what, exactly, was the wondrous use of the Tree of Enlightenment that the Divine Court had cultivated at such staggering cost in fortune?

As its name implied, the Tree of Enlightenment was a divine tree that aided living beings in comprehending the Dao and cultivating themselves.

A being who sat beneath the tree would be bathed in its light of wisdom, clarifying the mind and steadying the spirit, revealing the transformations of the laws and showing the path ahead of cultivation, thus greatly aiding breakthroughs in realm.

Of course, the most precious treasure remained the divine leaves of enlightenment upon the tree.

Those divine leaves condensed the essence of the Tree of Enlightenment. If consumed, they could bring about a breakthrough in realm.

Aside from being unable to help a Divine Lord break through to Divine Emperor, the divine leaves of enlightenment could assist a cultivator in advancing smoothly and without flaw through any realm, including the Divine Lord realm.

To break through the Divine Lord realm without the slightest flaw was enough to make the divine leaves of enlightenment something all living beings would fight over with bloodshot eyes.

After the Gate of Heaven’s Veil had been shattered, the Divine Lord realm was no longer as difficult to enter as before, yet for all beings it remained a heavenly chasm.

Only those God Kings who had accumulated for hundreds of thousands of years, and those of peerless talent among the God Kings, could ascend to become Divine Lords.

Since the Tree of Enlightenment possessed such marvelous uses, the Hall of Enlightenment where it stood was naturally a place heavily guarded by elite forces.

And as an added precaution, Southfall had also laid a layer of golden-light barrier around the outer perimeter of the hall.

Only divine beings bearing the Divine Emperor Token were permitted to enter the Hall of Enlightenment.

Outside the hall stood three divine steles arranged side by side. Upon them were written, in divine script:

Those without great merit may not enter the Hall of Enlightenment at will!

Those without the Divine Emperor’s decree may not enter the Hall of Enlightenment at will!

Violators shall be slain without mercy!

Even so, the Hall of Enlightenment had always been a gathering place for the gods, where countless divine beings relied on the tree’s light of wisdom to cultivate and break through.

Yet today, the Hall of Enlightenment was utterly devoid of any divine presence, and no god was permitted to enter.

Even those who held the Divine Emperor’s decree were forbidden to step inside.

Within the hall stood three thousand divine temples, each one a place for cultivation.

These three thousand temples were arranged in layers from the inside outward around the Tree of Enlightenment. Naturally, the closer a temple was to the tree, the better its effect.

In truth, the most potent light of wisdom was not in the three thousand temples, but beneath the Tree of Enlightenment itself, guarded by golden light.

That said, the place beneath the tree, priceless beyond compare, was a position the gods did not even dare to imagine.

Yet now, three figures were seated there openly and calmly beneath the Tree of Enlightenment, cultivating and breaking through as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Before the three figures, a dark silhouette stood quietly motionless, seeming to guard their cultivation and breakthrough.

After steadying their minds, the three figures took out the incomparably precious divine leaves of enlightenment, swallowed them in a single delicate bite, and began their journey toward the Divine Lord realm.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A blue pillar of water-law light, a red pillar of fire-law light, and a green pillar of wind-law light descended from the heavens, enveloping the three figures within.

At the same time, a golden phantom slowly凝聚ed above the Tree of Enlightenment, taking on Southfall’s form.

“Greetings, Teacher!” The dark figure sensed Southfall’s aura and immediately prostrated itself, bowing deeply in reverence.

Southfall looked at the dark figure and said with imperial gravity, “Rise, Starplucker.”

“Thank you, Teacher.”

Starplucker wore a black jade crown and black God-Stealing battle armor. He was handsome of feature, yet his outline carried a mysterious blur, as though he did not truly belong to this heaven and earth.

Southfall’s golden pupils looked at him, his gaze seeing through every last detail. Only then did he speak with satisfaction. “Mm. Starplucker, it seems the Heaven-Stealing Scripture I passed to you has not been neglected. To think you have already cultivated it to the Divine Lord realm on your own. Good.”

Starplucker hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed. “It is all thanks to Teacher’s gift. I have not dared be lax for even a moment.”

“Starplucker, are you willing to become my direct disciple?” Southfall looked at him, now a Divine Lord, and some impulse to take in a disciple stirred within him. He asked softly.

At those words, Starplucker looked at Southfall in disbelief, delight flashing across his face before he hastily knelt to the ground and bowed. “This disciple, Starplucker, pays respects to Master!”

Southfall’s transmission of the Heaven-Stealing Scripture to Starplucker had, in truth, already made him his teacher.

But Starplucker had only ever been a registered disciple, not a direct one.

Today, seeing that Starplucker could cultivate the Heaven-Stealing Scripture all the way to the Divine Lord realm, Southfall’s heart was moved by talent, and he had the thought of taking him in as a direct disciple.

A direct disciple could call Southfall Master; a registered disciple could only address him as Teacher.

That difference in address reflected a vast gulf in status.

The difference between direct and registered disciples could be seen clearly in the treatment Starplucker and the Three Spirits received.

Starplucker had cultivated alone in bitter isolation for hundreds of thousands of years before finally reaching the pinnacle of the Divine Lord realm. After the Three Spirits bowed Southfall as their master, their path of cultivation was cleared before them by Southfall himself; even their ascent to Divine Lord could be accomplished by swallowing the extremely precious divine leaves of enlightenment, allowing them to rise with ease.

This too was why Starplucker was so ecstatic upon hearing that Southfall intended to take him as a direct disciple.

Who would not want a master who would pave the road before them and help them soar straight into the heavens?

“Hold on.” Southfall’s voice interrupted Starplucker’s bow. Looking at his puzzled expression, he said calmly, “If you wish to bow me as master, you must first pass a trial.”

“Please instruct me, Master. This disciple will go through fire and water without the slightest hesitation,” Starplucker said firmly.

“Once the Three Spirits complete their ascensions, I will announce everything together,” Southfall said, his gaze resting on the three pillars of law.

Hearing this, Starplucker looked at the three pillars and could not help thinking: Could it be that the Three Spirits must also pass the master’s trial before they truly count as his disciples?

The three pillars of law reaching from earth to heaven slowly contracted, then vanished, revealing the figures of the Three Spirits.

Clearly, they had already become lofty Divine Lords with ease.

“Greetings, Master!”

After gathering their minds and stabilizing their realms, the Three Spirits sensed Southfall’s aura and hurriedly awakened, rising to bow.

Southfall looked at the Three Spirits, wreathed in divine radiance, and was quite satisfied with their talent. He said with imperial authority, “Rise.”

“You are all already in the Divine Lord realm. However, you are not yet my true direct disciples.”

Southfall’s golden pupils regarded the astonished Three Spirits as he said this in a calm, commanding voice.

“You and Starplucker must each pass a trial of mine before you may truly enter my sect.”

The Three Spirits and Starplucker stood side by side, listening quietly to Southfall’s decree.

“Right now, the Divine Court is holding the Grand Dao Assembly. Starplucker must attain a place in the top ten, and the Three Spirits must enter the top fifty. Only then will you truly be counted among my disciples.”

Southfall’s golden eyes remained as brilliant and imposing as ever as he calmly decided the fate of the Three Spirits and Starplucker.

Success, and one would bow before a Divine Emperor as disciple, stepping from earth to heaven in a single stride, adorned with endless glory.

Failure, and there was nothing more to say.

“We obey, Teacher!”

No matter what they thought in their hearts, the Three Spirits and Starplucker immediately bowed to Southfall.

...

City of the Gods, Divine Court, Divine Emperor Palace, Three Spirits Hall.

The Three Spirits and Starplucker were seated facing one another, discussing the matter of the trial for apprenticeship.

“Senior Brother Starplucker, congratulations on entering Master’s sect,” said Mystic Origin, his blue hair falling long over his shoulders and his blue robes neat and graceful, his expression warm as he smiled at Starplucker.

“We have not succeeded yet,” Starplucker replied calmly with a shake of his head.

Skyfire, with short crimson hair and clad in Skyfire God Armor, laughed and said, “With Senior Brother Starplucker’s abilities, taking one of the top ten places will be effortless. You are sure to become Master’s disciple.”

Starplucker gave a slightly strange smile. “Do you know how many experts will be present at this Grand Dao Assembly? There are more than a hundred Divine Lords alone.”

“A hundred Divine Lords?” Wind Lady, with long green hair and a green dress, said in surprise.

Mystic Origin and Skyfire were equally astonished. None of them had expected this Grand Dao Assembly to be so packed with experts.

More than a hundred Divine Lords. What immense scale this assembly must have.

Starplucker nodded and warned them, “Do not underestimate this Grand Dao Assembly. Otherwise, if you lose and are cast out of Master’s gate, the consequences will be severe.”

...

After Starplucker departed, the Three Spirits remained seated in the Three Spirits Hall, each brooding over Southfall’s trial, and all felt a headache coming on in unison.

“Top fifty? We’ve only just broken through to Divine Lord! And this Grand Dao Assembly is full of experts. Master’s trial is simply too difficult,” Wind Lady complained before she could stop herself.

“What are you afraid of? At worst, we fight them to the bitter end! We are the disciples of a Divine Emperor. How could we lose to those Divine Lords?” Skyfire said excitedly.

Mystic Origin looked at Skyfire and Wind Lady, his blue eyes burning with fire as he said with perfect calm, “The difficulty is indeed great, but we must still face it head-on. You both know Master’s temperament: he has never kept useless gods. In this battle, we can only win, never lose.”