The test stopped. The pillar returned to normal.
As for Chu Feng, he had received nothing — no proof of having passed the test either.
But Chu Feng didn't dwell on it. He figured that since the Seven Realms Sacred Palace had allowed them to take the test, there had to be a way to confirm who had passed.
Chu Feng walked out through the barrier gate at the other end of the hall.
He didn't return directly outside the grand testing formation. Instead, he entered a massive valley.
Surrounded by rock walls on all sides, the valley had over a thousand barrier gates embedded in them. Before each gate stood an elder waiting in attendance — formations arrays held in their left hands, tokens clutched in their right.
Each token bore three markings, representing talent, formation construction, and formation breaking.
One after another, people were emerging from the barrier gates, and the elders would hand out tokens to those who came out.
Most of the tokens given out bore no change, but a select few people received tokens that were glowing.
When Chu Feng stepped out, the elder was already waiting at the entrance with a smile. The token he handed Chu Feng had its very first marking lit up.
The answer was obvious — only those who received a token with a glowing marking had passed the test.
"Congratulations, young friend."
"Please enter the teleportation formation on the left." As the elder handed Chu Feng the token, he also gestured toward the center of the valley.
There stood two teleportation formations. Those who passed the test took the left one; those who failed took the right.
Because this test required passing all three sub-tests before one could advance to the practical combat evaluation.
Failing even a single sub-test meant immediate elimination.
Chu Feng accepted the token and stepped into the teleportation formation.
In the next instant, Chu Feng found himself back outside the grand testing formation.
In the blink of an eye, the crowd outside the formation had thinned considerably.
In truth, most people had already finished the first round of testing. The reason so many had disappeared was simple — most of them had been eliminated.
Among those who had passed, however, most chose to take a brief rest and regroup before proceeding to the next test.
Chu Feng, on the other hand, stepped directly through the second door — formation construction.
This hall was virtually identical to the first.
At its center stood a pillar, and at the top of that pillar was inscribed a name — the current record holder for the test.
Seven Realms Sacred Palace, Jie Ranqing.
The pinnacle of formation construction talent still belonged to Chu Feng's mother.
Chu Feng began constructing his formation. It was completed in short order.
The moment it was finished, eight dragon shadows spiraled out from within the pillar — his result.
He was just one dragon shadow short of his mother's record, but it wasn't that Chu Feng couldn't have triggered it. He had deliberately controlled the timing and the intensity of his construction.
These eight dragon shadows did not represent Chu Feng's true ability. They were simply the result he wanted to show.
What Chu Feng did not know was that every move he made was being observed by the Master of the Seven Realms Sacred Palace and that mysterious elder.
"Something's not right."
The elder spoke again, his tone now heavy and grave — entirely stripped of the amusement and dismissiveness he'd shown at the beginning.
"You sense it too, my lord?" the Master of the Seven Realms Sacred Palace asked.
"Tianran, you've noticed it as well, haven't you?" the elder asked.
"I can't say for certain, but... it does seem intentional," the Master replied.
"Let's keep watching," the elder said.
Chu Feng exited the hall through the barrier gate just as before and entered another valley.
Only this time, the elder didn't hand Chu Feng a token. Instead, he activated the formation and lit up the second marking on Chu Feng's token.
"Young friend, left side, please."
The elder's attitude was even better than before — not only was he smiling, there was a hint of eagerness in his manner.
Chu Feng continued on to the final test — formation breaking.
The hall was again nearly identical to the previous ones: a formation-constructed space with a pillar at its center. And at the top of that pillar, once more, was inscribed his mother's name.