Hearing the announcement, the people all around start to gather their gaze towards the mature woman and the young boy in walking beside her, and the first thing that come into their mind is how good looking these two appears, as if they're both immortals that came out of a painting.
Seeing everyone's reaction, the mature woman seems to be already used to it as she simply dismisses everyone's gaze while she walks towards the middle of the plaza where the assessment area is, while holding the hand of her son firmly as if she were afraid of him getting lost.
Eventually, the gaze of people leaves the two of them as their attention returns to the spectacle in the middle of the plaza. Kids of age seven to ten were getting tested by a large pillar like object that displays varying number of specks of light, seemingly the method on how each of their talents are measured.
"Liu Feng, 31 starlight motes, passed" one of the adults in the sight announced after a boy touched the pillar, hearing that their child passed, his parents rushed towards him with visible delight as well as pride plastered on their face.
The process was finished at that, the ones passing were given the uniform of the outer sect disciple and an identity token, as well as a simple weapon of their choice.
The test is quite mundane, with the process of an examinee touching the pillar and the examiner counting how many starlight motes they produce, anyone having starlight motes lower than 27 were eliminated without consideration.
"What does those starlight motes represent anyways mom?" Wu Xiaotian asks as he yawns in boredom, seemingly impatient for his turn to come.
"Those were the lights you absorb when you first cultivate dear" his mother, Su Meiyao replies with a smile as she pats his head before continuing her explanations, "Mama forgot to tell you but the number of starlight motes you manage to refine during your first cultivation seems to be related to your potential in the path of cultivation, the more you refined, the better your talent and potential is."
"What's the highest recorded number of starlight motes you know mom?" he couldn't help but get curious about the highest one can attain in this world as so far, the examinee with the highest score only got 59 starlight motes, far from his first cultivation yield of 108.
Su Meiyao smiles as she witnesses the interest in her son's face, and said with a tinge of seriousness as if she wants him to remember what she would say next well.
"As far as I know, a prince from a concubine in the central province reaches 81 starlight motes, and after the clan head, his father came to know about it, he was conferred the title of a crown prince and his mother eventually getting closer to his father than the first wife."
"Then that means the potential of someone who reaches 81 starlight motes is pretty strong right?" Wu Xiaotian wonders as he gets more excited about his potential, not mentioning his physique, qi and soul talents, considering the fact that it is enough for someone to attain such status by having said number of starlight motes, then his amount should be enough to suppress anyone in the same generation, right?
Seeing the excited look on his face, Su Meiyao laughs a bit and tries to curb down his pride a bit as she pointed out "But in the end, potential is just potential and a talent still need to grow in order to become a respected powerhouse, and in order to grow, a great support is a necessity." She said before sighing dramatically.
"Forget about that crown prince, with numbers of pseudo-Ascension Realm experts at his beck and call, even some of the kids in this plaza have backers in the Perfection state of Body Integration or some even at the Void Shattering Realm, and your old mama who's only at the Early state Body Integration is the only one backing you so you should avoid comparison for now, okay?"
Hearing this, he snapped out of his imagination as he looks towards her, her face a mixture of teasing and helplessness, almost as if she disdains herself for being too weak to fight for the greatest opportunities for him.
"Doesn't matter, I'll deal with everything by myself and then help mom break through again when I'm strong enough" he replied with a confident smile, and she appreciates how mature he is for even trying to comfort her thinking to herself that she must do every bit she can to help him in his cultivation journey.
Wu Xiaotian truly doesn't care about it one bit though. She loved and cared for him since birth, only showering him with all that is good in the world with her only wish being not forgetting about her even if he were to go with his father whom he never saw since birth. To him, she's the greatest gift he could ever have, especially when considering the fact that he never experienced familial love in his past life, albeit this current family's familial love being a bit twisted.
Also, it's not like he still need his mother to compete for something as he can just earn some Universal Coins and exchange for whatever he wants in the system so long as he has enough coins. So he's pretty much confident that he can transcend all those other people from his generation or even the previous generations and make her proud and happy by doing that.
"My baby is all grown up now huh~" she said as she rustled his hair, feeling warm and fuzzy inside from what he just said.
"Going back to the topic, how many starlight motes did you get back when you're a child though mom?" he ask with sheer curiosity as if he will never let go of the chance to learn new things about her.
"Fufufu~ this old lady is nothing but a normal cultivator…" she said humbly but something is wrong with her tone, and before he manages to reply to her, she continues speaking, "Mama only manages to reach 99 starlight motes, just a single point short to what they, what the me back then as well, thought was the limit" she said as she looks to him with pride in her eyes, but the pride seems not towards herself, but rather towards him.
"Wait 100 is the limit? Then why did I…" he said as confusion flooded his mind. 'So that's why mom seemed so baffled when I said I absorbed 108 of those light sources' everything clicked as he remembered her face and her body trembling as he hugs him when he told her a month ago.
"I also don't know, but hey, it's your body baby, so you will find it out eventually, mama have her faith in you" she said almost as if comforting him from his absurdness.
The two continues to talk about mundane stuffs until something eventually caught his sight. It was the appearance of a tall and broad handsome middle-aged man with a sharp and powerful gaze, accompanied by a gorgeous lady that seems to be the same age as his mother, carrying a cute young lady that seems to be same age as him.
"Next examinee, Wu Xiaoyao" the examiner announced as the girl nestled to the gorgeous lady's arms got down and goes near the pillar to touch it, causing the people all around to be surprised when her result was announced.
"Wu Xiaoyao… 9…90 starlight motes, passed" the examiner said while stuttering as his mind was filled with disbelief to what he just witnessed.
The young girl leisurely walks and returns to the gorgeous lady, that carries her once again. The entire plaza was silent for a few minutes before the handsome middle-aged man accompanying the two spoke, snapping the examiner out of his daze.
"Y-yes sect master" the examiner replied revealing the identity of the speaker. This in turn, prompts all the people in the plaza to bow in a ninety-degree angle as they greet him, a sign of respect reserved only for the strong,
"So that's him huh…" hearing the examiner, Wu Xiaotian couldn't help but scrutinize the man, and as he was doing so as if sensing him, the man turned to look at him and scans him from head to toe as well.
"Mhm… that man is Wu Xiaolong, your biological father" Su Meiyao replies to him as she also stares at the man with complicated emotions, but most of them being pity and disappointment.
"Next examinee, Wu Xiaotian" hearing the voice, the two of them snapped out of whatever they're thinking as they stare at each other and smile.