Tainted will

The so-called special talent can be measured by four grades – superior grade to low grade. A low-grade talent youth would be able to become a peak bone-forging realm cultivator at most in his lifetime.

As for medium-grade talent youth after 2-3 years of cultivation will usually be able to become a peak elemental stage expert, becoming the clan's backbone. An individual with high-grade talent must be nurtured properly. They often become a future clan elder, and with 6-7 years of cultivation, they will become core formation realm experts.

And when it comes to superior grade, this individual would bring great prosperity to the entire clan. Great care must be given, with this talent in about 8-9 years they can become a spirit realm martial Master. At that moment they would be able to compete for the position of the head of the clan!

In other words, Su Ming as long as he is given enough time to cultivate and grow. He would be one of the main candidates for the position of clan head. Having full control over the village and becoming its most stable pillar.

One hour later, almost 90% of the youths had already walked through the mystical pond. There were a large number of low-grade and mid-grade talents among them, while 12-13 of those youths had no talent, and 3 high-grade talents also emerged among them.

The elders in the dark were conversing happily, their originally dull expressions were replaced by bright smiles and satisfied looks.

"Bai Ming." The academy elder spoke loudly, he thought secretly, 'Bai ming.. isn't he Bai li's grandson, it is best if has inherited his grandfather's talents unlike his father, who was only a medium-grade cultivation talent.'

Bai Ming who was waiting for his turn suddenly heard the elder call out his name.

He took a deep breath before stepping forward, at that instant countless eyes were on him. Bai Ming was expressionless, he ignored the crowd's gazes as he entered the formation.

The instant he entered the formation, Bai Ming could feel a slight layer of pressure on him. This pressure came from the dense spiritual qi in the air. This spirit spring produced spiritual qi along with the 1st tier formation which absorbed the surrounding qi into the area of the formation, because the qi was too rich in here, it caused this crushing pressure.

But as Bai Ming continued to move forward under the pressure of dense spiritual qi, the pores in his body gradually opened up as pure spiritual qi infiltrated his body and spread throughout his body like flowing water.

"So this is spiritual qi, it's warm and feels really comfortable. The pressure from earlier vanished completely. This is truly divine!" Thoughts ran wild inside him for a moment before he forcefully calmed himself.

"Just 4 steps away from the first pole.." Bai Ming muttered softly as he continued to keep walking.

Stopping before the 1st pole means that there is no cultivation talent. Crossing the 1st pole means Low-grade talent. Crossing the 2nd pole would be Mid grade talent, walking past the 3rd pole means one has High-grade talent. And passing the 4th pole implies that a person has superior-grade talent.

The deeper one went, the denser the spiritual qi was. And the denser the spiritual qi was greater the pressure. The reason why a person with higher talent was able to go forward was simple Because a person with higher talent would be able to absorb more spiritual qi than a person with lower-grade talent. Absorbing more spiritual qi would provide them with more strength to endure the pressure and move forward.

Right now Bai Ming had already crossed the 1st pole. He was just a dozen steps away from passing the 2nd pole.

"The pressure increased again. After every step I take the pressure keeps on stacking up. The pressure now is at least 20 times greater than when I first stepped foot inside this formation. But I can keep going forward." Bai Ming withstood the pressure as he kept waking.

After a minute had passed, Bai Ming crossed the 2nd pole.

Middle-grade talent!

Bai Ming first let out a sigh of relief. He then gritted his teeth and continued to move forward. Step by step slowly he pushed forward, like this he had walked over another 14-15 steps. He was still quite a distance from 3rd pole.

Bai Ming was reaching his limits by now. He slowly took eight more steps before coming to a stop.

"Come on just a few more steps and I will cross the 3rd pole. I can't stop here, Medium grade can not satisfy me. without High-grade talent at least how will I truly become strong!?" Bai Ming clenched his teeth as he kept on encouraging himself.

The cruel memories of his past life on earth flashed before his eyes; those days of starvation, all times he had to suffer mental, physical, and sexual abuse in the slums from those stronger than him, the weakness and helplessness he felt when he was forcefully made to watch his innocent sister get raped again and again. The crystal clear memory of his childhood best friend getting chased and bitten to death by rabid dogs just for dirtying a person's clothes. These incidents had already turned him into a cold individual, who had an insane thirst for power.

In this life, the image of his sweet mother lying on her death bed, waiting for death helplessly. The image of his father begging others to find a way to heal his mother, these acts of weakness were firmly imprinted in his soul.

He questioned the heavens for being so cruel. He felt hatred towards the clan for being so heartless. His mother was injured fighting against the beast tide in order to protect the village, Yet they wouldn't even spare a lowly pill. Giving his father a suicidal task knowing full well that he was not capable enough to finish the task, In the process making his father lose his life. All these events made his will firmer and his cold heart had only grown colder, fuelling the flames of ambitions in his heart.

"Ahhhh!" Bai Ming roared loudly as hot blood boiled. He used his entire body's strength to painstakingly take a small step forward.

And miraculously he managed to take a step forward. But the moment he took that single step the pressure intensified furthermore.

Bai Ming was incapable of handling such intense pressure. He directly fell forward, his face facing the spirit water. He was completely drenched in the mystical spirit water. He was like a dog, using all four of his limbs to endure the pressure. He looked pathetic and miserable, some youths were smiling at this scene, while some gave looks of disdain and contempt but none felt an ounce of sympathy for him.

The Elder in charge saw Bai Ming's miserable state, He knew that Bai Ming had reached his limits and was just going to announce the result, but he suddenly stopped. His eyebrows slightly rose as he looked on.

Bai Ming who was motionless just a moment ago ever so slowly began to crawl forward. His face was extremely twisted as he continued to crawl ahead. Blood began to flow from his nose landing on his image which was reflected by spirit water.

He was just thirteen dog steps away from the 3rd pole. He slowly crawled forward, The pressure increased again. But Bai Ming still persevered like he always did, stubborn till the very end.

"Persevere! persevere!! " He kept on roaring in his heart.

13 steps, 12 steps, 11 steps..... 7 steps.

Splash!

When just seven steps were remaining Bai Ming collapsed and directly lost consciousness.

He couldn't cross the 3rd pole, Bai Ming failed..

The Elder quickly moved, Bringing Bai Ming out of the pond. He glanced deeply at Bai Ming. Before handing him over to the medical personnel.

Bai Ming was still bleeding from his ears, nose, and mouth. He lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss.

Sometimes in life merely having a firm will isn't enough to succeed, you need both luck and talent.

After all, Fate is heartless, reality is harsh and the truth was always bitter.

Even if Bai Ming were to pass the 3rd pole because of his perseverance, what benefit was there? It won't make a damn difference, if Bai Ming had passed the 3rd pole while harming his own body in the process, his success would not be due to his spirit root but solely because of his perseverance and his spirit root will not change just because of it.

And somewhere deep in his heart, he knew that his efforts were futile and even foolish, but at the end of the day, he was also a human with genuine emotions. These fragile emotions which were bottled up from so many years of suffering and misery were unleashed all that once which caused it to erupt like a violent volcano.

The unrestrained emotions made him go against his logic. He chose to side with his heart instead of his mind, and he got what he deserved. It was completely fair!