After the instrument lit up.
The air in the room seemed to freeze, leaving only Ye Li's slightly hurried breathing.
This Peak Eternal God, who rarely showed her emotions.
Was now so excited that even her ample chest rose and fell sharply.
A rare, complicated expression appeared on her cool, beautiful face, mingling shock, disbelief, and even a hint of bewilderment.
"Senior Sister, are you all right?"
Seeing Ye Li lose some of her composure, Xu Jingming released the metal sphere and asked with concern.
Only then did Ye Li seem to awaken from her shock.
She drew a deep breath, and the sharp rise and fall of her chest gradually subsided.
But the turmoil in her eyes had yet to settle completely.
She shook her head gently. Her voice was still clear, but now carried an almost imperceptible tremor:
"I'm fine. I'm just... a little shocked."
A little shocked? That hardly described it!
He had completed the first level of the Origin Core Secret Tome in just over half a year!
Calling him "exceptionally gifted" was no longer enough to describe this.
After all, it had taken her more than four hundred years!
The gulf between them could no longer be measured in terms of "talent." It had utterly overturned her understanding.
She looked at Xu Jingming with mixed feelings.
His sharply defined, stern face remained calm and composed.
As though the shock he had just caused were something utterly trivial.
Ye Li suddenly recalled her stern questioning moments earlier and the suspicions she had all but taken as fact.
I was far too hasty...
At that thought, she pressed her red lips together and spoke with a trace of apology:
"I'm sorry. I misunderstood you earlier. I thought you had made up that lie just to see me."