Chapter 1445: Shock
Chapter 1445: Shock
“Ten… ten-grade talent?! Th-this… how is that possible?!”
Everyone was stunned. Even Domain Lord Xiutian rose from his seat, two sharp beams flashing in his eyes.
Ten-grade talent meant the future birth of a Heavenly God—and Heavenly Gods were the most valuable existence of all.
Not to mention ten-grade talent—even nine-grade talent would be cultivated without reservation, with every resource poured into it.
The key issue was that Yi Tianyun had only shown six-grade talent moments ago. How could it suddenly jump to ten-grade?
“Junior Brother is incredible… ten-grade talent?!”
Heavenly Venerable Jian Si and the others were dumbfounded. Their own talents were ordinary, yet their junior brother was dazzling beyond belief, reaching ten-grade talent. It seemed they had truly struck gold this time by recruiting such a monstrous genius.
Yi Tianyun withdrew his hand and slowly stepped down from the testing stele. At once, the way everyone looked at him changed.
There was envy, admiration, disbelief—and far more jealousy.
Ten-grade talent meant that upon entering the Xiutian God Domain, becoming an elder would be effortless. There was even the possibility of reaching Deputy Domain Lord, or even Domain Lord level in the future.
Of course, that was still far off. Yi Tianyun’s cultivation was still too low. Even with ten-grade talent, he could not immediately become a Domain Lord or elder.
“Junior Brother, you’re truly amazing—ten-grade talent!”
Heavenly Venerable Jian Si and the others rushed over, grinning broadly as they celebrated Yi Tianyun’s achievement.
“Ten-grade talent… even I didn’t expect this,” Heavenly God Hao Han laughed as well. Having a genius disciple was naturally a good thing.
He had never rejected geniuses—he only despised the way the Xiutian God Domain handled them.
“Wait. Actually, all of you are ten-grade geniuses,” Yi Tianyun said with a smile.
“Every single one of you.”
Everyone froze, completely unable to understand what he meant.
“What nonsense! Everyone is a ten-grade genius? Do you think ten-grade talent grows on trees?!”
The Great Elder finally snapped back to his senses, jealousy and dissatisfaction surging in his heart. A ten-grade genius appearing in Heavenly God Hao Han’s faction was the last thing he wanted to see.
“In this place,” Yi Tianyun replied calmly, “ten-grade talent really is as common as cabbage.”
“Bullshit! Fourth Elder, your teaching is clearly lacking—your disciple doesn’t even know how to restrain his words!”
The elders were furious, faces dark with rage.
“My disciple doesn’t speak without reason,” Heavenly God Hao Han said firmly.
“If he says this, he has his logic.”
Even so, he was puzzled as to what Yi Tianyun intended.
“I’m saying that this Talent Testing Stele is flawed,” Yi Tianyun said plainly.
“What you consider ten-grade talent is actually empty and false. I thought it would be a precise testing artifact—who knew it was just a broken stone.”
“You—what did you say?!”
The elders erupted in fury, unable to tolerate doubt cast on their testing method.
“I already said it—the stele is inaccurate. I was six-grade earlier, then directly jumped to ten-grade after trying again. That alone proves it’s unreliable.”
Yi Tianyun shook his head.
His words instantly drew everyone’s attention. Thinking back carefully, it was true—six-grade had suddenly become ten-grade. Something was clearly wrong.
“Impossible! This testing stele has existed forever—it’s never been inaccurate! Talent determined through it has always been reliable!”
The Great Elder immediately rejected the claim.
“I’m talking about detailed accuracy,” Yi Tianyun replied solemnly.
“For rough screening, it’s passable. But calling it precise violates fairness. It can bury cultivators who truly possess potential.”
Their pupils shrank. If that were true, the impact would be catastrophic. Countless so-called geniuses chosen in the past would have been wrongly judged.
Heavenly God Hao Han was momentarily stunned, then smiled.
If this were true, it would be nothing short of absurd—a rule maintained for countless years being exposed as flawed overnight.
“Then… what do you propose?”
The Great Elder’s voice faltered, his confidence shaken. Yi Tianyun’s earlier behavior made it hard to deny the possibility.
“That’s simple. Just watch,” Yi Tianyun said.
“I’ll have my senior brothers test again. You all already know what their talents supposedly are.”
He walked over to Heavenly Venerable Jian Si and quietly explained the method. Jian Si’s eyes widened in shock.
“You can do it like this?!”
With astonishment still on his face, Heavenly Venerable Jian Si stepped forward and placed his hand on the stele, channeling his energy. Instantly, the stele blazed with light—
Ten-grade talent!
“Hah! It really works!”
He laughed loudly, turning to the stunned crowd.
“I’m also a ten-grade genius now—why aren’t you rushing to cultivate me?”
He strode back laughing, exhilaration written all over his face.
“Junior Brother, this slap is brutal. Their faces are definitely swollen now,” Jian Si laughed.
Yi Tianyun smiled and gestured for Heavenly Venerable Long Ming to try.
Under everyone’s gaze, Heavenly Venerable Long Ming stepped forward and repeated the process—
Ten-grade talent!
Next came Heavenly Venerable Li Tiantian, then Heavenly Venerable Yue Qian.
Each of them reached ten-grade talent without exception.
Everyone was completely dumbfounded.
This meant only one thing—the Talent Testing Stele had a massive flaw, a flaw that shook the very foundation of the domain. All past test results were effectively invalid.
What Yi Tianyun had done was no longer mere face-slapping—it was digging up the roots.
If the testing method collapsed, then all those “geniuses” could turn out to be illusions.
Many so-called talents felt their hearts sink. Hatred toward Yi Tianyun surged instantly. They prayed desperately that they wouldn’t be eliminated—otherwise, they would truly be finished.
“Well?” Yi Tianyun asked with a faint smile.
“How do you like this result?”
The elders were speechless. Even Domain Lord Xiutian was shaken, unable to speak for a long while. One by one, their expressions darkened—grim and unsettling.
For them, this was not good news.
It was terrible news.
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It took quite a while before everyone recovered from the revelation that the Talent Testing Stele was inaccurate.
They simply could not accept such a fact.
This stele had been used for tens of thousands of years—yet now they were being told it was unreliable?!
It was like believing your biological parents had always been by your side, only to suddenly discover they were adoptive parents, and that you had been picked up from somewhere else.
“Th-this… how can it be inaccurate? How could it be wrong…?”
They truly struggled to accept the truth.
“The facts are right in front of you,” Yi Tianyun said calmly.
“I can have even more people try it. I guarantee everyone will end up with ten-grade talent. That way, everyone’s a ten-grade genius—everyone’s happy.”
At this moment, the Great Elder and the others finally understood why Yi Tianyun had spoken those words earlier.
It really was inaccurate.
And everyone really could reach ten-grade talent.
“Young friend,” Domain Lord Xiutian finally spoke, staring straight at Yi Tianyun.
“The very foundation of our system has been overturned. How did you do this?”
Yi Tianyun turned his head to look at Heavenly God Hao Han.
He would not answer Domain Lord Xiutian without his master’s approval.
“Speak,” Heavenly God Hao Han nodded.
Yi Tianyun gave a slight nod and explained:
“Reporting to Domain Lord Xiutian—this is actually very simple. The Talent Testing Stele primarily tests energy control. Most cultivators who step up release their maximum power, without controlling precision or finesse.”
“As a result, the values fluctuate.
Crude, explosive energy leads to lower grades.
Refined, delicate energy leads to higher grades.”
“When no one understands the mechanism, the results appear ‘accurate.’ Those born with finer energy control naturally score higher—this does reflect talent to some extent.”
“But once the method is understood, anyone can adjust their energy precision at will.”
“In that case, everyone becomes ten-grade talent.”
“That’s why I say this thing is inaccurate. It’s practically a useless artifact.”
After finishing his explanation, Yi Tianyun stepped aside, signaling for them to test it themselves.
The Great Elder immediately stepped forward, slammed his palm onto the stele, and poured in energy.
Moments later—
Ten-grade talent.
It looked impressive, yet felt like the harshest slap to the face.
His true talent was only eight-grade. Now that it displayed ten-grade, the irony was unbearable.
If he hadn’t known the truth, he might have laughed in delight.
Now, all he felt was humiliation—his face felt swollen from the slap.
After the Great Elder stepped down, other elders went up one by one.
Each of them easily reached ten-grade talent.
Faced with such “astonishing” talent, none of them could smile.
It felt like swallowing a fly—utterly disgusting.
“All ten-grade talent… this is absurd…”
“So the Talent Testing Stele really is inaccurate. Do we need to re-evaluate everything?”
“Does this mean I failed to break through all these years because my talent was truly lacking?”
Once they understood the principle, they realized how serious the problem was.
The stele only tested a very limited aspect of ability.
Yet this massive blunder made the entire system look ridiculous.
No one laughed.
Everyone wore grim expressions—
Everyone except Heavenly God Hao Han’s group.
Heavenly Venerable Jian Si desperately wanted to laugh when he saw their expressions, but held it in. After all, this was still their territory—being too arrogant wouldn’t be wise.
“Great Elder,” Heavenly God Hao Han said with a chuckle,
“your entire selection method is clearly flawed. The mechanism has been wrong from the start—so what ‘geniuses’ are you even choosing?”
Not only the Great Elder—even Domain Lord Xiutian looked extremely uncomfortable.
If word of this spread, they would lose all face.
They had used this standard for countless years.
Which meant those countless years were built on false criteria.
“Even so,” the Great Elder said coldly,
“this still doesn’t prove your philosophy is correct!”
“If you want to prove yourself right, we proceed according to the old rules!”
“Send people to defeat all our geniuses. If you win—we concede!”
“At that time, I’ll give up my position to you!”
The Second Elder and the others stepped forward as well.
Even in the face of this revelation, they refused to admit defeat.
They had personally watched those selected disciples grow.
Their talent and potential were undeniably outstanding.
Although the Talent Testing Stele was flawed, it wasn’t completely useless.
Unknowingly, it still filtered out strong cultivators—just in a crude way.
Those who lacked innate control were buried.
In the end, the system was incomplete—borderline trash—but not entirely meaningless.
Heavenly God Hao Han’s eyes flashed repeatedly.
This battle was unavoidable.
“Master,” Yi Tianyun and the others stepped forward,
“let us fight personally.”
“We also want to know—when compared to these geniuses, are we stronger, or are we lacking?”
“But we believe this—our effort all these years was meant to prove one thing.”
“That we are no weaker than anyone else!”
Heavenly God Hao Han looked at their determined expressions and felt deeply moved.
“I’ve always believed you are inferior to no one,” he said firmly.
“You work harder than anyone.”
“Even if your innate talent is weaker, you compensate with diligence, insight, and perseverance.”
“All effort yields returns!”
His momentum surged as he declared:
“Go. Prove yourselves!”
A master who lacked confidence in his own disciples was unworthy of the title.
“Good!”
The five of them stepped forward together, battle intent blazing in their eyes, fully prepared to fight.
Their momentum was impressive—
Yet in the eyes of the geniuses, it still seemed laughable.
Their cultivation was indeed high, but some of those geniuses didn’t need a testing stele to prove their worth—they were recognized monsters.
Even though the stele had flaws, the elders weren’t fools.
Anyone who failed to keep up would be eliminated sooner or later.
Thus, the situation was awkward—but it didn’t negate the existence of true geniuses.
“All five will fight?”
“Then we follow the previous rule—same-realm battles!”
Same-realm combat meant: Upper Heavenly Venerable vs Upper Heavenly Venerable, regardless of early, mid, or late stage.
That meant Heavenly Venerable Li Tiantian could face an upper-stage opponent without it being considered unfair.
This would be a brutal fight.
By contrast, Heavenly Venerable Long Ming, at late-stage mid-Heavenly Venerable, would at least face opponents of the same realm.
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