The crowd traced her steps as Gu Ruoyun slowly made her way to the spirit stone. She gathered a slight amount of spiritual energy into her palm before slowly enveloping her entire fist.

　　Bang!

　　Her fist, wrapped in a layer of powerful energy, slammed against the spirit stone with a loud noise.

　　The entire spirit stone trembled instantly before everything returned to silence once again. The spirit stone remained still before the eyes of the crowd.

　　“Hahaha!”

　　Su Lin could not help but burst into laughter at the sight of this and laughed so hard that she began to tear up. She then exclaimed in a disdainful voice, “Gu Ruoyun, looks like I’ve overestimated you! I thought that though you haven’t reached the exceptional state, you would be a Martial Saint at least! I never thought that your power would turn out to be so little! Let me guess your rank, are you a Martial General? Martial King?”

　　Everyone else’s eyes filled with disdain as well as they stared disapprovingly at Gu Ruoyun who was standing in front of the spirit stone.

　　Crack!

　　However, before Su Lin’s laughter could die down, a clear sound rang out in her ear. She could not help but turn around again to look.

　　At first glance, her entire being was shaken and her laughter, which she had no time to hold back, had turned her very red in the face. However, she had no time to care about that now. Her large eyes could only widen in terror as she stared at the scene before her in disbelief.

　　Crack!

　　Crack!

　　Cracks began to appear increasingly on the stone tablet until it broke apart with a bang and turned into a pile of rubble.

　　Gu Ruoyun was shocked and looked at her hand before furrowing her brows.

　　“I had clearly held back on my powers so how could this have happened?”

　　In the midst of her confusion, the White Tiger, Yunyao, replied from within her soul.

　　“Master, this spirit stone uses different methods but produces similar results to the diamond tablet which you had seen in the Banished Lands. The only difference was that the diamond tablet had been used to test one’s talent. This spirit stone only measures power but regardless of which tablet it was, they share one characteristic — they would turn to dust whenever they are touched by the Flames of Nirvana! Due to your contract with Zixie, your power also contains the Flames of Nirvana. Therefore, no matter how much power you’ve used to hit it, the spirit stone will crumble as well.”

　　Gu Ruoyun’s frown deepened even more when she heard this explanation. At this rate, everything would become even more troublesome.

　　“Eunuch Li! Is something wrong with this spirit stone? How could it have crumbled just like that?”

　　Just as Gu Ruoyun was deep in thought, a graceful voice rang out from the side.

　　“That’s right!”

　　As soon as the Imperial consort had spoken, the dumbstruck Su Lin also returned to her senses. She gritted her teeth as she glared hatefully at Gu Ruoyun, “Even if a cultivator in the refined state were to hit the stone with all their might, they might not be able to destroy the spirit stone. I don’t think she has the power of a cultivator in the refined state so this spirit stone must have reached the brink of destruction after experiencing countless hits from others. Even an average person would have been able to destroy this spirit stone!”

　　“This…”

　　Eunuch Li felt troubled. He fell momentarily silent before he said, “My Lady and Eldest Lady Su, I need to report this matter to the Emperor and leave the final decision to Him. Everyone else please wait here.”

　　Eunuch Li then walked away hastily. He ignored the voices behind him as he hurriedly walked towards the direction of the study.

　　…

　　A man dressed in dragon robes was sitting in front of a desk in the Imperial Study. His sharp brows reached his temples and he was unusually handsome. His entire body was filled with dominance as if he was a heavenly being that rules over the heavens and earth.

　　This man was the Supreme Ruler of the Heavenly Moon Empire. However, one should not be mistaken just because he looks young. In reality, he was an old monster who has been alive for several hundred years.