When Luo Qingchuan stepped into the gym, the aptitude assessment was just about to begin.

Everyone turned and looked at him as he walked in under the brilliant sunlight.

“Sorry for holding everyone up. I came a little late.”

Lu Wu froze for a moment. He noticed the sweat on the boy’s forehead, then smiled.

“Student Luo, right? You really didn’t need to rush. As long as you seek the Dao, our doors will always be open to you.”

Tap, tap, tap.

At that moment, under the students’ gazes—some surprised, some admiring, some delighted—Su Yingsnow hurried toward Luo Qingchuan and threw her arms around him.

She showed no shyness at all as she burrowed into his embrace.

Her heart trembled fast. Her delicate cheek pressed against him, and she murmured with a hint of grievance, “You made me wait so anxiously.”

Luo Qingchuan’s fingers lightly brushed through Su Yingsnow’s black hair. “As long as you’re waiting for me, I’ll come running to you.”

Su Yingsnow gave him a playful smile. “I don’t need you to go that far. I just don’t want you making me worry.”

“Ahem.”

A faint warmth rested in Lu Wu’s eyes as he smiled. “Everyone, spread out and stand in place. Let’s begin.”

Luo Qingchuan nodded.

Only then did Su Yingsnow reluctantly pull herself out of his arms. Then she looked at him again and asked softly, “Didn’t you say Zuo Tian wouldn’t be allowed into the Pathseeker Class? You went soft?”

Actually, that wasn’t what Su Yingsnow really cared about.

After all, Zuo Tian was at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. No matter what, he qualified to join.

But Luo Qingchuan honestly said the truth like an idiot, “I lied to you. My family just has a bit of spare money. How could we possibly have the power to control the Pathseeker Class...?”

Su Yingsnow’s face reddened. She lightly twisted his arm and said with gentle eyes, “You really are something. One little move of that mouth, and you tricked me into falling for you.”

Luo Qingchuan only smiled and said nothing.

“I don’t regret it,” Su Yingsnow said before leaving.

Very soon, under the direction of Lu Wu and the two teachers beside him, the aptitude assessment began.

Since it was an “assessment,” it naturally had its points of evaluation.

The crystal ball was called Spiritprobe. It was used for testing.

The bronze mirror was called Truthseer. That was the real assessment.

Luo Qingchuan had actually tested his spirit root long ago through his family’s connections. Grade C, second rank.

Spirit roots were divided into three grades: A, B, and C. Each grade was further split into three ranks.

If Luo Qingchuan’s talent were any worse, he’d have to go find some ordinary class to attend in the future.

The first to be tested was a frail-looking boy. Fire spirit root, Grade B, first rank. He looked quite happy.

After getting their results, some were excited, while others were dejected.

It felt like waiting for college entrance exam scores. Everyone was nervous as hell.

The only calm ones were Luo Qingchuan, Su Yingsnow, and Zuo Tian.

Su Yingsnow and Zuo Tian both carried heaven-ordained destinies and inheritances from childhood, so they weren’t worried at all.

As for Luo Qingchuan—

Forget it. Grade C, second rank. He already knew.

So when Su Yingsnow’s result came out as a wind spirit root, Grade A, first rank, nearly everyone looked at that graceful, peerless girl with naked envy.

Even the other two teachers, aside from Lu Wu, showed a trace of shock.

When it was Luo Qingchuan’s turn, he drew plenty of attention too.

This young master had looked calm the whole time. Barely any expression. Not expectant, not nervous. Could it be he was really confident?

The students craned their necks and held their breath.

Inside the crystal ball Luo Qingchuan touched, after several silent seconds, a tiny bit of dim starlight finally flickered up lazily.

Su Yingsnow froze for a moment. She pressed her lips together, and there was a pained look in her eyes as she watched Luo Qingchuan.

The corner of Lu Wu’s eye twitched. He felt something was off, so he smiled at Luo Qingchuan.

“It might be broken. Try again.”

“Alright.” Luo Qingchuan’s expression seemed slightly disappointed as he reached out and touched it again.

The dim starlight inside the crystal ball flickered weakly once more, with no force behind it at all, like it was saying there was no saving this.

Lu Wu’s divine sense swept over Luo Qingchuan.

“You’re at the Qi Refining Second Layer?”

“Yes.”

Luo Qingchuan had concealed his true realm. He deliberately ran the Breath-Devouring Body-Entering Art in a way that disguised him as being at the Qi Refining Second Layer.

The Scripture of Calamitous Chaos was of an extremely high grade, so high it seemed to transcend everything in this era.

Lu Wu detected nothing strange. He stared at Luo Qingchuan and sighed lightly. “You took pills.”

“Right.” Luo Qingchuan openly “admitted” it.

Lu Wu’s voice was gentle. “You’re too impatient. You must understand, we cultivators—even with ordinary talent, if we temper ourselves through diligence, we can still—”

Luo Qingchuan smiled. “Ten thousand years is too long. Seize the day.”

Lu Wu’s words stopped short. He studied Luo Qingchuan’s smile with both eyes, then smiled in silence. He only thought it was youthful spirit and didn’t want to argue.

But when those words fell into Zuo Tian’s ears, the boy’s sharp eyes snapped open at once and locked onto Luo Qingchuan.

Ten thousand years is too long... seize the day?

Right. Well said.

But you’re destined never to become the one who contends with me for this day.

To have the will but not the fate is nothing but overestimating yourself.

So... was my feat of reaching the Qi Refining Ninth Layer in one night what drove you to swallow pills and force a breakthrough?

I do feel a little sorry for you, Luo Qingchuan.

The same words meant different things to different people.

Su Yingsnow’s soft shoulders trembled slightly, and sorrow filled her expression... She understood now. She truly understood.

It was her heaven-defying talent that had put too much pressure on Luo Qingchuan.

From now on, she absolutely had to keep a close eye on him. She couldn’t let him use pills to force breakthroughs again.

If they took it slowly, everything would get better. That was what she thought.

Next—

After a few more students, it was Zuo Tian’s turn.

Zuo Tian did not hide the aura of his Qi Refining Ninth Layer, so Lu Wu looked at him with amazement and praise.

“Come,” Lu Wu said with a smile. “Let me see what a true prodigy looks like.”

Zuo Tian smiled easily, but said, “I don’t need talent to shackle my path or decide it for me. My road is mine to walk. It shouldn’t have an assigned end.”

Lu Wu blinked, then suddenly smiled very happily.

Good, he thought. The students in this class are all very interesting.

“Good, good, good.”

Lu Wu clapped his hands in delight and said warmly, “Then let’s assess your will. This stage won’t be easy.”

Zuo Tian said again, “This is the stage I came for.”

His flawless Dao heart had already developed cracks. This was the moment to mend it.

So Lu Wu led Zuo Tian to the bronze mirror alone with his eyes closed.

“Open your eyes,” Lu Wu said.

Zuo Tian fully opened his pupils. It was as if they held the radiance of sun and moon, the vastness of heaven and earth, the turning of nature, the renewal of all things.

The Truthseer Mirror was, in truth, a mirror of delusion. It pierced straight into a person’s heart and dug out the most terrifying riddle hidden there.

It had to be broken by one’s own will.

And so—

Zuo Tian saw it.

He saw a sky high and a land far, boundless and immense, too vast to be contained within his confident eyes.

And at that moment—

Across the endless earth, a gigantic white line of incomparable brilliance suddenly leapt forth.

Sword light!

Su Yingsnow’s sword light!

That white line came surging from afar. The sky dimmed into darkness. The earth collapsed and shook apart. Endless waves rose from all directions, and the world tilted as if it were about to overturn.

That did not seem like a white line.

It was a gate.

A gate to the end of the world.

Zuo Tian’s pupils shook violently, bursting with blood-red lightning. His face turned pale, pale to the point of transparency, so transparent it seemed one could see every blood vessel beneath his skin.

An unmatched terror blanked out his mind, as if he were as small and weak as an ant.

Back when he had not yet cultivated, facing Su Yingsnow at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he really had been an ant.

That fear had followed him like a shadow, rooted deep in his heart.

So everyone saw it.

Before the bronze mirror, Zuo Tian’s body tilted, and he suddenly collapsed to the ground.

He forced his face into calmness as he gasped for breath like a stranded fish. His pupils trembled nonstop, like a candle flame on the verge of going out in the wind.

Lu Wu opened his mouth, then looked soundlessly at the ancient words appearing on the bronze mirror. His expression suddenly went blank.

“Unfit for great use.”