Chapter 282 – Mutual Promotion (1/2)

Li Qingshan’s senses for murderous auras and hostility were as sharp as they came, so how could he not notice her? If it were directed at him, he might have not cared, but since it was towards Xiao An, that was enough for him to kill her.

The female instructor saw how Li Qingshan was also a sixth layer Qi Practitioner, so she glared back to hold her ground. However, Li Qingshan’s gaze had already shifted over to Xiao An.

What she failed to notice was Qian Rongzhi’s gaze, as gentle as water, from within the crowd. There was no killing intent or hostility in there at all. Even if the female instructor saw it, she would find it very gentle.

“Xiao An, why have you come here?” Li Qingshan asked. Suddenly, he was taken aback. Hmm? The third layer?

Xiao An looked at Li Qingshan and immediately revealed a dazzling smile, throwing herself into his arms.

“What’s wrong? It has only been a morning since you last saw me. How did you reach the third layer?” Li Qingshan rubbed her head. He vaguely understood that this was probably due to the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.

Even the plump old man could not bother to explain things. He knew the leaders were all watching, so he urged, “Get tested for your elemental affinity.”

Li Qingshan smiled. “This is good too. We can cultivate together. Go get tested!”

Under everyone’s watch, Xiao An made her way towards the formation. Most of the Qi Practitioners were bewildered. Why did a kid appear at the end, and why did the professor personally bring her here? Did she possess some powerful background? Though, she sure was impressive to have reached the third layer at such a young age.

No one imagined that she had still been a regular person in the morning, or at least she seemed like one. Even if someone thought of that, they would immediately dismiss this absurd idea.

“Isn’t that the child who follows Li Qingshan around? Called Xiao An or something? Didn’t she take part in the test for children?” Han Qiongzhi asked in surprise.

Hua Chengzan frowned. What was going on with this kid? The third layer? Was she hiding her strength? Aside from that, there were no better explanations. Suddenly, he thought of something. Don’t tell me?

“Brother Tian, look at that child. She’s so pretty!”

“I think we’ve seen her somewhere.”

Chu Tian just happened to be walking away while surrounded by a crowd. He also looked back in confusion? More people to be tested? What a waste of time. The Academy of the Hundred Schools should increase their requirements. Otherwise, even nobodies could study alongside him.

Xiao An stood in the centre of the formation. Looking at the ancient formation carved deep into the rock, she found it to be extremely familiar.

She could not help but close her eyes. At some point in her past, she had stood in a similar formation as a delighted cry rang out in the surroundings, “Success!”

What success?

The formation let out an indetectable hum and suddenly lit up. The surroundings fell quiet. Everyone was slightly taken aback before bursting out with laughter.

“Talent like that sure is rare!”

Chu Tian laughed the loudest. “Don’t tell me that’s the Five Elements constitution too?”

Around Xiao An in the five corners of the formation flickered a smear of golden light, a tender grass shoot, a translucent droplet of water, and a pale yellow flame. The location for earth was just empty. Only at a closer glance could the hovering speck of dust be seen.

In the air above the formation, the light and darkness were so weak that it was almost invisible.

“All low ding?” The instructor responsible for recording the talents frowned. No, it should have been even lower than low ding. She did not possess any talent for the five elements, yin, or yang. If Chu Tian was a supreme genius, then she was supremely useless.

The plump old man sighed. The female instructor mocked, “Is this the Heavenly Meridians prodigy that the school leaders valued? I think she’s just a piece of trash!”

Li Qingshan glanced at her indifferently. There was no longer any murderous aura. There was no need for him to behave so viciously towards a dead person. He was not interested in why she was so hostile to Xiao An either.

His Xiao An was someone that even brother ox had praised as a genius.

The various school leaders were disappointed. Originally, they wanted to confirm which school Xiao An would belong to from her elemental affinity, but all of it was so low. This meant that her connection with the spiritual qi of the world was so weak that it was almost non-existent.

Sigh. It would have been fine if she had even average talent for any single attribute. No, even if it was mediocre, it would be fine. However, this was basically akin to possessing no talent at all. She would be alright as a Qi Practitioner, but Foundation Establishment required connecting with the spiritual qi of the world.

Liu Zhangqing shook his head with a soft sigh. “Can you call this both a blessing and a curse?”

Behind her supreme talent hid a tremendous flaw. It was not impossible to make up for her lack of elemental affinity, but the required resources were so tremendous and precious that probably only large sects like the Sword Collection palace or the Umbral Yin sect, or large clans like the provincial lord’s estate, could bear the costs of and produce. However, if they poured all of these resources into any regular Qi Practitioner, they could still produce a genius, so why did they have to spend it on her? The heavens were playing a huge, evil joke on her!

The various school leaders looked at earth elder Huang again. They found his foresight to be rather admirable. Prodigies could not be determined from a single aspect alone.

The old man continued to smoke his pipe, neither disappointed nor surprised.