"Wait, but you said you can't sense his soul? What does that mean?"
"It means that either his soul is blocked or sealed by some sort of odd technique or treasure, or… His soul is too much more powerful than mine for me to sense it." Asyna explained slowly. "Also, his body…" Asyna inadvertently wiped her nose, double and triple checked to make sure no blood was running down it.
RolRol didn't seem to notice this oddity. Or, more accurately, she didn't understand the double meaning behind that action. "What about his body?"
"It's very…" Asyna gulped. "Powerful…"
Seeing that Asyna had turned into some love crazed teenage girl, RolRol lightly pulled her long brunette hair to get her to snap out of it.
Asyna cleared her throat, "I mean, I can't accurately sense how powerful his body is. As you know, that's an advantage of body cultivators."
"But, your senses should be high enough to see through it... Unless…"
"Unless his body is stronger than my senses are, which seems to be the case."
RolRol breathed out. "This is a big matter. He's a variable we shouldn't have to deal with according to reports, yet he's here."
"Not only is he here, he's noticed us long ago." Asyna fixed her hair as though she was getting ready for a date. "Didn't you see how his eyes lingered on my body for so long? Do you think he likes me?"
RolRol rolled her eyes. "The only reason no man dares to look at you is because of all that murder lingering around you. Since he dares to look, it's only because he has the Presence to counteract it. If you stopped going around like this, there wouldn't be a single man without his eyes on you. Plus, we're behind a concealment array, he can't see you, genius."
Asyna snorted. "If you can't deal with a little killing intent, are you even a man?"
"You're a virgin yet you're still such a pervert, does anything in this world make sense?"
"Hey, hey. Don't go spreading that around." Asyna covered the little girl's mouth as though she was saying something blasphemous.
"Either way, this is good. Now we can justify ourselves to Lilith when we're found out."
Asyna grinned. "I just thought of a really good idea."
"What?"
"I'm going to be his sparring partner!"
...
Dyon had felt that there was a pair of eyes on him for a long while, but every time he looked, he saw nothing. With his Presence, he knew there must be someone in that space, but without his soul, he couldn't figure out exactly what…
Although it made him feel uncomfortable, he didn't sense that the gaze had any ill intentions despite raking his body over so often. He felt like he was a woman being cat-called on the street for some odd reason.
In any case, he wasn't in the mood to care about being watched. Since someone wanted to monitor him, they could fully witness just how pissed off he was.
That said, if Dyon knew just what Asyna had figured out just by observing him for a bit, he would be surprised beyond belief. Not many were considered to be talented in soul cultivation, and even among those that were, senses as sharp as Asyna's, and at such a young age at that, were even rarer.
From Dyon's previous knowledge, the only person he knew capable of seeing through the Primordial Yins he had within him was his grand teacher! The same was true for the number of people who realized that his soul was sealed. Such senses was completely inexplicable…
The truth of the matter was that although Asyna was only a 10th stage grandmaster, her soul had recently broken into the celestial stage, allowing her to cultivate her divine sense. As such, the sharpness of her perception far exceeded what Dyon was used to dealing with. If it wasn't for the fact that Dyon's own Perception was so sharp and he could feel himself being observed, without his soul, it would have been completely impossible for him to notice Asyna at all…
Unfortunately, this was what Asyna noticed as well. If Dyon's soul was really so much more powerful than her own, then that should mean that Dyon would have seen through their concealment array long ago. Yet, Dyon clearly hadn't. This left only one explanation: Dyon's soul was sealed!
With just a few minutes of observation, Asyna had broken through one of Dyon's most tightly held secrets and Dyon had not a single clue…
"4th grade meridians!" The golden robed elders excited voice seemed to make him forget Dyon's previous slander.
It might seem as though Soul Rending Peak was unmatched in the 98th quadrant, but it seemed that even they had something to worry about, or else this elder wouldn't be so happy about finding such good talents.
By all logic, an elder forced to oversee such a mundane event would be disgruntled. However, this elder seemed to take pleasure in finding diamonds in the rough. It was truly odd.
Following this, a string of 5th and 4th grade geniuses were called up, many of which were the core disciples of the various branch peaks. When the supervising judges thought about what it would mean if these 4th grade geniuses had a drop of Dyon's honey, they almost trembled with excitement.
"It seems we won't have another 3rd grade genius this year." The crowd sighed.
"Hold on, that Jafari boy hasn't gone yet. He's only 29 years old! He must have a 3rd grade set of meridians."
The crowd clamoured as Dyon walked up to take his test. Clearly, they were excited to see a legendary 3rd grade talent.
Everyone knew that although there was only a single number difference between the 4th and 3rd grades, the power and talent difference was like the difference between heaven and earth.
The 3rd grade onward was the threshold where meridians would be robust enough to handle tempering with Gama energy. Before that threshold, geniuses had no choice but to temper their meridians with wills, one by one.
Back in Focus Academy, Dyon could remember how proud geniuses who tempered their meridians with two or more wills were. Obviously, the more wills you were capable of withstanding, the better your future would be.
Usually, 9th grade talents would barely be able to handle one will, while 4th grade talents could handle ten or more. However, while this gave 4th grade talents a massive talent and future prospects advantage as compared to lower grade talent, in the face of a 3rd grade talent, they wouldn't be able to hold a candle to them…
Just think about the difference between being tempered with a mere 10 wills, versus being tempered with all of the wills in existence! The gap between them was so astronomical that it wasn't even worth mentioning.
Of course, 3rd grade talents had their limits as compared to 2nd,1st and True Deity level talents. However, if the scope was purely limited to the meridian formation stage, those difference would be negligible. Meaning, when it came to tempering meridians at the meridian formation stage, 3rd grade talents were just as impressive as their more talented counterparts!
With all of this said, it was clear what significance a 3rd grade talent had. However, in the entire 98th quadrant, they didn't have a single one in the younger generation!
Dyon stepped to the golden robed elder casually, not showing the same nervousness as the other candidates. It was as though this assessment had little or nothing to do with him… As though he didn't notice the piercing gaze of the elder.
To the golden robed elder, the only reason Dyon would be so sympathetic to the fallen soul cultivation genius was because he too was one. 'If you think you can hide behind your Jafari name to escape punishment for being a soul cultivation deviant, I have some bad news for you.' The elder sneered inwardly.
Dyon raised his hand to the talent crystal, placing his hand down.
The crowd was on the tips of its toes, all vying for a better position and projecting out their ears as though they might miss the result.
When the elder saw the result, he was stunned for a bit before his disdain deepened. "7th grade meridians."
