Lu Wan looked at his master with a dumbfounded expression. “Master, why are you laughing?”

“I really want to thank the foolish Chen Kingdom for leaving out a genius like this to me,” Zhan Jing rubbed his chin.

“Master?” Lu Wan asked hesitantly. He didn’t understand what made his master so happy.

Zhan Jing leaned on the wall. “Do you know the normal age for people with purple colored talent to form their core?”

“It should be 10 years old.”

“Right, but the record for the earliest age to form their core is 9 years old,” Zhan Jing said calmly. “It shows that above purple talent, there’s still one more rank.”

“Why one?”

“Because that’s already the upper limit. People who had this talent will look like trash on their test with the stone because they can’t light it up. However, there’s one significant difference. The stone will be the one to get destroyed,” Zhan Jing smirked, showing a scary smile.

“D-destroyed?”

“Yes, the testing stone will give out Eon Energy to your body in order to test the children. It’s only a sliver, but it contains the core of the stone. Purple talent will return the core back without any Eon Energy while Red talent will return the core along with all the Eon Energy that it brought out.

This talent above purple talent didn’t even let that core get out,” Zhan Jing laughed. “Hence, the stone will be destroyed. This talent is always known to be a stone destroyer because of this peculiarity!”

Lu Wan opened his mouth and closed it again. Come to think about it, his father argued with the people from academy because they wanted to replace the stone. They said that the stone was so old that it broke.

And that day was the very same day Ye Jiao went to test her talent!

Could it be...?

Zhan Jing could guess that he must have mentioned the truth. “The normal age for people with this special talent, let’s call it talent s, to form their core is 9 to 10 years old.”

Lu Wan arched his eyebrows. “But I formed my core when I was 10 years old!”

“10 and a half,” Zhan Jing corrected him. “There’s still one more factor for you to lower the age again. You must have innate specialization talent.”

“Innate specialization talent? What’s that, Master? I never heard it,” Lu Wan frowned.

“Small people like you will never hear it. This Chen Country is too small to have that much knowledge.”

“Master....”

“You don’t have to know what that is for now,” Zhan Jing replied. “It’s useless below rank 4 and only has the purpose to lower the possible age limit for you to reach higher rank. If you want to know more, reach rank 4.”

Lu Wan: “....” let me strangle you, Master. I might take one decade to reach that rank!

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

As Lu Wan was still grumbling, Zhan Jing was watching the young girl attentively. It might not concern him, but he wanted this young girl to be his disciple. To have someone with s talent to be his disciple, who wouldn’t want it?

The Chen Kingdom has thrown a treasure right out their front door. Let him be the one to pick her up and polished the small jade.

It would be extremely interesting to see the growth of a genius.

Zhan Jing scrutinized Ye Jiao’s process of forming her core with interest. This was the first time he saw someone so young form their core, but he knew that those who have higher talent would experience more pain when they form their core. It was as if Heaven couldn’t bear to see their existence.

They have to bear with increased pain to receive better results. That was the price for having better talent and for having started their path earlier than ordinary people.

“She’s opening her eyes,” Lu Wan murmured.

At this time, Ye Jiao opened her eyes slowly. Her pupil grew larger when she saw the two of them standing not far from the hut. In an instant, she jumped up and readied her stance. “Who are you?”

“Lu Wan,” Lu Wan replied.

Ye Jiao looked at the green haired boy as she recalled her own meeting with that boy. He looked more docile compared to the one that yelled at to other children back then. Her eyes turned to Zhan Jing with cautiousness.

“I’m his master,” Zhan Jing pointed to Lu Wan carelessly. “Little girl, what are you doing forming your core in the middle of the forest?”

“Ah?” Ye Jiao didn’t know whether to answer or not. Should she tell this man her secret? But she felt that he already knew about her talent and ability, much more than what she herself knew.

Zhan Jing could sense her hesitation. He released a bit of his power, sending pressure to the girl. “Even if you don’t want to answer, I can make you answer, little girl.”

The power that Zhan Jing showed to her told her that this man must be at least rank 4. With her has just formed her core, there would be no way for her to match up against this man. Even running away would be impossible if he didn’t allow her.

Since he was with Lu Wan, he shouldn’t be Wei Family’s friend. Lu Family and Wei Family have been in discord with one another for a long time. She had to place her bet on that fact.

“I…” Ye Jiao opened her mouth. “My mother gave me Eon Energy Pill rank 3, but I failed to control it towards the end, so I had to start forming my core.”

Hearing her words, Lu Wan’s lips twitched. Giving a rank 3 pill to a young girl, did that woman want this girl to die? It was good that she could withstand the power inside the pill or she would have died a long time ago.

“Oh?” Zhang Jing’s eyebrows shot up when he heard the girl’s words. He scanned her body for a moment as he noticed that there was still around a quarter of the pill left inside her body. It meant that she had much more Eon Energy inside her body than other ordinary people.

‘A genius is really different. And this is no pampered one.’

Most geniuses would receive preferential treatment from the moment they were born, but it was different with this young girl. She experienced the opposite for a long period of time. No one wanted to care for a ‘trash.’

“In normal times, you’ll have died numerous times because of beasts,” Lu Wan shook his head. The beasts ran away when they sensed his master, so this place was safe.

“Ah,” Ye Jiao didn’t think about that. She bowed down to Zhan Jing. “Many thanks for Revered Elder’s help.”

“It’s not a big deal. I didn’t do anything.”

“But…”

“The presence of your mother, Eon Energy Master rank 4 is enough to scare away the beasts, so I didn’t have to do anything.”

Ye Jiao was stunned. She turned to look at her house in surprise as she didn’t expect that her mother’s presence alone was enough to scare away the beasts.

In normal times, it was impossible, but Ye Ai Xia had purposely leaked out her presence before her death. This would surely scare away the beasts from this place as they knew the strength of Eon Energy Master rank 4 was not to be trifled with.

Zhan Jing looked at the young girl before him. If he didn’t guess it wrongly, her mother must have the inkling that her daughter would form her core soon. Even though this place would be safe from beasts, the amount of food was scarce. She must have prepared enough food in a storage bracelet for her daughter. Once Ye Jiao reached rank 1, she would have access to the bracelet, allowing her to have enough food.

It was the best preparation she could give to her daughter to ensure the girl’s safety.

‘She’s quite meticulous and remarkable.’

Zhan Jing didn’t usually like to meddle in other people’s business, but this girl would the exception. “Little girl, your name is Ye Jiao, right? Do you want to be my disciple?”