As Xue Nu turned her head, their eyes met. A complex emotion flickered in Xue Nu's eyes before she turned her face away.
The draw placed Xue Nu in the first group for testing, while Mo Qi was in the second.
When the first group's tests began, the remaining participants stood outside the lines, watching from a distance.
However, almost all the male gazes were fixed on Xue Nu, their eyes burning with desire.
"That's Chao Xixue, the young lady of the Chao family."
"Seeing her in person is truly better than hearing about her. Her figure is fiery, and her appearance is pure and beautiful. She's simply stunning."
"More importantly, her family background is also excellent. Her father is an elder of the Tiandu Sect, her grandfather is the sixth-tier deputy leader of the Southern Sky Gate, and her brother is a third-tier deputy leader."
"How many years of struggle could one save by marrying such a wife!"
"What are you thinking? You're probably wishing for the good fortune of several lifetimes."
Only then did Mo Qi learn that Xue Nu's full name was Chao Xixue. He had only known her as Xue Nu before!
Mo Qi stood behind, watching the people ahead of him test. It was then that he first felt how difficult it was to draw silk from the North Sea Ice Silkworm cocoon. He saw a胖子 (pàngzi - fat person) ahead, his eyes wide open, clumsily using his spiritual energy to extract impurities one by one.
After drawing dozens of impurity threads, he was covered in sweat, his eyes filled with anxiety. He would glance at the hourglass, wipe the sweat from his eyelids with his large hand, and then, in frustration, scratch his scalp fiercely.
More than half an hour passed quickly. The 胖子 had only drawn a little over a hundred threads, and his speed was slowing down.
The onlookers shook their heads: "Alas, that 胖子 is finished."
The examiner, an old man with a white beard, also shook his head as he watched him.
But more people were secretly cheering for Xue Nu. Some craned their necks, wishing they could place their eyeballs on the spirit stone platform. Every thread Xue Nu drew tugged at their nerves.
Mo Qi was also quietly paying attention to her, his gaze fixed on the changing numbers on the spirit stone monument. At this moment, two-thirds of the sand had flowed through the hourglass, and the number on the monument had become four hundred.
If she could maintain the same speed, she would pass the test. But the problem was that the speed would only slow down as time went on.
Many people were sweating for her.
Mo Qi couldn't help but scorn inwardly, "How can she be so clumsy? She's been with me for so long; even if she learned a fraction of my skills, she wouldn't be like this."
Fortunately, Xue Nu herself was not greatly affected. She continued her actions calmly.
Finally, all the sand had flowed through. The number on Xue Nu's stone monument stopped at five hundred and two. She let out a long sigh of relief.
The 胖子 leaned against the spirit stone platform, exhausted and dejected, tears welling up in his eyes. "Alas, it seems I have to wait until next year."
Mo Qi looked at the number on the spirit stone monument in front of him: two hundred and fifty. He thought, you'd better not come next year.
The first group's test concluded. The highest score was eight hundred threads, earning a round of applause. The name displayed on the monument was Ying Dansheng.
Mo Qi felt that the name was very familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had heard it.
When the person turned around, Mo Qi saw his face and a flash of inspiration struck him. It was the "alchemy genius" he had met when he went to treat Xue Ying.
At that time, Xue Renkui had scolded him for causing side effects after Xue Ying took a pill.
He clearly didn't recognize Mo Qi, his gaze sweeping over Mo Qi's face.
Out of the hundred testers in this group, five did not pass.
As the examiner announced, the second group of candidates stepped forward to their respective spirit stone platforms.
Xue Nu unconsciously turned her gaze towards Mo Qi.
Mo Qi was contemplating how to pass the test without being too ostentatious. The scene of drawing a thousand threads at Lingxiao Sect last time was still vivid in his mind. It was a spectacle for the world, receiving adoration from all sides!
He enjoyed that feeling, but his current situation did not allow him to be so flashy. He did not want to attract a fatal calamity by showing off too much.
Therefore, it was best to finish quickly!
The North Sea Ice Silkworm cocoon on the spirit stone platform was vertically stuck in the spirit stone. He grabbed one end of the cocoon and pulled with his spiritual energy, ending the test.
The onlookers behind were stunned, followed by a barrage of contempt and criticism.
"Is this person here to cause trouble? Can you even draw silk like that? Won't that break everything?"
"Yes, does this person understand alchemy at all? He doesn't even know basic common sense."
"He must know nothing and is just trying his luck with a fluke."
"If this passes, then anyone can pass, right?"
The examiner was also shaking his head, "Another one wasted."
At this moment, perhaps due to the excessive speed, the spirit stone monument hadn't even reacted and was still calculating rapidly, the numbers on the monument flashing by too fast to be seen clearly.
But almost no one paid attention to the numbers, as the result was obvious.
Only Xue Nu watched the changes on the stone monument with a tense expression.
She didn't understand what was wrong with him. She always felt he was a bit abnormal today. But his abnormalities always seemed to make sense.
Finally, the number displayed on the monument was five hundred!
Everyone was dumbfounded.
This meant that with that one grab, he had broken half of it, and the remaining half was intact!
And the number was precisely that coincidentally perfect amount to pass the test.
Others, sweating profusely and exhausted, had struggled for an hour without passing, while he had finished in the blink of an eye.
What incredible luck!
Only the examiner and Xue Nu knew that he hadn't relied on luck!
To be able to grab exactly five hundred effective threads with that one pull required extremely keen insight, extremely skilled drawing techniques, and extremely abnormal control.
The examiner couldn't help but look at Mo Qi more closely.
Mo Qi smiled broadly, "It's luck, pure luck!" He then walked directly towards the spectator area.
In the spectator area, several voices suddenly emerged: "It seems this test has a loophole. I'll try it like that later."
The testers in this group hadn't even started when they saw Mo Qi had already finished.
At first, they thought the guy had given up. Then, hearing the discussions behind them, they all tilted their heads to look. Upon seeing, they were almost driven mad.
They hadn't seen how Mo Qi operated. At this moment, they were all asking themselves in their hearts, "How did he do it?"
"If you say he's a genius, he only just passed the minimum passing score. If you say his skill is average, then his speed is not something an ordinary person can achieve."
"His name is Mo Xin. I'll remember him and try to befriend him in the future."
To hide his identity, Xue Renkui had changed Mo Qi's name to Mo Xin.
Since it was a fake name, one should not believe it.
Mo Qi walked directly towards Xue Nu. Seeing him approach, Xue Nu deliberately or unintentionally moved aside.
In front of everyone, it was not appropriate to act like a scoundrel. Mo Qi did not continue to follow her. He merely glanced at her and then turned to watch the tests.
For the third group's test, many people were already eager to try.
They wanted to exploit the loopholes in the testing platform to showcase their skills.
So, the moment the examiner announced the start of the test, seven people moved like lightning, their speed even faster than Mo Qi's.
They grabbed down with one hand and then pulled it out.
This was the end, too easy.
These people's faces were covered in smiles, their eyes full of anticipation as they looked at the stone monument.
However, the stone monument didn't exert any effort and directly displayed: Empty.
Not a single complete thread was drawn!
Isn't this platform broken? What is going on?
These seven people fainted on the spot!
This was a silent slap in the face!
The slap in the face was secondary; their chance of admission was lost!
The remaining dozens of people then calmed down and began to conduct the test honestly, step by step.
Magically, all the participants in the last round passed the test.
Thus, after the first round of testing, two hundred and eighty-five people passed.
The seven who tried to steal a chicken only to have their rice backfire were ruthlessly eliminated. Instead of reflecting on their mistakes, they blamed Mo Qi, believing that Mo Qi had deliberately misled them, causing them to fail the test.
As the seven people passed by Mo Qi, they gritted their teeth, "We'll wait for you at the academy entrance. If you have the guts, never come out." Then they stormed off.
Mo Qi watched their retreating backs, feeling utterly wronged, "What did I do?"
The individuals who qualified for the second test lined up and were led into another room by a female student.
The test of cultivation was conducted using a crystal ball. The tester needed to input their spiritual energy into the crystal ball.
The cultivation level, from low to high, was displayed by the color of the crystal ball: green, blue, yellow, red, purple.
Generally, if the crystal ball turned red, it meant the tester's cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul stage. Purple meant the tester had reached the Spirit Severing stage.
The admission requirement for the Heavenly Rank Academy was to turn the crystal ball red, meaning the basic admission condition was to reach the Nascent Soul cultivation.
However, this was only an approximate match. The crystal ball could only detect the level of spiritual energy. Some people had too much latent spiritual energy that was not utilized properly, which was not in line with their cultivation level.
The test was divided into two groups, and Mo Qi was assigned to the second group.
Xue Nu was assigned to the first group. This time, her state was different; she appeared confident and full of certainty.
Mo Qi felt that her confidence was reasonable. Those who came to participate in the test here must have a clear understanding of their cultivation and would not come here to try their luck.
However, Mo Qi remembered that about four years ago, she was only at the Core Formation stage.
In just these short four years, her cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. She had likely reached the Nascent Soul stage by now.
For a cultivator with talent, this was not unusual.
Despite this, Mo Qi paid special attention to Xue Nu. Not only him, but all the male cultivators in the second group were staring intently at Xue Nu.
Some were softly calling out, "Green."
Some were calling out, "Blue."
Some were calling out, "Red."
Some were calling out, "White."
It was truly a motley crew, each with their own intentions.
Xue Nu gently placed her fair hand on the crystal ball and took a deep breath. Everyone held their breath, staring at her intently.
The crystal ball instantly turned green, then quickly blue, then rapidly yellow, then red, and finally purple.
Everyone was dumbfounded!
The most surprised was Mo Qi. He had thought that Nascent Soul cultivation was overestimating her, but he never expected her to have also reached the Spirit Severing stage.
What caused her to be like two different people?