Su Mo slowly released his willpower, and it enveloped the Fire Lotus.
Willpower was the spiritual power of a martial artist, a form of 'will', seemingly vague and insubstantial but entirely real.
Spiritual consciousness is the embodiment of one's willpower ability.
Comprehension was also linked to the strength of one's willpower.
Simply put, spiritual consciousness was part of one's willpower.
As Su Mo's consciousness blanketed the Fire Lotus, he let his consciousness immerse into every part of the Fire Lotus before his spiritual consciousness also gradually trickled into the Fire Lotus.
As he controlled his spiritual consciousness, the outermost petal of the Fire Lotus opened immediately at his command.
Su Mo was delighted to see that this test wasn't too difficult after all!
However, he did not let down his guard since it was just the first petal.
Next, Su Mo used his spiritual consciousness to control and his mind as a guide to quickly open the next few petals.
In less than five breaths, Su Mo had already opened eight petals at an incredible speed.
"Could it be this simple?" Su Mo was slightly puzzled. He had already opened eight petals and did not face any difficulty at all.
"Could my willpower be much stronger than an average person?" Su Mo marvelled inwardly. He had already known that his willpower surpassed an average person, this could be seen from his speed of cultivating martial arts techniques and also from his comprehension.
Su Mo had speculated that the reason for his mighty willpower was because his previous lifetime had meshed with his current one, which made him naturally stronger than others by a mile.
Even so, he was still a little taken aback by the speed he was managing to open the petals.
"Now I'm curious to know my limits." Su Mo took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and continued to control the opening of the lotus petals.
The ninth petal opened!
Then the tenth petal opened!
He had opened ten petals in another three breaths, yet he remained completely unaffected.
He did not stop, and continued to control the opening of the lotus petals with his mind and spiritual consciousness.
The eleventh petal!
The twelfth!
The thirteenth!
Su Mo started to slow down. He had used more than ten breaths to open those three petals, and had started to feel the weight of those petals.
The stone chamber was dead silent, and everyone gaped at the scene in front of them, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The fourteenth petal was exceptionally heavy, and Su Mo used all of his mental energy, taking 20 breaths before he managed to get this lotus petal completely open.
Next was the fifteenth and the final petal.
The final petal felt as heavy as a mountain, and remained stubbornly shut. Su Mo completely unleashed his spiritual consciousness, wrapping it tightly around this lotus petal, forcing it open with his mind.
The effort it took was like a mere mortal trying to move a large boulder. It was extremely taxing.
5 minutes passed before this petal was half-opened.
"I refuse to believe you can't be opened!" Su Mo clenched his jaw and continued to draw on his spiritual consciousness and his mental strength, exerting the full might of his will for that petal to open.
Beads of sweat started to appear on Su Mo's forehead, a reflection of how difficult the final petal was to open.
Even so, under Su Mo's mental control, the final petal finally fully opened after another 5 minutes.
Puff!
Su Mo finally let out a sigh of relief, all fifteen petals were opened and he had only taken a little longer than Hong Qingxuan took to open ten petals.
Just then, something strange happened. The Fire Lotus in full bloom started to vibrate all of a sudden.
As Su Mo looked on in shock, a red hologram of an elderly man emerged from the Fire Lotus.
"This…!?" Su Mo was struck dumb, stunned that there was someone within the Fire Lotus.
This red elderly man was practically translucent. The moment he appeared, his gaze rested on Su Mo.
"Willpower talent of the 15th level! I had presumed such a person wouldn't exist in this world, but you've appeared!" the elderly man muttered to himself, his face full of emotions.
"Elder, you are…?" Su Mo rose to his feet and stared curiously at this elderly man.
The elderly man returned to his senses at Su Mo's words and said with a smile, "I am Ou Lianzi!"
"What?" even though Su Mo had guessed it, he couldn't help but feel surprised that it was truly Ou Lianzi, Craftsmanship Grandmaster of Upper Imperial grade.
"Young man, willpower talent like yours has never before existed in this world. It's like you were born to be a craftsman, you shouldn't waste this talent of yours!" Ou Lianzi said, then sighed. "It is a pity that we were not of the same generation, or I would have taken you in as my pro-disciple, and taught you everything I knew."
Ou Lianzi was filled with emotions. This Fire Lotus that could assess willpower was a treasure back in his time, and was rather accurate since it was not affected by one's cultivation.
As far as he could remember, no one within the entire Firmament and Continent had managed to hit the fifteenth level. Even he, the best Craftsmanship Grandmaster of his time, only managed to hit the fourteenth level when he took the same test.
He had once thought that it was impossible for someone's willpower talent to be at the fifteenth level, but with the appearance of Su Mo, he threw this theory out of the window.
Uh..
Su Mo's face stiffened at Ou Lianzi's words, for where could he find the time to learn about crafts?
The reason why he took part in this test was because he felt that Ou Lianzi's Legacy would fetch a pretty penny. The thought of learning crafts had never crossed his mind.
"Elder, rest assured! I will not waste my talent." Su Mo nodded at the elderly man despite not being prepared to learn crafts.
"Very well!" Ou Lianzi nodded with satisfaction. "Regardless of whether you could pass the third round and obtain my legacy, I cannot let a willpower talent like you leave empty handed."
"Oh?" Su Mo's eyes glittered at the thought of a reward. Since this elderly man was a Upper Grade Imperial craftsman, was he going to reward him with an Imperial Divine Weapon?
Su Mo couldn't hold back his excitement.
Ou Lianzi paused thoughtfully, then raised his palm and suddenly pointed at Su Mo's head.
Su Mo's body jolted as he felt a huge amount of information filling his mind.
Oof!
Su Mo groaned at the weight of the information. He felt like his head was splitting apart.
Soon, Ou Lianzi withdrew his palm, and his figure became even more translucent.
"Alright, this is my reward to you. I hope you will live up to my expectations!" Ou Lianzi sighed. "I am made up of mental energy, and have exhausted the last of my energy. I will vanish soon. Go forth and proceed to the third test! I hope you will complete the test."
As soon as he finished, he started to disintegrate and completely vanished.
Su Mo felt like his head was painfully swollen. He did not have the time to look through the information in his mind before his body was enveloped by the light from the Fire Lotus, and soon disappeared from view.
After Su Mo left, the stone chamber was still deathly silent, the few remaining had their face frozen in shock. Once they came back to their senses, the whole chamber burst into an uproar.