Zhang Wei stood beside Su Yuan, his expression brimming with excitement.
"Su Yuan, I did it! I broke through! I've constructed my second Spiritual Node!"
Dark circles surrounded his eyes, clear evidence of his diligent efforts over the past five days.
Su Yuan congratulated him: "Impressive, Zhang Wei! I've witnessed your hard work firsthand, and your sheer willpower has truly earned my respect! This spotlight was meant for you!"
Zhang Wei grinned widely, his self-satisfaction growing by the second. If not for his inability to perform sword flight yet, he might have literally floated away with joy.
Then, as if remembering something, he glanced at Su Yuan with pity: "Ah, what a shame! With your poor talent, limited resources, and lack of cultivation effort, entering the outer sect will be difficult! But don't lose heart—this is perfectly normal. There are eight hundred others in the same boat as you. Doesn't that make you feel better?"
Su Yuan couldn't tell whether Zhang Wei was genuinely trying to comfort him or subtly mocking him—this was certainly a unique way of offering consolation.
"I'll take that as encouragement!" Su Yuan replied.
Zhang Wei froze momentarily, unsure how to respond, an awkward expression flashing across his face.
"It's almost time!" Su Yuan reminded him.
Zhang Wei quickly straightened his posture.
After a brief wait,
A streak of white light descended from the distant mountain peak.
All eyes turned to see the Valley Master gracefully floating down. Upon landing, his flying sword circled him nine times, leaving nine dazzling trails of light before disappearing into his sleeve.
Zhang Wei's eyes overflowed with envy and anticipation.
Absolutely ridiculous.
A sudden realization struck Su Yuan—every Immortal Seed had to pass through Immortal Seed Valley, even those with supreme spiritual roots. Each generation became awestruck by the Valley Master's flashy displays, inevitably imitating him once their cultivation progressed enough.
Case solved!
Now he understood why those inner sect seniors made such dramatic entrances!
It was all because of you, Valley Master! You old show-off! Corrupting generation after generation!
The Valley Master calmly scanned the assembled disciples and declared: "Pleased to see you all again. Today we test your cultivation progress. The proof is in the pudding—this will show you exactly where you stand compared to others and motivate you to keep striving without slackening! Now, let's begin with the lowest-ranked disciple!"
With a wave of his hand, the Valley Master summoned an obviously extraordinary magical artifact onto the platform—a massive stone slab with faintly glowing characters and a dim light pillar that clearly wasn't merely decorative.
A disciple stepped forward under the gaze of a thousand eyes, his face flushed red.
As the absolute last-place disciple who had only recently succeeded in drawing in qi, this was his moment to "shine." He had cultivated day and night these past ten days, determined to shed his bottom-feeder status.
The Valley Master said impassively: "Place your hands on the central jade stone!"
"Yes, Valley Master!"
The disciple hurried forward and pressed both hands against the jade.
After just one breath, red light filled the pillar, rising a small segment.
Characters appeared on the stone slab above: "29 strands of spiritual energy!"
"Oh? Not bad!"
The Valley Master nodded approvingly. For the lowest-ranked disciple to refine 29 strands showed commendable diligence, if not exceptional talent.
Encouraged by this response, the disciple left the platform with a pleased expression.
The second-to-last disciple, already waiting nearby, turned green upon seeing this number.
When his hands touched the jade, the slab displayed "26 strands of spiritual energy."
Sure enough, the Valley Master expressed dissatisfaction: "Pathetic! Go back and cultivate harder!"
The disciple lowered his head in acknowledgment before slinking away in disgrace.
Watching this, Su Yuan felt like he was back in school during test score announcements—it wasn't failing that hurt, but ranking dead last!
Most people wouldn't notice average performers, but they'd always remember those at the very top and bottom.
For instance, Su Yuan now remembered that the 26-strand disciple was named Lü Shun—an ironically unfortunate name for someone with such bad luck!
The third-to-last disciple ascended the platform looking equally uncomfortable.
The display showed 28 strands—just one less than the previous last-placer!
Now the original last-place disciple could finally hold his head high—at least he wasn't the absolute worst anymore.
'If that were me, my system would probably level up immediately,' Su Yuan mused while observing the 26-strand result.
Alas, his current strength didn't permit such antics.
The assessments proceeded rapidly,
With results appearing within one or two breaths.
The numbers gradually increased as higher-ranked disciples took their turns.
By the 500th disciple, the count reached 70 strands.
At 400th place, it climbed to 90 strands, approaching the 100-strand milestone.
Finally, at 350th place, a disciple achieved 100 strands—though without opening any Spiritual Nodes.
It wasn't until the 333rd disciple that someone successfully condensed their first Spiritual Node!
"Who's that? He's already formed a Spiritual Node? And he's only got a lower-grade spiritual root too—that's insane!"
"The gap between people might as well be the distance between mountain peaks and valley floors!"
Whispers broke out among the crowd, with lower-ranked disciples straining their necks for a better look.
The Valley Master shot them a glance.
Instant silence fell.
But astonished expressions remained on every face.
Of course, this only applied to the lower-ranked disciples—the top talents didn't even bother looking.
Zhang Wei's lips curled upward, his smug smile impossible to suppress.
Just from his expression, Su Yuan knew this guy was waiting to "stun everyone with his skills" later. If one Spiritual Node caused such a stir, his two Nodes would truly steal the show!
Soon, after 32 disciples had been tested, only three had managed to open an additional Spiritual Node—proof of how difficult this achievement truly was.
Zhang Wei rubbed his hands together in barely contained excitement.
Zhou Wuyou watched from behind, his face twisting in disdain: "What's he so worked up about? Just because he got an earth-grade technique? Higher-grade techniques aren't necessarily better—if you can't comprehend them properly, your cultivation speed might be worse than with a yellow-grade technique!"
Su Yuan gave Zhang Wei an encouraging look.
Zhang Wei returned a "watch me shine" expression.
Then he strode confidently onto the platform and placed his hands on the jade!
The light pillar glowed faintly with gold-green light, rising just slightly—an unimpressive showing at first glance.
Zhou Wuyou immediately checked the stone slab.
The first line appeared:
"12 strands of spiritual energy!"
This made Zhou Wuyou instantly happy—after forming one Spiritual Node, he'd accumulated 62 additional strands, far surpassing Zhang Wei!
Other disciples watching also showed little surprise—such low spiritual energy clearly meant he'd already opened Spiritual Nodes, but compared to previous performers, Zhang Wei's results seemed mediocre.
Then the second line appeared:
"Has opened 2 Spiritual Nodes!"
"Hmm?"
The Valley Master made a surprised noise, his expression shifting noticeably.
"Wait, two Spiritual Nodes?" someone exclaimed.
Zhou Wuyou's face froze as he stared at the number at the end of the second line—it definitely said "two," not "one."
"No way, how is that possible?" Zhou Wuyou blurted out in shock.
The square erupted in chatter, with even some top-ranked geniuses turning to look.
At this moment, Zhang Wei's face seemed to glow as he grinned from ear to ear.
"Excellent! Excellent! Zhang Wei, was it? You've done well!" The Valley Master didn't withhold his praise.
"Thank you for your kind words, Valley Master! I'll continue striving for improvement!" Zhang Wei chuckled.
"Good, you may step down." The Valley Master nodded.
Zhang Wei descended the platform with composed dignity, throwing Su Yuan a "take notes" look over his shoulder.
Su Yuan shook his head with a light laugh before stepping up himself. Placing his hands on the jade, he felt a warm current circulate through his body before returning to the stone.
Once certain the assessment was complete, Su Yuan immediately withdrew his hands and walked off briskly.
The Valley Master blinked at this abrupt departure.
He turned to read the slab's display:
[60 strands of spiritual energy]
[2 Spiritual Nodes opened]
"Hmm? This is..."
Now the Valley Master looked even more astonished!
Zhang Wei, who had just stepped down and was waiting for Su Yuan's results, also saw those two lines. He rubbed his eyes, certain he must be seeing things.
But no matter how many times he looked, the words clearly stated that Su Yuan had indeed opened two Spiritual Nodes—and still had 60 strands of spiritual energy remaining!
How... was this reasonable?
How... was this normal?
Zhang Wei's brain short-circuited. Su Yuan only had a lower-grade triple spiritual root! And he knew for a fact that this guy had no extra cultivation resources, spent most of his time lazing around sleeping during lectures and reading miscellaneous books in the library. After accounting for sleep, how much time could he possibly have spent cultivating? His technique was only a yellow-grade supreme at that—inferior to Zhang Wei's!
Yet Su Yuan had progressed faster than him! This was... Zhang Wei nearly had a mental breakdown!
Suddenly he recalled Su Yuan's words five days earlier—back then, Su Yuan had seemed certain about opening two Spiritual Nodes. Remembering how he'd constantly shown off in front of Su Yuan, who had always just smiled and occasionally humored him with a response, Zhang Wei's lips now twitched uncontrollably.
He wasn't the only one shocked—many others shared his astonishment!
Though Zhang Wei's earlier performance had somewhat prepared them, those who knew the details recognized how unbelievable this was. Zhou Wuyou's eyes practically bulged from their sockets, wondering if his vision had failed him twice today.
"What's his name?"
"Su Yuan! I often see him in the lecture hall—never spoken to him, but I recognize his face."
"Hey, I see him there often too—aren't you wood attribute?"
"Huh? You've noticed him too?"
Several disciples exchanged words, their faces a mix of surprise and confusion.
The Valley Master coughed, restoring silence.
"Next!" he urged.
Only then did the disciple after Su Yuan snap out of his daze and step forward.
The Valley Master's gaze lingered on Su Yuan's retreating figure, his impression of the young man significantly deepened. Given Su Yuan's known background and talent, the only possible explanation was exceptional comprehension ability—perhaps a comprehension-type genius! Such talents could rival even supreme spiritual root holders!
The Valley Master mentally noted Su Yuan's name, placing it among the upper-grade spiritual root disciples.
[Ding! Fame Points +1]
[Ding! Fame Points +1]
[Ding! Fame Points +1]
[Ding! Fame Points +2]
[Ding! Fame Points +5]
In the blink of an eye, Su Yuan's system notification sounded five times, bringing his total Fame Points to 13!
Su Yuan scratched his head—what exactly determined these Fame Point increases?
Shaking his head, he decided not to overthink it and just let things unfold naturally.
As Su Yuan passed Zhang Wei, the latter remained frozen, staring blankly ahead.
"Earth to Zhang Wei!"
Su Yuan whispered.
Zhang Wei snapped out of it, fixing Su Yuan with an intense stare before whispering urgently: "Tell me your secret! I'll pay in spirit stones!"
Su Yuan sighed—what secret? That he was cheating?
"Maybe I just have good compatibility with the technique. Oh, and according to the manual's description, I should already be at the minor achievement stage!" Su Yuan said.
Zhang Wei's eyes nearly popped out: "Minor achievement? Are you kidding me? I'm barely at the beginner stage, with rough mastery coming next before minor achievement! How the hell did you cultivate?!"
"I don't know either—it just came naturally, you know?" Su Yuan wore an expression of helpless sincerity—he genuinely didn't want to lie.
The Valley Master's ears twitched slightly as he mentally moved Su Yuan's name up further, placing it right behind the two supreme spiritual root holders.

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