Chapter 463: Verdant Hills And Green Waters
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
s.h.i.+ My was not too concerned about the outsiders, but Cai had to be stuffed into a pocket. Otherwise, he was afraid the bird’s character would create trouble.
He walked through the noisy crowd on his own. In a short time, he arrived at a huge ancient tree in the center of the open s.p.a.ce.
Although the surrounding bustling crowds were filled with people, there was still a large open s.p.a.ce in front of the old trees where a round platform was built. It seemed to be made out of some special wood.
Compared with the surrounding woods, this giant tree was not too tall. Maybe it was three or four hundred feet. The whole body was purple and there was something abnormal about the thick trunk. It was like a purple tower pointing to the sky.
On its branches, countless vines poured down like waterfalls and hung straight toward the ground.
s.h.i.+ Mu observed that there was something extraordinary about how this giant tree came into being and his curiosity was aroused. It seemed to stimulate some kind of magical power.
As the golden light in his eyes circulated, the huge purple tree suddenly felt like it was close at hand. The fine lines on the bark had become clearer and even a small stream of spiritual flow could be seen through the vines. The ground was constantly coming together.
s.h.i.+ Mu saw that in the center of the trunk, the spiritual energy had become a vortex, in which faint spatial fluctuations were faintly radiated.
When s.h.i.+ Mu saw something in the air, he suddenly felt a G.o.d-like presence sweep away from him. His heart fluttered for a little as he experienced the sensational feeling of being seen through.
He quickly looked up and saw the circular high platform in front of the purple tree. It was unknown when but an old man in a blue robe appeared.
The man’s hair was completely white and his face was ruddy like a child. He was covered with a wide blue robe. As the breeze swayed gently, there was a dusty temperament to his clothes.
The old man with his long hanging eyebrows seemed to only look around the scene. At this moment, he had looked at the crowd which put s.h.i.+ Mu a little more at ease.
“Silence!” The old man raised an eyebrow as he regained his gaze and said.
The sound was not loud but it was full of majesty and could be heard clearly by everyone in the audience. Hence, the originally busty crowd finally quieted down and their eyes locked on the old man.
For a moment, the scene was pin-drop silent.
s.h.i.+ Mu looked at the old man, deep in thought.
This old man was rather different from humans in appearance. His body was hidden but s.h.i.+ Mu could still feel a faint demonic presence from the man.
In addition, the embroidered pattern on the chest of the robe was a pale old tree. It was not the leaf pattern on most of the disciples of the Holy Land of Qinglan. It was probably a low position.
While s.h.i.+ Mu was deep in thought, the voice of the old man sounded again.
“The old man is a sorrowful soul. He is the elder of this new disciple’s trial. The Holy Land of Qinglan has been pa.s.sed down for millions of years since the opening by the ancestors of Qinglan. According to the ancestral training, for every ten years, for the opening of the sect of the Solar Star Field, 108 disciples were recruited. According to the results of the trial, the first 36 were selected as the upper disciples while the next 72 would be the next disciples in line.”
Everyone listened quietly. No one was speaking, and apparently, they knew what the old man said but they did not feel that anything was out of the ordinary.
The old man paused for a while before he continued.
“Those who pa.s.sed the guarantor qualification review are 33,613 in total. Before the official start of the trial, the elder had routinely asked if anyone possessed the blood of a beast or abyss and other physiques. If you do, please stand up and come closer to me. Upon confirmation, you will be directly exempted from selection. You will immediately rise up to the upper disciple rank.”
As soon as this statement came out, the crowds who were not shocked at the scene previously were once again turbulent. A burst of arguments could be heard from time to time.
“The blood essence of a heavenly beast!”
s.h.i.+ Mu was also shocked and he could not help but think of the azure ape ancestors. All he could do was let out a smile.
However, he was lucky enough to obtain the blood essence of the ancestors of the azure ape. It was not really the blood of the beasts unless it could be evolved to the remnants of the giant azure ape’s blood essence.
The other party had also said this probability was minimal but in his nature to not give up.
After a time, no one stood up.
“Well, since there are no people, then according to the usual practice, I will explain to you the rules and precautions for the selection of disciples.”
Despite the scene he just caused, the old man did not seem surprised and continued to speak.
s.h.i.+ Mu regained himself to listen to what was coming next.
“The trial will be carried out in the secret territory of the Verdant Hills in the Green Waters for a period of one month. All of you have already obtained a Watery Vault Heaven Jade and a Qingshan Order. All you need to do is to enter the secret chamber by killing the beast demon and obtain their demon nucleus. The demon nucleus will be inhaled into the Qingshan Order. After the expiration of one month, the winner will be determined according to the points acc.u.mulated from the Qingshan Order. Note that the demon in the secret chamber was raised in a special way but it does not produce intelligence. However, its strength cannot be underestimated. If it is self-aware, it will immediately smash everything in its way to escape from the secret chamber to save itself. This means with the initiative to waive the eligibility for the election, the Qingshan Order will remain in the secret chamber,” the old man said.
“I do wonder, will we be allowed to kill each other in the process?” a tall man with blue skin and a big mouth full of fangs asked, not far from the old man.
The voice just fell and many people showed a type of sinister smile.
“Silence! Although fighting is restricted in Qinglan City, there is no such restriction in the secret territory of the Verdant Hills in the Green Waters. Everyone can fight each other to seize the Qingshan order from others and cla.s.sify each other’s points as their own. The Holy Land of Qinglan will just look at the end result without enquiring about the process of it. In addition, since fights are inevitable, life or death is in your own hands.” The old man said with an arched eyebrow.
The words intrigued the tall blue-skinned man but a few of the others around him seemed horrified at the idea.
s.h.i.+ Mu was not surprised at all. After all, there were so many people partic.i.p.ating in the trails, there was no need to fight each other.
Within the secret territory, compared with the less intelligent demon monsters there, the threat from the candidates was far greater.
“Well, this old man has said what he needs to. Lastly, I would like to remind you that the selection of disciples must be at the age of 100 years old and achieved an Earth-Grade Warrior rank or of Moon-Ranked Magician. If you use medicinal herbs, secret techniques or any other means to temporarily improve yourself and people who do not meet the requirements of the age, I advise you to retreat early. Don’t dig yourself a hole,” the old man said while looking to the side slowly.
Dozens of people in the crowd began to leave the scene.
However, the majority of them had an excited expression across their faces, eager to try out.
“Time’s up!” The old man screamed at the top of his lungs.
As he said, the old man’s body swelled up and walked toward the tall purple tree that stood three or four hundred feet.
His eyes were bright and gleaming as his hands lifted. The fingers turned like a wheel in front of his chest and the roads were shot and smashed into the purple trees.
With the fading of the charm magic, the surface of the seemingly calm purple tree suddenly lit up and the light quickly spread along with the roots to the thick trunk to the waterfall-like vines dyed with a layer of purple crystal rays.
Once the old man with the arched eyebrows saw this, he opened his mouth wide and a triangular-shaped bronze key flew out of it.
The key slowly floated to the top of the old man’s head and lit up with a purple glow. As it turned into a purple light, it shot into the giant tree behind the old man and disappeared.
Buzz buzz…!
Along with the strong spiritual fluctuation, the purple vines that floated down like a waterfall slowly turned and became blurred until they disappeared, forming a huge purple vortex.
There was a wave of s.p.a.ce fluctuations in the center of the vortex. The surface of the purple giant tree was distorted and blurred. There was a huge s.p.a.ce door covering almost the entire tree, though it was blurred and had a strong spatial fluctuation.
“There’s an inbound!”
As the old man screamed, thousands of shadows appeared everywhere. He immediately rushed to the grounds and and flocked to the huge s.p.a.ce door.
At the moment these people touched the huge s.p.a.ce door, they were like mud cows entering the sea. They all flashed in and disappeared.
A few more screams that could be heard!
There were seven or eight people at the moment of entering the s.p.a.ce door. As their bodies were covered with purple light, they burst into a b.l.o.o.d.y fog.
s.h.i.+ Mu’s eyes flashed with golden light and imprinted such a scene into his eyes that he was left stunned.
Obviously, these people are the ones known as the Muddy Water Demon Catcher and all of them had used their secret technique to enhance the realm. They were desperate to get into the secret chamber but due to the ban on the restriction, they all died as a result. The end of it was quite miserable.
The violent sound of tens of thousands of people surging and the buzzing sounds from the s.p.a.ce quickly slammed those screams. The remaining of them instantly rushed into the s.p.a.ce door.
A variety of individual shapes converged into a huge torrent which rushed into the huge s.p.a.ce door where the purple trees were located. The scene was quite spectacular.
s.h.i.+ Mu observed for a moment and just when he was about to enter, he suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction not far away. Several figures immediately caught his eyes.
Two of them were red-haired though one was a male and another female. They looked somewhat familiar.
The red-haired girl had an eye-catching figure while the young man was none other than the one he had once had an encounter with.
The red-haired girl did not look at him but Na Ma Lie was already looking at him. After seeing s.h.i.+ Mu, he did not show any sign of anger but smiled at him kindly.
But then, under the urging of the girl next to her, several people jumped up and flew toward the s.p.a.ce door.
However, as the red-haired girl turned to the front of the s.p.a.ce door, she turned to look at s.h.i.+ Mu. Just as quickly, she swayed and disappeared into the s.p.a.ce door along with the others.
s.h.i.+ Mu looked at the figures disappear one by one and smiled slightly too as he flew in the same direction.