Chapter Seventy-Nine: Complete Success

Tu Lu had just stood up and was about to step forward when the messenger let out a cold laugh.

“If you lack ability, you’d best not embarrass yourself by going in!”

Tu Lu was rendered speechless.

No one had said a word to any of the others before him, but the moment it was his turn, the tone changed completely. This left him thoroughly annoyed.

His face darkened.

“Whether I have ability or not is hardly for a mere servant like you to decide.”

At this, a chill flickered in the messenger’s eyes.

But before he could retort, Tu Lu had already walked into the rear courtyard.

“Hmph!”

The servant gave a cold snort and followed him in.

“In front of you are three artifacts, each representing the attributes of extreme cold, extreme yang, and extreme darkness. Here is a sigil—your task is to inscribe it onto one of the artifacts. If you succeed with just one, you pass.”

As expected, it was Zhao Yuyang.

Hearing this, Tu Lu’s lips twitched; this man’s skills hadn’t grown, but his air of superiority certainly had.

Still, if it was merely a matter of inscription, it posed no problem for Tu Lu.

He picked up the scroll containing the sigil and began to study it carefully.

After a single glance, surprise flashed across his face.

“So simple?”

“Hmph, succeed first before you boast!” sneered the messenger.

Tu Lu frowned.

This was a new sigil, clearly Zhao Yuyang’s own creation, composed of ninety-nine basic sigil strokes—a foundational structure, though its use was not immediately apparent…

From his perspective, any inscriber with a modicum of skill…

Wait!

Suddenly, he understood.

Though this was a single sigil, it belonged to the lowest tier among basic inscriptions, yet it was formed from ninety-nine foundational elements!

Such a sigil was more than ten times as intricate as a typical one.

The balancing required between the elements would be trivial for him, but for an ordinary inscriber, the difficulty would rival that of some intermediate inscriptions.

Couple that with the unusual inscription method required, and it was no wonder Tian Feng had failed.

“So, the key is not to make any mistakes?”

A faint smile played around Tu Lu’s lips.

To weave ninety-nine basic sigils into one, the challenge was balance—a technique he himself had once taught Zhao Yuyang.

“Let’s try with this artifact.”

Tu Lu chose the hammer with the extreme yang attribute, weighing it in his hand.

He glanced at the prepared spiritual liquid and the luxurious brush.

He began the inscription.

The messenger snorted, folding his arms as he waited to watch Tu Lu make a fool of himself.

As for Zhao Yuyang, he maintained his enigmatic air, seated loftily.

“Master, how long would it take you to inscribe these artifacts?”

“About two hours per piece, though for a master inscriber, perhaps half an hour would suffice,” Zhao Yuyang mused, nodding.

But as he said this, his gaze fell on Tu Lu’s technique and his expression changed.

“Haha, then Master, how long do you think it will take for this boy to fail?” the messenger asked with a laugh.

This time, however, Zhao Yuyang remained silent, his eyes fixed on Tu Lu.

This made the servant frown and look over as well.

“Finished.”

At that moment, Tu Lu glanced up at the two, tossed the artifact out, and declared.

“Impossible!”

The servant’s face changed. “Master Zhao, please inspect it carefully!”

There was no need for urging. Zhao Yuyang picked up the hammer, but before he could finish inspecting it, Tu Lu had already picked up the sword of extreme cold.

“What are you doing?” the messenger demanded.

Tu Lu ignored him, closed his eyes, and in no time, understood the structure of the sword perfectly.

He began the inscription.

Half an hour later, just as Zhao Yuyang finished appraising the yang hammer with a look of shock, the sword of extreme cold landed before him.

“While you’re at it, appraise this one too,” Tu Lu said, then picked up the banner of extreme darkness.

This was exactly the effect he wanted!

Perhaps he grew a little too pleased with himself—he neglected to use the white light sphere, resulting in some backlash.

A surge of extreme dark energy assaulted him; if not for the ancient Buddha lamp’s timely protection, his spirit would have suffered grave damage.

In the end, though, he managed—though narrowly—to complete the inscriptions on all three artifacts.

Even with the time lost to that one mistake, the entire process took less than two hours.

Zhao Yuyang’s shock had turned to sheer terror.

His mouth hung open wide enough to swallow an egg.

One had to understand—even as the creator of this sigil, if he made a mistake while inscribing, failure was certain. Yet Tu Lu, by improvising and subtly adjusting the structure, had masterfully balanced the attributes and succeeded again.

“Zi—”

Just as he recovered from his astonishment and was about to speak, he realized the servant had already vanished.