Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

After those words were spoken, the side room suddenly fell silent.

Black Star laughed first, but his smile wasn't very deep.

"Sirlen, you don't actually think you can practice just because you got a fragment of a manual, do you?"

The old man sat back down and slowly pushed the book forward.

"The White Sprout Prayer Record is not a breathing technique, nor is it something you knights can force through your blood, qi, and bones."

It's a book of spells; whether you can learn it depends on two things—first, whether your spirit is strong enough, and second, whether you have the corresponding occult talent.

Black Star continued, "Only intermediate scholars are qualified to touch this page of 'Prayer of the Holy See'."

He paused, then stared at Xilun.

"Moreover, not everyone with strong willpower can cultivate. Many people meditate their whole lives and can use some tricks, but they will never reach the threshold of the real techniques."

The Tussol collection also contains similar fragments, but in recent years, I've only been able to access a handful of them.

The old man raised his monocle, and the eye behind the lens gleamed slightly cold.

"The most crucial thing is to first enlighten people."

"Without a witch to open the door, without a proper occult guide to help you, even if you are born with talent, you may just remain an empty shell for the rest of your life."

Black Star looked at Xilun: "That's why I asked you, has your occult talent... ever been awakened?"

Xilun did not answer immediately.

He remembered that night on the hillside, the snow lotus that Lady Black Crow had given him, the door that had been forcibly pushed open in the depths of his mind, and the bottomless black mist surrounding her.

If that doesn't count as enlightenment, then there's probably not much else in this world that qualifies.

But no one has actually experienced it for him.

He slowly began, "I think so."

"perhaps?"

Black Star frowned slightly.

"Can something like this really be described as 'approximately'?"

Xilun looked up at him, his tone still calm.

"A witch did it, but she wasn't interested in leaving me a medical report."

The old man and Black Star both fell silent for a moment.

The stale, dry, and dusty air in the side room seemed to be gently suppressed by those words.

Black Star stared at Xilun for a few moments, then slowly withdrew the half-smile from his face and lowered his voice.

"Are you kidding me?"

Do I look like it?

Black Star fell silent.

The old man tapped the table with his knuckles, but a complex light flickered in his eyes.

"Not being officially registered does not mean it cannot be tested."

"Behind the archives room, there is an old testing room. It was originally used to test the potential of several promising scholars in the family. It was used less often later, but the equipment is still there."

He looked up and stared at Xilun.

"If you really want to get involved with 'Prayer for the Holy Bud,' then go and get tested first."

"The divination shows I'm not destined for it; let's leave it at that for today."

"The test showed it was positive—"

The old man paused, and his voice suddenly became even lower.

"Then this incomplete copy you have will have to be sold for a different price."

Xilun closed the roll of mining records, turned his gaze away from the words "prayer for the sacred bud," and his expression was calm and almost undisturbed.

But only he knew that the fire in his heart had already been ignited.

"Lead the way."

Black Star gave him a deep look, said nothing more, and turned to pick up the gas lamp.

The small door at the far end of the side room, almost blending into the wall, was slowly pushed open.

Behind the small door is an extremely narrow stone corridor.

The further you go in, the lower the temperature becomes, and the quieter the air becomes.

Every few steps along the wall was a glass-shaded lamp, its flame burning very small, as if afraid of disturbing something. There were old water stains in the cracks of the stone floor, and stepping on them gave off a slight chill.

As Xilun's boot heel landed, the echo reverberated forward.

At the end was a wooden door covered with sheet metal.

Black Star raised his hand and tapped three times, paused, and then tapped twice more.

A moment later, a very faint sound of chains sliding came from inside the door.

The door opened.

The person who opened the door was an elderly woman with her hair neatly combed, not very tall, wearing a dark gray long dress, but with her shoulders and back ramrod straight.

She wore a black lace glove on her left hand, but her right hand was bare, with fine, spiderweb-like pale lines covering the back of her thin hand, like old burns.

She glanced at Black Star first, then looked at Xilun.

When her gaze fell on Xiren, she clearly paused for a moment.

"Is it him?"

"Hmm," Black Star said in a low voice, "To test the foundation, it should be a life-related spell."

The old woman raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Now?"

"Now."

"Who made that decision?"

"The clan leader is aware of this."

The old woman then stepped aside.

"Come in."

The room behind the door wasn't large, but it was much cleaner than the side room.

Three long tables with copper legs were placed against the wall. On each table were a crystal mirror, a shallow silver basin, several sealed wax tubes, a dish of black and white fine sand, and a small wooden box covered with velvet.

At the innermost part, there is an old mirror about half a person's height, with intricate prayer patterns engraved on the frame and an unnatural gray tint to the surface.

As soon as Xilun entered, he could feel that the air here was different from that outside.

Deeper, quieter, like the aftershocks left after many whispered prayers.

The old woman closed the door and said calmly, "My surname is Aisma, and I am responsible for the occult education and the care of old instruments for this generation of the Tusor family."

If the witch has indeed opened the door for you, don't move around or try to tough it out later.

If the test was wrong, I can stop; but if you show off, you're just being reckless, and that's where your brain goes wrong.

"Understood," Xilun said.

Esma glanced at him but didn't say anything more. She raised her hand, opened the first wooden box, and took out a thin mirror about the size of a palm.

"Look at the spirit first."

She handed the thin mirror to Xilen, "Look in the mirror, don't blink."

Xilun took the mirror.

The mirror surface was cold, like holding a piece of iron pulled from the bottom of a well.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

At first, it was just a normal face, but the next moment, the mirror surface suddenly rippled slightly, as if water rippled outwards in circles.

A faint silvery-white wisp slowly emerged from between Xilun's eyebrows. Then, the silvery-white wisp spread and deepened, eventually drawing a nearly full moon-like circle in the mirror.

Black Star's expression changed.

For the first time, Esma's previously indifferent gaze truly froze.

"stop."

She stepped forward, took the mirror from Xilun's hand, looked down at the markings on the back of the glasses, and her fingertips unconsciously paused.

"His mental strength is consistently above the threshold of an intermediate scholar... and it's not an inflated figure."

Black Star whispered, "Just as I expected."

Esma ignored him and pushed out the second item.

It was a silver basin with a thin layer of clear water at the bottom. Three pale seeds, each the size of a grain of rice, floated in the water, and next to it was a thin silver thorn, as sharp as a needle tip.

"The second step is to test compatibility."

Esma said, "These three are old white buds. They won't actually come to life; they'll only react by borrowing the vibrational patterns on the surface of your mind. Prick your right index finger and let a drop of blood fall in."

Siren did as instructed.

The blood droplets fell into the basin, spreading out in a pale red ring.

At first, nothing happened.

Black Star stared at the bowl of noodles, his gaze gradually darkening. He didn't even realize it himself, but he slowly suppressed his breathing.

Esma, however, was not in a hurry. She simply reached out and gently pressed her hand against the edge of the basin, uttering a very short, old phrase.

The next instant, the water in the silver basin seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand, and suddenly became excessively calm.

The three seeds trembled simultaneously.

Then--

The very middle one cracked open.

First, thin white roots, as fine as hair, emerged, followed by a tender white bud, almost transparent with a pale light, gently bending towards Xilun.

It grows very slowly, but with extraordinary determination, as if it is chasing something.

Soon, the two grains next to it also began to vibrate. One of them only cracked and then stopped, while the other simply turned into a wisp of white powder and sank to the bottom of the basin.

No one spoke inside the room.

Only that tiny white sprout was growing quietly.

It was only half an inch long, yet it gradually changed Black Star's gaze.

Aisma stared at the white sprout in the pot, her Adam's apple bobbing. She turned and lifted the last piece of velvet cloth, taking out a black prayer needle from the wooden box.

The needle was attached to a thin chain, and at the bottom of the chain was a round copper plate with a dozen tiny ancient characters engraved on its surface.

She placed the copper plate next to the silver basin, and the black needles rose up.

"The final step: orientation."

"This is an old-fashioned gateway compass. It indicates strong spirit, but no bias; it's only good for meditation."

Only when the prayer needle can accurately locate the characters can one be considered to have a true magical destiny.

After she finished speaking, she looked at Xilun.

"Place your hands on the edge of the basin, without touching the water, just let your spirit touch it."

Siren did as he was told.

He didn't exert any effort; he simply focused his attention on the white bud, on the surface of the water, on the faint red lines that had been rippled by the blood.

The Moon Memory Meditation Technique naturally activated slightly.

A soft hum resonated deep within the throat.

The black needle swayed wildly at first, then suddenly stopped—

哢.

The needle tip pointed heavily at one of the ancient characters on the bronze plate.

Not for a moment, but firmly anchored.

Esma looked down and fell silent.

Black Star frowned: "What word?"

Esma didn't answer. As if she didn't dare to look at it just once, she bent down and checked it carefully twice before slowly exhaling.

"Technique".

Black Star's eyes widened in shock.

Aisma continued, "And it's not one of those side paths that lean towards perception, recitation, or illusion; it's a direct affinity for magic."

If we break it down further... it's closer to the branch of life, purification, and nurturing.

As she said this, she looked up, and the way she looked at Xilen was completely different now.

It's not about looking at a capable young governor.

It's like looking at an extremely rare and dangerous object.

Black Star remained silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Could there be a mistake?"

Esma gave him a cold look.

"If you doubt that I'm too old to recognize words, you can take the test a second time yourself."

Black Star choked for a moment and actually didn't say anything more.

Footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

It's not heavy, but it's fast enough.

Black Star turned around to open the door, and standing outside was Austin.

The clan chief did not disturb more people, and was accompanied only by a trusted steward.

But as soon as he stepped into the room, his calm and composed aura, typical of someone who had long held a high position, made the already small room even quieter.

He first glanced at the white sprouts in the silver basin, then looked at the words the prayer needle was pointing to.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

"Sure?"

Esma bowed: "Confirmed."

Austin then looked at Xilen.

Xilun met his gaze, his expression unchanged, neither deliberately lowering his head nor showing the slightest hint of smugness.

The room remained quiet for a while.

Austin suddenly chuckled softly, but the smile was not genuine.

"I originally thought you were just tough on the outside and steady on the inside."

"Now it seems that I underestimated him."

Black Star stood to the side, his expression complex. He had seen Xilun fight and dared to act recklessly, but the scene before him still filled him with an indescribable sense of absurdity.

A young man who fought his way up from the bottom, who had only recently entered the second tier, had already touched the threshold of an intermediate scholar in terms of his spirituality, and his path in the mystical arts was none other than spells.

Such people do exist.

But very few, very few.

Moreover, they usually don't appear in places like the North District at the same time.

At the end of the corridor outside the door, a figure could be vaguely seen standing.

Oin.

He had come to see the clan chief, but was stopped by the steward on the way, who said that confidential matters were being handled inside.

From a distance, he couldn't see the silver basin and prayer needles inside the house, only Black Star, Aisma, the chieftain, and Xilun standing ramrod straight.

The fire in his chest suddenly burned even brighter.

Xilun is Xilun again.

Everything seems to revolve around this kid.

But O'Neal did not take another step forward.

It wasn't because he could hold back, but because he knew all too well that anything that could make Austin come in person and suppress the news was no small matter.

The Tusol family is not a harmonious family, but no matter how much they fight, they must first protect their family's assets.

He had to fight for Oro, and for his own lineage, but he also knew that sometimes he couldn't just focus on the immediate animosity.

He stood at the corner of the corridor, his hands slowly clenching and then slowly relaxing, his eyes as gloomy as the sky before a storm.

Inside the room, Austin had already turned away.

"Black Star".

"exist."

"From today onwards, the results of the mystical examination of Xilun will be placed in Class A confidential files, sealed separately, and are not to be leaked."

"Yes."

"Asma, make two copies of today's test record. Put one in the family archives and send the other to my study. Lock the original back in the old cabinet."

"clear."

Austin paused, then added, "This matter doesn't need to be known by too many people. Especially not among the younger generation."

Black Star felt a chill run down his spine and immediately agreed.

This is both confidentiality and protection.

It's more about control.

Xilun could tell, but he wasn't surprised.

For families like the Tussor, when they see something valuable, their first reaction is never to cheer, but to cover it up, tighten their grip, and do the math.

Austin looked at him again, his tone much calmer than when he was in the middle hall.

"I can have someone make a copy of the corresponding page from 'The Prayer for Sacred Buds' for you."

"In addition, your access to the old church map, watercourse map, and parish survey copy that you originally wanted to check will be raised one level."

From now on, when you come to the side office, you don't need to ask Black Star for permission every time; just send a note in advance.

This is no longer a simple matter of "providing resources".

This means that his identity is being re-evaluated within Tusol.

It is no longer just a knife that can be borrowed and used.

Rather, it is a scarce asset worth investing in.

Black Star looked at Xilun and suddenly felt something was absurd.

A few months ago, when this young man first entered the main hall, he was just an outsider who was driven away by Oin.

Now, standing here, even the clan chief has to slow down his speech.

Some people climb fast by using ladders.

Some people climb fast by stepping over corpses and blades.

Xilun is clearly the latter.

Austin said, "But I must remind you, the technique is not a breathing exercise. Even if you have the basics, you are only qualified to reach out, but far from being able to truly grasp it."

If you don't train well, your spirit will be damaged first, and your body will be damaged later.

"I know," said Siren.

"besides--"

Austin's gaze deepened slightly. "If you truly master this skill, your value and troubles will both increase in the future."

Tusol can provide you with convenience and shield you from the wind, but you need to figure out first what should be exposed and what shouldn't.

Xilun met his gaze for a moment, then calmly said, "I've never liked to flaunt my life."

Austin smiled.

"I believe you."