Ink-Clad Creator

Outside the South Office of the Imperial Workshop, a great commotion was taking place.

On the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, the registration for the triennial grand examination of Wanxiang Academy was at its last day. Young talents from all over the country and from all counties and prefectures gathered here like rivers flowing into the sea. The long queue stretched from the entrance of the government office to three streets away, with at least two or three thousand people.

This was the scene that Li Xian and his party saw when they arrived.

"My God..." Shi Lei's mouth dropped open. "This is denser than a sea buckthorn thicket in the desert!"

The little pine tree on Xiao Lingshan's shoulder shrank back again—the energy field here was more chaotic than in the city, with countless energy fluctuations of varying strengths colliding and intertwining, forming a chaotic "energy ocean".

"Maximum power filtering has been activated," Superman whispered in Li Xian's ear, "but it is still advisable not to stay here for more than two hours, otherwise it may cause energy perception disorder."

Li nodded, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.

This is truly an eye-opening experience.

Not far to the left, a burly man dressed in a linen shirt was holding up a rock the size of a millstone, showing off his rock-like, bulging muscles—a typical feature of earth-elemental cultivators. The surface of the rock gleamed with a faint yellow light, clearly infused with earth-elemental energy.

To the right, three boys dressed in identical blue Taoist robes were busy around a half-person-tall wooden puppet. The puppet's joints were inlaid with glowing green crystals, and its fingers deftly twirled a small carving knife, carving patterns on a wooden board—the candidates for the Academy of Mechanical Arts.

Further away, the aroma of herbs filled the air. Several young men and women carrying medicine chests were exchanging herbs. One girl lit a small cluster of blue flames on her fingertips, heating a jade bowl. The medicinal liquid in the bowl bubbled and emitted a strange fragrance.

"Truly... a gathering of heroes," Peng Shitao murmured, her eyes shining. As a healer, she was particularly sensitive to the aroma of herbs.

"Look over there," Bingwei suddenly pointed to the outer edge of the crowd.

The crowd automatically cleared out a square area about three zhang in size.

In the center of the area stood a young man in white.

The boy was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a handsome face, sharp eyebrows and eyes, and thin lips pressed tightly together. He held a sheathed longsword in his arms; the sheath was simple and unadorned, but a faint white light flowed from the hilt. He stood there quietly, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the surrounding clamor.

Strangely, no one dared to approach within a three-zhang radius of him.

It's not that I don't want to, but I can't.

A young master in brocade robes, clearly of wealthy birth, snorted defiantly and strode forward. He had just stepped into the three-zhang boundary—

"Sizzle."

The silk sash of his jade pendant snapped silently, and the pendant fell to the ground with a thud. At the same time, a neat slit appeared at the hem of his brocade robe, and the fabric slowly slid down, revealing his underpants.

The young master's face turned ashen, and he retreated several steps, no longer daring to step forward.

A collective gasp of astonishment filled the air.

"Sword energy arises spontaneously, forming a domain three feet wide..." Binglan said softly, "This is the 'Gengjin Sword Body'? It truly lives up to its name."

Li Xian narrowed his eyes. The orange-gold mark between his eyebrows was slightly warm, and he could "see" countless fine, hair-like, and incomparably sharp white energy threads swirling around the white-robed youth—those were highly condensed gold-elemental sword energies, forming a natural protective field.

"Jin Xuan," he uttered the name.

As if sensing his gaze, the white-robed youth suddenly opened his eyes.

Their eyes met in mid-air.

Jin Xuan's eyes were cold and indifferent, devoid of any emotion. But Li Xian noticed a faint hint of...curiosity deep within his pupils.

The eye contact lasted only a moment before Jin Xuan closed his eyes again.

On the other side, the art style is completely different.

A young girl in a light blue dress squatted beside the stone lion at the entrance of the government office, intently looking at her palm.

Above her palm floated a fist-sized ball of clear water. The water ball constantly changed shape, sometimes stretching into threads, sometimes expanding into a membrane. In the center of the water ball, a colorful butterfly was frantically flapping its wings, but no matter what it did, it could not fly out of the water's embrace.

"Static beauty... dynamic balance..." The girl frowned, muttering to herself, "The tension coefficient at the moment of freezing... no, this formula should be corrected using the ice crystal growth rate..."

With her other hand, she made a motion in the air, her fingertips leaving pale blue streaks of light that condensed into lines of complex equations in the air!

"She's... mentally calculating the energy loss formula for the freezing process?" Peng Shitao's eyes widened.

The little pine tree on Xiao Lingshan's shoulder suddenly twitched, conveying a sense of closeness—it sensed the pure and powerful water energy emanating from the girl, an energy that reminded it of the cold pool in Peach Blossom Valley.

"Water glass," Li Xian said softly.

Seemingly hearing her own name called, the girl in the blue dress looked up. She was extremely beautiful, with skin as white as snow and eyebrows and eyes as exquisite as a painting, but her eyes were so clear as to be almost innocent, with a focus unique to researchers.

She glanced at Li Xian and his group, her gaze lingering for a moment on the small pine tree on Xiao Lingshan's shoulder. She tilted her head, as if she wanted to say something.

But just then, the water droplet in her palm burst open with a "poof," and the butterfly took the opportunity to flap its wings and fly away.

"Ah! It got away!" Shui Liuli stomped her foot in frustration, then fell into deep thought. "Was it external energy interference that caused the water film's stability to decrease? Or was it the butterfly's vibration frequency that caused resonance disturbance? I need to remodel it..."

She squatted back down and began drawing new equations on the ground.

Everyone: "..."

This girl... is kind of cute, but also kind of strange.

"Poetry Peach!"

A familiar voice came from the crowd.

Peng Shitao turned her head sharply and saw Peng Shutao walking out of the side gate of the yamen, waving vigorously at her. Beside Peng Shutao, Shen Aonan, dressed in a blue robe, also smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Sister!" Peng Shitao ran over in surprise, and the two sisters hugged each other.

Peng Shutao was thinner than when she was in Peach Blossom Village, but her eyes were brighter, and there was a faint mist around her—clearly, her six months of cultivation in the capital had made considerable progress. Shen Aonan's aura was also more composed, and a light blue water pattern appeared on the scabbard of the sword at his waist, which should be a newly acquired treasure.

"You've finally arrived!" Peng Shutao took her sister's hand and looked her up and down. "Did you encounter any danger on the way?"

"Thankfully, it was a close call." Peng Shitao's eyes were slightly red. "Sister, what you said in your letter..."

"I'll explain in detail later." Peng Shutao lowered her voice, her gaze sweeping over Li Xian and the others before finally settling on Li Xian's face with a complex expression. "Young Master Li, how have you been?"

Li Xian clasped his hands in greeting: "Miss Shutao, Brother Aonan."

Shen Aonan returned the greeting with a cupped-fist salute and a gentle smile, but Li Xian could sense the scrutiny and... a hint of barely perceptible wariness deep in his eyes. This was not hard to understand, after all, Peng Shitao had been by his side for the past six months.

"How did the registration go?" Xiao Lingshan asked.

"I just submitted my materials, and they've been approved," Peng Shutao said. "We applied for 'Xuanshuiyuan' and 'Bailiantang.' What about you?"

"We're preparing to apply to the 'Academy of Geology' and the 'Academy of Life Sciences'," Li replied, "but we need to pass today's preliminary screening first."

As they were talking, a group of officials walked out of the yamen. The leading official struck a gong and announced loudly:

"It's past 9 AM! Registration is closed! Registered candidates, please enter according to your assigned number for the initial screening test! Those who have not registered, please leave immediately!"

The crowd stirred.

Peng Shutao hurriedly said, "We'll wait for you inside. The initial screening is divided into three stages. The first stage is the 'Spirit Appraisal Crystal' test. Be very careful, those crystals sometimes..." She paused, seemingly unsure how to describe it, "Anyway, be careful."

She pulled Peng Shitao aside and gave her a few more instructions before re-entering the yamen with Shen Aonan.

The candidates lined up to enter the examination hall according to their assigned numbers.

Li Xian's serial number is "Guihai Group 27", which is in the middle to the end. Xiao Lingshan and Peng Shitao are in the same group as him, and their serial numbers are adjacent.

The testing point was located in the main hall on the east side of the government office. Inside the hall were twenty long tables, each with a fist-sized transparent crystal on it—the "Spirit Detection Crystal." Below the crystal was a complex bronze base with a dial and pointer.

The twenty examiners each sat at a table, their expressions serious.

The testing process was quick. The examinee placed their hand on the crystal, activating their own energy. The crystal would then light up with different colors depending on the energy attribute—golden white, wood green, aquamarine, fiery red, and earthy yellow. The intensity of the light was indicated by a pointer on the base, ranging from grade one to grade nine, with grade nine being the highest.

"Number three in the Jiazi group, Wood element, Rank 6 (Mid-level)!"

"Group 5, Earth element, Lower Rank 5!"

"Group 7, no attribute reaction, eliminated!"

The examiners' voices rose and fell. Some cheered, while others were dejected. The elimination rate was not low; about one in five people was directly eliminated due to "no attribute reaction" or "grade below the third rank".

It's Jin Xuan's turn.

He walked up to the crystal, but instead of immediately reaching out, he glanced at the examiner and asked, "What's the highest grade this crystal can be assessed for?"

The examiner was taken aback: "Ninth rank, upper grade."

"What if it exceeds that?"

"This..." The examiner hesitated, "Since its introduction, the Spirit Appraisal Crystal has never had a record of exceeding the ninth rank."

Jin Xuan said no more and raised his hand to press on the crystal.

"Buzz—!!"

A blinding white light erupted! The entire hall was instantly illuminated! The crystal trembled violently, the pointer on its base spun wildly, instantly reaching the ninth rank, and then—

"Snap!"

The pointer's stop spring was snapped off! The pointer continued to rise until it hit the brass casing, making a screeching sound!

On the surface of the crystal, fine sword-shaped patterns appear, as if countless small swords are about to pierce out from the inside!

The examiner stared in disbelief, and after a long pause, stammered as he wrote: "Geng...Geng Metal Sword Body, purity...surpassing the ninth rank! Rating...evaluation: Superior!"

The entire audience erupted in uproar.

Jin Xuan withdrew his hand and walked expressionlessly toward the next passage, as if he had just done something insignificant.

Next up is water glass.

She seemed still absorbed in the formula calculations she had just performed, muttering to herself as she walked up to the crystal, "The energy output needs to be stable... stable..."

She placed her hand on the crystal.

The deep blue light rippled outwards like water. It lacked the domineering burst of Jin Xuan, but was more enduring and profound. The temperature in the hall began to drop, and water vapor condensed on the surface of the crystal into delicate ice flowers, which quickly melted back into mist, in a continuous cycle.

The pointer on the base stopped steadily on the ninth rank.

"Mysterious Water Spiritual Vein, Affinity Level 9 (Upper)! Rating: Superior!" The examiner's voice was filled with excitement.

Another superstar!

The examinees whispered among themselves, their gazes towards Jin Xuan and Shui Liuli filled with awe. These two were probably the strongest monsters of this year.

Testing continues.

Li Xian observed quietly. He discovered that the detection principle of the crystal was essentially "energy frequency resonance." The crystal had a preset five-element basic frequency. When the examinee injected energy, the frequency closest to it would resonate, thus emitting light.

So here's the question—what frequency is his energy?

Orange-gold energy combines earth fire (fire + earth), holy water spirituality (water), wood vitality (wood), and the string theory characteristics taught by Boltzmann's brain. This is not a single "frequency," but a "collection of frequencies," and may even contain "different frequencies" that transcend the framework of the five elements.

"Group 27, Li Mo!"

The examiner's voice brought him back to reality.

Li Xian stepped forward and stood in front of the crystal.

The examiner, a middle-aged scholar in his forties, glanced at him and said in a formulaic manner, "Place your hand on the crystal, infuse it with energy, and hold for three breaths."

Li Xian took a deep breath and placed his right hand on the crystal.

The tentacles were icy cold. He controlled his output, injecting only a tiny trace of orange-gold energy.

The crystal did not react at all.

The examiner frowned: "Try again, increase the output."

Li Xian injected another wisp.

The crystal remained dull.

Some people around were already scoffing: "Another one without talent?"

The examiner shook his head, preparing to announce the elimination.

But at that moment—

Suddenly, a faint spot of light appeared inside the crystal. The light was not any of the colors of the Five Elements, but a pale, almost transparent orange-gold.

The light spot began to rotate.

It keeps spinning faster and faster.

As it rotates,

The light spots gradually "split"—not a real split, but rather the frequencies began to differentiate and manifest!

"Buzz..."

The crystal vibrated slightly. A flash of white light appeared—a resonance of the metal frequency!

Next, green light—wood element!

Blue light – water system!

Red light – Fire element!

Yellow light – Earth element!

Five-colored rays of light flashed alternately around the orange-gold spot, their speed increasing rapidly! In the end, the five-colored rays of light almost merged into one, and the crystal transformed into a wildly spinning sphere of colorful light!

"What... what's going on?!" The examiner suddenly stood up.

The base pointer began to swing wildly, jumping back and forth between the five markings of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, completely unable to stabilize!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A muffled sound came from inside the crystal, as if something was about to explode!

"Let go!" the examiner exclaimed.

But it was too late.

"boom--!!!"

With a loud bang, the crystal shattered!

It didn't just shatter into pieces, but exploded into a shower of powder! The fine dust particles drifted in the air, refracting a mesmerizing array of colors under the light.

The base pointer snapped off with a "crack," the copper casing twisted and deformed, and a wisp of smoke rose from it.

The entire lobby was completely silent.

Everyone stared in disbelief at Li Xian and the table full of crystal powder in front of him.

Li Xian awkwardly withdrew his hand and touched his nose.

This... seems like things have gone too far.

"Cough cough..."

A coughing sound came from the side door.

A middle-aged official dressed in the light green robes of a seventh-rank official from the Imperial Workshop walked out slowly; it was Chu Huaizhou. He was thinner than when he was in Tonghai Prefecture, but his eyes were more profound, and his lips held his usual enigmatic smile.

He walked to Li Xian's desk, bent down and picked up a relatively large crystal fragment, examining it in his palm.

"The full spectrum of energy frequency resonance caused the internal structure of the crystal to overload and collapse..." Chu Huaizhou muttered to himself, then looked up at Li Xian, "Young Master Li, you always manage to bring me surprises every time we meet."

Li Xian clasped his hands in greeting: "Lord Chu, how have you been? I will compensate for this crystal."

"Compensate?" Chu Huaizhou laughed. "This 'Spirit-Identifying Crystal' was carved from 'Mysterious Ice Jade Marrow' from the depths of the North Sea. It contains 365 resonant runes and was refined by three Divine Origin Realm masters over three years. Its market value... is roughly equivalent to half a year's tax revenue of Tonghai Prefecture City."

Li Xian: "..."

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Half a state's tax revenue?! How much money would that be?!

Chu Huaizhou waved his hand: "But don't worry, the Heavenly Crafts Academy isn't short of money. Besides..." He looked at Li Xian meaningfully, "You're not the first person to break a Spirit-Identifying Crystal."

Not the first one?

A thought struck Li Xian. Could there be others as well...?

Chu Huaizhou didn't explain, but turned to the examiner and said, "Record: Li Mo, number 27 of Group Guihai, energy attribute 'unique,' resonance intensity... 'unmeasurable.' First screening round passed."

The examiner stared blankly as he took notes, his hands trembling.

Chu Huaizhou then looked at Li Xian: "Young Master Li, be careful in the upcoming 'practical skills test.' That level... can really kill people."

He patted Li Xian on the shoulder, turned and left, leaving behind a meaningful silhouette.

Li Xian stood still, feeling the various gazes directed at him—surprise, curiosity, jealousy, fear…

He knew that from this moment on, he could no longer keep a low profile in the capital.

And practical skills testing...

He looked toward the entrance to the second level, where the faint sounds of clashing weapons and energy explosions could be heard.

The real test has only just begun.

(End of Chapter 57)