After a brief moment, the light dome is deactivated.
The elders all praise Cloud for winning and the way he won.
Cloud respectfully bow slightly to them and thank them.
"Alright, as promised, the winner will be rewarded. There would also be a moment where we see if any of the elders, including myself will take any disciples. But before all that, let's begin assessing your talent first."
Everyone gradually turn to silent when the Head Elder start speaking.
When the new disciples hear about the elders taking in disciples, some of them became dejected. They regret not trying harder.
Some of them are pushed out when they were still confused at the beginning after all.
But then again, it is also their fault. If they are unready in the outside world, they would easily die.
Such is the world of cultivation. It is full of dangerous people and dangerous phenomena.
But overcoming those dangers is what would temper cultivators and make them stronger.
The elders who have walked this path already knows this. That is why the Head Elder started the competition suddenly like that.
It has been done many times in previous new disciples competition before so every elders are already used to it.
After the Head Elder spoke, one of the elder from the side brought out a table and put a round object on the table.
There is some sort of stand to support the object from rolling off the table.
The object is completely round. It is milky white in color. Its size is about the size of a soccer ball.
When you look closely it radiates rainbow glow around it. But only when you look closely. It is almost transparent you can hardly see it.
"This is a magic item that would temporarily fill your body with qi." The elder who brought out the object said.
"After using this magic item, it would be easier for you to sense and absorb qi in the future." She continued.
"Everyone is to use this magic item, then we can check your talent after that."
After the elder said that, the other elders are gathering the disciples and lining them up.
One by one the disciples touch the magic item.
They are instructed to put their hand on top of the item. When they do, the item glow a little brighter then the disciples feel a warm current flow throughout their body, starting from their hand that is connected to the object.
Each disciples are to touch it for about 10 seconds. Then they are ordered to line up in columns and rows like before.
The disciples who have done the process is enjoying the novel feeling within their body. They can clearly feel the qi in their body and it felt like they are beyond their peak state.
It is even more amazing than when their bodies are on their top performance.
After everyone is done and back to their line, the Head Elder step to the front and he speak.
"Alright, now I will start the assessment process. You only need to stay still."
After saying that, the Head Elder put both of his hands open in front of him.
The other elders throws a couple dozen stones above the disciples.
The Head Elder then close his hands and the stones that are spreading above all disciples explode into powder without exception.
Massive amounts of qi are flooding the area where the disciples lines up.
They can't see it but all they can see is a projection of rainbow above their heads.
A single, full circle of rainbow is manifesting above them.
The disciples only felt something changing around their surroundings. Something that felt nice to them.
From the eyes of the elders, they can see something completely different.
A flood of rich, transparent qi is flooding the area where the disciples stands.
Some of that qi is starting to converge around the disciples' bodies.
Some disciples have more qi converging around their bodies while others have less.
What the elders are trying to test is actually the Spiritual Roots of the disciples.
Spiritual Roots are something important for cultivators. They can affect the rate at which cultivator gather Qi.
Gathering Qi is very important factor for cultivators from Qi Gathering Realm onward.
So Spiritual Roots that affect the rate of gathering qi are closely linked to talent by cultivators.
There are three known grades of Spiritual Roots in this world.
Common Grade Spiritual Roots are the most common. One out of a hundred people would have this on average.
Earth Grade Spiritual Roots are the next. Only one out of ten thousand would have this.
Heaven Grade Spiritual Roots are last. They are the rarest and most exalted Spiritual Roots. Only one in a million people can be found to have this.
At the open ground, the elders continue watching the new disciples.
Most of them are watching Cloud first because of his latest performance.
"Impossible!" One elder said. Followed by remarks of disbelieves from others.
The Head Elder and Xiao Han are also shocked. They can't believe their eyes.
There are no Qi gathering around Cloud at all. That is something that should've been impossible.
The Head Elder quickly said to the female elder who was in charge of the round magic item to let Cloud touch the magic item again in case something went wrong.
They quickly let him do it again but the results are the same.
This results shocked everyone.
Because even someone with a common Spiritual Roots would attract some qi around their bodies in this test.
This means only one thing. Cloud has no Spiritual Root at all.