Chapter 1547: An Old Acquaintance

"Oh, by the way, Brother Slayer, have you ever tested your Tao Aura before?" Ah Qi suddenly asked.

Xu Que shook his head as he said, "No, I haven't tested for this before. To be quite honest, I've been cultivating in other parts of the world for many years and have just recently returned here. I came here because of its sterling reputation, and I wanted to participate in the Heaven Palace Sect's recruitment congregation this year."

"Okay, I see. Then I'm relieved." Ah Qi breathed a sigh of relief as if he'd felt a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Hey, what do you mean by that, Brother Qi?" Xu Que raised his eyebrows with a querying look.

"Oh, ha, ha, ha, Brother Slayer, don't get me wrong," Ah Qi said, smiling. "I've also never had the opportunity to test my own level of Tao Aura. I'm still rather apprehensive participating in the recruitment congregation this time. When I heard you say that you haven't tested yours, I felt better. It means that I'm not alone. I feel more at ease."

"No harm done at all," Xu Que replied. "Brother Qi, is it very difficult to test the Tao Aura? How...is the rating done exactly?"

"Oh, you don't even know about this?" Ah Qi stared blankly for a moment. He was a little taken aback.

"Brother Qi, have you forgotten? I just mentioned that I've been cultivating in many different parts of the world for many years, and I'm kind of the bashful type. When I first came back here, I saw a lot of things that were very hard for me to understand. But I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, so I didn't ask too many questions." Xu Que gave a slightly despondent sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

Ah Qi chuckled as he said, "Brother Slayer, you're joking. You don't seem like a bashful person at all. It's true you don't talk too much, but you have an impressive presence. No worries, I will explain it to you."

Having said that, he immediately launched into an explanation about the Tao Aura's test conditions and what the distinctions were between the high and low levels. Simply, the object that was used to analyze the Tao Aura was uncommon and rarely seen, so it was extremely valuable.

The object was a meteorite. But because it contained a God's Strength that couldn't be used, it was also called a God's Stone. It'd been discovered that the God's Strength in the stone simply couldn't be extracted for any use. However, by chance, it had also been discovered that it could illuminate a cultivator's Tao Aura. So the Heaven Palace Sect and other forces divided it up to use for that purpose, and thus they had also named it the Tao Test Stone at the same time.

Since the Heaven Palace Sect basically controlled the entire Heaven Continent at this time, their portion of the Tao Test Stone was the largest and so their ranking of the Tao Aura had become the most authoritative. The other forces' Tao Test Stones were slightly smaller and their test for Tao Aura occasionally produced mistakes. However, there weren't an enormous amount of mistakes.

Some small leftover materials from the Tao Test Stone had been scattered throughout the World of Cultivators. Some of the people who'd obtained these small bits and pieces had developed them into Tao Aura-testing businesses and charged fees to people who wanted to test their auras. Although the results couldn't be guaranteed as 100 percent accurate, they could act as references for these people who wanted to prepare for joining the major forces.

If the ranking of one's Tao Aura was too low, some people would choose to sell their recruitment invitation in exchange for a large amount of Spirit Stones or some other kind of natural treasure, lest they make the trip to the Heaven Palace Sect in vain.

However, the cost of testing one's Tao Aura was not low. A disbanded cultivator like Ah Qi, who had been lucky enough to get a chance to test his Tao Aura by receiving a recruitment invitation, had no extra Spirit Stones to pay for a test.

Of course, there was another important factor surrounding these tests. Running a test on one's Tao Aura would inevitably attract people's attention. It could even lead to disaster.

As a result, many of the disbanded cultivators who had come to participate in the recruitment congregation hadn't tested the rankings of their Tao Auras before.

As to the high or low ranking of the Tao Aura, in fact, it was decided by how strong the light of the Tao Test Stone was illuminated by each candidate.

When a person put his hand on the Tao Test Stone and released his Tao Aura, the Tao Test Stone would focus and illuminate the force of the Tao Aura, forming rays of light. The colors could be pale or dark and of high or low intensity. The two factors would be added together to produce the ranking of the Tao Aura.

"Brother Qi, how are the intensity of the colors as well as the strength of the radiance added up? What are the particular details involved?" Xu Que asked.

"The intensity of the colors represents the merits and drawbacks of the Tao Aura. Generally, there are three kinds of colors: pale, normal, and dark. Take a look at this person." When Ah Qi had come to this point, he pointed to a cultivator who was standing before the Tao Test Stone in the middle of the field.

Xu Que turned his head and looked over. There was was a middle-aged man, who had one hand pressed against the Tao Test Stone at this moment. A pale red flow emerged from the surface of the stone, occupying half of the stone.

"Do you see that? The red color means that this person's Tao Aura favors the Fire System. The color is fairly pale, indicating that this person's Tao Aura is not considered profound." Ah Qi shook his head. "Although the radiance has occupied half of the Tao Test Stone, which is the fifth stage of the Tao Aura, his Tao Aura color is too pale, so it will need to be dropped by one stage. As a result, once it is summed up, it will produce a result of the Tao Aura at the fourth stage, which cannot reach the Heaven Palace Sect's recruitment standards."

"So that's how it works." Only then did Xu Que understand the testing method. He said, nodding his head, "According to this reasoning, the strength of the radiance will be examined for its color, and another stage will automatically be added for a dark color, right?"

"That's right, Brother Slayer is indeed a clever man!" Ah Qi looked at Xu Que in surprise.

"Brother Qi, you're too kind." Xu Que smiled and rolled his eyes to himself. "How is this f*cking clever? Even Buttface could have figured this out."

But Xu Que thought that this Tao Aura test was quite interesting. He couldn't help but feel curious about what ranking his own Tao Aura would be. And what color it would be as well...

After all, he had double-cultivated his Five Elements. But for his Tao Aura to exceed five elements, no...it was way more than five elements and had completely broken away from the traditional way of Tao.

"Next, Li Xuanqi!" At this point, a shout rang out from the testing area.

"Well, well, well?

"Li Xuanqi?"

The moment Xu Que heard that name, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and look over.

He saw a handsome, bright young man, full of mettle, walking out of the crowd to step toward the Tao Test Stone.

Xu Que was suddenly very happy. "I'm actually going to be able to see an acquaintance again."

Tens of thousands of years from now, after the Heaven Palace Sect had faded away, Li Xuanqi had been the founder who had single-handedly established the Heaven Palace Academy. But this man had been a disciple who had been abandoned by the Heaven Palace Sect. He didn't know what he'd done to have been expelled.

Of course, none of this was important. The important thing was that this guy had been killed by Xu Que's hands tens of thousands of years from now.

When Xu Que saw this young version of Li Xuanqi, he fell deeply into thought. He completely couldn't understand that Li Xuanqi had actually come from the same era as Xuanyuan Wanrong.

However, in terms of strength, Xuanyuan Wanrong obviously left Li Xuanqi in the dust.

WHOOSH!

As Li Xuanqi pressed his hand on the Tao Test Stone, a brilliant burst of blue light lit up and occupied 70 percent of the Tao Test Stone.

"Wow, Tao Aura of the Water System, normal color at the seventh stage!" Ah Qi immediately exclaimed.

There was also a big commotion in the testing area. Many people were shocked.

"Tao Aura at the seventh stage is two stages higher than the Heaven Palace Sect's admissions standard."

"It looks like this person will most likely be nominated into the second-class compound."

"So envious."

Everyone was discussing this incident spiritedly.

But the old man responsible for the assessment of the recruitment remained leaning on the chair with a blank expression. He waved to retrieve Li Xuanqi's tile and calmly said, "Tao Aura at the seventh stage, go report to the second-class compound."

As soon as he'd finished speaking, the old man shot out a beam of light and a jade pendant with silver inlay, which was engraved with the word second, landed in the young version of Li Xuanqi's arms.

"Thank you, Elder!" Li Xuanqi's face looked triumphant, and he respectfully gave a bow before he lifted his head and puffed out his chest as he marched away.

TSK! TSK! TSK!

Xu Que's eyes narrowed, and there was a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth."Was Li Xuanqi already so proud at such a young age? If I get a chance, I would like to take the time to mess with him in this world of memory."

"Next!" At this time, a shout rang out from the testing field once again, "Duan Qide!"

"Whaaaat?" Xu Que almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that.

"Duan Qide? Does he f*cking have anything to do with Duan Jiude?"

He immediately stared and swept his gaze all around, muttering to himself about whether it was possible that it could be Duan Jiude appearing under a false name.

But it was wasn't possible. Duan Jiude was only a few thousand years old and hadn't been born at this time.

"Here!" Suddenly, Ah Qi raised his hand and shouted. He immediately looked full of excitement and nervously gushed to Xu Que, "Brother Slayer, it's my turn now. You wait for me. I'll be back soon!"

With that, he broke into a run and sprinted toward the testing area.

Xu Que was dumbfounded.

"Ah Qi? Duan Qide?

"D*mn, no wonder he always felt that this guy looked a little familiar. As it turned out, he did look like Duan Jiude.

Could he be Duan Jiude's...grandfather?

.....