A massive crowd was pouring into a coliseum. It was mainly composed of the civilians of Thunder Cloud City.

There was a reason for the crowd today. It was time for the testing of destinies.

The minimum age for the testing of destinies was 6 years old since this was the normal time it took for the child to realise the seriousness of cultivation. Plus, their meridians would also be strong enough to be tested.

Well, this would be the case for normal babies and children. I was a bit of an oddball since I was strong enough to be tested on account of my cultivation, but mom was being a mom and wanted to wait till I was old enough officially to do it with the other kids near my age.

As one could imagine, the civilians were discussing amongst themselves the results they would see today, as they filtered into the coliseum to watch the show.

“Who do you think will have the greatest destiny?”

“My money’s on the young master of the Shen family!”

“Mines on Weisheng Zu!”

“Oh, really!? I think the young lady Qin Ling will be the highest!”

“Oh, that’s the daughter of Mistress Qin Dongmei, right?”

“What about the mysterious son of Master Long Huangdi?”

“Hmph, him!? That cowardly Long Huangdi and his wife Long Nuhuang have hidden their son from the world. I bet they’re ashamed at his obvious lack of talent. Most likely the most pathetic of mortal bodies! A di mortal physique!”

In this world, everyone had something known as a physique. Most people had what was known as a mortal grade physique.

Mortal grade physiques were at the bottom and were usually in possession of a bronze destiny or worse.

Though one couldn’t tell the destiny of another unless one reached a certain cultivation level or had a device created for the use of it, one could infer the physique based on the faint amount of spiritual energy that naturally entered the body outside of cultivation.

The spiritual energy that entered the body this way normally went towards nourishing it, strengthening the body. Of course, this kind of nourishing was slow but could be sped up if one focused on it.

Physiques usually existed in three major groups. Mortal, earth and heaven with sub-levels in each.

For example, within the mortal grade, the sub-levels would be from low to high, di mortal physique, zhong mortal physique, and tian mortal physique. All three grades followed the same trend.

Of course, most people were limited to the mortal grade. Very few were in the earth grade, whilst those with a heaven grade were rarely seen. Legend even had it that those with a heaven grade physique were able to change their own destinies, though this had yet to be proven.

However, there were even fewer that had physiques with special properties that were exceptionally rare.

These special-grade physiques or the ones who had them were as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns.

In addition, physiques were usually tested at sects for cultivation reasons.

“I don’t know, I don’t think Long Huangdi would do all that based on the physique alone.”

This civilian wasn’t wrong to think so. Though it was far more common to see a mediocre destiny in a mortal grade physique, the chances weren’t so dismal that it wasn’t worth checking.

On the off chance that the destiny was good within the mortal physiques, as there would be hope. As long as one had a good destiny, one could temper the body and build upon it.

“Bah! Think about it! He shuts off his family grounds for years and says nothing about his child while all the other family leaders flaunt their protégé all over the place, doesn’t it strike you odd?”

“Well, in any case. We will see the unveiling today.”

“Hmph! We shall.”

They were all packed in a huge coliseum with a massive arena below them. In the middle of the arena stood a large black ancient steel stele.

It radiated the aura of the ancients. The vicissitudes of time wafted from the wear and tear that the onslaught of the ages levied upon it.

No one knew where it came from, only that it was called Destiny Scale and it could appraise the Destiny a person possessed.

There were many treasures that could assess a person’s Destiny. They weren’t called Destiny Scales, though. The only reason this was called a Destiny Scale was that those characters were a bit of the few discernible words that could be made out.

The rest of the words were too mottled to make any sense. The scars of time left their marks everywhere, creating an indelible brand.

It could even summon the accompanying phenomenon, something that only top-level destiny appraisal treasures could do. A phenomenon was something that came hand in hand with a high enough destiny and only came through the first time the destiny was measured.

The ancient stele only activated once every 12 years. Rumours were that it had other uses, but no one present knew what these uses were.

No one knew how old the ancient stele was either, only that it stood there long before the city came to be.

The aura and pressure that it gave made any effort to move it fruitless. It was with this in mind that rather than moving it, they instead built the colosseum surrounding it.

Soon, an old man ambled onto the stage. He said and did nothing apart from standing beside the ancient steel stele as he waited.

“L-Look! There they are! The 10 Great Family Leaders all came!”

Located some distance away from the main stands were the VIP stands. A group of influential people could be seen entering from the side and took the seats meant for them.

The clamour of the crowd rose as the identities of the family leaders could be seen. A woman wearing a brocade patterned robe was the first to enter the VIP stands.

Her figure was striking and hot, while her facial features were soft and inviting. It was the kind of scene that would make one refreshed looking upon it.

“Ah, it’s Lady Qin Dongmei! She came! Oh, why couldn’t I be born into the Qin family?” One civilian lamented.

“Yeah, right! You look like the butt duck!”

“And you look like the butt duck when it can’t keep its food down!”

Most of the men couldn’t help but complain and fantasise the moment the beauty entered the stands.

Qin Dongmei was a very good friend of the Long family and was also the leader of the Qin family.

For some reason, most of the offspring and members of the Qin family were all women. It had been quite some time since the family leader was a male, and this led to the family being one of a matriarchy.

“To think it’s almost time to test the destinies of the children. That Long Huangdi has been scarce the past few years, but now I can see how far that son of theirs has come, and show them just what my Qin Ling is capable of.”

As she entered, all the rest followed. One by one they came in, the leaders of the ten great families that governed Thunder Cloud City.

Zhu Yao, An Yun, Bai Yan, Lin Dong, Li Ren, Chen Xiao, Yang Shen, Long Huangdi and City Lord Weisheng Zhensheng.

Another individual came in right after the City Lord, a woman who looked around with a somewhat impassive expression.

All the family leaders remained standing as the City lord went to the forefront of the VIP Box to address the public.

The individual who came in after the City Lord didn’t bother to wait and sat down right away in the seat usually reserved for the City Lord.

The family leaders were aghast at the disrespect this person showed to the City Lord. But seeing how the latter said nothing about it, still preparing to address the public, the leaders didn’t press the issue.

After all, the background of this person couldn’t be simple if she was allowed to come into the VIP section to begin with.

“Hello everyone, today is truly a glorious day, for it is today that we shall take a peek at the future our young ones have in store. Your support is more than appreciated.”

The minute the leaders all took their seats, the fervour of the crowd rose to another level.

City Lord Weisheng Zhensheng smiled as he saw the excitement on his people’s faces.

He looked at the old man who stood below and nodded, prompting him to begin.