"Chapter 9" Unmeasured Potential

Xuan's eyes narrowed as he looked at the elder in the middle, "I'm just a rogue cultivator and the son of farmers. I don't have any special background."

Xuan answered, but he couldn't help thinking about the three elders' strange reactions.

"Impossible!" The elder on the right roared in disbelief. "You may want to hide your background for whatever reason, but you should refrain from lying in front of the First Elder."

The elder on the left nodded, though not as quick-witted as the elder on the right.

He looked at Xuan, who was confused by their reaction. "This crystal reveals a person's greatest potential, and as you must know, those from cultivation clans or with a family background in cultivation always have better potential than others."

Then, he pointed towards the crystal. "This artifact shows four colours in total. White means you have no potential for growth. Yellow means you have mild potential to grow."

"Then comes orange, which means your potential is higher. Lastly, there's red, which means unmeasured potential - something extremely rare."

"We were just surprised that such a rare talent came to our sect, claiming to be a rogue cultivator from a humble background, which is hard to imagine," the elder added.

"But it's true that I'm from a very common background, and even I'm confused after seeing this result, but I'm not lying."

Xuan had an idea why the crystal showed the red colour, and he knew it must be because of the system. However, he couldn't reveal its existence, so he pretended to be oblivious.

The First Elder, while stroking his beard, smiled and said, "Well, background doesn't matter unless you're an evil cultivator. You have passed the first assessment; you can proceed past us. Your second assessment awaits you over there."

Xuan nodded, thinking that there must be some problem given the elders' reactions. However, hearing the First Elder's words, he nodded, then bowed, and left for his second assessment.

After he left, the elder on the right spoke with suspicion, "First Elder, forgive me for my impudence, but that person must be lying about his background. How can such talent exist without our knowledge? And instead of joining other prominent sects, he came here."

The First Elder stroked his beard as he gave instructions to another disciple, then addressed the elder's doubt, "There's no need to be suspicious. That boy will have to go through the third assessment, and by then, it will be clear whether his background is genuine or not."

Meanwhile, Xuan approached the beginning of the stairs, where a man was standing and guiding the disciples. "Don't just stand there, begin your second assessment," he said.

"Those coming from the first stall can move directly, while those from the second stall must wear these before starting to ascend the stairs."

He showed small metal plate-like bracelets and began handing them to the disciples who were from the second stall.

Xuan was handed four bracelets, which he wore two on his hands and two on his legs. "This doesn't make any difference," he thought, and stepped onto the stairs.

Then, just as his next step landed on the first stair, Xuan felt his body become incredibly heavy, and like him, everyone else was struggling to climb the first stair.

"Seems the higher the cultivation, the higher the pressure," Xuan came to the conclusion after observing that disciples from the first stall were having an easier time than those from the second stall.

The first stall was for outer sect disciples, while the second stall was for inner sect disciples, which meant that the assessment to become an inner sect disciple would be harder than that for outer sect disciples.

Xuan began to move forward as he grew accustomed to the pressure. He counted his steps: two... three... seven... eleven. In this manner, he climbed halfway up the stairs while taking his time.

However, after reaching the midpoint, the pressure increased tenfold, becoming even harder to bear.

Xuan focused on circulating his Qi, but just like before, the more he circulated his Qi, the higher the pressure on him seemed to increase.

He remembered the recruitment assessment of the Twin Blade Sect, which was way easier than this.

All he had to do was prove that he had the potential to cultivate, and just like that, he became a disciple of the Twin Blade Sect.

"Well, it indeed shows the significant disparity between the two sects."

Xuan felt that his decision to come to the Sky Heaven Sect was a good one. With renewed determination, he began moving forward, each step heavier than the last.

It took him few hours before he finally steps inside the premise of the Sky Heaven sect and just the Quality of Spiritual Qi around him shows how rich environment is in the Sky Heaven sect.

"You can remove the artifacts on your limbs and take a one-hour break. After that, meet me here." A voice resonated in Xuan's mind. He looked around, but found no one other than elders, disciples, and other participants.

However, he knew that the voice didn't belong to any of them. "The abode on your right is the location of your last assessment. Remember, you only have one hour."

He again heard the voice, and this time, he was clear about its direction. He looked to his right and saw a cave abode where a few disciples were entering and exiting.

Some of them had smiles on their faces, while others looked saddened.

Xuan chose to ignore them and removed the artifacts from his limbs.

The moment he did so, he could feel that the flow of Qi was even better than before. "I have one hour, right?" Xuan thought, and he chose to cultivate for the time being.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep within the sect, a disciple came running, then kneeled while speaking through the door.

"Senior Brother, there's news!"

"There's a new disciple undergoing the last assessment for Inner Sect disciple. He lit up the red light during his assessment." The disciple delivered the message, and the man, still cultivating, slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were filled with a mysterious, almost palpable energy that seemed to threaten to consume those who dared to look into them.

"For matters like this, you don't have to come to me. Recruit him, and if he refuses, make sure to ruin him like the previous one." Then, he closed his eyes again, while the disciple nodded and quietly left.

[A.N] Dear readers, we are still not receiving any Power Stones. Please vote with them so we can release more chapters per day. One more important thing: if you want to see character images, be sure to vote, and I'll share them with you all soon.