Chapter 62: Assessment

Chapter 62: Assessment

Han Lingyun had indeed probably saved himself an embarrassing moment as the concentration and accuracy needed to inscribe strings of multi-faceted runes caused him to fail on his first 3 attempts.

And to maximize his chances, he was using a black pencil and some sort of golden liquid for the ink. These were fine precision tools.

Finally, Han Lingyun managed to complete the runes for the portable receiver. He had done the hardest part. Now he only had to inscribe additional runes on the 4 flags, mainly to fine tune the qi movement and for the detections.

When everything was done, Han Lingyun and his mentor left market road and headed to a valley that belonged to Elder Wen to try the array out.

There, they placed the 4 flags in a large square with the flags as the corners. They buried small piles of qi crystal around every flag. This array would be consuming a small amount of qi to operate the detection sensors. Finally, a medium grade crystal was used to fill the formation with invisible qi.

More precisely, it was invisible to qi condensation cultivators at least but Elder Wen could perceive very clearly the dome of rotating qi with his spiritual sense.

Han Lingyun sat inside the large formation, with the disk interface in hand, while elder Wen experimented by crossing the detection surface on foot, then in the air.

On both occasion, one of the quarters of Han Lingyun's disk lighted up in yellow indicating the quadrant from where the incursion was detected. On both occasions, his disk indicated a movement detection only. Elder Wen could completely contain the qi in his body if he wanted to and he was doing exactly this on that occasion.

Now elder Wen launched a qi attack to the barrier and Han Lingyun's disk corresponding quadrant lighted up in red.

Finally, Elder Wen crossed the detection while not retracting his qi, to simulate a disciple with lower cultivation passing through.

This time, the right disk quarter lighted up in orange: meaning qi and movement detection.

The initial tests pointed to a resounding success.

Three decrepit looking elders were arguing around a small disk, grumbling under their white beards. One was analyzing it under every angle when another took the disk from his hands.

Han Lingyun and Elder Wen were patiently waiting to the side for the verdict.

"Don't mind their antics, those 3 blood brothers have always been like that."

Han Lingyun mindlessly nodded.

After an incense stick worth of time, one of the three old men took a step forward and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, we would like to witness you building the formation once again."

Han Lingyun was becoming irritated, what was all that wait for? He still took it in stride, it was him being evaluated after all.

It was slightly unsettling to work with three men around you, peering at your every movement. What made it worst was that at times they added some remark: "Inefficient."

Most of the 4th grade talents had made it to the early qi condensation realm during that trimester and many were seeing blood. None of the disciples had reached mid qi condensation level yet so some fancied their chances at the top places: they had made huge strides recently.

Some were left out from the hype and Yang Haoyu was one of them. His face was dark as he sensed his cultivation once again. He had reached the peak of body strengthening for 3 weeks already but he just couldn't take the final step to qi condensation. It felt even worse when his friends and nearly all the other 4th grade talents had now made it.

On the eve of the rankings, Yang Haoyu was turning around in circles in his house. He hadn't left it for a week.

'What is wrong with me? What is wrong with me? Why can't I just breakthrough like everyone else?'

As he was desperately searching for a solution, his door suddenly opened and two masked men jumped on him. Yang Haoyu didn't have the time to yell before he was gagged, blindfolded and taken away.

Yang Haoyu started to panic as he found himself unable to move. Qi was exerting pressure from all sides locking him in place. Shortly after being led out of the house, suddenly a huge amount of water crashed on him.

His blindfold and other restriction were taken away and Yang Haoyu found himself under a waterfall, with Han Lingyun and Shen Lin facing him with large grins.

"I think that cleaned him off quite well brother Lin."

"Damn it was seriously stinking in his cave of a house."

"Hehe I nearly gagged in there."

Yang Haoyu quickly left the crushing waterfall. "Hey you guys, what was that for?"

Shen Lin and Han Lingyun put an arm behind his back from both sides. "Brother Haoyu, you can always count of your friends if you find yourself in a dark place."

"You have really isolated yourself this last month or so, that won't be helping your state of mind."

Han Lingyun passed him a pellet. "That's a Supreme Condensation pellet, if you consume it, you will be able to breakthrough with 99% certainty. But don't beat yourself up on your cultivation speed, in fact you are not even slow. The ideal 4th grade talent would still take 1 year and a half to reach qi condensation without any resources. Just take your time and build a strong foundation for yourself. This pellet is simply to reassure you, to make you realize there is always an alternative. I would still recommend you try reaching qi condensation by your own means to improve the state of your mind though."

"Remember you can always count on your brothers; we'll have your back." Shen Lin added.

Tears started to well up in Yang Haoyu's eyes. "Brothers you didn't need to do all this. I- I don't know how I could ever pay you back for today."

"Haha just be yourself, brother Haoyu."

"Thank you, brother Lingyun, and brother Lin. It means a lot for me."

"Good, let's take on a mission us 3 when brother Haoyu breaks through."

"We will be waiting for you."