บท 17: The Spirit of Transcendence
“The higher-level of the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage! And that…that’s the “Spirit of Fire! It’s unbelievable that her hidden power is the Spirit of Fire.” The moderator on the stage rushed to examine the test stone after he saw that the stone glowed. He soon realized that Tian-Qi had a hidden power. And that hidden power was of the fire element. The result surprised him so much that he shouted…
“The Spirit of Fire!?”
Making the test stone glow could already make the crowd roar, but the glow caused by that kind of hidden power was even more impressive, particularly among the young martial artists. Everybody was delighted to see such a result. However, they did not seem to be too surprised seeing that result from Tian-Qi because she was the daughter of the leader of the clan. She was expected to be talented like her father…
“Next!”
Right after the roar receded, the moderator started to call for the next participant. And finally, it was Zheng-Fu’s turn. Zheng-Fu walked up the stage and headed to the test stone without feeling any worries about this test. He was well aware that his Qi energy was at the sixth level. He was just a little bit annoyed that people around him saw him as a weak boy…
“What does he think he’s doing, going up there? Just showing up at the test venue already embarrassed his father?”
“It would be a blessing for us if he moved out of the clan. Zhuàngyuán? What a laugh! He’s not a real man, not even real enough to be a Zhuàngyuán!”
“You’re the one who’s not a real man! What you do is to condemn and condemn, but you cannot do any better than him!” Hai-Gu was fed up with the nonsensical comments by the people around the stage. They made him extremely angry so much that he had to yell at the crowd. Hai-Gu's words hushed those people efficiently because they went directly to their egoistic minds…
“Hai-Gu! Why are you so serious? They were just saying what they see.” Lao-Chu could not hide his satisfaction by smiling at Hai-Gu. He evidently mocked Hai-Gu with all his heart, but pretended to say it nicely…
“You!” Hai-Gu ground his teeth because he was so enraged that he almost broke the teeth. He turned to Kong-Shi who sat next to him in a bid to urge Kong-Shi to do something about it. “Kong-Shi, brother..?” Kong-Shi remained calm and uttered nothing. He merely smiled because he knew that his son would pass this test…
“So, you’re ready?” The moderator turned to Zheng-Fu to ask if he was ready. Zheng-Fu was now in front of the test stone. The moderator got a cold look in his eyes and could not help judging Zheng-Fu, but of course, he tried to hide it…
“Yes, sir!”
“Good! Then put your hand on the test stone and transmit your Qi energy into it now!”
Thud!
Whoosh!
As soon as Zheng-Fu placed his hand on the test stone to transfer his Qi energy, the moderator’s face started to change because he was amazed to see Zheng-Fu’s Qi energy level on the stone. The result made him gasp and lose his words. Not only Zheng-Fu’s higher-level of Qi energy made him shocked, but the stone also started to brighten up. It got brighter and brighter and even brighter than Tian-Qi’s…
“Th…the higher-level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage!”
“The higher-level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage?!”
The moderator could not help shouting out the result when he saw Zheng-Fu’s Qi energy level. The people around the area were stunned after hearing that. They lost themselves in their confusion because no one thought that this boy, the clan’s freak, could possess this much Qi energy…
It turned out that not only the crowd around the stage were bedazzled by Zheng-Fu’s inner power, but Lao-Chu, Dong-Chu, and Tian-Qi were also in the utmost state of shock. Those people who talked down to Zheng-Fu a minute ago wanted to disappear from the venue because they felt so embarrassed…
“Magnificent!”
“That’s my nephew! He’s so strong! Only at this age, he could already get to the higher-level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage? Kong-Shi, brother! Why didn’t you tell me that he is at this high level? Hahaha! Your boy is the new star of our clan. He’s the best of the best!”
Hai-Gu screamed out joyfully and almost danced for the crowd when heard Zheng-Fu’s result on his Qi energy level. He intentionally laughed out so loud to get back at Lao-Chu, who previously talked down to Zheng-Fu…
“Great job, my student!”
Amid the wave of shock over Zheng-Fu’s test result, two martial artists congratulated Zheng-Fu, while descending themselves down to the highest row of the stands. They were none other than Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang…
“Those are the elder Monitors, aren’t they?”
“What are they doing here? Normally, they never cared to come see the clan’s test. Wait! Did they just say “student”? Who’s the student? Can it be…!?”
Ever since Zheng-Fu started to walk up the stage, the crowd had not stopped chatting about him once. And now he could wow the people with the highest Qi energy level among all participants, despite having a weakened body. He could also make the test stone glow the brightest. But the most shocking thing about Zheng-Fu was the fact that he had Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang, the elder Monitors, as his martial arts Masters…
“Greetings, the leader of the clan and the great elder!” As soon as Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang reached the ground, both cupped their fists to pay respect to the leader of the clan and Lao-Chu, the clan’s great elder…
“Greetings!”
The leader of the clan gave a short greeting back to the two Monitors. For him, the only reason why he came to see the clan’s test was because of his daughter. But after Zheng-Fu went through the test, he became enthusiastic about the event so much that he could not help but fix his eyes on the boy. He had this light smile on his face because he was so excited. He never thought that any other young participants would be as strong as his daughter…
As for Lao-Chu, he did not say anything back to the two Monitors because he was so into grinding his teeth from being angry and frustrated. He felt like he lost his face badly after seeing Zheng-Fu’s energy result. And that was because he talked down to the boy for far too much. The elders in the area who joined him were also embarrassed…
“Greetings, Elder Kong-Shi.” After paying respect to the leader of the clan and Lao-Chu, Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang turned to greet Kong-Shi politely with the utmost respect, in a way that they did not do with Lao-Chu. They knew well what kind of person Kong-Shi was. He had contributed a lot to the clan’s prosperity…
“Oh! Please accept my respect too, Monitor Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang. I am not sure if I heard it right, but did you just call my son “student”?” Kong-Shi greeted both Monitors and asked them a question to check whether he heard the two Monitors correctly about his son…
“Yes, we did. Zheng-Fu is our student. He’s been with us for a week now.” Tong-Lang confirmed Kong-Shi and gave a smile feeling a little funny…
“A week?! Please accept my appreciation for helping guide my son, sir.”
“Not at all. We just gave him some advice. We hope we can do more. It is too bad that we didn’t meet him earlier, otherwise, I can guarantee you that he would be stronger. Hahaha.” Tong-Lang said and laughed loudly…
“That’s right. A genius like Zheng-Fu is the new hope of our clan.” Tong-Tieng who stood next to Tong-Lang added his opinion in a bid to make an agreement…
Agh!
“The new hope of our clan? Yikes! How long is he going to last?” Lao-Chu groaned disagreeing with what he heard. He could not bring himself to believe that Zheng-Fu could be somebody in the clan because he was a boy who just started to practice martial arts a week ago. However, he thought that it was unusual that Zheng-Fu’s Qi energy level could go up that high in a short period of time…
“Don’t force yourself if you cannot take it!” Even though Lao-Chu did not say things out loud, Tong-Lang heard it. So, he pretended to make a casual remark, but he intentionally aimed it at Lao-Chu. He felt like Lao-Chu needed that…
“Not only possessing a higher-level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage, but the boy also has a hidden power. And it’s the “Spirit of Transcendence” too!” After the moderator wowed the crowd with Zheng-Fu’s energy level result. He continued to stun people further with the information about Zheng-Fu’s hidden power…
“The Spirit of Transcendence!?”
“What kind of element is it? I’ve never heard of it?”
“Me neither. Is it delicious?”
“Man! It’s not edible! It’s one of the elements of the hidden power.”
“I see!”
After having been sitting unmoved since the beginning of the clan’s test, Mo-Zi, the leader of the clan, all of a sudden, sprang up from his seat, trembling slightly, all because he heard about the hidden power of Zheng-Fu. He fixed his eyes on Zheng-Fu on the stage, and then said, “the “Spirit of Transcendence?” How could that be? It is very rare that someone possesses this elemental power.” Mo-Zi’s dramatic reaction surprised the people in the clan so much that they turned to look at him. They had not seen Mo-Zi act this excited for many years now…
‘Darn it!’
What Lao-Chu could do was just secretly grudging Zheng-Fu because he knew well about the special nature of the Spirit of Transcendence. However, soon after, he started to let out a smile once again because he came up with something in his mind…
[Explanation]
The hidden spiritual powers were categorized by the seven worldly elements. They were earth, water, wind, fire, the fifth element, lightness, and darkness. The Transcendence was the rare one. The martial artists who possessed this hidden spiritual power would find it difficult to cultivate and use the power. This was because this element was formless. This meant that the martial artists with this spiritual power could produce forces from other elements. However, the forces they produce would not be as strong…
“I don’t see why we have to be so thrilled about it. It’s only the Spirit of Transcendence. People in our clan only give birth to the ones who either possess the Spirit of Fire or the Spirit of Wind since we established our clan. So, it means we only have the fighting manuals on those two elemental spirits. We don’t have things for the transcendental one. Duh!” Lao-Chu said in a could-not-careless fashion. The clan did not carry the fighting manuals for Zheng-Fu’s hidden power. No one in the clan had ever practiced that kind of power before. Everyone around started to get quiet because they were persuaded by Lao-Chu as well. They tended to agree with Lao-Chu after they contemplated it…
“You’re right. Even though it is a rare hidden spiritual power, it’s too bad that there are no methods or techniques to practice it. It makes this hidden power seem useless. The boy can practice on other elemental powers, but he wouldn’t be as good as the ones who possess the actual hidden powers.”
“Zheng-Fu, my son!”
Kong-Shi’s face looked the grimmest in the crowd because he was well aware of this notion. He never thought that his son would have this transcendence power. He should have had something like a fire or one of those other elements out there because it would have been much easier to find ways to practice it. He could say that Zheng-Fu was one in a million for having this transcendence power…
“Kong-Shi, brother! Don’t worry. We will find the way. The world always offers chances to us. So, there would be some way that help Zheng-Fu practice his hidden power. Do you think we should try to send him to Deva Heaven Institution at the Immortal Valley? They might have a way for Zheng-Fu. Or we can send him to the institutions in the city to…”
“But the criteria to get accepted to the institution is very tough. I’m afraid that Zheng-Fu wouldn’t meet their standard. The institutions in the city should be very difficult for him to get in too.”
“I agree with you that they only accept students who are not over 15 years old. They must be at least in the first level of the Foundation Building stage too. Zheng-Fu is now eight years old. He will need another two years to break through another four levels in the Qi Gathering stage and head to the Foundation Building stage. But it’s not easy to get to the Foundation Building stage.”
Both elders looked sad, but they did not stop to find some way out for this issue. The only thing that they were worried about was how Zheng-Fu was going to take this whole thing when he knew the situation…
“Next one!”
The martial arts test continued to the end. The rest of the young participants after Zheng-Fu did not do that impressively. All of them could not make the test stone glow either…
“Everyone did well on the first test. You, young martial artists, were very impressive. But the next test would be about testing your mental strength. All of you will be given a crystal ball in a bid to test your mind. Anyone who thinks they cannot stand the test can break the crystal ball whenever they want. The young participants will pass the test if they can last at least half a shichen. The ones who cannot stand the test should know that they are too weak.”
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