Chapter 5312: Proving One’s Talents

“Who is that?”

The tribal leaders were excited to see Chu Feng, but they were perplexed to see a foreign little girl with him. Meanwhile, the juniors cheered for Chu Feng, not concealing their admiration for him at all. 

Jia Chengying and Bai Yunqing were irritated by Chu Feng’s popularity. They didn’t think that Chu Feng was worthy of such a warm welcome, especially when they didn’t receive such treatment earlier. 

“Elders, I hope that I didn’t arrive late,” Chu Feng said.

“You arrived just on time. Young hero Chu Feng, I am the Ancient Realm’s chief. Allow me to welcome you on behalf of our Ancient Realm,” the Ancient Realm’s chief said.

“Junior Chu Feng pays respect to Lord Chief.” Chu Feng bowed respectfully.

After exchanging greetings, the Ancient Realm’s chief explained the rules of the talent assessment exam to Chu Feng. It was quite simple. In the order in which they arrived here, Chu Feng and the others would select a monument and place their hands on it. Their talent would be automatically assessed by the monument.

But before that, he would have to bind himself to a tribe. 

Chu Feng knew that the so-called talent assessment was actually the Ancestral Ritual, but he decided to go along with it knowing that he couldn’t avoid it.

While the Ancient Realm’s chief was explaining the rules, the tribal leaders had already begun extending invitations to Chu Feng via voice transmission. Some of them even offered generous rewards. 

Chu Feng glanced at Little Crescent before turning to the Ancient Realm’s chief to say, “Lord Chief, I have already chosen whom I want to bind to—the Yuan Lineage Tribe.”

Boom!

Everyone was shocked to hear those words.

Yuan Lineage Tribe? 

Outsiders might not have heard about the Yuan Lineage Tribe, but natives of the Ancient Realm couldn’t possibly have not heard about them. Complicated emotions rippled in the eyes of the Ancient Realm’s chief, and even the white-haired woman looked a little worried.

“Chu Feng, don’t choose the Yuan Lineage Tribe. I’ll summarize things for you. The Yuan Lineage Tribe lost the previous battle over the leadership of the Ancient Realm and nearly died out. If you bind with them, you’ll be offending not just the other tribes here but also the lineage of the Ancient Realm’s chief too,” the white-haired woman told Chu Feng via voice transmission.

Chu Feng had guessed that the Yuan Lineage Tribe had fallen from grace due to infighting, but he didn’t think that the fight would have been over the leadership of the Ancient Realm. It was apparent from the reactions of the other tribe that they harbored animosity toward the Yuan Lineage Tribe. 

“Big brother, let’s bond with each other.” Little Crescent raised her little hand and revealed the formation on her wrist.

“That lass is from the Yuan Lineage Tribe?” 

The crowd revealed incredulous looks upon learning that Little Crescent was from the Yuan Lineage Tribe. 

Chu Feng smiled at Little Crescent before placing his wrist on her formation. He understood the severity of the matter, but he still chose to bond with her. 

“This!!!”

The other tribes were displeased to see that, but they held themselves back, especially after glancing at the Ancient Realm’s chief. 

Weng!

The formation flowed and a contract was established. A symbol identical to that on Little Crescent’s wrist formed on Chu Feng’s wrist. 

“Uwa, it’s hot! But it feels special too. Big brother, you must do your best!” Little Crescent cheered with Chu Feng with a radiant smile. 

After seeing Chu Feng bind with Little Crescent, the tribal leaders receded their smiles and looked at Chu Feng with cold eyes. Even some of the juniors who had cheered for Chu Feng changed their attitudes toward him. 

Even so, most people were still looking at Chu Feng with feverish eyes. The Ancient Realm had an obsession with worshiping the strong, especially when it came to the juniors. 

A cold glint flashed across the eyes of the Ancient Realm’s chief, but it happened so fast that no one noticed it. He looked at the white-haired woman and said, “Miss Bai.”

He pulled up his sleeves and revealed his binding formation. They had likely come to an agreement on their way here, which was why the white-haired woman didn’t reject the offer and placed her wrist on his. 

The formation lit up. A contract was formed between the white-haired woman and the Ancient Realm’s chief.

“Since all of the challengers have completed the binding ceremony, please choose a divine monument to have your talent assessed. The results will be reflected through a glowing light from the divine monument. 

“A white glow represents inferior talent. A silver glow represents ordinary talent. A golden glow represents superior talent. Those who are extraordinarily talented will produce a sustained glow. 

“You should have noticed by now that a name is carved on all of the divine monuments. This was left behind by an unknown young hero eight hundred years ago. That young hero had weak cultivation, but his talent remains unsurpassed by those who came after him. He is the current record holder. Prove yourself worthy and replace his name with yours.”

The Ancient Realm’s chief then turned to the white-haired woman and said, “Miss Bai, as the one who has cleared the second test, you’re entitled to the first pick.”

The white-haired woman descended from the sky and headed to the very first divine monument. The other challengers took their pick after her. As the last one to arrive, Chu Feng had no choice but to head to the final remaining divine monument. 

Weng!

Someone couldn’t resist his curiosity and placed his palm on the divine monument. A pained look immediately showed on his face. He tried to retract his palm, but some sort of mysterious suction force from the divine monument held his hand in place. 

The other challengers were appalled to see that.

“Lord Chief, will the talent assessment bring about pain?” one of the challengers asked.

“Young hero, these aren’t ordinary talent assessment rocks but our Ancient Realm’s divine monuments. It has been eight hundred years since they last appeared. This is a rare opportunity for you to prove yourself, although it comes at a price. It’s not just a simple talent assessment test but a trial as well. 

“Those who prove themselves worthy will advance to the next test, whereas those who pass out before the assessment of the divine monument will be eliminated. Naturally, those who choose to give up will naturally be eliminated as well,” the Ancient Realm’s chief said. 

“We’ll be eliminated if we don’t participate in the talent assessment?”

The crowd realized that they had no choice but to proceed with the talent assessment.

“Feel free to walk away if you’re afraid. Don’t waste our time here,” Jia Chengying scoffed at the others before placing his palm on the divine monument.

A frown immediately formed on his face, and he clenched his jaws tightly. It looked like he was being put through great pain. However, as someone who had been through hardship, he was able to quickly accustom himself to the pain.

The divine monument in front of him started to glow white before quickly transforming into a silver glow. However, it would appear that the silver glow was his limit. 

“Ordinary talent?” Jia Chengying was unsatisfied with this result.

All of a sudden, a golden glow emerged in the distance. It was from the white-haired woman’s divine monument. She possessed superior talent!

“Damn it!” Jia Chengying’s face distorted in anger.

He was already upset at having lost to the white-haired woman back then, but who could have thought that he would be outdone by her in terms of talent too? 

More and more glows surfaced. Most people scrunched their faces in pain as they barely produced a white glow. The divine monuments proved to be too much for them to bear. 

Qin Shu, Zhou Dong, and Bai Yunqing managed to endure the divine monuments’ devouring, but their results were not ideal either. Just like Jia Chengying, they only produced a silver glow. This caused their faces to sour. 

Their talents had always been top-notch in their respective powers, but this divine monument actually deemed their talents to be merely ordinary. There was no way they were satisfied with this judgment. To make things worse, the white-haired woman was actually deemed to possess superior talent!

This situation left them feeling embarrassed.

Weng!

Bai Yunqing’s divine monument suddenly changed from a silver glow to a golden glow. 

“Brother Bai, how did you do that?” Jia Chengying asked Bai Yunqing via voice transmission.

“Brother Jia, don’t resist the divine monument. Allow it to freely devour our energy. Our talents are perfectly fine. It’s just that the divine monument isn’t able to accurately assess it due to our resistance, “Bai Yunqing said.

“I’ll give it a try then.”

Jia Chengying did as he was told. Moments later, his divine monument started to emanate a golden glow. 

“Hahaha! I knew it! How could my talent possibly be merely ordinary?” Jia Chengying was delighted with the outcome.

“That brother over there, I am Qin Shu from the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sect. May I know how you advanced the evaluation of your talent assessment?” Qin Shu also sent a message to Bai Yunqing to ask about it. 

Not daring to offend Qin Shu, Bai Yunqing told him about the method too. Moments later, the divine monument in front of Qin Shu emanated a golden glow too. 

Surprisingly, almost at the same time, the Bluemoon Sacred Palace’s Zhou Dong’s monument also began emanating a golden glow. 

Bai Yunqing couldn’t help but turn to look at Zhou Dong. He was surprised at how Zhou Dong uncovered the method by himself. Now that he thought about it, Zhou Dong was also the one who deciphered the formation of the ten gates with him earlier on. 

This made him realize that Zhou Dong might be a huge rival.