What Is Going On?

"By the way, what's your talent like?" Lu Ye turned and asked.

Though Yu Xiaodie's expression already showed that her talent could not be too poor, Lu Ye still could not help wanting to compare. He needed to know just how bad his own talent was for Third Senior Brother's words to change so drastically before and after.

Yu Xiaodie had been holding her Jade Token in her hand. At Lu Ye's words, she instinctively drew it back a little. It was not that she wanted to hide anything, only that she did not want to deal Lu Ye too severe a blow.

Lu Ye teased, "You looking down on me? The more men get knocked down, the more fired up they become!"

Yu Xiaodie said helplessly, "Big Brother Lu truly wants to see it?"

Lu Ye smiled. "The result is already out. No matter how bad it is, it can't be that bad."

Yu Xiaodie thought for a moment. "That's true. Big Brother Lu really is a broad-minded man." Her face was full of admiration.

Lu Ye had already put it that way, so how could she refuse? The information recorded on the Jade Token was not something that could not be shown to others.

She extended her hand and passed her Jade Token to Lu Ye.

Lu Ye took it and looked closely. The side facing him bore Yu Xiaodie's name. He flipped it over. On the other side was her Cultivation Attribute: the character for wood. It seemed Yu Xiaodie's Five Elements leaned toward wood. Beneath the character was another number.

"Thirty-eight?"

Lu Ye stared at it blankly. This seemed... somewhat different from what he had imagined?

He asked, "That's not right, Miss Yu. How can it be thirty-eight? Isn't eight the highest?"

He remembered clearly that there had only been eight Saplings on that disk. How could there be such an outrageous number as thirty-eight?

"The highest is sixty-four." Yu Xiaodie was somewhat confused by Lu Ye's words. Counting on her fingers, she muttered, "Eight trees, eight leaves each—sixty-four, that's right. In theory, the highest talent is sixty-four leaves."

Lu Ye looked up at her, and the light slowly faded from his eyes...

Yu Xiaodie jumped in fright and called softly, "Big Brother Lu? Are you all right?"

Had he not just said that the more men were struck down, the more driven they became? How had he been crushed like this in the blink of an eye?

She really should not have shown him her Jade Token. Yu Xiaodie silently blamed herself.

"Pull yourself together, Big Brother Lu."

"Let me be!" Lu Ye waved her off, then looked up at the sky with vacant eyes.

He roughly understood now. The character one carved on the back of his Jade Token did not represent one Sapling, but one leaf on a Sapling!

During the talent test, every Sapling could grow eight leaves. With eight Saplings in total, the limit was sixty-four leaves.

The thirty-eight on Yu Xiaodie's Jade Token meant that during her talent test, those Saplings had collectively grown thirty-eight leaves. Yet he had only one leaf, not one tree!

This time, Lu Ye was truly struck hard.

He had already lowered his expectations as far as he could, only to discover in the end that what he had taken for the bottom line was not even close.

Being at the bottom of eight tiers and being at the bottom of sixty-four tiers were entirely different matters.

"Big Brother Lu..." Yu Xiaodie looked at him worriedly. She felt as though Lu Ye was shrouded in a gray, murky aura, all the vitality from before wiped away without a trace. "Talent is important, but it doesn't represent everything. Big Brother Lu, I once heard someone say something called Heaven Rewards Diligence..."

"Then you surely haven't heard that Heaven and Earth are heartless, treating all things as straw dogs..."

"Eh?" Yu Xiaodie felt that something was strange.

Lu Ye had already taken a deep breath and recovered. Though his heart still ached somewhat, as he had said before, the result was already out. He could only face it calmly.

Besides, he still had the Talent Tree!

Even if his talent was not high enough, that miraculous Talent Tree should be able to make up for it.

"Tell me, what is the basis for this talent test?" Lu Ye asked. Although he had undergone the test in the tent just now, he did not know exactly how it worked. He had kept his eyes closed throughout the entire process.

Yu Xiaodie did not explain immediately. Instead, she looked at him seriously.

There was still obvious worry in her eyes. Lu Ye smiled. "I'm really fine."

Yu Xiaodie sighed and said, "Since Big Brother Lu wishes to know, I'll tell you what I understand."

She immediately explained the principles of the formation and the testing process in detail.

Lu Ye finally understood. "So Spiritual Energy has a hard time entering my body? That's why my talent is so low?" He could not help recalling how he had felt during the test. The external Spiritual Energy had desperately tried to bore into his body, yet could not get in, pricking him with pain all over.

Yu Xiaodie nodded. "Exactly."

"So that's how it is!" Lu Ye roughly understood, but another question immediately arose. "But what does that prove? How can these outward signs determine whether someone's talent is high or low? Don't misunderstand, Miss Yu. It's not that I care about my talent being low. I only want to know the reason."

Seeing how utterly convinced he looked, Yu Xiaodie did not know whether to laugh or cry. She patiently explained, "Big Brother Lu, do you know what methods cultivators rely on to grow stronger?"

Lu Ye said, "Consuming Spiritual Pills, drawing in and expelling Spiritual Energy, Refining Essence into Qi, and using Spirit Stones?"

"Exactly." Yu Xiaodie nodded. "But the most important methods are drawing in and expelling Spiritual Energy and using Spirit Stones. The other two are merely supplementary means. If external Spiritual Energy is difficult to draw into the body, cultivation efficiency will naturally be low, and so will one's talent. Given the same amount of time and resources, cultivators with high talent can open more Spiritual Apertures, and their future achievements will naturally be greater. Since Big Brother Lu has already opened a Spiritual Aperture, you must have felt how difficult cultivation is."

Lu Ye recalled those sunless days in the Mine Cave. Every day, he ate Qi and Blood Pills, then refined essence into qi, feeling himself grow stronger bit by bit. It had not seemed especially difficult. On the contrary, it had even brought a little... quiet joy?

Yu Xiaodie said cultivators mainly relied on drawing in and expelling Spiritual Energy and Spirit Stones, while consuming Spiritual Pills and Refining Essence into Qi were supplementary methods. Yet for him, it seemed... the opposite.

He vaguely sensed that something was not quite right, so he asked, "Miss Yu, after opening your first Spiritual Aperture, how long did it take before it became full?"

With a direct comparison, he could judge his own cultivation efficiency. He did not think his talent was low to that extent.

"About twenty-odd days," Yu Xiaodie replied. She did not ask about Lu Ye's situation, because she felt that question would deal him another blow.

With One Leaf talent, even with Spiritual Pills to assist him, filling the first Spiritual Aperture would likely take several months.

Since Lu Ye had saved her before, she still felt grateful to him. Looking at him now, she found him increasingly pitiful...

Sure enough, after she said those words, Lu Ye froze and murmured them again. "Twenty-odd days?"

Yu Xiaodie hurriedly said, "Big Brother Lu, our circumstances are different. I was taken away by a disciple of Evil Moon Valley before. She must have wanted to use me to cultivate some evil art, so she helped me open my Spiritual Aperture and gave me a Spirit Nurturing Pill to take. That was why I could fill my Spiritual Aperture in twenty-odd days."

That was her cultivation speed even after taking a Spiritual Pill?

Lu Ye looked at himself instead. He had eaten the cheapest Qi and Blood Pills. From opening his aperture to filling his Spiritual Aperture, it had probably taken only a dozen or so days, a little faster than Yu Xiaodie.

What was going on?