Wu Guang was sure of his own knowledge and as even his yet untrained 7th sense seemed to react slightly to the other three. So in place of thinking or analyzing further, Wu Guang simply took the cup and drank the contents. As he finished drinking the liquid, the cup that he held in his hands broke apart and revealed a key.
And logically the key opened the door to the next passage. Before proceeding further Wu Guang calculated the time he had spent until now and arrived at the conclusion that he was only nearing the 100-minute mark.
The passage being identical to the three before did not create any difficulties for Wu Guang and so he arrived at the fifth challenge room.
There was nothing on the entrance door and so Wu Guang entered directly. The room seemed empty and except for a small stone stele in the center, there was nothing present. So after a brief moment, Wu Guang walked towards it.
The stele had some instructions written on it and as expected the challenge this time was for the sense of touch. Wu Guang also appreciated that the instructions were far clearer than before and simply explained that the challenger would need to find the different panels on the wall to activate the door. It also mentioned that several traps would be activated if some panels were touched for longer than a breath and so the challenger had to be both quick and careful while searching.
With such clear instructions and considering that he could not perceive anything that stood up from the equal one-foot panels that comprised the wall, Wu Guang had no other option than to start touching every panel one after another. This time he did not find the solution right away. Instead the third panel he touched activated a trap but thankfully managed to avoid it at the last moment and so did not end with his feet perforated by the small iron stakes that suddenly emerged from the floor.
Still, there were no other options for searching without activating and spending his consciousness, which he did not want to do. It took him half an hour and three traps that he thankfully somehow managed to avoid thanks to his superior senses before finally managing to find the panel that felt different from the rest and press it.
As the door opened, Wu Guang proceeded towards what should be the last challenge while thinking that this whole challenge seemed to give him the unexpected advantage of training the 7th, intuition-like sense. And indeed, he had sensed danger right as he touched the aforementioned three panels and so avoided activating the traps linked to them.
In fact, 7th sense was something uncontrollable and actually could be mistaken if the cultivator did not understand the signal or the sense itself was not trained enough.
Arriving at the sixth and last room after crossing the newly opened passage, Wu Guang found himself in a room far bigger than the previous ones. During his previous visit, this was the room with a puzzle that made Wu Guang searching around for small sockets and inserting the corresponding rock of the 71 he was given. This time the room was absolutely empty but the walls and roof tiles were covered in holes, which in combination with the fact that the only sense left to test was the qi sense could mean only one thing - that something would be launched or shot from there and he would need to evade it by sensing it.
Such a challenge was something present in all schools, sects, monasteries, and military academies. It not only trained the cultivator senses but also the reaction and speed. In his memories, he had not only trained in such rooms but also created one for the disciples of the 'Astral Forest' so, in place of any expected emotion from encountering such a dangerous and tiring trap, he was mainly nostalgic after remembering how he once activated all the arrows at once to teach the disciples to avoid an attack coming from all the directions.
After a brief moment spent with such memories, Wu Guang quickly cleared his mind and prepared himself to cross the room. Thankfully he had only to cross it and did not need to remain inside for a determined amount of time as in his own experience. Using speed was an option, but Wu Guang knew that most probably the trap was rigged to shoot more if qi was used nearby, so in place of that he slowly started advancing.
Stolen novel; please report.
It took him six minutes to cross the room and he managed to avoid all the qi arrows, which albeit invisible disturbed the qi far more than a physical one and so could be sensed even before they left the orifice from where they were shot. Such ease also came from the fact that Wu Guang had already finished training his qi sense, while the challenge itself required only some basic ability to use it.
And so after crossing the door that was already opened before he even started moving through the room and actually it was the fact it was open that made him decide that he would not need to spend time inside the room evading arrows, Wu Guang entered the last passage.
Surprisingly it had no traps at all or in any case they were not activated and so Wu Guang reached the small room that contained the rune-plate he had reached before during the test.
This time the process would be the same, with him only needing to place his badge on the rune plate and so his success will be acknowledged. But Wu Guang did not do so and in place of that sat down to meditate.
Albeit this could be seen as strange, in truth Wu Guang's thoughts were easy to guess, he completed the challenge in less than two and a half hours of the six hours allocated for it. If he finished right now, most probably he would finish even before the ones that were in the medium difficulty challenge.
And such notoriety was not for him, well at least he considered that it was unnecessary and even conflicted with his goal of cultivating in peace until Soul realm and leaving.
Still, 200 points were useful and so Wu Guang reached a compromise, which would be to complete the challenge and receive the reward, but using the maximum amount of time allowed. He was the only one who had chosen the hard route and so in any case would be considered the winner if he finished under six hours.
Acting as this Wu Guang arrived at the tower room about seven hours after the start, as he had to walk almost five miles back while again evading the traps in the corridors, which did not deactivate as one would expect. Strangely he was met with a room where only a single person was present, which was the elder.
Seemingly his surprise was noticeable, as the elder quickly explained
"Everyone has left as I explained that the challenge is considered complete if the traps are not damaged. And checking them would take time so we will contact the one who will receive the prize. I did not announce the times of anyone and so there should be a low chance of them finding out who won"
"Thank you for the explanation, but why?" Such an explanation was surprising by its own right and considering that it seemed to fall in with his own thoughts, it only grew more suspiciously convenient. And to such a point that Wu Guang could only ask in hopes of finding the reason behind it.
"You should know better, after all, you completed it in under two and half hours"
"..."
"The challenge was not monitored, but the activation of the traps is. So as you could not have spent more than three hours crossing the last corridor, it's logical for me and the other supervisors to judge your overall time. The excuse that was given out is mostly because we understand your reasons to evade publicity, especially if considering that you are already considered a rare genius that attained top scores unseen for years"
"Then I thank you. I do consider that acknowledgment is good, but other disciples should also have a chance to be spoken about" Wu Guang understood that the supervisor's conclusion was wrong, but thankfully it helped him with his own goal and so he simply followed the lead of the elder and so answered as expected.
Before Wu Guang left he received his 200 points and spent a bit of time speaking with the elder about different themes that mostly touched subjects of the sect lessons and training. Afterward, he said his farewells and exited the tower.
The sun was rising and thanks to the three hours he spent meditating while waiting for time to pass he was in peak condition. So Wu Guang decided against returning to the residence.
His pressure training would occupy most of his day but before that Wu Guang needed to do some preparations. And so in place of walking towards the 'Discipline Court', he moved towards the main plaza of the sect first.