“You, you take a break first.”

Qin Ruqing was initially puzzled but soon noticed the evaluator’s extremely unstable aura.

Then she saw the golden ring floating above the evaluator’s head dimming, and the ancient stone tablet’s special effects were no longer as intense as before.

Instead, the waves of light flickered and vanished intermittently, like a dog panting…

Pfft~ Got it.

Evaluator, you’re being too subtle… If this kid hadn’t understood and continued on, wouldn’t you be drained dry?

It turns out that activating the stone tablet also consumes the evaluator’s magical power.

Hmm, it should be related to that golden ring.

Qin Ruqing quickly grasped the situation and immediately assumed a heart-holding posture, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, and weakly said, “Cough… Ruqing is a bit tired. Thank you, evaluator, for your understanding.”

Saying this, she sat down in front of the stone tablet and began to meditate and recover.

Evaluator: “?”

When he met her sparkling eyes, his old face suddenly turned red.

Oh no, it’s so embarrassing to be exposed by a junior!

But time was pressing, and this girl had at least preserved his dignity, so he said nothing more and quickly began to quietly recover his energy.

The onlookers, witnessing this strange scene, were momentarily stunned.

An evaluator who actively told someone to take a break?

How come the evaluator wasn’t so considerate just now?

Moreover, Fairy Ruqing was indeed calmly sitting there, adjusting her breath.

It must be said, being number one on the golden list, this mindset is truly stable!

The crowd was quiet for a while, then someone swallowed and whispered, “Just now, how high did that golden column reach?”

“Well, it went very high. If I counted correctly, it should have reached the tenth level…”

The stone tablet has only ten levels.

“What does the tenth level mean?”

What does it mean?

Who knows!

It’s already impressive that they could leave their names on the stone tablet; people are really competitive.

“I think I saw it go beyond the tenth level. It seemed to still be climbing, but something above seemed to block my spiritual sense. I couldn’t see clearly beyond that.”

“I saw it too. It must be the mystery of the stone tablet. The secrets above the tenth level are beyond us; only the director and others would know…”

Indeed, the directors knew.

At this moment, above the mysterious rotating sphere in the secret chamber, the scene above the tenth level was clearly displayed.

Compared to the densely packed names below, the names above the tenth level were much sparser.

However, any name picked at random would belong to a major figure capable of shaking the cultivation world.

Some of these figures’ names were ancient, as no one had appeared who could engrave their name above the tenth level for hundreds of years.

Now, someone finally appeared!

She didn’t just barely reach the line but continued to climb a bit more, stopping only after surpassing nearly half of the tenth level.

This made the four directors breathe a sigh of relief.

Climbing so aggressively was truly nerve-wracking for them.

Because higher up were the ancestors of their Celestial families who had ascended early and had become true Immortal Cultivator.

If Qin Ruqing could reach this level, they would be able to honor her and serve her with heavenly materials and treasures.

Fortunately… at this level, although they were astonished and incredulous, they didn’t go as far as to have their eyes fall out.

Of course, Qin Ruqing didn’t just stop at this level.

Reaching the top of the stone tablet wasn’t due to a lack of talent but rather because of the age difference and the disparity in cultivation levels.

Feng Qinxue frowned and switched the view on the sphere to show the scene of Qin Ruqing casting her spell at the beginning.

“What kind of spell is this? Why are the hand seals so complex?”

Given their cultivation levels, they wouldn’t normally use such elaborate spells.

It could only be said that what Qin Ruqing used was no longer an ordinary spell.

The bald-headed Western Region Director began mimicking the hand seals and speculated, “Zi, Yin, Shen… This doesn’t seem like a contemporary spell. It feels more like some ancient divine ability?”

Ancient times?

If that’s the case, it could only mean that this girl harbors considerable secrets and extraordinary opportunities; she might be a person favored by the heavens.

Feng Qinxue glanced at the Southern Region Director, who had been silent, and deliberately smirked, “This Qin girl is from your Southern Region, Southern Region Director. You must have some understanding of this spell, right? Do you know its origin?”

The Southern Region Director was also contemplating this matter.

He would have known if he had interacted closely with Qin Ruqing, such as through Xiao Lingyu or Fifth Ziyan.

However, being high-ranking members of an Celestial family, they weren’t easily swayed by a few words.

The Southern Region Director snorted and replied nonchalantly, “That girl has a pure spiritual body, at least of golden quality. She’s also achieved three strikes on the Golden List, so she might have awakened some special constitution or Dao Physique. It’s said that in ancient times, a top-grade Dao Physique, when advancing to later stages, naturally possesses a divine ability.”

“That spell might be a divine ability that Qin Ruqing awakened due to her rare constitution.”

Such wild speculations and deceit—who couldn’t do that?

Since they didn’t know the truth, they couldn’t judge whether what was said was right or wrong.

Feng Qinxue was somewhat irritated by this casual response and couldn’t help but snort.

The Fifth Family was known for its pretense and lack of the true demeanor of an Celestial family.

The Northern Region Director, holding his sword, became interested in another young man from the Qin family. “The top spot on the Golden List of the Qin family goes without saying, but the other young man, named Qi Rong, is also quite surprising. The golden line reached halfway, and the first tablet even reached the sixth layer. He doesn’t seem to be an ordinary body cultivator.”

One should know that being inscribed on the ancient stone tablet is already considered reaching the genius line.

More excellent ones have the golden line climbing to the second or third layers, while the fifth or sixth layers are levels only achieved by the top ten of previous conferences.

The bald-headed Western Region Director muttered, “The Qin family, which is said to be just a silver-grade family from the Southern Region, rising only in recent years, is so impressive. Could it be that their ancestors are blessed with fortune? Not only did they produce a top spot on the Golden List, but now they might also have a chance for another top ten spot?”

To have two top ten geniuses from the same family would truly be unprecedented.

Because, families that can produce two top ten talents would not allow such talented seeds to participate in the Hundred Clans Conference.

It would be a waste, akin to putting all eggs in one basket, making it easy to have a major failure.

Such families would usually distinguish between the two talents, sending the slightly less capable one to the conference, while secretly nurturing the most outstanding one to the point of reaching the void.

“I heard that among the three from the Qin family, there’s also the eldest sister, who wasn’t seen on Sha Zhou Island. Do you know where she went?”

The Southern Region Director finally realized and said, “The Qin family’s eldest sister…”

“The Qin family is a family of alchemists. Except for Qin Ruqing and that boy, who are unconventional, her elder sister is quite normal—she’s a genuine alchemist and should be participating in the alchemy competition.”

The elder sister hadn’t made much of a name for herself, so the three directors quickly moved on from that topic and focused on the question of why the Qin family’s ancestral grave was emitting smoke.

Finally, the big-footed director seemed to recall something, his eyes turning, and he began to stroke his beard and smile: “Now that I think about it…”

The other directors looked over.

“This Qin family isn’t actually a small clan… In the past, they had some connections with Director Feng.”

Director Feng Qinxue frowned deeply.

What connection could she possibly have with them?

She manages the vast Eastern Region, the most prosperous and blessed land after the Central Region. If such a promising family had risen, she should at least have some impression of it, if not attention.

Southern Director chuckled: “The Qin family didn’t originate from the South Ridge. They moved here later. The current South Ridge Qin family was once the Qin family of Yingzhou in the Eastern Region.”

Qin Family of Yingzhou!

Director Feng’s pupils narrowed sharply.

So the connection was this: they were once an Eastern Region family, which indeed had something to do with her.

The Qin family of Yingzhou… weren’t they the ones who made a grave mistake during the Beast Tide battle in the Eastern Region, leading to the destruction of Yingzhou, after which their family’s reputation plummeted and they had a falling out with the Fang family?

Later, when Yingzhou was reclaimed, it seemed like they were driven out…

For someone as busy as Director Feng, with so many Eastern Region families to manage, if you made a grave mistake, you should accept the consequences.

The decline or even destruction of a family was normal.

The Qin family had been removed from her list of concerns since they made their mistake; there was no need for her to follow up further.

But now, according to the Southern Region Director, the Qin family must have migrated to the South Ridge later on?

Did they rise again in the South Ridge, or was there a problem with the initial “mistake”?

Director Feng’s face grew solemn as her mind raced.

The Southern Region Director, with his hands clasped behind his back, was inwardly laughing.

Serves you right for making me choke earlier! Hahaha!

On Floating Island, Qin Ruqing opened her eyes.

Actually, she didn’t really need to rest; her innate great perfection body was practically a perpetual motion machine!

She sneaked a glance towards the evaluator.

Evaluator, ahem, should be about time, right?

Can she get up?

That sneaky glance was precisely caught by the evaluator.

His eyelids twitched, and the evaluator cleared his throat, saying, “Fairy Ruqing, are you done resting?”

Qin Ruqing jumped up excitedly and said, “Yes, yes, I’m done!”

Well… good child, you’re getting up too quickly.

The evaluator kept a straight face and said kindly, “Alright, let’s begin.”

The golden ring was summoned again. With the experience from before, the evaluator now operated at full power, making sure not to be nearly drained again.

Qin Ruqing approached the second stone tablet, and the onlookers’ spirits were lifted again.

Here she comes, Fairy Ruqing, we’ve finally been waiting for you!

Breaking through ten levels on the first stone tablet was impressive, though no one knew what it meant.

Could the next two tablets also achieve the ten-level brilliance?!

Qin Ruqing was unaware of the high expectations others had for her. To her, the second stone tablet seemed to be the easiest one.

The onlookers thought Qin Ruqing was about to use some terrifyingly powerful and mysterious spell, and even instinctively took a step back.

However, Qin Ruqing walked up to the stone tablet with a relaxed expression and simply placed her hand on it.

Hmm? What’s she doing?

Even the examiner looked confused.

He didn’t see any changes in the stone tablet through the golden ring connected to the ancient stone tablet.

After about ten breaths of time, Qin Ruqing withdrew her hand, took a small step back, and began to form hand seals.

When the final seal was completed, Qin Ruqing’s eyes locked in concentration, and she silently mouthed a single word:

“Explode!”

The onlookers, holding their breath in anticipation, were puzzled when… there was no immediate reaction?

The examiner, also perplexed, was about to ask if the spell had failed, but suddenly let out a muffled groan, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

Cough, cough… Okay, he realized it wasn’t a failure.

This girl must have cast some spell inside the stone tablet.

His mind felt like it was being bombarded with fireworks, causing him dizziness and confusion.

The spell’s power alone wasn’t unbearable, but the continuous explosions in rapid succession—those sounds were truly intolerable!

Moreover, didn’t you know that the second tablet tests for explosive power?

By dispersing the spell like this, while the number increased, the overall power was weakened!

Wait, quantity, power… explosion?

Suddenly realizing something, the scribe’s face changed dramatically.

For the first time during the test, he altered his hand seals, adopting a highly alert posture.

The examiner was sharp.

The multiple explosions triggered a chain reaction, and as the explosions stacked up to a terrifying degree, a full-scale eruption was inevitable!

Boom!

The examiner let out another muffled groan.

Spitting blood?

It was impossible to actually spit blood. It was more like being hit by a small mountain—what’s there to spit blood about…

With a gulp, the examiner’s face turned a shade of blue.

Fortunately, no one noticed the examiner’s distress; everyone’s attention was focused on the soaring golden pillar.

“Heavens, it’s appeared!” Someone exclaimed in shock.