The First Test: The Measurement of the Qi Energy
“Hello, Kong-Shi!” Hai-Gu greeted Kong-Shi…
“Greetings, uncle!” Hai-Gang also greeted Kong-Shi…
“Well… Hello, Hai-Gu, Hai-Gang!” Kong-Shi turned to smile at Hai-Gu and Hai-Gang when he heard the greeting…
The people who greeted Kong-Shi were Hai-Gu and Hai-Gang. Hai-Gu was Kong-Shi's half-brother because they had the same father, but different mothers…
“Is Zheng-Fu here today for the test?” Hai-Gu looked around to search for Zheng-Fu before asking Kong-Shi whether his son participated in the clan’s martial arts test…
“Of course, Zheng-Fu is in the competition.” Kong-Shi nodded and confirmed…
“…in to get humiliated more like. Hahaha.” Lao-Chu who sat nearby made a sarcastic comment when he heard that Zheng-Fu was in the competition…
“Great Elder!”
Hai-Gang’s face turned red with anger the minute he heard that comment. He prepared to say something more to Lao-Chu, but Kong-Shi stopped him by grabbing him and sending him a signal not to do anything…
“Well, everyone. We are going to start with the measurement of the Qi energy in the first test. All young martial artists please get ready.” All of a sudden, the moderator announced the commencement of the test…
“I heard that your son is at the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage, great Elder?” A middle-aged man who sat next to Lao-Chu said in a bid to implore him…
“That’s right. He has reached the mid-level of the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage. He definitely won’t take long to move to the high-level of the fifth level. Hahaha!” Lao-Chu intended to respond to the middle-aged man with a loud, confident voice about his son. He also stroked his beard to show how much he was proud of his son and then he added, “My son has now achieved the second stage of the “Fiery Sword” skill as well.”
“The second stage of the Fiery Sword skill?!”
“What a genius! Only this young and he could achieve that level. Looks like your boy is going to make it great in the future.”
“It’s just a mid-level of the Qi Gathering stage. I don’t see how he can be a genius by achieving that.” Hai-Gu frowned while commenting on hearing the two elders discussing about Dong-Chu. He knew that the Fiery Sword skill was a skill that anyone could practice. It was just a lower-leveled skill. However, he secretly agreed that it could be considered a great success for any young boy who could achieve it…
“You!”
“What did you just say about my son?” Lao-Chu was so furious about Hai-Gu’s comment…
“Your son!? What do you mean? Who would say anything bad about your son? I just told my son that the Fiery Sword skill is just a lower-leveled skill. There’s no need to be too much about it.” Hai-Gu turned to respond to Lao-Chu. He made a blank face and tried to play dumb…
“You!”
The confrontation between Lao-Chu and Hai-Gu started to change the atmosphere around the stands. However, all of a sudden, a man appeared and walked towards the seat that was prepared for a significant person in the clan. The seat was surrounded by many important people and the great elders of the clan. The man reached the seat and sat down without uttering any word…
“Greetings, the Leader of the Clan!”
“Greetings, the Leader of the Clan!”
That man was a middle-aged man who was currently in the leading position of the clan. He waved to the people who stood up and greeted him. Everyone sat down and gazed back at the test courtyard after the leader of the clan waved at them and seated. The leader of the clan merely closed his eyes after sitting down…
“I heard that elder Kong-Shi’s son is participating in this year’s test too. His body was too weak to practice martial arts, wasn’t it?”
“I didn’t know about that. He might just want to participate to have some fun, I guess.”
“If that was the case, then the boy didn’t know at all that the clan’s test is not a playground.”
Now people at the stands who came to see the clan’s youth martial arts test started to talk about Zheng-Fu in so many ways. The information about Zheng-Fu and his weakened body prompted people to believe that he came to the test just to fool around…
“Ladies and gentlemen! It’s time to begin the test. I’ll explain the rules of the test in this first stage. The first test is a measurement of the Qi energy test. To simply put, it is the test where the young martial artists have to cultivate their Qi energy to see how strong their energy is. Every participant must put their hand on the stone and project their energy into the stone, then they will see the level of their Qi energy. Anyone whose Qi energy is lower than the third level shall not pass the test.” The moderator who stood on the stage explained the rule while pointing to the big red stone, as big as the size of an elementary school kid, that was placed in the middle of the stage…
“All right! The first one is Tian-Tang Mok-Hed. Please come up here!”
The first participant was summoned, so he walked up to the stage and stopped in front of the red test stone that was placed there to measure the level of the Qi energy as explained by the moderator. As things happened, one of the young participants in the group shouted…
“Why do we need to measure our energy this way when we already know the level of our Qi energy?” The kid was actually curious about it because everyone knew the level of their Qi energy from their Masters…
“It’s true that you know your level from your Masters. But this test stone does not show you only the level of your Qi energy, it also tells whether you have a hidden power in you or not. And of course, anyone who has the hidden power in them can make this test stone glow. The ones who can make it happen will be called the “Genius” of the clan. They will be given five lower-leveled Qi energy stones every month too…
“Five more stones every month!”
The new information stirred the crowd at the test venue instantaneously. Even the young people who participated in last year’s test started to feel jealous because they only went through the test without any rewards. However, it was rare that anyone could have that hidden power in them enough to glow the test stone anyway. After the reaction of the exciting information subsided, the first young participant began to put his hand on the test stone to see whether he had that hidden power or not…
Whoosh!
“The higher-level of the third level of the Qi Gathering stage…no hidden power!” The moderator announced the result and it turned out that the first young participants merely passed the test. He could not make the test stone glow…
“Next!”
“The lower-level of the fourth level of the Qi Gathering stage!”
“Next one!”
“The higher-level of the fourth level of the Qi Gathering stage!”
“The higher-level of the fourth level of the Qi Gathering stage!?”
“That kid wasn’t bad at all. It seems like there are a lot of promising participants this year. It makes me feel hopeful for our clan better.”
“Right, right. There will be a competition among the clans in three years for the martial artists who are not over 18 years old. So, these young martial artists today are actually our chance.”
Everybody at the stands agreed with the notion because even though there were a lot of martial artists in Tian-Tang Clan, the clan ranked at the lower level among others. This was because it had been a long time since the last time the genius was born in the clan. They did suffer a defeat in the last clans’ competition. And they had been slumping down as a martial artist clan year after year…
“Next participant!”
The next young participant that the moderator summoned was Dong-Chu, the arrogant boy. He got to the stage and walked with his head held up high as if he were the legitimate winner…
“That’s the great elder’s son, isn’t it? I heard that he recently broke through to the mid-level of the fifth level. He’ll soon be able to reach the higher-level too.”
“Are you ready…?” The moderator asked politely because he knew whose father this boy was…
“Yes, sir!”
Whoosh!
“What!? It glows!”
Right after Dong-Chu placed his hand on the test stone, the stone started to glow, but merely a mild one. A mild one, but enough to draw the exciting cheerful cries from the crowd…
“A genius has been sent to our clan!”
“What a genius! He’s only eight years old but can reach the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage. And what's more is that he has the hidden power too. We will sure be the winner at the clans’ competition three years from now!”
“Congratulations, great elder, for having this excellent and competent son like him.”
“Hahaha. You’re being too kind to him. He still lacks a lot of needed experience. But if everyone sees him that way, I cannot disagree with it. I appreciated your kindness for him.” Lao-Chu said and smiled triumphantly while turning to Kong-Shi in a bid to brag…
“Snort! What a drag!” Hai-Gu could not help himself cursing at Lao-Chu’s boastful gesture…
“Next one!”
The moderator called for the next participant right after Dong-Chu walked down the stage. The next one was a cute-looking little girl who exhibited coldness on her face as if she wanted to say that she was not pleased with the test…
“That’s Tian-Qi. The daughter of the leader of the clan. I guess this explains why there are so many rewards in this year’s test.”
“I heard that she is in the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage like Dong-Chu, too. She actually surpassed him to the higher-level now.”
“Both of them are considered to be the stars of hope for our clan. Gosh! Why are my children not this good!”
“What’s up, Tian-Qi!” Dong-Chu said hello to Tian-Qi and gave her a mischievous smile…
“Hi…”
Tian-Qi only glanced at Dong-Chu and gave him a short response. She continued to walk up the stage, not really paying attention to the boy. As she walked past Dong-Chu, the corner of her eye stopped at Zheng-Fu, who was standing right next to the stage. Her face then all of a sudden turned to express a demeaning attitude towards him. She felt that way because she disliked weak people. She heard that Zheng-Fu had a weak body that stopped him from practicing martial arts. That was why she did not like the sight of him and looked at him that way…
“All right. Go ahead and place your hand on the test stone.”
Thud!
Whoosh!
When Tian-Qi put her hand on the test stone, the stone started to tell her Qi energy level and began to glow, slowly and slowly. The stone glowed brighter than when Dong-Chu put his hand on it. It continued to get brighter and then the brightness rested at a certain point and stayed at that level…
“Th…That’s!”