251: Chapter 251 The Spirit Testing Stone is Broken?!

Seeing the spirit testing stone remain completely unresponsive, the smile on Elder Mo Feng's face became as radiant as a blooming chrysanthemum. He deliberately raised his voice and said to Qingli, "Elder Qingli, it seems that this time... you have truly misjudged him."

"Is this the 'infinite potential' and 'extraordinary talent' you spoke of? For the spirit testing stone to show no reaction at all, he's not just a small fish in a pond... he's worse than a common loach!"

“Hahaha!”

Elder Lan Yi also slightly furrowed her elegant brows. Looking at Xu Ruyu, the disappointment in her eyes was hard to conceal.

She had originally held some expectations for Qingli's judgment, but now it seemed...

Qingli bit her lower lip tightly, the color draining from her exquisite face.

She looked at the lonely figure on the stone platform, eyes still closed in concentration with his palm pressed against the spirit testing stone, seemingly deaf to the surrounding ridicule. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by countless hands, filled with both pain and anxiety.

She didn't believe Xu Ruyu could be a "Spirit-Severing Waste Body." How could someone like Old Ancestor Qingtian take an interest in a true useless person?

But the facts before her... the spirit testing stone's lack of response was an ironclad reality!

The Taihu Clan's spirit testing stone had been passed down for ten million years and had never made a mistake!

"Xu Ruyu... what on earth are you..."

Qingli cried out in her heart.

Xu Ruyu's experience at this moment, however, was entirely different from what the outside world perceived.

When his Haotian True Qi was injected into the spirit testing stone, he felt no rejection or blockage. Instead, it was like a clay ox entering the sea; that wisp of True Qi was instantly swallowed by the stone.

Then, he "saw" it.

Not with his eyes, but through a subtle "perception" fed back by that wisp of True Qi.

The interior of the spirit testing stone was not a simple energy detector.

It was a "Law Mapper" and "Origin Probe" faintly connected to the Laws of Heaven and Earth!

It detected more than just conventional Spiritual Root attributes and Spiritual Qi affinity; at a deeper level, it probed the degree of resonance and compatibility between an individual's life Origin and the various "Grand Dao Laws" and "Energy Origins" of the world!

The spiritual power of ordinary Cultivators corresponds to "activated" Spiritual Qi particles (psions), which are "dominant energies." The spirit testing stone can easily identify and map their attributes (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, etc.) and display them with corresponding colored light.

However, the essence of Xu Ruyu's Haotian True Qi was the "ordering" of the kinetic energy from air molecule thermal motion. Its energy source was the omnipresent sea of psions that existed in a "ground state"!

This was a "mode of Origin energy utilization" that had never been recognized or defined by the traditional cultivation system!

When the ancient detection mechanism of the spirit testing stone, passed down for ten million years, encountered this entirely new cognitive framework and energy form with its own detection logic, it fell into a sort of... "system crash"?

It could not identify the attribute of this energy because it did not belong to any known Spiritual Root category.

It could not evaluate the affinity of this energy because its source was "everything," yet it was not any specific "Spiritual Qi" in the traditional sense.

It could not even accurately measure the "quality" and "quantity" of this energy, as its vibration frequency and form of existence were fundamentally different from traditional spiritual power.

Thus, to the outside world, the spirit testing stone appeared to have "no reaction."

But in Xu Ruyu's unique True Qi perception, the vast nebula structure inside the spirit testing stone was performing calculations at an unprecedented, frantic speed!

Countless minute Law Runes lit up and flickered out, attempting to analyze the secrets of this "alien" energy, trying to incorporate it into the existing evaluation system, yet failing to find a suitable "coordinate" or "reference frame"!

The spirit testing stone, this ancient and proud creation, had encountered the greatest "cognitive challenge" since its inception.

Enlightenment dawned in Xu Ruyu's heart.

He realized it wasn't that his Aptitude was too poor, but rather that his "Dao" and the inherent "Dao" of this world had a fundamental difference in their underlying logic!

His Air Cultivation was a "dimensionality reduction" operation on the existing energy system. Was it possible that the spirit testing stone, a "high-dimensional detector" based on the old system, was unable to understand and locate him, a "low-dimensional existence"?

He slowly withdrew his palm and opened his eyes.

His gaze was clear and calm, showing no ripples from the surrounding mockery; instead, it held a hint of thoughtfulness.

Seeing Xu Ruyu withdraw his hand and open his eyes—with neither the dejection of failure nor the shame of being mocked, but rather a calm expression of "so that's how it is"—the surrounding laughter grew even louder.

“Oh? Still acting composed? Quite the actor, aren't you?”

“Maybe he knows he's a waste and has just given up?”

“Hurry up and get down! Stop making a fool of yourself up there!”

“Elder Qingli, aren't you going to take your 'infinite potential' Sect Master and leave? Are you waiting to be formally expelled?”

Elder Mo Feng was even more triumphant. He stepped forward and cleared his throat, preparing to officially announce Xu Ruyu's failure in the first trial and use it as a pretext to begin his attack on Qingli.

However, just as his lips parted and before a sound could escape—

A sudden change occurred!

“Crack...”

The sound of a tiny crack appearing in glass echoed from the center of the Spirit Testing Platform!

The sound wasn't loud, but given that the lowest cultivation among the Taihu clansmen present was the Foundation Establishment Stage, how sharp was their hearing?

Instantly, all the laughter and chatter came to a screeching halt!

Everyone's eyes, as if drawn by a magnet, snapped back to focus on the spirit testing stone!

On the surface of that ten-thousand-year-old spirit testing stone, a hairline fracture had appeared without warning!

The crack shimmered with a strange silver-gray light, and nebula-like radiance leaked out from within.

Silence!

A deathly silence!

Everyone stared with wide eyes and agape mouths, looking at that crack in disbelief, as if they were witnessing the most impossible thing in the world!

The spirit testing stone... has a crack? How is this possible?!

This was a sacred relic of the clan that had been passed down for ten thousand years, weathered through the ages, and had even remained unscathed after taking a full-power blow from a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator!

How could it... because of a touch from a Qi Refining stage Cultivator... develop a crack?!

“This... this is...”

The smile on Elder Mo Feng's face froze completely, replaced by extreme shock.

For the first time, a look of shock appeared on Elder Lan Yi's gentle face.

Qingli suddenly covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes filled with an unbelievable light.

Below the stage, all the Taihu clansmen stood frozen like statues, dumbfounded.