Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The Millennium Yidara Tree!
Duan Li and the rest fixed their unkempt appearance after the previous emergency landing.
"Okay, let us go to the testing hall first." said Ling Yu as she took the lead.
...
As they entered the main building, the ground floor was vast and spacious with marble flooring and pillars supporting up to the third floor making it look grand in appearance.
They could see a lot of people here.
The party went to the right wing and after a few turns, they went up the stairs and reached a big door with label 'Faculty Facilities' on it.
'creakk'
...
"Okay, from here on is where the numerous faculty facilities and some practical lectures are conducted. So we should remain quiet at all times.. the testing room is further to the front.. " reminded Ling Yu.
On the way, Duan Li witnessed several lesson activities along the corridor through the transparent window of each rooms. Some were given pointers by teachers on their martial arts and some were sitting cross-legged that seemed to be cultivating their spiritual Qi.
Duan Li even saw some students doing mock duels with each other while under the supervision of seniors and teachers.
"We are here." said Ling Yu as they stood in front of a huge chamber.
...
'knock knock!'
"Come in!" said the person inside the chamber with the voice of an old man.
"Pardon us senior teacher Hong Xin, I am here for the test of one of the newly enrolled student, Duan Li." said Ling Yu with respectful tone.
Senior teacher Hong Xin is one of the elders of the academy that is in charge of new enrolling students. Reaching 90 years old soon, his hair had already turned white and his beards reached down to his chest. However, his physique still radiates that robust aura like someone who was still in his prime. His eyes glimmers with vigor and sharpness. A rarity to be found in someone especially of his age.
"Senior, I am also here for the test of one of the new enrolled student under the recommendation of vice-principal Ying Shen!" said Wang Guozhi as he entered and bowed.
The both of them brought in Duan Li and Xiahou Yu respectively as Hong Xin inspected them for a while from his desk. He then put on his glasses as he read their relevant documents. After affirming that the two new enrolled students match with the description in the papers, he nodded and stood up.
With his hand clasped behind his back, he gestured towards the party, "Follow me." as he lead them into a spacious hall with open roofs.
As they arrived at this hall, both Duan Li and Xiahou Yu could feel their breath to ease and their minds to relax. At the centre of this room is a big tree that seemed vicissitudinous and extremely ancient. The leaves had branched far outwards like an umbrella as it swayed mysteriously from the wind. The sunlight from above penetrated ever so slightly through the gaps in between those leaves, leaving gentle rays of light to reach the ground from its shades.
"This is the millennium Yidara Tree!" said Hong Xin with a trace of reverence in his eyes. He then continued, "It is a great tree from the ancient past.. at least, only a few of them are left in the whole Tian continent! Now pick any spot and sit comfortably under the shades!"
Duan Li and Xiahou Yu walked forward as they sat down opposite of each other, five meters away from the tree trunk. The shades from the tree will uplift one's soul to be in harmony with nature and absolves any worries in one's heart.
'This tree is very suitable for meditation..' thought Duan Li.
"This test will let you know of your maximum potentials inside your dantian. As long you reached the minimum threshold, you will be considered to have passed this test." said Hong Xin.
"The millennium Yidala Tree is unique in that even for those who have yet to cultivate any breathing technique to absorb spiritual Qi from it, as long as one were to breath continuously, they should be able to do so." he continued impassively.
"Remember however, once you feel that you have reached your limits, you must seize taking in spiritual Qi and quickly leave the shades of the tree! Otherwise.."
"You might risk for your dantian to explode!" he said with a serious tone, seemingly to hint on how grave the situation would be.
"En!" nodded Duan Li and Xiahou Yu as they closed their eyes and breath in.
'shiingggg!'
"Ahh.. these vision again, well.. let's see what this spiritual Qi does.." said Duan Li to himself.
Duan Li could observe the flow of spiritual Qi coming inside of his body, just that not through his nose, but shockingly.. through his pores!
"Hmm? That young man.." said Hong Xin as he noticed Duan Li to absorb spiritual Qi from the pores.
One had to know that for a complete beginner in breathing technique, spiritual Qi will definitely flow inside one's body through the nose. If one were quite talented, they would be absorbing them through their seven apertures.
But from the pores? only advanced senior students could do that.
But then again, thinking of Duan Li's age, he didn't remained surprise for too long. In his mind, it was only natural. For he could have already been practicing breathing techniques when he was 16 years old.
On the other hand, it is Xiahou Yu whom is more impressive in his eyes. Although she is not the first, this girl has already been able to absorb spiritual Qi from her seven apertures.
Truly outstanding!
...
As time passed, the complexion of Xiahou Yu reddened as she stood up and walked away from the shades. As soon as she left the boundaries of the shades, the spiritual Qi she had absorbed into her dantian abruptly churned out from her pores as it floated above her head and coagulated together, forming the color of bright yellow, before slowly returning back to be absorbed by the tree.
"Ohh? Bright yellow.. not bad! It seems her innate potentials will allow her smooth sailing to become a successful knight in the future." said Hong Xin with his hands clasped behind his back, exuding total confidence in his statement.
Even Ling Yu and Wang Guozhi who was standing behind him nodded in agreement.
In total, there are six color indicators to assess one's innate potentials of their dantian. In the order from weakest are; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and the strongest, white. All colors are further broken down according to their intensity levels; pale, true and bright!
The higher the intensity are, the higher one's potentials in their dantian.
It is not to say that one's innate potential will remain stagnant throughout one's lifetime. As one cultivates and reinforces their martial arts and spiritual Qi through time and constant practice, the potentials inside their dantian will advance qualitatively as well.
However, for a beginner to already possess the color of bright yellow at start, would already mean that they could advance far higher as well compared to their peers in the future.
To compare, an average beginner will usually have a true orange color of their dantian. Taking into account their successful graduation after five years, they would leap by one color into true yellow, and by the time if they ever reach the ranks of titled knights in their lifetime, the colors would again evolve into true green!
Following this logic, by the time Xiahou Yu reached the ranks of a titled knight, she would possess a fearsome battle prowess that could last days after days in fight before her dantian to be depleted. Only a few handful people like this ever existed within the Jiu Empire!
In other words, the color blue!
Noticing their gazes on her, Xiahou Yu flushed red in embarrassment as she looked down towards the ground.
"Why is the boy taking so long?" blurted Wang Guozhi.
Hong Xin then turned his attention back towards Duan Li as he frowned and wondered the same thing.
Ling Yu was quite worried over the situation as well.
"It couldn't be possible that he.. isn't talented in spiritual Qi.. right?" she thought in her mind as she clenched her fists together in anxiety.
No matter if Duan Li had practiced hundreds of stances and learned thousands of combinations, if he didn't have any aptitude for the spiritual Qi, he wouldn't amount to anything at all!
As all of them focused their attention on Duan Li, when suddenly, the white beard of Hong Xin trembled as he noticed something terrifying.
"T-the.. the leaves of the millennium Yidara tree.. is w-withering!!"
...
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_Ram_ sup guyss! i am quite happy with your response! so as promised, here is the chapter! :)
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