Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

My 'bird'?

Return my 'bird'?

At that moment, the master teachers in the room hadn't realized that those birds were leaving for good. As such, they immediately thought of the other meaning of Elder Yun's words. They immediately turned to gaze at the latter's crotch and shivered in disgust.

It seemed like... Zhang shi had only conducted a lecture. How in the world does your 'bird' come into play in this situation?

Furthermore, wasn't it still attached?

For a 4-star master teacher to ask another person about his 'bird' in public, truly, this was... too shameful!

Many female master teachers blushed in embarrassment upon hearing so... As a painter, Elder Yun possessed a refined disposition so many thought of him as an upright and dashing person. To think that he would be an old pervert instead!

"That's not right, maybe Elder Yun is referring to the birds that just escaped!"

Slowly, some among the crowd realized it.

"Ah?"

The crowd was taken aback, and that person described his observation.

"After listening to Zhang shi's lesson, those birds seem to have suddenly become lively. They escaped from the restraints of the painting paper and... flew away!"

"Flew away? This 'Painting of Soaring Birds' is centered around the birds, and its greatest value lies in those Spiritual Wisdom birds. If they were to fly away... wouldn't the painting become totally worthless..."

"Indeed! That's precisely the reason why Elder Yun went into a frenzy. That is a Spiritual Wisdom painting, it's worth a huge fortune, you know..."

"For a treasure which he cherished so much to be reduced into a worthless piece of paper... There is no one who can retain their rationality before that!"

...

Hearing the explanation, everyone finally understood what was going on. They stared at one another as their mouth twitched violently.

On the other hand, Elder Wu and Elder Bai stared at one another in relief.

At the very least, they were only injured. All they had to do was to condition themselves for a period of time to make a complete recovery. On the other hand, that painting was Elder Yun's most prized possession. For it to become worthless in the blink of an eye, it was already a huge fortune that he didn't lose sight of himself and tear that fellow apart on the spot...

Ruohuan gongzi, who just a moment ago had still been gleeful at being able to take first place this time around, cried tearfully.

"Just by undergoing a lecture, a Spiritual Wisdom being actually advanced to become an Enlightened Spirit and flew away..."

He had made some calculations before and he was confident that he'd be able to get the Spiritual Wisdom being to maintain its materialization for over ten minutes. But this fellow... actually allowed the Spiritual Wisdom being to fly away for good...

What the heck!

Do you need to be so fierce?

If you do it like that, how do you expect for the rest of us to compete with you? If you always do that, you'll find yourself without friends...

"Cough cough. Elder Yun, calm down..."

Seeing his usually composed old friend getting so agitated that he looked like he could murder someone, Elder Su hurried forward to calm him.

"Calm down? The heck that can I calm down now! That's a painting that my teacher left to me. I was still planning to study it every day so that I can achieve a breakthrough to become a 5-star painter... Given that this has happened, how in the world can I reach higher ranks now?"

Lowering his head to glance at the white paper on the table, Elder Yun gritted his teeth.

Who said that this was just a test, and it would be extremely simple?

Come out! I promise I won't hit you...

Just as he was frenzied, the young man opposite him spoke with a slightly doubtful voice, "I hadn't finished my lecture when you scared those birds away... How are you going to tabulate the timing for me like that?"

Elder Yun wasn't the only one who was angry. Zhang Xuan was also a little frustrated at the situation.

Wasn't this old man a little too unreliable?

He was in the midst of imparting the Heaven's Path Paint Art to help these Spiritual Wisdom beings gather their strength. If he were to succeed, they would be able to fly wherever they pleased and maintain their existence as long as they wanted to. Who knew that... before he was done, this fellow bellowed loudly, scaring all of the birds away.

Now that all of the birds had left, how was his result supposed to be calculated?

How wronged he would be if he were to lose because of this!

After all, he put a lot of effort into this test...

"Tabulate the timing... The Painting of Soaring Birds is already gone, and you're still telling me about the timing?!"

Elder Yun nearly spurted a mouthful of blood.

Tabulate your head!

You wrecked my treasure, but not only did you not feel the slightest guilt, you are still only thinking about your test... Are you really that gutsy or is there something wrong with your head?

"Cough cough, Zhang shi. You should also tone it down. The value of the Painting of Soaring Birds lay in those birds. Their disappearance also means that the treasure has been rendered worthless. It is natural that Elder Yun... is in a bad mood because of it!"

Stepping forward, Pavilion Master Kang attempted to calm the situation.

"Rendered worthless?" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "Since the scroll is still here, one just has to draw the birds back. Is there a need to make such a fuss about it?"

"That's a painting of the sixth level! Only 5-star painters are capable of producing it... This is the only one that can be found in Myriad Kingdom City, and you speak of drawing them back? That's easy for you to say!"

Sensing an opportunity, Ruohuan gongzi clasped his fist and stepped forward, "Teacher, since the Painting of Soaring Birds has been destroyed, the rest of us are unable to continue with the examination. Why don't we change the format of the test then..."

The other party's lecture had made even the Spiritual Wisdom beings evolve to become Enlightened Spirits. He wouldn't be able to triumph over the other party for sure if they were to continue with this test. If so, he might as well make use of this opportunity to change the test.

"Un, you're right... The Painting of Soaring Birds is the only Spiritual Wisdom painting in the entire Myriad Kingdom Alliance. Since it's ruined now, the rest of you are indeed unable to proceed with the test..."

Pavilion Master Kang nodded his head in agreement.

If only he'd know that this would be the case, he would have never allowed this fellow to take the test first. Now, not only was the painting ruined, the other candidates also lost their chances at taking the test...

The Continuity of Spiritual Wisdom was the best assessment for impartation of knowledge he could think of. This situation was too abrupt, and he couldn't think of a better idea on the spot.

"If there are no better ideas, why don't we just find a few students, blindfold them, and vary our voices so that they won't be able to recognize us. The test should still be relatively fair this way as well..." Ruohuan gongzi suggested.

"There's no rush for that. Allow me to confer with the other elders first... Ah? What's going on..."

Nodding his head, Pavilion Master Kang rubbed his glabella, frustrated by the situation before him when he suddenly saw something in his peripheral vision that astounded him.

"Teacher, what's wrong?"

Seeing his teacher losing his composure, Ruohuan gongzi was taken aback. He immediately traced his teacher's glance and he failed to catch his breath and faint on the spot.

Unknowingly, the young man whom he had just criticized was standing before the painting. In each of his hands was a brush, and currently, harmoniously chirping birds had reappeared on the previously blank 'Painting of Soaring Birds'.

"All of the birds have returned?" Pavilion Master Kang asked hoarsely.

"It's not that they returned... but... Zhang shi just drew them on!" Fu Xiaochen replied with a quivering voice.

"Just drawn them on..." Ruohuan gongzi's body trembled.

That was a Spiritual Wisdom painting! It was a masterpiece that only 5-star painters were capable of producing... To paint it out so casually, are you for real?

More importantly... even 5-star painters had to contemplate for many months to conceptualize and perfect such a painting. It was a grueling task created with an astounding level of effort... Yet, before he was done speaking, the other party was already done restoring the painting...

Need you be that fast?

Unable to maintain his composure, Ruohuan gongzi asked, "What kind of painting method did he use?"

To finish a painting in just ten breaths or so, what kind of painting method could be that fast?

"Dual Traversing Dragons..." Fu Xiaochen replied in disbelief.

"You mean the technique... that only street side craftsmen use?" Ruohuan gongzi's vision went dark.

If you had used some profound technique, I would have just conceded...

But to use the Dual Traversing Dragon which street side craftsmen use to mass produce paintings, not to mention... for a sixth level painting... Brother, tell me the truth. You aren't really a 3-star painter, right? You are actually a 6-star painter in disguise, aren't you?

It was laughable that he leaped in delight when he heard that the test was Continuity of Spiritual Wisdom. He thought that the other party would surely fail terribly when going first...

If he'd known that the other party was such a formidable painter, he would have never acted so arrogantly!

Keeping the brush and ink back into his storage ring, Zhang Xuan said impassively, "Alright, Elder Yun. I've restored your painting for you. It doesn't seem... too difficult to do so!"

He thought that it was a big deal after hearing Elder Yun screaming and yelling. Wasn't it just a painting? If the birds were to fly away, he could just paint some more on for the other party. Was there any need to make such a huge fuss?

"This..."

Hurrying forward, Elder Yun lowered his head to examine the painting before him.

After a quick glance, his lips quivered, and he stared at the young man before him as though he was a monster.

This painting was identical to the one he saw before. If not for the fact that the ink wasn't dry yet, he would have really suspected that everything that had happened before was a hallucination on his part.

With just a glance, the other party was able remember every single detail of the picture perfectly-the arrangement, amount of ink used for each stroke, positioning... and not to mention, even the artistic conception...

How in the world did he do it?

One must know that every painter had their individual experience and style. When copying another's work, chances were that one would unwittingly incorporate their style into it as well. As such, it was hard for any painting to be completely identical with another. Yet, not only was the painting before him completely identical to its previous version, even the 'feeling' it exuded was no different... This was completely inconceivable.

Even a 6-star painter would be incapable of such a feat!

Actually, at Zhang Xuan's current level, he could only produce a painting of such a level by copying from another. If he were to paint by himself, while he was still capable of producing a Spiritual Wisdom painting, it would be hard for him to reach the level of artistic conception contained within the Painting of Soaring Birds.

After all, even though he had grasped Heaven's Path Paint Art, it was only at the level around 4-star pinnacle and 5-star primary.

The main reason why he could produce a completely identical painting was because of the Eye of Insight.

The Eye of Insight was capable of peering into minuscule details that one's physical eyes were incapable of perceiving. Back when Elder Yun took out the painting, Zhang Xuan had examined it properly with the Eye of Insight. As such, restoring it to its ordinary form wasn't a challenge to him at all.

If he had tried to do it with his own capability instead of copying the previous work, it would truly have been hard for him to reach a painting of such a level.

However, Elder Yun was unaware of all these facts. As such, he was shocked by the other party. He felt so impressed that he could almost kowtow to the other party at this instant.

Pavilion Master Kang walked forward and asked, "How is it?"

Recovering from his shock, Elder Yun swallowed a mouthful and saliva and said, "It's exactly the same as before. We can continue on with the test..."

"Since Elder Yun said that it was fine, let's continue on with the test then!"

Heaving a sigh of relief, Pavilion Master Kang turned to look at the crowd.

Given that the Painting of Soaring Birds had been restored, there was no longer any need for him to worry about varying the format of the test anymore.

"..." Ruohuan gongzi was on the verge of tears.

After such a huge ruckus, his efforts turned out to be futile. If only he'd known so in advance, he wouldn't have wasted his breath...

Frustrated, Ruohuan gongzi mustered his courage and challenged the examination. However, due to his unstable state of mind, he only managed to sustain for eleven minutes before the Spiritual Wisdom being dissipated.

After him, Fu Xiaochen, Feng Mosheng, and the others also stepped forward to challenge the test.

What was surprising was that Luo Xi had managed to sustain for twelve minutes, achieving a result even higher than Ruohuan gongzi.

"Alright, I shall announce the results of the test. Zhang shi, through his lecture, managed to induce the evolution of the Spiritual Wisdom beings into Enlightened Spirits... and as of yet, they haven't returned. No one should have any qualms about him being ranked first, right?"

After everyone was done taking the test, Pavilion Master Kang began announcing the results and scanned the crowd for any objections.

"Right..."

Everyone's lips twitched. Given how the other party managed to materialize all of the Spiritual Wisdom beings fully and produced a painting of the sixth level... if he wasn't in first place, who would dare to proclaim themselves first?

"Good. In second place is Luo Xi, third place Ruohuan, fourth place Fu Xiaochen, fifth place Feng Mosheng, and sixth place Du Hu..."

After announcing the results, Pavilion Master Kang continued, "We'll be moving on to the fourth examination, comprehension of cultivation!"