Chapter 112: Spiritual Power Test
Elder Yue Jingchan agreed with Prince Huoxing's proposal. He also wanted to take this opportunity to see just how strong the young prodigies of the Western Courtyard truly were.
Soon, a Spirit Measurement Stone was brought up and placed on an iron stand, set up before the doors of the Divine Power Hall.
Vice Dean Qinghua looked down at the twelve young disciples below and said, "In this spiritual power test, everyone must give their full effort. Only by understanding the intensity of your spiritual power can Elder Yue Jingchan better guide your cultivation in this area. Now, in order of age, you will test your spiritual power one by one. Tuo Muzi, you are the oldest, so you will go first."
"Alright!"
Tuo Muzi was very confident in his spiritual power intensity. After all, nine years ago, he had become an outer palace disciple of the Western Courtyard with the highest score among the new students. Every year, he had twelve opportunities to enter the Divine Power Hall to cultivate his spiritual power.
Nine years of time had already brought his spiritual power to a fairly high level.
Tuo Muzi had a robust physique, his body covered in bronze-colored muscles. He walked up to the Spirit Measurement Stone and pressed his palm against its surface.
"Whoosh!"
On the surface of the Spirit Measurement Stone, circles of light patterns emerged.
One layer of light patterns, two layers, three layers... finally, the light patterns stopped at twenty-four layers.
Tuo Muzi wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at his result, feeling quite satisfied. He let out a hearty laugh.
"As expected of the senior brother, his spiritual power is so strong!"
"I heard that senior brother also dabbles in artifact forging and beast taming. He's both a second-rank artifact forger and a second-rank beast tamer. Having strong spiritual power really makes a difference."
Elder Yue Jingchan nodded slightly and said, "To have cultivated your spiritual power to the twenty-fourth rank before the age of thirty is already quite remarkable. If you calm your mind and devote all your energy to artifact forging or beast taming, you will surely become a powerful artifact forger or beast tamer in the future."
Elder Yue Jingchan's words seemed to praise Tuo Muzi, but they were also a stern criticism.
Tuo Muzi's talent was very high, something everyone could see. If he had focused solely on martial arts, he would certainly have reached the Earth Extreme Realm by now.
If he had specialized in artifact forging, he would definitely have reached the level of a third-rank artifact forger. If he had specialized in beast taming, he would also have reached the level of a third-rank beast tamer.
But Tuo Muzi happened to have high talent in all three areas and wanted to cultivate each one, which led to him being mediocre in all three.
Tuo Muzi naturally understood Elder Yue Jingchan's criticism, so he humbly asked for guidance: "May I ask the elder, which path should this student take from now on?"
Elder Yue Jingchan said, "The path lies beneath your feet. How you choose depends on you. I can only give you some advice. If you plan to continue cultivating martial arts in the future, you must abandon artifact forging and beast taming. You can only treat them as hobbies, but you absolutely cannot spend too much energy on them. If you do this, with your talent, when the inner palace opens the intermediate relic exploration exam early next year, you should have a chance to break through to the Earth Extreme Realm and become an inner palace disciple."
Upon hearing "intermediate relic exploration exam," Tuo Muzi's eyes lit up.
It wasn't just Tuo Muzi. Huang Yanchen, Duanmu Xingling, and several other senior students who had been at the Martial Market Academy for years all became excited.
They had finally received news about the intermediate relic exploration exam.
Elder Yue Jingchan continued, "If you want to walk the path of artifact forging or beast taming, with your twenty-fourth rank spiritual power, you are fully qualified to enter the inner palace for cultivation. I can introduce you to an elder who is an artifact forger or a beast tamer as your teacher. Tuo Muzi, how do you choose?"
Tuo Muzi clenched his fists tightly, as if he had already made a decision. He smiled and said, "Reporting to the elder, I have always wanted to become a strong martial artist. If I wanted to break through to the Earth Extreme Realm, I would have had the chance four years ago."
"For the past four years, the reason I studied beast taming and artifact forging was that I was waiting for next year's intermediate relic exploration exam. Since the academy will open the intermediate relic early next year, I will naturally choose the path of martial arts and enter the intermediate relic in my most flourishing state."
Elder Yue Jingchan was slightly surprised, a helpless smile appearing on his face. He said, "You delayed breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm just to wait for next year's intermediate relic exploration exam?"
"That's right," Tuo Muzi said.
Breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm was a very difficult task, so the Martial Market Academy held a primary relic exploration exam every two years.
The so-called primary relic exploration exam was essentially a promotion exam. Only disciples who had reached the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection were eligible to participate.
In the primary relic, disciples could not only obtain a large number of precious cultivation resources but also undergo harsh training. Many disciples stuck at the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection could break through their shackles through this training, reaching the Earth Extreme Realm and becoming inner palace disciples.
The primary relic exploration exam was held every two years, and only martial artists at the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection could participate.
The intermediate relic exploration exam, however, was held every ten years. Only the top ten disciples from the four major courtyards could participate. The opportunity was even more precious, and the benefits were greater. Therefore, the top talents of the four major courtyards almost all deliberately suppressed their cultivation, waiting for the intermediate relic exploration exam.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Huang Yanchen and Duanmu Xingling and thought to himself, "No wonder the top new students of the Western Courtyard over the past ten years have only had one break through to the Earth Extreme Realm and go to the inner courtyard for further study. It turns out the others were all waiting for the intermediate relic exploration exam."
Zhang Ruochen was also considering whether he should strive for a spot, because missing this opportunity would mean waiting another ten years.
Tuo Muzi stepped back. The second disciple to test his spiritual power was the top new student from seven years ago, named Ju Hailan, who was twenty-six years old.
"Ju Hailan, spiritual power, eighteenth rank."
Ju Hailan was quite satisfied with his spiritual power. Although it wasn't as good as Tuo Muzi's, it was already stronger than the spiritual power of many Earth Extreme Realm martial artists.
The third disciple to test his spiritual power was the top new student from six years ago, named Hua Lian, who was twenty-four years old.
"Hua Lian, spiritual power, sixteenth rank."
The fourth disciple to test his spiritual power was the top new student from two years ago, Yuchi Tiancong, who was twenty-three years old.
"Yuchi Tiancong, spiritual power, twelfth rank."
Ordinary martial artists only had spiritual power around the tenth rank.
Yuchi Tiancong had only joined the Martial Market Academy two years ago and had only been cultivating spiritual power for two years. His current result was already quite good.
The fifth disciple to test her spiritual power was the top new student from one year ago, Xue Ling, who was twenty-two years old.
"Xue Ling, spiritual power, twelfth rank."
The sixth disciple to test her spiritual power was Zi Qian, who was twenty-two years old.
Zi Qian was not from a noble family after all. She hadn't had so many cultivation resources since childhood. To reach her current level of cultivation at twenty-two was already quite remarkable for a martial artist from a poor background. To obtain cultivation resources, she had to kill people to earn money and then buy pills, martial techniques, secret manuals, and weapons herself.
"Zi Qian, spiritual power, sixteenth rank."
When Elder Yue Jingchan announced Zi Qian's spiritual power intensity, the disciples below all showed a hint of surprise. For a new student to have spiritual power reaching the sixteenth rank was indeed a very astonishing thing.
The seventh disciple to test her spiritual power was the top new student from five years ago, Huang Yanchen, who was twenty-one years old.
"Huang Yanchen, spiritual power, twenty-first rank."
Huang Yanchen looked at her result, a smile appearing on her face. She hadn't expected her spiritual power to have increased by another rank recently.
Don't underestimate a single rank. After spiritual power reached the fifteenth rank, every increase was extremely difficult.
The eighth disciple to test his spiritual power was Prince Huoxing, who was twenty-one years old.
"Huoxing, spiritual power, seventeenth rank."
Elder Yue Jingchan looked at Prince Huoxing with great satisfaction and sighed inwardly. This year's new students of the Western Courtyard were truly formidable, all having such strong spiritual power.
Prince Huoxing, however, was not very satisfied. He had originally planned to make a stunning impression through the spiritual power test, but Huang Yanchen's performance earlier had been too dazzling, completely overshadowing him.
Both were twenty-one years old, yet Huang Yanchen's spiritual power had reached the twenty-first rank, four ranks higher than his.
What did he have to be proud of?
The ninth disciple to test his spiritual power was Yao Qingtong, who was nineteen years old.
"Yao Qingtong, spiritual power, fifteenth rank."
At this moment, the most uncomfortable people were Yuchi Tiancong and Xue Ling. They were senior students, yet they had been surpassed by the new students. It was one thing for a new student to have stronger spiritual power than them, but three new students at once were stronger. How could they face this?
The tenth disciple to test her spiritual power was the top new student from three years ago, Duanmu Xingling, who was eighteen years old.
"Duanmu Xingling, spiritual power, twentieth rank," Elder Yue Jingchan said with a smile.
The eleventh disciple to test her spiritual power was the top new student from four years ago, Luo Shuihan, who was seventeen years old.
"Luo Shuihan, it's your turn to test your spiritual power," Elder Yue Jingchan said with a beaming smile.
Luo Shuihan's background was not simple. She was the descendant of Luo Xu, the greatest genius of the Western Courtyard in four hundred and sixty years. Four years ago, at just thirteen years old, she became the top new student of the Western Courtyard, shocking the entire Martial Market Academy.
The Luo family was a very powerful and prosperous clan. Luo Shuihan had no need to come to the Western Courtyard to cultivate, but she was exceptionally proud and wanted to surpass her ancestor, Luo Xu.
Therefore, she came to the Western Courtyard, walking the path her ancestor Luo Xu had once walked, and wanted to become as powerful a figure as her ancestor.
Although Luo Shuihan was only seventeen years old, she was recognized as the number one person in the Western Courtyard. Even Tuo Muzi, Huang Yanchen, and Duanmu Xingling were far from being her match.
Zhang Ruochen was also very curious about this top-ranked prodigy and turned his gaze toward Luo Shuihan.
Luo Shuihan wore an ordinary white robe, with no adornments on her person, looking very plain. If she stood among a crowd, you wouldn't notice her at all. But once you did notice her, you would definitely be captivated by her beauty and temperament. You could only sigh inwardly that such a woman did not belong to the mortal world, like a fairy descending to earth.
Zhang Ruochen could find no flaw in her. She was perfectly flawless, and he sighed inwardly, "Truly a peerless and independent beauty. She is neither as cold as Huang Yanchen nor as quirky as Duanmu Xingling. It's a kind of detached, otherworldly temperament that makes one only able to admire her from afar, unable to approach."