Chu Family Village was a two-hour journey from town. By the time they arrived, the sun was already high in the sky.
At the entrance to the town stood a tall archway, its plaque engraved with the three large characters for “Qingwu Town” in bold, vigorous strokes.
Chu Wangshan instructed, “Children, I’ve told you this before, but I must emphasize it again. The esteemed figures testing your aptitude have been sent by the Spirit Lord Association. Every one of them is a Tier Three Spirit Lord, as powerful as our town chief. When you undergo testing, you must watch your words and conduct. You must never anger those esteemed Spirit Lords. Understood?”
The children answered in unison, “Understood, Village Chief.”
Chu Shaoye answered along with them, though inwardly he was recalling what Shuangyue had told him. The Spirit Lord Association was a vast organization spanning the Myriad Spirits Continent. Although it had not been established for long, it had grown rapidly. Anyone who became a Spirit Lord could register with the Spirit Lord Association and receive quite a few benefits.
The testing site set up by the Spirit Lord Association was in the plaza at the center of town. After Chu Wangshan brought the cart to a stop, he led the children over to line up.
There were ten testing stations in the plaza, and long queues had already formed. Chu Wangshan found the testing station assigned to Chu Family Village and led the children over.
In the queue next to theirs, a youth stood out.
He reclined on a pearwood lounge chair with four or five servants gathered around him—one holding a parasol over him, another offering water, and others feeding him fruit and kneading his legs. At a glance, he was clearly the pampered young master of a wealthy household.
Wang Zekai had been waiting in utter boredom, but when he saw two pretty young girls arrive in the neighboring queue, his spirits suddenly lifted.
One of the girls was sweet and bright, the other delicate and gentle; each had her own beauty.
Wang Zekai leaned closer to strike up a conversation. “Might I ask where you two young ladies are from?”
Chu Qingyu was timid. Seeing his roguish manner, she felt a little afraid, shrank back, and tightly gripped Chu Qingyao’s hand.
Chu Qingyao patted her hand. She did not like this leering youth either, but she still answered politely, “We are from Chu Family Village.”
“Oh,” said Wang Zekai. To think that some shabby little village he had never even heard of could raise two such beautiful girls—it was truly a phoenix rising from a chicken coop.
Seeing that Chu Qingyao was not the young lady of a wealthy family, Wang Zekai gained confidence. He straightened his back and began showing off. “I am Wang Zekai, young master of the Wang family here in town. You must have heard of our family. The carriage yard in town is run by our Wang family.”
“Oh,” said Chu Qingyao, a little baffled. Who asked you?
Seeing that the two girls were unmoved, Wang Zekai assumed these country girls had seen little of the world and had not heard of the famous Wang family of Qingwu Town. So he continued to boast, “My father is one of only three Tier Three Spirit Lords in our town.”
Chu Qingyao merely gave another indifferent “Oh” and said politely, “Your father is truly impressive.”
Wang Zekai took this polite remark in earnest and proudly patted his chest. “I will definitely inherit my father’s talent and become a Tier Three Spirit Lord.”
After all, even a powerful father does not make you special, and what did his father have to do with anyone else? Chu Qingyao was already feeling somewhat nervous, and Wang Zekai’s endless prattling only annoyed her further.
Chu Qingyao could not be bothered with this landlord’s foolish son and only wanted him to shut his mouth quickly, so her tone cooled. “Young Master Wang truly has lofty ambitions.”
Hearing Chu Qingyao “praise” him, Wang Zekai puffed himself up even higher, like a rooster cocking its tail. Thinking he had won her admiration, he wore an utterly smug expression.
Chu Qingyu covered her mouth and snickered. This Young Master Wang was truly a fool—he could not even tell a compliment from a barb.
Just as Wang Zekai was about to say a few more words, a sharp rebuke rang out. “What are you all crowding around here for? Hurry up and get in line!”
The speaker was one of the Tier Three Spirit Lords sent by the Spirit Lord Association to oversee the testing. The Wang family’s servants did not dare disobey and quickly cleared away the lounge chair, fruit, and everything else.
An Aptitude Examiner was an important figure whom even his father dared not offend. Although Wang Zekai had not finished chatting with the pretty young girls, he could only return sulkily to his own queue and stand properly.
When Chu Wangshan saw that the Aptitude Examiners had arrived, it was no longer proper for him to remain in the queue either. After giving the children a few more words of advice, he left the plaza to wait outside.
The ten Spirit Lords walked to their testing stations. Without wasting words, they took out their Beast Holding Pouches and released the Spirit-Sensing Beasts used to test Spirit Lord Aptitude.
Spirit-Sensing Beasts belonged to a rather special category of Spirit Beasts and were actually a type of Phantasmal Beast. Phantasmal Beasts were blessed by heaven and could not be contracted by humans; anyone who forcibly contracted or harmed a Phantasmal Beast would suffer Heavenly Retribution.
Spirit-Sensing Beasts were friendly toward humans. Although they could not form contracts, they were quite willing to help with a small matter like testing aptitude.
Chu Shaoye looked curiously at the Spirit-Sensing Beast released by the Aptitude Examiner. Shuangyue had told him about quite a few Spirit Beasts and Phantasmal Beasts, including Spirit-Sensing Beasts, but this was his first time seeing one with his own eyes.
The Spirit-Sensing Beast was round and plump, floating in midair like a transparent balloon. Upon closer inspection, however, one could see its eyes, ears, and tail squeezed into tiny features on its body.
Phantasmal Beasts were few in number and exceedingly rare. Many people could go their entire lives without ever seeing a Phantasmal Beast other than a Spirit-Sensing Beast.
Spirit-Sensing Beasts, however, were the oddities among Phantasmal Beasts. Wherever Spiritual Qi was abundant, Spirit-Sensing Beasts could come into being, and there were great numbers of them. Even in a remote place like Qingwu Town, the townsfolk were used to seeing them.
Yet although Spirit-Sensing Beasts were numerous, they possessed only a single ability: testing Spirit Lord Aptitude. They had virtually no strength in attack or defense; a single poke of a finger would cause a Spirit-Sensing Beast to dissolve into a wisp of Spiritual Qi and disperse.
Shuangyue had once said that every Phantasmal Beast possessed either a special gift or formidable strength, as they were heaven’s favored creatures. A creature like the Spirit-Sensing Beast could be called the only good-for-nothing of its kind among Phantasmal Beasts.
The people at the very front of the queues began undergoing testing. The process was simple: one only needed to touch the Spirit-Sensing Beast with a hand and keep it there for three seconds.
If the Spirit-Sensing Beast turned white and grew less transparent, it meant the person being tested possessed the aptitude to become a Spirit Lord. The lower the transparency, the higher the person’s aptitude.
The testing proceeded quickly, and before long, twenty or thirty people had been tested. In a queue with two other queues between it and Chu Shaoye’s group, a youth was finally found to possess Spirit Lord Aptitude.
The Aptitude Examiner for that line paused the testing and brought the youth to the very center of the plaza to conduct the Natal Spirit Beast summoning ceremony.
A Natal Spirit Beast shared an innate bond with its human from birth. Put another way, a Spirit Lord and their Natal Spirit Beast were born as symbiotic partners and did not need to form an additional contract.
The summoning ceremony was not complicated. First, one had to cut a finger and draw a summoning Formation in midair, then recite the Summoning Incantation while calling out to the Natal Spirit Beast in one’s heart to summon it forth.
The youth swallowed hard. He was a little nervous, yet at the same time he could hardly conceal the excitement in his heart—he was about to become a Spirit Lord!
Following the Aptitude Examiner’s guidance, the youth cut his finger and drew the pattern. Faint bloody qi lingered in midair, forming a Summoning Array.
His clear, youthful voice recited the incantation, trembling slightly with excitement: “With this array as the foundation, with blood as the pact, in my name, I summon you forth!”