Chapter 187: Mediocre Aptitude
Moments later, 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 welcoming plaza.
The entire plaza was paved with white jade, which was giving off a bright white sheen, as well as traces of white mist.
Walking upon the plaza, 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 place hovering in mid-air above the plaza, and it was half-concealed within the clouds, giving it the appearance of a celestial city.
Above the entrance of the palace was a golden plaque, upon which was inscribed the words "Ostentatious Palace" in flowing golden characters.
"The Ostentatious Palace 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.
According to his knowledge, the Blaze 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 of laws, 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 palace.
The gates of the palace 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've come to him with an important matter."
Reluctant looks appeared on the faces of the two disciples, but after exchanging a glance, one of them pulled out a white badge before communicating something into it.
A full 15 minutes passed by before a brief flash 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 palace slowly swung open.
"Let's go."
Qi Liang led the way into the palace, and its interior was very spacious, with an area of several thousand feet.
There were dozens of azure stone pillars standing around the palace, 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 platform that resembled an altar, which stood at the center of the hall.
It was a circular platform that was over 100 feet in size, with countless extremely complex runes inscribed upon it, as well as diagrams formed by countless specks of light, giving the entire platform an extremely profound appearance.
At the very rear of the hall was a tall white platform, 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 Blaze Dragon Dao disciples, he was dressed in a lavish 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 glance at the man on the platform, 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 glance 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 Blaze Dragon Token with the intention of joining our sect, so I had no choice but to come to you," Qi Liang explained with an apologetic expression.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "I see. Show me your Blaze 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 Blaze 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 flashed 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 blades 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 Platform to have your aptitude examined."
All of the dozens of stone pillars 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 pillars 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 platform at the center of the hall.
All of the runes on the stone platform began to radiate dazzling light, forming a semi-transparent ball of light, upon which countless specks of what appeared to be starlight were flashing 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 platform, and a huge burst of heat instantly rose up from the platform 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 alarmed by this, and he immediately compressed 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 platform.
The spherical light barrier on the stone platform 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, black, 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 declared, "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 of complete 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 platform, following which the platform 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 also come 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 glance at Bai Suyuan, then cast another incantation seal.
Once again, the stone pillars in the hall began to radiate dazzling azure light, and the massive ball of light reappeared around the stone platform.
Bai Suyuan took a deep breath before stepping onto the platform, 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 occasion 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 pillars 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 platform quickly faded, while the countless silver runes converged in one place 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 platform in a flash as he declared with an excited expression, "She possesses the legendary Moonlight Immortal Physique and had seven immortal acupoints opened from birth!"
A thought then occurred to him, and he immediately released an incantation seal, upon which all of the light on the stone platform faded alongside the silver humanoid figure, and Bai Suyuan was revealed again.
All of a sudden, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong's attitude had become 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 displayed 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 the late-Deity Transformation Stage in less than 60 years of cultivation.
As long as she had access 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.
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