This heart inquisition was indeed as the captain had said. It was another way for the Sword Holder to make an oath.
In front of the emperor, they would answer the questions asked by the emperor's statue. This process was to verify their race as well as to test their temperament.
It wasn't important because even if they didn't pass, it wouldn't affect them from becoming a Sword Holder.
However, it was important because the light from the heart inquisition was the hidden condition for all the future advancements and selections, especially anything that concerned the core of the human race.
It wasn't that this process couldn't be faked, but first, you had to have the ability to deceive the emperor's statue.
Although the statue of the emperor wasn't the true emperor who had already died, the main body of the statue in the Grand Imperial Capital Region was formed by a wisp of the emperor's soul. After being worshiped by the human race for countless years, it already possessed astonishing abilities.
That was why he was a divine being among the human race and became a witness for the Sword Holder.
At that moment, after Xu Qing and the others stepped forward a thousand feet, as the pressure of the emperor's statue descended, the heart inquisition began.
The first person to be questioned wasn't Xu Qing but Qing Qiu.
One could see a rainbow light emitting from the glabella of the statue, enveloping Qing Qiu.
This process attracted the attention of thousands of people below. At the same time, all the Sword Holders in the sky also looked over to witness it.
Qing Qiu's body trembled. The evil ghost on the scythe shivered. It closed its eyes tightly, not daring to open them or act rashly.
It sensed a vast divine sense landing on its body. After a sweep, the gaze focused on Qing Qiu.
This divine sense was too majestic and outsiders couldn't sense it, but it could clearly sense it.
At that moment, a vast starry sky appeared in front of Qing Qiu. The first thing she saw was a sea of resplendent light above.
That sea of light attracted all her attention, causing her to not immediately look below the starry sky.
Instead, she looked at the light above. She could vaguely see a holy figure in the light.
In front of this figure, she felt incomparably insignificant. Everything in front of her caused her eyes to be a little dazed. However, very soon, her determination made her eyes reveal clarity.
At this moment, a gentle voice slowly rang out in her ears.
"Little girl, don't be nervous. Tell me, what do you think is a god?"
Qing Qiu was stunned. The gentleness of this voice was beyond her expectations.
She originally thought that with the dignity of the emperor's statue, the voice would be high and mighty. She didn't expect the voice to be so intimate.
Qing Qiu hesitated for a moment. At this moment, her mind slowly became ethereal and some scenes appeared faintly.
Looking at those scenes, her eyes revealed confusion. She vaguely felt an answer rising in her heart, wanting to say it out loud.
It wasn't that she couldn't stop it, but that gentle voice made her feel that it was fine even if she said it out loud. Hence, she spoke softly.
"I don't know what a god is but it doesn't matter. If there's a chance, I'll take him down with me!"
As soon as these words were spoken, she seemed to hear a laugh filled with kindness.
"Your courage is commendable."
As the laughter echoed, the starry sky in front of her dissipated. When she felt that she had returned to reality again, she, who was standing in front of the emperor's statue, saw that the statue in front of her emitted a dazzling light at this moment.
This light instantly reached more than 5,000 feet in length but it didn't stop. Instead, it rose all the way to 10,000 feet and finally stopped at 11,000 feet.
The 11,000-foot-long light illuminated the sky.
The Sword Holders in the sky all glanced over. Even the middle-aged man who announced everything revealed admiration in his eyes. In fact, the nine Sword Holder Elders were all staring at Qing Qiu.
As the first person to be questioned, Qing Qiu directly reached 11,000 feet. Although she didn't break the Yinghuang Province's record, it was rare to see a 11,000-foot-long light. It was enough to show that she answered sincerely.
"This girl isn't bad!"
"She's a good seedling. We can use the resources of our Yinghuang Province to nurture her. With such a length of light, there's a high chance that she will be valued by the county in the future."
Xu Qing also took a few more glances at Qing Qiu. As for the captain at the side, he was first shocked. After that, he thought of the answers and preparations he had done and calmed down again.
After that, the second questioning started. The rainbow light from the glabella of the emperor's statue moved away from Qing Qiu and enveloped the youth, Ning Yan.
Clearly, there was no order to who was questioned. It all depended on the will of the Great Emperor's statue.
Very soon, the same starry sky appeared in front of Ning Yan. Although he was nervous, he was still filled with anticipation. At that moment, he instinctively lifted his head and looked up with a fanatical expression.
"Little guy, tell me, what is a god?"
A gentle voice echoed in Ning Yan's ears.
Unlike Qing Qiu's contemplation, Ning Yan didn't think at all. Amidst the fanaticism in his eyes and the piety on his face, he spoke loudly.
"God is the great enemy of our human race. He is hated by all races and makes all living beings miserable. He is the source of resentment for all lives…"
He didn't say much but what he said was mostly what he had accepted in the sect since he was young. It couldn't be said that it was a bad answer, but it couldn't be said to be good either. It was mediocre and showed that he didn't have his own thoughts.
Hence, after he finished speaking, when he returned to reality, he saw 600-foot-long light emitted by the Great Emperor's statue.
This light couldn't be compared to Qing Qiu at all.
Ning Yan was stunned. He didn't know what was wrong with his answer.
He felt that he was right, but the difference in light was extremely great. This puzzled him and he couldn't help but look at Qing Qiu. He really wanted to know the other party's answer.
The expressions of the Sword Holders in the sky were mostly normal. In reality, the light of 600 feet was the norm. This meant a pass.
However, the captain sneered inwardly. He thought to himself that it was only 600 feet long. He would definitely cross tens of thousands of feet. With this thought in mind, he looked at the emperor statue with desire.
At the next instant, the rainbow light descended on the captain.
The captain's body trembled and excitement appeared in his eyes. His expression was smug. However, the process was extremely short. In just two breaths of time, the rainbow light on his body dissipated.
As for the emperor statue standing in front of him, it was motionless and didn't emit any light.
The captain was stunned.
Xu Qing blinked and looked at the captain in surprise.
Qing Qiu also revealed a look of suspicion. Ning Yan was also stunned.
Not only them, but all the Sword Holders in the sky also revealed strange expressions. The gazes of the nine Sword Holder Elders instantly turned sharp.
"If there's no light, it means that he's not a human." The Sword Holder Great Elder in the middle looked down and calmly spoke.
As soon as he finished speaking, killing intent erupted in the surroundings but it didn't descend.
This was because such a situation had happened before. Every time there was no light at all, it meant that the other party wasn't a human. However, they were puzzled because in the past, such a situation would result in the person being erased.
But now, Chen Erniu was still standing there safely.
This was also the reason why killing intent erupted but it didn't descend.
"No, I'm a human. My answer is also very good. Moreover, the emperor likes me very much. In the beginning, he even affectionately called me brat." The captain was a little nervous for once as he looked at the emperor statue.
Xu Qing also became nervous.
Finally, when the atmosphere here became increasingly solemn, the Great Emperor's statue slowly emitted a ten-foot-long light.
Ten feet…
The captain was stunned.
Xu Qing also felt disbelief. He vaguely felt that even the ten feet light seemed to have been released unwillingly. It was as though it was only a symbolic point to prove that the captain was a human.
The killing intent in the sky dissipated, but all the Sword Holders had strange expressions. It was the same for the nine Sword Holder Elders. They had never seen a ten-foot-long light.
"What answer did this kid give?"
"If this matter gets out, it'll be too embarrassing. Our Yinghuang Province actually produced someone who got ten feet light in heart inquisition."
"How about we find a reason to disqualify him…"
The captain looked at the ten-foot-long beam of light and felt extremely aggrieved. At the same time, he heaved a sigh of relief. That instant of killing intent from the sky just now almost made him feel that he was about to be killed.
However, very soon, he felt that it was unfair. Just as he was filled with grief and indignation, the rainbow light landed on Zhang Siyun. This lasted for dozens of breaths of time before the emperor's statue emitted a light of 5,000 feet length.
This length was good, but compared to Qing Qiu, it was much inferior.
However, no one noticed that while Zhang Siyun was in the midst of the heart inquisition, the Sword Holder Great Elder in the sky seemed to have received the divine sense from the emperor. His eyes suddenly narrowed and revealed a cold glint. He glanced at Zhang Siyun meaningfully before calmly retracting the cold glint in his eyes.
Zhang Siyun, who was on the stairs, didn't notice this. He coldly looked at Xu Qing.
At that moment, among the five of them, Xu Qing was the only one who wasn't questioned.
Xu Qing took a deep breath with a calm expression and retracted his gaze from the captain. When he lifted his head and looked at the emperor's statue, rainbow light enveloped his body.
A starry sky appeared in front of Xu Qing.
He stood in the starry sky and sensed the resplendent sea of light above him. However, he didn't lift his head immediately. Instead, he lowered his head and looked at his feet.
This was his habit. He liked to observe where he was first.
With just a glance, his eyes narrowed.
He saw a vast continent.
This continent was too large, as though it occupied half of the starry sky. On the continent, he saw the fragmented-face of the god.
Its hair fluttered and hung down, permeating half of the continent. At the same time, behind this fragmented-face was a golden spine.
This spine was very long. It circled the outside of the continent and enveloped it in circles. At the same time, it seemed to be slowly shrinking…
It had no arms, no body, and no legs. There was only this golden spine formed by countless bones.
Every bone inside was as large as a region and emitted an incomparable divine might.
With half of its head, it transformed into the god's fragmented-face that was supreme in terms of life level.
Xu Qing only took a glance and his entire body was on the verge of collapsing. His mind trembled violently, stirring up huge waves.
However, he could sense that he was in a protected state and there was a high chance that what he saw was an illusion. Otherwise, he would probably not be able to withstand this glance and his body and soul would be destroyed.
At the same time, a gentle voice echoed in his ears.
"You're the only one among the few people who didn't lift his head to look at me but lowered his head to stare at the place where he stood after coming here."
"I think you want to see this world, so I let you see this scene but they didn't."
"Now, let me ask you a question."
"What is a god?"
