Chapter 4314 — The Three Fairies

Looked at this way, Wang Xinyan really did seem to be the one among all the worldly beauties he had encountered who lived the best life—and the luckiest, too. Of course, all of it came down to her unique innate gift; had her gift been ordinary, she would never have caught the eye of the Divine Nun of the East Sea, and naturally would never have enjoyed the protection of so many great figures.

"What a pity, though..." Ge Wei suddenly shook his head with a look of regret.

"A pity about what?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.

"Everyone knows that Wang Xinyan, one of the Three Fairies, is extraordinarily gifted, but as for just what her gift is, Morning Star Academy guards it like a sealed jar. Apart from the few deans and vice-deans, even the other higher-ups of the academy do not know. It has become one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Gaolin Sea Region in the Eastern Continent. If anyone could pry out the truth, that single piece of news alone would fetch no small sum in spirit jade—tsk, tsk!" Ge Wei shook his head and sighed again and again.

Prying out information was his old trade. To know for certain that a secret existed and yet be unable to dig it out—that feeling was like a hundred claws scratching at his heart, an itch he could not scratch.

With all the information-gathering methods of Ge the Inquirer of the Southern Continent, if he were in the Gaolin Sea Region of the Eastern Continent, no matter how well hidden the intelligence, he would eventually find a way to dig it out. But alas, he was in the Southern Continent now, and could not easily go to the Eastern Continent at all; the two were a thousand miles and ten thousand miles apart. What was a man to do?

At these words Wei Zhao smiled to himself. How exactly Wang Xinyan was so extraordinarily gifted—that was something outsiders like Ge Wei did not know, but he knew it like the back of his hand. Wang Xinyan's spiritual-root attribute was extremely special; it was not any of the traditional five elements, but what the secular world called a special constitution—a sponge constitution!

Strictly speaking, the sponge constitution was itself a kind of spiritual-root attribute, and an exceedingly rare variant spiritual-root attribute at that. Ge Wei's secret guide to passing the assessment had mentioned that anyone with a variant spiritual-root attribute was a genius rarely seen in the world; those who possessed one could enter the academy without undergoing selection and enjoy the treatment of a true genius disciple.

And the sponge constitution, even among all variant spiritual-root attributes, was a rarity of rarities—it would not be at all an exaggeration to call it the variant of variants. That Wang Xinyan could be so highly regarded, and even attain such a transcendent status at Morning Star Academy—surprising as it was, was in fact entirely reasonable.

Wei Zhao nodded to himself. Seen this way, as long as one's gift was powerful enough, even the ironclad rules of Morning Star Academy could be ignored. A person of Wang Xinyan's extraordinary gift, he believed, would be treasured as a precious jewel at any other academy in the Eastern Continent.

As Wei Zhao and Ge Wei were talking, over at the stone tablet that tested spiritual-root attributes, another remarkable presence had appeared after Chu Muqing's three-root attribute.

"Metal, fire, and earth true spiritual roots, plus a wood false spiritual root—four spiritual-root attributes in total!" This time even the academy staff could not keep a note of unmistakable shock out of their voices. Even if the wood one was a false spiritual root, this was still a genuine four-attribute spiritual root!

Such a gift had utterly overshadowed even Chu Muqing from a moment ago. Even at Morning Star Academy, where geniuses came forth in generation after generation, this counted as first-rate—impressive enough to show off.

"Hahaha! The old man at home was right—I really am a child of destiny. This time our Qiu family has hope of rising again!" The man had a head of short, spiky hair and a lean, wiry physique with muscles on display. Though his clothes were clearly worth a fair sum, his whole person exuded the thick air of a nouveau riche, and one could not tell from what backwater village he had sprung. Now, hearing all at once that he was a genius with four spiritual-root attributes, he promptly let success go to his head.

Seeing this, the crowd below could not bring themselves to look down on him. Even knowing full well that he was a country bumpkin, he was a country bumpkin with four spiritual-root attributes! That was a gift they dreamed of having, and they simply had not been born with the luck for it. At a moment like this they had no time even to envy him—so what grounds did they have to despise him?

If anyone truly let disdain show on his face, he would only be accused of being driven by jealousy and would end up mocked by the others. And even if the man was a bumpkin now, a gift like that destined him for soaring success; the heights he would reach in the future were far beyond what the crowd could ever attain. Why go looking for trouble?

With a four-attribute genius bursting onto the scene so suddenly, even the academy bigwigs on the high platform now fixed their eyes on the spiky-haired man one after another. The third test had not even begun, and already several gazes had grown rather eager, as though they wished to take him under their wing.

The spiky-haired man wore a look of smug satisfaction. To be noticed by so many great figures at such a moment did not make him shrink in the least; he walked straight up to the formation array for the third test, and without waiting for the examiner to speak, gathered his true qi and threw a mighty punch.

The examiner's expression shifted at the sight, but he did not rebuke him. Instead, just as with Chu Muqing before, he turned to look up at the platform. After all, with a four-attribute spiritual root on display, the spiky-haired man's strength—though not so formidable as Chu Muqing's, who could fight across levels—was still a cut above the average expert of the same rank.

With Chu Muqing's admission as precedent, the crowd below had more or less caught on, and they knew this meant the spiky-haired man would certainly be able to enter Morning Star Academy. It was only a question of whose tutelage he would fall under, which depended on whether these academy bigwigs took a liking to him.

Of the three giants of the Foundation Establishment stage, Dean Ling Yuanqing showed no intention of declaring anything. The Divine Nun of the East Sea, meanwhile, was saying something to Wang Xinyan and did not even glance at the spiky-haired man. That left only Wei Hebei.

Wei Hebei sized the spiky-haired man up and down. The four-attribute spiritual root did stir him somewhat—if properly trained, the man might not become a top-tier expert of pillar-of-the-state caliber, but his strength would not be too shabby either. On that point alone, he was worth taking in; one more would make no difference anyway.

Yet the temperament and breeding the spiky-haired man displayed hardly looked like the makings of greatness. Had he carried himself with the same poise as Chu Muqing, Wei Hebei probably would have decided on the spot. But seeing this smug, success-drunk manner of his, if he took him in rashly and the man turned out to be mud that would not stick to the wall, or worse, became the laughingstock of Morning Star Academy, would that not ruin Wei Hebei's lifelong reputation?

Wei Hebei could not help but hesitate. He had not taken a disciple for three consecutive years, and now a four-attribute spiritual root lay before him; to simply give it up would be a pity. Yet to take him in just like this—he feared the fellow could not be propped up. Too worthless to discard, too flavorless to chew—this spiky-haired man was a perfect chicken rib! (To be continued...)/p

...R1052