Chapter 52: Immortal Power Testing

Returning to the Immortal Cultivation Academy, Mingyue felt her gloomy mood lift, and even the air she breathed seemed sweet.

As soon as she entered the dormitory, her roommates crowded around her with loud laughter. Nangong Yurou asked, "Mingyue, I heard you used the Grand Supreme's alchemy furnace to roast sweet potatoes?"

Mo Yao burst out laughing. "You're bold, doing something so outrageous. Simply amazing!"

Mingyue looked at them speechlessly. "This really is... good deeds stay at home, while bad news travels a thousand miles... How did you guys find out?"

Nangong Yurou chuckled and said, "When Teacher Bird was lecturing yesterday, he used you as a negative example to teach us in class. You have no idea how furious he looked, haha."

Dou Ruhua asked, "Mingyue, were the sweet potatoes roasted in an alchemy furnace delicious? I'd love to taste one. Remember to save one for me next time you roast some."

Mingyue let out a deep sigh and said helplessly, "The Grand Supreme Feng didn't say much, but Teacher Bird lectured me for a full half-hour. Would I dare to roast anything next time?"

Nangong Yurou said, "Cultivate properly these next few days. The immortal sword competition is in a couple of days."

Only then did Mingyue realize that the immortal sword competition for the second-year students was approaching. She was momentarily dazed, suddenly realizing that she had already spent a full year in the Pill Sect. Time certainly flew. The days when she first arrived at the Pill Sect carrying bricks felt as though they were only yesterday.

Aside from attending basic classes and cultivation sessions, the academy disciples all grew busy with their free time. Nangong Yurou always had an excuse to slip away, Mo Yao slipped away from time to time under the guise of practicing her sword, and even Dou Ruhua wore a preoccupied expression. Mingyue assumed it was due to the upcoming immortal power competition at the academy and didn't give it much thought.

These past few days, Mingyue also seized every moment to practice breath control and swordplay, and even studied the art of flying on a sword so she could smoothly participate in the immortal cultivation academy's power competition in a few days. Since she didn't need to practice calligraphy, the zither, or painting here, she naturally found it much more relaxing.

Combining her studies with the techniques taught daily by Feng Qingcheng, she carefully meditated on the Dao of immortal cultivation and sword flight. To her pleasant surprise, her primordial spirit breath, which was originally yellow, had somehow transformed into a pale cyan. It seemed that under Feng Qingcheng's high-pressure tutoring, she had learned quite a bit, and a trace of gratitude welled up in her heart.

In the world of immortal cultivation, for cultivators whose immortal power has reached the Void-Crossing Realm, as their power gradually increases, the primordial spirit breath transitions from light yellow to deep yellow. For cultivators who have reached the Upper Immortal Realm, as their power grows, the primordial spirit breath transitions from pale cyan to deep cyan.

The fact that Mingyue's primordial spirit breath appeared pale cyan indicated that her immortal power had broken through the Void-Crossing Realm and entered the early stage of the Upper Immortal Realm. The Upper Immortal Realm had a total of twelve heavens, but which heaven was she actually in? Mingyue had no way of knowing; she estimated she was probably in the first or second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm. Unsure of how other disciples fared, Mingyue found herself genuinely looking forward to the academy disciples' immortal power test in a few days.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Today marked the very first immortal power test for the academy disciples since entering the Mount Shu Leisure Academy. Because this immortal power test could essentially single out the most outstanding disciples from the rest, the academy would focus on cultivating these exceptional individuals and provide special medicinal pills to assist their cultivation once the competition concluded.

Starting from the third year, various elders' sects would begin selecting talents among the academy disciples to be cultivated as key members of their respective sects; these individuals would become the future inner-circle elite disciples of those sects. After breakfast, immortal cultivation tasks essentially concluded, and the remaining time after the morning competition was designated as free rest time for the students. Today, all the disciples were exceptionally excited.

Mingyue followed the other disciples to the martial arts arena and found that the high platforms had been erected as usual. Seated upon them were the elders of various sects as well as Feng Xiaoyao, the Sect Master of Mount Shu.

The seat belonging to the elder of the Pill Sect remained empty. Standing beside it was Yandan, the pageboy of the Pill Sect elder. It was said that Acting Elder Feng Qingcheng was currently in closed-door seclusion, and Yandan was there to observe the results on his behalf.

Mingyue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that her imperfect skills might bring shame to the Pill Sect. But upon second thought, she was merely a little alchemy boy for the Pill Sect, not an official disciple; any embarrassment would be her own and had nothing to do with the Pill Sect. Thinking this way, she felt much more at ease.

Mingyue noticed that among the Five Immortals of Mount Shu, Qiao Chuyai, Hua Qiandu, Mei Ren, and Murong Yiwen had all arrived, with only Feng Qingcheng absent. Many inner-circle disciples from various elders' sects had also come to watch the commotion, and a dense crowd stood tightly packed along the edge of the platform, leaving Mingyue no time to examine them closely.

From afar, Qiao Chuyai raised his fist toward Mingyue to cheer her on, and Mingyue smiled back at him.

Murong Yiwen cast his gaze toward her, a look of infatuation on his face. Mingyue quickly turned her head away, wanting to ask Nangong Yurou to what extent her immortal power had developed, only to see Nangong Yurou's eyes fixed in the direction of Qiao Chuyai. Mingyue suddenly understood; when had their relationship grown so close?

While her mind wandered, the first round of the immortal power test began. This test was extremely simple: the cultivation academy had prepared testing stones, and disciples simply had to step forward and press their palms against the stone. The tester's primordial spirit breath would display its color upon the stone, which would simultaneously measure and reveal their immortal power level.

The disciples grew excited, all of them focusing intently on the testing stone, eager to know what level of immortal power this batch of students had attained after nearly two years of study at the academy.

Aside from the basic auxiliary pills regularly provided each month by the Mount Shu Immortal Sect, the four major empires, the four great clans, and various minor nations also periodically supplied rare spiritual pills to their respective kin. This helped these family members rapidly elevate their immortal power so they could stand out from the crowd and eventually become pillars of the Mount Shu Immortal Sect or elites of their own clans and countries.

Consequently, disciples hailing from these major families and empires enjoyed unique cultivation resources. Disciples without any background, such as Mingyue, Dou Ruhua, and Niu Zhuangzhuang, had to rely entirely on their own innate talent to reach higher levels of immortal power as quickly as possible.

One teacher recorded the test results of the disciples, while another continuously and loudly announced the scores of those being tested:

"Nalan Meidai, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, third heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm." Nalan Meidai was the first to be tested, stepping down with a smug look on her face after completion.

"Mo Yao, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

...

"Han Ruge, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

"Long Yichen, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, first heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

"Mu Xiaotian, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, third heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

...

"Li Junshan, primordial spirit breath deep yellow, Immortal Void stage of the Void-Crossing Realm."

"Wang Shiqi, primordial spirit breath yellow, Spirit Void stage of the Void-Crossing Realm."

...

"Jiang Yiyi, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, first heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm." A satisfied smile appeared on Jiang Yiyi's face as she looked expectantly toward Murong Yiwen by the side of the platform. However, Murong Yiwen turned his head in the opposite direction, and disappointment instantly flashed across Jiang Yiyi's face.

"Niu Zhuangzhuang, primordial spirit breath deep yellow, Immortal Void stage of the Void-Crossing Realm."

"Feng Linchuan, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, first heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

"Dou Ruhua, primordial spirit breath deep yellow, Immortal Void stage of the Void-Crossing Realm." Dou Ruhua walked down crestfallen.

...

"Nangong Yurou, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm." An expression of utter joy bloomed on Nangong Yurou's face as her gaze met Qiao Chuyai's by the platform, and Qiao Chuyai secretly gave her a thumbs-up.

When her turn arrived, Mingyue walked up to the testing stone, took a deep breath to calm her nervous emotions, and pressed her palm against the stone. A faint cyan light radiated from Mingyue's entire body, and the test score displayed upon the stone.

"Mingyue, primordial spirit breath pale cyan, third heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

Mingyue had not expected her immortal power to also reach the third heaven, and a look of satisfaction appeared on her face. Down below, Hua Qiandu gave her a thumbs-up, and Yandan nodded at her with a smile. Murong Yiwen gazed at her with burning eyes, the infatuation within them growing even deeper. Following his line of sight and seeing him peek at Mingyue, Jiang Yiyi was consumed by intense jealousy.

As the immortal power test concluded, the testing teachers' tally revealed that among the one hundred and twenty disciples of the cultivation academy, three had reached the third heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm: Nalan Meidai, Mu Xiaotian, and Mingyue.

Ten had reached the second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm, and thirty had attained the first heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm.

Meanwhile, seventy-seven were in the Void-Crossing Realm—sixty-two in the Immortal Void stage, ten in the Spirit Void stage, and five in the Mortal Void stage. Those whose immortal power remained in the Spirit Void and Mortal Void stages essentially had little hope left in cultivation, and bursts of sighing escaped from them.

Hua Qiandu remarked to Qiao Chuyai, "Back in our day during the immortal power test, the highest immortal power belonged to that Feng fox, who reached the fourth heaven of the Upper God Realm. You, me, and Mei Ren only reached the third heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm, while Yiwen was at the second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

Qiao Chuyai nodded as well, saying, "There are no disciples reaching the fourth heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm this batch, which just goes to show that the Feng fox is an absolute monster."

Murong Yiwen smiled indifferently. His own test score back then had been the second heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm, but wasn't his current immortal power much higher than that of Hua Qiandu and Qiao Chuyai? As for Feng Qingcheng, he didn't find anything particularly extraordinary about him—the man merely benefited from getting a head start in alchemy.

Up on the platform, the elders of the various sects were also whispering among themselves. Jiang Lingshan, elder of the Penalty Sect, smiled and said, "It seems none of the academy disciples this term have reached the fourth heaven of the Upper Immortal Realm."

Elder Jiang of the Medicine Sect stroked his beard and laughed, "Feng Qingcheng is indeed a rare anomaly, though Sect Master Feng managed to snap him up first."

Sect Master Feng wore a proud smile and bantered, "I cultivated him meticulously; isn't that also to bring glory to the Mount Shu Immortal Sect?"

The Medicine Sect elder gestured toward Mingyue and Mu Xiaotian down below and said, "Those two disciples are so outstanding; they're about to be snatched away by your disciple again."

Sect Master Feng glanced at the petite young girl, suddenly recalling recent rumors within the Mount Shu Immortal Sect. Word had it that ever since Feng Qingcheng found a female alchemy boy, the two had been lingering together day and night, leaving him with no heart whatsoever to refine pills. Rumor also had it that this little alchemy boy had actually used the Pill Sect elder's alchemy furnace to roast sweet potatoes—an act that was utterly rebellious... He looked closely at the young girl below, and noticing that although she was still young with a delicate and slender figure, she possessed an exceptionally pretty and charming face, a wave of displeasure involuntarily welled up in his heart.

Seeing that Sect Master Feng did not take up his remark, the Medicine Sect elder asked cheerfully, "Senior brother, that young girl is quite talented in medical arts; I'm definitely keeping her in the Medicine Sect."

Sect Master Feng was more than eager for that girl to leave the Pill Sect and head to another elder's sect as soon as possible, so he smiled and said, "Whether you make her a little medicine boy of the Medicine Sect is entirely up to you; I won't interfere much."

Hearing Sect Master Feng say this, the Medicine Sect elder laughed happily. In any case, the Pill Sect did not accept female disciples, and since this young lass possessed genuine talent in medicine, he liked her immensely and was determined to find a way to take her under his wing.