Testing.

Lingyun sat on his bed. He was in his inner sea listening to his master. According to her, people in the lower world focused mainly on yuan qi cultivation which was very limited in terms of how high a martial artist could practice.

Those who were in pursuit of the peak of martial arts practice three things, the soul, the body and spiritual yuan qi.

"Luckily for you, you have the perfect body composition, you don't need to cultivate directly but you still need to enhance the overall strength of your body. We can use the precious blood of some magical beast to do that."

Lingyun was nodding as he paid attention to his master. He never thought that cultivation was such a complicated process.

"I will give you a suitable spiritual cultivation technique that is best for you. It's called the Nine Heavens Qi Gathering technique. If you find somewhere with a good concentration of yuan qi you can reap ten times the benefit with half the effort.

Afterwards, he sat in his room and cultivated according to the technique but they soon discovered that the qi concentration where he lived was too weak. It was the quarters that had been dedicated to the mortals within the Ling family and the qi there was nonexistent.

Since there was nothing he could do at that time he just went to sleep.

The next day he was woken up by his father who wanted to take him to the Man Techniques hall. This was where the new young cultivators would be allowed to choose their weapon techniques and secret techniques for cultivation in the family. He had all the techniques he needed but he didn't tell his father that.

They met up with Linghua and his father on the way and they walked together silently. Lingman and Lingfeng shared glances at each other and the boys could almost guess what they were thinking. Linghua had had a conversation with his father about how proud he was of him.

The Man technique hall was a three-story pagoda with a large square in front. There were already other youths besides them who had come to take the examination. Depending on their level of physical strength they could be allowed to enter the second or even third floor to choose techniques.

The first floor contained basic techniques, the second floor contained some advanced techniques but the third floor contained the Ling clan's exclusive techniques that had been created by the ancestor who created the clan.

"I wasn't expecting you both to come," A young boy with red hair said walking towards them, They were alone now since their fathers had gone to join the other elders who were watching from the sidelines. The examination was based solely on one's ability to claim it.

"Do you own the technique halls?" Linghua asked the boy who was now joined by four others. This young man was Lingshu who was the best of the younger generation. Ever since he heard that Lingyun and Linghua wanted to live mortal lives he had made it his duty to taunt them.

"This is no place for little "mortal" boys." go back home and wait for your inevitable ends," the boy said poking at Linghuas chest. He was a little surprised when he didn't budge. Seeing this he turned around and walked back to join the crowd of youth who had turned to watch the unfolding drama.

"Now," a resounding clap sounded from the front. An elder with white hair and a young face was speaking. She signalled to her right and guard against the family pushed against something covered that was on a large bronze cart.

"This is the Scarlet opening rock," she said. A few murmurs went around as one of the guards pulled down the cover revealing a scarlet rock that pulsated with strange symbols.

"When your name is called up, you will come and touch the rock with your right hand and the result shall be made clear to everyone here.

They Ling family class was wealthy and powerful but it didn't have infinite resources. They had to hand out resources based on the potential and talent that an individual had since most were gathered and preserved at the cost of precious lives. It was the only way a clan could survive in this harsh world.

Lingyun and his brother stood in the back observing silently. A young girl kept glancing at them. She was Lingfei, daughter of the Seventh Elder who was explaining the rules. She had always liked Linghua and was always trying to hang out with them but her mother was always against it since they were considered bad company.

"Big brother Linghua," she said, "I didn't expect to see you here today." her face had turned red from speaking and Linghua was quick to tease her. She turned away pretending to be angry but Lingyun knew that she was happy.

One by one names were called out and the result was shown as a rune above the rock. Lingsha: green opening mortal, Lingshu, the boy from earlier got a purple opening mortal level and he looked back at Lingyun as if to mock him.

The opening mortal potential was divided into yellow at the lowest, then green, blue, purple, and red at the highest. quite a large number of people got blue and above.

Lingfei also got a purple rating and she was glad and came back to stand beside Linghua. Finally, it was their turn. Linghua went up and showed a purple colouring which sent a clamour of discussion. The elders didn't know what to make of this since this was unexpected. They sent someone to call for the first elder while Lingyun went up as well.

As Lingyun walked up he sent a message to his master, "Is there a way to suppress my rating, I don't want to stand out."

"In your present state only your body's potential is strong,this is a crude testing method that tests your spiritual potential. You should get an only average result.

Hearing this Lingyun was pleased but also felt a surprising feeling of dissappointment.

"The only refined qi you have circulating in your body is what has been given to you via medicines."

"I thought I absorbed twenty thousand years of your golden orb qi," he asked

"It may be twenty thousand but given my cultivation level a normal person would need much longer to get there, and given its quality your present body is merely enough to act as a storage vessel for my vessel.you can't use it yet."

"What do I need to do?"

"This quality of qi is calle pure Heavenly Yuan, you will need to create a stronger enough foundation in all three aspects of cultivation to even begin to start internalising it and refining it."

The conversation may have seemed long but it took only the time he walked to the rock.

Unsurprisingly the rock indicated purple before gradually turning a deep scarlet.