A Shocking Sword Intent Emerges!
5: Chapter 5: What the Hell Is This?
A Shocking Sword Intent Emerges!
Zhang Xuan shuffled slowly toward the Spirit Testing Stele, one step at a time.
It was only a distance of several zhang, yet it felt as though he had walked an entire lifetime.
“Am I really going to lose face today no matter what?” Zhang Xuan stood before the Spirit Testing Stele and looked around.
Seeing everyone’s eyes upon him, his lips trembled.
Was his reputation across ninety-nine lifetimes about to be destroyed in this one?
His face carried three parts melancholy, three parts desolation, and four parts unwillingness.
He raised his head to gaze at the sky, his expression sorrowful, his eyes filled with defiance against fate.
The crowd watched Zhang Xuan’s display, murmuring in confusion.
“What’s going on?
Testing talent has this much drama?” “Say what you will, there’s something oddly captivating about the slow-motion.
This guy is definitely not simple.” “I feel it too.
He’s a man with a story.” “He’s so brooding.
So handsome!” The crowd whispered among themselves, and in moments they were regarding Zhang Xuan with a strange sort of reverence.
Guyue Fangzheng stared intently at Zhang Xuan, unblinking.
The reason he had initially followed Zhang Xuan was precisely because he sensed something special about the man.
Now, seeing Zhang Xuan like this, his suspicions were all the more confirmed.
“This guy is definitely not as simple as he appears.” “What kind of talent could he possibly have?” Guyue Fangzheng was intensely curious.
“Heh!” Suddenly, Zhang Xuan let out a derisive laugh.
The laughter was filled with mockery toward fate itself.
Well, it had come to this.
So be it.
He was already here.
He might as well finish the mission quickly.
“Whatever.
No one will know my past identities anyway.
Embarrassment in this life has nothing to do with who I was before.” Zhang Xuan comforted himself silently, then slowly extended his right hand toward the Spirit Testing Stele.
“Wait!” At that moment, one of the inner elders in the sky suddenly spoke.
Zhang Xuan’s heart leapt with joy.
Was there a complication?
He quickly looked up and saw that the one who had spoken was the elder who had initially stepped forward to take Guyue Fangzheng as a disciple.
Zhang Xuan remembered him.
His name was Wang Defa.
Good name!
Elder Wang, seeing everyone’s attention upon him, spoke unhurriedly: “Before you test your talent, young friend, may I ask one question.” “Young friend… do you have any background?” At these words, the inner elders’ expressions grew somewhat uncomfortable.
But they all understood Elder Wang’s meaning.
If Zhang Xuan tested some incredible talent and then declared that Azure Cloud Sect was too small for him — just as Guyue Fangzheng had done — would it not be a farce?
So everyone turned to Zhang Xuan, awaiting his response.
Zhang Xuan’s mouth twitched.
You bastard — you’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you?
He glared at Guyue Fangzheng once more, then answered with bitterness: “I have no background.
My parents passed away before I was born.
I am an orphan.” That was right.
In this life, Zhang Xuan’s identity was the epitome of “no backing whatsoever.” Unfortunately, this life’s strategy was not the show-off route.
Upon hearing this, the elders breathed a sigh of relief.
“In that case, young friend, please begin the test.” Zhang Xuan sighed.
There’s no escape after all?
He reached out again, his hand touching the surface of the Spirit Testing Stele.
Crack!
His palm made contact with the cold stone, and a warm energy began coursing through his body.
It was the Spirit Testing Stele’s spiritual power probing his talent.
Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the stele.
But the stele emitted no unusual phenomenon.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
… More than ten breaths passed before a faint five-colored glow finally appeared atop the stele.
The light was pitifully weak, almost entirely concealed by Zhang Xuan’s palm, which was why no one had noticed it at first.
Five Elements Low-grade Spirit Root.
Silence.
A deathly silence fell over the surroundings.
Every pair of eyes stared wide at the feeble glow on the Spirit Testing Stele, as if refusing to believe what they saw.
Five Elements Low-grade Spirit Root — the most worthless talent for cultivation.
While one could technically cultivate, even reaching Foundation Building would be difficult.
Among the thousands who had come to take the test, they could probably not find even a handful with talent this poor.
And to have it revealed under such public scrutiny… Zhang Xuan felt the silence was deafening.
“Ahem, so it’s a Five Elements Low-grade Spirit Root.
Quite rare indeed!” “Indeed.
In my thousands of years of cultivation, I have seldom encountered such a spirit root.” “The weather is really lovely today, isn’t it…” Everyone realized something awkward had occurred.
The atmosphere became even more uncomfortable than when Guyue Fangzheng had created his scene.
Zhang Xuan closed his eyes, a vein throbbing on his forehead.
Are you all satisfied now?
I need to finish this mission as soon as possible.
Screw it all — I want to die right this instant!
Guyue Fangzheng wore a look of utter disbelief.
The person he had held in such high regard — a Five Elements Low-grade Spirit Root?
How could that be?
“Wait!” Suddenly, a sharp light flashed in Guyue Fangzheng’s eyes as he stared fixedly at the Spirit Testing Stele.
The crowd was still making awkward conversation, trying to look away.
Zhang Xuan was about to withdraw his hand and accept his miserable fate.
But in the next instant, his heart skipped a beat.
“Huh?” Zhang Xuan stared at the Spirit Testing Stele before him.
From the point where his palm touched the stone, fine cracks had appeared.
They spread rapidly outward like a spider’s web, quickly covering the entire stele.
And now, everyone finally noticed something was wrong.
“What is that?” “Why are there lines?” “No — those aren’t lines.
Those are cracks!” Suddenly, someone cried out.
The inner elders in the sky snapped to attention as well, their faces filled with confusion as they looked toward the stele.
Crack!
Crack!
The cracks multiplied across the Spirit Testing Stele, dense and numerous, leaving Zhang Xuan staring wide-eyed.
“What the hell is this?!” Boom!
In the next instant, the Spirit Testing Stele exploded.
A world-shattering Sword Intent erupted from within, surging into the sky and stirring the winds and clouds.
The clouds within a million miles were swept clean in an instant.
The inner elders hovering in the sky were sent flying by the force of the Sword Intent, vanishing from sight.
The disciples present felt an incomparable, earth-shattering Sword Intent pressing down upon them.
Their faces turned pale and they collapsed to their knees.
Guyue Fangzheng stared up at the Sword Intent in the sky, his face white, veins visible in his eyes, his entire body trembling.
He tried to resist that overwhelming Sword Intent, but lasted less than a single breath before he too dropped to his knees.
Hummm!
The world-shattering Sword Intent stood in the heavens, peerless and supreme, as though heaven and earth themselves would make way for it, as though the Great Dao would retreat before it.
The entire Taiyi Realm shuddered at that moment!
Zhang Xuan gazed at the Sword Intent in the sky as well, his expression turning serious, his brow furrowing.
“Why is my Sword Intent here?” Now he understood why he had felt that inexplicable familiarity with the Spirit Testing Stele.
Someone had hidden his Sword Intent from his very first life inside it.
Who the hell had that much free time?
Zhang Xuan cursed under his breath and began considering how to resolve this.
If he did not handle it properly, someone might connect the dots.
After all, when he had been planning his death at the end of his first life, he had been too inexperienced and left behind too many loose ends.
Just as he was about to deploy certain measures to dissipate the Sword Intent hanging in the sky… A graceful figure descended before him, fixing him with a cold, piercing gaze.
“Who are you?” “Why were you able to activate my master’s Sword Intent?!”