"Big brother, is the test done?"
Ling Luoyi's voice brought everyone back to their senses. They stared at her, eyes wide, as she was next in line.
"Yes, it's done," Ling Luochen replied, snapping back to attention. He smiled and nodded, walking over to Ling Luoyi. "Did you see my movements clearly? Don't rush, take your time."
Ling Luoyi shot him a glare and said speechlessly, "Big brother, which eye of yours saw me rushing?"
Ling Luoyi stepped forward and placed her hand on the central stone pillar. She transmitted a message to Wei Yu, "Wei Yu, aim for first-tier Spirit Scholar."
"Master, I understand," Wei Yu replied, sending a bit of spiritual energy to Ling Luoyi.
Ling Luoyi didn't use Guan Yue's spiritual energy because Guan Yue's spiritual energy attributes were wind and water, along with a mutated ice attribute.
However, her public identity was an alchemist. The essential attributes for an alchemist were fire and wood. Guan Yue was unsuitable, but Wei Yu was fire-attributed.
"Master, the attributes of an alchemist are fire and wood. Wei Yu only has the fire attribute, can she do it?" Guan Yue asked with concern.
"What do you mean, Guan Yue! Master will definitely be fine!" Wei Yu had blind faith in Ling Luoyi. In her opinion, there was nothing Ling Luoyi couldn't do.
Guan Yue wanted to retort but was stopped by Ling Luoyi.
"Wei Yu, it's alright. Whether it works or not depends on my acting skills and their imagination. You know, imagination can be very important sometimes."
Ling Luoyi knew what Guan Yue was worried about. Her public identity was a fourth-grade top-tier alchemist. If her cultivation was too low, she wouldn't be able to awe those with ulterior motives. But if it were too high, it would be a significant blow to her enemies, causing them to lose confidence, which wouldn't be fun.
However, the Ling family had basically moved out, and she had given them the means to protect themselves. She wasn't as encumbered as before.
If those people came, she could just kill them directly.
Although Ling Luoyi was talking to Guan Yue and Wei Yu, her hands didn't stop injecting spiritual energy into the stone pillar.
When she felt it was enough, Ling Luoyi stopped injecting spiritual energy and placed her hand on the left stone pillar, injecting mental power.
The bone jade on Ling Luoyi's wrist suddenly grew warm. Ling Luoyi was momentarily distracted and forgot to control her mental power, causing too much to be injected. The stone pillar couldn't bear it and exploded.
Ling Luoyi retreated in time, standing a few steps in front of Ling Luofan. The exploding debris seemed to have eyes, avoiding the Ling family disciples.
The surrounding people stared at the exploding stone pillar, stunned.
At this moment, only one thought echoed in their minds: How high was her mental power level? It was so high that it caused the testing stone to explode!
The disciples behind Ling Luoyi were also dumbfounded. They wanted to ask the same question.
However, Ling Luoyi didn't have time to pay attention to them. She was anxiously calling out Ah Su's name.
"Ah Su! Ah Su, what happened?! Should I come back immediately?!" Ling Luoyi was very worried at this moment, but her expression remained unchanged, and her eyes were hidden by her long eyelashes, so no one noticed her concern. They only thought she was startled by the sudden explosion of the testing stone.
"Luoluo, I'm fine. Don't worry, and you don't need to come back. Focus on what you're doing," Ah Su's voice was very gentle, tinged with a hint of joy.
Ling Luoyi didn't detect anything amiss and felt relieved. She said sternly, "I'm warning you, Gu Yuncheng. If I find out you're hiding anything from me, you know what the consequences will be."
Hearing his full name, Gu Yuncheng's heart skipped a beat. He said, "Luoluo, don't worry. You know I can't hide anything from you."
"It better be that way!" Ling Luoyi gave one last warning and cut off the connection.
Gu Yuncheng felt Ling Luoyi actively severing the connection, and he smiled helplessly, shaking his head. He murmured, "What a temperamental little girl."
Suddenly, Gu Yuncheng felt a change in his body and sighed with relief.
Fortunately, otherwise, he would have been discovered.
*
Meanwhile, Ling Luoyi came back to her senses and looked at the stunned referee. She pointed to another stone pillar and asked, "Um, do I still need to continue testing?"
The referee looked in the direction Ling Luoyi was pointing, blinked foolishly, and hesitantly said, "Perhaps it's better not to."
He was afraid the other one wouldn't be spared.
"Oh. So, I passed then?"
The subsequent matches were not open to those in the Innate realm, so this test also eliminated some people.
When the referee heard Ling Luoyi's question, he looked at the stone pillar. The stone pillar would only display clear words after all tests were completed. However, the stone pillar for testing mental power had been destroyed, and he dared not let her test again.
"Want to try again?" Ling Luoyi asked.
The Emperor on the high platform then said, "Elder Liu, let Miss Ling continue testing."
Since the Emperor had spoken, Elder Liu had no choice but to agree, even if he was unwilling.
"Miss Ling, please continue."
"Oh."
Ling Luoyi obediently stepped forward and placed her hand on the right stone pillar.
Soon, the test was completed. When everyone saw the four characters appearing on the central stone pillar, they were stunned again.
The words clearly displayed were: First-tier Spirit Scholar.
Thinking about Ling Luoyi's age, everyone felt like dying.
Ling Luoyi was only eighteen years old and already had the cultivation of a first-tier Spirit Scholar!
Some of them were even ten to twenty years older than Ling Luoyi, yet their cultivation was not as high as hers.
It was Ling Huayu who recovered first, laughing heartily with robust energy.
"Hahaha! As expected of my granddaughter! She's just like me."
After speaking, he laughed again and then muttered a few words that were too quiet to be heard.
Chen Duamian, who had sat next to Ling Huayu at some point, heard him clearly and looked at his old friend speechlessly.
He had clearly said, "This girl's cultivation is higher than mine. It seems I've truly been outdone."
On the testing platform, Ling Luoyi suddenly said loudly, "Elder Liu, did I pass the test?!"
Elder Liu was startled back to attention. Hearing Ling Luoyi's question, he nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, you passed, you passed."
He estimated that not only had she passed the test, but she had also secured first place in the selection.
"Elder Liu, some of my family members haven't been tested yet. What about them?"
"Miss Ling, please rest assured. I will take them to testing platform number ten shortly."
"Oh. Then, Elder Liu, this shouldn't require me to pay, right?"
Elder Liu's mouth twitched. He looked at Ling Luoyi speechlessly and said respectfully, "No, you don't have to."
"That's good." Ling Luoyi returned to the resting area for the Ling family contestants with a clear conscience.
Seeing Ling Luoyi leave, Elder Liu announced loudly, "Ling Luoyi, eighteen years old, cultivation: first-tier Spirit Scholar, attribute: fire, top-grade spiritual root, mental power level: intermediate!"
After the announcement, Elder Liu led the other Ling family disciples to testing platform number ten to continue the tests.
With Ling Luoyi's test results setting the bar, whatever followed would not elicit any cheers.
An eighteen-year-old first-tier Spirit Scholar!
A top-grade spiritual root, and a top-tier alchemist.
The Ling family would rise again.
Thinking of this, many people looked towards the Wei family.
According to the rules of the genius selection, contestants had to leave together. Only those eliminated could leave early.
Therefore, even though the Wei family had completed their tests, they had to wait until all contestants had been tested before they could leave.
Wei Wensong stood there, frozen, his face ashen. He had never expected Ling Luoyi's cultivation to be so high. What should the Wei family do now? He couldn't see any future.
The other members of the Wei family also had ashen faces. They knew that the relationship between the Wei family and the Ling family was already irreconcilable.