"By the way, how is your talent?" Lu Ye turned his head and asked.
Although Lu Ye could tell from Yu Xiaodie's demeanor that her talent couldn't be bad, he couldn't help but want to compare. He needed to know just how lacking his own talent was to cause such a drastic change in the words of that third senior brother before and after.
Yu Xiaodie was originally holding her jade tablet. Hearing Lu Ye's question, she instinctively shrank back, not because she wanted to hide anything, but because she didn't want to discourage Lu Ye too much.
Lu Ye teased, "What, you look down on me? The more a man gets hit, the more his fighting spirit grows!"
Yu Xiaodie said helplessly, "Does Big Brother Lu really want to see it?"
Lu Ye laughed, "Anyway, the result is already there. It can't get much worse."
Yu Xiaodie thought about it and said, "That's true. Big Brother Lu is really open-minded." She looked at him with admiration.
Having said that much, how could she refuse? The information recorded on the jade tablet was not something private.
She extended her hand and handed over her jade tablet to Lu Ye.
Lu Ye took it, fixed his eyes on it, and saw that one side was engraved with Yu Xiaodie's name. He turned it over to the other side, where her element sign was, a character for 'wood.' It looked like Yu Xiaodie's primary element was wood, and underneath the character wood, there was a number.
"Thirty-eight?"
Lu Ye was somewhat dumbfounded. This wasn't quite what he had in mind... was it different?
He then asked, "Isn't that wrong, Miss Yu? How can it be thirty-eight? Isn't the highest eight?"
He remembered clearly, there were only eight little saplings on that round disc. How could there be such an absurd number as thirty-eight.
"The highest is sixty-four," Yu Xiaodie said, confused by Lu Ye's words. She counted with her fingers and murmured, "Eight trees, eight leaves, that's sixty-four, no mistake. Theoretically, the highest talent is sixty-four leaves."
Lu Ye looked up at her, his eyes slowly losing their luster...
Yu Xiaodie was startled and called out gently, "Big Brother Lu? Are you alright?"
Just a moment ago, he said something about how the more a man gets hit, the more his fighting spirit grows, but now he seemed to be struck down so quickly?
She really shouldn't have shown him her jade tablet, Yu Xiaodie blamed herself inwardly.
"Cheer up, Big Brother Lu."
"Let me be alone for a bit!" Lu Ye waved her off and lifted his head to look at the sky with a vacant gaze.
He had probably realized by now that the single character engraved on the back of his own jade tablet represented not one sapling, but one leaf on a sapling!
In the talent test, each sapling could produce up to eight leaves, eight saplings in total, making the limit sixty-four leaves.
The thirty-eight on Yu Xiaodie's jade tablet represented the total number of leaves she made the saplings produce during the talent test, while he had only one leaf, not one sapling!
Now, Lu Ye was really hit hard.
He had tried hard to lower his expectations, but in the end, he found out that what he thought was the baseline was nothing at all.
Being at the bottom of eight versus being at the bottom of sixty-four were entirely different matters.
"Big Brother Lu..." Yu Xiaodie looked at him with concern, feeling that his whole person was enveloped by a gray haze, and his vitality had vanished without a trace, "Although talent is important, it doesn't determine everything, Big Brother Lu. I once heard someone say a phrase, 'heaven rewards the diligent...'"
"Then you must not have heard people say that nature is indifferent and treats all beings as mere straw dogs..."
"Huh?" Yu Xiaodie felt something was odd.
Having taken a deep breath, Lu Ye had recovered, and although he still felt some discomfort inside, just as he had said before, the result was out, and all he could do was face it calmly.
Moreover, he had the Talent Tree!
Even if his natural talent wasn't high, this miraculous Talent Tree should be able to make up for it.
"Tell me about the basis for testing talent?" Lu Ye asked. He had taken the test in the tent just now, but he was not clear on the specifics of the testing process since he had his eyes closed the whole time.
Yu Xiaodie did not explain immediately but looked at him earnestly.
There was obvious concern in her eyes, and Lu Ye smiled, "I'm really fine."
Yu Xiaodie sighed and began to speak, "Since Big Brother Lu wants to know, I'll share what I understand with you."
She then explained the principle of the Array and the testing process in detail.
Lu Ye seemed to understand, "So you're saying that it's very hard for Spiritual Energy to be drawn into my body? That's why my talent is low?" He couldn't help but recall his own feelings during the test, the external Spiritual Energy desperately trying to drill into his body, but failing to do so, causing him pain all over.
Yu Xiaodie nodded, "Exactly so."
"I see!" Lu Ye roughly understood, and then became puzzled again, "But what does this explain? How can one determine a person's talent level from these superficial appearances? Miss Yu, don't misunderstand me, I'm not concerned about my own low talent, I just want to know the reason."
Seeing his earnest expression, Yu Xiaodie was a bit amused, but she explained patiently, "Does Big Brother Lu know what methods a cultivator depends on to become stronger?"
Lu Ye replied, "Taking elixir pills, inhaling and exhaling Spiritual Energy, Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion, relying on Spirit Stones?"
"Exactly." Yu Xiaodie nodded, "However, the most important methods are inhaling and exhaling Spiritual Energy and relying on Spirit Stones. The other two methods are just ancillary means. If external Spiritual Energy cannot be drawn into the body, the efficiency of cultivation will naturally be low, and so the talent will be low. Given the same time and resources, cultivators with higher talent can open more spiritual orifices, and their future achievements will naturally be higher. Since Big Brother Lu has already opened a spiritual orifice, you must have felt the difficulties of cultivation."
Lu Ye remembered those days spent in the mine shrouded in darkness, consuming blood Qi pills daily, then practicing Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion, feeling himself becoming stronger bit by bit. It didn't seem very difficult; instead, it was somewhat... enjoyable?
Yu Xiaodie said cultivators mainly rely on inhaling and exhaling Spiritual Energy and Spirit Stones, while taking elixir pills and Essence Refinement-Qi Conversion are ancillary methods, but it seemed like he had done the opposite.
He vaguely felt that something wasn't quite right, and asked, "Miss Yu, how long did it take you to fill your first spiritual orifice after opening it?"
If there was a direct comparison, he could judge the efficiency of his own cultivation. He felt that his talent couldn't possibly be that low.
"About twenty days or so," Yu Xiaodie replied. She didn't ask about Lu Ye's situation because she thought it would be another blow to him.
With Yiye's talent, filling the first spiritual orifice—even with the aid of elixir pills—would probably take several months.
Owing to the gratitude for Lu Ye having saved her before, she still harbored feelings of gratefulness towards him. The more she looked at Lu Ye, the more she felt sorry for him...
Indeed, after she spoke those words, Lu Ye froze, muttering in repetition, "Twenty days?"
Yu Xiaodie quickly said, "Big Brother Lu, our situations are different. I was taken away by a disciple of Evil Moon Valley. She probably wanted to use me to practice some evil skill, so she helped me open my spiritual orifice and gave me a Spirit-Nurturing Pill to take. That's how I was able to fill my spiritual orifice in just over twenty days."
This was the speed of cultivation with the aid of elixir pills?
Lu Ye reflected on himself, having taken the most inexpensive blood Qi pills, from orifice-opening to filling the spiritual orifice, it only took him about ten days or so, which was even faster than Yu Xiaodie.
What was going on?