The interior of Juxian City had been completely transformed into an exam ground. In the massive square at the center of the city, three high platforms had been erected. Floating above each platform was a ten-foot-tall jade tablet, each inscribed with an ancient character: “Spirit,” “Realm,” and “Heart.”
Below the platforms was a sea of people. Elders and disciples from various sects were split between the eastern and western viewing stands. The central seat of honor was empty, holding only a single armchair with silver patterns on a black background—the seat of Tiance Palace.
Lin Zhiyue noticed several people sitting next to that empty chair. They wore black robes with subtle patterns, and tokens with silver designs on a black background hung from their waists. Their expressions were indifferent, completely ignoring the surrounding clamor. People of Tiance Palace. Although the main seat was empty, it was clear that someone was keeping a close eye on the entire venue.
At the sound of a gong, a middle-aged cultivator wearing the robes of the Qingling Sect rose into midair, his voice booming like a great bell. “The joint disciple selection of the hundred immortal sects begins now! First trial—Affinity Test! All participants, step forward in turn and touch the jade tablet!”
The crowd surged, forming several long queues that snaked toward the “Spirit” platform. Lin Zhiyue picked a middle line and stood in place. She was surrounded by tense-faced youths; some were muttering cultivation formulas under their breath, while others gripped their sword hilts so tightly that their knuckles turned white.
The young man in front of her was the first to go up. He pressed his palm against the jade tablet, and the surface lit up with a pale golden light—Gold Spiritual Root, mid-grade. The second was a young girl; two colors, green and red, intertwined on the tablet—Dual Wood and Fire Spiritual Root, low-to-mid-grade. One by one, they went up and came down, some beaming with joy, others biting their lips in disappointment.
Finally, it was her turn.
Lin Zhiyue stepped onto the high platform and pressed her right palm against the cool surface of the tablet. The spiritual energy of her Mutated Dual Ice and Wind Heavenly Spiritual Root surged out instinctively through her palm. Freezing cold and sharp wind intertwined, causing the jade tablet to suddenly burst with a brilliant teal-white light. It was as cold and piercing as an aurora in a winter blizzard. The light climbed all the way from the base of the tablet to the very top, so dazzling that the proctor standing nearby squinted his eyes.
In the center of the tablet, two intertwined patterns emerged. One spread out like cracked ice, while the other swirled like a vortex of wind, both as clear as if they had been carved into the stone.
The supervising Qingyun Sect cultivator’s hand trembled, nearly dropping his brush. When he called out the result, his voice cracked with disbelief: “Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Root... Dual Ice and Wind!”
As his voice fell, the entire square fell dead silent for a moment. Several elders on the eastern viewing stands stood up at the same time. Low gasps erupted from the crowd on the western stands, and the youths waiting in line turned their heads to stare at the platform.
Even the black-robed disciples from Tiance Palace turned their heads slightly. One of them fixed his gaze on Lin Zhiyue, pausing for two breaths before looking away.
Lin Zhiyue withdrew her hand and stood calmly on the platform, indifferent to the hundreds of eyes staring up at her. The green hem of her Mist-shrouded Verdure set fluttered gently in the wind, and her gold-and-jade earrings swayed, catching the light in delicate, shimmering glints.
The proctor snapped back to his senses, carefully wrote down the record in his ledger, and called out in a loud voice: “Mutated Dual Ice and Wind Heavenly Spiritual Root—Passed!”
She turned and walked down the platform with unhurried steps, her back straight. Just like that, she had passed the first trial.
The cool spiritual energy inside her flowed gently through her meridians, like a docile cat curling up in her dantian to yawn.
The second trial, “Entering the Realm,” was scheduled for the hour of Mao the following day.
Standing at the edge of the square, Lin Zhiyue looked up at the flag bearing the character “Ce” with its silver patterns on a black background. A gentle breeze blew from the north, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
She reached up to adjust her collar, the green bracelet on her wrist glowing faintly. As for tomorrow’s illusion trial, she wanted to see what kind of tricks they had in store.
The Second Trial
More than two hundred young disciples who had passed the affinity test sat cross-legged on the ground of the square, forming three concentric circles.
Six elders from different sects rose from the eastern stands at the same time. Each performed hand seals, sending six different-colored beams of spiritual light to converge in the air above the center of the square, coalescing into a shimmering, watery screen of light. The screen slowly expanded outward from the center like a giant, inverted transparent bowl, enveloping everyone within.
Lin Zhiyue sat cross-legged near the front of the inner circle. Before closing her eyes, she took one last look at the empty chair of Tiance Palace. Overhead, the flag with its silver patterns on a black background fluttered loudly in the wind.
Then, her consciousness was swallowed by a vast, blinding white light.
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing atop a towering city wall. Below her stretched thousands of miles of mountains, rivers, and cities. On the horizon, dark, ominous demon clouds swirled, and countless streaks of black energy descended from the sky, shattering mountains and turning cities to ash wherever they touched.
Deafening battle cries roared in her ears. Countless cultivators flew on swords through the demon clouds, their spiritual lights colliding with the black energy to explode in bursts of blinding sparks. People constantly plummeted from the sky, falling into the sea of fire below like kites with severed strings.
She looked down at herself—she was wearing her Mist-shrouded Verdure set, and her hand gripped an ice-blue longsword condensed from spiritual energy. The dual ice and wind spiritual energy within her body was surging like a torrential tide, far more powerful than her actual current cultivation level.
Below the city wall, an old man covered in blood looked up and shouted to her in a hoarse voice: “The Tiance Palace token is here! You possess a dual-attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root. With this token, you can activate the mountain-protecting grand array! We will cover the rear, you must go now!”
A token with silver patterns on a black background was tossed up, landing squarely at her feet.
At the same time, an emotionless voice echoed in her ear: “If the cultivation world is in peril, what should you do?”
Clutching the ice-blue longsword, Lin Zhiyue stood atop the city wall, the wind whipping her green robes wildly.
Her gaze swept from the swirling demon clouds on the horizon to the cultivators fighting bloodily below, then to the collapsing cities and the crying, fleeing commoners in the distance, before finally resting on the token at her feet.
She bent down and picked up the token.
In her past life, she had spent seven years at university, attended countless lectures, and written numerous papers. The phrase she had heard most often was, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
During group meetings, her mentor would slap the table and say, “When you go out into the world in the future, you represent not just yourselves, but the entire academic community.” Sitting below, she would nod in agreement, thinking to herself, Of course. If I have the ability, of course I’ll help everyone. When she wrote papers, she had corrected data for her juniors, formatted drafts for her peers, and helped the neighboring research group run code. When had she ever refused to help?
But that was in the laboratory. That was a civilized, orderly, modern world where mistakes could be undone.
In this illusion, mountains crumbled, earth shattered, and corpses littered the land. She couldn't tell if the people before her were real or imaginary, but the overwhelming sense of oppression was real, and the tension of facing death at any second was real.
She knew one thing very clearly—if she turned and left with this token, with the cultivation level she possessed in this illusion, her chances of survival would indeed be much higher than if she stayed to fight to the death. She didn't know a single one of those people risking their lives below.
Her fingers tightened around the token.
Born in Huaxia in her past life, heroic integrity was etched into her very bones, and her heart held the deep, expansive love of her homeland. If possible, she was certainly willing to be the kindling that ignited a prosperous era.
Clenching the token in her palm, she looked up at the churning demon clouds filling the sky and spoke.
Her voice was not loud, but it cut clearly through the howling wind and the sounds of battle: “Since I am already a part of the cultivation world, I cannot simply look out for myself—”
Rate on N.U.
