The First Summoner - Chapter 106

He was relatively weak in close combat!

Zhuge Youlin returned without a scratch and flashed Shen Yan and the others a toothy grin. There seemed to be a trace of boasting in it.

The three of them stared at him in silence.

Soon, the twentieth and final round of the combat test began. Its greatest attraction was Qiu Yaqian, an independent cultivator with Heaven-rank aptitude.

Qiu Yaqian was twenty years old and at the first stage of the Earth-rank realm. Her features were strikingly heroic. She wore simple, dark-colored clothes, with no makeup on her face, and a saber scar cut through her left eyebrow. Her eyes were resolute.

She was a saber cultivator.

Long saber in hand, she had no intention of conserving her strength. She chose to fight outright.

When her saber struck, it landed like a heavy hammer, blasting several youths off their feet!

Qiu Yaqian remained unsmiling. She swung her saber and attacked anyone she saw.

As a result, the twentieth round ended exceptionally quickly.

She put away her saber and returned to the waiting area without a change in expression.

…

The list of the top thousand contestants from the combat test appeared.

Dean Xuanyun used spiritual power to display it in midair.

Next came the list of those who had passed the intelligence test.

The aptitude-test list appeared last.

The three lists merged in the air. When a name appeared on two or three of them, it lit up. Names that appeared only once gradually faded away.

In the end, only eight hundred and fifty remained.

The three tests had reduced the applicant pool to one-tenth of its original size.

Yet Western Region Academy would ultimately admit only the top one hundred geniuses.

The competition was brutal and fierce.

Dean Xuanyun announced, “Eight hundred and fifty people have qualified for the next stage. The next contest will be a trial in a secret realm, lasting three days! The rule is simple: the more opponents you eliminate, the higher your rank. To eliminate an opponent, you must crush their token. The tokens may only be worn on your belts.”

“One more point requires your attention. Killing is forbidden during the secret-realm contest. Anyone who kills will be eliminated!”

The crowd burst into discussion.

“Isn’t this telling them to slaughter one another?”

“They aren’t allowed to kill. The academy just wants them to take the initiative instead of getting something for nothing.”

“Making the top hundred will be incredibly difficult. How many people will they have to eliminate to get onto the rankings?”

Opinions flew in every direction.

Most of those in the waiting area had now been eliminated. Only eight hundred and fifty could still participate in the next stage.

Dean Xuanyun said in a deep voice, “The eight hundred and fifty cultivators who have qualified will now enter the martial field and await the opening of the secret realm.”

The geniuses streamed out of the waiting area.

Shen Yan walked with Jiang Xianyue and the others.

Zhuge Youlin looked at her with a smile. “Shen Yan, do you remember what you said in the underground passage?”

“Mm,” she answered softly.

“Then you and I will compete for it together. There’s no shame in losing.”

Beside them, Jiang Xianyue vaguely guessed that their agreement concerned this secret-realm trial and perhaps their rankings as well…

Zhuge Youlin looked at the group. “Let’s agree now: until the very end, the four of us won’t fight each other. We’ll eliminate everyone else first.”

Jiang Xianyue scoffed lightly.

“Don’t worry. If I run into you, I definitely won’t attack you,” Zhuge Youlin said with a smile, taking no offense at her disdain.

He had seen Jiang Xianyue help his seventh brother during the combat test.

He still remembered that favor.

Jiang Xianyue looked up and smiled. “All right.”

Zhuge Youlin smiled as well.

Zhuge Weiran began warning Zhuge Youlin not to kill anyone and to show restraint when he attacked.

“Most of all, don’t expose…” Zhuge Weiran stared at him with dark, inscrutable eyes, then stopped himself.

Expose what?

Shen Yan and Jiang Xianyue both heard him, but neither asked. They merely committed the remark to memory.

Shen Yan felt that Zhuge Youlin had always been hiding some secret. Otherwise, Zhuge Weiran would not have warned him repeatedly.

But in truth…

Zhuge Youlin might appear loudmouthed, spoiled, and flamboyant, but he had never revealed the slightest thing amiss.

…

All eight hundred and fifty young cultivators gathered in the martial field.

Tokens were distributed to each contestant.

Dean Xuanyun and the elders of Western Region Academy then joined forces to summon one of the secret realms in the academy’s possession.

A vast, surging aura swept in like a violent storm.

Everyone present started in alarm.

They looked toward Dean Xuanyun. A vortex formed between his hands as he stepped into the empty air as if walking on level ground, rising above the martial field. Under the crowd’s astonished gazes, he hurled the vortex straight down upon the eight hundred and fifty young geniuses.

Overwhelming pressure bore down on them!

Their faces changed in fright.

None of them had ever entered a secret realm this way before.

Shen Yan’s eyes flickered. She had never entered a secret realm, so this trial would be her first.

“Yanyan.”

Jiang Xianyue reached out and took Shen Yan’s hand. Although Shen Yan was considerably taller, Jiang Xianyue was actually two years older and wanted to take care of her.

Seeing Jiang Xianyue holding Shen Yan’s hand, Zhuge Youlin quickly grabbed Shen Yan’s sleeve with one hand and his seventh brother with the other.

Shen Yan was speechless.

Even so, the instant the secret-realm vortex swept them in, they were separated.

“Yanyan—”

Jiang Xianyue’s cry faded into the distance.

Shen Yan felt the vortex squeeze and batter her while roaring wind lashed her face. She swiftly condensed a defensive shield to withstand the impact of entering the secret realm.

Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but churning wind.

A moment later, dizziness washed over her. Her feet struck solid ground, and she nearly collapsed as her strength gave way.

Once she steadied herself and looked around, surprise crossed her face.

She had entered a ruined city. The dilapidated little town was desolate and decayed. Its houses were crumbling, and a layer of windblown sand covered the ground, as though no one had set foot there for years.

Shen Yan looked down at the token hanging from her belt and touched it. To her surprise, it projected an image of the top-one-hundred rankings.

No one was listed yet.

But the next instant, a name appeared in the first row.

Yu Changying.

Eliminations: one.

Shen Yan’s gaze shifted. She needed to find someone and eliminate them.

Only by remaining in the top one hundred could she enter Western Region Academy.

Meanwhile, outside—

The spectators stared in shock. Ten instructors had entered the secret realm as well.

Why?

Dean Xuanyun projected the scenes inside the trial realm into the air. Dozens of images appeared at once, showing many of the geniuses—including all ten instructors.

Someone could not help asking, “Dean Xuanyun, why did the instructors go in too?”

Standing with his hands behind his back, Dean Xuanyun slowly replied, “Eliminating as many opponents as possible is not the only part of the secret-realm trial. There is another important test. They must escape…”

“The control of those ten instructors!”