Coming of Age Ceremony [2]

After an hour, both assessments were over and everyone was gathered. There were 28 youths that had appeared this time of which 6 were girls the rest were boys. Out of these, apparently 25 youths were those that aimed for the cultivation path. Everyone aimed to be a strong cultivator as it was a symbol of status anywhere they went.

One of them, Ling Kai who was the grandson of Ling Kun looked at Ling Chen with a wicked smile. Ling Kun had specifically told him to try and embarrass Ling Chen at the ceremony. Everyone was seated and the results would be announced in a few minutes. Ling Kai gave a signal to his lackeys to start the plan.

Soon, some of the kids started whispering "Hey look, it's the grandson of the Patriarch, Ling Chen. I heard his talent in cultivation was trash, so he had no choice but to apply for scholar test. Tsk, what a shame."

Now it was Ling Kai's time to act 'noble' and 'support' Ling Chen. He stood up with a smile said "Hey how can you put it like this? Although being in business shameful compared to us cultivators, there's no problem for those without cultivation talent to choose it."

He turned to look at everyone's reactions of ridiculing Ling Chen while feeling elated. Nut his little dream was soon crushed as Ling Chen muttered in a lazy but loud voice "A bunch of trash who only has talent in cultivation. If not for the 'shameful' people like me who will work in the family business, would you still get the resources to cultivate?"

All the guests started giggling at his words while some admired his quick wits. Ling Kai could not say anything to refute so he sat with an embarrassed face along with his lackeys. But he soon became happy when he saw the Patriarch and Elders arrive, he could save his face by his results as a Spirit Warrior.

The Patriarch, Ling Xiao announced "Thank you all for coming today. Now we shall reveal the results of the assessment. Fifth Elder, please."

With the command from the Patriarch, the Fifth Elder began announcing the results. He said in a loud voice "We'll look at the results of cultivation test first. I'll call out the names with their assessment rank."

"Ling Hui, Fifth Stage Spirit Gathering Realm"

"Ling Feng, Seventh Stage Spirit Gathering Realm"

"Ling Shui, Seventh Stage Spirit Gathering Realm"

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"Ling Kai, First Stage Spirit Warrior"

Gasps could be heard as everyone reacted to the news. Reaching Spirit Warrior Stage by the age of 15 was considered a great talent. Ling Kai smugly looked over to Ling Chen to show off but was infuriated to see the latter in a half-asleep state leaning against his mother.

'Just you wait till the poor results of your exam comes out. Then we'll see.' he thought. The Ling Family only opened one spot for businesses for the younger generation, so only the top scorer could get it. Ling Mu who took the exam along with Ling Chen was one of Ling Kai's underlings. He was the most intelligent guy Ling Kai knew, so he purposefully made him take the test with Ling Chen to snatch away the top position.