Chapter 3: Stars, Sun, and Moon (Please add to favorites and follow for updates)

Lu Shaoheng stood in the queue, withdrew her gaze, and turned to look at the jade pillar used for testing aptitude.

From the words of the divine voice earlier, she had already guessed the dazzling scene that had unfolded when Jiang Yunjiang tested her aptitude just moments ago.

She even had her own suspicions about the "innate divine ability" that the voice had mentioned at the time.

She had read many books and remembered a volume of *Essentials of the Pingjin Prefecture* which stated, "When a person possesses strange phenomena, they must be a monstrous talent."

Ever since Jiang Yunjiang entered the Marquis's estate, Lu Shaoheng had noticed her eyes, which could only be described as uncanny. When gathering information, she had even discovered that when Jiang Yunjiang was born, pink clouds and mist had floated above the courtyard.

"The eyes—that is the monstrous talent Jiang Yunjiang possesses, and in all likelihood, it is the innate divine ability that voice spoke of."

As Lu Shaoheng pondered, the testing line kept moving, and soon it was her turn.

She cast aside all distracting thoughts and focused intently on the jade wall, with only one thought in her mind.

Opportunity!

The opportunity to embark on the path of cultivation!

It was said that the mortal world lacked the spiritual energy required by cultivators; those taken away by sects rarely returned to their old homes.

Furthermore, the cultivation techniques they acquired belonged solely to their sects and could not be passed on to outsiders.

Thus, to this day, there were no systematic cultivation forces in the mortal world. Mortals could only wait for the sect recruitment that occurred every twenty years, hoping to pass the test and gain a chance to step onto the path of cultivation.

The female cultivator in charge of Lu Shaoheng's line was named 'Yan Ci,' and she appeared to be in her twenties.

When it was Lu Shaoheng's turn, Yan Ci's expression remained indifferent as she repeated the standard phrase.

"Next, just reach out your hand."

In truth, Lu Shaoheng was almost certain she possessed aptitude.

After all, if she were just an ordinary person with mediocre talent, why would that divine voice have sought her out?

Yet, at the final moment, she still could not stop her heart from pounding like a drum.

Lu Shaoheng raised her hand and pressed it against the cold surface of the jade wall. A slight stinging sensation came from her palm, and streaks of blood began to spread upward.

At the same time, her consciousness was enveloped by a gentle force and transported to a place without heaven or earth.

Lu Shaoheng saw scenes she had never witnessed before.

Grand and magnificent.

She was in an endless darkness where countless stars lit up one after another until they converged into a brilliant sea of stars, within which a red sun burned like fire and a white moon hung suspended.

The sun and moon faced each other from afar, the galaxy shone brilliantly, flowing and turning without end.

It was not until Yan Ci's voice recalled her thoughts that she returned.

"Low-grade aptitude, outside the Five Elements."

There was a hint of confusion in the female cultivator's voice.

On the jade wall, a few points of light in various colors had appeared within a pale black background.

Lu Shaoheng realized that this was merely the tip of the iceberg of the phenomenon she had just witnessed.

A total of thirteen stars had appeared on the jade wall.

This immortal sect disciple could not find what the image on the jade wall represented in the existing aptitude records.

However, aptitudes in this world were vastly different and infinitely varied.

Yan Ci had seen several types of aptitude not recorded in the books before, so based on the strength of the aura fluctuations emerging from the jade wall, she judged it to be low-grade aptitude and did not delve deeper.

In particular, the sect elders in the clouds seemed not to be interfering, but one elder with a profound cultivation level—who had already reached the point of opening the Niwan Palace and condensing spiritual sense into divine sense—was observing the movements below at all times.

Since she did not interrupt, Yan Ci knew her judgment was not wrong.

"Wait to the side."

Lu Shaoheng knew very little about cultivation matters. Seeing the current situation, she suppressed her confusion, nodded, and walked into the waiting queue.

Nearly two thousand people had been tested so far, and including her, there were nine in total. Among them, five were old acquaintances of Lu Shaoheng.

Jiang Yunjiang, Lu Shaojia, Lu Shaojing, Qin Ji, and Yan Ning.

Aside from these five, the other three were a timid-looking girl in grey cloth, a burly man with knotted muscles, and a young man with handsome features whose outer robe had long since been washed white.

These eight people now had a faint tendency to look to Jiang Yunjiang as their leader.

After all, among a group of low-grade aptitudes, only she possessed high-grade aptitude; the gap was far beyond what could be described as a crane standing among chickens.

As for the five people Lu Shaoheng was familiar with, except for Jiang Yunjiang, who looked concerned, the other four all held disgust in their eyes.

Yan Ning was dressed in a palace gown with silk ribbons wrapped around her arms; at fifteen or sixteen, she already possessed an air of grace and luxury.

Seeing Lu Shaoheng walk over, she said with a contemptuous tone: "I'm not even joking, Lu Shaoheng, a person with a heart as vicious as yours is a perfect match for those beggar's clothes."

"A-Ning!" Jiang Yunjiang grabbed Yan Ning, scolding her in a low voice, her eyes full of disapproval.

Lu Shaoheng lifted her eyelids and glanced at Yan Ning. Yan was the imperial surname; Yan Ning was a princess of a not-so-large, not-so-small commandery, and had once been her close friend.

"Is that so? At least I'm a normal person despite wearing poor clothes, unlike you, you gluttonous girl. You loved eating 'golden juice' when you were little; that's truly a unique hobby."

"Your mouth is so foul now, could it be that you snuck a taste again this morning?"

"Little glutton~"

Yan Ning turned bright red with anger instantly.

But at this moment, the immortal sect was conducting recruitment tests. After these few had their aptitudes tested and were confirmed to be recruited into the sect, they dared not make a scene.

Yan Ning still had her wits about her and did not shout or argue loudly.

Lu Shaoheng then saw Lu Shaojia walk up with a serious expression, looking as if he wanted to lecture her from a position of superiority, and she felt extremely annoyed.

She stared fixedly at Lu Shaojia with her deep black pupils, in which not a shred of the past sibling warmth could be seen.

"Get lost."

"You!"

Before Lu Shaojia could act, Lu Shaojing, Lu Shaoheng's own brother, impulsively stepped forward, brandishing his fist at her and saying with disgust: "Do you want a beating?"

"With your three-legged cat skills?"

There was an unmistakable contempt in Lu Shaoheng's lowered voice.

Her contempt was not without reason.

Lu Shaoheng knew every move Lu Shaojing practiced all too well.

The Pingnan Marquis's estate was not founded on martial arts. Marquis Lu Yuan was self-important but had limited connections, and the external martial arts masters he hired were all mediocre.

Therefore, Lu Shaojing's footwork, boxing, and swordsmanship... were all things Lu Shaoheng had gathered from secret manuals in the pugilistic world, which she had read through and then broken down to teach him.

Ninety-nine percent of Lu Shaojing's reputation as a martial arts prodigy was owed to her!

It was just that this fool had long been complacent from the flattery of others, truly believing himself to be a heaven-sent genius.

Lu Shaojia understood the implication behind Lu Shaoheng's words, averted his gaze with a guilty conscience, and felt a hidden jealousy rise in his heart.

He was famous for his talent in Bianjing City; whether it was poetry or policy essays, he could always top the rankings in the Imperial Academy.

But apart from their own family, no one knew that those most outstanding, brilliant articles were written by her as a ghostwriter after the Marchioness had begged Lu Shaoheng to do so.

A noble lady who had never heard lectures from great scholars or been taught by famous masters, but simply read a few more books in her spare time.

Lu Shaoheng didn't even need to rack her brains or ponder carefully; the things she wrote casually could easily leave all those men who studied day and night in the dust.

The atmosphere fell into an eerie silence.

There were already cushions prepared in the area where they were waiting. Lu Shaoheng chose one at random and sat down, no longer wasting any thought on these people.

Because she felt that her body seemed to be acting a bit strange now.