David Brooks looked at the crowd, secretly sneering to himself. If it had been a few days ago, I might have been afraid of you testing my aptitude, but now, even I’m scared of how good my aptitude is!

He first ate an innate spirit peach, and in the past two days, used Little Beggar’s mysterious elixir to cultivate a new innate spirit peach, which turned out even better than the first one.

Moreover, with the successful analysis of “Qingyun Zhi” by Jin Zhu, he practiced spiritual energy with the “Pitch-Black Yin Aspect” of “Double-Strike Divine Demon Body,” which complemented the pure golden yang aspect of “Dao Arts,” greatly accelerating his progress.

At this moment, David Brooks’s aptitude and cultivation had both reached an extremely high level for his age. For this entrance assessment, he truly had nothing to fear: “Whatever tricks you throw at me, I can handle them all!”

Mr. Miller thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, “Go fetch a Heaven-bestowed Divine Stone.”

Soon, a disciple brought back the Heaven-bestowed Divine Stone. Hundreds of young men and women all watched David Brooks, convinced he was about to make a fool of himself. But David Brooks didn’t hesitate for a second—he grabbed the Heaven-bestowed Divine Stone and focused his breath and mind.

A dazzling red light shot up to the sky, then turned orange, then yellow, green, cyan, and finally stabilized at blue.

And this blue light was deep and rich, radiating harmoniously for a full zhang around him—an outstanding result even among those with blue aptitude!

The whole place fell silent again. No one wanted to believe that this second-generation rich kid had gone from useless to genius. This defied all logic! Normally, a degenerate heir should just keep falling, eventually squandering the family fortune and dying miserably, becoming a cautionary tale for future generations, right?

So why did this guy suddenly rise up?

David Brooks looked around, his gaze finally landing on Charles Johnson and Samuel Thompson, and asked with a cold smile, “Do you believe it now?”

The two were speechless. David Brooks casually tossed aside the Heaven-bestowed Divine Stone. “Honestly, I kind of admire you two. You’re inexplicably super confident in yourselves, with that pitiful bit of aptitude, and you really think you’re geniuses—always wanting to step on others. Too bad, the world is vast and full of heroes. You’re just frogs at the bottom of a well.”

Every word he spoke was like a heavy slap across their faces. Thinking back to how they’d looked down on David Brooks’s aptitude since the Huaiyang Restaurant, convinced they were superior—now their cheeks stung!

David Brooks glanced at the two, then delivered a final, devastating blow: “You two should just go home, close the door, and play ‘flipping the cow’ with each other.”

The two nearly spat blood: What kind of talk is that! You’re really making it sound like we have some improper relationship!

Half the candidates were girls, and each of them blushed, secretly cursing this guy as a true scoundrel—how could he say such filthy things so boldly in public?

David Brooks chuckled coldly. Is this all? You haven’t even touched the bottom line of what I can say.

James Brooks’s old face was a bit embarrassed. Kids arguing is normal, but where did his son learn all these weird “catchphrases”?

Mr. Miller and the other assistants had been frozen in shock the moment the Heaven-bestowed Divine Stone in David Brooks’s hand emitted blue light. Only now did they come back to their senses.

Things had developed completely beyond their expectations. They’d originally planned to pull some strings and sneak a useless playboy in through the back door, but unexpectedly, they’d kicked a huge gem out of a pile of coal!

“Hurry and report to the Instructor! I’ll stall The Brooks Father and Son. No matter what, we can’t let them leave today—we must keep David Brooks at the county academy!”

The assistants launched their plan with conviction. As for David Brooks’s “questionable morals,” well, once he’s in, we can slowly educate him.

David Brooks turned around, only to be greeted by Mr. Miller’s most sincere smile ever! Startled, he stumbled back, thinking to himself that this assistant was really a fence-sitter—he’d looked at him with disdain before, but now that he saw he was a true genius, his attitude changed instantly.

“David, I think your personality is perfect for cultivating at the county academy. We’ll give you the best guidance. I don’t think you need to go to the sect at all—let’s settle it here. I guarantee you’ll become a direct disciple of the Instructor!”

There were different ranks among the county academy’s disciples. Most were guided by assistants and called assistant disciples, but the highest-ranking official, the Instructor, didn’t just mentor anyone—only true geniuses caught the Instructor’s eye and became direct disciples upon admission.

The difference in status would have a huge impact in the future. Just think: what’s the gap between having classmates who are all brilliant geniuses and having classmates who are just ordinary people? The further you go in cultivation, the more classmates help each other, and the faster you progress, leaving ordinary people far behind.

Mr. Miller continued to persuade him: “You might not know this, but although our Qidong County is small, Instructor Master Chao is a truly great cultivator! He’s famous throughout the entire Taiyan Dynasty.

He only serves as Instructor in various counties to educate the people, rotating every three years. This year, he just happens to be in our Qidong County.”