Chapter Fifty-Nine: Reaching the Pinnacle

As someone shouted out, everyone quickly turned their attention to this side. After all, during the first trial, Liu Ru had already made a remarkable impression. In fact, many present already knew the result of the first trial: Liu Ru was the only one who had scored a perfect ten.

With such an outstanding performance before, Liu Ru naturally became the focus of many invisible gazes.

On the screen, Liu Ru stood beneath the sunlight. In that instant, it seemed as if her whole body was shrouded in a thin layer of black gauze. The sunlight fell upon her, and though it still reflected somewhat, most of its rays seemed to silently vanish into her body.

"It really looks like she's absorbing the power of the sun," someone couldn't help but affirm.

"What is the power of the sun?" Su Ziye asked curiously.

Zhou Yi, who had also been watching Liu Ru, turned and explained, "I told you before, there are many fields and categories of enlightenment. Generally, the more common the field, the easier it is to attain enlightenment; the rarer the field, the harder it is."

"Among all the fields, there are a few universally acknowledged as the highest paths to enlightenment—like time, space, or Senior Kalotes's All-Things Force."

"But right below these top domains, the power of the sun is also an extremely rare and potent field of enlightenment."

"There’s a common understanding at the academy now: most of our powers may originate from the sun—growth and renewal of all things, changes in wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Those who can directly draw strength from sunlight are those we call wielders of the sun’s power."

Su Ziye nodded, half-understanding. "Then may I have the honor of introducing you to solar panels?"

"Solar panels?" Zhou Yi was startled.

"Never mind, just talking nonsense. Please continue," Su Ziye dismissed the subject nonchalantly and pressed on, "So, my master’s field of enlightenment is what you called the power of the sun—is that impressive?"

"Not necessarily, since the environment for this exam is special," Zhou Yi shook his head. "This test puts all the candidates in an environment where enlightenment is unusually easy. If the difficulty of enlightenment is usually one hundred, here it is about fifteen. So the second trial tests both affinity with enlightenment and helps the candidates discover which field is easiest for them to attain enlightenment, opening the path forward."

"From what we see now, Liu Ru undoubtedly has extraordinary talent in the field of the sun. If she has already been enlightened in this field, that’s optimal. If not, once she achieves enlightenment, switching paths would be more than just self-sabotage," Zhou Yi said regretfully.

For in Zhou Yi’s eyes, Liu Ru was at least someone accomplished in enlightenment. If she was even more of a genius, stepping into the Manifestation Realm was not impossible.

"How many points can she get now?" Su Ziye preferred to focus on concrete matters.

"In the field of the sun, at least seven points, depending on the quality of the energy core she condenses," Zhou Yi nodded.

Though Liu Ru had not shocked them this time, being able to absorb the power of the sun was itself a truly astonishing gift.

She was, in fact, second only to the very top.

...

Liu Ru, of course, remained oblivious to all this.

She simply wanted to find a place to stay out of the rain.

In truth, Su Ziye had already offered some guesses about the second trial’s content, and those guesses turned out to be largely accurate. In other words—this trial primarily assessed one’s talent and path in the state of enlightenment.

For those who had already entered that state, this second trial was extremely easy. As a bridge between the first and third trials, its true purpose was to connect and transition. As long as one had already reached enlightenment, was not lacking in talent or wit, passing was almost guaranteed.

By these standards, it was essentially a free pass.

After all, anyone who could pass the first trial would not be lacking in talent or intellect. Perhaps only a few had been brought in by Liu Ru herself.

Liu Ru’s disadvantage was evident—she had not yet reached enlightenment.

She had reached consummation in the state of external mastery, also known as the Perfect Circle.

So, beforehand, Su Ziye had two suggestions for Liu Ru.

The first was to use this opportunity to achieve enlightenment directly in the exam, since such a chance might not arise again. The academy had invested massive resources into the third trial; to attain enlightenment under such conditions would be an honor to anyone.

Of course, enlightenment has its signs and traces. The greatest risk of achieving it here was that Liu Ru’s true level might be exposed. Su Ziye’s strategy was to conceal this to some extent, but not completely—since Liu Ru’s identity was already shrouded in countless layers of mystery, even if she did achieve enlightenment during the test, it would just be seen as another smokescreen.

The second suggestion was for Liu Ru to use this opportunity to continue exploring the Three Marvellous Realms beyond the Perfect Circle.

According to Su Ziye, even without reaching the ultimate perfection of the Three Marvellous Realms, just touching their peak would bring countless benefits and dividends for future cultivation.

Thus, Liu Ru chose the second suggestion without hesitation.

But what Liu Ru never expected was that, before she had done anything, merely basking in the sun gave rise to signs of enlightenment.

Of course, Liu Ru realized that the sun here was not the real sun. All the energy in this testing ground had been specially processed and refined—much easier to absorb, and thus easier to attain enlightenment.

As the sunlight bathed her body, Liu Ru felt as if warm rain was seeping through her being. What entered her wasn’t just sunlight, but all kinds of knowledge about the sun.

For enlightenment lies in understanding.

Only when you truly comprehend such power can you begin to make it your own.

But why, without doing anything, did the sunlight seem to swarm toward her as if she were their destined host?

At that thought, Liu Ru suddenly realized something.

It was because she had absorbed Su Ziye’s blood—or rather, during her cultivation, her very flesh had been transformed by Su Ziye’s blood.

Thinking back, Su Ziye’s signature golden flames were the very embodiment of sunlight.

In other words, Su Ziye’s own field of enlightenment must be sunlight, and by absorbing his blood, Liu Ru herself became more attuned to enlightenment in this area.

Whether this was good or bad, Liu Ru didn’t know—but she knew it was all within Su Ziye’s calculations.

With this layer of help, the second trial posed no real challenge for Liu Ru.

Now, her only problem was—how to break through to the Three Marvellous Realms!

On this point, Su Ziye had not taught her, nor given any guidance. In his words, it was “the next step beyond the pinnacle; when you reach that threshold, you’ll understand naturally.”

But as Liu Ru basked in the sun, the warm power began to fill her body, and she drew more and more knowledge from these energies. The girl gradually gained a clearer understanding.

If she didn’t try harder now, she might inadvertently achieve enlightenment.

And if she did, returning to attempt a breakthrough into the Three Marvellous Realms would be impossible.

At this realization, Liu Ru could no longer sit idly by. She immediately deployed her spiritual sense, breaking apart and kneading all the solar power entering her body, forcing it to merge with her limbs and bones.

For that moment, Liu Ru treated her body as a vast warehouse. Since the power of the sun kept rushing in to help her attain enlightenment, she could only accept it all, treat it as a supplement, and swallow it down.

Thus the situation reached a stalemate.

...

In the monitoring hall, Liu Ru’s image had been frozen for a long time.

Everyone watched as Liu Ru quickly began absorbing the sun’s power. The next step would be to absorb enough to reach a threshold—once someone had reached the state of enlightenment, they could easily condense these energies into a crystalline core. The score would then be based on the core’s purity and size.

Among the lavish resources the academy had prepared, the power of the sun was already a top-tier option. As for enlightenment in fields like space or time, as Zhou Yi had mentioned, those were almost unattainable in this hall.

If anyone could, Zhou Yi would only be able to exclaim in astonishment and hand over a perfect ten.

Normally, though, such things could only be considered an illusion.

"Why isn’t she moving yet?" someone finally couldn’t help but ask.

Liu Ru had absorbed so much energy, it seemed her body might burst, yet she showed no sign of stopping.

Of course, compared to the total energy injected into the hall, what Liu Ru absorbed was still a tiny fraction—less than a drop in the ocean. But her continued absorption, just standing there, left everyone puzzling.

"Can you explain the matter about solar panels to me?" Zhou Yi, thoroughly confused, dragged Su Ziye over. Since Su Ziye was Liu Ru’s servant, he might know something.

"I’m not, I didn’t, don’t make things up," Su Ziye denied instantly, then, looking at the water screen, guessed, "Maybe Miss is just greedy, and thinks the energy tastes good?"

"Who wouldn’t?" Zhou Yi agreed. "This energy is pure, processed by top experts, carefully arranged here in the hall. If you ate it, you’d find it delicious too."

"But look—who else here eats like your Miss?"

On the water screen, most people were focused on the exam, all chasing after lightning. Experience from the first trial had taught them that different energies meant different scores; to get higher marks, they had to seek out the most distinguished energies.

And what could be more eye-catching than the flashes of lightning in the sky?

So all those with ambition were seeking to be struck by lightning and collecting its power with all their might.

The academy knew what it was doing—they wouldn’t actually let anyone be killed.

By contrast, Liu Ru, standing in a sunny spot and basking in the sun, seemed the very image of idleness.

"Perhaps Miss really does find it delicious," Su Ziye could only say.

...

If Liu Ru were to comment, she could only say—

It really was delicious.

Even if the sun in this hall was artificial, the power of the sun that streamed down was absolutely genuine—no, even more than genuine, it was rich and abundant.

If Liu Ru had wanted enlightenment, the power of the sun would already have led her to an understanding of everything in this world.

But Liu Ru didn’t want enlightenment.

So she could only smash and knead these energies, packing them into her body as fertilizer.

Having reached the consummate state through the Vermilion Bird Burning Blood Technique, her body was already nearly perfect. But now, with so much solar power flooding in, even she, prepared as she was, felt she might burst.

Or perhaps she had already burst.

As more sunlight flooded in, she felt her entire body—even each strand of hair—was filled with the sun’s essence. Any more and she might explode entirely.

But at that critical moment, as if the last straw broke the camel’s back, there was a sudden shift.

All that saturated energy began to be slowly reabsorbed by her body. At the same time, Liu Ru felt a sudden clarity—a revelation as if a veil had been lifted. In that instant, the world became infinitely detailed.

No one had told Liu Ru anything, yet in that moment, she understood everything.

She finally knew why Su Ziye called the breakthrough to the Three Marvellous Realms a natural progression beyond the peak.

Because she had now entered the first Marvellous Realm—

The pinnacle of external mastery.

And the power she gained was called Subtlety:

A more refined understanding and control of the inner and outer worlds.