The Judgement

Jiu Ing announced that a period of one burning incense stick would be given for the test of Qi talent. Many contestants had done such a test like this in their own families before. Thus, they did not hesitate to transfer their energy into the stone. Some people could break the stone into two pieces, others three. As for those able to get four broken pieces, right now there were less than ten people, and there was only one that broke the black stone in his hand into five pieces.

Jiu Ing looked at the five broken pieces of stone in Zi Hui's hand with satisfaction but did not say any praise to him. Now, more than half of the contestants were done with the third round of the test.

… Why wasn’t the stone in my hand broken off?

During his childhood, Xueming himself had also undergone such a test in the Yong family. The result was that he could break the black stone into four pieces. Although the stone used in the Yong family had lower accuracy than those of the Azure Dragon Academy, it would not give a very different test result. At that time, this test result was the reason Xueming was regarded as the young genius of the Yong family. But why couldn't he break the black stone today?

Xueming constantly moaned in his heart and gulped down his saliva many times. Although he knew from Zi Hui that this third round of testing had no effect on becoming a disciple of the Azure Dragon Academy, he felt anxious because everyone before him could break the stone. In the history of the entrance exam of the Azure Dragon Academy, nobody had ever experienced an event like Xueming before.

Xueming's eyes were both closed. His right hand firmly clenched the black stone. He tried to push the Qi within his body to move and join together in the right-hand area. But every time the heat energy would follow it. Xueming did not pay attention to that and also believed that this energy might help raise the level of his talent.

However, the reality was different. Actually, the black stone was not a stone as it was called. Rather, it was an organ of a beast called the Black Lizard. The black stone was, in fact, the scales of the Black Lizard that had been processed until it could be used to assess the level of Qi absorption because the scales of the Black Lizard were sensitive to the change in the level of the Qi energy. The more quickly a cultivator could absorb the Qi, the faster he could cultivate his Qi when compared with the others having the same amount of resources. As for the Qi variation, it was believed that the person who was better at adapting his Qi would naturally be able to practice various martial skills more smoothly. That was the rationale of this black stone test.

However, the cause of Xueming's failure to absorb the Qi was the fact that the black stone was made of a living creature’s organ which could adapt and harmoniously unite with the person holding it as if it had become his flesh. That caused the scorching energy—with its healing ability—to maintain the original condition of the Black stone in Xueming's hand. At this time, the hot Qi energy had more power than the weak normal Qi in his body. While Xueming's normal Qi tried to absorb the outside energy into the black stone to break it, the scalding Qi energy tried to revive it back to its perfect original state. That was, a tug-of-war between a destroyer and a repairer, and most importantly, the reparative power was greater than the destructive power. As a result, the black stone in Xueming's hand didn't even have a crack—still perfect like new in every aspect.

Eventually, a period of a burning incense stick passed …

Among the two contestants who could split the black stone into five pieces, the first one was not very frightening because everyone in the Purple Jade City knew that the Zi family was a powerful family, and all generations of heirs were highly gifted. Although he was regarded as a young genius, the fact that Zi Hui had broken the stone into five pieces was not beyond expectations, unlike the other young man who was able to break the black stone and had traveled from a small town in the east named Li Fang.

... Judging from Jiu Ing's expression and eyes, it seemed that he was quite interested in the little boy Li Fang.

As for the persons who broke the black stone into four parts, there were 12 of them, all of whom were considered to have the potential to become inner disciples of the Azure Dragon Academy in the future. Although Jiu Ing did not show a satisfying expression, he unknowingly nodded many times.

After that, it was the contestants who broke the black stone into three and two pieces, respectively, whom Jiu Ing didn’t even glimpse, until only one contestant remaining.

“There was one contestant who couldn’t break the black stone…”

"What did you say?!" As soon as the outer disciple who gathered the test results spoke, Jiu Ing looked at him with frustration. "Say it again."

Seeing the reaction of the Vice President of the Academy, Xueming's expression had become serious.

"My report to Vice President Jiu. This year, there was one contestant who couldn’t break the black stone, Sir.”

“That’s absurd, definitely absurd.”

Although Zi Hui had told Xueming before the test in this round that everyone joining the third round was guaranteed the status of the Academy’s disciple, Xueming was still anxious because it had never happened to Xueming like this before.

"Who is this stupid? Step forward!” Vice President Jiu Ing knew that in the third round of the test in the past since the foundation of the Azure Dragon Academy, not even a single contestant had ever been eliminated because those who passed the first two rounds were considered to have sufficient qualifications to become a disciple of the Academy. The third round was only conducted to help the allocation of limited resources of the Academy to yield maximum benefits.

Moreover, Jiu Ing himself was once known as a young genius in his own generation, causing him to have a habit of perfectionism. When discovering that there was a person with no talent that was unable to break the black stone, especially during the time that he was in charge of recruiting this class of students, Jiu Ing felt very upset.

(In every year, the person serving as the head of the new student admission would be appointed by the President of the Azure Dragon Academy named Si Chai. But in most cases, the President would appoint one of the two Vice Presidents alternately, except for the year that he had heard the news beforehand that there would be a genius applicant that was more extraordinary than usual, the President of the Azure Dragon Academy would devote his time to become the head of the admission himself, for example, when Jiu Xin had joined the test last year.)

After shaking off his worries, Xueming then stepped forward confidently. Having gone through difficulties in the first two rounds, if he had to be eliminated just because of a black stone, Xueming would definitely not let that happen.

Jiu Ing didn’t even glimpse Xueming. Instead, he called up Xueming's test reports of the first two rounds. "1,000 Jin punch weight," said Jiu Ing with an insulting tone because it was the lowest punch weight that barely passed the threshold. “The second round,” Jiu Ing's expression was not satisfied. "Elder Bu ..." Jiu Ing turned to ask Buzhen. "Do you confirm that this stupid boy with a punch weight of only 1,000 Jin was able to kill the beast with the first level of the basic Qi?"

When Jiu Ing browsed Xueming's test record, Buzhen knew that he would eventually get to his test round. Therefore, he did not panic. Buzhen grinned before saying with confidence because he quite clicked with Xueming. "Yes, I confirm that it’s true." Then, he explained the events in the first round and the second round truthfully.

Although Jiu Ing was still in doubt, with Buzhen’s elder status, his words of confirmation made Jiu Ing unable to find an excuse to expel Xueming from the test. When he glanced at Xueming whose eyes had confidence and no fear, Jiu Ing's nerve was touched. "Hmm, although no one had ever failed the test in the third round before, that was because there had never been a stupid and talentless like this kid before.” Jiu Ing finally couldn't resist the idea of disqualifying Xueming. He prepared to make a decision in the next sentence. "As the head of the Azure Dragon Academy admission this year, I have decided that ..."

Nonetheless, before Jiu Ing could finish the sentence, another powerful voice interrupted. "Hold it!" Almost all pairs of eyes turned to the source of the sound because all the people in the Azure Dragon Academy knew well that the number of persons in the Academy daring to interrupt Jiu Ing would not exceed that of fingers on one’s hand.