Three breaths!

In just three breaths, the Heaven-Piercing Mystic Light Luo Changqing had triggered had already reached a height of twenty-seven meters!

Ninth-rank aptitude!

The entire crowd cried out in shock!

"Unbelievable! It's actually a one-in-ten-thousand ninth-rank aptitude!"

Chief Duan's eyes reddened with emotion. "Sect Master, did you see that? A disciple with ninth-rank aptitude—our Xuanqing Heavenly Sect hasn't produced one in a full three thousand years!"

Xuan Zheng was equally stunned. At the same time, he became even more convinced that Luo Changqing's aptitude had been sealed by the Empress precisely to temper him!

Duan Qingyun's eyes brimmed with tears as he looked toward the unconscious Lu Anshan.

"Lu Anshan, my worthy brother Lu—you weren't wrong. You truly had an eye for talent!"

"You've brought our Xuanqing Heavenly Sect a ninth-rank disciple. You've rendered a tremendous service!"

"No, wait!" Xuan Zheng said in horror. "Something's wrong—this isn't over yet. His mystic light is still rising!"

The next instant—

The entire crowd exploded!

The Heaven-Piercing Mystic Light shot upward like an unbridled steed, leaving everything else in the dust!

One hundred fifty meters...

Two hundred ten meters...

Three hundred meters...

Duan Qingyun's voice trembled. "Sect Master, what level of aptitude is Luo Changqing at now?"

Sect Master Xuan Zheng sucked in a sharp breath. "Hard to say. Once the Soul-Testing Stele goes beyond ninth-rank, it can no longer measure accurately."

"Luo Changqing's aptitude must have surpassed the stele's limit. Could it be... aptitude above ninth-rank—a Royal-grade aptitude!?"

"Sect Master, Sect Master, look! It's still climbing, it's still climbing!"

Luo Changqing's Heaven-Piercing Mystic Light surged upward at a terrifying speed!

Six hundred meters...

One thousand two hundred meters...

Three thousand meters...

Three thousand six hundred meters...

Six thousand meters...

The Xuanqing Dao Arena erupted!

Countless disciples cried out in disbelief, their voices crashing together like mountains roaring and seas raging.

As Luo Changqing's Heaven-Piercing Mystic Light shattered limit after limit, it utterly crushed the psychological defenses of every cultivator in the sect.

At this moment, Xuan Zheng was so overwhelmed by immense joy that he could barely speak coherently. "Th-th-this... could it be a Saint-grade aptitude, even stronger than Royal-grade and Emperor-grade!?"

The Piaomiao Immortal Sect was an Immortal-grade sect, and even its strongest disciple had only Emperor-grade aptitude!

Only in Divine-grade sects would one see something even more terrifying than Emperor-grade—Saint-grade... or even Immortal-grade aptitude!

And yet the mere Xuanqing Heavenly Sect had actually produced a disciple with Saint-grade aptitude!

At this moment, all the elders' eyes were burning hot with tears. Some were even crying openly from sheer joy!

In the hearts of the Sect Master and the elders, they could already vaguely see Luo Changqing sweeping aside all opposition in the Grand Tournament, invincible and unstoppable!

"It's still rising, Sect Master, look—it's still rising!"

"I'm not blind, am I? I can see it! Dear heavens, this is unbelievable!"

Seven thousand eight hundred meters...

Nine thousand meters...

Twelve thousand meters...

Fifteen thousand meters...

Then suddenly—

Dark clouds filled the sky out of nowhere!

Purple radiance descended from above, illuminating the entire firmament in dazzling brilliance!

And deep within the heavens, there even appeared faint phenomena of dragon roars and tiger howls!

The strength of Luo Changqing's aptitude had actually triggered heavenly omens!

From that moment on, the cries of shock across the arena stopped.

Because this level of aptitude had already gone beyond the bounds of their understanding.

While wiping away tears of joy, Chief Duan said worriedly, "Sect Master, if Luo Changqing discovers how peerless his aptitude is, will he start looking down on our Xuanqing Heavenly Sect?"

That single sentence jolted Xuan Zheng awake.

He suddenly shuddered, as though afraid Luo Changqing might change his mind at any moment, and urgently shouted, "I hereby announce!"

"Luo Changqing officially becomes a disciple of this sect!"

"And as an exceptional reward, I grant Luo Changqing free access to borrow any and all tomes in the Library Pavilion!"

The moment Xuan Zheng finished speaking—

Boom!

In the very next instant, the terrifying Heaven-Piercing Mystic Light that had soared to fifteen thousand meters came to an abrupt halt and instantly collapsed into nothingness!

The purple radiance filling the sky vanished without a trace.

All the various omens disappeared completely.

The Soul-Testing Stele suddenly lost its luster and returned to its pitch-black state.

A moment later.

Several glaring words lit up on the Soul-Testing Stele:

Cultivation Aptitude: Trash-grade.

The entire place fell deathly silent. A pin drop could have been heard!

Xuan Zheng, the elders, and countless disciples all turned to stone.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Xuan Zheng rubbed his eyes fiercely, unable to believe it, then looked again to confirm.

That's right. The result given by the Soul-Testing Stele was indeed "Trash-grade Aptitude"!

In an instant, the blazing hopes of the entire sect's cultivators were smashed from the highest heavens down into the mud.

Unable to accept such a brutal reality, Xuan Zheng felt dizzy and lightheaded, as if every bit of strength had been drained from his body.

He had thought the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect would soar because of Luo Changqing—never had he imagined fate would play such a cruel joke on them...

Everyone sank into grief and disappointment...

As for the Chief and the elders, their emotions swung from hope-filled ecstasy to outright fury!

They felt they had been toyed with.

Chief Duan went from joy to bitterness, indignant and enraged. "Brother Lu Anshan, you really were blind! Just look at Luo Changqing—that piece of trash!"

The "keen eye for talent" he had spoken of had instantly turned into "blind."

In the entire Xuanqing Dao Arena, only one person remained calm and composed.

That person was Luo Changqing.

He had long known this result. After all, the previous sixteen times, he had been thrown out precisely because of the aptitude test.

Luo Changqing turned to look at Xuan Zheng, his expression utterly serious. "Sect Master, just now you said this disciple could borrow all the technique manuals, right?"

After coming back to his senses, Xuan Zheng pointed at Luo Changqing with a trembling hand.

"What the hell are you still cultivating for!"

"You've utterly disappointed me!"

"With your Trash-grade Aptitude, let alone the fact that the Grand Tournament is less than a year away—"

"Even if I gave you ten years, a hundred years, you still wouldn't break through to the second level of the spirit palace!"

"With you like this, what Grand Tournament are you even talking about joining? If you go, you're just going there to die!"

When he recalled how he had just praised Luo Changqing, and how confidently he had analyzed that so-called "Dao Heart Trial," Xuan Zheng felt so ashamed of his own self-righteous cleverness that he wanted nothing more than to slap himself twice across the face.

"No, I'm going!"

"Elder Lu has shown me kindness as deep as a mountain. I'm going to the Grand Tournament no matter what!"

"Fine, fine!" Xuan Zheng said in a fit of rage. "If you want to borrow them, then go borrow them! If you want to throw your life away, then do as you please!"

With that, Xuan Zheng flicked his sleeve and stormed off.

He did not want to remain in this Dao Arena for even one more moment.

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...

Library Pavilion.

Smack!

A stack of technique manuals was thrown down in front of Luo Changqing by the Transmission Elder.

Glancing at the Trash-grade disciple before him, the Transmission Elder said flatly, "These are all Mortal-grade techniques. Pick whatever you want."

Luo Changqing's swordlike brows furrowed slightly.

"Mortal-grade?"

"No. That's too low."

Technique rankings: Mortal, Earth, Heavenly, Royal, Emperor, Saint-grade, and... Immortal-grade!

Mortal-grade techniques were the very lowest of the low—complete garbage that anyone with hands could practice.

"Too low?" The Transmission Elder was so irritated he laughed, his tone dripping with mockery.

"You're trash, and now you're being picky?"

"You probably can't even master these Mortal-grade techniques."

"Take a word of advice from me. Work hard and at least learn a move or two from a Mortal-grade technique. Then at the Grand Tournament, you might at least have a chance of not getting beaten to death."

"Don't aim so high that you end up achieving nothing. I'm saying this for your own good."

Luo Changqing shook his head, expression serious. "I want a higher-level technique!"

The Transmission Elder frowned. "I'm only giving you this advice out of respect for Lu Anshan. Don't refuse a favor!"

Luo Changqing remained unmoved, his tone firm. "There's no need for your concern, Elder. But I want a higher-level technique."

The Transmission Elder laughed in fury. "Fine. So you really don't know what's good for you? Just you wait!"

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the Transmission Elder returned.

Smack!

An ancient-looking book was slammed down in front of Luo Changqing.

It was an old manual that looked as though it had seen many years. The cover was blanketed with a thick layer of dust, as if no one had opened it in a very long time.

Luo Changqing immediately grew interested. He picked it up carefully and gently brushed away the dust.

Several gilded characters emerged into view.

Boundless Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon

And beneath them, in three tiny red characters: Simplified Version.

"You think the others are too low? Then let's see if you've got the ability to master this one!"

"This is an Immortal-grade technique, created eighty thousand years ago by the ancestor of the Piaomiao Immortal Sect. It stood above Saint-grade, and the original has long since been lost."

"Later, the genius Sect Masters of the Immortal Sect across the generations painstakingly rewrote it and only barely managed to patch together the missing formulas. Even so, it still had major flaws, and so it fell from Immortal-grade to a Saint-grade Technique."

"Then, thirty thousand years ago, this manual was bestowed by the Immortal Sect upon the Three Hundred Heavenly Sects. But in these thirty thousand years, not a single person among them has managed to cultivate it successfully."

"Even in the Immortal Sect itself, where crouching tigers and hidden dragons abound, those who have mastered this technique are vanishingly rare."

"Well? Is the grade of this technique high enough for you now?"

With that, the Transmission Elder looked at Luo Changqing with contempt.

He was confident those words would surely scare this Trash-grade disciple into backing down!

But after hearing that frightening introduction, not only did Luo Changqing fail to retreat, his eyes actually lit up.

"Many thanks, Elder. Then I choose this one!"

The Transmission Elder shook his head. "You're beyond saving."

Luo Changqing's gaze turned deep, and he said with ringing force, "To this disciple, Elder Lu's life is more important than the rankings—more important even than my own life!"

"I must take first place in the Grand Tournament and use my wish for the Nine-Revolutions Resurrection Pill!"

"Even second place would be utterly meaningless!"

"So I have to choose this—the strongest technique in this sect. I have no other choice!"