Silver Dragon: Soaring to the Heavens Chapter Seven: Astonishment! Stealing the Spotlight

As soon as Bai Li Mufeng finished speaking, the entire crowd erupted in commotion. Luo Chen could constantly hear various discussions around him. From these, Luo Chen gathered that in previous years, the selection was divided into three stages.

Besides the initial tests of soul power and cultivation level, there was also a practical combat selection for students who had reached the fifth level of the Spirit Summoning Realm. For example, if two students were found to have the same cultivation level during the assessment, but their soul power differed in the second stage, the one with the stronger soul would naturally win and have priority in joining the sect. However, if a student was dissatisfied, they could challenge the other in a direct combat selection. The victor would then claim the right of priority.

Yet, Luo Chen felt that the selection process of the academy seemed overly simple. Whether the third stage was canceled or not appeared to make little difference. But listening to Bai Li Mufeng’s words, he wondered why the decision to cancel it was made only after consultation between the academy and the Emperor.

The more Luo Chen thought about it, the less he understood about this Imperial Capital in which he now found himself. He knew that if something unusual happened, there must be a reason behind it. The sudden cancellation could only be due to some unknown event. Just then, Bai Li Mufeng’s voice sounded again.

“Now, all students holding tokens for the selection, please enter the arena.”

Luo Chen, holding onto Luo Xiaoya, did not move at once but instead observed the other students as they stepped forward. He noticed that everyone who ascended the arena held a token.

At the foot of the arena steps, there was an invisible barrier. No wonder Xing Yu had said that only those who infused their tokens with their own spiritual power could participate. Now Luo Chen understood the meaning of those words.

Around the arena was an invisible shield that would automatically check if the spiritual energy in a student’s token matched their own. Only then could they pass.

Seeing that almost all students from the candidate area had entered the arena, Luo Chen hurriedly took out his token with Xiaoya, infused it with a stream of spiritual energy, and walked with her to the arena. At the barrier, Luo Xiaoya paused for a second before passing through, and Luo Chen soon stood before the shield himself.

In an instant, he felt an inexplicable force probing his spiritual veins, but the barrier allowed him through the next moment. Luo Chen found where Luo Xiaoya was standing and joined her at the back row. Then, Bai Li Mufeng’s resounding voice rang out once more.

“Phase One: Testing cultivation level. Please remain where you are and do not move.”

As soon as Bai Li Mufeng finished speaking, a massive array appeared on the arena floor. All the students stood within the formation, which shone with a white light for three breaths. Then, Luo Chen noticed that the white light under some students’ feet faded.

“Phase One is complete. Those whose formation light remains beneath their feet have passed. Those whose light has faded, please step down from the arena.”

Luo Chen glanced around. After Bai Li Mufeng’s announcement, students began leaving one after another. However, Luo Chen found the test rather amusing. It all seemed too easy. At first, he thought not many would be eliminated, but soon realized that less than half remained—only a little more than twenty students. Nearly half had been eliminated in the first round. As the last students stepped down and the light underfoot faded, Bai Li Mufeng’s voice echoed across the arena again.

“Now, Phase Two: Each student will receive a soul crystal. Calm your mind and sense the soul energy within. If the crystal glows purple, orange, red, or gold, you pass. If it glows white, blue, or green, you do not.”

With a casual wave of his hand, Bai Li Mufeng sent soul crystals, each a deep blue, floating gently down. Luo Chen smiled at Xiaoya before accepting his own. Though the crystal appeared blue, its surface was mirror-bright.

Luo Chen carefully released a wisp of spiritual energy, but nothing happened. He glanced around to see the other students focusing intently. For a moment, Luo Chen was at a loss, repeatedly examining the crystal in his hand. Suddenly, a dazzling red light caught his eye, and he heard a voice ring out.

“Look, it’s red!”

A loud cry came from the stands. Luo Chen looked toward the source of the radiant red glow and saw it was that captivating female student from the beginning.

A wave of soul energy rippled from her, her long hair tousled in the wind. Luo Chen glanced up at the highest tier of the stands, where all eyes were now fixed on the girl radiating red light.

The arena was now awash with color. Purple and orange light would suddenly flare around, while blue and green glows appeared in several places. As Luo Chen watched all that was happening, a powerful surge of soul energy swept over him.

He could only smile wryly before closing his eyes and channeling his own soul energy into the crystal. The moment his soul power entered, he felt his consciousness yanked by a tremendous force into the soul crystal.

When Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes again, he found himself in an unknown space. Darkness surrounded him on all sides except for a single narrow, suspended path underfoot.

The path was just wide enough for one person, with nothing on either side but a bottomless abyss below. The path seemed to lead into the distant unknown.

Cautiously, Luo Chen took a small step forward. Immediately, wisps of chill drifted from the surrounding darkness. Unbeknownst to him, as he moved, the soul crystal in his hand flickered with a white light, and sneers filled the air around him.

“Tch, another useless one.”

“There’s always one or two jokes at every selection. We’re used to it by now.”

In the stands, an elderly man in a cloak saw Luo Chen’s crystal flash white and chuckled softly.

“This little fellow is quite interesting.”

The emperor, Sikong Tianyu, looked at the old man with a puzzled expression and asked with a smile, “Oh? Elder, what makes you suddenly interested in a boy whose soul crystal tests white?”

Since the old man did not reply, Sikong Tianyu continued to watch Luo Chen with curiosity. Luo Chen’s crystal was now shining with a brilliant white light, drawing only scornful remarks and derisive stares from the crowd.

But within the mysterious space of the soul crystal, Luo Chen strolled leisurely along that solitary path, pausing from time to time, still unaware of where he was. Yet, reasoning that he had arrived here by sensing the soul crystal, he felt no danger and thought it best to accept whatever came. He was utterly unperturbed.

As he wandered, the white glow began to intermingle with streaks of blue. Before long, the blue completely overtook the white.

Students around him were awakening from their trances one by one. If the crystal remained in their hands, they had passed; if not, they had failed.

Time trickled by, and the colored lights on the arena faded by half. The blue radiance from Luo Chen gradually shifted to green.

“What’s going on? How does this boy’s soul power show a growth attribute?”

Before the man in the stands could finish his sentence, he was struck dumb, his face full of disbelief. In a flash, the green light surrounding Luo Chen turned to purple.

Inside the soul crystal, the winds blowing from the darkness on either side grew so fierce that Luo Chen could barely focus on anything else, his hair whipped into disarray. He pressed forward with all his might, bracing himself against the gales and windblades, step by step toward the end of the path.

He was desperate to know what lay at the path’s end and gradually realized that this was the world within the soul crystal. The winds, though seemingly harmless, were a severe trial for the soul—a light breeze at first, now a tempest. The farther he walked, the stronger the wind became.

Luo Chen guessed that to pass the selection, he must reach the very end of this path.

Back in the arena, all the colored lights had faded, leaving only Luo Chen, bathed in a purple glow streaked with orange.

Bai Li Mufeng regarded the purple light around Luo Chen with increasing curiosity and glanced at the dignitaries atop the stands. For a moment, none of them spoke, as if all were waiting to see what color the soul crystal would ultimately reveal.

Sikong Tianyu glanced at the old man beside him, his expression suggesting he now understood the elder’s earlier reaction when the white light had first appeared. After ten breaths, the arena erupted once more.

“Orange! It’s orange now!”

As time passed, everyone seemed to wait patiently for the final result. Gradually, red began to appear within the orange radiance from Luo Chen.

Sweat now dotted Luo Chen’s forehead, and his expression grew strained. The buzz in the stands faded to a hush, as most faces turned to confusion or amazement.

Five more breaths passed, and the red light completely replaced the orange. A profound silence fell. Xiaoya watched Luo Chen’s face intently; his delicate features were now tinged with pallor.

She clutched her soul crystal tightly, her face increasingly anxious. The old man, seeing Luo Chen’s drawn expression, merely smiled faintly and murmured, “Is this his limit?”

Within the soul crystal world—

Luo Chen’s robes were now torn and tattered. The winds from the darkness had become true hurricanes, sweeping away everything around him. He gritted his teeth, windblades slicing at his skin. Though his clothes were shredded, no real wounds appeared—he knew these were wounds upon his soul.

Each time a windblade passed, his soul was ravaged again, but what he most longed to know was what lay at the end of this path.

He also feared failing the selection. Choosing the academy was the first step in seeking the truth of his origins. Since he had chosen this road, he would have to endure all its hardships. He hadn’t given up even in the desert, and he had no reason to give up now. If only he could see the outside world, he would be thoroughly speechless by now.

With every step forward, threads of gold appeared within the red glow surrounding him. Before he realized it, most of the red had been laced with gold.

Looking at the path beneath his feet, Luo Chen saw a great white light at its end, a hundred meters ahead. The path vanished into that light.

But before him stood the final storm. Ten windblades raged within it, and Luo Chen’s lips trembled slightly as he realized the previous storms had contained at most five blades—why did the last one double? The pain transmitted directly to his soul was now excruciating, and not a patch of his clothing remained whole. Steeling himself, he drew a deep breath and steadied his mind, veins bulging as he took a bold step into the heart of the tempest.

Suddenly, golden light burst forth in the arena. The red glow vanished, replaced by gold, which illuminated the entire arena. Luo Chen’s body collapsed to his knees, sweat drenching his brow, his face ghostly pale.

At the front, a veiled young woman watched, her gaze tinged with a trace of curiosity. She frowned slightly, and a clear, crisp voice sounded from behind her veil: “What a madman.”

Yet Luo Chen’s consciousness still lingered in the soul crystal world. Staring at the end of the path, he bit his lip, hesitated for a breath, and forced himself forward, letting the ten windblades wreak havoc around him. As he reached the edge of the storm, Luo Chen summoned all his strength and stepped out.

As soon as his foot left the hurricane, the winds ceased instantly, the windblades vanished, and the world fell silent once more. His tattered clothes were suddenly restored, as if nothing had happened—save for the lingering pain in his soul. Luo Chen approached the ball of white light at the end of the path, yet he did not know what lay beyond. As the path entered the brilliance, he hesitated, reached out to feel it, and the moment he touched the light, it exploded. Luo Chen closed his eyes against the glare.

When he opened them again, he found himself kneeling on the arena floor, the soul crystal still in his hand. Forcing a smile, Luo Chen felt someone try to help him up. Seeing it was Xiaoya, he struggled to his feet, looked around, and found every eye upon him was filled with strange expressions.

Suppressing the pain throughout his body, Luo Chen smiled at Xiaoya and Bai Li Mufeng, but the oppressive silence made things awkward. This was not the usual quiet, but a dreadful hush. Luo Chen looked up at the old man in the stands and made a slight gesture. The next moment, Bai Li Mufeng’s voice rang out once more.

“This year’s academy selection is concluded. Seventeen have passed. Now, please choose your respective halls.”

With a wave of his hand, the formations around the arena vanished, and in a flash, Bai Li Mufeng appeared in the seventh empty seat in the stands.

Moments later, the woman seated at the center rose. She was dressed in silver, exuding an enchanting charm. Luo Chen felt her gaze lock onto him—but after a moment, she looked to his right. There stood Xiaoya, who seemed to have noticed the glance and edged closer to Luo Chen.

The woman also noticed Xiaoya’s movement, smiled, and pointed at her. In a sultry tone, she called out:

“Little darling, I am Baili Luohua, Mistress of the Celestial Arts Hall. I would like to invite you to join my hall, and I am willing to take you as my personal disciple.”

Smack!

Before anyone could respond, a man sitting nearby slammed his hand on his chair, his face dark with anger. He glared at Baili Luohua and shouted,

“Baili Luohua, have you no shame? Every time there’s a promising student, you snatch them up. I’ve tolerated it for years, but now you’re luring girls with the offer of personal discipleship? I can’t stand it anymore!”

At this, Luo Chen and those around him thought a spectacle was about to unfold. They expected Baili Luohua to lash back, but instead, she merely glanced at her hand, turned to look at the man, threw him a coquettish wink, and teased,

“Green-faced Ghost, how is this my fault? If this little darling joins my hall, I’ll have plenty of time to teach her. Do you? And besides, this isn’t temptation—it’s sincerity, right, little darling?”

Luo Chen was speechless, wanting nothing more than to strangle Baili Luohua on the spot, though he lacked the strength. He could only glance at Xiaoya and shake his head, worried for her future.

If Xiaoya accepted, with such an eccentric hall mistress, who knew what would become of her? The thought that innocent, naive Xiaoya might be led astray made Luo Chen want to strangle Baili Luohua even more.

Suddenly, a powerful aura swept over the arena. Luo Chen traced its source to that same man, who now glared at Baili Luohua, his face livid with rage, and roared,

“Sincerity, my foot! Let me say it again—don’t call me Green-faced Ghost. My name is Bai! Li! Qing! Mei!”

Luo Chen watched the furious Bai Li Qingmei, then looked at the other five seated in the stands. Their eyes gleamed with anticipation, as if they wanted nothing more than to see a fight break out. Luo Chen just covered his face with his hand.

At this point, Luo Chen not only worried for Xiaoya’s future but also for the academy itself. With such a bizarre group of hall masters, how had the Tianqing Academy survived until now?

As Baili Luohua and Bai Li Qingmei’s auras clashed, the old man in the stands finally moved. With a casual wave, the tension vanished instantly.

“All right, you two have been bickering for centuries—haven’t you had enough? Must you continue your antics in front of the new students? Even this old man can hardly bear to watch. If you want to fight, don’t do it here. If you keep this up, I’ll throw both of you into the Spirit-sealing Tower!”