In the town, there are many Immortal Soldiers maintaining order, each seemingly a terrifying Ninth Awakening being.

Chen Guan roughly estimated that just within this mountain-foot town, there must be no less than several million Secret Spirits.

If such a terrifying force of Secret Spirits were to launch an attack on human forces within the Great Cave Heaven, humans would have no resistance. Perhaps, they can only rely on the protection of the Celestial King.

Chen Guan even doubted whether the Celestial King could protect them.

After making some inquiries, Chen Guan arrived at the registration point to become a disciple of the Holy Mountain.

Here, Secret Spirits had formed a long line, waiting to register to enter the Trial Ground.

The registration process of Wuxiang Divine Palace is straightforward and rough, with no need to fill out personal information or anything like that; they don’t care who you are.

A stone tablet stands before the gate, and upon physical contact with it, some writing will appear on the stone tablet.

Chen Guan watched for a while from behind and saw words like Soldier, General, Commander, King, Emperor, Sage. If the word shown is Soldier, then you’re directly eliminated and don’t even qualify to enter for testing.

If General, Commander, King appears, you can enter the gate for testing.

If it’s Emperor or Sage, there’s a special Immortal Soldier to guide you, allowing you to bypass the test and wait for the Heavenly Master’s summon to see if there’s a chance to be accepted as a direct disciple of the Heavenly Master.

Chen Guan queued for half a day, with most Secret Spirits not showing the word Soldier; in fact, Secret Spirits with the word Soldier are rare.

Even Secret Spirits with the words General and Commander are in the minority here; most are marked with King, and a few are Emperor, but Sage is very scarce.

After queuing for more than two hours, Chen Guan saw only one Secret Spirit marked Sage, being respectfully invited inside by Immortal Soldiers.

Seeing the expressions and attitudes of the Immortal Soldiers, Chen Guan estimated that the Secret Spirit who activated the word Sage was ten out of eight likely to become a direct disciple of the Heavenly Master.

"I wonder what kind of Secret Treasure this stone tablet is, and by what standard it divides the ranks of Secret Spirits? It’s apparently not an issue of Level, as even among those divided into the Soldier group, most seem to be Ninth Awakening Secret Spirits."

Chen Guan pondered inwardly, unable to comprehend the stone tablet’s principle for a time.

He didn’t know whether, as a human, he could activate the stone tablet, and if so, what word it would manifest.

Speaking of natural Talent, humans are much inferior to Secret Spirits.

Those Secret Spirits who appear exceptionally gifted, with physiques far surpassing humans, were only rated with the word Soldier. Chen Guan worried whether he might be directly swept out, without even qualifying for entry to the test.

When it was Chen Guan’s turn, under the command of the Immortal Soldier, he approached the towering stone tablet, which was dozens of feet high, and placed his palm upon it.

Soon, Chen Guan saw a reaction on the stone tablet as specks of light seeped from within it, gradually coalescing into a character.

Chen Guan’s heart was filled with joy; the appearance of a character meant he succeeded more than halfway, and seeing the part now emerging, it was surely not a Soldier character.

However, as more of the character became visible, Chen Guan furrowed his brow.

The character was neither Soldier nor any of General, Commander, King, Emperor, or Sage. Simply drawn with two strokes, it was the character "Human."

"Human?" Chen Guan felt as if a thousand alpacas were galloping across his heart. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This stone tablet, instead of granting him a rating, directly exposed his identity, which seemed nothing short of obnoxious.

Chen Guan hadn’t anticipated such a thing, noting the focus of all Secret Spirits’ eyes upon him, turning over countless thoughts in his mind, pondering how best to escape.

With so many Secret Spirits here, even with connection to the heavens, escape might still be near impossible.

"Please come with me," an Immortal Soldier came forward, said to Chen Guan amiably.

Seeing no hostility from the Immortal Soldier, who had previously guided Emperor and Sage characters, Chen Guan felt more at ease, following him into the gate of Wuxiang Divine Palace.

"Could it be that the Human character isn’t pointing out my human identity, but is simply another sort of rating like Soldier, General, and Commander?" Chen Guan pondered inwardly.

Entering the gates of Wuxiang Divine Palace, Chen Guan saw the Secret Spirits who passed before, all in the courtyard, categorized by the Immortal Soldiers, undergoing a second test.

Chen Guan glanced around, noticing that the tests here weren’t just simple and uniform.

Secret Spirits of different Levels and types faced varying tests, with scoring standards utterly different.

"There must be humans here, right?" Chen Guan increasingly suspected.

The Immortal Soldier led Chen Guan past the testing ground to the palace behind; after traversing many halls, he was brought into a grand hall.

There were already several Secret Spirits here, among which were those marked Emperor and Sage that Chen Guan saw before.

There were also some he hadn’t encountered, presumably tested and ranked Emperor and Sage before Chen Guan queued.

Chen Guan roughly counted; there were eight Secret Spirits altogether. Adding himself, it totaled nine.

"You shall wait here. Shortly, the Heavenly Master will personally summon you. If your fate hasn’t any issues, you’re ten chances in eight to be a direct disciple of the Heavenly Master," the Immortal Soldier said warmly to Chen Guan.

Hearing this, the other Secret Spirits turned their gazes upon Chen Guan.

"Ten chances in eight to be a direct disciple of the Heavenly Master; could it be he is also a Sage character?" A golden, radiant lion examined Chen Guan with glowing eyes.

"No," Chen Guan shook his head.

"If not Sage, then he must be like us, marked Emperor. Being marked Emperor, why is he receiving such treatment?" The Golden Lion asked discontentedly.

"I’m not marked Emperor either," Chen Guan shook his head again.

The Golden Lion was slightly stunned: "Not marked Emperor, not marked Sage; how could he be brought directly here to meet the Heavenly Master?"

"This is unfair: doesn’t it say that only marked Emperor and marked Sage have the qualification to directly meet the Heavenly Master?" Another Secret Spirit voiced.

"What are you speaking of: he may neither be marked Sage nor Emperor, but he’s even above Sage and Emperor," the Immortal Soldier coldly stated.

"Isn’t Sage the highest? What could be higher than Sage?" All Secret Spirits were filled with doubt.

"There is indeed a character above Sage, and that character is Human. It’s just too rare for you to know of it," the Immortal Soldier coldly swept them with his gaze: "Sage characters appear from time to time, but the Human character, since the opening of Wuxiang Divine Palace, has only appeared three times, each time being accepted as a direct disciple by the Heavenly Master.

Chen Guan, despite earlier suspicions, felt slightly proud knowing the Human rating surpassed Sage: "I truly am a singular Talent, standing out even among the Secret Spirits."