2 The Spirit as the Base, Giving Rise to Cultivation!
At that thought, Ke YongAn at first felt extremely weird, but after more mulling, she begun to accept the idea. Thoughts gave way to wild imagination.
She pictured herself standing on a snowy mountain with robes fluttering majestically in the wind while executing flying sword moves. Her eyes shone like twinkling stars.
Perhaps it was another symptom after death, but Ke YongAn did not feel anything when she recalled her past memories, and thus was able to accept the changes quicker.
A new feeling of encouragement welled up inside her.
Coincidentally, that was when the emperor had showed up through a swirling golden light. A strange light appeared in his eyes when he viewed Ke Yong An's pumped fists and twinkling face.
"I see you have adapted well," He began to speak, anticipation rising in Ke YongAn.
"Emperor, what term should I-ehm, this lowly one inform you as?" Ke YongAn looked every part of an eager child, and when coupled with the polite words, it seemed like the first day of being a servant meeting their idol, the emperor.
"From this day on, you shall call me as Royal Father. However, in private, you may inform me as Huang YunXiu."
"Sure. Your humble servant greets Emperor Huang YunXiu." Ke YongAn spoke cheekily, thinking the polite talk was an extremely a fun thing to do.
"There is no need for formalities." Emperor Huang YunXiu laughed, but didn't say anything more.
"Why, I-this puny ant does not dare. This, uh, bad person also feels this way of talk is amusing." Ke YongAn spoke with a simple smile on her face. She was starting to lose new ways of expressing her lower status.
"Then I won't convince you." He smiled back.
"As my acting daughter, you must also take up the mantle of cultivation. As for a body, I think my daughter's should do for now."
Ke YongAn was all ears, even leaning closer to not miss a word when cultivation was mentioned. As for the latter sentence, it had went through one ear and out the other.
"What is cultivation?
In our pursuit of Taoism, cultivation is to go against the heavens become it as well. However, even though cultivation is the same for all people, each will have their own path.
The soul is considered the most important for cultivation. My daughter was tested on the affinity with the soul and the results marked her as extremely talented.
Another strange aspect of the soul is its attribute. The attribute represents which type qi one can cultivate in, but it is also linked to the soul. There are countless attributes out there. Most practitioners possess only one attribute, but there are also cases of those with two. As for those with three, it is even more uncommon. The ones with a fourth attribute are unicorn horns and phoenix tails, but of course, I have seen too many to count.
The most attributes that have appeared on a practitioner I have seen is 12." The way he spoke was nonchalant, giving way to how arrogant he was. However, it seemed he had those qualifications.
Ke YongAn was in awe, and like a sponge, soaked in all the information. While talking, Emperor Huang ZiYun waved his sleeve, summoning two spheres. These two spheres had designs on them that flickered with multi-coloured light.
"This sphere is to test your latent potential on the path of cultivation." A sphere had flew over to hover in-front of Ke YongAn.
"If it is red, that is the lowest potential. This carries on until violet. The legendary figures possess talent that go beyond violet, to a mysterious colour. Latent Potential controls the speed and amount at which you can take in qi. It also determines with realm you will reach in the future." Ke YongAn made a wild guess, based on all those novels she read.
The strange light returned to Emperor Huang ZiYun's eyes.
"That is correct. Do I need to explain the other sphere?"
"Your little servant thinks it is used to examine the attribute of your soul?"
Emperor Huang ZiYun only nodded in affirmation before instructing Ke YongAn to place her hand on the first sphere.
"Oh yeah! If this lowly one dares to ask, how did you recognize it wasn't Xing'er and it was this lowly one?" Ke YongAn spoke, her hand inches away from contact of the orb.
Emperor Huang ZiYun coughed into his hand and spoke awkwardly,
"Firstly, do not refer my daughter as "xing'er". Call her Princess Huang Xing. Second of all, my daughter's soul trace is different. Also, the part of the woman...
...it is smaller than my daughter's, to say the least."
Total silence for that one moment. The words sunk into Ke YongAn.
So that time...when he spoke, "That is a lie. How else would you have her appearance?", wasn't his eyes focused on one place...?
WHAT KIND OF FATHER PERVERT IS THIS?
Feeling embarrassment and anger, Ke YongAn glared sharply at the man before finally placing her palm on the sphere.
1
2
3
4
5
Nothing.
Emperor Huang ZiYun sighed. If it took this long to initiate, didn't that mean Ke YongAn had no fate with cultivation?
However, just as he was about to bring the sphere away, colour slowly surfaced on the sphere. It was an aqua blue, a high level. Ready to give praise, Emperor Huang ZiYun's lips parted, only to close when the colour yet again began to change!
To green,
and back to blue.
Suddenly an orange,
only to become a red.
From red all the way to indigo
and to purple.
Slowly settling into a yellow.
The colours weren't even in order either, a very strange occurance. Normally, when a person was tested, it would stay one colour. In the few cases where it began to change colour, it normally would go in order, either from low to high, or vice versa.
Another thing to note was that Ke YongAn's potential in the mist of being marked was very slow. Where it would only take a few moments stretched out to ten minutes.
It was as if the orb didn't know how to grade Ke YongAn's potential.
However, things must all come to a conclusion.
The colour settled on a blood red, and stayed so for a few minutes. Confirming the colour didn't change, Emperor Huang ZiYun didn't know what to feel. Should he feel relieved that the process was finally over? Or should he lament the fact that the talent was the lowest of the low?
Sighing, Emperor Huang ZiYun stowed the sphere away. As long as Ke YongAn perseveres, she should find success.
Thinking these thoughts, Emperor Huang ZiYun felt better. However, the main party involved, felt extremely depressed.
The lowest talent? I thought I would be violet. Oh well, at least I can still cultivate. Ke YongAn comforted herself and resolved to work hard. When faced with a setback, Ke YongAn always worked harder to better herself the next time. Although it was the topic of cultivation, something momentous, it was still a little of a distant prospect to her.
Inhaling a deep breath and exhaling, Ke YongAn pressed her hand onto the next sphere. Instead of a colour, characters and pinyin appeared.
Shui(water)
JingShuan(Spirit)
Feng(Wind)
"Are these results because I am a spirit, and these are the last two elements I came in contact with before death?" Ke YongAn joked.
"Actually, that is possible."
Ke YongAn was surprised, but didn't fuss over it.
However, just like the other sphere, this one seemed to be unable to test Ke YongAn's attribute, random characters flickering and disappearing. This process carried on for less then the 5 minutes, but was still an odd occurrence.
Although the first time Emperor Huang ZiYun brushed it off as a random possibility. But by the second time, he began to harbor suspicions, but they were small, so he ignored it for now.
"My daughter had a violet coloured soul and seven attributes, a chosen among chosen. However, even though you are quite from the mark, if you work hard, you will also succeed."
Thanks, geez. Is that supposed to motivate me or oppress me? Ai, oh well.
"Our first job is to fuse your spirit with my daughter's body."
Oh goodie. This is going to hurt.
And so, Ke YongAn dragged herself from the ground and followed after Emperor Huang ZiYun.
However, little did she know that in the future, when the Heaven Dao Academy examinations began, those two testing spheres would have been long reduced to dust, as Ke YongAn's talent was too monstrous.
