Freshmen Disciple Competition.
This was something that placed a suffocating pressure on the Celestial Academy’s new disciples as well as a few senior disciples.
Ever since these new disciples entered the Academy, cultivating was the only thing on their minds until now.
The “now” in question was the day of the said competition. Both the new Outer Disciples and Inner Disciples would compete separately at different intervals over the upcoming days.
On one of the larger mountains within the Celestial Academy was where the Freshmen Disciple Competition would be held. A large stage with several smaller ones was already constructed in a massive open area on the mountain, as well as numerous pavilions that would accommodate the various wealthy aristocratic families.
There was one noticeable Pavilion within the area, that was much larger and more luxurious than all the other Pavilions. Within this grandiose Pavilion, Xi Shen was casually slumped within a chair that overlooked all of the disciples and the various VIP guests coming up the mountain.
Standing behind him was a haggard-looking Yang Su, who seemed like he had just barely managed to claw his way out of the Yellow Springs. A few strands of his ponytail were freely flowing along the sides of his face, and his clothes resemble what would happen if a blind man tried to put on his clothes on his own.
Even up until the day of the competition, Xi Shen had not let Yang Su off the hook and had spent the whole week just mercilessly “training” him.
To be honest, to Yang Su he wouldn’t call that training it was more like torture.
Hoping to distract himself from remembering those dreadful memories, Yang Su’s gaze landed to Xi Shen’s side where another person was sitting in a chair.
Said person in the chair was the crown prince of the Maple Continent, Li Fu Wei himself.
Looking at this legendary figure who he had fanatically worshiped before, and even said the words verbatim, ‘Even if I don't get into the Celestial Academy, just seeing him alone is enough for me to brag about when I return to my village.’
That’s how highly he had once thought of the crown prince.
But don’t get it wrong, as one of the top three geniuses on the Maple Continent and being the crown prince, Yang Su would never say he wasn’t a shining star that lights up the night sky while dimming all others in its surroundings. He was extremely talented, and his looks were something any woman would want in a man.
However, it’s just that ever since he met his young master and elder brother Xi Shen, the crown prince seemed to come up short in his books when compared to him.
Sensing Yang Su’s stare, Fu Wei turned and looked at Yang Su for the first time despite Yang Su standing there for several minutes now.
The crown prince revealed a smile to Yang Su while simultaneously sending out his Divine Will to scan his cultivation.
Even though the crown prince concealed his actions, Yang Su still felt a weird sensation when the crown prince’s Divine Will enveloped him.
After sensing that Yang Su was at the 6th level of the Qi Condensation Realm, Fu Wei started to retract his Divine Will. However, he suddenly paused as he sensed another portion of Yang Su’s cultivation base which was hidden away by a seal. But he couldn’t estimate how much was hidden with such a casual probe, even with his late-stage Nascent Soul Realm Divine Will he would have to openly use more of his Divine Will to see what level of cultivation Yang Su was really at.
But he wouldn’t do that, just this casual probe of his brother’s assistant was already slightly disrespectful, but forcefully infiltrating the seal that suppressed his cultivation was pushing it too far.
So Fu Wei decided to just fully retract his Divine Will, before turning to Xi Shen and asked, “Little Shen, is your new assistant going to participate in the Freshmen Disciple Competition? Seeing as he’s hiding a portion of his cultivation.”
Xi Shen had detected his brother’s Divine Will when he scanned Yang Su and seeing him retracting it after coming upon the seal, he couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Well that’s very considerate of him, seeing as he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if I came between him and his silly throne. I guess it’s starting to interfere with his emotions slightly. Well, it should be about time I harvested it now. Hmm, I’ll stick to my plan and do it at the end of the year, it should be fully bloomed by then.’
“Yes, he is. In fact, first place isn’t out of his reach,” said Xi Shen as he responded to his brother’s question.
Upon hearing Xi Shen’s words, Fu Wei lifted his brows slightly and said, “Well, you sure seem confident, is there perhaps something special about him that would make you so assured he could get first place?”
“He’s my assistant, is that a good enough reason to be self-assured in his capabilities?”
Hearing his little brother’s words, Fu Wei let out a small chuckle that eventually turned into a full laugh.
“Alright little Shen, you’ve always only done and said things that your 100% confident in, and nothing less, this time I’ll take your words for it. Let’s see how your assistant can match up to this years' and the previous years' newly admitted Inner Disciple. Hmm, the testing is already about to start, you should have him go head done to the arena.”
Yang Su who had become rather nervous when he heard Fu Wei’s words, saw Xi Shen nod at him before saying, “Go. And stop being so nervous, once you begin battling your opponents you’ll understand how weak they are compared to you.”
Fu Wei who had turned to the crowd of disciples below that was filled with battle intent couldn't help but shoot a glance towards Xi Shen when he heard his words. He then turned to look at Yang Su with a more attentive gaze than before.
‘During the Disciple Selection Ceremony, this boy had not completed his testing so no one knows his innate talent, only that his Soul grade was around the Heaven-grade. But seeing that he was from a small backwater village, his talent shouldn’t be comparable to the other youths that had received the pampering of their clans. They have been consuming large quantities of elixirs and pills even before they were out of their mother's wombs. And another thing is that the other disciples that this youth would have to compete against had a Sky-grade innate talent. Unless that seal is hiding 1/5 of his cultivation, there’s no possibility of him reaching the top twenty, much less getting first place.’
Yang Su nodded his head at Xi Shen before he turned and left the room.
With the both of them now alone, Xi Shen without looking at Fu Wei asked, “Elder brother, is father coming?”
Fu Wei shook his head and answered, “He’s busy dealing with the matters involving the Star Bound Continent.”
Hearing that, Xi Shen said, “Are they still claiming the High-grade Spirit Stone mine to be theirs? It might be close to their border but it’s still within our lands, and worst of all it was discovered by me. How dare they try and take what’s mine.”
As Xi Shen said that, his expression became ugly.
Hearing his brother’s words, Fu Wei turned to him and said, “Technically it’s father’s. And the pressure is mostly coming from the four Replaceable Major Sects. As for the three Holy Lands, they aren’t showing any signs of wanting to compete for it.”
Hearing that, Xi Shen got curious and asked, “Elder brother, you’ve always been next to father dealing with these matters. Let me ask you, between our Maple Continent and the Star Bound Continent, which is stronger?”
“Little Shen, you’ve never been interested in these matters, what’s the occasion?” Fu Wei asked with narrowed eyes.
Xi Shen casually answered, “I'm not, it’s just out of curiosity. The books I’ve read in the Ancestral Archive said we had spies within their ranks, but even they found it hard to estimate the actual strength of the Star Bound Continent. Especially that Holy Land, the Profound Sword Sect. Every spy we send to infiltrate their sect gets immediately cut down.”
Fu Wei’s mouth twitched when he heard Xi Shen’s words. That information was a piece of top-secret information that only a hand full of people should know about. Hearing his brother just casually divulging such information made him almost cough up blood in anger.
‘Slap!’
A hard and painful-sounding slap echoed out, as Fu Wei’s hand shot out and hit Xi Shen over his head.
*******
~Fun Fact~
I have another book in the same multiverse as this one, name, The WU Clan’s Rise: Legends of the twin dragons. It’s got about 75 chapters so far, and to give you a reason why you should check it out if you haven’t already, is that so far it has absolutely none of the so call cliches that normal cultivation novels have. I tried to make it as unique as possible but still entertaining nonetheless.
Oh, and if some of you lovely readers do decide to give it a try, do note that everything I write in the first chapters is for a reason. Just like this novel, events told in the beginning will have relevance tens of chapters in the future, practically until the end of the book. So read carefully, and if you’ve been casually reading this one as well, make sure to pay close attention from now on. If you’ve read Er Gen’s novels from Renegade Immortal to the recent but canceled translations A World Worth Protecting, you’ll understand the goals and high standards I place on myself when writing these chapters and books for you lovely readers. I’m still learning obviously since I’ve only started writing like five months ago to date, but with time I believe I can improve my writing abilities even more. So, remember to vote and leave a golden ticket to support not just this novel but me as an author.
See ya!! ~waves gb~
The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)webnovel