Invincible Divine Sword

Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Barely Considered a Genius

Extremely powerful?

“Martial Ancestor of the ninth stage?” Yang Xiaotian was stunned.

Zuo Qiu nodded, “Exactly, the ninth stage of Martial Ancestor. Surprising, isn’t it? He had a great fortune which allowed him to cultivate so quickly. Among those of the same age, few can match him.”

Yang Xiaotian just smiled.

He had just seen Zuo Qiu looking so serious and had thought that this Xiao Qiang’s strength was very formidable, only to find out he was merely at the ninth stage of Martial Ancestor.

If he, five years from now, were the same age as Xiao Qiang, he should be able to break through to Martial Venerable, right?

But then again, that makes sense, just because he has a twin Supreme Martial Spirit and cultivates quickly, doesn’t mean others can too.

“Let’s go. Let’s go pay the enrollment fee,” Zuo Qiu said, leading Yang Xiaotian to where the fees were being collected.

But upon arriving, Yang Xiaotian was dumbfounded.

He saw a line as long as the Great Wall, snaking from one mountain peak to another.

“All these people are here to pay the registration fee?” Yang Xiaotian was shocked.

Zuo Qiu chuckled, “Surprised? Actually, this is nothing. When it’s crowded, you might have to wait half a year just to pay the tuition.”

Half a year!

Yang Xiaotian didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Apparently, there really are a lot of rich people in Buddha Source Empire.

“Now that it’s less crowded, it should only take about three to four months to pay the tuition,” Zuo Qiu said.

Three to four months! By the time you queue up, not only have the daylilies become cold, even the Heart of Azure God would have cooled down.

“Isn’t there another way?” Yang Xiaotian couldn’t help but ask.

“There is,” Zuo Qiu laughed. “There’s an ancient stone stele at the front mountain that tests talent. If you can activate the stone stele, not only can you pass the registration directly, but you can also get half off the enrollment fee.”

“A stone stele that tests talent?” Yang Xiaotian looked towards the front mountain.

Indeed, at the front mountain peak, a crowd was gathering, but there were many fewer people than on this side.

“Correct, a stone stele that tests talent,” Zuo Qiu explained. “But to activate the stele is difficult; out of a hundred people, ninety-nine may not manage to do so. Moreover, if you fail to activate the stele, you need to pay an extra ten thousand gold.”

No wonder there were so few people.

However, it was also apparent that talent received special treatment at Celestial Burial Academy.

“Let’s go take a look,” Yang Xiaotian spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Zuo Qiu instantly perked up. “Great!” Then she led Yang Xiaotian toward the stele on the front mountain that tested talent.

She was also very curious about Yang Xiaotian’s talent.

The two arrived in front of the stele.

The Xiao Family’s Xiao Qiang, whom they had just encountered, was also there. Besides Xiao Qiang, several other family disciples were testing their talents as well.

At that moment, a disciple from one of the families circulated his True Yuan and threw a punch at the stele.

Instantly, the stele shone brightly, and a light appeared at its base.

This light climbed upward.

Finally, it stopped at the ninety mark.

Seeing this, the family disciple’s face fell into disappointment, and he left dejectedly.

Zuo Qiu explained to Yang Xiaotian, “Only if the value reaches beyond one hundred is the stele activated. That family disciple was still somewhat lacking.”

“Just punching the stele is enough to test for talent?” Yang Xiaotian asked, puzzled.

Zuo Qiu said, “Don’t underestimate this stele. It comes from ancient times and contains a sublime Godly Formation. When your punch force enters the stele, the Godly Formation can determine your combat power based on the robustness of your True Yuan.”

“Thereby assessing your talent.”

Yang Xiaotian had a sudden realization.

Generally speaking, the most direct display of one’s talent is combat power.

The stronger the combat power, the stronger the talent.

Take him, for example. Even without using the Heavenly Sword or Divine Sword, a single punch from him could blast away a Martial Emperor of the third or even fourth level.

Yang Xiaotian’s gaze fell on the top of the stele, “Has anyone’s value reached ten thousand?”

Zuo Qiu was startled and chuckled, shaking his head, “Even the unbeatable sword gods like the Demon Sky Sword God and the Green Lotus Sword Deity didn’t achieve a value more than five thousand. Since the establishment of the Celestial Burial Academy, nobody has ever surpassed six thousand, let alone ten thousand.”

Now, it was Xiao Qiang from the Xiao Family’s turn.

Xiao Qiang stepped up to the stele and circulated his True Yuan. His body surprisingly emitted a golden Buddha light.

“This is the Immeasurable Golden Buddha Technique of the Xiao Family!” Zuo Qiu’s face stiffened, “Only when one cultivates it to the ninth level does the Buddha light appear on the body!”

For someone of Xiao Qiang’s age to cultivate the Immeasurable Golden Buddha Technique to such a realm was quite rare.

Suddenly, Xiao Qiang shouted and with a fierce slap, a golden Buddha palm emerged and struck the stele.

With a “Bang!”

A muffled sound emanated from the stele.

A beam of light surged from the base of the stele continuously.

Soon, it reached one hundred.

When it hit one hundred, the entire stele shone brightly, illuminating the surroundings.

The light continued to climb after one hundred and didn’t stop until it reached three hundred.

The surrounding disciples gasped in amazement.

A value of one hundred was hard to activate the stele, and surpassing three hundred was even rarer.

Seeing himself break through three hundred, Xiao Qiang also revealed a satisfied smile.

After Xiao Qiang, it was Yang Xiaotian’s turn.

Xiao Qiang intended to leave, but when he saw it was Yang Xiaotian, he stopped in his tracks, curious about the result of Yang Xiaotian’s talent test.

Yang Xiaotian stepped forward to the stele.

Zuo Qiu watched Yang Xiaotian without blinking.

Yang Xiaotian circulated his True Yuan and punched the stele.

The light from the stele surged up fast at first but slowed down when it reached a value of one hundred and finally stopped at one hundred and one.

Seeing this value, Zuo Qiu couldn’t help but feel greatly disappointed.

On the way there, he saw Yang Xiaotian, who spoke eloquently and thought he had great talent. Even if he couldn’t match Xiao Qiang, he should’ve been able to break through two hundred, but it turned out to be just barely over one hundred, just enough to activate the stele.

Yang Xiaotian, upon seeing the value, remained unfazed.

For him, as long as he could activate the stele and pass the registration, that was enough.

He knew his own talent very well and didn’t need a stele test to prove it.

So just now, he had been suppressing his True Yuan and strength; the punch he had given was only one percent of his power.

If he were to circulate a Divine Elixir fully, he could easily break through ten thousand.

And that was only the power of one of his Divine Elixirs.

Seeing that Yang Xiaotian’s value barely broke through one hundred, Xiao Qiang snickered, “All that talk about ten Sword Hearts, I thought your talent was incredible, but it turns out you barely activated the stele.”

“But that’s also quite good, you barely qualify as a genius.”

With his laughter, Xiao Qiang left triumphantly.

Afterward, Zuo Qiu led Yang Xiaotian to pay half the tuition fee and receive the identity plaque of the Celestial Burial Academy.

However, just as Yang Xiaotian was about to ascend to Celestial Burial Mountain, Zuo Qiu informed him that the mountain was only open for one day each month. To climb Celestial Burial Mountain, he would have to wait until the following month.

“Open for only one day each month?” Yang Xiaotian was surprised.

“The Celestial Burial Mountain is filled with the Aura of Sword Spirit, and there’s even an Innate Sword Spirit at the mountain peak. All the disciples of the Celestial Burial Academy vie to enter Celestial Burial Mountain to cultivate,” explained Zuo Qiu. “To maintain the stability of the Aura of Sword Spirit in the mountain, the academy has thus decreed that it may only be opened for one day each month.”

“Moreover, not everyone is allowed to cultivate in Celestial Burial Mountain. With millions of students in the academy, if everyone were to cultivate there, Celestial Burial Mountain would be packed to bursting.”