The Soul Testing went smoothly. After Dan Xiaoxiao, others came up one after another.
Gao Qiqiang opened his eyes, glanced at the number on the Stone Tablet, and walked away full of vigor.
"666, not bad. Even among the younger generation of the Five Great Clans, that's quite competitive."
Elder Han nodded and announced the score.
Li Hongwei's face froze, turning red and then pale, before he finally snorted coldly and said nothing more.
Gao Qiqiang smiled, just watching Li Hongwei.
Although his score was quite a bit lower than the previous two, it was a notch higher than Li Hongwei's, and he was very happy about that.
Next up was Bai Gujing, with a soul value of 765, which was a very good score.
After that was Qiu Qiutang from the Qiu Family, a beautiful woman with a fiery figure. Her long eyelashes and a single blink could capture the hearts of many.
She extended her delicate hand, and after her score was finalized, she slowly stepped back.
A soul value of 852, another score that made Elder Han nod in praise.
On the stage, although the scores of the various people varied, they were all above 400.
Now, only Ye Xingchen from the Ye Clan had yet to be tested.
They turned their gaze towards that young man.
Ye Xingchen's face was pale, and his expression was dazed.
Elder Han called out a few times before he finally came back to his senses and slowly walked onto the stage.
Just like the previous people, he slowly placed his palm on the center of the Stone Tablet.
Everyone in the audience stared at the Stone Tablet. Each time, they hoped someone would fail the test and be removed from the Elder seats so they could take their place, but each time they were disappointed.
The Stone Tablet beeped, and under everyone's gaze, a number appeared on the mirror surface.
The scene was first silent, followed by an uproar.
Hearing the surroundings instantly become noisy, Ye Xingchen slowly opened his eyes and looked at the Stone Tablet.
On the Stone Tablet was a number starting with four.
He let out a slight sigh of relief, then his body swayed precariously.
"Has the younger generation of the Ye Clan fallen to this extent?"
"If it were a little lower, an Elder seat might have been vacated."
"The first round was already this difficult; the next two rounds will be tough."
"So the Ye Clan is unlikely to pass? Is a clan that has been passed down for countless years finally going to be kicked out of the Five Great Clans?"
...
The crowd in the audience was in an uproar upon seeing Ye Xingchen's score.
Because this score gave them hope of joining the ranks of the Five Great Clans.
Human joys and sorrows are not interconnected; Ye Xingchen only felt they were noisy.
With a somber expression, he dejectedly left the Soul Testing Stone Tablet.
The Dan, Cao, Bai, and Qiu families did not mock him; they even felt a sense of shared sadness, like a rabbit lamenting the death of a fellow rabbit.
A hundred years ago, the Ye Clan produced many geniuses and talented individuals. Even among the Five Great Clans, only the Dan Clan, surnamed Dan, could be compared to them.
But a hundred years later, they had reached this point. The changes in the world were indeed so unpredictable.
Elder Han frowned slightly, not expecting the Ye Clan to have fallen to such a state.
He then announced the scores, saying:
"456, pass. The first round of testing is now concluded. Everyone has passed. As for the ranking, it is in order: Dan, Qiu, Cao, Bai, Ye. Gao and Li's scores are not included."
Listening to Elder Han's voice, no one had any objections. This had been agreed upon before the test, and everyone had witnessed the scores.
However, even though the Ye Clan passed the first round of testing, it still ignited a fervor in the hearts of the people on the stage, as if their own clan would be the next to enter the Pill Tower Elder seats.
They were more anticipating the following tests than ever before.
Elder Han naturally sensed that the audience on the stage was much more enthusiastic than before.
With a long sigh, he didn't delay and said loudly:
"There are two more tests to follow. After the tests are completed, the results of this assessment of the Five Great Clans will be determined."
As he spoke, he looked at Ye Xingchen, hoping that this Little Guy could pass smoothly.
He took out a pitch-black iron bead. The surface of the bead was extremely smooth, without any luster, giving off a sense of heaviness just by looking at it.
Holding the bead, Han Zichuan slowly said:
"The small iron bead in my hand is made of Soul Steel. When touched with the body, it has no weight, but when touched with the soul, it is as heavy as a thousand jin."
Saying this, he paused slightly before continuing:
"The second test is called Soul Manipulation. As I mentioned earlier, Soul Power has two aspects: intensity and precise control. I will control a certain number of beads to fall from a high altitude. What you need to do is use only Soul Power to catch as many of them as possible, preventing them from hitting the ground. Catching 40 Soul Pearls is considered a pass. The more you catch, the better your score. Do any of you have any questions?"
This was still the same routine as previous tests. Several people had heard about it from their elders at home, so they nodded, having no objections.
"In that case, let's begin the test. Oh, right, for this test, you'll all go at once, but you're not allowed to interfere with others."
Just like the first test, he had changed the method on the fly again.
After speaking, he looked at everyone and asked,
"How is it? Are you ready?"
Seeing everyone nod, he flicked his sleeve, and thousands of Soul Pearls floated above them.
He was naturally controlling them with Dou Qi.
Thousands of Soul Pearls—if he used only Soul Power, even he wouldn't be able to bear it.
"Test begins."
As his voice fell, he controlled the Soul Pearls to drop in batches.
Zhao Li looked at this test method. It was similar to the Monopoly game he played when he tested for Seventh Grade High Grade, but the material of these Soul Pearls felt somewhat familiar to him.
His Soul Power quietly spread out. With his Heaven Realm soul intensity, coupled with his perfected Cultivation Technique, the barrier between his Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been severed. Manipulating his soul was like manipulating his physical body, equally effortless and unrestrained, so naturally, no one present would discover it.
Upon careful perception, he could sense a slight suppression that the Soul Pearls brought to his soul. He then realized with a start that the feeling these Soul Pearls gave him was exactly the same as the Stone Tablet in the Soul Hall in the Tianmu Mountain Range.
Zhao Li frowned slightly. First, it was the robe Master gave him to temper his soul, and now these Soul Pearls. These things seemed to be related to the Soul Hall.
Given the relationship between the Pill Tower and the Soul Hall, it was possible they had snatched something from the Soul Hall. But how did Master get involved with the Soul Hall?
After thinking for a long time with no result, Zhao Li shook his head.
"I'll ask Elder Han later."
Then he continued watching the competition.
With just a brief contact earlier, Zhao Li understood that the Soul Pearls indeed exerted significant pressure on the soul. Without skill, even with the soul intensity of a Seventh-Grade Alchemist, catching 40 wouldn't be simple.
He was somewhat curious if the Ye Clan members could pass this stage.
Time flowed, and some people on the field already had pale faces. They controlled the Soul Pearls they had caught and retreated to the side, having reached their limit.
A quarter of an hour later, Dan Xiaoxiao withdrew from the field. She was the last person remaining.
Seeing that everyone had left the testing ground, Elder Han collected the remaining Soul Pearls.
Then he looked at everyone and asked,
"How many Soul Pearls did each of you catch? Report your numbers."
Dan Xiaoxiao took a moment to recover, then proudly said,
"Elder Han, I caught 83."
Han Zichuan nodded. He had been observing everyone and naturally knew everyone's scores. Now, it was just going through the motions, letting them report their results.
"Elder Han, I caught 82."
Qiu Qiutang said somewhat reluctantly. She was the only one on the field who might have surpassed Dan Xiaoxiao, but she had given her all and still lost by one. The difference of a single pearl left her feeling a bit unwilling.
Seeing the slight sparks of competition between the two girls, Elder Han smiled. Competition leads to progress, and both girls' scores were excellent. He praised them highly:
"Very good, very good. The Dan and Qiu families have promising successors. What about you?"
Saying this, he looked at the remaining few.
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