Chapter 4322 — Genius Huang Xiaotao

From beginning to end, Wang Xinyan had watched every moment of Wei Zhao's testing from the platform above. Now, seeing him leave the field in such a "wretched" state, she was struck dumb with shock.

She had been utterly convinced that Wei Zhao had come to the selection because he meant to enter Morning Star Academy—that from then on the two of them could be together. She had even been envisioning the wonderful life awaiting them at the academy. Never had she imagined that Wei Zhao would fail to pass!

Wang Xinyan simply could not make sense of it. Others might not know Wei Zhao, but she knew everything about him, down to the last detail. She remembered with perfect clarity that Wei Zhao possessed the heaven-defying five-element, seven-attribute aptitude—so how had it suddenly come out as a single fire-attribute spirit root?

Could the testing stele really be malfunctioning? But if that were so, Wei Zhao would never have said what he said afterward. Since he had spoken that way, he must have planned it all in advance, intending to bow out of the selection without leaving a trace. It had to be that!

Though Wang Xinyan did not know exactly why Wei Zhao would do such a thing, she trusted that he must have his reasons. So despite the shock in her heart, she let nothing unusual show on her face.

Right after Wei Zhao, it was Huang Xiaotao's turn to enter the field for testing. The two happened to meet at the entrance. Huang Xiaotao looked at Wei Zhao nervously. She did not understand things as clearly as Wang Xinyan did, but she too had found the scene just now very strange. Wei Zhao, with a single fire-attribute spirit root? Wei Zhao, failing the selection? How could that be?

But with so many academy staff watching, Huang Xiaotao did not dare voice any of her doubts at such a moment. She could only question Wei Zhao with her eyes.

From the start until now, Wei Zhao had never told her his specific plan. He had only said that she should perform as she normally would and worry about nothing else. But now Wei Zhao himself was definitively out, while she still had no idea what her own result would be.

If she too went unselected, as Wei Zhao had, that would be somewhat disappointing—yet for Huang Xiaotao it would actually be a good thing, because then she could stay with Wei Zhao. But what if she was selected? According to what Ge Wei had said, in that case she would not even be allowed to refuse!

Was she then to be parted from Wei Zhao forever, to travel alone to the distant Eastern Continent and study at Morning Star Academy, the two of them separated by the ends of the earth?

"Just be yourself. Don't worry!" Wei Zhao suddenly stepped forward, patted Huang Xiaotao's hand, and gave her a gentle smile.

"Mm..." Huang Xiaotao nodded. She knew she could not let her thoughts run wild any longer. She drew a deep breath, and under Wei Zhao's watchful gaze, strode toward the testing stele.

Who was she? Wang Xinyan watched from the platform, somewhat taken aback, and a sour feeling stirred in her heart. Could this be a new confidante Wei Zhao had met?

One thing at least was certain: this girl must be a native of Cloud-Tier Island. After all, the aura of people from the mundane world and that of Cloud-Tier Island's people were utterly different. Cloud-Tier Island was thoroughly steeped in the flavor of antiquity, whereas those who came up from the mundane world, no matter how well they blended in, still carried the breath of modern society about them—a thing that could not be wiped away even if one tried.

To unexpectedly encounter the sweetheart she had pined for, only to find another confidante at his side—her feelings were inevitably a little complicated. But Wang Xinyan was not a jealous sort, and on second thought she let it go.

Wei Zhao was so outstanding; it was only natural that other women should be drawn to him. Besides, back in the mundane world she had already grown used to sharing him with the other women. Even one more now did not seem so very hard to accept. The one thing Wang Xinyan truly cared about at this moment was how to avoid prying eyes and meet Wei Zhao in private.

In the field, watched by Wei Zhao, Huang Xiaotao slowly walked up to the testing stele. After exhaling a breath of turbid air, she placed her hand upon the stele, circulated her cultivation method, and channeled her true qi into it.

The testing stele responded almost at once. Just as with Wei Zhao's test moments before, a wisp of fiery red appeared upon the stele—at first glance, the mark of a single fire-attribute spirit root.

Yet on closer inspection, one would find that Huang Xiaotao's wisp of fiery red differed in essence from Wei Zhao's. Hers flickered and swayed ceaselessly, like a flame set in open air.

"Could this be..." The academy staff exchanged glances, every one of them wearing a look of disbelief.

And at this moment, there was no need for them to make any announcement at all. The moment the assembled academy bigwigs on the platform saw this, their eyes lit up—so much so that both Academy Head Ling Yuanqing and Vice Head Wei Hebei rose from their seats at the same time!

Two people had already been admitted, yet neither Chu Muqing's three-attribute spirit root nor the hedgehog-haired youth's four-attribute spirit root had drawn so much as a flicker of delight from those two titans of the Opening Mountain stage. Even when Wei Hebei finally took the hedgehog-haired youth as a disciple, he had agonized and hesitated for a while before making the decision—and it had been nothing more than an insignificant nominal disciple at that.

But now, seeing Huang Xiaotao's spirit root attributes, even these two titans of the Opening Mountain stage could no longer keep their seats!

"A dual fire-and-wind spirit root!" The academy staff were stunned for a long while before one of them finally cried out, unable to contain their delight.

Before the words had died away, an uproar swept the whole field. Even Chu Muqing and the hedgehog-haired youth, already admitted, wore faces full of astonishment!

The wind attribute—that was a standard exotic spirit root, rare enough in itself. And on top of that, Huang Xiaotao possessed a fire-attribute spirit root as well. An aptitude like this could already be called the aptitude of a genius among geniuses!

"Are you willing to join Morning Star Academy and become my personal disciple?" Ling Yuanqing and Wei Hebei spoke almost in unison, and only after the words were out did they realize what had happened. They could not help exchanging a wry smile—these two titans of the Opening Mountain stage had both set their eyes on Huang Xiaotao at the same moment!

There was no help for it. Someone with such aptitude was simply too rare. If they let Huang Xiaotao slip away, they might never in their lives find another genius possessing both fire- and wind-attribute spirit roots.