Chapter 64: Trial of Wisdom
Author’s Note: Bonus Chapter requirements are stated below in the Author’s thought box, please endeavor to read it.
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"It is time for the Trial of Wisdom to begin." The Great Sage bellowed as Jacob and Xenia stood preparedly before him.
A calm breeze began to swirl around them, increasing rapidly in pace and before long, it had transformed to something of a tornado. They both closed their eyes and put out their hands to shield them from the flying rubble.
After about thirty seconds of restless wind, the breeze calmed. Jacob and Xenia opened their eyes and found themselves standing in front of a golden gate stretching beyond the clouds.
They could tell they were in Narvia because they could still see the endless sea of clouds and the towering pillars with their golden hues.
A frail old man stood at the side of the gate with a jade cane, he had a wrinkled look and his frizzy white beard and hair ran all the way to the ground.
"Step through the gate," the man said in a low voice. The gates creaked and swung open, revealing a bright light.
Jacob and Xenia walked until they had crossed the threshold, revealing a different world, the endless sea of clouds had vanished, the towering gold pillars had disappeared.
In their place, stood a line bridge, stretching across an endless abyss.
The bridge was ancient, worn out by countless years of use. It was so narrow that only two people at most could cross. Beyond it, covered in mist, was a floating island.
They hadn’t seen the frail old man follow them through the gate so they became a little startled when he spoke from behind them.
"Welcome to Silo. Here you will undergo the Trial of Wisdom." The man said as he walked towards the bridge, pacing himself with his cane.
"I am Gattu, consider me your guide. Pay close attention because once you step on the bridge I can no longer be of any help to you." Gattu explained.
"So all we have to do is cross the bridge?" Jacob asked.
"Precisely." Gattu replied, waving his hand, three symbols begun to glow in the air before him.
A sword.
A crown.
A tree.
The sword was in the color of red, the crown yellow, and the tree green. The old man asked a simple question. "Which sustains the world?"
Xenia immediately pointed to the crown. "A ruler." She answered.
Jacob shook his head, pointing to the tree. "It’s obviously the tree." He said.
The symbol of the sword immediately lit up. "Try again." The old man said.
They were both wrong, they stood in silence, minutes passed as they debated every single possibility. Jacob’s mind raced until finally—like a light bulb appeared over his head, he arrived at an answer.
Instead of focusing on the symbols, he focused on the question itself.
He smiled. "None of them." He responded.
"What?" Xenia asked, unable to fathom what he had just said.
"The question assumes that one of these things sustain the world. But the world cannot be sustained by only one of these.
The sword protects it. The crown governs it, and the tree nourishes it."
Xenia’s eyes widened, as she had suddenly had an epiphany, coupled with the realization of the vast knowledge that Jacob possessed.
"Without one, the others ultimately fail." He concluded.
The moment those words left his mouth, all three symbols glowed.
"You have done well, you may now cross the bridge." The old man said, smiling knowingly.
Jacob and Xenia moved, placing one foot in front of the other as they walked on the narrow bridge.
’This seems too easy,’ Jacob thought as he walked along, wondering if there was more to the challenge.
There was a sudden rumble, the bridge shook violently. Xenia’s heart skipped several beats but she didn’t scream, she almost never did. Jacob grabbed the rails, made completely out of rope.
As they neared the middle of the bridge, a massive crack appeared before them. The bridge was split in half instantly.
The bridge had stopped shaking now, but the gap in the middle stretched dozens of meters wide.
Xenia frowned, she furrowed her brows and sighed. "I’ll fly us across," she said.
She immediately began to circulate her spirit energy, or so she thought.
Nothing happened.
Her cultivation was completely suppressed, not even the slightest puffs of wind obeyed her command. Jacob tried the same, the result was identical.
Neither of them could fly, Neither could use any movement techniques.
The distance was too great to jump, no hidden mechanisms were visible.
Jacob crouched beside the gap, feeling to see if the bridge had only just become invisible, but sure enough, there was a gap.
For an hour they stood there; searching, pondering on ways to move forward, but there was nothing, not a single clue.
After a while a large body of mist gathered before them, just beside the gap. It slowly materialized into a figure. It was the old man.
"Those who seek only one path will never find the destination." The man spoke, almost immediately as he had appeared.
The old man suddenly waved his hand, and a chess board appeared before him.
"Tell me, what is strength?" He asked, moving a pawn on the board.
Xenia again, was first to give a response. "It’s the ability to overcome one’s enemies."
The old man nodded. The pieces on the opposing end were moving of their own accord, as though the man was playing chess with himself.
Jacob spoke next. "The ability to accomplish one’s goals.
The old man nodded again.
Neither answer was wrong, neither was right either.
The old man continued, "What is wisdom?"
This time they remained silent, none of them answered immediately, minutes passed again, with none of them producing a response.
The man continued his chess game without looking up.
Finally, Jacob looked up towards the endless sky.
"Wisdom is knowing that not every problem requires strength." He said.
The old man smiled for the first time since he had reappeared.
The table disappeared, the old man vanished.
The bridge suddenly began to reconstruct itself, and in the distance they could both hear a voice:
"Most cultivators believe wisdom is knowledge."
"Others believe wisdom is intelligence."
"Both are mistaken."
"Wisdom is understanding."
"The understanding of when to fight, when to yield, and when neither is necessary."
