Boulder Colour
“I know that. But the fact you’ve only had two people capable of cultivating in a decade makes you useless, doesn’t it?” derided Xiaohu.
“More doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Is the sect you join not of prime importance?” debated Mu Yu, tone calm.
“You sound as if you plan to join Green Pine Sect, hahaha. I’m dead.” Xiaohu and his pals burst into laughter.
The immortal master had his hands full maintaining order, let alone managing every individual, allowing Xiaohu and his cohorts to boldly humiliate Mu Yu, who opted to play a taciturn character. It wasn’t worth bickering when it wasn’t as though they could mock their way into Green Pine Sect. Besides, the results had yet to be decided.
“The immortal master who examined my body told me I had to come to the academy for the selection. He personally told me I was a natural immortal master. What did your examiner tell you?”
Mu Yu brushed Xiaohu off with silence. Frankly, Mu Yu wasn’t keen on joining Green Pine Sect, citing their advanced cultivators had a greater chance of putting him in danger if they found out about his ability.
“Hard to say!”
The boulder glowed yellow. Nerves getting to him, Mu Yu clenched his fists. Xiaohu shot Mu Yu a smirk before taking to the platform when it was the former’s turn. When he placed his hand on the boulder, it turned teal! Teal was ranked between green and blue, with green being the lowest rank.
Immortal masters jumped to their feet. Bai Lang pinched his eyebrows together. Elder Xun was so stunned he forgot to pass Xiaohu a token.
Middle-aged immortal master: “The last person to generate teal was Young Master Bai Lang. He will be as promising as Young Master Bai Lang! I should’ve struck up a friendship with him.”
Xiaohu was quick to learn what the reactions meant. He gave Mu Yu another smirk and gestured a challenge with his hand. Then, he turned back to the academy’s chamberlain. “Hey, old man, my token?”
“Sorry, sorry, here you are,” apologised Elder Xun, even smiling.
Mu Yu had to admit Xiaohu surprised him to some extent. It was pretty much set in stone Xiaohu would join Green Pine Sect.
Mu Yu noticed the teal glow took a while to gradually disappear. Yellow and green glows lasted longer compared to red and orange, which only lasted for approximately thirty seconds. Teal glowed for almost fifteen minutes. Owing to the sustained glow, the examination had to be paused until the boulder returned to homeostasis.
Two other children from Raindrop Village produced orange. The last one produced yellow.
Xiaohu stood alone, while the other children stood in their assigned colour groups. There were roughly ten with green tokens – the most worried, lanky boy was amongst them. There were over twenty with yellow tokens – the wealthy and chubby boys were amongst them. There were over fifty with orange tokens. Roughly eighty to ninety of them had red tokens. There were only about thirty kids not assigned a colour.
When it was Mu Yu’s turn, he took in a deep breath and stepped up to the platform. He caught sight of Xiaohu hurling insults with body gestures, but Mu Yu quickly refocused himself on the grey boulder.
Elder Xun cordially nodded to every kid. After all, who knew if they’d be the next prized genius? Mu Yu was no exception. “Remember not to resist no matter what happens. Commence!”
Mu Yu placed his hand onto the boulder and shut his eyes. He felt a warm sensation transfer from the boulder to his hand, then circulated to every nook and cranny, searching for something unbeknownst to him. He did as he was told and didn’t resist it. The circulation rewarded him to a soothing feeling comparable to relaxing in a hot spring. He had an urge to unleash the surge of energy he felt roiling inside him. The warm energy gradually made its way to his dantian, which was located five centimetres below his navel.
The warm energy abruptly ran rampant, stealing control of Mu Yu’s body. His senses were amplified. He felt the fine green wands below waving and rustling. He could sense flower buds on the verge of blooming and haggy green strings sprouting from the gaps in the rocks. The scenery coming to life brought joy to him. He wished to command the growth of the green life, absorb sunlight and rain. As long as he desired it, he could’ve turned the surroundings into a lush meadow decorated with plants.
Stop, stop,
Recalling Village Chief Bu’s warning, Mu Yu forcibly put up a resistance against the flow of energy. The energy fought back, insistent on completing its mission. The two wrestled in his dantian. Slowly but surely, he forced the energy out of his arm and jerked his arm back forthwith. He vigorously opened his eyes and gasped for air, sweating profusely. To his dismay, the boulder was grey, an ugly and unwanted grey. The energy also vanished without a trace.
“Grey for you. Head over there,” instructed Elder Xun.
Mu Yu bitterly accepted the token. He started to worry no sect would take him in, and Village Chief Bu would be disappointed. He knew the boulder might not have remained grey had he not yanked his hand back. In his opinion, he should’ve, at least, produced yellow based on the energy he sensed inside him. Of course, he might’ve produced the same outcome, regardless. What was done was done, nonetheless. On a positive note, his failure removed attention from him. The grass and plants stopped growing.
I guess I can at least say Grandpa won’t have to be worried about my safety.
Mu Yu couldn’t rub success in Xiaohu’s face and had to put up with the scornful laughter. While he had an urge to give Xiaohu a knuckle cake, the immortal masters would’ve prevented it for sure to protect the prized prodigy.
The twenty or so kids after Mu Yu passed. Mu Yu was in no mood to watch them; he just prayed he was accepted into a sect so as to not dash Village Chief Bu’s hopes.
Once the test was finished, it was time to move onto selection hour. The immortal masters rose to their feet. To be candid, there was little point in all of them getting eager and standing up since the selection order had been determined beforehand. If there was anything that was certain, it was that Green Pine Sect would choose Xiaohu.
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