As soon as the large door opened, all eyes turned towards it, where two students were cautiously pushing it open. In the center stood an old man, hovering a few centimeters above the ground, drawing everyone's attention. The crowd was amazed to see an expert from the Heavenly Realm present.
The old man spoke in a calm but powerful voice, "Welcome, everyone. I am Elder Hong Sakun, responsible for this year's admission test."
Upon hearing Elder Hong's words, everyone nodded in agreement, as if they were already familiar with what was to come. As their eyes filled with astonishment, Elder Hong announced with a serious tone, "I declare the start of the admission test now."
With that, all those who wished to join the "Sky Palace" entered through the large door, while the guards and companions remained outside, anxiously awaiting the results. Once everyone was inside, Elder Hong spoke loudly, "I believe you all know that the first test is to assess your cultivation talent."
All two thousand applicants nodded their heads in confirmation.
Elder Hong added, "To assess your cultivation talent, you will place your hand on one of the three pillars in the center of the courtyard. Now, line up!"
Everyone quickly moved to their positions, with Neil standing at the end of the row on the right.
As Elder Hong explained what the applicants needed to do, a figure stood on a nearby mountain peak, observing the applicants carefully. His eyes scanned each one, but when his gaze fell upon Neil, something strange happened.
While Neil was listening to Elder Hong's instructions, he suddenly felt a gaze piercing through his body, causing him to instinctively look toward the source. A surge of murderous intent flowed through his body at that moment. It was a brief moment, but Neil was certain someone was spying on him.
When the Lord of the Sky Palace saw Neil's gaze, he felt a terrifying sensation and thought to himself, "That look... It's terrifying! How can a child harbor such cruelty in his eyes?"
After a few seconds, a terrifying thought crossed his mind, and his fear grew: "Yes, it must be... He is from the Karasov family... Surely, he is the grandson of that monster!"
In the courtyard, Elder Hong continued explaining the details of the talents to the applicants and said, "The pillar has seven levels, distributed as follows: the first level indicates a low talent, the second level a medium talent, the third level a high talent, the fourth level is extraordinary talent, the fifth is exceptional, and the sixth is legendary."
After the explanation, one of the applicants asked, "What about the seventh level?"
Elder Hong calmly replied, "The seventh level is divine talent, and this level does not exist in the Southern Continent. The number of people who have achieved it is less than ten, and all of them are in the Central Continent."
Elder Hong then left no room for discussion and announced, "We will begin the test now. Your talent must be at least at the third level to enter the Sky Palace."
Everyone began revealing their talent levels, with the majority falling into the third level, while ten of them were in the fourth level. However, in one of the pillars, the light was unusually bright.
Everyone turned to see that it was William, the Prince of the Fars Empire. The light reached the peak of the fifth level. When William noticed the attention he received, he felt proud and showed a dismissive expression as if it were not a big deal. But his joy was short-lived when the pillar next to him lit up and rose to the sixth level.
When Elder Hong saw this, he smiled and said, "Good, excellent talent... very excellent." The owner of this talent was none other than Lily, the Princess of the Phoenix Empire.
The line continued to move forward, and as it neared the end, it was Neil's turn. Neil advanced with some anticipation, as he was eager to know his current talent level. In the past, his talent had been legendary in both the knight and wizard disciplines, and he thought that his talent might now be approaching the seventh level. But due to the changes in his body, he was uncertain.
When Neil placed his hand on the pillar, nothing happened. Neil thought to himself, "What the hell?" He had wanted to show off in front of these kids and break the pillar with his power, but he couldn't even light it up, not even a dim light from that damn pillar.