Chapter 704 Book and Painting Realm! Golden House in the Book

"Earlier than Brother Wang," Chu Ming calmly replied.

Earlier?

Listening to this, Wang Ru felt a bit better.

But...

Wang Ru secretly glanced inside the courtyard again.

He seemed to have sensed a hostile gaze just now.

Inside were the nobles of the Celestial Veil Kingdom, making up four people who passed and all woke before him. Previously they were merely disdainful, so why is there hostility now?

Feeling both surprised and suspicious, he quickly took another glance and then hurriedly withdrew his gaze, not daring to look further.

Inside the courtyard.

"Brother Huaan must have woken in less than half an hour, impressive," the other three praised Vermilion Bird Huaan.

Vermilion Bird Huaan, however, stared at the white-clothed Confucian outside, eyes harboring a chill.

Not only was Vermilion Bird Huaan watching Chu Ming, but Lingx Long of the Lingwu Kingdom was also secretly observing him.

"The final test is about to begin, please prepare yourselves."

Not long after everyone had rested, a familiar voice echoed once more above the courtyard.

As soon as the words fell, golden light descended again, shining on the writing papers of the seven.

"Communicate with Spiritual Power, enter the test, time limit one hour."

Having gone through it twice, everyone was adept in seamlessly connecting with the writing paper using their Spiritual Power.

Chu Ming paused, checking the newly inscribed Primordial Patterns on the writing paper, before channeling his Spiritual Power to connect with it.

Whirr—

The scene changed, passing through the misty fog, a towering book wall appeared ahead.

"In the sea of characters, unlock the universe."

Eight large characters floated above the book wall.

Moreover, as soon as Chu Ming entered this book wall space, he immediately sensed several gazes sweeping over.

Turning his head, he saw six others including Wang Ru gathered in one space.

The four from the Celestial Veil Kingdom, led by Vermilion Bird Huaan, looked somewhat dissatisfied at Chu Ming’s late arrival.

"Brother Chu, you finally made it," Wang Ru came over and whispered a reminder: "We all have to be in this space for the test to start."

"Those eight words only appeared after Brother Chu came in."

Chu Ming’s face remained calm, merely gazing at the book wall ahead.

Seeing this, Wang Ru’s eyes subtly flickered, cupped his hands in salute, and also looked towards the book wall.

"Reflecting historical wisdom, sages leave their names. Search for praises of the three great ones, unlock each word like pearls breaking chains."

A line of hinting text appeared on the book wall along with three grooves.

All seven gathered, the eight words appeared, marking the test’s official commencement.

Next, the barriers on the book wall receded, seemingly allowing all the books to be perused.

This round seems to require finding the answer from amongst the thousands of books on the wall based on the line of hinting text.

Similar to finding a code according to the hint, where the code is hidden among the characters of the book wall.

Thousands of books far exceed the thousands of pages from the last test, with innumerable words, making finding the answer in this sea of text akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

As soon as the hint appeared, Vermilion Bird Huaan, Lingx Long, Wang Ru, and the other six eagerly rushed to the book wall to search based on the hint.

Chu Ming unhurriedly looked at the hinting text, then at the grooves behind it.

Though he hadn’t deduced the answer, he roughly guessed what it might be.

The reason being, he could discern the internal shape of the grooves and thereby deduce the text from the groove shapes...

However, there was still ample time, so no rush to fill in the answer.

Chu Ming gazed at the tower-high book wall, a gleam of brilliance flashing deep within his eyes.

The genuine treasure of this round lies in the towering wall piled high with countless books!

He pretended to walk to the side of the book wall, pulled out a book to read, while also scattering his Sword Gourd Spirit to swiftly scan book by book.

As all seven were engrossed in seeking the answer, within the depths of the Confucius Temple.

Two Temple Teachers, along with the temple priest Xuanyuan Huikong, were observing the test.

"Vermilion Bird Huaan is indeed worthy of being Marquis of Vermilion Bird’s descendant, found the correct book on the first try," praised the left Temple Teacher, "most likely will pass today’s test."

The right Temple Teacher nodded: "Vermilion Bird Huaan is indeed impressive, and Lingx Long from the Lingwu Kingdom is also swift, having cultivated the Primordial Qi Technique is very beneficial, making the search much faster than others."

"Unfortunately, upon entering our Hanmo Confucius Temple, if one cannot abandon prior cultivations, they will become burdens."

"As for the others..."

The two Temple Teachers specifically observed Chu Ming, who excelled notably in the previous round in white Confucian attire.

"None of them found the right one, and Qin Kingdom’s Chu Ming is far off by a huge margin."

The two Temple Teachers whispered, while the temple priest Xuanyuan Huikong also seemed somewhat disappointed.

"This test of unlocking the universe through the sea of characters requires extensive reading and profound understanding of our Celestial Veil Kingdom’s history to pass, Qin Kingdom’s Chu Ming, after all, is just a young man from an inland moderate kingdom, merely nineteen, and would be commendable to even finish reading the thousand-year history of Qin Kingdom."

The Temple Teacher pointed out the crucial aspect of this test.

In short, natives of the Celestial Veil Kingdom are inherently more advantageous in this test because of broader exposure and wider reach.

"It seems today’s test will likely only be passed by Vermilion Bird Huaan and Lingx Long from the Lingwu Kingdom."

"Oh?"

"This child..."

As the two Temple Teachers were speaking, they suddenly noted the white Confucian in the projection.

They saw Chu Ming swiftly finish reading one book, then move to another.

"Could this child be attempting to search book by book for the answer?" the left Temple Teacher taunted, "With thousands of books, forget about an hour; he might not find the answer even in a year."

"Haha, seems like... hmm?"

"That book... found it!"

The right Temple Teacher was about to say more, but then saw Chu Ming pick up another book, and it was indeed one containing the answer.

"Appears random, even if he found the right book, he might not necessarily retrieve the answer from it."