Firstly, he tested the added feature. The swords suddenly seeming to disappear. Of course, they weren’t gone, but the sudden change in size was abrupt. Each of the swords was suddenly the size of a toothpick, and given their shape they looked quite like a tiny trowel, or a stylized silver spade off a playing card.

From their shape, Sage figured they would be sub-optimal if used in the normal manner of a sword. The shorter length and thick body would reduce their reach and create extra drag when swinging them around. Song Lu Tian’s second test finally confirmed Sage’s guess. Eight of the swords flew into the air and their points met, arranging themselves in a circle in front of Song Lu Tian. The pie shape finally made sense, eight of them formed together into a perfect circle, the edges of the blades overlapping on one side and forming a four foot wide shield of metal in front of him. Song Lu Tian even had four more blades to use as offense. A moment later, Song Lu Tian even inserted the extra four blades into the shield, overlapping each of them a bit more to improve the thickness.

“Excellent! As expected of the Great Song Lu Tian. You won’t be wielding the swords individually that often, so you sacrifice a bit of efficiency in swordplay to create a powerful defensive option!”

Sage shouted out excitedly. Most people enjoying getting compliments, it was a fact. Especially young folks. From the way Song Lu Tian didn’t have a troop of sycophants, he knew the man wasn’t obsessed with them, but even so it shouldn’t hurt to give a few. Especially with how well thought out this idea was. Sage had seen Song Lu Tian defeating people with his muscles and sword qi on a finger, so it was apparent he didn’t need the formation swords for close up sword play. It was quite an excellent compromise.

After explaining all the items he’d brought to garner Song Lu Tian’s support, they had a discussion to finalize their agreement. Sage passed over all of the information he’d got from the Zhu Clan on exactly what the Double Flowered Ice Camellia looked like, roughly where it could be found, and the dangers he might expect to run into on the way. Towards this purpose, Sage even handed over a small map scroll, a copy of the something that the Zhu Clan had given him. It was a rough map of the Thunder Mountain Bridge area with colored rings showing different levels of danger along with some brief descriptions of where certain beasts were frequently living and their abilities and weaknesses.

Song Lu Tian seemed quite pleased with everything that Sage had given him, smiling and slapping Sage on the back, “Don’t you worry. I’ll bring you back a huge pile of these silly flowers. Nobody else even wants them, it shouldn’t be a problem to fill up two or three storage rings.”

At this point the big man pulled a chain out from under his breastplate and showed Sage that he at least a dozen storage rings hanging around his neck. He then put the necklace away and Sage smiled. To carry around so much space for treasure definitely meant he was an expert at collecting it. The Zhu Clan had required him to gather at least a hundred of the flowers. A standard storage ring could easily contain thousands of them. With their deal concluded, Sage didn’t want to overstay his welcome.

“Thank you for your assistance with this task. I can only hope this is only the beginning of our cooperation. In the future, it would be my honor to continue to craft further equipment for you.”

After a bit more pleasantries were exchanged, he took his leave and returned to the home he was staying at. He paid them well for the spare room he’d borrowed, making sure to arrive and leave without any set pattern or frequency. He’d sneak out or sneak in sometimes, making sure they had no idea whether he was there or not. Of course this was because he was merely using this room he’d rented as a place to keep the Universe Ring hidden.

Hmm, I should make a device to keep the ring hidden and protected while I’m inside it. It wouldn’t be good if someone picked it up and tried to take it by force.

The next day, thousands of people gathered to see the ‘heroes’ off. The ten geniuses that had won the tournament were heaped with praise. Their responses varying drastically, but the majority of them seemed to ignore the crowd and focused upon their tasks. Kang Min, the beauty with a huge saber, blushed red and waved shyly at the crowd. Qin Bao, and his golden tongue, actually gave a speech to all his friends and fans, promising them glory and renown if they were to join his future exploits. The two lucky winners of the last group tried to take advantage and increase their fame, following in Qin Bao’s footsteps to try and get themselves future benefits. Chong Xiezi waved to the crowd like a young idol. Many young men in the crowd were enchanted by her beauty, not knowing her reputation. It was only when she started to laugh that a chill went up their spines. Her laugh was terrifying, just like a wicked villain plotting revenge. Later, many in the crowd would learn of her past exploits and be thankful they hadn’t tried to pursue her.

The Trial Master ignored the crowd, just as the other six of the top ten did, giving them all a few minutes to revel in the moment and bask in their glory. He knew that at least a few of these geniuses would probably not be coming back. The place they were going was somewhere even he couldn’t travel to easily. Thunder Mountain Bridge suppressed those above a certain age and rank, if anyone were to break those rules it would react violently. While the Trial Master could enter, it would cause such devastation that most of the precious resources would be damaged and he would have little opportunity to collect them, spending most of his effort fighting off the place’s defenses.

“It is time.”

The Trial Master held out the Constellation Shell Mirror and, in a flash, the ten geniuses disappeared.

“Please return in two weeks time.”

The Trial Master gave the simple order to the crowd and disappeared into Plum Lantern City’s Town Hall. Passing through a defensive formation he entered a large room. Walking into the center of the room there was another array, and if Sage was here he would have recognized it as a Transportation Formation. The Trial Master tossed a pile of Spirit Stones into the center, at least a few hundred, at which point the array lit up. In less than a minute the array finally flashed and the Trial Master was gone.

Somewhere quite far away, the Trial Master was standing in front of a huge metallic ring, easily thirty feet tall. A moment later, the ten young geniuses appeared next to him. Each of them taking a moment to try and figure out where they were. They were in a small room completely surrounded by a slightly porous looking rock. The only two things inside were the huge metallic ring and the array formation on the ground behind them. The Trial Master didn’t tell them anything, merely letting them observe as he sent his Qi into the huge ring. Slowly it started to spin in place, the energy saturating it and causing it to start to glow. After a few minutes the metallic ring and the glowing energy seemed to separate. The glowing ring slid away from the metal ring like a giant vertical halo. The Trial Master poured in more energy and the metallic ring lit up once more. The process repeated itself until there was a dozen of those huge glowing rings floating in the air behind the metallic ring, each of them in a perfect alignment. The air and light within the rings began to shimmer and twist before the Trial Master finally nodded and spoke to them, “Step inside.”