Volume One, Chapter 16: Jiang Mu’s Talent
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Morning light fell across Jiang Mu’s face, and his eyelids fluttered a few times.
A moment later, Jiang Mu slowly opened his eyes.
How had he fallen asleep?
As he struggled to recall what had happened the previous day, his gaze swept around the room.
He seemed to still be in his Third Sister’s room. Had he really spent the entire night lying on her bed?
Suddenly remembering something, Jiang Mu focused his mind. A surge of spiritual power, tinged with faint blue, slowly gathered in the palm of his hand.
It worked!
He had spiritual power within his body!
Overjoyed, Jiang Mu was about to get out of bed, but the moment he sat upright, he was startled by someone crouched beside it.
“Ah!”
His cry inadvertently woke Su Li, who had been sleeping soundly. She instantly straightened up.
“Y-you… what are you doing here?”
Jiang Mu was puzzled, and he could not help recalling what his Third Sister had said the previous day.
Was the girl before him really his child bride?
Was it true or false?
It was simply too absurd.
Under Jiang Mu’s unwavering stare, Su Li could not help remembering that embarrassing scene. Her cheeks flushed, and only after a long while did she answer bashfully.
“My… my master told me to look after you…”
Taking a deep breath, Su Li seemed to summon her courage before introducing herself word by word.
“Brother Mu, my name is Su Li. I am Master’s only disciple, and I… I am also your…”
Su Li did not know how to continue, while Jiang Mu was equally at a loss for how to respond. The two of them fell into silence.
After a long while, Su Li suddenly thought of something and rose to her feet.
“I’ll go call Master. Brother Mu, wait here for a moment—and… put your clothes on!”
With that, Su Li ran out, her face crimson.
Only after her reminder did Jiang Mu realize that he was bare to the waist.
He immediately smacked his forehead in embarrassment. Although this world was not as conservative as ancient Blue Star, it still placed great importance on the distinction between men and women. To expose his bare chest before a young woman was truly mortifying.
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Jiang Mu quickly put on the neatly folded clothes beside him and climbed out of bed. He had no time to investigate what changes had taken place in his body.
At that moment, Xian Yun’s voice came from outside the door.
“Young Master, the Sect Master has summoned you to the Council Hall. Several elders are there as well.”
Jiang Mu acknowledged her and followed Xian Yun toward the Council Hall.
Along the way, he felt increasingly uneasy. His Third Sister had summoned him to the Council Hall at a time when all the sect’s elders were present. Surely this was more than a simple introduction.
As expected, the moment Jiang Mu entered the Council Hall, he sensed that the atmosphere was unusually subtle, with a quiet tension hanging in the air.
All four great elders were present, and nearly the instant Jiang Mu stepped inside, they began examining him.
Suppressing his unease, Jiang Mu respectfully saluted everyone present.
“Jiang Mu greets the Sect Master and all the elders!”
With outsiders present, he did not know whether they were aware of his relationship with Jiang Yuexuan, so he simply adopted the formal etiquette of a disciple.
Unexpectedly, aside from Jiang Yuexuan’s slight nod, the others ignored him completely. After a long pause, Fourth Elder Lei Wu finally spoke in a strange, mocking tone.
“Sect Master, allowing a mere brat who has only just entered the Foundation Establishment Realm to join the Council of Elders—isn’t that taking things a little too lightly?”
“Fourth Brother!”
First Elder Xuan Feng’s deep voice rang out in rebuke. He instinctively glanced at Jiang Yuexuan, clearly worried that Lei Wu’s hot temper would offend her.
After all, he still remembered Jiang Yuexuan’s words from the previous day and understood exactly how important the young man before them was to her.
Lei Wu’s words, however, had startled Jiang Mu. He could not help lowering his head to look at his palm.
The Foundation Establishment Realm?
Had he actually skipped the Qi Condensation Realm altogether?
Although Jiang Mu did not understand the precise division of realms among cultivators, he had a rough idea. A martial artist had to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, draw it into the body, and guide it to the dantian for personal use before truly stepping onto the path of cultivation.
That was the Qi Condensation Realm.
Only after the Qi Condensation Realm came the Foundation Establishment Realm, followed by the Sea of Qi Realm.
Now that Jiang Mu had only just broken the seal on his innate talent, he had not even begun cultivating, yet he had already advanced through an entire major realm. It was completely beyond his expectations.
Only belatedly did Jiang Mu realize what was happening.
Was his Third Sister planning to place him in the Council of Elders?
Wasn’t that being far too hasty? Not only did the elders have valid complaints, even Jiang Mu himself felt that something was amiss.
Yet Jiang Yuexuan, the decision-maker in this matter, merely listened in silence as the elders voiced their opinions. They all insisted that it was too soon, suggesting that Jiang Mu could first be registered as an honorary member and formally admitted only after reaching the Heaven-Through Realm.
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Only after the elders had finished speaking did Jiang Yuexuan slowly rise. She did not argue with them. Instead, she turned to Xian Yun and asked,
“Has the Spirit-Communing Stone been prepared?”
“Reporting to the Sect Master, everything has been prepared according to your instructions.”
“Good.”
Jiang Yuexuan nodded, then looked toward the elders.
“Since you believe my decision is inappropriate, I will not argue with you. Why don’t we first test my younger brother’s talent? We can discuss the matter again afterward. What do you say?”
Test his talent?
Jiang Mu was confused, and so were the elders. However, they could hear that Jiang Yuexuan was offering a compromise, so naturally they had no reason to refuse.
Jiang Mu was curious about his own talent, and the elders were equally interested. In their eyes, however, even if Jiang Mu awakened a divine-grade talent, he would merely be a gifted disciple. Every inner disciple possessed extraordinary talent. If Jiang Yuexuan intended to use that alone as grounds for admitting him to the Council of Elders, they had more than enough reasons to delay the matter.
Each person harbored different thoughts as they followed Jiang Yuexuan out of the Council Hall and into another courtyard.
A Spirit-Communing Stone stood in the courtyard, just like the one that had belonged to the Lin family. It had been placed atop a high platform.
Jiang Yuexuan looked toward Jiang Mu and said calmly,
“Go on. Let the elders see what your talent is like.”
Jiang Mu nodded, drew a deep breath, and walked toward the Spirit-Communing Stone.
To be honest, he was filled with anticipation. He remembered his father saying that his talent was extraordinary, but his father had never explained exactly what kind of talent it was. Now, Jiang Mu could not help feeling somewhat nervous.
He walked to the foot of the platform. Feeling the concentrated gazes of everyone behind him, he took another deep breath before slowly placing his hand on the Spirit-Communing Stone.
A beam of white light surged from the stone into his body. Jiang Mu immediately felt the spiritual power within him being stirred, circulating through his dantian.
In the next instant, the Spirit-Communing Stone before him began to tremble, emitting waves of resonant hums. Then, a scene that left everyone utterly stunned unfolded.
The Spirit-Communing Stone burst into dazzling radiance. Seven colors alternated across its surface, now red, now violet, their brilliance intertwining and answering one another. Then, a rainbow-colored pillar of light shot into the heavens, bathing the entire Profound Heaven Peak in glory.
Everyone stood frozen.
Only the corner of Jiang Yuexuan’s mouth twitched at the sight.
This was… a saint-grade talent!
A seven-colored saint-grade talent!
The pinnacle of innate talent throughout the entire cultivation world!
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