"Go on," Lin Quan waved his hand impatiently, checking his fingernails. "Don't waste our time. The real geniuses are waiting."
Lin Kai stepped forward. He felt the physical weight of hundreds of gazes—mockery from Lin Bo in the front row, indifference from the elites, and a quiet, sad pity from Master Feng Xiu in the corner.
He approached the Crystal Prism. Up close, it was terrifying. It loomed over him, clear and judging.
'This determines everything,' Lin Kai told himself, forcing his legs to stop shaking. 'If I have an affinity, I can cultivate. Even if my blood is Grade Zero, a strong affinity can bypass the bloodline requirement for certain sects.'
He reached out.
His hand trembled slightly before pressing flat against the cold surface.
...
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Someone in the back snickered. "Look, it's broken again. Even the rock ignores him."
But then, the crystal reacted.
It didn't glow. It didn't shine.
Instead, a swirling, inky smoke seemed to manifest inside the glass. It wasn't the absence of light; it was a presence. A deep, devouring violet-black hue that seemed to drink the sunlight hitting the prism. The light around Lin Kai seemed to dim, sucked into the vortex of his palm.
The snickers stopped abruptly.
Deacon Lin Quan leaned forward, his eyebrows shooting up.
The blackness swirled, settling into a steady, pulsing rhythm. It wasn't blinding, but it wasn't faint either. It felt ancient. Cold.
"Dark Attribute," Lin Quan muttered, his voice echoing in the silent plaza. "Mid Grade."
A collective gasp ripped through the crowd like a wave.
"Darkness?"
"He has the Cursed Affinity?"
"My grandfather said Dark cultivators go mad before they reach thirty. Their Qi eats their own minds!"
"Gross. It feels... sticky. Stay away from him."
Lin Kai stood frozen, staring at the black swirl.
'Darkness...'
He didn't feel disgust. He felt... relief. Absolute, washing relief.
It wasn't empty. He wasn't a Null. He had an element!
"Move to the Bell," Lin Quan ordered, his tone sharper now, laced with a hint of distaste. "Hurry up."
Lin Kai nodded, stepping over to the massive Bronze Bell. He knew this part would be worse. He pulled back his fist, channeling every ounce of his paltry 9th Stage Mortal Foundation Qi.
"Hah!"
He punched the metal.
Thud.
A dull, flat sound, like hitting a sack of wet flour. The bell barely vibrated.
...Gong..
One weak, pathetic ring that died almost as soon as it started.
Deacon Lin Quan let out a scoff that sounded like a bark.
"Mortal Body," the Deacon announced, shaking his head. "A rare Mid-Grade Dark Affinity, wasted on a trash body."
He looked at the crowd, pointing at Lin Kai as a teaching moment. "You see this? Darkness is the rarest of affinities, but it is the most useless. There are no Righteous Scriptures for it. Those who practice it must dwell in shadows, and without a strong body to contain the corrosive Qi, they crumble into dust. He is a cannon with a paper barrel."
He made a show of taking his brush, dipping it in red ink, and drawing a thick, slashing line through Lin Kai's name on the scroll.
"Unqualified for the Clan Treasury. Next!"
Lin Kai lowered his hand. His knuckles were bruised from the impact.
He turned around. The faces in the crowd were a mixture of fear and revulsion. Darkness wasn't just weak in their eyes; it was taboo. It was the affinity of assassins, necromancers, and monsters.
But Lin Kai didn't look down. He walked back to the edge of the plaza, a strange calmness settling over him.
'I have an affinity,' he thought, clenching his bruised hand. 'They call it trash. They call it madness. But it's mine. I can cultivate.'
"Lin Xue!"
The Deacon's voice rang out, full of renewed excitement, wiping away the awkwardness of the previous test.
The Ice Beauty stepped forward. She walked past Lin Kai, her gaze cool and distant, looking through him as if he were made of air.
She placed her hand on the Prism.
CRACK.
The sound of freezing ice filled the air. The Prism didn't just glow; it turned into a beacon of blinding blue light. Frost began to creep across the plaza floor, lowering the temperature by ten degrees in seconds. The breathless heat of the sun was instantly replaced by the chill of winter.
"Peak Grade Ice Attribute!" Lin Quan shouted, his eyes wide.
Lin Xue moved to the Bell. She didn't punch it. She struck it with a graceful palm strike that looked effortless.
GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG!
Six Rings.
The sound was deafening. The bell hummed with such intensity that the air around it distorted.
"Six Rings..." Lin Quan whispered, his quill shaking. "A Holy Grade Body. The Mystic Yin Ice Body!"
The plaza erupted. Elders appeared from thin air, surrounding the girl. This was a talent seen once in a thousand years. She was the guaranteed future Matriarch.
In the chaos of the celebration, as the world fawned over the light, no one noticed the boy with the shadow slipping away.
No one except Master Feng Xiu.
The old healer found Lin Kai standing by the edge of the bridge, looking down at the clouds.
"Kai," Feng Xiu said softly.
Lin Kai turned. He wasn't crying. He wasn't raging. He was smiling—a small, tired, but genuine smile.
"I'm not sad, Master Feng," Lin Kai said before the old man could speak.
"You aren't?"
"No," Lin Kai held up his hand, looking at his palm where the memory of the black smoke lingered. "For seven years, I thought I was a broken vessel. Empty. But today... the Prism reacted. I have the Darkness."
"Darkness is a difficult path," Feng Xiu warned, his face grave. "The Lin Clan has no scriptures for it. The world fears it. It consumes the Light."
"Then let it consume," Lin Kai murmured, his eyes flashing with a strange intensity. "If the Light burns me, perhaps the Darkness will embrace me."
Feng Xiu looked at the boy and felt a chill that had nothing to do with Lin Xue's ice. He saw a resilience in Lin Kai that terrified him.
"Just... be careful, child," Feng Xiu sighed, reaching into his robe and pulling out a small, leather-bound book. "I cannot give you a scripture. But this is a manual on basic meridian breathing. It is neutral. It might help you stabilize your Qi."
Lin Kai took the book, bowing deeply. "Thank you, Master Feng. I won't forget this."
He walked away, clutching the book, unaware that this small act of kindness—and the awakening of the forbidden element—was the first step on the path of the Sovereign.