"Hmm. You are right." One of the bandits said.

"Yea, I also agree with him" Another said with a nod of his head.

So, just like that, everyone agreed with him. Then they chose to all remain here at this town where they can steal or rob from people to increase the amount of coins in their hands.

...

At the second examination ground...

Xiao Lin who was busy copying out the linkages of the anciently texts that formed the beast paw into his mind, had only been able to copy only five-hundredth of the paw.

'This is going to take a lot of time! Ugh!' Xiao Lin said within himself.

'Well, I am not supposed to complain, since it is basically what I signed up for.' Xiao Lin said further and then focused intensely on copying the millennia-old texts that consisted of cryptic symbols and signs into his head.

At this point in time, a week had gone by, leaving everyone taking this particular test with only three weeks. And if they couldn't comprehend the profoundness of the images in their minds before the three weeks remaining was up, they would be immediately expelled from the examination ground since they have basically failed one of the most important tests in becoming a disciple at this sect.

Comprehension abilities were very necessary since it would help a cultivator to unravel and understand the mysteries of Spiritual cultivation, battle and movement arts. So, if one lacks comprehending capabilities, one's growth and development of their skill sets will become terribly affected that one's technique could become stagnant and outdated. And this could lead to being either intimidated or terrorized by other cultivators who can comprehend really well, since their level of skills would be highly advanced than that cultivators own. So, apart from exploration of uncharted regions to source for consummate cultivation materials or item to increase cultivation levels, ability to understand techniques and methods contained in spiritual arts was also really important to cultivators. Then furthermore, with high comprehension abilities, a cultivator could actually come up with his own techniques and methods, which could be inspired from some certain techniques in a particular battle, cultivation and movement art.

So, as Xiao Lin was intensely focusing on the image in his head to copy it off and create his own battle technique, the girl who had a polychromatic beam of energy fired at her from the large stony board, had comprehended up to fifty percent of the profundity of the image in her head.

Therefore, once she had understood the mystery of the image floating in her head up to that degree, a larger resplendent beam of energy was immediately shot at her again from the large stony board, which certainly invoked the feeling that it was sentient and that it was able to immediately realize when the people before it have unraveled to a certain level the mysteries of the images floating in their heads.

The moment that the beam of energy appeared and penetrated into her without causing her any form of pain, it quickly turned into many dozens of larger, dazzling motes of energy that quickly moved round her body and permeated it. Also, some of these pearl-sized motes of energy shot into her mind, where they immediately infused it with energy to seemingly invigorate and refresh it. And once her mind was bombarded with the brightly glowing motes of energy and became more energized, her rate of comprehension immediately shot up again to the point that she was able to rapidly understand the abtruseness of the image in her head up to a percentage of sixty-five.

With a delighted smile appearing in her face due to what was going on, she said within herself, 'I could probably be the first to finish this particular test. And once I am able to do so, the elders will take notice of me. And once they do, they will fight themselves over me so that I can come join any of their departments or factions. Haha. Let me focus once more to try and unravel the secrets hidden by the image in my head. I have to be the first to finish this test. I must outdo everyone here.'

Once she said this, she focused more on the image to discover the enlightening messages hidden in it.

...

So, as everyone carried on with their comprehension, with only a week and some days left for the test to come to an end, a prismatic beam of light suddenly shot out of the head of the girl towards the ceiling of the hall that they were in. And immediately this happened, a seemingly ancient voice rang in the girl's head, "Well done. You have passed the test. Now, you can stand to your feet and wait at a side for your colleagues to finish theirs."

'Oh. Thank you very much, senior.' The girl said to the voice ringing in her head.

She then continued, 'But senior, since I finished before everyone, shouldn't I be allowed to advance to the next ground for our discipleship examination. It's not fair if I am allowed to stand and wait for them to finish with what they are doing or till the remaining days left for the test are over.'

Immediately she said that, the voice in her head kept quiet. It then said after a few moments later, 'Lad, if you don't shut your mouth, I will shut it for you. I know what I am doing. You can't teach me my job or tell me what to do. And, although I could have given you a slight punishment for saying too much, but I will just let it slide, seeing that you are an examinee, and I am not supposed to be punishing an examinee until he or she becomes our disciple. Now, do as I said, or get ready to find yourself anywhere in any of the towns out there.'

'I am sorry, senior. I only wanted to air my opinions. But since senior has found it offensive, I render my apologies to you. So, I plead that senior forgives me, and I promise not to be unbridled next time.' The girl inwardly said with an apologetic tone in her voice.

'It's okay. Now go stay at a side and await further instructions from me.' The anciently voice in her head said.

'Yes senior' The girl responded in a polite manner while the voice sounding in her head rapidly vanished.

Then once the voice disappeared, the girl stood to her feet from her cross-legged position on the ground and walked to a side where she would stay till the time for the comprehension test was up.

While the elders who were seeing this, nodded their heads in favorable impression of the girl. Then one of them who was a female, and was old as them, said with a serious expression in her face, "That girl is far better than Devil Fang in terms of comprehension. Up till now, he hasn't been able to cause the stony board to shoot even a tiny ray of mind-and-body refreshing energy at him. Ugh! What a shame of someone said to be the best crop of this batch of examinees. Haha."

"Yea, I agree with you on that, Elder Chu. But that is the only area that I can say the girl is actually better than Devil Fang. So, if we talk about other key areas like possessing characteristics such as tenacity, persistence, perseverance, the boy gives the girl a massive gap which could be actually be likened to the unfathomable distance between the heaven and earth. So, the girl is better in comprehension than the boy, the boy is far above her in all other things that you would be able to mention." A male elder who had the aim of making Xiao Lin join the department that he supervises, said out loud in his defense.

Haha!

But as soon as he said this, that female elder called Elder Chu, suddenly burst into a loud and raucous laughter. Then when she stopped laughing some moments later, she said with a mocking smile appearing in her face, "True that the boy you elders have placed your eyes on is exceptionally good, only in battle actually. It is only a matter of time before he is far surpassed in skills and strength by that girl who has a comprehension ability that cannot be rivaled by that boy, or any other male clown currently taking that comprehension test. Haha."

"Hmm. I don't want to argue with you Elder Chu. I am far too old for that. So, keep your opinions to yourself, while I keep mine to myself." That male elder said and turned his head away from Elder Chu to gaze at Xiao Lin and the other male examinees currently taking the comprehension test.

...

A few days more went by with Xiao Lin finally succeeding in permanently imprinting the perfect form of the image of a primitive beast paw to his memory. And once he was able to do this, he prepared to comprehend the image in his head.

Then because of his initial comprehension of the image, and the branding of the entire image of the beast paw to his mind, he was able to quickly cause the stony board to fire a colorful beam of energy at him.