Can't Laugh Yet

The array inside the stone stele, which had been about to operate, suddenly encountered something extremely terrifying, and all its patterned runes vanished in an instant.

The entire Spirit Testing Stele fell silent, its surface devoid of any light. Not even the lowest scale, representing a mortal-grade spiritual root, lit up.

"Huh?"

The disciple in charge of registration was stunned for a moment. He bent down to inspect the base of the stele and consecutively injected several streams of spiritual energy, but still received no response.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

The Spirit Testing Stele was not shattered, and the core storing its spiritual energy was perfectly intact. Yet, inexplicably, all the detection arrays inside had vanished.

Several elders on the high platform furrowed their brows. One of them raised a hand and grasped the air, drawing the residual specks of light from within the stele into his palm.

He closed his eyes to sense them for a moment, but the confusion on his face only deepened.

"The detection rules have disappeared."

"It might be that the Spirit Testing Stele has been used for too long, and the internal arrays just happened to malfunction. Let's swap in another one for now."

But the disciple in charge shook his head.

"Elder, this stele had its core replaced just today. Thousands of people were tested before this without any issues. It shouldn't have broken down at this exact moment."

Around them, people had already begun to murmur.

The young man in white robes stood nearby with his arms crossed. After listening to their exchange, the sneer on his face became increasingly pronounced.

"What's there to check?"

"No spiritual root, no cultivation—naturally, there's no reaction. Or are you going to blame the stele for not seeing through a Golden Immortal?"

He deliberately stressed the words "Golden Immortal."

A burst of laughter rippled through the plaza. Several young cultivators who had already taken a dislike to Ye Chuan chimed in:

"A twenty-year-old Golden Immortal? Even the Immortal Emperor in his youth wouldn't dare make such a claim, right?"

"The two girls by his side are quite attractive, but unfortunately, their judgment is poor. Fancy following a mortal who talks nonsense."

"That fox clan girl is even of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox bloodline. She’d be a direct disciple in any immortal sect. How can she call a mere mortal 'boss'?"

Hu Li's smile slowly faded as she heard this.

Her fox tails gently swayed, and the pressure of a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox spread outward, turning the faces of a few nearby cultivators noticeably pale.

"You'd better shut your mouths."

Hu Li was usually docile around Ye Chuan, but that didn't mean she had a good temper with others.

The young man in white had reached the late stage of the Ascension Realm, and he wasn't about to show weakness in front of a crowd. He immediately released his spiritual energy to block the demonic beast's pressure.

"Is what I said not the truth?"

"The Spirit Testing Stele didn't light up at all, yet he claims to be a Golden Immortal. Don't tell me we're not allowed to doubt him?"

Lan Xiaoke, clinging to Ye Chuan's arm, also looked displeased as she glared over.

"He's not a Golden Immortal at all."

The young man in white was taken aback for a moment before breaking into a smile. "So the lady finally realizes he's been lying to you?"

"I'm talking about you."

Lan Xiaoke said with righteous confidence. "Ye Chuan could beat you without even raising a hand."

Laughter erupted around them again.

The young man in white almost thought he'd misheard.

A mortal who couldn't even light up a Spirit Testing Stele, beating him, a late-stage Ascension cultivator, without using his hands?

"Miss, it seems you've been badly fooled."

"This man has nothing but his mouth. What real skill does he have? Haven't you ever seen him actually make a move while following him around?"

Lan Xiaoke looked at him strangely.

"I have."

"That's why I'm telling you, you're too weak. Ye Chuan just needs to look at you, and you might explode."

Ye Chuan glanced at Lan Xiaoke.

What she said was technically true.

But saying it here, in this situation, definitely sounded like bragging.

The young man in white was about to retort, but the disciple in charge raised a hand to stop him.

"No arguing during the examination."

"Although the Spirit Testing Stele has malfunctioned, there is indeed no detectable fluctuation in Ye Chuan's cultivation. For now, he can only be recorded as a mortal physique."

The registration disciple opened the roster, ready to write "unqualified" next to Ye Chuan's name.

The elders on the platform had gradually lost interest.

A young man with no spiritual energy fluctuation, even if accompanied by a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, might only possess some special status.

But the Supreme Immortal Sect was recruiting disciples.

No matter how strong one's background, without innate talent and cultivation, they had no right to step through the immortal gate.

Ye Chuan, however, paid no attention to the surrounding noise. He just looked down at his own palm and quickly understood what had just happened.

Divine Testing Stele relied on internal rules to examine cultivators.

And the chaotic force inside his body inherently had the ability to devour laws and rules.

The moment the Spirit Testing Stele made contact with him, those detection rules were treated by the chaotic force as an offering of food, casually consumed entirely.

"Hold on."

Ye Chuan withdrew his hand and looked at the disciple in charge. "The last test was interfered with a bit. Switch to another stele and let me test again."

The registration disciple frowned.

"The Spirit Testing Stele detected no spiritual root at all. Even if you test again, the result won't change."

"Will it change or not? Won't we know if I give it another try?"

Ye Chuan's tone was calm, and he showed no emotional reaction to the ridicule around him.

But the young man in white seized on the moment as if he had caught an opportunity. "No talent was detected the first time, and you blamed it on the stele being affected. If there's still no reaction on the second try, what excuse will you find this time?"

Ye Chuan turned to look at him.

"You care so much about my test. Is it because you want to become my disciple?"

"You—!"

The young man in white's face darkened. "A mortal without even a spiritual root deserves to have me as your disciple?"

"Then you want to be my son?"

"You—!"

Ye Chuan couldn't be bothered to waste more time on him.

On the high platform, the elder in the blue robe pondered for a moment before finally nodding. He had someone bring out a higher-tier Spirit Testing Stele.

The new stele stood a hundred feet tall, pitch-black, with nine golden scales carved into its surface. The aura it exuded was several times stronger than before.

"This is an upper-grade Spirit Testing Stele used by our sect to examine core disciples. It can withstand the power of a Golden Immortal."

The elder in blue looked at Ye Chuan.

"If you truly possess Golden Immortal cultivation, this stele will certainly detect it. But if it remains unresponsive, do not waste time delaying the examination."

"Fine."

Ye Chuan walked up to the new Spirit Testing Stele. He didn't reach out immediately but instead withdrew the chaotic force from within him.

The black-gold power gradually receded.

Once the chaotic force was no longer masking it, Ye Chuan's purest intrinsic bone structure and soul were finally exposed.

Ye Chuan opened his eyes again, forcing down the corners of his mouth.

"This time should work."

Don't laugh. Can't laugh yet. Just thirty more seconds. Thirty seconds!

He raised his hand and gently pressed it against the black Spirit Testing Stele.

One second passed. The stele had no reaction.

Two seconds passed. The nine golden scales remained unlit. Many people around were already wearing renewed sneers.

The young man in white couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"After all that pretending, the result is the same."

"No spiritual root means no spiritual root. Does he think closing his eyes and standing there for a while will turn him into some kind of extraordinary genius?"

The disciple in charge of registration also shook his head, just about to announce the result, when a faint sound suddenly came from inside the Celestial Spirit Tablet.

The first golden mark lit up.

Then, the second and third marks lit up in quick succession, so fast that there was hardly any pause between them.

The fourth mark.

The fifth.

The sixth.

The laughter around them gradually faded.

When the seventh golden mark illuminated, several elders on the high platform simultaneously stood up, their expressions turning serious.

A seventh-grade celestial root.

In the Taiyi Immortal Sect, this alone was enough to qualify someone as a core disciple!

But no!

It was still rising!