The patterns on the stone slab did not light up. The light came from somewhere deeper. The underlying structure of the rubbing was vibrating slowly, at a very low frequency.
Ye Changqing's expression changed.
"Don't let go."
Zhou Ye did not move.
The humming continued for a while before slowly fading.
Ye Changqing crouched and pressed his palm against the bottom of the slab. After feeling it for a moment, he stood up, looking puzzled.
"Next."
Tan Lei was helped over. He pressed his palm against it, and after a while, the same muffled sound came from the bottom of the slab again.
The third. The fourth.
They tested nine people in succession.
Seven of the nine triggered vibrations in the underlying layer.
Ye Changqing paced back and forth across the courtyard twice.
His steps slowed.
Lin Qingzhu followed behind him.
"What is it resonating with?"
Ye Changqing stopped.
He turned and looked at the grayish-white stone slab.
He kept his voice very low.
"Will."
Lin Qingzhu froze.
"Kindling Academy is also using the Resonance Stele to screen people. They pick one mortal out of every hundred thousand, and what they're selecting for is will. But a mortal's will..." Ye Changqing considered his wording. "Is thin."
"What about everyone here?" Lin Qingzhu's gaze swept over the Spirit Sword Pavilion disciples on the camp beds.
Ye Changqing did not answer immediately.
He stood in the courtyard for a while longer. Wind poured through the gap in the courtyard wall, blowing the loose dust on the slab off to one side.
"Spirit Sword Pavilion spent years suppressing demons. They grew up cultivating beside demonic qi, killed fellow disciples with their own hands when they succumbed to it, watched helplessly as their sect collapsed, and saw their elders die before their eyes, sustaining