Chương 303: The Head warden's doubts

Almost three thousand! Long Feng's points had surpassed two thousand! The requirement of a thousand points meant that a person had to have the strength of a rank five Imperial at least to pass. Yet Long Feng's points had nearly tripled that requirement. That meant he could have the strength of a rank six Imperial! Of course, it wasn't just strength. The tower also tested how long one lasted and how efficient one killed. Even then, this meant Long Feng had killed a lot of enemies in the tower to gather such points.

This left everyone tongue tied. The vast majority of the outer peak disciples has surpassed two thousand; in fact, only about a dozen of them hadn't attained at least three thousand points, to show how monstrous they all were. To attain three thousand points meant having true strength of a peak rank six Imperial. But… Long Feng was merely a rank five spirit realm warrior! That was the entire point. They were all rank five Imperials and above. He was a rank five spirit realm warrior!

They were an entire great realm apart! Yet… he had somehow revealed strength very close to peak rank six Imperial realm! Was any of this making sense? The silence lasted for a few minutes before some disciples began to chatter again.

"Almost three thousand points! H-how is that even possible? It doesn't make sense at all!"

"Exactly. I don't believe this! There must be a flaw we can't see. Perhaps he cheated somehow and we can't tell!"

"I believe so too. If he did cheat, then the Head Warden would definitely figure it out. Nothing can hide from a Dao realm master!"

"That's right. This kid already tricked everyone and hid his cultivation, showing that he has a devious cunning mind. It's possible that he cheated somehow."

"He should be arrested and questioned! Head Warden, this kid has dishonoured our sect by cheating during his entrance test. I request he be detained immediately!" The emotions surging through these disciples' hearts were hard to describe. It was a mixture of disbelief, fear, wariness and unease. They had even forgotten about his low talent temporarily. The strength he had displayed was frightened, to say the least. They felt threatened by the appearance of this new disciple.

If he was actually talented, then he would be a major threat who could rise to become an Inner peak disciple and even a core disciple of the Sect! Luckily, his talent was… simply not worth mentioning. Even then, they weren't willing to take chances. If it were up to them, some of them would've lunged forward to capture Long Feng. Of course, capturing him would certainly involve some life threatening injuries, perhaps crippling of the cultivation and even death. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to them.

"Silence! Anyone who speaks again will be sent to the Discipline hall!" The Head Warden glanced around and spoke coldly. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone present heard it in their souls. The training ground went as silent as a graveyard instantly. Some disciples even suppressed their breathing, revealing their fear of this Discipline Hall. The Head Warden then turned to Long Feng and walked over to him.

"Kid, what did you say your name was again?" He asked seriously. Long Feng was speechless. Seriously? The man didn't even try to remember his name earlier?

"Long Feng." He replied calmly. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Hm. Long Feng. You've passed the first two tests. That means you're already a disciple of the Sect. All you need is to confirm your background and give you your own disciple token." The Head Warden explained. Long Feng nodded, trying to suppress his excitement and relief. The head Warden turned around and beckoned to one of the disciples standing around. The disciple, a rank eight Imperial realm youth approached and clasped his fist at the old man respectfully.

"Lead Long Feng to the Central Hall. I'll catch up soon." The head warden ordered. The youth nodded respectfully and stepped aside, gesturing Long Feng to follow. Long Feng stood up and calmly followed behind the young man as they went higher up the mountain again. After they left, the Head Warden looked around.

"All of you leave. The training ground is closed for the day." All the disciples hurriedly clasped their fists and rushed away in different directions, ready to spread the news of everything that happened here to the whole outer peak. The Head Warden stood alone in the training ground. He slowly approached the warrior tower and scanned it with his divine sense. A few minutes later, he frowned.

"There really is nothing off with the warrior tower. In that case, it must be that Long Feng. But… how can his strength be that great as a mere rank five spirit realm warrior? Especially with that talent, it logically shouldn't be possible." He stroke his beard and turned to glance at the talent testing stone as his eyes twinkled. He approached the black crystal and walked around it with a scrutinizing gaze but found nothing wrong.

"Hm… it's also fine. Could his talent really be that low?" He frowned again and wanted to leave, but then paused with a glint in his eyes.

"The stone… it moved slightly from its original position. It wasn't like that when I arrived with the kid." He narrowed his eyes and approached the crystal again. The perception of a Dao realm master was terrifying. He hadn't paid attention to anything specifically yet he could clearly recall the exact details of every single thing and person when he arrived. He observed the crystals briefly then stretched out his hand and slowly placed a palm on it. The next instance, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

The moment his palm touched the crystal, it broke apart into thousands of tiny fragments on the ground. The head warden stood there in befuddlement as he watched the talent testing stone shatter with a touch. His mind went blank for a moment. He couldn't even comprehend what just happened for the next few seconds.

"T-this… what happened?" He stepped backwards and muttered dryly. The talent testing stone was a rare stone found deep in the earth. They were quite rare and most forces only had tiny talents testing stones, nothing compared to the huge stone the supreme heaven sect possessed. And forget a mere spirit realm warrior, not even a Dao realm master would be able to shatter it. The talent testing stone was fine when they arrived.

The disciples could casually decide to test it at anytime, which was exactly why it was left here in the first place. Long Feng had used it and it was fine. Nothing seemed off. It had measured his talent and… The Head Warden froze in his line of thoughts. Long Feng! Exactly… the talent testing stone was working just fine, until Long Feng used it. It fluctuated unstably, something that had never happened before. There was no such thing as an unstable low rank mortal grade talent; not ever before.

And after he used it, no one else had approached the talent testing stone, until now, when it shattered with a touch. Was this the source of the faint unease he had ever since Long Feng tested his talent?

"Impossible! I must be overthinking this." The Head Warden shook his head and cleared that frightening thought. But try as he may, he couldn't remove that thought. There were two explanations to why the talent testing stone shattered. Either Long Feng had surpassed the Dao realm, thus gaining the ability to destroy the talent testing stone, which was very impossible. A fifteen years old who had surpassed the Dao realm? Forget rumors. Even myths hadn't ever spoke of such a monster.

The reason, and it actually made more sense yet was utterly ridiculous at the same time… The talent testing stone broke apart after testing Long Feng's talent. That meant… it was overwhelmed. And what could overwhelm the talent testing stone? Long Feng's talent! The Head Warden's pupils shrank and he shook his head.

"What am I thinking? For a talent to overwhelm the stone, it must surpass the legendary emperor grade talent that is above heaven grade talents. It's not even possible at all." But was it really impossible? What else could explain this? The stone staggering after testing Long Feng's talent? The Head Warden suddenly thought of something else.

"If that crazy thought of mine is even slightly real, then… that kid's talent definitely isn't mortal grade. No — it's not possible. Not a single emperor grade talent have appeared in thousands of years. Something beyond the emperor grade? That can't possibly exist." He shook his head.

"But then what caused this? Could it be that talent testing stones actually have a limit? Some sort of lifespan? Maybe after a long time, they'll get exhausted? I think so. And honestly, we haven't changed this stone in a really long time. Actually, that must be the real reason. I've over thought this." The head warden laughed and shrugged it off. He wasn't trying to convince anyone. He was trying to make himself believe this.

This was the only thing that sounded plausible for his mind to accept, and humans naturally believed things they understood. Or in simpler terms, humans preferred to define things they deemed incomprehensible. The unknown frightened everyone, and so they all tried to give it a name, an explanation, a story, a limit. That was exactly what the Head Warden did. He buried this memory in his mind and cleared the fragments of the talent testing stone with a wave of his hand.

"I'll get someone to bring a new stone later. Also, should I inform Lord Ao and the elders about this?" He paused again and thought deeply before shaking his head.

"There's no need to. The stone ran out of energy. I'll be punished for reporting inconsequential things to the council. Not worth it." The head warden looked around again and found nothing else weird, so he took a deep breath and vanished, heading out to find Long Feng.

Long Feng followed behind the youth in silence. The youth also didn't speak. He didn't even turn around a single time, and he kept a cold expression on his face. Long Feng certainly wouldn't start a conversation with a person who was literally having his nose on his forehead, so he ignored the youth and followed silently. They walked across a winding path up the mountain again, passing various pavilions where disciples lived.

A few minutes later, the Head Warden suddenly appeared before them, startling both of them. He glanced at the youth and nodded.

"You can leave." The youth clasped his fists respectfully and walked away. After he had left, the head warden turned to Long Feng with a scrutinizing gaze. He went as far as using his divine sense to completely scan through Long Feng's body but found nothing strange. His cultivation, physique, soul, everything was perfectly ordinary. This strengthened his believe that the talent testing stone had simply malfunctioned or ran out of energy and shattered. His expression became indifferent again.

Without a word, he waved his hand and both of them vanished, reappearing at the entrance of a large palace located on a precipitously steep cliff with a bottom that seemed endless. Falling into this cliff would certainly mean death even for a deity. Several disciples were gathered around the palace; hundreds of them, all with varying cultivations. Many of them had auras so deep that Long Feng couldn't help but feel weak at heart.

All of the disciples were startled by the sudden appearance of the head warden and Long Feng. When they recognized the head warden, they all clasped their fists and paid their respects. The head warden walked past everyone and pushed open the sealed palace doors and walked in with Long Feng trailing behind him. The wide hall in the palace was empty and there were stairs that led to a higher floor. There were also several doors that signified other rooms behind them.

The head Warden walked towards one such door, pushed it open and walked in without a pause. Behind the door was a large room that was rather dimly lit. At the extreme end of the room in the shadows, sat a person dressed in black that blended perfectly with the darkness. This person had an extremely deep aura that wouldn't lose out to this head warden, a sign that he was also a Dao realm master.