Chapter 4321 — Successfully Deceived
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Put plainly, this situation was Wei Zhao running a test—and the first thing he needed to confirm was whether his golden finger could fool this stone tablet with its complex and exquisite built-in formations.
Judging by how things stood now, the golden finger could indeed take effect. The next step, then, was to carefully control it, and release just one of the spirit-root attributes it had concealed.
This step was far harder than simply hiding everything, for a single slip might expose it all. That was why Wei Zhao needed to experiment, why he needed to warm up beforehand—only with certainty in his heart could he do it without a single flaw.
The academy staff around him knew nothing of these inner workings and were utterly at a loss. In the worst case, they were even prepared to bring out the backup spirit-root testing tool—though its accuracy was far inferior to the stone tablet's, and those tested afterward would very likely show deviations.
Yet just then, a smear of fiery red suddenly appeared on the stone tablet—the mark of the fire-element spirit-root attribute.
Success! Wei Zhao's heart instantly eased. The golden finger really did work; it could even fool a detection tablet this exquisitely crafted. Truly powerful beyond reason.
"Well, looks like it's nothing serious, then." The academy staff member breathed a sigh of relief. To their minds, this was simply because the tablet had tested too many people and was bound to have a small hiccup now and then—just a slower response. They never once imagined Wei Zhao was pulling a trick.
The detection formations within the stone tablet were nearly as complex as a teleportation formation. Even a formation grandmaster thoroughly versed in the art would need to study it for ages to see through its workings. To suggest that Wei Zhao—an early Golden Core candidate in the selection—could pull tricks right under their noses? No one would believe it if you beat them to death!
"Fire-element spirit-root attribute. Looks like that's the only one. Do you want to try again?" the academy staff member said after a pause. For anyone else, he would have declared them eliminated on the spot, but this time the testing tablet seemed to have had some problem, and he thought the result might be off—so he intended to give Wei Zhao one more chance to retest.
"Uh… never mind, then. It only showed one kind before, too. I'll just give up…" Wei Zhao shook his head and sighed, as if in disappointment.
"Fine. Since you've no problem with it yourself, that saves us all some time. You may go," the academy staff member said with a nod.
A single fire-element spirit-root attribute was the most common thing there was. Even if the testing tablet had been a little slow to respond, since it had produced a result, it was unlikely to be wrong—and besides, Wei Zhao's strength was only early Golden Core, barely scraping past the threshold. They could not be bothered to waste any more time on a candidate who so obviously had no future.
Wei Zhao nodded to the academy staff member, then, looking utterly despondent and forlorn, walked off the testing ground. To onlookers he was a pitiful wretch who had failed the selection—little did they know that in his heart he was secretly overjoyed. (To be continued) R655