Stillness swept the training grounds — a dead, funereal stillness.
Everyone present stared at the five great characters upon the black stone tablet, their faces shifting through a spectacle of expressions most dramatic. After a moment, harsh, hurried breathing rang out across the grounds like the spinning of a windmill.
"Crack!"
High upon the platform, the teacup in Xiao Zhan's hand was crushed directly to powder beneath a single slap of his palm. Dregs of tea and powder alike dripped in a steady patter from his grasp.
"The seventh rank... Yan'er, you... you truly did it!" His eyes fixed upon the black-robed youth beneath the tablet, Xiao Zhan's own eyes grew the faintest bit damp, for he knew well within his heart how enormous an effort the young man had poured into reaching this day.
The Three Elders seated beside Xiao Zhan wore faces as filled with disbelief. Only a year ago this very boy had held a mere third rank of Dou Qi — and now, the seventh? A pace like this... was simply terrifying.
"Gulp, heh heh... that Foundation Liquid the Clan Chief purchased... it truly, truly is potent, heh heh." The Second Elder swallowed his saliva, the mockery that had not yet fully faded from his face mingling with a fresh stupor — a most striking combination — and offered a dry, embarrassed laugh.
The excitement in Xiao Zhan's brow was utterly unconcealed. Casting a sidelong glance at the Second Elder, he observed with a cool smile: "Second Elder, do you truly believe a medicine of the second grade like the Foundation Liquid could possess such an extraordinary effect?"
The Second Elder faltered, an awkward shake of his head following. He was no fool. The Foundation Liquid could indeed quicken one's pace of cultivation, but to rely on such a thing to raise four entire ranks of Dou Qi in a single year was utterly impossible!
Beside the black stone tablet, the tester gaped at the great characters upon its face; his earlier cold indifference had long since been replaced by sheer shock.
"Xiao Yan: Dou Qi, seventh rank — high grade!"
Letting out a long breath, as though trying to expel the astonishment within him along with it, the tester strove to steady his voice, yet a tremor he could not quite hide still clung to it.
At the tester's declaration, the training grounds — already silent — grew all the more deathly hushed.
"Gulp." Someone, somewhere, swallowed his saliva violently, the sound rising abruptly in the midst of the field.
Standing in the center of the crowd, Xiao Mei pressed one small hand to her rosy lips, her face utterly filled with shock.
Four whole ranks of Dou Qi in a single year — a pace of cultivation such as this was simply staggering to hear of!
A pace like that was beyond even Xiao Yan at the very height of his powers three years ago!
And yet this reality, so truthfully heart-stopping, now lay displayed in all its glaring form before the very eyes of everyone present.
Her gaze fixed upon the youth who stood beneath the tablet, tangled with a welter of emotions, Xiao Mei felt a thought suddenly well up in her murky mind: that breathtaking cultivation talent of his seemed to have come back!
At the far edge of the training grounds, Xiao Ning, who had been all ready to laugh at Xiao Yan's misfortune, stared dumbfounded at the great characters upon the tablet, murmuring in a lost voice: "This... how can this be?"
Xiao Yan raised his head to look at those golden characters upon the stone and drew a soft breath. The crowd's stares, which had suddenly grown so complicated, made him think once more of that carefree, high-spirited youth he had been three years ago.
Now his cultivation talent had returned, and returning along with it was a mind grown ever more mature, and a will ever more resolute and unyielding.
His gaze lingering long on the tablet that had so often decided his fate, Xiao Yan smiled gently — in this calm, cloudlike, untroubled manner, he was a person entirely different from that young man who, in the aftermath of his test three years ago, had strutted about swollen with pride.
Letting out another light breath, under the eyes of the entire assembly, Xiao Yan slowly made his way to the very back of the crowd. His gaze met Xun'er's smiling, twinkling eyes just once, and then he sat down cross-legged at her side.
Even after Xiao Yan stepped down, a long silence continued to reign over the field.
"Cough..." Upon the platform, Xiao Zhan, his face beaming with delight, rose to his feet. A cough drew the attention of the whole field back to him.
"The test is complete. Next, let us begin the following matter. Those of you who did not pass hold the right to issue a single challenge against a companion who did. Remember — that chance comes but once!" Xiao Zhan announced with a hearty laugh.
At these words, a stirring of restless excitement ran through the training grounds. Those who had fallen just short of passing instantly turned eager, burning gazes upon their more fortunate companions.
And facing the barrage of provocative stares, those superior young clansmen merely lifted their chins with a curl of disdain. The sixth rank and the seventh were levels set wholly apart; barring some unexpected turn, it was a rare thing indeed for one holding a mere sixth rank of Dou Qi to defeat straight on an opponent of the seventh.
Those at the sixth rank of Dou Qi understood this perfectly well themselves; yet this was their final chance, and whatever the outcome, they had no choice but to throw everything they had into trying.
For a time the atmosphere in the field hung in a strange suspension, as a string of burning stares swept across the companions who had passed, everyone quietly sizing up which of them might prove the easiest mark.
Seated cross-legged on the ground, Xiao Yan suddenly raised an eyebrow. To his mild consternation, fully half of those stares had come to rest upon himself.
"Do I truly look like such a soft persimmon?" A little taken aback, Xiao Yan found the thought far more amusing than it ought to be.
"Although the way Xiao Yan-gege vaulted four ranks of Dou Qi in a single year is truly astonishing, it is precisely because of that astonishment that many still harbor in the depths of their hearts a stubborn refusal to believe it. And so, quite naturally, they have settled upon Xiao Yan-gege as the finest of targets." Beside him, Xun'er laughed softly.
Shrugging helplessly, Xiao Yan lightly brushed the dust from his robes and remarked with a faint smile: "Because they will not believe, they choose instead to deceive themselves..."
Xun'er smiled delicately and gave a small nod.
At last, after the field had quieted for a while, someone could bear it no longer and stepped forward.
A youth of burly, powerful build, under the eyes of the entire crowd, strode quickly up to stand before Xiao Yan. Bowing stiffly at the waist, he announced in a loud voice: "Cousin Xiao Yan, I beg your instruction!"
Though the youth wore a look of outward deference, his eyes, whenever they turned toward Xiao Yan, kept flashing with a trace of doubt, and an unmistakable hint of disdain lingered upon his features. Plainly, he had not yet quite shaken off his old impression of Xiao Yan as a good-for-nothing.