Among the ten Rank 4 beast appraisers, Lin Jin’s senses picked up an unusual aura coming from the man sitting in the middle. While he looked rather old, the sharpness in his eyes remained.
This old mister was a tough character.
Immediately, Lin Jin thought of someone.
Zhong Zifeng!
He was one of the most prominent Rank 4 beast appraisers in Heavenly Spiral Kingdom. There were rumors that Mr. Zhong could easily qualify as a Rank 5 beast appraiser given his prowess at beast appraising.
But Mr. Zhong didn’t do it.
He had once famously stated, ‘Only by achieving Rank 6 would one be worthy of the five legendary rings’.
In simpler terms, only when he successfully promoted a Rank 5 beast to Rank 6, would he be willing to obtain a promotion to Rank 5 as a beast appraiser.
It was a pity that Mr. Zhong never had this opportunity. Even though his compositions had been accepted as the gold standard for beast appraisers, and his beast appraising theories were applied far and wide, this all was worthless to him if he couldn’t successfully promote a pet beast to Rank 6.
Lin Jin recognized Mr. Zhong’s stubbornness and resolution but at the same time, he too agreed that Mr. Zhong was worthy of a Rank 5 beast appraiser title.
If his gut feeling was right, this old man here should be Zhong Zifeng. This was not blind speculation of course. He arrived at the conclusion thanks to the ‘seal’ word he noticed on the old man’s left hand. He had once heard that Mr. Zhong had a unique and supernatural technique called ‘the sealed hand’.
Over time, that feature had become a way to identify Zhong Zifeng.
With this thought in mind, Lin Jin tried to play a wise guy by saluting the old man. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Zhong!”
The latter smiled without denying it.
“You have excellent eyes, Appraiser Lin!”
Out came a surprising compliment.
The man sounded amiable and he put on no airs.
Looks like Mr. Zhong was the main invigilator of this assessment. Given his level of prominence, no one else dared to fight him for the position.
Lin Jin suddenly recalled the fact that Tan Lin had been accepted by Zhong Zifeng yesterday as an apprentice.
“Appraiser Lin, you have passed the previous two assessments. Based on the rules of our association, by passing the third assessment, you will have achieved the standard of a Rank 4 appraiser,” Zhong Zifeng announced. When it came to formal business, this old man maintained a stern demeanor.
As Lin Jin listened closely, he found a problem in Mr. Zhong’s words.
‘By passing the third assessment, you will have achieved the standard of a Rank 4 appraiser.’
Only the standard?
There was no mention of him being acknowledged as a Rank 4 beast appraiser.
While they both might sound the same, there was in fact a huge difference between the two.
However, Lin Jin didn’t raise the question immediately. After all, passing this third stage was crucial. Since all ten Rank 4 beast appraisers had gathered here, this must be the most important round.
Both assessments earlier were merely appetizers that weren’t worth mentioning.
“According to tradition, each one of us will give you a question to answer. When all questions have been answered, we will have a show of hands for a decision to be reached. If more than half of us acknowledge you, you will have passed the third assessment.”
Right after Zhong Zifeng finished, Lin Jin was dying to clear up his doubts.
There was a huge problem with these rules. Rather than saying he could pass based on the number of correct answers he gave, the concern here was gaining the acknowledgment of more than half of the invigilators no matter how he answered the questions.
Did that mean that even if he provided the wrong answer, so long as the invigilator approved of him, he’d pass the third stage, right?
Lin Jin bit the bullet. Upon hearing his question, Zhong Zifeng chuckled. “That’s right. In the past, not a lot of people have managed to get more than half of the questions correct so the rules were tweaked.”
Lin Jin finally understood why.
“Now that the rules are clear, let’s begin. Mr. Zhong, allow me to ask the first question,” one of the Rank 4 appraisers spoke up.
He was slightly plump, and he sounded like he was in a jovial mood.
Zhong Zifeng introduced, “Appraiser Lin, this is Appraiser Ouyang!”
Lin Jin bowed.
Appraiser Ouyang waved and said, “Let me test your beast appraising basics. Please recite the ten methods of beast appraising from start to finish.”
Once he had spoken, another appraiser whispered to his neighbor, “Appraiser Ouyang is always full of surprises. While the ten appraisal methods may be basic knowledge, very few people can recite them completely. After all, there should be a few thousand words in there and it’s such a basic thing that most people would have forgotten about the details.”
The other appraiser nodded in agreement.
Indeed, Appraiser Ouyang’s question was quite unconventional so those without a solid foundation might find themselves off to a terrible start.
“This person might not be able to recite it. Looks like it all depends on Appraiser Ouyang’s mood now. If he’s in a fine mood, even if the candidate can’t recite the whole thing, Appraiser Ouyang might approve of him. Otherwise, this candidate is just unlucky.”
Lin Jin was first stunned by the question. Still, without showing much hesitation, he started reciting the methods.
“The first beast appraising method: Birds in the sky, beasts on the ground, Yin against Yang, and elements divided in five. Judge a tiger by its bone, a crane by its feathers, a deer by its antlers, a tortoise by its shell…”
Lin Jin began reciting the ten basic beast appraisal methods. As he remembered them distinctly, reciting the full formula without missing a word wasn’t too tough a challenge.
Moreover, even if he couldn’t recite them all, the museum had a copy of it. Though, Lin Jin felt he wouldn’t need to resort to that.
Without stopping, Lin Jin successfully recited the formula from start to finish.
After he was done, the plump Appraiser Ouyang nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad. The way I see it, beast appraisers are bound to be exposed to even greater knowledge in the future but it is difficult for one to learn every available piece of information. No matter how profound one becomes, he must never forget the basics. It’s wonderful that Appraiser Lin can recite everything so fluently.
Indeed, it was impressive.
Even for the Rank 4 beast appraisers, not all of them could recite a formula as rudimentary as the ten beast appraisal methods without missing a word.
This first question was considered done.
And from Appraiser Ouyang’s expression, discontent was absent.
It was a good start.
“Let me ask the second question,” Appraiser Yan spoke up.
Appraiser Yan was one of the two invigilators from the first round so his question would be related to the prior assessments.
“There are two common methods to deter a wild beast. One is to stun it directly, and this is achieved by coming into physical contact with the beast. The other method is deterrence by blood pact where you borrow the intimidation of your pet beast to deter other beasts. I’d like to ask, how did Appraiser Lin manage to deter that mad bull from a distance earlier?”
This question… Rather than calling it a quiz, it sounded more like a consultation.
The other Rank 4 beast appraisers looked over with equally curious expressions. It was even a first for some of them to hear of such a scenario.
Lin Jin was stunned.
Now, this was a difficult question. The Beast Deterrence skill he used earlier was an ability of the museum so he could perform it with ease.
But how could he possibly explain that?
Thinking on his feet, Lin Jin finally came up with an idea.
“Appraiser Yan, to deter from a distance, a medium is required,” Lin Jin answered.
Appraiser Yan shook his head. “I know that, but Appraiser Lin, you didn’t use any amulets earlier nor anything else that could serve as a medium.”
“I did!”
Lin Jin flicked his fingers and immediately, a silver needle pierced into a nearby pillar with a light thud.
