Chapter 13: The Heavenly Origin Palace Assessment

This was a massive Mystic Ark. Its interior was incredibly luxurious and spacious. Compared to the airplanes of his previous life, the Mystic Ark was far more spacious and much faster. Yang Lingchen was still very curious about this colossal vessel he had never seen before. The Mystic Ark's flight power came from spirit stones. As long as there were enough spirit stones, it could fly indefinitely. After Yang Lingchen and Han Ruoxue boarded the Mystic Ark, they found a quiet corner by a window and sat down. It wasn't long before the Mystic Ark set off. Gazing at the boundless land stretching out below, a sense of grandeur swelled within Yang Lingchen. This world held too many unknown wonders, waiting for him to explore. “Yang Lingchen, you've hidden yourself too well. You're clearly so powerful, yet you pretended to be a good-for-nothing wastrel.” Han Ruoxue, beside him, said with a hint of annoyance. “Cough, cough... I was just being low-key, low-key, you understand?” Yang Lingchen coughed lightly. He couldn't very well tell Han Ruoxue that he was a transmigrator! “Then, did you really like me so much before, or was that also a pretense?” Han Ruoxue blinked, looking at Yang Lingchen earnestly. “It was all a pretense, not to be taken seriously,” Yang Lingchen said with a helpless smile. Although Han Ruoxue was very beautiful, she wasn't really his type. “I don't believe it. Back then, to give me the Spirit Bloom Sword, you even stole tens of thousands of gold coins from Uncle Yang and were hung up by him for a whole day!” Han Ruoxue playfully chided. Yang Lingchen smiled but didn't reply. He didn't want to dwell on such matters. Just then, the Mystic Ark stopped, and several more youths boarded. The journey involved many stops and starts, with hundreds of youths boarding from various surrounding cities. These newly boarded youths were all incredibly arrogant, being the talented prodigies from nearby cities, each with cultivation at or above the first layer of the Mystic Realm. Under Dongfang Jie's warning, everyone remained very quiet throughout the journey, no one daring to speak loudly. Several days passed in a flash. On this day, the Mystic Ark entered a mysterious mountain range. Before long, the Mystic Ark stopped before a mountain gate that was both magnificent and imbued with an ancient, weathered aura. The scenery here was beautiful, with rolling peaks and abundant spiritual energy, truly a paradise on earth. This was the mountain gate of the Heavenly Origin Palace. At this moment, dozens of Mystic Arks were parked in the Heavenly Origin Palace's mountain gate plaza. From these Arks, tens of thousands of young men and women disembarked one after another. These youths were all the young prodigies from various cities across the Northern Mystic Domain. “You all wait here! An outer sect elder will come to preside over the assessment shortly,” Ling Yanyun instructed before gracefully departing. The Heavenly Origin Palace was nestled among the mountains, composed of countless peaks. Here, clouds layered, spiritual energy was abundant, and the scenery was pleasant, like a fairyland. The Heavenly Origin Palace, capable of occupying such a vast mountain range and establishing its foundation here to widely recruit disciples, possessed an unimaginable depth of power. At this moment, the Heavenly Origin Palace mountain gate plaza was already a sea of people, densely packed. Yang Lingchen estimated there were at least tens of thousands. These tens of thousands were the young talents from thousands of cities in the Southern Continent. As a super-sect, the Heavenly Origin Palace attracted countless young talents to participate in its assessments every time it recruited new disciples. Of course, the Heavenly Origin Palace's recruitment conditions were very strict. First, the age had to be under eighteen, and martial arts talent had to be at or above the fourth grade. Secondly, they had to pass the assessment tower's trial. Soon, Yang Lingchen registered at the registration desk. Next was queuing up to test age and talent. The Heavenly Origin Palace had a miraculous Heaven-Testing Stone. By placing one's hand on it and inputting mystic energy, it could accurately measure age and talent grade. As the tests began, most people passed, though a small number failed, either being too old or lacking sufficient talent. Those who passed moved to the second area, awaiting the upcoming Gravity Tower assessment. “Chen Baichuan, fifteen years old, fifth-grade talent, first layer of the Mystic Realm.” “Zhang Wuji, nineteen years old, failed.” “Han Ruoxue, fifteen years old, fifth-grade talent, first layer of the Mystic Realm.” The testing continued until the afternoon. Finally, it was Yang Lingchen's turn. Looking at the Heaven-Testing Stone before him, he felt a little nervous. He didn't know what his talent truly was. Yang Lingchen tentatively input a wisp of mystic energy into the Heaven-Testing Stone, and immediately, the stone lit up with a single ray of light. Many onlookers around burst into laughter. “First-grade talent dares to come to Heavenly Origin Palace? Better go home and farm!” Yang Lingchen ignored the crowd's mockery and input more mystic energy into the Heaven-Testing Stone. Immediately, the Heaven-Testing Stone lit up with a second, then a third... up to an eighth ray. When the Heaven-Testing Stone lit up with eight rays of light, Yang Lingchen quickly withdrew his mystic energy. Eighth-grade talent was already sufficient; he didn't want to be too high-profile. “Yang Lingchen, age fifteen, first layer of the Mystic Realm, eighth-grade talent.” A collective gasp. The people who had been mocking Yang Lingchen earlier now showed expressions of shock and envy. Eighth-grade talent was absolutely one in ten thousand. Theoretically, the higher the talent, the greater the future achievements. Of course, the cultivation world never lacked exceptionally talented prodigies, because talent that hasn't matured is nothing. After all, in the cultivation world, the mortality rate is very high. Among a thousand prodigies, it's good if even one succeeds. The Heavenly Origin Palace highly valued Yang Lingchen's talent. The deacon immediately made a special record of him. The first round of age and talent testing quickly concluded. Out of over twenty thousand people tested, only just over ten thousand passed. “The first round has ended. Everyone, rest well in place. Tomorrow morning, the second round, Ascending Peak, will begin,” an elder of the Heavenly Origin Palace announced. Ascending Peak, a mountain for testing willpower. Only the first two thousand people who successfully reach the summit will be able to join the Heavenly Origin Palace. Yang Lingchen found a clean spot and sat down cross-legged. After a day of observation, he had a preliminary understanding of the Heavenly Origin Palace. The Heavenly Origin Palace had over one hundred thousand disciples: five thousand core disciples, twenty thousand inner disciples, and the rest were outer disciples. Of course, the most esteemed disciples in the Heavenly Origin Palace were the Four Holy Sons. It was rumored that the Holy Sons' authority even surpassed that of many elders. New disciples were generally outer disciples, and outer disciples were at the bottom tier of the Heavenly Origin Palace. They needed to complete a certain number of tasks each month to earn contribution points. In the Heavenly Origin Palace, the common currency was contribution points and spirit stones. Spirit stones could be used for cultivation, while contribution points could be exchanged for cultivation techniques, martial skills, and various resources and medicinal herbs. Outer disciples needed to complete at least one task each month to receive a spirit stone as a reward. Inner disciples, however, enjoyed significantly better treatment and higher status within the sect. Not only were they assigned independent courtyards, but they also received a substantial number of spirit stones each month. A night passed in the blink of an eye. The next morning, all the young people who had passed the first round stood spiritedly in the mountain gate plaza, awaiting the arrival of the Heavenly Origin Palace elders. Just then, a middle-aged man wearing the robes of an outer sect elder of the Heavenly Origin Palace walked out.