Zhou Yan stood silently to the side, alone without a single ally.
The talents selected this time were all part of Zhou Lingyi's cohort. Even if there were a few exceptions, for men, to admire Zhou Lingyi was instinctual, and since he did not get along with Zhou Lingyi, it was only natural that he was disliked.
The practice session quickly passed, and the seven people adhered to their word, completing their test very conservatively without incorporating any new insights gained from watching Zhou Yan's practice.
Next was the Qi Column test.
This time, the Great Zhou Elder personally took charge.
He took out an ancient stone the size of a person, which looked lifelike, like an extraordinary woman sitting atop a mountain, holding an instrument akin to a flute.
The woman's eyes seemed to have been gouged out; beneath her beautiful eyelashes, the eye sockets were empty, without pupils.
This scene appeared somewhat eerie, but despite sitting there, she exuded an inexplicable sense of melancholy and desolation.
"Zhou Lingyao, you're up!"
"Yes, Elder."
Zhou Lingyao received the Great Zhou Elder's command, emanating a strong presence as he strode over, the first to step forward.
"Pour your sensing power into the instrument in the hands of this strange stone woman, and then, a spiritual Sword Intent energy will envelop your body; just don't resist."
After the Great Zhou Elder finished speaking, he did not elaborate further, only focusing on the seemingly blind strange stone woman.
Zhou Lingyao went over, following the Great Zhou Elder's directions, and began to sense the stick-like object.
At that moment, a Sword Intent, desolate and mournful, indeed enveloped him. Then, the empty eye of the eyeless woman suddenly lit up from its dark void, and with a 'whoosh whoosh,' two beams of Guanghua were emitted.
Two white beams, infused with spiritual Guanghua!
"Hmm, not bad, single Qi Column, two Qi Jie! Upper-level Qi Column!"
The Great Zhou Elder stroked his slightly graying beard, nodding in satisfaction.
"Zhou Lingyi! You're next!"
"Yes, Great Zhou Elder!"
...
"Whoosh whoosh—"
Two similar white Guanghua beams shot out from the single eye socket of the eyeless woman.
Zhou Lingyi also had a single Qi Column with two Qi Jie!
"Zhou Lingyi, single Qi Column, two Qi Jie! Upper-level Qi Column!"
...
"Zhou Xian, single Qi Column, three Qi Jie! Superior-level Qi Column!"
...
When it was Zhou Xian's turn, the results of his test immediately drew countless gasps of astonishment.
Now it was clear to everyone that when one of the eyeless woman's eye sockets lit up, it indicated the presence of a Qi Column.
The emission of one Guanghua beam signified one Qi Jie, and two Guanghua beams indicated two Qi Jie!
During Zhou Xian's test, one of the woman's eye sockets suddenly lit up and emitted three colored Guanghua beams, an extraordinary display that instantly caused many to stand up in amazement.
At this moment, the sensation caused by Zhou Xian was no less than that caused by Zhou Yan earlier!
Zhou Xian himself was clearly stunned, and his expression was one of wild joy!
As soon as the Great Zhou Elder finished speaking, Zhou Xian could not help but laugh uproariously toward the sky.
"Zhou Yan, I want to see what you have to compete with me! Talent and comprehension are nothing compared to the essence of the Qi Column. You worthless fool, what do you have to compete with me?"
Zhou Xian felt exceedingly triumphant; he finally felt he had become the Zhou Family's number one!
Qi Column and Qi Jie, he had never realized that what he thought was an ordinary three Qi Jie was actually an extremely remarkable hidden talent!
Now that the realization hit him suddenly, he felt as if a heavenly windfall had struck him!
He laughed heartily, his expression somewhat twisted, and directly taunted Zhou Yan.
Seeing this, Zhou Yan's face held a hint of mockery.
His expression angered Zhou Xian, but Zhou Xian did not utter another word, merely looking down on him with a superior gaze, as if to say: In the realm of Qi Column and Qi Jie, I am invincible; a waste like you thinks you can defeat me?
...
The turn after Zhou Xian belonged to Zhou Yan.
He was the last to be tested, and everyone after Zhou Xian had only a single Qi Column and a single Qi Jie!
Thus, in the Qi Column test, only Zhou Lingyi, Zhou Lingyao, and Zhou Xian had the advantage.
As Zhou Yan walked up, the entire arena fell completely silent in that instant.
Almost every eye turned to him once more.
In the earlier comprehension test, he had shocked everyone. However, due to his 'arrogance,' his results seemed voided, leading many cultivators to sigh in regret. They thought that it would be a great pity if, because of this, he could not join the Great Zhou Family.
And now, this Qi Column test seemed extremely important. This time, what kind of performance could Zhou Yan present?
In this expectation, both the inside and outside of the Zhou Family Arena gradually quieted down.
The old man from the Great Zhou Family merely watched quietly. Although he could vaguely deduce eight or nine parts of the truth through the Sword Illusion Realm, it was not absolute.
All suppositions paled compared to the precision of a test which could capture the exact state of the Qi Column.
So, even though the old man had some answers in mind, he watched Zhou Yan's test in silence.
Conversely, the pair of man and woman beside him, Zhou Yuan and Zhou Ting, merely observed Zhou Yan with indifference; it seemed they had already calculated Zhou Yan's situation and found nothing groundbreaking.
After all, a single Qi Column and three Qi Jie had already appeared in the Zhou Family; another appearance would not cause much sensation.
With this in mind, their gazes remained indifferent as they looked at Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan ignored all this; he clearly felt that he had disrupted some sort of plan, leading to strong opposition and various provocations.
He had also considered how he should perform in the arena competition after this test.
Perhaps these people would continue to harp on this matter?
Were it not for his father's obsession, even if the Great Zhou Family knelt to invite him in, he would refuse. But everything was for his father, for his father's dying desire to grasp the 'Heavenly Evil Sword'!
What kind of sword was this Heavenly Evil Sword? Whose hands held it? Zhou Yan did not know, but he knew his father valued it greatly.
He took a deep breath and looked at the eyeless spiritual stone woman's sculpture in front of him, an inexplicable, eerie, yet familiar feeling flashed through his mind—as if he had seen her somewhere before!
Zhou Yan slightly frowned; with his current memory, he could not recall where he had seen this woman, which seemed unreasonable! His memory had always been excellent, rarely experiencing such unclear feelings due to poor recollection.
Thus, after serious contemplation and still unable to recall where he had seen the likeness of this female statue, Zhou Yan felt it was quite inexplicable.
Having reached a dead end, he no longer dwelt on it but instead concentrated his sensing power, first using dense purple Thunder Light to cover the two Qi Jie beneath his Dual Qi Pillars, leaving just two Qi Jie visible on each Qi Column, and only then did he sense the bamboo flute in the statue's hands.
At this moment, Zhou Yan also closely observed the changing eye pupils of the strange stone woman.
Indeed, an inexplicable mournful and sorrowful Sword Intent invaded him. Zhou Yan felt his Soul inexplicably tremble as if, in a single moment, he sensed Endless melancholy.
It was an indescribable sense of melancholy, Endless sadness, Endless despair, Endless... darkness and desolation.
In this instant, his Soul seemed to have arrived in a pitch-black Void, an endless, boundless Void.
In this Void stood a woman identical to the strange stone statue, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders, her back facing Zhou Yan.
She did not turn, but seemed to see everything.
"This is not where you belong... go back..."
The woman suddenly transmitted an inexplicable thought, and Zhou Yan's Soul felt as if struck by lightning. He trembled, as if sensing the Star River reversing, Heaven and Earth collapsing.
He suddenly returned to his body, but discovered his own eyes seemed to lack pupils, leaving only voids.
He felt two searing energies in his eyes; unable to contain it, he erupted violently, feeling that at this moment, he must look just like that stone woman's statue, Guanghua shooting from his eyes!
It was just unclear how many Guanghua beams were emitted this time...
As the Guanghua shot forth, his body was chilled, his consciousness abruptly lucid. He then saw time as if frozen momentarily, then resuming again.
The strange stone woman's eyes grew brighter, her sockets suddenly lighting up, each emitting two Guanghua beams!
"Dual Qi Columns! Each with two Qi Jie!"
The elder's face changed dramatically, appearing utterly incredulous and extremely shocked!
He trembled, releasing a momentum that seemed to seize Heaven and Earth, transforming from a small old man into a tall, burly figure; such was the sheer presence that emerged all at once.
"Dual Qi Columns! Total of four Qi Jie! This is a talent that encompasses Heaven and Earth. If not fallen, this certainly is a genius of the ages! The Great Zhou Family, the Great Zhou Family is about to rise!"
"Heaven bless my Great Zhou Family!"
At this moment, the elder's expression became incredibly complex; when he looked at Zhou Yan again, his gaze had completely changed.
Afterward, his wrinkles filled with excited expressions, smoothing out.
This time, his gaze was now immeasurably... excited.
This time, Zhou Yan also perceived the qualitative change in the old man's gaze toward him!
With the talent of Dual Qi Columns, he had changed his Fate!
He knew that entering the Great Zhou Family, he would no longer face limitations.
He stood there with his eyes only persisting calmly on the old man, devoid of mania or unwillingness or anything else.
For compared to this incident, the earlier scene with the shadowy woman held far more impact, and suddenly, his thoughts no longer lingered on the current matter.
...