Chapter 17: Rise Of The Primordial Talent
Suddenly, the rays of light from the testing stone turned violet. The elder gasped, his mouth agape. The stone was supposed to calculate the result immediately, so why was it changing colors like this? The violet hue shifted to blue, then green, orange, yellow...
The elder's expression stiffened, his mouth frozen, unable to utter a word. As the colors finally stabilized at yellow, he was still too shocked to speak.
He reached for a teacup, hoping to calm his nerves, but his hands trembled, causing the cup to slip from his grasp and shatter on the floor. Despite his usual fondness for the cup, he paid no attention to it.
Red! The color had changed to red.
The elder took a deep breath. It was incredibly rare to see someone with a red inborn talent—such individuals were few and far between on the continent. He stared at Huang Nian, transfixed. A Red inborn talent was the stuff of legends. How many years had it been since anyone had even seen a purple talent? It had likely been thousands of years. Yet here, before him, was a person with a red inborn talent.
The elder's breath quickened, and his gaze towards Huang Nian became that of a wolf eyeing its prey. Huang Nian, satisfied with her result, released her hand from the stone.
"I have already tested, so I'll be leaving," she said calmly.
"Wait, little girl," the elder interjected, his voice laced with awe. "I'm astonished by your inborn talent and how you solved the puzzle. You should also take a mental test. We don't usually offer this to outsiders, but you're a genius."
Without waiting for her reply, Elder Xu hurriedly placed a mental strength testing stone beside the martial inborn testing stone.
"The mental strength test is simple," he explained. "You just need to strike the stone with your mental power. The stone will absorb it and expand. The more it expands, the stronger your mental strength."
Elder Yang was beside himself with excitement, eagerly awaiting the surprise this girl would bring.
Whoosh!
An intense mental power surged forth, so powerful that even Elder Xu felt its tyrannical force. His expression turned dazed as he stared at Huang Nian. The moment her mental power struck the stone, it began to expand rapidly, absorbing more and more of her power. The rays of light intensified, and Elder Xu's jaw dropped.
Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, a shattering sound filled the air. The mental strength testing stone had turned to dust.
Elder Xu knew how sturdy that stone was—it would take a Xiaoyuan expert to chip even a corner of it. For it to be reduced to smithereens could only mean that her mental power far exceeded the stone's limits.
'How gifted is this girl?' he wondered, unable to contain his astonishment.
From her results today, it was clear that no one was more suited to becoming an alchemist than Huang Nian.
Meanwhile, outside, the crowd speculated about her test results.
"Do we even need to guess? She's a trash; she won't have any talent."
"We'll know from her expression when she comes out."
As they spoke, Huang Nian stepped into view, her face cold and emotionless. Her eyes betrayed no hint of happiness. Seeing this, the crowd's suspicions were confirmed.
"No matter what, trash will always be trash," someone muttered.
But no one noticed the manager trailing behind her, his face still frozen in shock. After Huang Nian left, he finally tore his gaze away from her and announced, "Everyone, Elder Xu has urgent matters to attend to today. The testing will be temporarily suspended."
After dispersing the crowd, the manager hurried to the testing hall.
"Grandmaster Xu, I have dismissed everyone."
"Good. You must ensure no one learns of what happened today. Understand?"
"Yes, Grandmaster Xu. I won't tell a soul."
Later that evening, the streets were eerily quiet as Huang Nian walked slowly. Suddenly, two arrows shot out from the darkness, aimed at her.
Jun Mo Xie appeared just in time, helping her dodge the deadly projectiles.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me. I owe you one," Huang Nian replied.
The two masked assailants vanished into the night.
"Next time," Jun Mo Xie advised, "you should bring one or two guards and your servant when you go out."
"Do you know me?" she asked, suspicion lacing her tone.