"I'll go," Su Yao said, eagerly pricking her finger and pressing it to the spirit tool before circulating her energy through it. Just like Florist Dongtian had said, as soon as her energy touched it, she felt a sharp tug as it pulled deeply on her energy. The sharp sensation only lasted a moment before a small ball of dim red energy appeared in the air above the tool.
"Early-stage Aesthete," the older woman declared, making a note in her ledger. "How recently did you awaken and how old are you?"
"Just yesterday and I'm sixteen summers old," Su Yao said with pride. "I wouldn't have thought I was ready but Sister Wu Ling recommended I focus on my calligraphy instead of my zither when awakening and it worked."
"I see, so I'll note down your primary art as Calligraphy," she said with a smile. "Young lady, it's your turn next," she said, pointing her quill at Yao Meifeng. As before, when Yao Meifeng pressed a bloody finger to the tool, a dim red ball of energy hovered above it before fading away. "Hmm," the older woman said, her sharp eyes noticing a difference in brightness that wasn't perceptible to the others in the room. "Still an early-stage Aesthete but you're very close to reaching the middle-stage. How old and how long ago did you awaken?"
"Eighteen summers," Su Yao said readily, relieved to hear that she was close to reaching the middle stage. She'd felt like she was drawing closer but didn't know how to make the final push. Maybe, if she joined the sect, they would be able to help with that too. Ever since she'd left her family she'd been fumbling her way forward but without a proper teacher, progress was slow. "I awakened almost a year and a half ago. My art is the zither but I also studied painting in school."
"Not bad, not bad," the older woman said, carefully scratching out her notes. "Keep up this pace, if you can become a Late-stage Aesthete within a year, you might have a chance at becoming an Inner Disciple and moving to the Inner City if you can continue to progress at that speed," she encouraged. "Your turn Little Lingling," the older woman said with a smile. She'd always thought this lass had potential from the days she'd scampered around the back of the sect as a young child and she'd been waiting for this day for quite a few years. Just how much would the daughter resemble her mother?
Pricking his finger, Wu Ling gently touched the spiritual tool with a drop of blood and circulated his energy. Like both of his companions, a small ball of red energy formed above the tool before vanishing but unlike with Yao Meifeng, this time the ball of energy was visibly brighter to everyone in the room.
"Middle-stage Aesthete, a hair's breadth away from reaching the Late Stage," Novice Dongtien said with a proud smile. "You're doing very well for seventeen summers. How long ago did you awaken and what are your arts?"
"It's been less than two moons since I awakened," Wu Ling confessed readily. In his feminine guise, he worked harder to remain humble and demure, but even he couldn't keep the pride out of his voice. Being a middle-stage aesthete at seventeen wasn't extraordinary when compared to the youths who awakened at thirteen but to go from awakening to middle-stage, and close to late-stage, within less than two months, that was something extraordinary. His next sentence only added to the level of the achievement. "My arts are Painting, Calligraphy, Zither, Chess, and Tea."
"Merciful heavens," the old woman said, peering at the young woman in front of her in shock. When she saw the intensity of the glow, she felt that Wu Ling must have awakened a year ago or more. Hearing that it had been less than two months and that she did it while cultivating five arts, it was no wonder the Hall Master wanted to meet with her personally. "I'm sure you've already set your sights on the Inner Sect," she finally said, putting away the first tool and pulling out another one. "Let's make sure there's nothing that could get in your way. This tool is similar to the first one," she explained, setting a larger hemisphere on the table. This one was a deep green shot through with veins of a dull coppery red and it carried a rich bloody aura even without being provided with any energy. "This tool allows us to examine your bloodline lineage," she told the young cultivators. "Just like last time, it will require that you drip a drop of your blood on it, but in this case, only your blood is required. Little Lingling, why don't you start first," she suggested.
With a short nod, Wu Ling stepped forward and pricked his finger again, dripping a small drop of blood on the piece of bloodstone. No sooner did the drop of crimson blood land on the stone than the coppery-red veins began to glow, pulling the drop of blood into the tool like a sponge soaking up water. Moments later, a small dim phantom of a hawk appeared, perched on the surface of the bloodstone. The phantom was so small and dim however that it was completely overshadowed by the phantom of a silver fox, prancing about as its form shifted between silver fox and a cloud of mist.
"I should have expected nothing less from the daughter of Elder Phantom," Novice Dongtian said with a smile. "Your mother's Mercurial Mist Fox bloodline has almost completely consumed your father's Luminous Star Hawk bloodline. There's a tiny bit of connection to celestial bodies that's managed to hang on since your awakening but otherwise, you have almost pure direct lineage. I expect you'll encounter very few barriers on your path of cultivation."
"What do you mean barriers? I thought that all bloodlines had the same potential in cultivation," Yao Meifeng asked. Ever since her trip to the banquet, she'd begun to question some of her parent's wisdom about cultivation. As much as she loved her mother and father, the world that Wu Ling was revealing to her wasn't only wider, it seemed that many of the things her parents felt that she'd never need to concern herself with were actually very important, she just didn't know how.