Book 1: Chapter 8: Aptitude, Two

These students were mostly only a year or two older than Lin Xi. Their blue clothes, aside from the small swords embroidered on the cuffs and chest, were extremely ordinary, but every single person was incredibly radiant, full of vital energy, as if every single one of them was glowing.

Of the remaining five lecturers, the oldest was fifty something years of age, a rather sloppy looking elder with a goatee. The pure black golden bordered clothes he wore were a bit greasy, the cuffs also quite worn.

The most eye-catching one was the tall and sturdy middle-aged man with knife wounds on his face and the girl who hugged a book.

The tall and sturdy middle-aged man was half a head taller than the average person, the knife scar running all the way from the space between his brows to his left cheek. If it shifted even a bit more to the side, his left eye would have definitely been done for. This scar was extremely sinister, and this tall and sturdy middle-aged man had short hair and a rigid expression, making him look extremely serious.

The girl who held a black-covered book was rather petite, her age not that great, looking around twenty-seven or eight. However, the feeling she gave others was that of an old pedant, someone who was always frowning, expression in her eyes a bit absent-minded, as if she had gone stupid from reading too many books, still thinking about things from them.

Apart from the students behind Xia Yanbing who were dressed in blue clothes, the students behind the other lecturers were separately dressed in black, red, yellow, green, and gray colors.

“Is this to display the academy’s prestige?” As Lin Xi, Meng Bai, and the others got closer, they were filled with expectation. These six colors most likely corresponded to Green Luan Academy’s six great departments.

However, what was somewhat surprising was that there weren’t any unnecessary ceremonies or procedures at all. A wooden-faced, gray-robed shriveled elder walked forward, directly declaring the start of the examination.

This skinny and shriveled elder’s gray robes also had gold borders embroidered on, but the patterns were a bit more complex, with golden arrowhead designs.

A skull-sized ash gray jade sphere together with a table was carried over, placed before this wizened elder and six rows of academy students.

“When I call your name, come up and place your hand on this Soul Inspection Stone.” The wooden-faced, wizened elder stood behind this redwood table with the jade sphere on it. 

“He Lianyu.”

A ruddy, round-faced youngster walked his way over unsteadily from the crowd, nervously placing his hand on the ash gray jade sphere.

The ash gray jade sphere immediately released a green-colored light.

“Aptitude, three.” The wizened elder’s expression was still rather wooden and sluggish, announcing the word ‘three’ extremely simply. The three academy students in yellow uniforms with pens and sheepskin booklets, in charge of record keeping quickly wrote this down. 

“Head to the back.” Then, the skinny and shriveled elder gave this youngster who didn’t know what to do a look, pointing at a large tent in the back.

“Qian Fei.” The wizened elder read out another name.

A tall, green-clothed youngster immediately came out, walking over quickly while adjusting his clothes.

This time, the ash gray jade sphere still released a green light.

“Aptitude, three.” The shriveled elder still simply said the word three. “Head to the back.” Then, he once again had this green clad youngster head to the large tent in the back with an expressionless face.

“He Jie!”

A well dressed youngster who looked like the son of some official walked up.

This time, the color the ash gray jade sphere released was yellow.

“Aptitude, two. Head to the back.” The skinny and shriveled elder’s actions were exactly the same, without any expression. However, when this well dressed youngster saw that the light the ash gray jade sphere released was yellow, he instead revealed a look of dejection.

Lin Xi originally already figured that this should be a way of measuring one’s cultivation aptitude. Meanwhile, this well dressed youngster’s own expression, as well as the looks of some of the youngsters around Lin Xi revealed also told him that the yellow light seemed to be inferior to green light, so the greater the number the elder spoke, the better the cultivation aptitude. From the looks of it, this yellow light should be extremely ordinary cultivation aptitude.

“Zhao Kean.”

“Wang Chaoyu.”

“Qin Shifeng.”

…

One followed the next, soon, more than forty exam candidates completed this process. Most of them produced green light, only six of them released yellow light, the ones who produced yellow light all had dispirited and ashamed expressions on their faces.

“Zhang Ping.” Suddenly, Lin Xi and the others were all shaken. The wizened elder called out Zhang Ping’s name.

“Good luck!”

Xiang Lin was the first one to speak, patting Zhang Ping’s shoulder. Lin Xi, Meng Bai, and Li Kaiyun all quickly followed suit, patting Zhang Ping’s shoulder while softly wishing him luck.

Zhang Ping walked over, due to his nervousness, his face was extremely stiff. The hand he reached out was also shaking a bit.

However, this time, the ash gray jade sphere released red light.

“Aptitude, four!” The wizened elder’s face clearly revealed a bit of expression, light flashing past.

Hong!

The youngsters who gathered immediately erupted into commotion.

“This is too awesome! I never expected his aptitude to be this good!” Meng Bai, Li Kaiyun and the others immediately said in joy.

Lin Xi knew that his previous deduction was correct. Now that Zhang Ping had great aptitude test results, as his friend, this naturally made him extremely happy as well. Just as he was about to quietly ask Meng Bai and others just how the aptitude levels were divided, a sneer that wasn’t too loud or soft was clearly transmitted into his, Meng Bai, and the others’ ears, “Just a bumpkin yet actually with four levels of aptitude. However, so what? If you can’t pass the following tests after, he would be happy for nothing.”

“You jealous? In my opinion, it’s you who won’t pass the following tests.” Li Kaiyun couldn’t help but fire back. The other party was a youngster who wasn’t that tall, dressed in a white gown embroidered with silver flowers. His face was sharp and thin, hair combed until it was glossy, bound behind his head, clearly a ‘golden spoon’ from quite a good background.

Originally, everyone had already gotten used to the terms bumpkins, golden spoons, and border barbarians, even though they knew that these terms carried disdain. That was why even if they were called bumpkins here, Li Kaiyun and the others wouldn’t necessarily become angry, especially in this type of setting. However, the other party was cursing Zhang Ping’s examination, this making it so that Li Kaiyun and the others couldn’t restrain their anger.

“Bumpkins.” The glossy-haired ‘golden spoon’ youngster sneered. He gave Li Kaiyun and the others a look, said this word, and then no longer paid Li Kaiyun’s group any attention.

“You…” This type of arrogant attitude even more so made Li Kaiyun’s face become entirely red. 

“Don’t bother with him. When the time comes and he is nothing special, I wonder what things will be like then.” Lin Xi instead tugged at Li Kaiyun’s clothes, quietly saying this.

“Xiang Lin.” A bit later, after another dozen or so youngsters finished their examinations, most of them releasing green light as well, none of them producing aptitude higher than third level, the wizened elder called out Xiang Lin’s name.

Xiang Lin involuntarily almost sprinted over.

As soon as he touched that ash gray jade sphere, the jade sphere produced green color.

“Aptitude, three.”

Xiang Lin seemed to already have felt that this was enough. He released a breath. After turning around and giving Lin Xi, Meng Bai, and Li Kaiyun a nod, he turned around and quickly headed towards the large tent.

“Leng Qiuyu.”

Suddenly, a young lady drew everyone’s attention.

The number of females who participated in Green Luan Academy’s entrance examination wasn’t high to begin with, roughly only a tenth. Moreover, this young lady was also extremely beautiful.

She was dressed in snow-white clothes, her features like something out of a drawing, oval face icy cold, an ice queen.

“Aptitude, four!”

After this young lady placed her hand on the ash gray jade sphere, this place erupted into commotion again, the wizened elder’s voice clearly became a bit louder as well. The ash gray jade sphere produced red light.

“Li Kaiyun, could it be that you like her?”

When this white-clothed young lady saw that her aptitude was fourth level, she still had an ice-cold appearance, not even turning around for another look. Lin Xi was looking at this frozen beauty when Meng Bai tugged at his clothes, at the same time saying this.

Li Kaiyun couldn’t take his eyes off this young lady, already becoming stupid from looking. His face was filled with admiration. Only when he heard Meng Bai’s words, did Li Kaiyun suddenly snap out of his absent-minded appearance, his face entirely red.

“You’re right, I think I do like her, love at first sight.” However, he surprisingly didn’t run away, directly nodding, seriously replying to Meng Bai.

Lin Xi and Meng Bai immediately laughed. 

“Then you have to work hard.” Meng Bai blinked a few times and said, “From what I know, she is someone from Central Continent Imperial City’s Leng Family.”

“What kind of background does Leng Family have?” Lin Xi immediately couldn’t help but ask quietly.

“Ye Family’s Leng Zhennan is the head of internal affairs, as well as her father, a first rate official ranking. Even though his real authority is hard to say, his ranking is still half a level higher than regional high officials and provincial supervisors.” Meng Bai chuckled and said, “This is a golden spoon among golden spoons.”

“This only makes my conviction of entering the Self Defense Department even more firm.” Li Kaiyun looked at that white-clothed young lady’s rear figure, face slightly red, but he patted his chest and vowed in a serious manner.

“Lin Xi!”

Right when Lin Xi and Meng Bai’s pursed lips couldn’t help but laugh, the wizened elder suddenly called out Lin Xi’s name.

Many people immediately concentrated their attention on Lin Xi.

Last night’s conflict gave Lin Xi quite a bit of publicity, and news of Lin Xi being regionally recommended also already spread.

Everyone wanted to see what kind of aptitude Lin Xi had.

“Good luck!” Meng Bai and Li Kaiyun immediately seriously patted Lin Xi’s shoulder.

Under waves of whispers, Lin Xi walked up, touching the ash gray jade sphere in a curious manner.

The ash gray jade looked cool to the touch, but once he made contact, it was as if there were bits of electricity, making his entire body become slightly numb.

Then, he saw the ash gray jade sphere release yellow light.

“Aptitude, two!” The wizened elder gave Lin Xi an expressionless look. “Head towards the back.”

“My aptitude is only second level? This means that it kinda sucks, right?” Lin Xi was a bit stunned. He never expected that he wouldn’t even reach a normal level among the examinees.

“Someone locally recommended actually only has two levels of aptitude?” Many people immediately stared blankly.

“Only two levels?” The glossy-haired ‘golden spoon’ youngster who got into conflict with their group before immediately sneered in disdain. “Has that region gone blind? Actually recommending this type of bumpkin.”

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