Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!!!
Four green streams of light shot out from the eyes of the four statues before transforming into four straight light pillars that illuminated Fang Lin’s body.
Fang Lin was stunned for a moment. Soon afterward, he felt warm and fuzzy all over as if he was standing under the warm sunlight. It felt as if all the pores on his entire body were opening up in comfort.
This very scene astounded every single person, including the four elders on the stone platform. Everyone’s expression was filled with shock and disbelief.
“The four saints have manifested themselves!” Meng Wuyou’s body was quivering with so emotion that he had almost rendered himself speechless.
Compared to Meng Wuyou’s emotional state, Zhao Dengming’s expression was extremely dour as if his parents had just died. His eyes revealed bewilderment in them.
Below the stone platform, the numerous disciples were confounded. Everyone’s gaze was fixed upon Fang Lin alone. Kang Lu clenched his fists tightly with a savage expression. The veins on his forehead bulged in rage while his heart was filled with recalcitrance and jealousy. Dazed, Sun Hao seemed as if he was suffering from a crushing blow and his mind had gone blank whereas Lu Xiaoqing’s delicate lips were slightly ajar as she gaped at Fang Lin in disbelief.
The Golden Light Peak was where the Purple Glow Sect’s Master commanded the sect. At this very moment, the Purple Glow Sect’s Master, Han Luoyun, who was sitting cross-legged to meditate at the Golden Light Peak, opened his eyes at the same instant when the four saints of the alchemy sect illuminated the sky with their light.
“The uprising of the alchemy sect is hopeful now,” said Han Luoyun softly before he closed his eyes once again. However, his state of mind remained fixated upon the situation with the light of the four saints at all times.
The light of the four saints continued to shine for another half an hour while Fang Lin remained basking in it all the while, resembling an ethereal lord under the illumination of the light.
Fang Lin felt reluctant to part with the light when it gradually faded. Even though the light did not induce any transformation within himself, at the very least, he felt very comfortable. He wanted to experience it for a little longer, but it had already vanished. What a waste!
Meanwhile, the surprise on everyone’s face had yet to fade away. After all, they had just witnessed radiance blooming out from the four statues and shining down on a specific person. It was truly shocking, and the significance of this event was worthy of one’s profound wonder.
After a long while, Old Man Zhou regained his composure on the stone altar. He let out two coughs to jolt the disciples from their astonishment. By the time they reacted to the situation, they realized that Fang Lin’s examination results had yet to be announced. Even so, the manifestation of the four saints occurred as such.
Old Man Zhou looked at Zhao Dengming, then he shifted his gaze to Meng Wuyou and Mu Yan. He realized that each of them wore different expressions.
Zhao Dengming appeared as if he had aged by a decade as he seemed extremely disappointed. On the other hand, Meng Wuyou and Mu Yan were enthusiastic. They were gazing at Fang in awe and pride.
Under the stone platform, Kang Lu clenched his teeth in rage. Even though he had yet to learn about Fang Lin’s examination results, he could tell that that dratted kid had seized the limelight of today’s examination regardless of how badly he scored just by basking in the manifestation of the four saints earlier.
Kang Lu’s heart was filled with hatred. He loathed Fang Lin and hated the four saints even more for being unfair. The light of the four saints should be shining upon me. Who do you think you are, Fang Lin? How did you even gain the favor of the four saints? Don’t panic! Even if he’s gained the favor of the four saints, my examination results have certainly surpassed his for sure. He’s still beneath me!
He was under the assumption that Fang Lin’s examination results would be poor.
Meanwhile, Old Man Zhou finally spoke, “A disciple has broken the record of our alchemy sect in this examination. Moreover, he has gained the favor of the four saints. The manifestation of the four saints today is a monumental event in our alchemy sect. It signifies that our alchemy sect is about to embark on a prosperous journey.”‘
As soon as those words were spoken, Kang Lu’s heart sank at once. His expression turned unpleasant instantaneously. Anyone that was not a fool could understand the meaning embedded in Old Man Zhou’s words. They looked at Fang Lin one by one once again with an even more wondrous look in their eyes.
“Junior Alchemy Disciple Fang Lin scored a full 300 points in the examination without making a single mistake. He has gained the favor of the four saints and broken the record of the alchemy sect!” Old Man Zhou declared aloud. His voice echoed through a hundred miles and reverberated in the entire alchemy sect.
Wow!
As soon as the announcement was made, the entire alchemy sect boiled over in excitement in an instant.
The first elder of the alchemy sect sat in the great hall. Despite having heard Old Man Zhou’s announcement, his expression did not change at all. The only difference was the way his hands placed on the armrests suddenly clenched tightly for a moment.
Over on the official disciples’ side, Xu Shangao heard the announcement. He was busy engaging in the act of refining elixirs, so he did not manage to react at once. He was caught in a stupor for a long while until the elixir inside the athanor got burned before he leaped up in excitement.
“Junior Brother Disciple Fang has succeeded! He passed in a single attempt! He gained the favor of the four saints and even broke a record too!” Xu Shangao capered about and cheered maniacally. It felt as if he was the one that had broken the record instead of Fang Lin.
The announcement created a great stir among the rest of the official disciples as well. Quite a number of official disciples felt threatened by the news, but some of them were feeling contemptuous as well.
At the alchemy altar, the entire crowd was deadly silent after Old Man Zhou announced Fang Lin’s examination results. The place was completely still to the point that one would be able to hear the sound of a pin dropping.
All of a sudden, Kang Lu shouted deliriously as if he had lost his soul. Hastily, his supporters helped him to his feet. Each of them was burning with anxiety because they did not know how to react to the situation.
Fang Lin looked at Kang Lu scornfully. Are you that weak that you can’t even accept this blow?
Sun Hao lowered his head and sat concealed in the crowd. He did not have the slightest courage to look at Fang Lin. He was already too scared to hate Fang Lin anymore. He understood that the disparity between himself and Fang Lin was as wide as heaven and earth now. Fang Lin would soar in advancement in the future while he could only look up to him for eternity.
In the distance, Cao Ying had a surprised expression. Her gaze was already filled with fear as she stared at Fang Lin.
On the stone platform, Zhao Dengming refused to speak at all. He acted as if the examination was already unrelated to himself. However, he had already made up his mind not to demoralize Fang Lin anymore on the surface.
I can’t stop Fang Lin from becoming an official disciple. He’s the first unprecedented in the history of the sect. In addition, he has gained the favor of the four saints. Even if I’m an elder, I don’t have any reason to suppress him anymore. Only the first elder can still suppress him.
Old Man Zhou looked at Fang Lin with an approving look. “Fang Lin, I can tell that you have a very promising future. You are the first junior alchemy disciple in our alchemy sect that has become an official disciple in a single examination seating. Even our alchemy sect’s four saints are in favor of you. I’ll make the exception to grant you a bottle of Health-nurturing Pills here. I hope that you can keep up the good work after becoming an official disciple so that you can revitalize my alchemy sect.”
“I promise not to disappoint your wish, Elder,” Fang Lin responded respectfully.
Old Man Zhou nodded with a wide grin on his face. After that, he waved his hand once and sent the bottle of pills flying towards Fang Lin who stretched his hand out to catch the bottle. He expressed his gratitude to Old Man Zhou once again while the rest of the junior alchemy disciples glanced at him enviously.
Kang Lu had already regained his normal composure at that point, but he was almost driven crazy with rage when he saw Old Man Zhou giving Fang Lin the pills.
The pills originally belonged to me! They’re mine! Kang Lu roared in anger in his heart, but he felt even more sorrowful.
The top scorer of the junior alchemy disciple examination would receive plenty of rewards. Moreover, the most important reward of all was that he or she would also be granted permission to enter the alchemy academy to learn without any limitation for a whole year.
The alchemy academy was where every official disciple yearned to enter. However, each individual was only allowed to enter once a month. Moreover, the tenure of their visit was limited to a day.
On the other hand, the top scorer of the junior alchemy disciples would be given permission to enter the alchemy academy indefinitely within a year. In other words, one was allowed to enter the alchemy academy as he pleased and stay for as long as he wished within the year.
Learning in the alchemy academy for a year was enough to elevate a person such that he would be way more ahead than his peers.
Kang Lu was pursuing the reward of learning in the alchemy academy in this examination. Sadly, he did not expect that Fang Lin would seize the reward mercilessly from him in such a manner.
While the top scorer would be presented with rewards, the others would not be given anything. Kang Lu had never felt that his life was so murky gray as it was now, especially when his path had always been smooth-sailing all this time ever since he was accepted into Purple Glow Sect. In addition, he had a good relationship with people so he was always triumphant.
Yet, Kang Lu felt like everything he tried to do was disrupted since Fang Lin’s appearance. He was savagely defeated by Fang Lin now even. He was defeated and tore up to pieces.
No! I haven’t lost! I still have my network and relationship with people. Even if Fang Lin is an official disciple, he will never surpass me! Even though he found this setback unacceptable, he refused to give in. On the contrary, he found himself hating Fang Lin even more.
Fang Lin grasped the bottle of Health-nurturing Pills in his hand. He was overjoyed because those pills were true Grade-1 elixirs and were no longer those unorthodox elixirs that he had consumed earlier.
The Health-nurturing Pill was just as effective at elevating one’s cultivation speed, but it was different from the Energy-nurturing Pill in the sense that the effect of the latter only lasted for about half a day.
On the other hand, the effect of a single Health-nurturing Pill could last two to three days despite being low-grade quality. A medium-grade Health-nurturing Pill could last for about five days. The value of the Health-nurturing Pill far surpassed that of the Energy-nurturing Pill simply just in terms of the length of its lasting effect.
However, the Health-nurturing Pill was a Grade-1 elixir, so it would need to be refined by a Cauldron-1 alchemist. There were not many official disciples with the Cauldron-1 alchemist title. As a result, the Health-nurturing Pill was a rather rare item even in the alchemy sect.
The bottle of Health-nurturing Pills that Old Man Zhou gave as a reward contained five to six pills. He was very generous, to say the least. Moreover, he had given the reward on his own accord, so it was not considered as part of the top scorer reward.
Even though Fang Lin’s examination results shocked everyone, the examination had yet to end anyhow. In fact, not even half of the disciples had sat for the examination yet. As a result, the examination continued after everyone calmed down.
However, the batches of disciples that went into the examination after Fang Lin’s incident did not appear to be appealing at all. In addition, Fang Lin’s act of gaining the four saints’ favor earlier was beyond incredible. Most of the people were discussing the matter with the focal point of the discussion naturally being Fang Lin.
After all, the manifestation of the four saints was very peculiar. Such an event had never occurred before ever since these four statues were erected here. Fang Lin’s incident was the only manifestation that had ever occurred in history, thus everyone pondered even more.
Lu Xiaoqing gazed at Fang Lin with an odd look. She did not speak but continued to stare at him. Feeling slightly uneasy under her intense gaze, he spoke in confusion, “Is there something on my face?”
Full of surprise and curiosity, she asked, “Actually, what sort of monster are you?”