A loud laugh suddenly echoed from the crowd again, it was the fur-clad youth.
He was laughing so hard this time that he looked as if he was about to fall over.
“What the hell is this fool saying? Is he serious? Hey trash, do you think this is a place that would allow you to have a second chance? Hahaha, why don’t you just run back to your backwater village and stop holding up everyone’s time.”
As the fur-clad youth said that, the other youths in the crowd from affluent families started laughing and mocking him. They were shouting at him to finish his testing or get off the podium.
The ragged clothe youth stood there red-faced as he looked at the elder.
Coming out of his dumbfoundment, the elder looked at the youth with a frown and said, “Little child what nonsense are you asking, what difference would it make if you went again. Just get on with the testing, and stop wasting time.”
When the ragged clothe youth heard the elder’s words he became disappointed. However, his eyes suddenly shone with determination before he gritted his teeth and said with a bow, “I’m very sorry sir, please forgive me in advance.”
As the youth said that, he raised his head and quickly placed his hand on the stone pillar again.
The elder who was confused by the youth’s words had his eyes went wide with shock before his face morphed into rage.
“You brat, you dare disobey my words!!”
Before the elder finished his words, he was already next to the youth grabbing towards his right hand that was placed on the stone pillar.
Everyone who saw the ragged clothe youth’s actions were slightly taken aback.
As they watched on at this weird situation, the elder’s hand that resembled a large clamp quickly latched onto the youth's forearm.
The stone pillar began to shake and glow with an orange light, but as soon as that happened the elder’s vice-like grip crush down on the youth's forearm.
The elder was actually planning to break the youth’s arm, well, he did exactly that.
A loud crack came out from the youth’s arm.
Tears well up within the ragged clothes youth’s eyes, but he still gritted his teeth and endure the pain to allow his palm to remain in contact with the stone pillar for a fraction of a second longer before the elder ripped his arm away.
The red-faced elder who was now consumed by anger at this youth’s blatant disregard for his authority was about to bellow in rage, however, his words were abruptly got stuck in his throat as he saw the stone pillar flash from its orange color, all the way to blue within an instant.
It even looked like it was about to go higher, however, the blue light abruptly vanish as the youth’s hand was taken off the stone pillar before it could fully complete the testing.
Everyone in the venue became quiet all of a sudden. The blue flash of the pillar was so abrupt, most of them thought they were seeing things.
A youth who was below the podium suddenly asked, “Did the stone pillar just glowed blue a moment ago, or was it just me?”
Everyone was staring at the podium, that had the elder who was still holding onto the youth’s hand.
The elder turned to the ragged clothe youth with a perplexed look and wanted to say something.
“You..”
But before he could say anything, he saw that the youth was crying while slightly trembling.
The elder realized that he was still holding onto the youth’s arm and suddenly let go.
As the elder let go of the ragged clothe youth's arm, he seemed to have lost all strength in his legs as he dropped onto the podium floor clutching his right arm, while small sobs escaped his lips.
Everyone in the venue was staring at this scene not knowing how to react, the elder even more so.
He had been enraged that this village brat ignored his words and caused him to lose face, so he thought he would teach him a hard lesson and break his arm. However, even if it was slightly brief, everyone had seen the soul grading stone pillar glow blue for a split second.
As the elder was wondering what he should do, if he should just let this youth finish taking the test or kick him off the podium, a shout suddenly echoed from the fur-clad youth in the crowd below.
“That trash deserves to have his arm broken!! Kick him off the podium for disobeying the Celestial Academy’s rules!!”
As the fur-clad youth said that with a distorted expression, his words seemed to have incited the other youth’s in the crowd as they began chanting for the ragged clothe youth to be removed off the podium and start the testing again.
All the pavilions that were in the surrounding venue remained silent and only looked on at the youths raging and chanting below.
Though, there were only certain youth’s in the crowd that was chanting for the ragged clothe youth to be kicked off the podium, all of them were wearing luxurious clothes and expensive jewelry, signaling that they were probably youths of aristocratic families.
As they chanted non-stop, the elder suddenly gritted his teeth before he suddenly said in a serious tone, “You stinking brat dare to ignore my words, you should be lucky that you only have your arm broken. Now get off the podium so the Disciple Selection Ceremony can be continued!!”
The elder was actually planning to ignore that the stone pillar had flashed blue and kick the ragged clothe youth off the podium.
As the youth heard those words, he started to get up, but his saddening sobs slightly got loud as he fell back down on his broken arm.
He was absolutely weak to even move at the moment.
The elder was a cultivator while the youth himself was not, the pain he was feeling at this moment was very excruciating.
Everyone watched on as this barely thirteen-year-old boy wallow in agony, as he tried to stand up.
Seeing this, the elder became annoyed and went to grab onto the youth to pull him up.
However, a loud slap rang out as another arm came out of nowhere and knocked the elder's hand away from the youth.
The chanting from the youths below came to an abrupt stop, as they looked at the person who had just appeared on stage.
The person turns out to be Xi Shen that had left moments ago.
The elder was angered that someone had slapped his hand away, but when he turned to see Xi Shen giving him a rather deadly stare, his heart jumped, threatening to come up through his throat.
The fact that Xi Shen had appeared next to him without him knowing cause astonishment to flood his heart.
He was at the peak of the Meridian Opening Realm, almost about to break through to the Sea Expansion Realm. Someone like Xi Shen who hadn’t started cultivating shouldn’t have been able to appear next to him and slap his hand away so casually.
There was the Qi Condensation realm, the Blood Purifying realm, the Bone Reconstructing realm, and finally the Meridian Opening realm. These realms were collectively known as the four Physical Realms.
Breaking through these realms would give someone inhuman strength and speed that no ordinary person could match, especially someone of Xi Shen’s level who hadn’t started cultivating.
However, the elder hadn’t even noticed him until his hand was slapped away.
With an expression of horror, the elder began backing away under Xi Shen's cold gaze, while stuttering, “Se..second prince.”
As Xi Shen glared at the elder, his heart was filled with anger and disgust.
He had sensed something strange a moment ago, causing him to follow that sensation back to the podium, only to then witness this scene.
He had been here from the moment the ragged clothe youth had asked the elder for a second chance to test his soul grade again. And he had watched how the youth risked having his arm broken to take the test again, and had even endured the pain so that his hand could stay on the stone pillar for a split second to show his results.
The youth most likely thought that if his soul grade had met the qualifications of the Celestial Academy on his second try, then he could avoid receiving further punishment and even be allowed to take the remaining tests.
But who would have thought that people were so cruel?
The boy had obviously been tested for a Heaven-grade soul on his second try, but due to the selfish intentions of those disgusting brats down below, and the fact that this elder wanted to avoid the punishment of breaking the arm of a likely qualified candidate, they chose to ignore the results and even plan to forcefully get him off the podium.
Xi Shen looked down at the ragged clothe youth who was curled up in a fetal position while holding his broken arm and sobbing uncontrollably.
Xi Shen suddenly saw an overlapping image of himself over the figure of this youth. That’s why he was angry at the moment, this very scene brought up memories of his past life that he had tried hard to bury deep within his heart, but this whole situation just rooted them up completely
And the worst thing of all, it was indirectly his fault.
He hadn’t noticed before, but that useless piece of junk for a testing tool had somehow managed to snag a piece of his soul from the finger he had cut off.
The reason he hadn’t noticed it, was because once he had cut the finger off his soul body his connection to it had weakened. The strange feeling he got from before was because that piece of his soul the stone pillar accidentally took away, had begun fusing with this youth’s soul during the testing process.
The youth must have sensed the change within his soul and wanted to retake the test, thus resulting in the current situation.
Xi Shen slightly apologetic eyes glanced away from the youth while turning cold as he trained them on the elder. He was going to let the fact that the elder had broken the ragged clothe youth’s arm go if he had let him take the test over, but seeing the elder's actions he decided to step in.. and make this man pay.
Seeing the look in Xi Shen’s eyes, the elder became nervous as he said, “Second prince you..”
However, before he could say anything, Xi Shen’s body suddenly vanished from the podium.
Afterward, the elder let out a wretched scream as he hold onto his right arm that was now bent at a strange angle.
Every youth became dumbfounded at this scene, as they didn’t even see what just happened.
The people in the pavilions, however, had surprised Pikachu faces.
Even the seven Clan Leaders had their eyes light up when they saw Xi Shen vanishing.
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