The armor's supple spear had exploded into countless pieces that were flying everywhere. However, the armor seemed to still be holding the bottom part of the shaft. And the armor itself was now lying back on the ground with 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear' buried in its upper chest. For a few instants, Cao Yun stayed very cautious. If he could have extended his Qi outside of his body, he would have retrieved his spear but the blue vortex was preventing him from doing so. As such, he had to physically go toward his spear.
Finally the dust settled and the armor was still unresponsive. Before Cao Yun decided to go to it though, something happened to all the pieces of the broken spear. Unlike the first spear the armor had used, this one produced something after its destruction. All the pieces began to levitate above the ground. Even the part of the shaft in the armor's hands also started to crumble as small fragments flew into the air. In a way, it was similar to how the armor had been formed with many fragments agglutinating around each other, but in reverse.
Those fragments were now shining and rotating around the entire ring. Many were simply burning away, until mere sparks remained of them. And those sparks were getting closer and closer to each other. This spectacle almost looked like the formation of a celestial body all around the ring. Briefly, Cao Yun threw a glance at the blue vortex above. This was almost the same thing that was happening in the ring. However, Cao Yun found himself right in the middle of it and didn't know how to react.
Slowly though, he understood what was going on. As they were colliding with each other, the sparks were also fusing. Despite their rotation, Cao Yun was able to see that their shape was very familiar. They looked like strokes from a written character that was slowly writing itself. But more than that, Cao Yun was able to vaguely get its meaning. This was not just any character, this was an Insight Writing. Although Cao Yun could not make out the complete meaning of this forming character, it was clearly related to Spear Aura, more specifically to the Spear Aura of this particular spear. After studying his opponent to understand its style, Cao Yun had already gotten a tiny portion of understanding toward this Insight Writing.
That being said, it didn't answer his question. He still didn't know what to do. Should he just study this Insight Writing?
As though to answer his question, the Insight Writing was now fully formed and floated toward him. At the last moment though, it sped up immensely and literally entered his skull through his glabella. At first a little afraid of it, once the Insight Writing found its way into his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was not worried anymore. Even if this was somehow dangerous, he had a very powerful mind cultivation and was slowly gaining more control over the Drop of Wrath. With that alone, he was not even too afraid of Spirit Warriors invading his mind, let alone a single Insight Writing.
But it wasn't even aggressive. Slowly, it joined with the Insight Writing Cao Yun already possessed that was floating at the surface of the ocean. However, it didn't stay solid at all. As soon as it touched the surface of the water, it began to melt. Tiny particles of golden light sunk into the deep ocean. Following them with his intent, Cao Yun was able to feel the presence of a few Insight Writings that were still below the surface. Those tiny particles seemed to go toward them. As they did, Cao Yun was able to feel those Insight Writings of his rise. This wasn't by much, but they had definitely been deeper before, so deep that he had been unable to even feel their presence even while knowing they were there. But now, he could vaguely sense them. There had to be seven or maybe eight of them.
Just like the Insight Writing that was at the surface of the water, those deep in it had been formed by his own intuition of the spear. But it was still in the back of his mind. Only by training and fighting with his spear could he gain access to them. At least, he had been certain of that until a moment ago. If those spears around him contained traces of the Spear Aura of their former owners, he had a chance of getting other Insight Writings out of the ocean of his mind. Of course, he couldn't be sure that every broken spear would have this result, but this was worth a try.
Suddenly, Cao Yun hoped that the armor was not destroyed. No matter what was the reward for this test, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to get it. After all, if he could fight against several more spears, he would also gain a lot of benefits. As Elder Tang had said, there were different ways to pass a test and some were superior to others. Clearly, fighting more and more spears and winning against even more powerful styles and Spear Auras was a better way to win.
As if to answer Cao Yun's questions, the armor finally moved once the golden particles had all been absorbed by Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. Slowly, its arms grabbed Cao Yun's spear and pulled it out before standing up. There was indeed a gaping hole in the armor. But it had not lost neither its head nor its arms. Moreover, the hole had not pierced through the entire armor. As it was filled with more metal, the armor had stopped the thrown spear halfway through. From the ground, pieces of metal got ripped apart by an invisible hand. As they began to melt in the air, the liquid metal filled the hole and the armor was whole again.
Then, it slowly walked toward Cao Yun with his spear in hand. The young man sensed no ill will in its movements and was fairly certain of what was to come. Indeed, the armor simply gave him back his weapon. Then, it went back on the other side of this arena and simply knelt down. Like before, the armor gave some time for Cao Yun to regain his strength.
Although the young man had no idea what other challenges and other rewards would await him in this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the one in front of him was the most enticing. Since he had been a kid, Cao Yun had always loved martial arts and cultivation techniques. In fact, he loved learning more and more techniques. His father had even warned him that learning too many without mastering them was bad. And as he grew older, he fully understood it. As such, Cao Yun had mainly focused on his family martial art, 'Three Storms'. Sadly, this art was a bit too recognizable, and it was a sword art, so Cao Yun had been forced to put it aside for now. However, he had always read books on various techniques. Although he did not practice them, he was always astonished by the inventiveness of the human mind.
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And with each technique he had read about, he had always found a tiny thing that could be of help if used in another context. Now, he was literally surrounded by spears containing the martial arts and maybe even the intuitions of former masters. There was no way he could forsake it. Maybe other challenges could be better for his overall Qi cultivation, but his martial arts were just as important. And as he had recently broken through, another breakthrough was not that essential. Considering his mind cultivation and his blood cultivation, Cao Yun was very content with his current strength.
After all, he could probably resist soul and mind attacks from Spirit Warriors. As long as they were to invade his sea of consciousness, he was not afraid of anyone in the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, they could attack from the outside and then, he would have no way of resisting a Spirit Warrior. But his blood cultivation had also gifted him with an extremely powerful body. In terms of raw strength, he would not even lose to a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior. Most cultivator simply did not pay enough attention to their body. But even those who did not could reach a hundred thousand dan of strength as a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. That was already a strength Cao Yun knew he could reach with all of his trump cards.
In other words, Cao Yun did not fear any Mortal Warrior on the basis of their cultivation alone. But if they had a better understanding of their martial arts, they could be a problem to him. Pure strength was not all that could determine a victor, ability and experience were paramount. Moreover, he would still need several years, even maybe decades, before finally reaching the Spirit Warrior realm. Until then, fighting a Spirit Warrior was almost impossible. He could hide with his stealth, maybe run away thanks to it, but not fight directly, even as a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior.
Thus, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to advance his Qi cultivation. His blood cultivation would also be difficult to advance further because his Drop of Wrath had already pushed it forward a lot. Thanks to 'Storms in the Crimson Furnace', he would probably be able to go even beyond that. But in the end, it was only a question of time. Finally, his mind cultivation was progressing smoothly and no matter what happened, he would have finished the second layer by the end of the year. Then, he could finally work on his Seven Turbid Demons and use it to gain even more control over the Drop of Wrath. By trying to reconstruct its Po with his own, Cao Yun could maybe unlock more of its strength and promote his blood cultivation as well.
With all that in mind, Cao Yun decided to stay in this world for now. From what he had perceived, the test was simple. By using Spear Aura, he could damage the armor. So if his Spear Aura was powerful enough, he would be able to destroy it and advance further. However, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to do so. Indeed, during each fight, the armor used a different spear, with different martial arts, a different way of fighting and even a different Spear Aura.
After each fight, the armor also gave enough time for its opponent to recover fully. Considering the resources in his spatial ring, Cao Yun could stay here all year. Of course, he would not do such a thing. But as long as this training was fulfilling, he would keep on fighting without destroying the armor.
And in the coming weeks, he realized how right he had been. He fought against so many styles that he did not even imagine prior to this test. Through them, he saw completely new ways of using his own spear. Each time he destroyed a spear that was imbued with Spear Aura, he received golden particles made of the Insight Writings perceived by its previous owner. And they gathered around his own in his sea of consciousness. One by one, the Insight Writings he had developed by instinct came floating up at the surface of the ocean. Some were still hidden in the depths of it, but soon he would finally be able to see them all.
Then, he would only have to study them to become more and more proficient. And in time, he would finally be able to produce his Spear Intent, until he could at last give birth to his Spear Heart as Chief Elder Baishen had explained to him.
Some Spear Auras were really strange. At some point in time, the armor's spear seemed to be living and breathing. As a snake, it was able to coil around Cao Yun's own spear and avoid any kind of defense. Another spear seemed to have always been stabbed into him before any attack. At all times, he could feel it sunken into his own flesh and feasting on his blood. Yet another spear had transcended time. Cao Yun was only able to see its movement after it had indeed moved.
All those Spear Auras were really just illusions born from the understanding of their former owners. As such, they were impossible to really control. And Cao Yun could not mimic them. But witnessing and experiencing them opened his eyes to what Spear Aura could do. Slowly, the door to Spear Intent was opening ever so slightly. Spear Aura was raw aura dispersed and uncontrolled. Yes, Cao Yun could rein it in or let it run wild, but he couldn't shape it or condense it. On the other hand, Spear Intent was the Spear Aura once it was fully under the control of the cultivator.
It would take a lot of time and a tedious study of the Insight Writings within himself, but Cao Yun had made the first step toward really mastering his Spear Aura by sensing its true nature. Besides, his Insight Writings were now vibrant. There were nine of them, rotating in the sky, zigzagging around the seven stars of the Azure Dragon as golden comets. Not only could Cao Yun study them, he could also study their interaction with those seven stars.
Moreover, he had fully formed his last and seventh star, the Winnowing Basket Star, an orange star three times bigger than the Tail Star. However, he was not yet fully sure of its moves. He had good ideas though. But because he had been so focused on mastering his Spear Aura and his overall ability with a spear, he had not pursued this very diligently. Before coming out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would have reached Small Success and he could finally try to turn his stars into entire constellations. Although he would not learn new moves, each one would become more and more refined. As no contemporary cultivator had pushed this martial art that far, he had no idea how powerful it would get, but he was looking forward to it.
Cao Yun had no real notion of how much time had passed until he realized that his sixth Five Echoes Pearl had been condensed. All things considered, it should have taken somewhere between three to four months. With the fact that the last one had been drawn by force thanks to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, it probably meant that it had taken four months, maybe even a bit more. Indeed, Cao Yun had been in there for almost six months now. And outside, things were about to change.