Chapter 8: Testing (2)
With someone bringing over a chair, XinFeng sat down.
The testing was extremely simple, it included a Star Python Drum and a jade pillar, just by placing one’s hand on the pillar one would receive a rating, and an attack on the Star Python Drum would one obtain their potential rating as well, it was extremely precise.
The Jade Pillar’s job was to test for ones attribute, by placing your hand on top of it the Colour of one’s attribute would appear, and depending on their attributes two or three colours would appear. It was extremely clear and impossible to cheat on, and normally having three colours meant failure while four was absolute failure.
By coincidence, the first man XinFeng saw produced two colours, and seeing that, that man had revealed a madly happy expression as the Tai Meng disciple next to the pillar spoke, “Go to the Star Python drum and Attack it once.”
That man nodded and walked towards the drum before attacking it with all his strength.
The Star Python drum was roughly a meter large and was held upon a steel stand, it was made of Star Python skin and was black, it didn’t look particularly special but it was a treasure to every large sect. Normally, the bigger the Star Python Drum, the higher the precision of the answer.
That young man punched on the surface of the drum.
In that instant a heavy deep sound was heard.
As this was the first time XinFeng had seen how testing occured with the Star Python drum, therefore he had all of his attention on it. With the punch of that young man, two ripples appeared one after the other on the surface of the drum, while the last one was almost invisible.
A Tai Meng disciple on the side announced, “Two rounds strong……Lower inferior potential.”
That young man’s face instantly became white as that Tai Meng disciple spoke again, “Go report outside, you’re quite lucky, we’re lacking manpower recently and with your qualifications you can barely get in.”
Han Yao sat next to XinFeng as he said with a smile, “Brother Lei has tested himself before?”
XinFeng shook his head, “It’s my first time seeing the Star Python Drum.”
“The last trial is the hardest, those with single attributes usually have their bad potential revealed after hitting the drum and can only enter the outer sect, but those with dual attributes actually have better potential and can enter the inner sect or sometimes even become a direct disciple. We call the Star Python Drum the Life Claiming Drum.”
XinFeng asked, “What do they mean by potential?”
Han Yao replied, “The number of ripples, it determines your potential.”
Yet another young man came forward and punched the Drum, causing four ripples to appear one after the other, while the last one was extremely faint and weak. The Tai Meng disciple spoke, “Inferior potential, single attribute, you can enter the inner sect.” At that moment the young man became so moved he started shedding tears, entering the inner sect meant that he would enter the large world of cultivation, his life would be changed.
One after the other, many young men came to test themselves, and only then did XinFeng notice now until now, there was no one with strong potential, he spoke, “Brother Han, a few already finished, why isn’t there any one with a “higher strong” potential?”
Han Yao did not know what to say, and after a while he spoke with a bitter smile, “Even among all the recruited disciples there may only be one with higher strong potential, hehe, and you’ll get to see the entire Tai Meng affected, at that time you’ll see countless old fellows coming to fight for that disciple.”
XinFeng spoke, “Wu, that little?”
Han Yao continued, “Even disciples with strong Potential or lower strong potential would be fought over, as long as one had strong potential as well as only one attribute, that would be insane.”
“Triple attributes! En, go to the Star Python Drum and hit it was hard as you can.”
A young lady asked timidly, “Brother……do I pass?”
“Not yet, you must hit the Star Python drum first to confirm your potential, if it’s good then there’s still hope.”
This was an extremely weak looking young lady, perhaps only twelve years old, with one glance one could tell how malnourished she was. XinFeng asked, “To come and test, how old must you be?”
“At least fourteen or fifteen, since before cultivating one is required one train their body. If not you won’t be able to eat your fill by yourself, this is something you should know yourself.”
One or two years would be enough. XinFeng nodded, he knew the little lady in front was roughly fourteen.
That young lady walked to the Star Python drum and looked at her own fist before looking at the Star Python drum, gathering the courage she had, she punched the drum. The number of ripples that would appear was not affected by one’s body strength, it was proportionate to one’s potential, this was the specialty of the Star Python drum, with only a punch it will show one’s potential and quality, it was an extremely unusual trait.
One ripple appeared after another, countless ripples appeared and as always, the last one was extremely faint. Seeing the results, the Tai Meng disciple was shocked, “Potential……Lower Strong……”
In an instant the crowd became rowdy, this was the first disciple with a strong potential that appeared, and after the commotion it became silent again, with three attributes, even if they had such potential, cultivating was difficult.
That Tai Meng disciple shook his head nonstop, triple attributes, this was too unfortunate. If she were a dual attribute, she would be able to become an inner sect disciple or even a direct disciple, but with three attributes it became more troublesome, after some hesitation, he chose to not send the young lady to the outer sect and spoke, “Triple attributes, lower Strong potential, pending!”
Han Yao also spoke, “Indeed quite a pity, ai, this little lady is quite unlucky, why does she have three attributes, what a pity, its strong potential!”
XinFeng laughed, “Having strong potential is already very good.” He also knew that with just one attribute it wasn’t enough, without potential one would have to train slowly, “Give me that little lady’s information.”
Han Yao nodded, “No problem……Yi, Brother Lei, You want her?”
XinFeng answered, “En, I’ll probably take back a few helpers, let’s just see our fate.”
Han Yao didn’t understand, he did not know why XinFeng could take in Tai Meng’s disciples, even with his status he still had to get the permission of Tai Meng’s higher up. He immediately asked for a Tai Meng’s disciple to take the little lady’s information.
At that moment, XinFeng met with the boss of Tai Meng, Xin Zhou Lun and Fei Lun coming over, behind them the higher ups of Tai Meng.
Everyone from the large room had stood up in welcoming them, and XinFeng had also came to the entrance. Xin Zhou Lun laughed, “Ah Feng, did you see anyone with decent potential?”
XinFeng spoke, “This one seem fine, a pity that her attributes are a bit lacking, she has three but she also has strong potential.”
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “Three attributes……that’s a bit lacking, dual attributes would be better coupled with strong potential, just let it go, it’ll be quite hard to nurture her, it’ll take too many resources.”
XinFeng did not have the experience of nurturing someone, he spoke, “Let’s just see, I don’t really understand much anyways.”
The crows entered the large testing room with all the Tai Meng disciples bringing in chairs, all of them sat down, causing not only the testing people to become anxious, but also the Tai Meng disciples. A true master spoke loudly, “No need to be anxious, both the boss and elder is here, if you have good potential, you’ll benefit from this, you may even become their disciple.”
The crowd burst into another round of discussion from the room to the outside, everyone had become fired up. To even meet the elder and boss who’s silhouette would not even be seen usually, they actually came over. Normally after passing they would receive another round of testing and then be chosen, but this time if they passed, they could be able to immediately be taken in as disciples.
More young men and women came into the hall, each of them revealing an anxious expression on their faces, even with the constant comfort of the Tai Meng disciples wasn’t enough to calm them, no one could feel natural, this was a life changing moment, once they were taken in, no matter by who, they could change their lives completely, in both living conditions and their family.
XinFeng understood that in this kind of test, it did not matter how hard working one was, your body’s potential and quality was the deciding factor.
A robust young man came forward. Actually, these true master experts could feel the potential and quality of someone through simply sight, though their guesses would not be accurate, these tests could accurately tell even the smallest of details.
Once the young man came forward, most of the true masters’ backs were straightened in an instant, they could all tell that this child’s potential and quality was quite good.
Of course, the tester Tai Meng disciple spoke, “Single attributed, fire element!”
Afterwards, that young man punched the Star Python drum, causing ripples to form.
The Tai Meng disciple spoke loudly, “Higher Medium potential.” He shook his head as he softly added, “What a pity……”
XinFeng nodded secretly, this was indeed a pity, if he were a lower strong potential the people here would have already started fighting, however, this was good enough.
That Tai Meng disciple spoke, “Enter the inner sect, pending.” The aforementioned pending is to first see if there were any experts wanting to take him as a disciple, a better option than simply entering the inner sect, not only were the conditions good but with an expert as a backer, their statuses would rise exponentially in Tai Meng.
That young man was extremely excited as he stomped his feet and waved his fists, and as he left, he did not forget to bow to the seated experts, leaving a good impression of himself.
At this moment, a small exquisite young lady entered, her face full of confidence as XinFeng suddenly stood up, staring at her.
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “Ah Feng, what is it?”
Fei Lun was also curious, “You know her?”
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