Sage took a deep breath and then fixed his attention upon the floating wall of symbols in front of him. His eyes were sharp and his focus intense.

Then he reached up and scratched a claw against his chin, “This doesn’t make any sense.”

He spoke aloud to himself, then gave it another try. It was just as fruitless as the first attempt. He spun his head around upside down without his arms and legs leaving the ground, then he walked around behind the wall of symbols and even held up a mirror to look at the screen through. Once he’d started down that rabbit hole he couldn’t stop. He poured water onto the tablet, he held it in the watery screen of a falling waterfall, he soaked it in lemon juice, ink, and a dozen other types of liquids. He even brought it out under the moonlight, the light of dawn and sunset, along with high noon. He used some gemstones to look at it through a colored lens, and tried to send a dozen different types of Qi into it using Fire Stones and similar objects of different types.

After spending a whole day treating it like a puzzle box, he finally gave up and brought it into the Universe Ring. Sage had the Hoplites prepare him a huge feast and then he called over Tao Ba. After flattering him for a while, Sage served him tea and brought out the feast. He made sure to butter him up before he popped the question. No, not that one. He brought out the Stone Tablet and sent his Qi into it. A few moments later, Sage was taking up half the room with his true form and Tao Ba could now see the wall of symbols that had stumped Sage.

“Impressive little light show. So, this is why you called for me?”

Tao Ba stood up from his seat and walked over to get a closer look. He patted his pot belly a few times before sticking up his chin and flipping back his hair with a superior air, “It would take more than this to stump me, Little Snake.”

Sage bowed and groveled, rambling about how great the kid was and how he must surely know all the secrets of the universe.

“Hah, nice try. You won’t get to learn more about the Universe Ring that easily.”

Sage prevented any of his surprise from showing on his face, “Please forgive me, Great One. I am merely too curious for my own good. I am truly not worthy of your instruction. I hoped that you would tell me the secret to understanding this Stone Tablet out of the kindness of your magnanimous heart, but I am undeserving.”

While Sage bowed and pleaded, Tao Ba looked up at the sky with a conceited grin and basked in the praise for a bit longer. Eventually, he looked down at Sage with pity and smiled, “Such an excellent servant, I will reward you with a morsel.”

Tao Ba pointed at the Stone Tablet, “This is a legacy. Someone called ‘The Essence Sculptor’ left it behind. If someone that meets the requirements were to bind it with blood and infuse their Qi, they will be given a trial. If they succeed they will essentially become the creator’s disciple and have the opportunity to accept the legacy of their skills and techniques.”

Of course Sage knew of such things, he’d experienced a lesser version of that already with the Timeless Master. He’d just never heard of a simple stone tablet being able to perform such a miraculous thing.

“I’m pretty sure the Essence Sculptor was a Seal Master, so the tablet has protection against other seals. It broke yours as a defense mechanism.”

“The Great One was able to learn so much so quickly. You truly are the best, but what are the requirements, how can I see what the trial is?”

Tao Ba laughed at Sage actually being flustered enough to throw two big questions into a single sentence, “Haha. So eager. Pretty simple. Just swear fealty and take the Essence Sculptor as your Master. The trial is to learn his core technique. If you cannot learn it in one year, you fail and forfeit your life.”

Sage flattered and cajoled with Tao Ba for another hour, using the time to keep buttering him up and confirming what he’d said. He wanted to make sure the extremely powerful beast, that looked like a child, wasn’t just teasing him. After getting the same answer multiple times, he spent another hour without any more questions before finally getting away from the terrifying creature in a boy’s body.

With the mystery of the Stone Tablet solved, Sage fought against his curiosity and decided not to immediately attempt the trial. He still had other avenues to rapidly increase his strength. Having greater strength did not necessarily mean he could learn a technique any faster, but in his experience improving in rank would create an all around improvement in a Cultivator’s capabilities.

I will attempt the trial only after hitting a plateau in rank 5.

With that decided he turned his attention back to the lump of clay. In truth, the resonating feeling sort of scared him. That’s why he had only given it a cursory examination before pulling out all the stops investigating the Stone Tablet. Sure, that tablet had caused him quite some trouble, but it wasn’t calling out to something inside him. The feeling seemed to come from deep within, there was even something almost sensual about it, and that made him even more wary of it. There was the chance it was an item perfect for him, but it was just as likely it was a terrible poison or foe that was able to confuse his senses.

Many flowers were beautiful or sweet smelling to insects to lure them in. The kind plants would have bugs carry pollen for them, while the carnivorous ones would trap them and use them as fertilizer. He was not going to let this little lump of clay trick him into a trap. He was going to take the process nice and slow. To that end, he treated it as a subject of scientific research and used his workshop to build tools and devices to assist him. He was going to crack open that lump of clay and find out what was inside… from a safe distance.

Just like the auctioneer had hinted had been done in the past, Sage tried to crack the clay with standard methods. Fire, water, cold. Crushing, piercing, hammering, vibrating, sanding. Then he tried a dozen different acids, solvents, and other unusual liquids. None of them seemed to do a thing other than slightly stain the lump of clay. He surmised the other smudges and color spots were caused by others doing similar tests of their own in the past. On the plus side, that meant the thing inside was less likely to be a trap if so many wanted to break into it. On the other hand, it also meant that opening it up wasn’t going to be easy.

For a moment he thought about going to ask Tao Ba again, but for his own sanity he could only talk to that boy once every few months at the most. There was also plenty of things he still hadn’t tried.

Time to put my new body through its paces!