en if it allows you to comprehend the content within in an instant... if all you are just going to stare at one page the whole time, how are you supposed to read anything else?
At the very least, shouldn't you flip the pages of the book?
"Is Zhang shi... giving up on this stage?"
They weren't the only bewildered ones. There were some among the crowd that noticed this peculiarity, and they were confused by Zhang Xuan's actions too.
In the previous two rounds, he had caused so much trouble that even Hong shi was left on the verge of a frenzy. The crowd below must be blind if they couldn't notice his uniqueness.
Naturally, such a 'unique' person would have the spotlight on him. The crowd thought that he, just like the other participants, would quickly flip through the books to memorize as many of them as he could. And yet, after picking up a single one... he stopped moving altogether.
Wasn't his efficiency a little… way too low?
There was no way he could match up to the others with this kind of speed?
Did he use up all of his talent in the past two rounds?
Oblivious to the reactions of the crowd, at this very moment, Zhang Xuan was staring at the nearly compiled Clarifying Turbidity realm Heaven's Path Divine Art with gleaming eyes.
He thought that he would only be able to compile it after reaching Huanyu Empire. Never in his dreams did he expect to be able to perfect it through this preliminary selection test.
With the cultivation technique perfected and sufficient number of spirit stones in his storage ring, it wasn't a problem for him to reach Transcendent Mortal 4-dan pinnacle right now.
It was a pity that he was in the midst of the preliminary selection test. If he were to cultivate the Heaven's Path Divine Art right here, who knows how many eyeballs would pop out from their sockets…
Thus, all Zhang Xuan could do was reread the manual and understand the essence of the cultivation technique entirely. After he was done, he turned his attention to the other books.
'To think that there would be books on souls here as well...'
Sweeping through the rest of the five thousand books, he found quite a few books about soul as well. Most of them were Hong shi's notes on his comprehension of the topic.
As a Transcendent Mortal 6-dan Cosmos Bridge realm expert, Hong shi's possessed a unique interpretation of the topic of souls.
'Compile!'
Zhang Xuan compiled the notes on soul with the techniques Mo Hunsheng gave him.
Soon, a book was formed.
Transcendent Mortal 5-dan Heaven's Path Soul Art!
'To think that I would get two complete Heaven's Path cultivation technique through this preliminary selection,' Zhang Xuan thought in agitation.
He had come with the thought of just getting the Master Teacher Tournament over and done with. He didn't expect to be given enough valuable books to perfect a cultivation realm of Heaven's Path Divine Art and Heaven's Path Soul Art.
This meant that his fighting prowess could be raised significantly once he found some free time to cultivate.
The rest of the books weren't of much use to Zhang Xuan. He swept across them with his mind, but he couldn't find anything that interest him. Thus, he drew his consciousness out of the Library of Heaven's Path.
"Only ten minutes have passed?"
When his consciousness returned, he realized that only ten minutes had passed.
In total, they were given two hours. In less than a tenth of the time, Zhang Xuan had already finished browsing through all of the books. If he were to say that he was done with the test, Hong shi could very possibly faint from shock.
But still, he couldn't possibly stand idly here and wait for others to be done!
"Forget it, since I still have some time, why don't I try memorizing the content in those books as well!"
Since Zhang Xuan had nothing better to do now, he decided to try memorizing and deciphering the content of the books as well.
But of course, he would be doing so through the Library of Heaven's Path. After all, it was much more efficient that way.
Upon making this decision, Zhang Xuan immediately dived straight into action. Immersing his consciousness back to the Library of Heaven's Path, he picked up a book and began reading through it.
Hualalala!
Back then, when he was only at Tongxuan realm, he was already able to read at a speed dozens of times faster in the Library of Heaven's Path. With his strengthened soul, this ability of his had been further enhanced.
In the time when the master teachers outside read through a handful of books, he was already done memorizing the content of all five thousand books.
As such, Zhang Xuan turned to the other books in the Library of Heaven's Path.
In the past few months, Zhang Xuan had gathered more than ten million books in the Library of Heaven's Path, and he hadn't had the time to browse through them yet. Since he was free now, he decided to take a look at them.
Time passed swiftly as his mind was completely immersed in those books. Suddenly, Hong shi declared, "Alright, time's up. Everyone, put down the books in your hands!"
Hearing that time was up, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. Withdrawing from the Library of Heaven's Path, he put down the book and took a glance at the other competitors.
At this moment, everyone looked a little fatigued, and their faces were considerably pale.
Two hours of operating one's mind at full throttle to memorize the content of those books had taken a huge toll on them.
"How many books have you memorized?"
"820 books. What about you?"
"I did slightly better than you, I managed to memorize 917 books!"
Putting down the books in their hands, everyone walked to Hong shi. There were some hushed conversations between some of the participants.
Given that their Soul Depths were all beyond 10.0, they possessed photographic memory. Still, it was no easy feat to browse through and memorize all those books.
Honestly, eight to nine hundred books in two hours was the limit for most 4-star master teachers.
Ruohuan gongzi walked over and asked, "Zhang shi, how many books did you memorize?"
"Me?" Fearing that he would scare the other party to death if he were to utter the truth, Zhang Xuan scratched his head and replied, "It should the same as yours!"
"Same as mine? I read 1240 books, did you reach around 1200 books too?" Ruohuan gongzi asked doubtfully.
Given how formidable Zhang shi's performance was all along, how could the other party have the same result as him? Ruohuan gongzi found the other party's words hard to believe.
"Err... I think it should be around that amount. Right, how will Hong shi assess the number of books we have read?" Zhang Xuan asked curiously.
Since this was a test on Wisdom, clearly, they couldn't be assessed just by the number of books they managed to read. More importantly, the participants must be able to memorize and comprehend the content... But how was this going to be tested? After all, they couldn't possibly recite the content of the books they have read line after line given the sheer number of books they have read!
"I don't know either. Hong shi should be revealing it soon!"
Ruohuan gongzi was perplexed too.
To be fair, reciting or writing down the content would be the best way. But... this is just the preliminary selection. They couldn't possibly drag it out over several days just for this single test, it would be too inefficient!
Besides, how many books do they have to memorize to pass the test?
Furthermore, the word count in each book was different. If they were to count purely by books, that might introduce so biasedness in the results.
And in truth, all of the other participants also shared the same confusion.
"Hehe, is everyone worried about how the test will be carried out?"
Seemingly noticing everyone's doubts, Hong shi chuckled. "Don't worry. Since I've proposed this test, naturally, I have my own way of assessing you!"
Stroking his beard, Hong shi's eyebrows shot up. "Based on my experiments, an average 4-star primary stage master teacher can memorize around five hundred books in two hours. But of course, as geniuses of your respective power, the expectations of you are much higher!"
"Thus, after much deliberation, I've decided to set the bars at... 800 books. Those who fail to memorize 800 books will be eliminated from the tournament!"
"800 books?"
Amongst the crowd, around a dozen young men's faces paled.
Clearly, the number of books they had read didn't reach that number.
"But of course, each book is unique, and thus, we have to consider the varying length and the difficulty of the content of each book as well. Thus, while the standard I've set is 800, if you specifically choose to only memorize the thinner and easier books, your score might end up below 600!"
Hong shi continued, "To ensure fairness in this aspect, I've applied for a treasure from the headquarters... the Book of Emptied River!"