NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: That’s Impossible!
Jing Yan stood in front of the two Elders who were administering the test, and he raised one hand and held it next to the crystal.
Jing Yan summoned his power with an effort of will, and his Vital Qi roared up inside of him.
A streak of red light began to rise on the flat surface of the crystal.
"The First Heaven!"
"The Second Heaven!"
In seconds, the red light jumped past the scales of the First and Second Heavens.
"The Third Heaven!"
"What? It seems like Jing Yan's rank hasn't fallen at all during the past month. It's still at the Third Heaven," someone said in surprise.
Several people nodded slightly.
Yet the onlookers soon became even more focused on the testing crystal's red light. It had already reached the Third Heaven rank, but it didn't stop rising.
What was happening?
"The Fourth Heaven rank of martial arts!" The red light quickly reached the level of the Fourth Heaven.
When the red light passed that far through the crystal, it meant that the person being tested had a cultivation of at least the Fourth Heaven.
Even the two Elders, Jing Tianying and Jing Mingzhi, felt their eyes widen slightly as the red light continued to rise.
When he was tested the month before, Jing Yan's rank was definitely at the Third Heaven. The two Elders naturally assumed that Jing Yan would have done very well if he kept his rank from falling further. That was the best they had hoped for. They would have never guessed that instead of falling, Jing Yan's rank had actually risen.
This was something that hadn't happened for a long time.
Ever since Jing Yan enrolled in and was later kicked out of the Wind God Institute due to his continually falling rank, his rank had only gone down. All the senior members of the Jing Clan were very familiar with this fact.
After all, the Jing Clan's senior members had looked into the issue many times for Jing Yan. Eventually, they had to let the matter go because they couldn't come up with any practical solutions. Otherwise, why would the Jing Clan have given up on such a genius warrior?
The two Elders exchanged glances. Surprise flashed through the eyes of the two older men.
"The Fifth Heaven of martial arts!"
At the same time, the red light in the testing crystal rose another notch—it had reached the Fifth Heaven!
"What?"
"That's impossible! No way! How could his cultivation reach the rank of the Fifth Heaven?"
"Last month, I was right here when he took the test. I saw his test result with my own eyes: he was at the Third Heaven. It's only been a month! How could his cultivation break through two ranks in a row to reach the Fifth Heaven?"
The path of cultivation had no shortcuts!
Anyone had to go step by step to level up. The more talented warriors might rise faster and farther than others, but it was simply unrealistic for someone's rank to go from the Third Heaven to the Fifth Heaven within such a short time.
In the last century, no one in Dong Lin City had done anything like that.
For regular warriors, even the very talented ones, breaking through a rank was time-consuming. It would take them at least six months to do so.
So when Jing Yan's rank was proved by the test to have reached the Fifth Heaven, everyone stared at the crystal in stunned disbelief.
"It's going up! It's still going up! Look! My gosh! It's at the Sixth Heaven! It really is the Sixth Heaven!" someone exclaimed in a trembling voice, their whole body quivering slightly.
"Is there something wrong with my eyes? Can anyone tell me if I'm not seeing this right? Am I hallucinating?"
"From the Third Heaven to the Sixth Heaven? In only one month?"
All the disciples of the Jing Clan present found it hard to believe. Not everyone present had made fun of Jing Yan or fed on his misery when he lost his prestige. Some sincerely felt bad for him. Now, even the people who had been on Jing Yan's side found it almost impossible to believe what they saw.
For example, the two Elders, Jing Mingzhi and Jing Tianying, both stared at Jing Yan in shock. They were both strong Precelestial warriors. Many warriors could rise to the Sixth Heaven, but doing it so quickly was unheard of.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed such a thing. Even if someone had told them what had happened, they would have laughed it off as a joke.
Now that they were watching it happen right in front of them, they had to believe it. Unless the testing crystal had broken down, Jing Yan's rise in rank was simply a matter of fact. Yet a device like the testing crystal wouldn't make this sort of mistake unless someone messed with it on purpose.
The red light within the crystal finally stopped.
The final result showed that Jing Yan was a warrior at the Sixth Heaven.
"Phew!" Jing Yan dropped his hand away from the crystal and took a deep breath. He then turned around to face the crowd of astonished Jing Clan disciples.
"Impossible! I can't believe this!" Jing Lucheng growled like a mad man.
He stared daggers at Jing Yan.
"Respectful Elders, I'm certain that something is wrong with the testing crystal," Jing Lucheng turned to the two Elders and raised his voice. He hadn't completely lost his cool yet.
"Exactly. The testing crystal probably just wasn't working right!"
"If not, it's hard to explain Jing Yan's rank. He just got tested last month, and he was indeed at the Third Heaven."
"Respectful Elders, please examine the testing crystal."
Everyone started buzzing and humming at once in the stadium.
"Silence!" said Jing Tianying, the Fourth Elder, waving his hand.
The disciples of the Jing Clan immediately stopped talking.
Jing Tianying glanced at Jing Yan and walked up to the testing crystal. A streak of Vital Qi came out as he waved his hand, and the red light in the crystal started moving up and down.
A moment later, Jing Tianying lowered his hand, turned to Jing Yan, and nodded slightly.
"The testing crystal is working fine. There's no problem that I can detect," Jing Tianying said to everyone.
"What?"
The humming and buzzing resumed.
"Jing Yan, is your rank the Sixth Heaven of martial arts?" Jing Mingzhi asked, looking closely at Jing Yan.
"Yes, I'm currently at the Sixth Heaven," Jing Yan said, nodding and smiling.
"Well, based on the family's rules, the reward for the Sixth Heaven is 20 Spiritual Stones." Jing Mingzhi took out the bag of Spiritual Stones and handed it to Jing Yan.
Even though a mere 20 stones didn't matter much to Jing Yan, he still accepted them. No matter how small the reward was, he had earned it and he deserved it. He certainly wouldn't say no.
"I don't believe it! Jing Yan, you must have pulled something shady to trick the two Elders. How dare you!" Jing Lucheng shouted at Jing Yan with a wild expression on his face.
Jing Yan's face hardened. Holding Jing Lucheng's gaze, he growled, "Jing Lucheng, you are way across the line. If you keep slandering me, don't regret it when you face the consequences!"
"Ha! Consequences? How dare you?! Jing Yan, didn't you just say that you wanted to fight? How about now? Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you. I will control my Vital Qi and limit my moves within the Sixth Heaven. If you can manage not to lose, I will acknowledge that your rank is the Sixth Heaven. What do you think? Do you dare to take the challenge?" Jing Lucheng's tone was furiously serious.