Grade C

Atop the high platform.

"Truly extraordinary. Perhaps the rarest I have seen in all my life."

Xue Jing was still wearing that patchwork robe, stroking his long beard, his eyes flickering.

He was not surprised by Ying Bing's Grade A Superior aptitude.

"This is the fine seedling you spoke of, the one you met after going down the mountain?"

Not far away, a lazy voice sounded.

The woman wore palace dress, her cheeks flushed red, leaning languidly against her chair.

"That is her. I just wonder what level she can reach on the Heaven-Ascending Stone Steps."

Xue Jing glanced at the woman, helplessness in his eyes.

"I like this girl."

The palace-dressed woman took a bold swig of wine.

The elders: "..."

Are you sure it isn't because the little girl is beautiful enough to topple cities and ruin kingdoms?

"She is not suited to the martial arts of your lineage."

Xue Jing said helplessly.

"How is she not suited!" The palace-dressed woman's brows shot upright.

"What are you meddling for? You've trained yourself into something like a furnace. No matter how you look at this girl, she shouldn't become your disciple."

A somewhat cold and hard voice spoke.

"Han He, you want to fight?"

The palace-dressed woman squeezed her fists, looking rather eager to try.

Elder Han He instinctively retreated half a step and snorted coldly with wariness.

"All of you, settle down."

The voice brimmed with authority.

Only after the Sect Master spoke did the palace-dressed woman, still not quite satisfied, pick up her wine gourd and chug another two mouthfuls.

The elders looked at one another.

Could it be that the Sect Master was interested in that little girl?

Before they knew it, another incense stick's time had passed.

The people who had undergone the bone examination along the way numbered a full five hundred.

Finally, it was Li Mo's turn as well.

The old woman grabbed his shoulder, and immediately felt a surge of force rush in, preparing to circulate along his meridians throughout his body.

But very soon, that surge of force vanished.

Opposite him, the old woman frowned for the second time.

Internal Breath could stimulate a person's internal organs, even their meridians and innate foundation.

The better the innate foundation, the stronger the reaction to that stimulation.

This youth's body showed not the slightest reaction.

If it were only that, it would have been one thing, but her Internal Breath had vanished directly, like a clay ox entering the sea.

If she had not personally seen the youth standing alive before her eyes, she would have thought he was a stone.

The old woman hesitated for a moment, then still picked up her brush and recorded his name:

"Li Mo, Grade C. Go on."

"Many thanks."

Li Mo had expected this long ago, and cupped his hands toward the old woman.

Then he passed through the mountain gate with his expression as calm as ever.

"Ah, Grade C. Old Dad's going to be unhappy."

"When the time comes, you'll have to help me put in a good word. Old Dad listens when you speak."

Li Mo laughed brightly and bumped the girl beside him with his shoulder.

Ying Bing felt slightly surprised.

Grade C aptitude was not much different from what she remembered.

But he did not seem disappointed.

Li Mo's face was full of indifference, his cheerfulness unchanged:

"Three parts are decided by Heaven, seven parts depend on fighting for it."

"A lot of people can't even get through the mountain gate. I'm already very lucky."

There was one more thing he didn't say.

What's there to panic about? I've got a cheat.

Ying Bing looked at the young man's easygoing manner, which did not seem feigned.

So be it.

At the very least, that bottle of Pure Yang Pills of his had helped her open her meridians ahead of time, saving her half a year.

That temperament of his was worth giving a slight hand up. How far he could go would depend on him.

Just then.

Not far away, a deacon's announcement once again drew everyone's attention:

"Wang Hu, tiger arms and leopard waist, grade B-middle!"

The field immediately broke into an uproar.

Aside from those two grade-A monsters, Wang Hu already had the best talent!

To call him one in ten thousand would not be an exaggeration.

Enjoying the flattery of the people around him, Wang Hu smiled with unruly self-satisfaction, and even cast his gaze toward the crowd.

"What're you looking at?"

Li Mo sank into thought.

At this moment, a figure landed before the mountain gate.

"The form of a tiger and leopard?"

The iron-tower-like middle-aged man reached out and pinched Wang Hu's shoulder.

Wang Hu's heart jolted, but then he saw his own older cousin walk out from among the disciples and give him a look.

"Not bad. It really is tiger arms and leopard waist."

The iron-tower middle-aged man smiled in satisfaction.

"Master, this is my younger cousin." Wang Hao bowed respectfully.

"Not bad, not bad. He's even more suited than you to practice this one's Tiger-Leopard Thunder-Gallop Hand."

His laughter buzzed and rumbled, shaking people's eardrums until they ached.

"Futu, it won't be too late to take him as a disciple after he enters the inner sect."

The short, plump elder frowned and reminded him.

Futu?

Wang Hu froze for a moment, then was wildly overjoyed.

This was a very powerful inner-sect deacon. If not for every elder's seat already being a radish in its own pit, he would have long since taken charge of a peak.

"Heh heh heh, I know the rules."

Futu cupped his hands indifferently.

At his cousin's signal, Wang Hu hurriedly paid his respects:

"Greetings, Master."

"Pass the Heaven-Ascending Stone Steps first."

Futu did not correct that form of address.

After Futu left, Wang Hu lifted his head even higher, only just short of writing the word "arrogant" across his forehead.

After walking through the mountain gate, he came straight over and cupped his fist with utter confidence:

"Miss Ying, from now on we'll be fellow disciples."

Then he received a helping of being ignored.

This sort of talent was only passable in a small place like Purple Sun Prefecture.

In Ying Bing's eyes, Wang Hu's grade B and Li Mo's grade C had no essential difference.

They were both stubborn stones; why bother distinguishing which piece was a little flatter?

Wang Hu was left hanging in place, his face flushing red.

He could only look toward Li Mo again:

"Heh, we're from the same hometown. If I rise to riches and honor, how could I forget you?"

"No, that's not right. There's a difference between the inner sect and the outer sect. It probably won't be easy for me to come down here."

"And who knows? In a little while, I might even become a true disciple."

"Seeing you once might be less convenient than seeing Miss Ying, right?"

His smile was wicked to the extreme.

He had gained an inner-sect deacon as his backer.

Wang Hu was young, and his personality already looked down on everyone. Now his heart had swollen so much he was about to float straight into the sky.

The few other boys and girls who had also come from Ning'an County all looked stifled and aggrieved, yet they had no way to flare up. Back in the county, Wang Hu had already been arrogant and domineering enough; now he had ascended to the heavens in a single step.

Originally, their impression of Li Mo had not been good either, but now that they compared him to Wang Hu, they actually felt the former seemed a bit more lovable.

"...Ah, right, right, right."

Li Mo had never turned off his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye.

Ever since Wang Hu finished testing his root bone, that originally green heavenly mandate had begun to show a trace of black.

Just now, while he was throwing his weight around, the black had deepened by several shades.

Even the evaluation had changed to: "Obstinate and self-opinionated, unaware that he is being used as a test subject by the inner-sect deacon Futu. His future is nothing but gray."

He did not like quibbling with idiots, and he was even less inclined to quibble with a man who was half dead.

Once again, it was pure disregard.

"You!"

Wang Hu had that breath stuck in his throat, and a nameless evil fire surged up in his heart.

However, the short, fat elder seemed to have noticed this side.

He withdrew his gaze from Li Mo and Ying Bing, laughing coldly in his heart:

"There will be plenty of time."

"In any case, the gap between the outer sect and a true disciple is heaven and earth. They won't be able to get together."