Chapter 21: The Trial - Part One
The crowd whispered in hushed tones as they surrounded the platform.
The sun reached its zenith. Silence fell at the sight of a thick mist appearing on the boundless platform.
Outlines of three mystical figures appeared at the centre, becoming clearer by the second.
One tall, one short, and one… extremely short?
Suddenly, one of the three figures bent over, and coughed, disrupting the awed silence.
"Cloud Leader Hua, you really overdo it every year!" the figure spat out, the sound echoing awkwardly throughout the town square.
The one in the centre patted them on the back.
After a momentary awkward silence, the mist cleared and the faces of the three figures came into view.
The one who was coughing was a cherub faced boy who didn't look a day over 15, his skin white as snow and tinged with a cherry flower pink. Cloud Leader Hua was the one to his left, and she was clearly a warrior, with her bronzed skin and battle scars. Her eyes shone with impatience and fearlessness; there was something about her that drew people in, made them want to follow her. Her golden armour shone under the sunlight.
One was as beautiful as fallen flowers on a clear stream; the other was as majestic as a roaring lion.
Lan Wei could not sense either of their levels of cultivation.
He looked carefully at the short figure, who had moved to the centre. To be able to control these two did not seem like an easy feat.
To his intense surprise, the one in the middle was a toddler?!
[Everyday you learn something new, I guess.]
The toddler had long, silky black hair and wore a pure white fox mask, hiding his entire face from view. The mask had scarlet red markings and his eyes could not be seen clearly.
In the entire town square, there was no sound as everyone stared wordlessly at the toddler. All of a sudden, the crowd burst into cacophony. Wails of despair could be heard; heads were shaken and people started leaving.
Even in this world of cultivation, this level of weird was too much for the common folk! To be at the whim of a toddler, tell me, do you have no sense of shame?
But many people thought, ah, but this boy's hair truly is luxurious.
Lan Wei thought the same - how could a toddler have such long hair? Something wasn't right here.
At the sight of people leaving, the toddler let out a deep sigh and ripped off a charm stuck on his back that was strikingly similar to the one Lan Wei ripped off earlier. The charm disappeared in a puff of gold dust.
Suddenly, the toddler disappeared, and soon appeared a towering man dressed in pure white robes with red markings, just like his mask. He was the same height as the warrior, but had an aura of deadliness. Much like a fly to a venus trap, he had irresistible charm.
Could that charm be an illusion charm?
The man tilted his head at the sky and spat out between gritted teeth, "Yu. Ze. Xian!"
A little black butterfly flew to the man's cheek, kissing the mask delicately as it spread its wings, a stark contrast to his pure white mask.
The man lifted his hand to crush the butterfly, but stopped at the last second and sighed deeply.
He drew his attention back onto the remaining crowd, and with a lazy wave of his hand, a massive barrier appeared around the town square.
The doubts of the crowd was completely dispersed now.
"I am Sword Leader Cheng. Welcome, to the Jiang Academy's first trial," he paused and looked around the crowd, "You will go through a series of hardships. Survive through the pagoda, and you will be granted admittance into the Academy."
Cloud Leader Hua spoke up.
"I can tell you this. Only 10% of people at your standards will make it through."
Her voice was airy and delicate, like the first bud of flowers after the frost. Appearance of a female war goddess, but the voice of a peaceful maiden!
Flower Leader Yun, the cherub faced boy, said two words.
"Good luck."
The air around the crowd grew solemn, not expecting for the introduction to end so abruptly.
There was no rules, no preparations - nothing. Lan Wei perceived that these three didn't even expect 10% to be alive after the trial.
But he wasn't the same.
The three leaders disappeared in another cloud of thick mist. Upon their departure, the platform slowly disintegrated into sparks of golden light, leaving two massive red doors of the pagoda.
With an ominous creak, the doors slowly swung open and revealed a spacious hall, decorated with gold and outrageous statues of Gods and Demons in the midst of battle.
The crowd swarmed around the entrance, no one daring to be the first to enter.
A rough shove made a nearby boy stumbled towards the entrance, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to regain his balance, but failed. No one in the crowd moved to save him.
They watched in surprise as the boy fell through a portal, the surface similar to a calm lake having been disturbed, ripples falling throughout and wrecking the scenery of the fake hall.
The appearance of the portal and the falling of the boy broke a dam within the crowd.
With a cry, they all collectively rushed towards the portal, and disappeared through.
Lan Wei closed his eyes and slipped through the portal.
There was a bright flash of light, so bright he could even see it with his eyes closed.
He slowly opened his eyes.
He was alone.
The dimly lit room radiated gloominess. On the stone walls, there were numerous weapons, from bows to a metal fan, inlaid with precious gemstones. These weapons ranged from all colours and sizes, but all of them gave off a faint mental pressure from focusing on them.
"Such powerful souls." he whispered.
What worried him was that some of the weapons still had a dark substance dripping from their sharp surface. He felt as if a presence of something evil was residing within these weapons.
In front of him was a plaque, forged from brilliant silver.
He read it out loud, "There is a mythical beast in the next room. Slay it."
A mythical beast and a task to slay it.
Lan Wei decided to disappear into his hidden space.
He hadn't seen Jia Xinyue for a couple days.
Upon reaching the hidden space, he ran up to Jia Xinyue and bawled, "Big Siiiiiiiiis!"
Jia Xinyue looked at him quizzically and gently patted his head.
Inside the space, he was Kian, and Kian's body was still a head shorter than Jia Xinyue.
"Something up?" Jia Xinyue asked.
"I don't wanna do the trial…" he whimpered softly, looking up with his big eyes.
Of course, this was a lie. He liked the attention he got from Jia Xinyue, who cradled him close to her. Plus, he hadn't seen her in a while and she was cooped up in this endless space all day.
Until, she decided to pinch his cheeks hard.
"You little devil. I'm not stupid." she sighed and patted his head lightly.
"You can do it."
Kian ducked his head in shame and amusement.
He jumped up and stuck his tongue out at Jia Xinyue, who rolled her eyes and motioned for him to shoo.
Right before he teleported back, Jia Xinyue called out, "Wait."
He turned back around, tilting his head slightly in confusion.
"Pass me some of the training manuals when you get in," She said.
Kian nodded, and teleported away.
Now back in Lan Wei's body, and back into the gloomy room of weapons.
He crept over to the over side of the room, ignoring the weapons that called out towards him, promising power and riches. He reached a faintly lit door that almost blended with the dark grey stone walls.
He placed his hands on the center of the door. A sky blue rune circle lit up underneath, and the door opened to reveal a portal, this time in the form of a dark void; galaxies with swirls of deep royal purple and glittering stars.
With a hand on the hilt of his sword, he strode forward into the void.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone