True Martial World
Chapter 465: As I adventure, you be a shield

After his name was written, Shen Tu Nantian felt uneasy but also felt anticipation.

The light began to gradually form together behind the words ‘Shen Tu Nantian’, as it condensed into a blurry word, which looked like…

“Grandmaster”?

Shen Tu Nantian’s eyebrow ticked up. He wasn’t overjoyed, nor was he overly disappointed. It could only be considered neutral.

“Grandmaster” was only one level higher than the black-dressed woman from before. It was not considered amazing.

No one knew how much difference “Soul”, the title one rank higher that “Grandmaster” was from “Grandmaster”. Maybe the difference was huge, resulting in no cultivator present being able to exceed “Grandmaster”.

After all there were only six ranks. If each rank spanned a wide range, then even when two people had quite a big difference in talent, they might still be given the same rank.

“If it was not because of that kid…I might have reached ‘Soul’…” Shen Tu Nantian thought hatefully.

At this moment, the “Grandmaster” word was beginning to become clearer. It had already determined Shen Tu Nantian’s talent.

But…at this moment, Shen Tu Nantian’s heart skipped a beat as his body instantly froze. A faint black gas appeared on Shen Tu Nantian’s face.

This black gas seemed like a tiny venomous snake. It appeared and faded away on Shen Tu Nantian’s face very quickly as it hid away beneath Shen Tu Nantian’s skin again.

Shen Tu Nantian did not discover the sudden appearance of the black little snake. The others did not see it either, as they did not have the ability to see it.

Only Yi Yun could see it clearly.

“It’s that evil energy?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he rubbed his chin with an odd expression.

Half a year ago, Yi Yun had noticed the evil energy within the Great Empress relic. He had used the Purple Crystal to control that energy and sent it into Shen Tu Nantian’s body.

Yi Yun also did not know what sort of harm it would bring to humans other than depleting one’s lifespan. Anyway the test subject was Shen Tu Nantian, so Yi Yun was very happy to see the evil energy go loose.

At this Great Empress mystic realm, when Yi Yun saw Shen Tu Nantian again, he felt an additional violet demonic aura to Shen Tu Nantian. It was as if he had practiced some demonic powers.

This aura was likely due to Yi Yun’s torture on Shen Tu Nantian, resulting in a great mental change. However, it could also have been caused by the evil energy.

Now, when Shen Tu Nantian was testing his talent, Yi Yun saw the evil energy appear once again. With him opening his energy vision, he could see the tiny black snake, which no one else could see, swimming within Shen Tu Nantian’s body like a spiritual being.

It penetrated through Shen Tu Nantian’s brain, following down across his spinal cord and into his Dantian. As it circled around his Dantian, it would take away a portion of Shen Tu Nantian’s vitality in an unnoticeable fashion…

Yi Yun felt that the little black snake had grown a lot stronger compared to half a year ago. However, it had yet to grow sentient. Its consumption of energy and growth was all following its natural instincts.

Under this situation, Yi Yun could still use the Purple Crystal to control it and extract it from Shen Tu Nantian’s body. But of course, Yi Yun would definitely not do that.

As the tiny black snake appeared without anyone noticing, the word on the crystal pillar had an extraordinary change!

What had nearly been formed as “Grandmaster” turned blurry once again. The strokes dispersed like tadpoles.

“Oh?”

Shen Tu Nantian was stunned as he stared helplessly. The dissipated light gathered once again, but this time, the word was no longer the same!

The word was…”Knight”!?

Shen Tu Nantian was stunned. He could not believe what he was seeing.

The word became clearer. It was very obvious it was “Knight”!

It went from “Grandmaster” to…”Knight”!

What!?

Shen Tu Nantian momentarily felt like he had been struck by lightning as he froze completely in front of the crystal pillar.

“Knight!”!

My talent is just the lowest “Knight”!?

Shen Tu Nantian could not accept this reality. All his blood flowed rapidly, surging towards his face.

How can I only be a “Knight”? There must be a mistake! It clearly formed the word “Grandmaster” in the first place, why did it change!?

Shen Tu Nantian’s blood surged. He even wanted to unsheath his sword and slash at the crystal pillar!

Of course, he did not have the guts to do so.

“Even Shen Tu Nantian is a ‘Knight’!”

“He just missed entering the next rank by a bit. This crystal pillar’s standards are too high.”

People discussed as they had mixed emotions.

Many amongst them were gloating. If one of the top geniuses in the Tian Yuan world, Shen Tu Nantian was not that much stronger than them, then they had nothing to be sad about.

“Amazing! Amazing!” At this moment, the swarthy youth suddenly jumped up in the crowd, “This Young master Nantian sure is different. He nearly reached ‘Grandmaster’! Applause! Applause!”

As the swarthy youth spoke, he clapped his hands with joy. However this applause sounded like nothing but ridicule in Shen Tu Nantian’s ears.

“Kid, you are courting death!”

Shen Tu Nantian’s eyes turned red as he glared at the dark-skinned kid who was clapping. If not for the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules restricting him, he really wanted to cut off the head of such a fool.

The swarthy youth jumped up in fright and no longer dared to clap. His somewhat silly appearance resulted in many people snickering.

Of course, they were not really laughing at the swarthy youth, but at Shen Tu Nantian.

“Hmph!”

Shen Tu Nantian snorted coldly. As he left the crystal pillar, he looked deeply at Yi Yun with cold killing intent. Clearly, Shen Tu Nantian blamed his failure at the evaluation results on the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill fed by Yi Yun.

However, how could the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill have such a strong effect?

Yi Yun chuckled. He never expected the evil energy to be so powerful. It made Yi Yun recall some of those mythical novels about demons which would leech onto a person’s body like a parasite, sucking up their blood and soul. This tiny black snake was even more terrible than a normal demon. It could consume the host’s vitality and Yuan Qi without the host knowing. It had even forcefully reduced Shen Tu Nantian’s talent.

“What was in that Great Empress relic? Could it be that one of the most critical materials used in the relic was obtained inside the Great Empress mystic realm by the Shen Tu family clan? Otherwise, how could it be so weird?”

From the notes of the Desolate Heaven Master who only wished to cure the Great Empress’ terminated meridians, the ancient Great Empress had not consumed the relic. Then from ancient times to now, the only people who consumed the Great Empress relic were Shen Tu Nantian and Yi Yun.

Of course, Yi Yun had absorbed the essence of the Great Empress relic, while Shen Tu Nantian had to bear the evil side of it.

Others adventured, while Yi Yun took the loot. When Yi Yun adventured, others would be the shield.

This was Yi Yun’s principle.

It was shameless, but very useful. It was an even greater joy when the person used as a shield was not a very good person.