Chapter 187: Mediocre Aptitude


    Momentster, Han Li''s trio emerged from the teleportation pavilion.


    This teleportation hall was situated on an extremely tall mountain summit, and there was a massive pavilion nearby as well, but this one was several times the size of the guest weing za.


    The entire za was paved with white jade, which was giving off a bright white sheen, as well as traces of white mist.


    Walking upon the za, one could see all the nearby mountains beneath their feet, striking one with the feeling that they were overlords presiding over everything.


    There was a massive ce hovering in mid-air above the za, and it was half-concealed within the clouds, giving it the appearance of a celestial city.


    Above the entrance of the pce was a golden que, upon which was inscribed the words "Ostentatious Pce" in flowing golden characters.


    "The Ostentatious Pce is where our sect examines the spiritual roots and aptitude of those wishing to join the sect. It''s overseen by a deputy dao lord, so take care in how you act and speak once we''re inside," Qi Liang cautioned.


    Han Li gave a slight nod upon hearing this.


    ording to his knowledge, the ze Dragon Dao was different from normal sects in that it had no sect master. Instead, the sect was overseen by the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords on a rotating roster.


    Beneath the 13 dao lords were the 36 deputy dao lords, all of whom were said to have been at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage.


    Furthermore, these deputy dao lords weren''t just ordinary True Immortals. Instead, all of them had mastered the power ofws, so they were far more powerful than the average itinerant immortal of the same cultivation base.


    "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Qi," Han Li replied, and Bai Suyuan also responded in kind.


    As they were speaking, the three of them had already descended onto the ground in front of the floating pce.


    The gates of the pce up ahead were tightly shut, and a pair of young disciples were standing on either side of the gates.


    The two young disciples hurriedly extended respectful bows toward Qi Liang, who asked them, "Is Deputy Dao Lord Xiong inside?"


    "He is, but he''s currently cultivating in seclusion at the moment, and he forbade us from interrupting him," one of the young disciples replied with a slightly awkward expression.


    Qi Liang''s brows furrowed lightly upon hearing this. "Did he tell you when he was going to conclude his seclusion?"


    "No," the disciple replied.


    Qi Liang pondered the situation in silence for a moment, then said, "Please inform him of our arrival, and tell him that I''vee to him with an important matter."


    Reluctant looks appeared on the faces of the two disciples, but after exchanging a nce, one of them pulled out a white badge beforemunicating something into it.


    A full 15 minutes passed by before a brief sh of white light appeared on the badge.


    "Deputy Dao Lord Xiong has invited you to go in," the disciple informed in a relieved voice, then cast an incantation seal, and the gates of the pce slowly swung open.


    "Let''s go."


    Qi Liang led the way into the pce, and its interior was very spacious, with an area of several thousand feet.


    There were dozens of azure stone pirs standing around the pce, every single one of which had a beastly statue coiled around it, including ones that depicted creatures like the Divine Dragon, the Azure Phoenix, the White Tiger, and the Qilin.


    The mouths of these beasts were all aimed at a dark azure stone tform that resembled an altar, which stood at the center of the hall.


    It was a circr tform that was over 100 feet in size, with countless extremelyplex runes inscribed upon it, as well as diagrams formed by countless specks of light, giving the entire tform an extremely profound appearance.


    At the very rear of the hall was a tall white tform, atop which sat a short and stubby middle-aged man who appeared to have been around 40 years of age. There was a thin mustache above his upper lip, and instead of the usual white robes worn by ze Dragon Dao disciples, he was dressed in avish golden robe with a golden hat on his head, giving him the appearance of a wealthy merchant of the mortal world.


    The man wore a rather disgruntled expression, seemingly displeased by the fact that his cultivation had been disrupted.


    "Greetings, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong," Qi Liang greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.


    Han Li took a nce at the man on the tform, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly.


    The man was very unassuming in both appearance and stature, but he was giving off an incredibly powerful aura that far exceeded the auras of Fang Pan and that octopus sea beast.


    Han Li couldn''t help but be impressed by the man''s immense aura, and he and Bai Suyuan both followed Qi Liang''s example, each extending a salute toward the deputy dao lord.


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong didn''t even spare a nce at Han Li and Bai Suyuan as he asked, "What is this important matter that you speak of, Elder Qi? Could you not have waited for me to conclude my seclusion before requesting an audience."


    "My apologies for disrupting your cultivation, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong. This here is Fellow Daoist Li, and he''s carrying a ze Dragon Token with the intention of joining our sect, so I had no choice but toe to you," Qi Liang exined with an apologetic expression.


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "I see. Show me your ze Dragon Token."


    Han Li had already summoned the token into his grasp, and Deputy Dao Lord Xiong made a beckoning motion to draw the token to himself.


    "This is indeed an authentic ze Dragon Token," Deputy Dao Lord Xiong concluded after a brief examination, and only then did he turn his gaze toward Han Li.


    At the same time, a faint gleam shed through his eyes, as if he were trying to see straight through Han Li.


    Under Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s sharp and intrusive gaze, Han LI felt as if there were des raking over his entire body, resulting in a slightly painful sensation.


    His brows furrowed ever so slightly, but he didn''t say anything.


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong then withdrew his gaze as he cast an incantation seal and instructed, "Step on the Immortal Revolution tform to have your aptitude examined."


    All of the dozens of stone pirs in the hall shuddered slightly in unison before releasing dazzling azure light, and it was as if all of the spirit beasts engraved onto the pirs had sprung to life.


    Bursts of azure light erupted out of the mouths of the spirit beasts engraved on the statues before vanishing into the round stone tform at the center of the hall.


    All of the runes on the stone tform began to radiate dazzling light, forming a semi-transparent ball of light, upon which countless specks of what appeared to be starlight were shing incessantly.


    "Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Qi Liang said as he turned to Han Li.


    Han Li nodded in response, then made his way onto the stone tform, and a huge burst of heat instantly rose up from the tform before surging into his body.


    Countless specks of light of different colors instantly appeared within the ball of light, then began to rapidly revolve around Han Li in an extremely chaotic fashion.


    Wherever that burst of heat flowed to in his body, Han Li felt as if everything within that part of his body was revealed for all to see, and that was a slightly disconcerting sensation.


    All of a sudden, the burst of heat flowed into his brain and surged into his consciousness.


    Han Li was greatly rmed by this, and he immediatelypressed the majority of his enormous spiritual sense into a point, leaving only around a tenth to a fifth of his spiritual sense exposed.


    The surge of heat flowed through his brain for a moment before quickly moving onto other parts of his body, and it didn''t take long before it left his body altogether, then flowed back into the stone tform.


    The spherical light barrier on the stone tform faded, but those countless runes continued to linger in the air, then converged to form a blurry humanoid figure that was giving off lights of different colors, including azure, ck, crimson, and purple. However, these lights weren''t very bright, and they appeared to be extremely chaotic.


    Qi Liang''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the indistinct humanoid figure.


    A cold sneer appeared on Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s face, and he made no effort to hide his derision as he dered, "Your aptitude is downright mediocre. The cultivation arts that you''ve dabbled in are a chaotic mess, but your energy and blood essence are both quite abundant. It seems that you''ve managed to absorb some demonic bloodlines, but those are in a state ofplete disarray as well.


    “On top of that, you haven''t managed to open up even a single immortal acupoint. It''s a miracle that you were even able to reach the early-True Immortal Stage at all."


    Qi Liang seemed to have been rather surprised by this assessment, and he turned to Han Li with a surprised expression, as did Bai Suyuan.


    As for Han Li himself, he wasn''t disappointed at all after hearing this verdict, and he gave Deputy Dao Lord Xiong a slight nod, then made his way down from the stone tform, following which the tform quickly reverted back to its original state.


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong was just about to depart when Qi Liang suddenly said, "Please wait a moment, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong. This is Bai Suyuan, and she''s a descendant of Elder Bai Fengyi. She has alsoe here to join our sect, so please examine her aptitude as well."


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s patience was clearly running thin, and his expression only eased slightly upon hearing mention of Bai Fengyi.


    "Alright, but make it quick!" He took a nce at Bai Suyuan, then cast another incantation seal.


    Once again, the stone pirs in the hall began to radiate dazzling azure light, and the massive ball of light reappeared around the stone tform.


    Bai Suyuan took a deep breath before stepping onto the tform, and countless runes emerged within the ball of light.


    However, in contrast with the runes that had appeared for Han Li, all of the runes on this asion were silver in color and had a glittering and translucent quality to them.


    The entire hall began to rumble violently, and all of the spirit beast statues engraved onto the stone pirs let loose ferocious roars, while powerful energy fluctuated surged throughout the hall.


    "What''s going on?"


    Both Qi Liang and Han Li were quite startled by this turn of events, and they turned their attention toward Bai Suyuan in unison.


    Meanwhile, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong had abruptly risen to his feet, and an excited look had appeared in his eyes.


    The ball of light on the stone tform quickly faded, while the countless silver runes converged in one ce to form a silver humanoid figure.


    The figure was of an extremely bright silver color, resembling a bright moon hanging in the night sky.


    The most eye-catching thing about it was that there were seven bright specks of light shining on its chest.


    Deputy Dao Lord Xiong rushed onto the stone tform in a sh as he dered with an excited expression, "She possesses the legendary Moonlight Immortal Physique and had seven immortal acupoints opened from birth!"


    A thought then urred to him, and he immediately released an incantation seal, upon which all of the light on the stone tform faded alongside the silver humanoid figure, and Bai Suyuan was revealed again.


    All of a sudden, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s attitude had be extremely amicable and benevolent, and he said in a warm voice, "Your name is Bai Suyuan, right? As expected of a descendant of Elder Bai Fengyi''s, your aptitude is truly exceptional."


    "That''s correct. Bai Suyuan pays her respects to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong."


    Bai Suyuan had been enveloped by a burst of enormous power that had cut off her senses just now, so she had no idea what had just happened, but she could tell from Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s reaction that she seemed to have disyed some remarkable aptitude.


    "I can tell that you''re still quite young. How many years have you been cultivating for?" Deputy Dao Lord Xiong asked.


    "I began cultivating at three years of age, and I''ve been cultivating for over 50 years up to this point," Bai Suyuan replied.


    Both Han Li and Qi Liang were quite taken aback to hear this, but Deputy Dao Lord Xiong merely nodded in response, seemingly not surprised by this answer at all.


    Indeed, with her Moonlight Immortal Physique and seven innately awakened immortal acupoints, it wasn''t all that remarkable for her to have reached thete-Deity Transformation Stage in less than 60 years of cultivation.


    As long as she had ess to the right cultivation arts and resources, he was confident that he could elevate her all the way to the True Immortal Stage within 1,000 years.


    Given her exceptional aptitude, it was even possible that she could reach the Golden Immortal Stage in the future.