NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6 - C Grade
Chapter 6: C Grade
On the high platform.
“Truly extraordinary, perhaps the most remarkable talent I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Xue Jing remarked, still clad in his patchwork robe, stroking his long beard as his eyes gleamed.
He wasn’t surprised by Ying Bing’s top-tier root bone.
“Is this the promising seedling you mentioned encountering in the mountains?” a lazy voice sounded from nearby.
A woman dressed in palace robes, her cheeks flushed red, reclined carelessly on a chair.
“It’s her. I wonder how far she’s already progressed on the Stairway to Heaven,” Xue Jing glanced at the woman, his expression revealing a hint of helplessness.
“I like this girl,” the palace-robed woman declared boldly as she took a casual swig of wine.
The other elders: “……”
Are you sure it’s not because the girl is breathtakingly beautiful?
“She’s not suitable for your branch of martial arts,” Xue Jing said helplessly.
“How is she not suitable!” The woman in palace attire furrowed her brows.
“Why are you even insisting? You’ve trained yourself to be like a furnace. This girl clearly shouldn’t become your disciple,” a cold, hard voice interjected.
“Hanhe, are you looking for a fight?” The palace-robed woman cracked her knuckles, seemingly eager to start something.
Elder Han He consciously took half a step back, letting out a wary cold snort.
“Enough, all of you.” A voice full of authority spoke.
At the Sect Master’s words, the woman in palace attire reluctantly picked up her wine gourd and took two large gulps.
The elders exchanged glances. Could it be that the Sect Master was interested in that girl?
…
Before they knew it, the time of an incense stick had passed.
In the meantime, about five hundred people had gone through the root bone assessment.
Finally, it was Li Mo’s turn.
The elderly woman grabbed his shoulder to assess his root bone, immediately directing her internal energy into him, ready to let it circulate through his meridians and body
But soon, this energy disappeared.
Hmm?
For the first time, the elderly woman frowned.
Typically, Internal energy can stimulate a person’s internal organs, meridians, and bones.The better the root bone, the stronger the response to this stimulation should be.
But…
This young man’s body had no response at all.
If that were all, it would be fine, but her internal energy seemed to vanish like a clay ox entering the sea. [1]
If she hadn’t seen the young man standing alive before her eyes, she would have thought he was a block of wood.
The old woman hesitated for a moment, then wrote down his name:
“Li Mo, C Grade root bone. You may pass.”
“Thank you,” Li Mo had expected this and cupped his hands respectfully towards the old woman.
He then passed through the mountain gate with a calm expression.
“Ah, a C-grade root bone. Father won’t be happy,” he said with a hearty laugh, bumping shoulders with the girl beside him. “When the time comes, you’ll have to put in a good word for me. Father listens to you.”
Ying Bing was slightly surprised.
His C grade root bone wasn’t much different from her memories.
But he didn’t seem disappointed at all.
Li Mo’s face was carefree as ever: “Three parts are destined by heaven, seven parts depend on hard work.”
“Many people can’t even enter the mountain gate. I’m already very lucky.”
There was another sentence he didn’t say.
What’s there to worry about? I’ve got a trump card.
Ying Bing looked at the young man’s carefree attitude.
Well, his bottle of Pure Yang Pills had helped her open her meridians half a year early.
This mindset was worth giving him a slight boost. How far he could go would depend on him.
At this moment.
Nearby, an elder’s announcement once again drew everyone’s attention:
“Wang Hu, tiger arms and leopard waist, B- grade!”
The crowd burst into an uproar.
Apart from the two A-grade prodigies, Wang Hu was now the one with the best talent!
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was one in ten thousand.
Enjoying the admiration of those around him, Wang Hu smiled arrogantly, casting his gaze towards the crowd.
“What are you looking at?”
Li Mo sank into thought.
…
Just then…
A figure landed in front of the mountain gate.
“Tiger and leopard constitution?”
The tower-like middle-aged man reached out and grabbed Wang Hu’s shoulder.
Wang Hu was startled, but then saw his cousin walking out from among the disciples, giving him a meaningful look.
“Not bad, indeed tiger arms and leopard waist,” the tower-like middle-aged man nodded with satisfaction.
“Master, this is my cousin,” Wang Hao bowed respectfully.
“Good, good. He’s more suited to practice our family’s Tiger Leopard Thunder Fist than you are.”
His laughter rumbled, making people’s eardrums ache.
“Fu Tu, wait until he enters the inner sect before taking him as a disciple,” the short and stout elder frowned as he reminded him.
Fu Tu?
Wang Hu was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.
This was a very powerful inner sect deacon elder. If it weren’t for the limited number of elder positions, he would have been in charge of a peak long ago.
“Hehe, I know the rules,” Fu Tu cupped his hands indifferently.
At his cousin’s prompt, Wang Hu quickly bowed: “Greetings, Master.”
“First pass the Stairway to Heaven,” Fu Tu didn’t correct this form of address.
After Fu Tu left.
Wang Hu held his head even higher, almost as if the word ‘arrogant’ was written on his forehead.
Walking through the mountain gate, he came straight over and confidently cupped his fists: “Miss Ying, we’re going to be fellow disciples now.”
Then, he received a dose of being ignored.
This kind of talent might be considered passable in a small place like Ziyang Prefecture.
In Ying Bing’s eyes, there was no essential difference between Wang Hu’s B grade talent and Li Mo’s C grade talent.
They were both just insignificant. Why bother distinguishing which one was slightly better?
Wang Hu was left hanging, his face turning red.
He then turned to look at Li Mo:
“Hehe, we’re from the same hometown. When I rise to prominence, how could I forget about you?”
“No, the inner and outer sects are different. It won’t be easy for me to come visit.”
“And who knows, in a little while, I might become a true disciple.”
“Seeing you once won’t be as worthwhile as seeing Miss Ying once, right?”
His smile was maliciously smug.
Having gained the support of an inner sect elder, Wang Hu’s arrogance was inflating faster than ever.
Several young men and women who had also come from Ning’an County all looked frustrated but couldn’t do anything. Wang Hu had always been overbearing back in the county, and now he had taken another step up.
They originally didn’t have a good impression of Li Mo either, but compared to Wang Hu now, they found the former almost likeable.
“….Ah, yes, yes, yes.”
Li Mo had never turned off his Heavenly Fate Divine Eye.
Ever since Wang Hu completed his innate talent test, his originally green destiny had started to show a hint of black.
When he was just showing off, the black had deepened a bit more.
Even the evaluation had changed to: “Arrogant and obstinate, unknowingly being used as a test subject by inner sect elder Fu Tu, future prospects gloomy.”
He didn’t like to bicker with others, let alone with someone who was practically half-dead already.
So he ignored him.
“You!”
Wang Hu choked on his anger, a nameless rage welling up in his heart.
However, the short and stout elder seemed to have noticed this side.
He withdrew his gaze from Li Mo and Ying Bing, inwardly sneering:
‘There will be time in the future.’
‘Besides, there’s a world of difference between the outer sect and true disciples. They can’t be lumped together.’
…
T/N: [1] 泥牛入海 – ní niú rù hǎi
lit. a clay ox enters the sea (idiom); fig. to disappear with no hope of returning