Ye Jiao stared at the stone before her with desperation.
Just a bit. Even a little bit was fine.
She doesn't mind even if it was the lowest one as long as there was a reaction, it meant that there was hope for her to practice arts. Without any reaction from the stone whatsoever, it had sealed her fate.
"Even after 6 years, the result is still the same, Ye Xiao!" Wei Shang roared with laughter. "There's no use in testing her anymore."
"You!" Ye Xiao glared at the man with hatred. Good families would send people to test their children's potential once they were born. Although the test was only an estimation, it could predict the children's future. When Ye Jiao was born, they had tested her and deemed her to be a trash.
It was rare for trash to appear from a good family, but it was even rarer that she came from a family with good genes.
Wei Shang laughed without restrain as he turned around. His daughter was with his first wife, cuddling happily at the result that everyone knew she would have. It was not a surprise for children from noble families to have good results. Other people could only look at them from afar without the chance to get jealous at all.
"Sir, this?" Ye Jiao raised her head, looking at the examiner.
The examiner could see that the girl felt desperate. In this world where practitioner could be found everywhere, being a trash would surely bring her numerous painful experiences. And here, only the strong could survive.
He shook his head lightly, trying to not look too dejected. "Unfortunately, the device didn't detect any potential in your body, young girl."
No potential.
The two words slammed the girl's heart and shattered it to pieces. She had prayed to bring hope from this test, but it instead brought her despair. Her eyes stared at the stone before her as tears welled up.
"I… I see."
Ye Jiao stayed still in her place for several second as she tried to calm down. She shouldn't make her father worry about her anymore. Her small legs slowly brought her back to her father, who was looking at her with a warm smile as always. He reached out his hand and caressed the girl's head slowly.
"Daddy…"
"It's fine, Jiao'er, you did great," Ye Xiao pulled the girl up from the ground and carried her in his embrace. Other people termed his daughter as trash without any potential, but he would never give up on her. Even if the chance was slim, he would train her by himself.
Ye Jiao might not be able to see her father's disappointment, but she could hear the sad tone her father had. She clutched her small hand to grip her father's clothes. "Dad, I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault, not at all," Ye Xiao caressed Ye Jiao's head tenderly as he walked out of the hall.
"I'm sorry."
Ye Jiao buried her face in her father's embrace. Even though her father never told her directly, she had heard that her mother left because of her trash potential. She couldn't stand the thought of being a mother of a trash, so she left the two of them.
In this world, only martial artists can survive. Each child would be tested since young to determine their talent and growth because different talents gave different speed for their improvement. The energy they used in this world was called Eon Energy.
It was not known since when the energy existed, but humanity started to learn how to use them a few centuries ago. Ever since then, the use of Eon Energy became part of their daily life. It was similar to that of magic, but it could be produced naturally by nature.
Not only for fulfilling their daily necessities, Eon Energy could also be used to strengthen one's body. This was the reason they tested the talent. It would determine how far they could advance and the amount of Eon Energy that could possibly be stored in their body.
The higher, the better.
Every step and improvement in Eon Energy meant a huge leapt of power. The first step was to form the core in their body by absorbing the Eon Energy in their surroundings. The amount of Eon Energy they could absorb at a time depended on their talent.
For those who had purple grade, they should be able to form the core by the time they reached the age of 10 while those lower should be able to form one by the time they were 11 to 13 years old. The lowest one, red grade would only be able to form when they were 14 to 15 years old. However, this was only the estimation because the environment and resources were also important.
Forming their core would mean that they had started their path to become a master.
It was a slow process and during this time, the children have to learn many other things aside from martial arts. The knowledge of this world was simply too vast as there are still a lot of mysteries around.
"Elder, Ye Xiao will be leaving first," Ye Xiao said when he reached the door. He didn't stop or try to talk anymore as he carried his daughter in his embrace.
As the two of them left the hall, several figures appeared from the shadows. They were experts that watched the test because Wei Shang's daughter would be tested today. Those who achieved the rank light blue or above would have their name recorded because they were the most talented ones in this world with the ability to reach higher rank.
"As expected of Ye Xiao, his sense is still as high as before," one of the elders commented.
"He's not a genius for nothing. Even though he's stuck in rank 3 and unable to proceed further, even those rank 4 might have trouble facing him."
The elder who spoke first snorted. "How could that be? Between rank 3 and 4, there's a huge disparity. No matter how much of a genius that Ye Xiao is, he won't be able to defeat the rank 4."
"I just say that he can give them trouble."
While they were squabbling, one of the elders walked to the testing stone. He put his hand on the surface of the stone as his brows furrowed.
"What is it? The stone won't be able to test your power anymore after you form the core," another elder reminded.
"Not that."
The elder flicked his finger, straight on the stone. In that instant, the stone was shattered to pieces. Not even a single one of them stayed intact in its original place.
Silence descended on the room.
As the elders of this kingdom, they knew very well how sturdy this stone was. There shouldn't be any way for the stone to break like this. Even with their power, a flick of their finger wouldn't be able to cause this much damage.
"It seems something is wrong," the elder who flicked his finger frowned. "I think things are not so simple."
"But Wei Shang wouldn't dare to do anything to the stone."
"It might not be him. Ask people to investigate whoever stayed here at this time," the elder stared at the stone with a frown on his face. He was watching it from afar, so he could sense that there was something wrong. From the moment Ye Jiao touched it, the stone seemed to lose all of its power.
It was too weird.
'Is it that girl?'
Looking at his comrades, the elder shook his head. It would be ridiculous for a young girl to destroy this stone when not even masters could do it. He should not think too much.