Chapter 44

“That explains it. Zhou Yan’s mother was a legendary beauty and Zhou Yan is extremely elegant and handsome as a child. He was like a reflection through a Spirit Crystal and has an attractive nature in him—you would be drawn to him so that’s normal.

“However, it seems besides his amazingly stunning looks, he was also wildly charming in addition to his unbending will. This lad truly is the crux of all maidens!”

This caused plenty of maidens to panic as this young lad was being critiqued.

“However, Ying’er, you should keep your distance from Zhou Yan in the future. Instead, you should mingle around Zhou Yuntian. It might grant you some status of power so that no one would ever bully you.

“Of course, if you can mutate two extra segments of Qi, then you can forget about Zhou Yuntian completely.

“Man seeks his way up, just as water flows its way down. As the elder said, a genius who is dead is no genius and would only end up as useless trash. Zhou Yan had been through hell. His father was known for his pride and blind arrogance and had made plenty of enemies. If you’re close to him and have become his friend, you’ll only bring trouble onto yourself.

“Before you can be in control of anything you should avoid inviting troubles onto yourself. Do you understand?”

“How can you say such a thing father?”

This young lass who,just mere moments ago felt like a moth drawn to a flame, was incredibly displeased as her entire expression had changed to a cold one.

She frowned as her stunning eyebrows contracted, seemingly hinting at how unreasonable her father was behaving.

“Ying’er, as your father I forbid you from ever catching feelings for him!”

“Who… who told you that I have feelings for that arrogant lad, father?”

Ying’er blushed.

“This Zhou Yan is truly an exotic man amongst all the other men. Both his parents have praisable values indeed so it’s only natural for you to catch feelings for him! However, have you ever thought about if this lad was unable to protect you, it will only bring you trouble!

“And you, my daughter. You’re an unimaginably stunning beauty of elegance. Compared to that Zhou Ting, you have far exceeded her beauty! Then, based on your natural gifts I’m sure there are plenty of lads from the main branch of the Zhou family who would adore your beauty!

“If you have anyone you absolutely resent, you may tell me what this person looks like. As your father, I will ensure the outcome of that person to be a torturous and agonizing one.”

“Hmph, father. Are you praising me or are you criticizing me?”

The young lass acted in a childish manner while she stomped her feet on the ground as she felt slightly displeased.

The gaze from this middle-aged man was filled with hints of worry.

Although it may seem as though the middle-aged lad was jestering with his daughter, this would temporarily prevent his daughter from having any ties with Zhou Yan.

Not a single soul knew about their secret—not even anyone from the main branch of the Zhou family.

However, this middle-aged man had in fact seemingly known some things regarding the life of Zhou Wangchen’s wife!

That maiden had once caused a massacre of an entire city, it was a terrifyingly powerful force! If Zhou Yan was acknowledged by that immensely powerful force, then he would be more than certain that his daughter had indeed found herself a good and stable man!

However, judging from such a ferocious external force, would that mysterious figure even bother to glance at Zhou Yan who merely possessed a three-segmented Qi Column?

Without the support of such a powerful force, Zhou Yan was merely an acknowledged genius by the main branch of the Zhou family. If his daughter ended up with him, he worries her future would be unsafe…

Hence, he was forced to be worried and was also forced to brood in regret.

…

“No mistakes Yan’er, remember!”

Gu Yan’s voice was a little shaky as he spoke to Zhou Yan.

In the face of countless exceptionally powerful foes he could not help but feel completely useless!

This feeling had deeply hurt his heart, hence he finally understood the despair and hopelessness Xiao Zhan had felt—the same regret-filled gaze could be seen on his eyes.

In that dark and dimly lit hidden chambers, Xiao Zhan was so hopeless to the extent of not even bothering to bring up his daughters’ names!

He was completely in unimaginable shame to bring up his daughters, his pride and joy, in front of Zhou Yan!

It was also at this moment Gu Yan truly felt exactly like how Xiao Zhan did.

He was unable to truly experience what it truly felt like before, since it was not too heavy of a blow to his heart, since his daughter had never wronged Zhou Yan, and thus, Zhou Yan was finally able to gain some form of support.

However, after being greeted by such a cold and merciless gaze he had finally decided on something in his heart.

“Yes, Uncle Gu I know!”

As Zhou Yan spoke, he had turned around to walk onto the podium.

The young lad was unsure how exactly the assessment of Qi Columns would be. He was also oblivious to the talks about the number of segments in a Qi Column since not a single soul told the young lad about it.

It seemed that even Zhou Wuzhen was clueless about it before this event.

However, after Zhou Wuzhen mentioned the assessment of Qi Column as the final assessment, it made Zhou slightly confident in his heart!

Although, he felt that the truth about his twin Qi Columns could never be known by anyone out there.

Hence, when the young lad astral projected his soul, he observed the Qi Columns of the others in great detail. The young lad was shocked by what he had discovered!

When the young lad observed the realm progression of every single person earlier, the young lad was able to easily detect that almost every single person was only in possession of a single Qi Column of a single segment!

However, upon much closer inspection of Zhou Lingyi, he was shocked to discover that Zhou Lingyi had two segments.

Zhou Lingyao, on the other hand, also had two segments!

This revelation drastically surprised Zhou Yan since he used to assume his very own Qi Columns and segments only differed slightly than the common-folk. The young lad had never once thought that everyone else would have such drastic differences! Even Zhou Xian was completely oblivious to everything as Zhou Yan was. He also assumed that every single person had a single Qi Column with three segments just as he did!

Upon such discovery, Zhou Yan hesitated if he should reveal the truth about him possessing a twin Qi Column.

He was puzzled and was unable to come to a conclusion.

It was no secret to the young lad that he was very much aware of how exceptional his natural gift was—this alone had given him a tremendous advantage. But his trump card of having a twin Qi Column each with four segments… He was reluctant to reveal that to anyone.

This thought he had in his mind was conflicting and making him frustrated. He wanted nothing more than to prove his worth and skills but was reluctant to reveal too much about himself!

However, the young lad would be unhappy if anyone was more powerful than he was in the test of might.

Thus, when he was in line for the assessment he looked slightly hesitant.

The hesitation on the young lad’s face made the mocking smirk on the couple’s face who was standing next to the elder extremely obvious.

“Useless trash who dare not even go forth to be assessed. It seems he depended solely on herbal pills to ascend into a higher realm!”

That lad mocked coldly and seemed as if he was mumbling to himself.

“His fear for an assessment would only mean he was guilty of something. It’s obvious that there are things he kept hidden. Besides that reason, why else would he act like that?”

That maiden spoke in a displeased tone.

“Zhou Yuan, Zhou Ting, enough with the both of you. Just watch!”

The elder of the main branch of the Zhou family spoke in a stern manner. As he spoke, both the arrogant youths who had never even acknowledged Zhou Wuzhen’s presence started to behave more appropriately.

“Yes, Great Elder.”

Although both Zhou Yuan and Zhou Ting were slightly displeased, they responded with a humble and respectful bow.

The elder of the main branch of the Zhou family nodded and proceeded to squint his eyes while continuing to spectate this test.

“Zhou Shan, eighteen years of age, rank three in the realm of the Blade’s Essence, failed!”

“Zhou Lingyao, sixteen years of age, rank two in the realm of the Blade’s Enforcer, passed!”

“Zhou Lingyi, fifteen years of age, peak of the second rank within the realm of the Blade’s Essence, passed!”

…

Thus, one by one the assessment of each pupil passed. Amongst the ten candidates, three were eliminated.

“Zhou Yan…”

Alas, it was Zhou Yan’s turn.

The invigilator of the assessment was the Hand of the Grand Elder, Zhou Wuji.

He was staring at Zhou Yan with a slightly sinister glare as Zhou Yan walked to his side.

At that moment, grasped in his hand was a unique Blade’s Specter. This was used to assess a person’s age and realm progression.

An assessment like this would be the most accurate assessment.

“Sword Boi, fifteen years of age, peak of the second rank within the realm of the Blade’s Essence… Pass.. passed!”

Zhou Wuji held back his burning anger. He clenched his teeth as he forced those words through his teeth.

At that very moment, plenty of the members of the Zhou family stared at Zhou Yan with a gaze filled with emotions of encouragement.

Plenty of people were still adamant and stood by Zhou Yan’s side in support because they knew Zhou Yan was in fact ‘abandoned’ by the lord of the family and was never an ‘abandoned child’.

Since at the end of the day it mattered not what anyone would say, Zhou Yan was still part of the Zhou family, and within the Zhou family, the third generation youths were still incredibly united.

“Hehe.”

Zhou Yan smirked at the Hand of the Grand Elder. His smirk was slightly sinister, and he no longer behaved in a way which respected the elders.

Since these people were unworthy in Zhou Yan’s eyes!

They had schemed so heavily in order to guilt Zhou Yan; to cause the young lad to assume he had, in fact, become a burden to everyone around him and that he should die.

These actions, these pretentious forged bonds just for the sole purpose of entrapping him… With that thought alone there was no reason left for the young lad to grace these people with any form of respect.

Through Zhou Yan’s eyes were hints of sinister undertones that were reflected through his grin. That grin made the Hand of the Grand Elder extremely uneasy.

Hence, the Hand of the Grand Elder took a couple of steps backward as he stared at Zhou Yan with pure fear.

He took a deep breath in order to suppress all of the fear and panic in his heart. After doing so, he exclaimed, “After the assessment by this Blade’s Specter, eight candidates had passed. The next assessment would be a test of enlightenment!

“In my hand is a jaded rock, and hidden within it is a unique knowledge of Blade’s Menace. I shall place it here, and everyone please stand ten meters away before you begin to grasp any form of enlightenment from it.

“After a joss stick’s worth of time, everyone would present the knowledge each of you had gained from this test. This is to assess everyone’s ability to gain enlightenment.

“Until then, the Grand Elder himself would be in charge of assessing all of you.”

The Hand of the Grand Elder fought through immense pressure to make his statement. After doing so, the second test began.

This time, it was a test of enlightenment—an assessment of one’s innate ability to grasp knowledge.

By standing ten meters apart, one would not be affected by everyone’s ability to gain enlightenment. To have an accurate and deeper understanding of the intricate meaning of that jaded rock was an extremely difficult task. It was on it’s own a baffling feat!

Even without anyone’s interruption, how much can one truly learn from in a single joss stick worth of time?

Moreover, this was done with the constant interruption of people—and it was not only interruption from one person—and they expected everyone to gain some form of enlightenment in under a joss stick worth of time?

Such were the words of madmen!

As every pupil present understood the rules, they knew in their hearts that this was an impossible task. However, this was not arranged by their Grand Elder. This test was arranged by the elder of the main branch of their family, so how would these people dare to oppose his orders?

Even if it was impossible, these people still had to try!

…