Without stopping, the stream of energy rushed towards Xi Shen's soul and began the testing process. Normally this amount of energy released by the stone pillar should be enough to engulf the soul of a person who hadn’t started cultivation, but with Xi Shen, the energy was having problems even covering a single finger from his soul.
The size of a person’s Sea of Consciousness was determined by how powerful their soul was, so the fact that Xi Shen’s soul was this massive shouldn’t come as a surprise when looking at his Sea of Consciousness.
This was great and all, but this was a problem for Xi Shen.
‘Hmm, I didn’t really think this through. Ever since I started comprehending the heavenly laws when I was born into this world, my soul has been growing nonstop. Is this what happens when those cultivators in my previous life began their cultivation? I don’t really know what to make of this. After barring me from comprehending your stupid laws in my previous life, you chose to give me free rain to see them in this life? What was that saying again? The heavens work in mysterious ways? Well, fuck that bullshit, you're nothing but a blind fool who enjoys tormenting people!’
As Xi Shen began cursing the heavens, he sunk his perception into his soul.
Xi Shen’s massive translucent soul then opened its eyes as if it had gained sentience.
Xi Shen then raised the finger that the stream of energy was covering and without any hesitation, he used his left hand's index finger to sever it.
In the outside world, everyone could see Xi Shen’s physical body tremble uncontrollably while a small stream of blood flowed from his closed mouth.
All who saw it became shocked.
“What happened to the second prince, blood is coming from his lips. Was he injured by the stone pillar?”
Everyone thought this as they looked at Xi Shen, wondering what was happening.
“This second prince is strange, why is he causing the stone pillar to be so unresponsive, and why is he injured? It’s too strange, a situation like this has never happened before.”
This was said by one of the seven Clan Leaders, Lei Song from the Sua Clann.
When he, did all the others nodded and made sounds of agreement.
The outer sect elder who was by the side was on pins and needles, he wasn’t sure what was happening to Xi Shen or what he should do if he should stop him or not.
After being indecisive for a moment, he gritted his teeth and went towards Xi Shen to stop him from taking the test, however, before he could reach Xi Shen a voice echoed in his ear.
“Leave him be.”
The voice was spoken directly in his mind so no one else had heard it.
After the elder heard the voice his knees almost gave out. Even though he was only an outer sect elder of the Celestial Academy, he still recognized who that voice belong to. It had come from the Emperor, who standing next to Fu Wei.
The elder heeded the orders and retreated a couple of steps from Xi Shen.
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Meanwhile, in his Sea of Consciousness, Xi Shen was swearing profanities.
“Fucking hell that hurts!!”
Xi Shen who was in control of his soul body was gritting his teeth in pain.
He had severed his index finger on his right hand so he could get this test over with, but he did not expect to be in so much pain.
Even though the pain wasn’t physical, just a crack in a person's soul would have been enough for them to writhe in pain. Xi Shen cutting off a part of his soul made him feel like his entire body was dropped in a tank full of pins and needles.
It was a really painful experience.
Looking down at his hand, Xi Shen sighed in his heart.
‘I really should start thinking things through before attempting them. That was exactly why I had died in my previous life in the first place. There were a lot of things I didn’t take into consideration before absorbing that strand of Chaos Qi, or should I call it Spiritual Qi now that I'm in this era? Anyways, now whichever bastard had found my journal went and spread my entire life’s work to everyone in the God Domain.’
Xi Shen let out a sigh before he helplessly said, “Well whatever, there’s nothing I can do now, at least my research revolutionize the entire cultivation system. Now anybody under heaven's rule has the ability to cultivate, without said blasted heavens deeming them worthy or not. Though from the looks of it, the person who found my research placed three requirements on who can cultivate Spiritual Qi.”
As Xi Shen said that, he looked down at his severed finger that was being enveloped by the stream of energy from the stone pillar.
The reason he had to sever one of his fingers from his soul body, was that if he had waited for this useless tool to fully envelop his entire soul, then he would be here for an entire month.
From what he could tell from the rune inscriptions on the stone pillar, it judges a person's soul grade not by the power it has but by its purity.
Because of that, Xi Shen figured that it didn’t matter whether it measured his entire soul or just a piece of it. His finger contained the same amount of purity as his entire body.
After the stream of energy fully engulf his finger and tested its purity, it began retreating back to the stone pillar outside of his body.
Seeing this Xi Shen thought.
'I wonder what grade the purity of my soul is. Judging by the fact that I’m cultivating like the cultivators back in my past life, or as these people nowadays called it, the God Era, it should be quite high. The amount of purity my soul is determined by how high my affinity with the laws of heaven and earth are, and I’m directly comprehending those laws instead of using Spiritual Qi as a medium for it.'
Despite Xi Shen’s previous impatience to get this testing over with, he was starting to get curious about his soul grade.
He had spent roughly thirteen years only comprehending the laws of heaven and earth. That means the results of this test would judge how big an effect those years have on his system of Spiritual Qi cultivation.
Like any researcher, he wanted to know if his life’s work of Spiritual Qi cultivation was meaningful, whether it could stand up to the cultivation of the days of old.
Xi Shen's consciousness left his soul and return to the physical world.
After opening his eyes, Xi Shen stared intently at the stone pillar while wiping the blood from the corner of his lips.
Everyone saw that he had come to, but before anyone could say anything, the once still stone pillar began to tremble, after which it began releasing a piercing orange light.
After trembling harder, the color coming from the pillar changed from orange to green, and without stopping the colors rapidly changed again from green to blue, then from blue to violet.
It went straight for the color violet with little to no time between the changes.
Everyone who was watching just became gobsmacked.
The brightness of the violet let was so bright, that the people who had become wide-eyed from shock were almost blinded in both eyes.
After what felt like forever the stone pillar slowly stopped trembling and the violet light gradually faded away.
Everyone looked at Xi Shen who was still standing before the stone pillar for a full five seconds before a loud uproar resounded in the venue.
“Heavens! The second prince soul grade actually reached the Supreme-grade!!”
“I can’t believe it!! I am actually witnessing history in the making!! In the thousands of years, our Maple Continent has been established, there have only ever been a hand full of geniuses that have possessed a Supreme-grade attribute, but in the span of just ten years, both the crown prince and the second prince have been found to possess one. This is the heavens themselves blessing our Maple Continent, all hail the Emperor!! May he bring prosperity to our continent!!”
Several hysterical cries such as this rang out from the surrounding pavilions. Everyone was offering congratulations to the Emperor for having two sons with such heaven-sent talents.
This definitely meant good news for some people, as this would improve their standing among the other continents, it also filled them with a lot of honor and pride they can’t describe.
However, there were other individuals who weren’t too happy about Xi Shen’s Superior-grade attribute.
Ghuangyu was looking on with a sour expression that he was trying hard to conceal.
‘Dammit!! This little brat could possibly ruin my plans, he can’t be left alive!!’
As Ghuangyu said that, his eyes flashed with a dangerous light.