“Good day brother Yong.”

“Greetings brother Ma, you’re in a good mood today.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? The first spot is as good as mine.”

“Hah, not if I have something to say about it!”

The young men with fans looked at each other while chuckling. There were in a large room with many strange items on small display podiums. There were large and small weapons, armor stands, pills, and even herbs.

Around these items many people stood, young disciples, while also some older men with white beards.

“Who do you think will win this competition, Elder?”

“I feel like little Yong might be victorious this time, he did study up on all those pills, it was his weak point in the last year's contest…”

“Yes, there are many various pills on this day but not that many weapons, what a keen observation!”

Two other people were dressed in more ceremonial robes and talking. They had armbands with the words ‘Judges’ written on them.

This was one of the first competitions of this year’s outer disciple contest. Apprising was done here, the young men and women would be given pen and paper. They would then be able to wander around the large hall and look at the items presented there.

Each item had a corresponding number to it, they needed to successfully appraise the items here. Giving the correct name, quality, and any fine details that could affect the price. Then they needed to try to give an accurate estimate of what it would be worth.

It was already hard to precisely gauge the true nature of the weapon from the outer appearance. Getting the correct price would require putting the items against other ones and decide where they stood on their own.

There were also dummy items placed to fool some of the young appraisers. Pills that looked and smelled almost exactly like their more pricey counterparts. Dull-looking blades made from precious metals and even gems that weren’t actually what they seemed.

“I am Elder Hu, I will be the main judge for this competition. Remember juniors, you may not touch any of the items on display, use your eyes and other senses to ascertain the true nature of these treasures!”

The elder listed all the rules for this competition which forbade anyone from touching the items. There was not enough time for everyone to look at the items separately so if anyone was spotted looking at the answers of the others by the judges they would be instantly disqualified.

The main judge here was a Martial Grandmaster level of expert. With this much no junior would be foolish enough to peek, everyone was too afraid to get kicked out. Cheating in a competition like this could even get you banned from the sect. It was not worth the risk.

“With this, the competition starts now, remember you have limited time!”

The elder said while lighting up a somewhat longer incense stick, this would make the competition last about an hour.

The young sect disciples rushed into the open hall and started taking notes. While they were busy with the competition the elders decided to have some tea. They didn’t expect anyone to return for a while as the time needed was quite short.

“Don’t you think that we should extend the time slightly? We have never had anyone fully finish the appraisal before.”

One of the old men chuckled while pouring the green tea into the teacup.

“Then we would have to be stuck in here for even longer, they must also learn how to save time and choose their battles wisely.”

The other elder sat down while taking the cup into his hand and giving it a sip.

“That is true.”

From this elder's perspective, the winner would be the one that could fully utilize their gift. Some of the appraisers were quite stubborn, they would keep examining one item for long periods of time before coming to a conclusion. There was no time for such a thing, they needed to be swift and also know how to focus their expertise.

“Oh… who is that?”

The main judge narrowed his eyes while looking to the hall where the disciples were looking at the items. It seemed that he was even scoffing and frowning.

“Who do you mean elder?”

“That young man… is he wearing the trial disciple robes? Who allowed a trial disciple to take part in this competition?”

The man spotted a certain youth with long hair scribbling on the paper. He was going from one display case to another and quickly writing something down as if he instantly knew the answer to the question.

“That young man… I have no idea… he must have paid to participate… probably still an inexperienced youth that doesn’t know his place, should I go and take him away, Elder?”

The side judge asked while standing up, if the main judge wished for it he would remove the impudent trial disciple. There was no rule against not allowing them in, but they would really have to be from some prestigious clan for that to happen.

“No wait, let us see him make a fool of himself, we can scold him after the event is finished.”

The main judge waved his hand around while going back to sipping the tea. From his standpoint, this would be a good learning opportunity for the other young appraisers. He could show how inexperienced this young fool was and make the other youths take it more seriously.

The minutes continued to pass but the main judge's eyes were drawn to this young man. He was a strange one, he went from one stand to another and quickly started writing. It was as if he knew the answer instantly and there was no chance of being wrong.

This annoyed this old man quite a bit. He might have not been the greatest when it came to cultivation but appraisal was his main profession. To him, it seemed that the youth before him had no respect for this sacred occupation.

It looked like the youth just wrote whatever came to his mind and continued to the next one without examining it further. Even the other participants started to notice him as his feet were shuffling on the wooden floor quite loudly.

Before the incense stick could burn to the half mark the youth was at the last item. The young disciple stopped for a prolonged moment before scribbling down something. The item he was looking at was a somewhat useless pendant.

“Is he really done?”

The side judge commented while looking at the young man. It didn’t take him long to spot the side where the judges were. The next thing seemed a bit disrespectful as the young man spotted the elders and started strutting towards them as if he owned the place.

“Greetings elders, I would like to present my answers.”

The young man held out the piece of paper in front of the side judge while the main elder’s eyebrows were quivering.

“You have finished?”

“Yes, Elder.”

The young man bowed his head while clasping his hands. The main judge didn’t speak out yet but it was clear that he was a bit maddened by the fact.

“Are you taking the Appraisal occupation lightly?”

“I would never do such a thing…”

“You wouldn’t? What is this then?”

The side judge quickly grabbed the piece of paper and was almost ready to throw this rascal out. Before that, he gave the parchment a quick glance and he was shocked at his realization.

“Huh?”

He started eyeballing the writing, if it was calligraphy then this youth had quite pristine writing skills.

“What’s wrong? Did he get everything wrong?”

The main judge asked after the co-judge started acting strangely. He expected his junior to berate this impudent disciple and make more of a scene. This would show the other disciples that the Appraisal profession was not to be trifled with. For some reason, he went quiet instead.

“Wrong...n-no… These are all… correct Elder…”

“Correct? Let me see that!”

The side judge quickly gave the piece of paper to the main judge that started going through the list. He was familiar with the items so he didn’t need to consult any writing.

“Physical enhancement pill, common grade… 24% saturation...price two low grade spirit stones…”

“Azure Wood branch, not yet mature… three spirit stones…”

“Mirage Dragon Cauldron, mortal middle grade…”

The judge went through everything one by one and it was all correct. The youth before him seems to have marked everything and even got the market prices right as well. With one exclusion, he had achieved an almost perfect score.

“Who gave you the answers?”

“The answers Elder?”

“Yes! Do you think that I’ll believe that some trial disciple finished this competition with an almost perfect score?”

“Almost perfect score? I’m sure I’ve gotten everything right… could you check again?”

“The audacity! Who is your master?”

“My master? I don’t have one, I’ve joined the Hall a week ago.”

The young man smiled while standing straight as if he was in the right while the elder running this competition grew angry.

“No master? And you claim that you answered everything right? The useless trinket is a three-star phoenix pendant? You want me to believe that an item at the Martial Saint level made it to this competition unbeknownst to me?”

“Oh… Elder doesn’t know about the hidden mechanism in the back?”

“What hidden mechanism?”

The man shouted loudly and also released some of his killing intent. This caused all of the people in this large hall to look in this direction. It looked like the old man was berating a junior that was just standing there with his head not even lowered.

“I can show the elder, if you don’t believe me…”

“You can show me?”

The people here started inching away, it looked like this young man would end up as a corpse soon. The Appraisal Guild leader who was this main judge was known for having quite a temper if he was disrespected.

“Haha… he can show me, fine… show me… but be ready for the consequences…”

The old man seemed to have made up his mind and the two were seen walking to the last display where a silvery pendant was placed. Some of the disciples had already gone past it as it was one of the easier parts.

“That idiot is a goner… why did he have to go and offend that elder…”

The youths moved out of the way while waiting for this scene to be over. It was still the middle of the competition so they wanted this strange disciple to just go away. He had already annoyed most of the people that were here so they were all in agreement for his punishment.

“Well, this item might look like a regular common grade pendant made from plain silver but when you insert your Qi in the correct places then…”

“Hah, then wha….”

The main judge wanted to laugh but his mouth became tongue twisted. After the young man picked up the pendant it started radiating a massive amount of energy. The pale silver exterior switched to bright red in an instant.

“T-this… it really is a phoenix pendant… and a three star one…”

“Some people might not know this, but some blacksmiths like to lock their items behind a special locking mechanism. I have dabbled a bit in blacksmithing so it wasn’t hard to notice…”

The youth smiled while handing the now ruby pendant that had turned from a common grade treasure to an earth grade treasure. This was not something that an elder like this could hope to have in his possession normally but it found itself into his hand now.

“So elder… Did I have everything correct?”

“Huh? Everything correct?...”

The judge started laughing maniacally before stuffing the red pendant into his spatial ring.

“Yes, you did my boy! I knew a talent when I saw one!”

The elder started patting the young man on his back repeatedly while laughing while the other people in the room looked with wide opened mouths.

“Could you give this Elder your name, disciple?”

“Ah yes, my name is Dai Rong…”

The apprising competition was said to have ended early. Its victor had set a new sect record and went down in history as a new apprising prodigy…