Volume 1, Chapter 47 – Yun Yun’s First Move

After this brief interlude, the testing continued.

About half an hour later, a timid little girl stepped onto the Spirit Testing Platform.

She looked only five or six years old. She wore old, patched clothes, and her small face was thin and sallow, but her eyes were exceptionally clear and bright.

She seemed frightened, her little hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes.

“Little girl, don’t be afraid. Just place your hand on it.”

The steward encouraged her gently.

The little girl hesitated, then stretched out her grimy hand and lightly touched the Heaven-Observing Stone.

Buzz!

This time, the Heaven-Observing Stone reacted in a completely different manner.

There was no violent humming and no eruption of dazzling light. Instead, the stone released a gentle, water-like radiance that was incomparably pure.

Within the radiance, specks of starlight naturally gathered as though drawn together by an unseen force.

In the blink of an eye, seven stable and brilliant illusory stars appeared, arranged in a pattern resembling a sword.

At the center of the seven stars, an extremely faint halo seemed to be forming, like the embryonic shape of an eighth star.

“Peak seven stars! Close to eight stars! She even possesses a special constitution?”

A trace of surprise entered Liu Ruyan’s voice.

Another uproar erupted below the platform.

A little girl dressed in rags actually had potential close to eight stars?

And she possessed a special constitution as well?

Yun Yun’s gaze rested on the little girl for a moment before she nodded slightly.

“Her innate aptitude is extraordinary, and her temperament is simple and sincere. She is worth nurturing.”

She did not explicitly state that this might be a sign of an “Innate Sword Bone,” but her evaluation was already extremely high.

Liu Ruyan recorded the little girl’s information and address, then had her wait at the side.

The testing continued at full intensity as the sun climbed higher.

Just as noon approached and the crowd began to grow weary and restless, a cold sneer suddenly rang out.

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“Hmph! What a farce!”

“What Yaochi Immortal Palace? What Heaven-Observing Stone?”

“In this old man’s opinion, it is nothing more than a cheap illusion!”

The sharp, mocking voice exploded above the square like a clap of thunder.

Before the sound had even faded, two powerful auras abruptly descended.

A streak of light flashed across the sky, and two elderly men appeared out of nowhere above the Spirit Testing Platform. They stood suspended in midair, radiating immense pressure.

The man on the left wore a gray Daoist robe. His face was gaunt, his eyes sinister, and spiritual power surged around him. He was clearly a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

A pattern of flowing clouds was embroidered on his chest.

The man on the right wore a green robe. He had a broad face and wide mouth, and his expression was arrogant. He was also a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, while patterns of green pines and mountain ridges were embroidered along the front of his robe.

“That is Grand Elder Perfected Yunhe of the Feiyun Sect! And the Third Elder of the Qingshan Sect, Perfected Tiesong!”

Someone cried out in alarm, recognizing the newcomers.

The Feiyun Sect and Qingshan Sect were both first-rate sects within the Great Yan Dynasty, each protected by a Spirit Transformation cultivator.

They usually stood high above everyone else, and even the three great families of Qingyang City had to depend on their favor.

Now that the two sects had come together, it was obvious they harbored hostile intentions.

The two late-stage Nascent Soul experts released their pressure without the slightest restraint.

It weighed over the square like a mountain. Many low-level cultivators and mortals immediately turned pale, and the scene descended into chaos.

Liu Beihai, Liu Beichuan, and the others abruptly rose to their feet. Their expressions changed drastically, as though facing a formidable enemy.

Liu Ruyan’s heart also tightened, and she instinctively looked toward Yun Yun.

Yun Yun remained seated. She did not even lift her eyelids, merely picking up the cup of spirit tea from the table beside her.

It was as though she had long expected something like this to happen.

“Liu Beihai!”

Perfected Yunhe of the Feiyun Sect spoke in a shrill voice, his gaze scraping across the raised platform like a blade.

“You have quite the nerve! Without the permission of our sects, you dare establish a sect here and openly recruit disciples?”

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“You are even sending the promising cultivators of our Great Yan Dynasty to that so-called ‘Yaochi Immortal Palace’?”

“Do our sects mean nothing to you?”

Perfected Tiesong was even more direct. His gaze swept across the Heaven-Observing Stone, and he sneered.

“A mere broken stone dares claim it can measure talent and potential?”

“It seems the Liu family obtained some ridiculous fortuitous encounter and now dares disregard my Qingshan Sect.”

With that, he waved his hand. A surge of green spiritual power transformed into a giant palm and unceremoniously reached toward the Heaven-Observing Stone on the Spirit Testing Platform.

This was not only a humiliation to the Liu family, but also a blatant provocation against the Yaochi Immortal Palace.

“Stop!”

Liu Beihai’s eyes nearly split with fury. His early-stage Nascent Soul aura erupted as he prepared to intervene, but he knew full well that he was no match for the man.

Liu Ruyan clenched her fists as the Samsara Dao Scripture circulated rapidly within her body.

Cries of alarm rose repeatedly from below the platform.

No one had expected the Yaochi Immortal Palace’s spirit testing to draw the personal interference of Nascent Soul elders from two first-rate sects.

Just as the giant green palm was about to touch the Heaven-Observing Stone, a calm and clear female voice softly rang out.

“Insolence.”

The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to carry a strange rhythm. In an instant, it overwhelmed every cry of alarm, every oppressive aura, and all the chaos.

It was Yun Yun.

She set down the teacup in her hand.

No one saw her make any particular movement. She did not even raise her head.

She merely lifted her right hand at leisure, extended a slender jade finger toward the sky, and lightly drew it through the air.

The movement was gentle and casual, like brushing nonexistent dust from her sleeve.

Yet the instant her fingertip moved, a faint, formless light that seemed capable of severing space flashed and vanished.

Time seemed to stretch infinitely and freeze at that moment.

The enormous green palm of spiritual power that had been charging toward the Heaven-Observing Stone dissolved and vanished without a sound, like snow beneath the sunlight. It did not create even the slightest ripple.

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Perfected Tiesong and Perfected Yunhe still stood suspended in midair, the arrogance and coldness on their faces not yet having time to change.

In the next instant, both men’s pupils contracted violently, revealing absolute horror and confusion.

They sensed an incomprehensible and irresistible “intent,” something far beyond the limits of their understanding, lock onto them.

It was not an impact of spiritual power, nor was it the suppression of a divine ability. It was something more fundamental and far higher in nature: the Power of Laws.

Puff. Puff.

Two extremely faint, almost inaudible, muffled sounds rang out.

Before everyone’s vacant gazes, Grand Elder Perfected Yunhe of the Feiyun Sect and Third Elder Perfected Tiesong of the Qingshan Sect began to disappear.

These two mighty late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, regional overlords whom all of Qingyang City could only look up to, became like sand sculptures scattered by the wind.

Starting from their feet, every inch of their bodies turned into the finest ash and silently dispersed into the air.

There were no screams, no struggles, no eruptions of spiritual power, and no spray of blood or flesh.

Even the magical treasures and Storage Pouches on their bodies vanished into nothingness along with them.

It was as though they had never existed in this world.

Only an extremely faint fluctuation of Dao resonance remained in the air, the unique trace left behind by the death of Nascent Soul cultivators, proving that what had just happened was not an illusion.

The square fell into deathly silence.

A falling needle could have been heard.

Thousands of people stared with wide eyes and open mouths, yet not a single sound emerged.

Whether they were Nascent Soul cultivators like Liu Beihai, wandering cultivators in the Qi Refinement realm, or ordinary mortals with no cultivation at all, everyone stood frozen in place, their minds completely blank.

What had just happened?

Two mighty late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators had simply… vanished?

From beginning to end, that woman on the raised platform had only uttered a single word and moved one finger, yet she had… erased them?

Liu Beihai felt ice-cold all over. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Although he had guessed that Senior Yun’s cultivation was unfathomable, he had never imagined it would be terrifying to this extent.

Those were two late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

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They were not two ants.

Even a mighty expert in the Body Integration realm could never erase two Nascent Soul cultivators so silently and effortlessly.

Just what realm had Vice Palace Master Yun reached?

Peak Body Integration? The Mahayana realm? Or perhaps…

He did not dare think any further.

At the side, Liu Ruyan was also shaken beyond words by this method. She had known the Vice Palace Master might be very powerful.

Yet witnessing Yun Yun take action with her own eyes still delivered a visual and spiritual shock far beyond her imagination.

Lin Fan was hidden among the crowd. The humiliation and unwillingness he had felt because of his test result were now completely drowned beneath boundless fear and lingering dread.

His grandfather had actually dared question her just moments ago?

Had the Vice Palace Master taken even the slightest offense…

He shuddered and did not dare continue the thought.

The Zhao family head, the heads of the other families, and all the cultivators remained as silent as cicadas in winter.

Their gazes toward Yun Yun were filled with indescribable reverence, as though they were looking up at a deity above the clouds.

Yun Yun slowly withdrew her finger, as though she had merely done something insignificant.

She picked up her teacup once more and took a small sip.

Her calm gaze swept across the people below, who were still petrified. Her gentle voice rang out again, breaking the suffocating silence.

“Continue the testing.”

The simple phrase was calm and ordinary.

Yet it exploded like thunder in the depths of everyone’s soul.

“Y-Yes! Continue the testing! Quickly, next!”

Liu Beichuan was the first to recover. His voice trembled, but he forced himself to remain composed as he shouted.

The stewards snapped back to their senses and hurriedly restored order.