Chapter 508 The First Crisis
In a flash, the purple dragon with lightning had already arrived in the sky above the gorge. All of a sudden, fierce winds blew, and clouds were rolling violently. On the ground, with the howling wind, the dust and sand that flew up in the air blurred people’s eyes. Many of them looked at the dragon with ultimately horrified looks. Dragons were creatures in the legends of ancient times, which could summon the winds and command the rain as well as bring the thunders and drop the fire. These omnipotent dragons were capable of myriads of changes, and no ordinary people could resist them.
No one had ever seen a dragon before, but now they saw a real one with their own eyes. How could they not be shocked? Suddenly, the purple lightning dragon roared at the crowd below. It seemed that its voice was going to split the ground. Right after that, a heavy gale came on to blow, along with stones flying in all directions. Also, countless towering trees were directly blown away.
At this point, it seemed that even the ground also began to roar. The dragon roar reverberated through the gorge as though the sound alone could tear people apart. With fright, most of the newly joined disciples became as pale as ghosts and fled in all directions.
Chu Qi moved, unsheathed her Full Moon Blade, and put it beside Xiao Chen to protect him. Xiao Chen gently pressed her hand and said seriously, “Chu Qi, don’t move. Put your weapon away.”
“Howl…”
Suddenly, the purple lightning dragon roared again, but this time, it roared toward the place where Xiao Chen stood. The mighty dragon roar could nearly crack people’s internal organs. Xiao Chen instantly started to run all his True Energy. While trying his best to resist the force from the dragon roar, he tightly pulled Chu Qi. The strong wind almost blew his face out of shape.
A lot of people around him directly gave up their resistance and were sent flying by the dragon roar. Many of them escaped in fear of the powerful dragon aura, while others were so frightened that their legs went weak that they collapsed to the ground.
A moment later, the purple lightning dragon finally stopped roaring, and the surging clouds in the sky finally quieted down. At this time, three beams of light with different colors suddenly rose in the distance and flew toward them in the sky. Upon arrival, they turned into three white-bearded old elders with large fluttering sleeves, like immortals.
The one on the left was a red-robed elder. In the middle was a cyan-robed elder, and on the right was a purple-robed elder.
The three elders stood on their swords, floating in the air like immortals. None of them had revealed any trace of the aura that only belonged to true masters, but a sense of respect would arise spontaneously in the people’s hearts as soon as they saw them. These three elders were the three Perfected Immortals of the Cloud Mist Academy. All of them had a cultivation level of the Grand Completion Realm.
The elder in a red robe on the left was Perfected Immortal Chongyang, who was proficient in the magic spell. Xiao Chen had seen him when he went through the Sword Tryout in the Wastelands last time. The cyan-robed elder in the middle was Perfected Immortal Qingxu, who was perfect in the swordsmanship and sword techniques. As for the purple-robed elder on the right was Perfected Immortal Zihui, who was well versed in formations.
Now that the purple lightning dragon was circling the three Perfected Immortals. When they saw the arrival of the three Perfected Immortals, those new disciples below finally heaved a sigh of relief. However, the three Perfected Immortals looked a little disappointed as they saw that these disciples were in a state of disarray.
Perfected Immortal Zihui’s gaze swept across the crowd until he saw Xiao Chen, who was calm in the face of danger. His eyes showed a little appreciation. Then he looked at the purple lightning dragon and whispered, “Tian Zhi, go back.”
With a shrilling whistle, the purple lightning dragon roared and left immediately after turning into the winds and clouds. Xiao Chen calmed down. As he had expected, this was an ancient dragon soul. He didn’t expect that this Perfected Immortal Zihui was also a high-level Imperial Spirit Commander.
Xiao Chen estimated that this dragon was at least a Tier-Seven dragon soul, which had the strength above the Grand Completion Realm and could instantly destroy Guifeng’s body and soul. Of course, the Tier-Seven dragon soul was just his speculation.
The crowd slowly quieted down. They all looked up at the three Perfected Immortals with fluttering sleeves in midair. When they saw the stern looks of the three Perfected Immortals, they couldn’t help but appear to be a little nervous. The three Perfected Immortals looked at each other. Then riding on the rows of sword radiance, they went to the distance. It wasn’t until they had left that all the people presented felt a little more relaxed.
At this moment, the fog on the opposite side of the gorge also dispersed. After that, four rays of sword light followed. As the four rays landed on the ground, they instantly turned into four young people. They were the senior brothers who were going to welcome the newcomers this time.
It reminded Xiao Chen of the scene when he joined the Three Pure Sect that year. Everything was almost the same. But for Xiao Chen, this place was utterly a strange place without the three princes, Senior Sister Luo, and Bai Ying.
“Welcome to the Cloud Mist Academy. Next, let me tell you some matters about the entrance test.” A Senior Brother stood up and said with a light smile on his face. It seemed that he was not so stern. After saying that, he continued, “Of course, it is only a test for new students. Even if you fail the test, you can still enter the Cloud Mist Academy. Therefore, you do not need to worry.”
The meaning of his words was already obvious. Though all the new students who came to sign up this time were outstanding talents from all over the world, they had different levels of aptitude. Therefore, this test was aimed to screen out the students with the best ability who could be paid special attention to in the future. As for those with relatively ordinary aptitude, they naturally could only get ordinary treatment. It was a universal rule. In any place, there was no so-called absolute fair.
In fact, all of them knew the rule in their hearts, but they would not say it out loud. Now, everyone around them had become a competitor. The more competitors that they defeated, the more attention of the academy they could gain. Of course, it was the idea of a part of them who had some extremely distorted thoughts in their minds. This part of people thought that if they dug pits for and climbed on others, they could reach an upper position.
“Well, please show me your jade notes of places in our academy for inspection. Then you have to cross the illusory land here and reach the opposite of the gorge by yourselves. Remember, you must reach the opposite side as fast as you can. No matter what happens, don’t look back.”
A Senior Brother said very seriously. After that, everyone stepped forward and handed over their jade notes of places for the four Senior Brothers to check. Of course, Jiang Qianqian also came here. However, she frowned slightly and looked very unhappy because she knew the information in the jade note that she didn’t win the first place in the Sword Tryout.
After the inspections, these Senior Brothers counted up that 543 people in total signed up today. Half of them were the winners of the Sword Tryouts from places all over the Wastelands. Next, these new students had to fly across the illusory land in this gorge. Xiao Chen was fully prepared. Since the bridges with iron chains in Three Pure Sect did not daunt him that year, the easy illusory land now could pose no threat to him. Well, at least, he thought so.
When everyone was about to fly across the illusory land, a person behind them called out in an urgent voice. “Wait! Wait! Here is one more student!”
All the people here turned around to look, seeing a young man dressed like a scholar running towards them. The young man had a folding fan in his hand, and his hair was neatly tied around his shoulders. He looked gentle and refined. But when compared to those thickly built people, he seemed rather weak and fragile.
The young man ran to the edge of the gorge and took a deep breath. He clasped his hands and said with a smile, “I’m sorry. I went to the wrong place in the southern district yesterday. Senior Brothers, sorry to keep you waiting for such a long time.”
Initially, the four Senior Brothers frowned a little when they saw that he came late. But after they heard that he ran to the southern district, they looked a little surprised, and so did the others. “The southern district of the city is where the Black Horn is located. How could he come back alive from that place? More importantly, how could he return unscathed?”
The young man smiled, taking out a jade note from his sleeve and handed it to a Senior Brother. “This is my jade note. Please have a look, Senior Brother.”
The Senior Brother took his jade note and sensed the information inside. He frowned and said, “Yumu Shisan? Alright, join the team.”
Yumu Shisan smiled gently and entered the group. Xiao Chen was a little dazed. “This person gives me a different feeling. I cannot sense his cultivation at all. Can this person also hide his cultivation like me?”
Then, under the guidance of the four Senior Brothers, they flew to the opposite of the gorge on their swords. As soon as they were above the abyss, a dense fog enveloped them. No one could hear the others’ voices, nor could they see each other. When the fog dispersed, they felt like they had entered another world, and the opposite side of the gorge seemed to be out of reach to them now.
Flying on his sword, Xiao Chen saw many ferocious beasts with wings around him. Although it was an illusory land, these ferocious beasts could attack them. Therefore, with caution, Xiao Chen carefully skirted around them, trying not to fight with them. In doing so, he could go his way with no delay. However, when he approached the opposite side, he suddenly heard many people that he knew calling his name behind him.
Xiao Chen shook his head and ignored these sounds, knowing clearly that these were nothing but illusions. However, when the last voice rang out, he gradually slowed down.
“Chen’er…”
“It’s my master’s voice.” Xiao Chen’s body trembled slightly, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and continued to move forward without looking back. However, Ling Yin’s voice seemed to follow him all the way. Xiao Chen felt extremely upset in his heart, but still, he struggled hard not to turn back. Finally, he arrived at the opposite side. But many people had arrived there before him, and so did Chu Qi.
In this test, Xiao Chen was not among those distinguished ones, and even his performance was slightly inferior. He had increased his speed to the limit and had also bypassed those ferocious beasts. However, he failed to go around the memory ingrained in his mind. Hence, the two Elders, who were standing in front of him, didn’t pay attention to him
“Well, congratulations to all of you for passing the first round of the test.”
An Elder on the left said loudly. He had a smile on his face when he spoke, but he still could not hide the trace of disappointment in his eyes. After all, this group of new disciples acted too slow. Perhaps, the ability of these students was just above the average. Thus, now he put his hope on the disciples who would sign up in the next few days.
“Ahem,” the Elder on the right coughed and said in a clear voice, “Now, let’s begin the Spiritual Meridian Test.”
The Spiritual Meridian Test was a must in every sect, including the Cloud Mist Academy. There was a large black stone standing beside the Elder. On the top of the stone were twelve small holes. In front of the stone were two palm prints. The stone was exactly the Spiritual Meridian Test Stone.
Xiao Chen frowned again. It was another Spiritual Meridian Test! Last time, he couldn’t enter the Three Pure Sect because his twelve Spiritual Meridians were black. There must be no exception if he wanted to join the Cloud Mist Academy this time. In the Three Pure Sect, Senior Sister Luo and Brother Yifeng could help him, but who would help him here?
One after another, the new disciples went forward to test their Spiritual Meridians. They had long been familiar with the Spiritual Meridian Test and also, they had already known how many Spiritual Meridians they had. Therefore, they were not nervous at all. However, the two Elders who tested their Spiritual Meridian became more and more disappointed because almost all of them had only six ordinary Spiritual Meridians. Even seven Spiritual Meridians were quite rare to see.
Suddenly, the crowd cried out in surprise, and the eyes of the two Elders lit up. On the Spiritual Meridian Test Stone, nine beams of pure white light without any flaws shot up into the sky. The person under test was precisely Jiang Qianqian.
“Nine Upper Spiritual Meridians!”
The crowd marveled at this scene. Although they were all outstanding people from all the places, they had rarely seen someone who had such pure Spiritual Meridians. Both the two Elders who tested her Spiritual Meridians looked at Jiang Qianqian with admiration. Some senior disciples who were watching in the distance were also surprised. It seemed to them that this new student was bound to be one of their academy’s key nurturing talents.
Jiang Qianqian smiled gently and withdrew her hand as if nothing important had happened. With light steps, she gracefully returned to the crowd. However, with a hint of disdain, she landed her eyes on Xiao Chen.
“Next,” said a senior disciple next to the Elder, who was in charge of the Spiritual Meridian Test.
The next one was Xiao Chen. At this moment, he tightly frowned. Though he didn’t know what consequences the test result would lead to, he knew one crucial thing that he mustn’t show his twelve beams of black light. Otherwise, he couldn’t enter the Cloud Mist Academy, definitely couldn’t! Perhaps, they would catch him and cut him apart for anatomical study.