Painting of the Nine Immortals

“Interesting, his natural talent is at a higher level than me. A talent of the royal level.”

The Xia Dynasty’s youngest daughter, Xia Ling Er’s eyes fluttered with curiosity, interest, and some admiration.

“Hmmph, damn that man.”

The son of a prominent family, Qin Lie hissed with jealousy in his eyes, “Look at his temperament and look at what he’s wearing. It’s so obvious that he is a nomadic cultivator with no background. I cannot believe he has royal level talent.”

“Yeah, it seems like the young man wants to fly above the trees and transform into a phoenix.” The direct descendant of the Wang Clan, Wang Feng, said in a sour tone. His face had traces of jealousy.

These three were the most outstanding candidates out of all the applicants for this year’s admission. Not only did they have a powerful background, but their cultivation levels were also of the tenth level. They were categorized as heaven’s favorites.

Their talents, without a doubt, were of the Emperor Level, which meant they were definitely special. However, after Ling Xian was revealed to be of the royal level, their emperor level was considered to be unimpressive, which of course triggered their jealousy.

Plus, royal leveled talents were naturally attention-grabbing and could easily oppress them all. How could they not feel like they were enemies?

Qin Lie, in particular, could never accept anyone being more talented than himself and definitely could not accept having his spotlight stolen.

Therefore, he felt like Ling Xian was an enemy.

“Hmmph, it’s not even to turn into a phoenix just by flying above the trees.” Qin Lie coldly smiled and his eyes were rolling with coldness, “Some people are destined to be ants in their whole life.”

“Based on what I am hearing, you are certain that he won’t pass the test?” Wang Feng’s eyes shone, “But, that person has a talent of the Royal Level. Entering the Shang Qing Sect is something that will definitely happen.”

“There are four rounds of the test. The first three rounds he can probably pass, but don’t forget, the fourth round is about battling abilities.” Qin Lie smiled with an ill intent.

“Battling?”

Wang Feng paused but quickly realized. He couldn’t help but chuckle, “Could it be, you are thinking of stepping up during the fourth round and handicap him?”

“That’s right. So what he has Royal Leveled talent? He is obviously someone from no background, why would he be an opponent of mine?”

Qin Lie laughed, and his eyes flashed with hatred, “Just you wait till the fourth round. I will personally destroy his Dan Tian. I do not believe that the Shang Qing Sect will accept a handicap.”

Wang Feng shuddered. He deeply felt Qin Lie’s hatred.

There was no history there, and no real reason for such negative feelings. Just because he was jealous, he wanted to destroy Ling Xian’s Dan Tian. Just how evil was this? Even though Wang Feng had guessed what would happen, he couldn’t help but feel his heart getting cold.

The little princess raised an eyebrow, “Qin Lie, aren’t you being too much?”

“He deserves it for stealing my spotlight. It’s his fault.”

Qin Lie smirked and continued, “Plus, if they pass this man, I will have to go into the Shang Qing Sect alongside him. Is that a result you want to see? Only if I get rid of him, can I shine and gather the Shang Qing Elder’s admiration.”

Hearing this, Xia Ling Er and Wang Feng were silent.

Qin Lie was completely right. The reason why they felt unfriendly towards Ling Xian was that Ling Xian stole their spotlight and because they were afraid of having to go into the Shang Qing Sect with him.

After all, the entire point of their journey today was to get into the Shang Qing Sect and to get all the elders’ attention. If Ling Xian, the person with Royal Leveled Talent got in, then all eyes would be on him. They would get nothing out of it.

“So, you don’t need to thank me, but don’t blame me either.”

Qin Lie laughed coldly and stared at Ling Xian with disdain, “Young man, it is your unlucky day. How dare you be more talented than me. Once we get to the fourth round, I will trash you Dan Tian and handicap you.”

Then, they no longer looked at Ling Xian. With disregard on their faces, it was as if they were already certain that during the fourth round of the test, they would be able to get rid of Ling Xian.

Just as this small-hearted man was plotting against him, Ling Xian sensed something and couldn’t help but to frown. Then, he peered at the three Heaven’s Favorites and murmured to himself, “The killer’s intent originates from over there.”

“It looks like I have been targeted.”

Chuckling, Ling Xian didn’t have a single trace of fear. They were just a few meditational leveled Heaven’s Favorites, even if the four examiners were plotting against him, he wouldn’t care.

Of course, he would have to summon his original self.

However, with these Heaven’s Favorites, his clone self would be enough to fend for himself and he really had nothing to fear.

Therefore, Ling Xian ignored them. Under the examiner’s admiring gaze, he headed straight towards the second examiner.

This elder was originally exhausted and didn’t treat any participant with energy. However, after witnessing Ling Xian approaching, he was immediately reenergized and even revealed a smile.

“Come, come, come, a Royal Leveled Heaven’s Favorite is very rare.”

The elder had a kind smile on his face. His gentle and friendly behavior made everyone else envious.

To know that when they were dealing with that examiner, he was not at all that nice. Displaying a smiling face? He didn’t even look directly at anyone. Yet the same examiner was treating Ling Xian with utter kindness. Why wouldn’t everyone be jealous?

Sadly, jealousy was utterly useless. They didn’t have the level of talent Ling Xian had.

After seeing this, the jealousy in Qin Lie’s eyes intensified and he was now even more determined to handicap Ling Xian.

“Elderly, I wonder what the second test is?” Ling Xian formed a fist and cupped it with the other.

“The second one is a test of your meridians. Let me inspect you.” The elderly grinned. He slowly extended his right hand and rested it on Ling Xian’s arm.

Seeing this, Ling Xian frowned and silently panicked.

This clone shared meridians with the original, which meant the clone’s meridians were meridians only those of the advanced stage of completion level could have. If he got discovered, he wouldn’t end up just surprising the people here, he would astound the entire world!

The upper management of the Shang Qing Sect might even be informed of this. The key here wasn’t that they would try and raise him to be a powerful person, they would instead capture him and study him. What could they do? It would be far too astonishing and he would be treated like a monster.

In a haste, he quickly used the Technique of the Physical Refinement and adjusted the meridians to roughly match the clone’s cultivation level.

“Eh?” The elder frowned slightly, a little confused.

First of all, the Technique of Physical Refinement was extremely miraculous; second of all, Ling Xian was a powerhouse of the advanced stage of the completion level, therefore, nobody noticed any strangeness.

“Your meridians are a little thicker than what those with level 10 of Qi should have. Not bad, you have passed.” The examiner smiled and put aside his suspicion.

“Thank you, elderly.” Ling Xian paid his respect and came before the third elder.

Similar to the previous elder, this elderly had a huge grin on his face. The difference in attitude he showed towards Ling Xian compared to others was night and day.

However, he was much more efficient than the previous examiner. After seeing Ling Xian, he didn’t waste any time and straight away tossed Ling Xian instructions of a technique of the ninth realm and asked him to cultivate it.

At this, Ling Xian understood that the third round is testing for enlightenment.

To cultivators, enlightenment is a very important quality. From certain perspective, it’s more important than talent.

After all, to become an immortal, one needs to understand the guiding laws of Heaven and Earth. If one has no enlightenment skills, how does one walk far on this path?

Therefore, Ling Xian wasted no words and straight away began to cultivate this earth element technique.

The realm of this technique of the ninth. Normally speaking, the majority of the cultivators here could successfully learn it in half an hour. To him, it’s even easier.

Though he wasn’t sure just how high of enlightenment he had, based on the fast speed he learn a technique and based on how the immortals had nothing bad to say about him, his enlightenment skills must be extremely high!

Therefore, the moment he focused on the instructions given to him, his Qi began to swim around him and he learned the technique within a few short breaths.

Then, he silently summoned and a layer of gold light appeared on his right arm and his defensive abilities increased.

The moment everyone saw his right arm and the faint layer of light, everyone fell into shock.

He finished learning it in such a short period of time?

My god, how insane are you!

Everyone was in awe, none of them thought Ling Xian’s enlightenment skills were terrifying enough to be able to learn a ninth realm technique within seconds.

Even the examiners were surprised at this. Then, the way they looked at Ling Xian was becoming more and more heated.

“Haha, this is great!”

The elder laughed, very happy, “You talent and enlightenment are top notch! I have high expectations for your performance in battles!”

Ling Xian beamed slightly and walked towards the fourth examiner.

Because the fourth test was an actual battle, it was rather a special circumstance. Everyone who had passed the previous tests was gathered here and none of them left.

Qin Lie, Xia Ling Er, and Wang Feng were all still here.

After seeing Ling Xian, Xia Ling Er frowned and didn’t say much. Wang Feng merely chuckled with ill intent.

As for Qin Lie, he couldn’t even hide his contempt and his desire to kill.

“Trouble at my front door again.”

Ling Xian muttered to himself, feeling too lazy to care about this man’s killer’s intent. He paid his respect to the examiner, “I am Xian Ling, it is my pleasure to meet you.”

“That’s right. Since you have passed the first three rounds, it’s time to begin the fourth round.”

The elder smiled with satisfaction, “I will transport you to a small world where countless ninth realm beasts lie. All you have to do is stay alive inside for half an hour. If you are attacked and ‘killed’ by any beast, you won’t die, but you will be kicked out of the world and considered to have failed. Be careful.”

He then flapped around his sleeve and transformed the roughly over 100 people into the small world.

After a moment of dizziness, everyone opened his eyes and checked out his place.

Ling Xian did the same.

This place was a dessert. All anyone could see was yellow, isolation, and coldness.

“Fighting against beasts?”

Ling Xian smiled. His expression was so care-free and relaxed, contrasting most people’s fearful gazes.

When he was of the meditational stage, he had fought against many beasts inside the Hidden Territory in the City of Qing. Using only his terrifying battling abilities, he killed any beast that stood in his way and made all beasts fear him.

Why would he be scared now?

However, what surprised him was that his first enemy was not of the beast form – it was a person.

A warrior like a man paced over in giant steps and his expression was flooding with arrogance. He slowly said something that made Ling Xian frown.

“If you choose to destroy your own dan tian, I will make sure you suffer less physical pain.”