Chapter 4709: Aptitude

“Shit! Who do you think you are to speak to Junior Bi like that?”

A furious roar sounded. Fang Yunshi released his oppressive might, ready to make a move on Chu Feng.

It wasn’t just him. The other disciples of the South Vermilion Hall also released their oppressive might and drew their blades too. From the looks of it, they were ready to slaughter Chu Feng as soon as Bi Jingjing gave the word. They would destroy not only Chu Feng but all of the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall.

“Stand down!” 

Bi Jingjing shot a glare at Fang Yunshi, which made the latter hurriedly retract his oppressive might. The other disciples of the South Vermilion Hall quickly followed suit too.

Even though Fang Yunshi was the strongest disciple of the South Vermilion Hall present in the field, everyone knew that Bi Jingjing’s words carried the most weight.

“Interesting. You truly pique my interest. Since you show such guts, I’ll give you an opportunity. However, this is a battle you insisted on having me. You’re representing the North Tortoise Hall in this battle, but more than that, you’re representing yourself too. Since that’s the case, it’s only right for us to up the stakes,” Bi Jingjing said.

“Go ahead and state what you want,” Chu Feng said.

“If you lose, I want to sever your tongue, and in your days in the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect, you aren’t to heal it. If you dare to heal it, I’ll sever it every time I see it. On top of that, you aren’t to speak to anyone in any way. If you dare to talk once, I’ll hit you once,” Bi Jingjing said.

“How vicious. What if you lose then?” Chu Feng asked.

“There’s no way I’ll lose,” Bi Jingjing replied.

“Since you’re confident about that, let’s do this then. If you lose, we’ll change the agreement we made at the start,” Chu Feng said.

“How do you want to change it?”

“We’ll hold the spirit power battle and martial power battle as per normal, but if the North Tortoise Hall wins, from this day onward, our North Tortoise Hall will be dominating ten days at the Wintry Spirit Waterfall whereas your South Vermilion Hall will only take five days,” Chu Feng said.

“That Chu Feng…”

Initially, the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall were enraged by Chu Feng’s deed. They felt that he was being too arrogant for insisting on stepping on the dueling ring despite his unworthiness, as if he was desperate to drag them down.

Everyone thought that he was simply using his relationship with Song Xi to act as he pleased.

However, when Chu Feng proposed the modification of the deal, the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall realized that Chu Feng wasn’t just putting on an act here. Regardless of whether he was truly capable or not, there was no doubt that he was thinking on the behalf of the North Tortoise Hall here.

As a result, their opinion of Chu Feng began to change.

“Very well, we’ll go with what you said.”

After saying those words, Bi Jingjing stepped onto the stone platform.

“Junior Bi, please wait a moment! Chu Feng is just…”

Song Xi hurriedly intervened, wanting to plead on Chu Feng’s behalf. He didn’t hope for Chu Feng to become a mute who couldn’t speak anymore from this day onward. 

“Song Xi, this matter has nothing to do with you. If you insist on interfering, I’ll count you in on the bet as well!” Bi Jingjing glared at Song Xi coldly.

Seeing this, Song Xi could only meekly back down.

As for Bi Jingjing, she closed her eyes and began her aptitude test. 

Weng!

Soon, the runes on the stone platform began to revolve, but weirdly enough, the stone platform didn’t emanate any light even after some time. She seemed to be taking an even longer time to have her aptitude assessed than Wang Ziyan.

The disciples of the South Vermilion Hall and North Tortoise Hall couldn’t help but start feeling a little nervous. Those from the South Vermilion Hall were starting to feel a little unconfident and worried whereas those from the North Tortoise Hall were starting to feel angry.

Their anger was directed not toward Bi Jingjing and Chu Feng.

“That Chu Feng is really causing trouble here! If I had gone up instead, we would have won this aptitude battle!”

Hei Yao spoke those words not with voice transmission but aloud. He was doing it on purpose so that everyone could hear it.

Many from the North Tortoise Hall shared his sentiments too. 

“Senior Song, you shouldn’t have allowed Junior Chu Feng to act as he pleased. You might be a loyal brother by siding with him, but what about the rest of us? How would the juniors of the North Tortoise Hall view you?”

Even Wang Ziyan was angered by this turn of events.

Song Xi didn’t say a word at all, but there was a frustrated look on his face. Despite his domineering attitude in the North Tortoise Hall, he was interfering in this matter because he wanted to build an upright and powerful image for himself. 

He needed the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall to respect him in order to continue retaining the power he had. 

The reason why everyone in the North Tortoise Hall was reacting so angrily was because they thought that they had overestimated Bi Jingjing. They expected Bi Jingjing’s result to be out faster than Song Xi, but it turned out to be the opposite instead.

Given Bi Jingjing’s performance, they would have won if Hei Yao had gone up to represent them instead.

In other words, Chu Feng’s unneeded interference had cost the North Tortoise Hall this match. 

Roar!

All of a sudden, a deep growl sounded from this stone platform. It sounded like the roar of a ferocious animal hidden beneath the stone platform. Following that, a brilliant light gradually shone from within the stone platform, leaving everyone dumbstruck.

Even the disciples of the East Dragon Hall and West Tiger Hall who were watching the spectacle from the side were astonished.

The light emanating from the stone platform was not purple in color but golden!

The golden color was a sign of pinnacle aptitude!

Of the entire sect, the strongest ten disciples were known as the Hidden Dragon Disciples, and they were all of pinnacle aptitude!

In fact, even if one were to look throughout the entire Hidden Dragon Martial Sect, there were no more than twenty people here who possessed pinnacle aptitude.

“Junior Bi truly possesses pinnacle aptitude… This means that she could very well become a Hidden Dragon Disciple in the near future!”

All of the disciples looked at Bi Jingjing with admiration in their eyes. Even Song Xi was no exception.

Putting aside the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall, even the disciples of the East Dragon Hall wouldn’t dare to offend Bi Jingjing! With her pinnacle aptitude, even if she failed to become a Hidden Dragon Disciple in the future, there was no doubt that it was only a matter of time before she became one of the powerhouses in the sect!

In the past, everyone feared Bi Jingjing only because of her family members. But now, they knew that even if one were to put aside her family members, she was still not someone to be trifled with.

“Hei Yao, you should be glad now that it’s Chu Feng who stepped up earlier, right?”

One of the disciples whispered to Hei Yao quietly.

“I’m not only thankful to Chu Feng, but I’m also feeling pity for him. He had just joined the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect and met up with Senior Song, who viewed him as a brother. He had a bright future ahead of him. Yet, of all people, he offended Bi Jingjing. In my view, he’ll probably face a fate even worse than the outer disciples,” Hei Yao sneered.

Even though he spoke as if he was pitying Chu Feng, his eyes only showed glee.

“It’s my turn now, right?” Chu Feng asked.

Bi Jingjing was still immersed in the compliments and awed exclamations coming from the crowd when she heard Chu Feng’s words. This was her first time showcasing her talent, and she was aiming for such an effect. Yet, who could have thought that Chu Feng would interrupt her golden moment?

And what frustrated her more was that even though she had showcased her talent, Chu Feng wasn’t reacting at all. He remained perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

This made her extremely displeased.

“I would like to see just what kind of talent you have,” Bi Jingjing harrumphed coldly.

As much as she disliked Chu Feng, she didn’t make things hard on him right away. Instead, she waited patiently for him to make a fool out of himself.

After Bi Jingjing stepped down from the stone platform, Chu Feng made his way up.

Weng!

A light immediately burst forth as soon as Chu Feng stepped onto the stone platform.

“This…”

Everyone was stunned for a moment upon seeing the light.

“Hahahahaha!”

Following that, a peal of mocking laughter sounded from all of the disciples of the South Vermilion Hall. The light that was emanating from the stone platform was white in color!

“Haaa…”

The disciples of the North Tortoise Hall shook their heads, and even Song Xi sighed deeply. They had already heard of Chu Feng’s aptitude test results, but seeing how confident he was, they thought that there might just be a chance that things would be different this time around. 

Yet, any sliver of expectations they bore ended up disappointing them.

White light represented the lowest aptitude whereas golden light represented the pinnacle aptitude. The contrast between the two on the stone platform couldn’t be any more jarring.

Chu Feng had fully highlighted just how outstanding Bi Jingjing was while embarrassing the North Tortoise Hall.

“Song Xi, let’s see how you’re going to deal with this!”

Hei Yao maintained a nonchalant look on his face, but he was actually celebrating in glee on the inside. He could care less about Chu Feng’s life and death, but he fully welcomed Song Xi’s fall from grace so that he could take the latter’s position.

Given Chu Feng and Song Xi’s close ties, if the former brought disgrace to the North Tortoise Hall, the latter would surely be implicated as well.

“W-what’s going on?”

A commotion suddenly broke out amidst the crowd.

Realizing that something was amiss, Hei Yao turned his gaze toward the stone platform once more. He realized that the white platform was still emanating white light, but amidst the white light, there was a sliver of gray light bursting forth. 

Following that, blue light and purple light began to emerge too. 

The stone platform was actually emanating four different colored lights simultaneously, white, gray, blue, and purple.

Roar!

It was then that a dragon’s roar sounded from the stone platform. The platform began to shudder intensely that even the earth began to quake. Then, a pillar of golden light poured forth.

At the same time, the white, gray, blue, and purple lights morphed into light pillars that fused together with the pillar of golden light. Then, all at once, they suddenly seeped back into the stone platform.

Grawr!

The dragon’s roar sounded once more.

A five-colored pillar gushed into the air, morphing into a five-colored massive dragon that soared straight toward heaven!