The Urban Dao Child

Feng Tao stood at the podium, he took out a boulder from his space ring and placed it on the podium. He then motioned the first person to climb the podium to place his hands over the boulder and channel his spirit energy inside the boulder. 

The person nodded and placed his hand on the boulder. He channeled the spirit energy inside th boulder. The big boulder trembled a bit as it shone with dim golden light, a few runes formed in the void. Feng Tao gazed at the runes and with a nod, he said, "Bone age 14, the peak of body formation realm. Please stand on the right side of the podium for the further procession." 

The youngster in front of him bowed and skipped down the podium with an exciting smile on his face. After all, he had passed the first round. Following him, a lot of youngsters climbed up the stage and verified their bone age.

After ten minutes, a girl with long hair got on the top of the podium and placed her hands on the boulder, the tremor in the boulder was stronger than the rest and made Feng Tao open his eyes slightly more. Then he smiled and announced, "Bone age 15, middle spirit gathering realm. Congratulations." 

The girl nodded with a faint smile. Yang Dao had been watching all this from the back of the crowd and found this girl strangely pleasing to his eyes. He mumbled, "Grace of the goddess, yet with a heart of a mortal." 

The older boy standing next to him spoke, "Well said. Indeed that his how she has always been." 

Yang Dao was surprised, "Oh, brother Shun, do you know that girl?" 

In the previous chat, Yang Dao and Shun Lang had exchanged their names. (Not mentioned in the chapter but it is common courtesy.) The latter smiled and said, "She is the princess of our domain. That girl is called Athena Olympus. Hailing from the Overlord Olympus family. I am just a small fry among small fries back at the domain. My mother is a staff in their mansion so I had a chance to be scouted and came here." 

Yang Dao raised his eyebrow and said, "You are going off-topic." 

Shun Lang chuckled and said, "You kid, what is going on in that head of yours? You need to work a lot before you can get even close to her. You know skills and talent aside, you will need a lot of background too. Also, she is a genius prodigy in alchemy. Understood?" 

Yang Dao nodded but he was not discouraged. He said, "I understand." 

The two people talked, well basically Shun Lang talked and the Dao Child listened to it all. The entirety of the conversation was inclined towards the information of the surrounding overlord families. 

The domains of the families were divided but they were not interfering. Every sovereign family was solely responsible for the domains. It was not that there were no cultivators, but the sovereign families were better than them. The domain overseer or rulers were better at a lot of levels. The markets were owned by them, the martial prowess was better, and they owned more farming and civilian assets. 

The surrounding overlords were Olympus, Fray, Dusk, Yue, and Grande. These five overlord systems surrounded the Sovereign sect system. The sect itself had a five-planet system, equal to the Yang Family, but the strength difference was enough to put an overlord to shame. 

Yang Dao heard all this and absorbed it like a sponge. He did not realize that he was slowly moving forward with the crowd. His mind was lost in the estimation of the strength and resources the five overlords had. Suddenly he sensed someone patting his shoulder. 

His fist clenched as he reacted to this sudden touch. He found a girl looking at him with a smile. She said, "Little Brother, it is your turn to ascend the podium." 

Yang Dao losses his fist and realized that he was just a bit too lost in his thoughts. He bowed to her slightly with thanks and climbed up the podium. He cupped his fist to Feng Tao and said, "I apologize for daydreaming and delay." 

Feng Tao smiled and said, "It is okay, little brother, put your hand on the boulder and circulate your spirit energy inside it." 

Yang Dao nodded and placed his hand on the boulder. Then with a deep breath, he circulated his spirit energy slowly infusing it inside the boulder. The circulation of spirit energy became faster and the quality of the energy was better as the realm climbed. 

The boulder trembled and it was loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the square. Till now, the strongest candidate was Athena Olympus, Trent Grande, Diana Fray, Daniel Dusk. They all had the cultivation level of the early medium spirit gathering realm to the peak of the spirit gathering realm. 

The realm of cultivation did not make a difference among the five of them the terrifying thing was...

Feng Tao gawked at the runes as he spoke, "Bone age 10 years old, the peak of spirit gathering realm. You monster child." 

Yang Dao furrowed his brows and said, "Who are you calling a monster? Did you not learn manners at your home?" 

Feng Tao realized that his words had not sat well with this young prodigy in front of him. He hurriedly said, "Brother, I apologize. But it was not an insult. It was a compliment." 

Yang Dao squinted his eyes and said, "I have read a lot of books on manners and etiquettes, senior brother. Calling someone a monster is rude. I will complain to the elders when I see them." 

With that said he walked off the podium and came to stand among the qualified candidates. What Yang Dao did not notice was that he had caused a lot of shock and awe among the people. Whether they were the candidates or the sect officials managing the crowd. They were all calling him a monster inside their hearts.

There were a few people who did not meet the requirements. They were not given a second chance. However, those cases can be counted on the fingertips. After another hour, the verification came to an end and Feng Tao said, "Those who had cleared the verification, please over the way you see on your right. This will be your second test." 

With that, the excited, shocked people walked to the pathway on the right with a grumpy kid among the crowd.