Chapter 4 : Eight Star Talent! Four Great Sects! Divine mystic sect!
He approached the stone and placed his hand on it. Suddenly, a blinding light burst forth, captivating the attention of everyone in the hall.
The light continued to rise, stars illuminating one by one - one star, two stars, three stars, four stars, five stars, six stars, seven stars, and then it came to a halt, settling at eight brilliant stars.
BEEP. "High-grade martial talent, pass" The mechanical voice resonated through the hall.
The crowd was in utter disbelief. Eight stars which means his affinity with Qi was at least eighty percent. A High-grade martial talent.
Even the great Zhou Ling was starting to get interested in Long Aotian. "Hmmm, i came because that girl begged me to but it seems coming here was quite worthwhile." She thought.
However, she did not let her emotions show and retained her cool demeanor. She also suppressed the crowd seeing that they were getting a bit too annoying.
Our hero, on the other hand, was not surprised as he had already noticed the moment he saw Long Aotian that he possessed such talent.
The rest of the candidates were nothing special; there were a few sixth grade talents but no seventh grade or higher talents.
And then it was our protagonist's time to shine. For the first time in his life Tian Shen was starting to get nervous.
He looked up at Zhou Ling to see whether she was paying attention and he froze as their eyes locked. Tian Shen felt like he was going to have a headache.
He thought, "Lord, how did I offend this woman? She's staring at me so intently. I just want to be normal! Leave me alone."
Nonetheless, he didn't dare to speak out his thoughts so he skipped up to the stone. He fiercely slapped his hand onto the stone.
Then suddenly, a light stronger than Long Aotian blinded everyone, including Zhou Ling. Tian Shen realised his mistake a little but later however he still tried his best to compress his talent to the limit and minimise its exposure.
Everyone thought they were going to witness something legendary when they opened their eyes but to their surprise there were just seven stars lit up.
BEEP. "High-grade martial talent, pass." It announced again.
Tian Shen finally took this chance to speak, " Ah, I thought I was a heaven defying genius, it seems like I'm just a regular genius."
Although none dared to belittle him, they all laughed seeing his remark.
Seeing that everyone was fooled Tian Shen wiped invisible sweat dripping from his face and sighed lightly.
However, Tian Shen had not fooled the person who had the most discerning eye. But it would be impossible for him to know seeing that she didn't say anything.
Zhou Ling kept it to herself while thinking, "As expected of him, he's hiding something but I just don't know what exactly he's hiding. That girl seems to know something, I'll just have to trust her. "
As Tian Shen was one of the last candidates, the remaining tests were quickly completed.
As the remaining candidates completed their tests, three other prominent figures descended from the void, garnering awestruck gazes from the students.
They were representatives of the remaining three great martial sects.
With a tone of impatience, Zhou Ling introduced them, "They are the three representatives of the other three great martial sects."
She continued, "Now, congratulations to those of you who have advanced. However, most of you will not have the privilege of choosing your own sect. Only the top ten performers in this assessment will have that privilege."
"Long Aotian, Qin Jie, Yang Murong, Liu Yao, Zhuge Huang, Yuan Li, Sun Ning, Tang mei, Duan Yi and finally Tian Shen. You may choose which sect you want to go to." Said one of the representatives plainly.
This revelation was met with a stir of mixed emotions. Some candidates wondered why they hadn't made the top ten, while others questioned the fairness of the selection.
"Silence, how dare you object to the list that was formulated by the latest technology given to us by Origin hall." Zhou Ling scolded.
The crowd went dead silent.
The mechanical voice that was heard all the time to the point that it was sickening was technology created by origin hall?!They didn't dare to refute it anymore.
Everyone quickly went to congratulate the top ten candidates, although it was unsaid, the top ten candidates would definitely get preferential treatment in the future and it wouldn't hurt to get to know some future bigshots.
After a round of congratulations, the remaining candidates dared not utter another word, maintaining a respectful silence under Zhou Ling's stern gaze.
One of the other representatives spoke, "First ranking candidate Long Aotian, which sect do you choose?"
The crowd looked over to him in curiosity, he spoke without hesitation, "I will go to the divine mystic sect."
The crowd's collective nod conveyed their agreement with his choice; the sect known for cultivating the most talented individuals was the ideal fit for a prodigy like him..
Then the rest of the top ten also chose the sect best suited for them.
Qin jie, Yang Murong and Yuan Li choose the dragon and tiger sect. Liu Yao, Tang Mei and Sun Ning chose the heavenly lotus sect. Zhuge Huang and Duan Yi chose the black tortoise Sect.
Each sect had its own specialties.
The dragon tiger sect is famous for its lightness techniques and fist arts.
The heavenly lotus sect is a sect which focuses on techniques which are most suitable for the female body.
The black tortoise sect is well known for its defence techniques.
Finally the divine mystic sect is known for its heaven defying Qi cultivation techniques which require high-grade talent. Which meant that it was filled with prodigies.
Obvious to say that our hero, Tian Shen chose the divine mystic sect. He still had a promise to fulfil and would not leave before he fulfilled it.
The other candidates were also selected carefully by the representatives of each sect and divided up.
As the selections concluded, the candidates would now embark on their respective journeys, guided by the sects that best suited their talents.