The moment Su Ming’s palm made contact with the surface of the black stone pillar, he didn’t rush to channel his spiritual energy.

He lowered his gaze slightly, his peripheral vision sweeping over his surroundings.

The other examinees nearby had long been unable to hold back, their faces flushed and necks thick with strain as they poured spiritual energy into the pillars like a breached dam’s floodwaters.

In an instant, bursts of multicolored light erupted one after another across the square.

There were fiery red flames, azure wind blades, and also thick, earthy yellow halos.

“It lit up! Three sections! I passed… huh? Why did it go out again?”

Not far to his side, a burly menial disciple who had just excitedly shouted halfway through his sentence watched as the three glowing rings of light that had appeared on the stone pillar suddenly flickered twice, like a faulty lightbulb, before fizzling out with a sizzle, leaving only a foul smell of burnt residue.

“Spiritual energy is insubstantial, impure, and mixed. Failed!”

The inner sect disciple in charge of recording waved his brush expressionlessly, drawing a glaring cross on the roster. “Next.”

The burly disciple’s face turned ashen. He opened his mouth, wanting to plead, but was dragged out by two Enforcement Hall disciples as if he were a dead dog.

“Tsk, that’s what they call ‘false fire’,” Lin Yu’s voice drawled lazily from within the ring, carrying a hint of the casual ease one might have while commenting on a variety show. “That guy probably overdid it with pills. His spiritual energy is like foam—looks like a big lump, but pops with one poke. Disciple, show them what ‘solid’ really looks like.”

The corner of Su Ming’s mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

With a slight movement of his mind, the deep, serene blue pool of spiritual liquid within his Dantian’s Qihai began to slowly rotate.

A wisp of dark blue light silently seeped from his palm into the black stone surface.

It was like a drop of water soaking into a sponge.

At first, the stone pillar showed no reaction.

At the edge of the square, Sun Tong, the Vessel Hall steward who had been staring fixedly in this direction, let out a derisive snort through his nostrils. He turned his head to speak to his subordinate beside him. “See that? That’s what they mean by ‘mud that won’t stick to a wall’. Can’t even squeeze out a fart after half a day. Probably has blocked meridi—”

The word “blocked” got stuck in his throat before it could fully leave his mouth.

*Hum—*

An extremely low, deep, and resonant thrum abruptly emanated from within the stone pillar.

The sound didn’t seem to be produced by air vibration, but rather resembled the heavy groan of ten thousand tons of seawater compressing rock deep beneath the ocean.

Immediately after, the very first section at the bottom of the stone pillar lit up.

The light didn’t even radiate outward. Instead, it clung tightly to the surface of the pillar like some viscous fluid, slowly creeping and climbing upward.

“What kind of technique is this?”

On the viewing platform, several inner sect disciples who had been initially indifferent sat up straight, a flicker of surprise in their eyes.

Then, that dark blue fluid continued to spread upward.

Second section.

Third section.

There was no pause, no flickering whatsoever.

The light advanced upward at a constant, steady, and resolute pace.

When the light passed the third graduation mark representing “passing,” Su Ming felt a surge of resistance from within the stone pillar.

It was the testing formation applying reverse spiritual pressure, attempting to “squeeze” out the injected spiritual energy to test its degree of condensation.

“Is that all?”

Su Ming’s heart remained calm.

In his cultivation of the *Like Water Art*, he had long grown accustomed to the “grinding work” of repeatedly compressing and purifying his spiritual energy.

This level of spiritual pressure felt to him like a gentle breeze brushing his face.

“Master, should I speed it up a bit?” Su Ming asked in his mind.

“Don’t rush, stay steady,” Lin Yu said leisurely. “We’re here to take an exam, not to smash the venue. Maintain this speed, let it rise slowly. This kind of ‘frog-boiled-in-warm-water’ oppressive feeling is what makes people most uncomfortable.”

Su Ming complied, not increasing his output, merely maintaining the original flow.

But in the eyes of outsiders, this became somewhat terrifying.

Because the pillar’s resistance kept increasing. By the fourth and fifth sections, the spiritual energy of an ordinary examinee would have already begun to tremble violently and flicker unsteadily.

Yet Su Ming’s dark blue column of light didn’t even show a single ripple!

It was still the same speed, the same brightness, that same suffocating stability.

As if what flowed beneath that black stone skin wasn’t spiritual energy, but an unstoppable underground river.

The fourth section lit up like a full moon.

The fifth section shone with a profound, dark blue light.

The sixth section…

By the time the light climbed to the sixth section, the entire southeastern corner of the square had fallen silent.

Those who had originally been waiting to see the Repair Hall make a fool of themselves now looked as if someone had grabbed them by the throat.

The face of Vessel Hall steward Sun Tong turned as black as the bottom of a pot. His fingers dug into the armrests of his seat until his knuckles turned white.

He could sense that the gazes around him, which had previously been fawning, were now becoming subtle.

“Six sections…”

In the crowd, Wang Defa trembled with excitement, his plump flesh shaking all over as he grabbed Old Wang’s arm beside him and shook it violently. “Old Wang! Did you see that! Six sections! That’s the standard for mid-stage Qi Refining! And it’s stable as hell!”

Qingfeng stood at the very front of the crowd. Looking at that dark blue column of light, the appreciation in his eyes grew stronger.

“Water benefits all things, profound virtue carries all,” Qingfeng said softly. “Su Ming’s spiritual energy has already grasped the true essence of ‘heavy water’. It doesn’t contend for momentary speed, yet carries the weight of a thousand jun. Rare.”

Mingyue, however, didn’t care about all that. She excitedly waved her small fist. “Go Su Ming!”

By now, the dark blue column of light had already climbed halfway up the seventh section.

Su Ming felt the rebounding force from within the stone pillar suddenly double.

This seemed to be a watershed. Beyond this, lay the boundary between prodigy and mediocrity.

Here, the speed of the light column’s ascent finally slowed down noticeably to the naked eye.

The invisible pressure emanating from the stone pillar increased sharply, as if interrogating the very core source and strength of the spiritual energy.

Bit by bit, the light column moved upward with difficulty yet persistence, slowly illuminating the lower half of the seventh section.

Near the main seat of the viewing platform, several elders responsible for different examination areas, who had originally just been going through the motions, also had their attention drawn over.

“Seven and a half sections,” said a green-robed elder with graying hair and a thin, refined face, stroking his beard, a look of surprise in his eyes. “The purity and depth of this disciple’s spiritual energy ranks among the best of the menial disciples taking this exam. Judging by its attribute, it’s deep, serene, and enduring. It should be water-attribute, and of no low grade.”

An elder with a ruddy complexion and a slightly plump build next to him chimed in, “Indeed. What’s even more rare is that the radiance is as stable as a mountain, without the slightest hint of wavering, clearly indicating a calm temperament and an extremely solid foundation. Hmm? Something seems… off?”

They saw that after illuminating most of the seventh section, the dark blue column of light seemed to touch an invisible bottleneck. No matter how hard it tried, it could no longer climb even half a step further.

The light column itself remained stable, yet it was stuck there, separated from the area above representing higher potential and strength by what seemed like an insurmountable barrier.

The green-robed elder’s divine sense stirred slightly as he carefully sensed it. His brow furrowed slightly as he shook his head with a soft sigh. “A pity. This disciple’s spiritual energy foundation is indeed superior. However… deep within his Dantian’s Qihai, there seems to be an old injury affecting his foundation. The flow of his spiritual source becomes sluggish and weak when it reaches the core. This is a sign of ‘damaged Dao foundation’. Without a heaven-defying opportunity to repair it, I fear the moment he attempts Foundation Establishment will be when danger sharply increases. The path to the Golden Core realm becomes even more hopeless. Otherwise, with this spiritual energy foundation and temperament, he could have hoped for the Nascent Soul realm.”

Hearing this, the slightly plump elder also sighed with regret. “Damage to the Dao foundation is the most troublesome. No wonder the radiance stopped at seven and a half sections. It’s not that his potential is exhausted, but that the injury drags him down, making him powerless to reach higher. A pity, truly a pity.”

Although their conversation was soft, they didn’t deliberately conceal it. Some of the more perceptive inner sect disciples and stewards nearby overheard. Their gazes toward Su Ming instantly became complex, the previous pure astonishment now heavily mixed with profound regret.

At the center of the main viewing platform, Zhang Lie, the Formation Peak steward who had been meditating with his eyes closed, seemingly indifferent to the assessment below, slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze was like lightning as it swept over the stone pillar where Su Ming stood, pausing for a moment on the dark blue column of light frozen at seven and a half sections, before half-closing his eyes again, as if it had nothing to do with him.

Finally, the dark blue column of light steadily stopped between the seventh and eighth sections, changing no further.

“Su Ming!”

The inner sect steward in charge of that area loudly announced the name, his voice especially clear in the quiet corner. “Spiritual energy potential, evaluation: Upper Middle Grade A. Pass!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep