Chapter 10 To Shoot One's Own Foot… Can I Take The Test Again?

Xi Shen quickly made his way to the edge of the podium, glad he could get back to his drinking, however, before he could get far, the voice of the elder called out to him to his annoyance. “Wait, second prince you... uh” The Elder didn’t know what to say, this situation was too unbelievable. Just a few seconds ago, Xi Shen was on his way to becoming the talk of the continent for his stunning talents, but now, it was revealed that… he was complete trash. It didn’t matter if his soul and comprehension were at the Supreme grade, without a foundation those were nothing more than useless ornaments. Xi Shen turned around to the elder and said, “What is it? I have already finished all the stupid tests, what more do you want.” When the elder heard that, he became speechless. To him, Xi Shen’s words sounded like he didn’t care that he couldn’t cultivate, but to Xi Shen, he didn’t see lacking a foundation as a major problem. He had several methods he could implement to create a foundation for himself, one that could make this so-called Supreme-grade foundation look like trash. Ghuangyu, who was on the edge of his seat, gritting his teeth, suddenly released a sigh of relief within his heart. ‘I just dodge a major bullet; this must be the heavens helping my Ming Clan.’ Ghuangyu then turned to look in the direction of the plain pavilion. ‘What now Li Shu? Your plan to use your son as a deterrence had fallen through, it can even be said to have backfired. Is this situation what they call, to shoot one’s own foot? Hahaha’. As Ghuangyu mocked the emperor in his mind, said emperor currently sported a frown on his face. “Father, don't worry, I’m sure that something must have gone wrong with little Shen’s testing.” As Fu Wei spoke up from next to him, the emperor turn and gave him a deep look. When Fu Wei saw his father’s gaze, his heart sunk a little. Before Fu Wei could decipher the meaning behind his father’s gaze, he had already turned around and entered the pavilion. ‘Did father see through my true feelings?’ As Fu Wei thought that he turned to look at Xi Shen. ‘Well, no matter, with that freak having no foundation my position is secure.’ The nervousness Fu Wei felt when he saw Xi Shen Supreme-grade attributes faded away and was replaced with joy and glee. After Xi Shen asked his question to the outer sect elder and didn’t get a response, he snorted and turned away. Seeing this, the Elder and all the youths who were below the podium looked at Xi Shen with mixed emotions. As Xi Shen was about to leap off the podium, he suddenly thought of something and then paused. Turning to the elder, Xi Shen asked, “Do I qualify to enter the Celestial Academy?” When the elder heard Xi Shen’s question he was taken aback. The Elder opened his mouth to respond but hesitated. Technically Xi Shen shouldn’t be able to enter the Celestial Academy with his lack of foundation, but he didn’t want to tell the second prince of the Maple Continent that. Just when the Elder was on the verge of tears, the voice of the emperor suddenly echoed out from the plain Pavilion for everybody to hear. “As the Emperor, I hereby decree that my second son Li Xi Shen will be enrolled within the Celestial Academy.” Hearing that, everyone was slightly stunned by the emperor’s words. The outer sect elder on the podium was even more so. The Elder turned to look toward the deeper parts of the Celestial Academy, as did the seven Clan Leaders and a few others. After a while, an ancient voice sounded out from within the depths of the Celestial Academy. “My Celestial Academy accepts the emperor’s decree, and from here on out the second prince will become an outer sect disciple of my Celestial Academy.” As the ancient voice echoed out, all the Clan Leaders and a few aristocratic family heads in the other pavilions became stunned. That was the voice of the mysterious leader of the Celestial Academy. Out of all the experts on the Maple Continent, he was one of the few people that had a cultivation matching that of the emperor. Even though he had agreed to let Xi Shen enter the Celestial Academy, he was only granting him the position of an outer disciple. That was his way of saying that he did not approve of the emperor’s decree, seeing as when the crown prince was first accepted into the Celestial Academy, he was promoted straight to a Conclave disciple. Though the Celestial Academy leader wasn’t too unreasonable, it made no sense to promote Xi Shen who can’t cultivate to the position of a Conclave disciple, even if he was the second prince of the Maple Continent, trash is still trash. Xi Shen listened to the exchange between his father and the Celestial Academy’s Leader with an annoyed expression on his face. ‘Why the hell did I open my mouth?’ Xi Shen groaned internally before he turned and jumped off the podium. He then began walking on the path leading into the inner regions of the outer sect. Everyone watched as he left the venue and went further within the Celestial Academy. After he was out of sight, the elder on the podium cleared his throat before saying in a loud voice, “Candidate number 412, step forward!!” After his voice echoed out, a ragged clothed youth stepped onto the podium. He was the same youth that was humiliated by the fur-clad youth from before. As he walked onto the podium the youth took in a cold breath of air as all eyes trained on him. He was really nervous, to say the least. Just walking up to the first stone pillar was a lot of struggle for him, it felt as if he would collapse at any moment. Everyone was still in the middle of discussing Xi Shen’s shocking results, practically no one noticed or paid attention to this youth. And even if they did, they only gave him a cursory glance at best. They have seen many children like him from poor backgrounds, who were hoping to enter into the Celestial Academy. But not even one had managed to meet the final requirement of having a Sky-grade innate talent. This statistic was not surprising. The innate talent of a child could be influenced by the type of parents they have. People with high statuses and profound cultivation bases would be more likely to give birth to children with excellent innate talents. That can even be further reinforced by the fact that they could procure precious elixirs and medicinal pills for the mother during her pregnancy, to increase the child’s chances of developing a higher innate talent. These methods were known to all cultivation families, but for children not from cultivation families, they have none of these advantages. They had neither parents with cultivation bases nor were they in families that could afford precious elixirs and medicinal pills. They were just from regular families that lived in “backwater” villages. Such things were unknown to them. So, it’s safe to say that as the ragged clothe youth placed his hand on the stone pillar, no one paid attention to the slightly bright orange light it produced. However, that light went from orange to yellow after several seconds. A few people had taken note of this, as it was rare that someone like this youth even had Earth-grade for one of his attributes. But that was as far as their focus on him went before they turned their attention away. After the stone pillar glowed yellow, it began to fade along with the rune inscriptions that had lit up. Seeing this the fur-clad youth from before couldn’t help but burst out laughing, a laugh that was filled with mockery and scorn. Afterward, his voice rang for a few people to hear, “A trash will only be trash!! Why even bother trying when that’s all you’ll amount to?!” The fur-clad youth began to laugh again after his words. Meanwhile, the ragged clothe youth had opened his eyes, but weirdly, it was not filled with disappointment, but astonishment. After the stone pillar stop glowing yellow, everyone expected the youth to move on to the next one, but he suddenly turned to the Celestial Academy’s outer sect elder and stuttered, “S—Sir, could you a—allow me to take the test a—again?” Upon hearing that, the indifferent elder became dumbfounded. And not only him, but most people in the venue also turn to look at the youth with utter incredulity.