The First Summoner - Chapter 95

Shen Yan found Zhuge Youlin extraordinarily confident—and somewhat narcissistic.

She traded places with him.

Soon the applicants ahead finished, and his turn arrived.

Zhuge Youlin winked at Shen Yan and Zhuge Weiran. “Watch this young master.”

He placed a hand on the pillar.

Unexpectedly, no light appeared.

Applicants who already found him arrogant sneered. Then, in the next instant, light filled the entire pillar.

Everyone stared.

Even the instructor was shocked.

Zhuge Youlin withdrew his hand, raised his chin, and looked back at his companions with delight and pride.

Shen Yan silently gave him a thumbs-up.

Zhuge Weiran praised him without reserve. “Youlin, that was wonderful.”

The excited instructor announced, “Zhuge Youlin, seventeen, Mystic-rank level ten, from Chifeng Kingdom. Heaven-rank aptitude!”

An uproar swept the stands.

“Where is Chifeng Kingdom? I’ve never heard of it!”

“Two dark horses have appeared—Jiang Xianyue from Xuanwu Kingdom and Zhuge Youlin from Chifeng Kingdom! Small places can produce extraordinary geniuses too!”

Headmaster Xuanyun and Western Region Academy’s elders and instructors smiled with satisfaction.

This recruitment had given them too many surprises.

Representatives of the other academies bit their fingers in envy. They wanted students with Heaven-rank aptitude too!

Zhuge Youlin deliberately walked slowly, waiting for Shen Yan and Zhuge Weiran so they could return together.

The crowd noticed him lingering and followed his gaze to the girl in pale purple.

When Western Region Academy’s people saw her face, their expressions changed sharply.

“Shen Huai?!”

Headmaster Xuanyun shot to his feet.

Elder Hong Xian reacted swiftly. “That should be Shen Huai’s biological elder sister, Shen Yan.”

Another elder frowned. “Wasn’t Shen Huai’s sister a good-for-nothing? Why is she here?”

“Did she sneak inside?” an instructor wondered.

Shen Yan placed her hand on the pillar.

One second passed without light.

The academy elders and instructors became certain she had slipped in, since a good-for-nothing could not illuminate the pillar.

The next instant, their faces changed.

Dazzling light exploded from the pillar. Crisp cracks sounded, followed by a deafening bang.

The pillar shattered!

Shen Yan raised a defensive barrier in time to avoid the fragments.

Everyone stared.

What had happened?

Even Shen Yan was bewildered.

Headmaster Xuanyun vanished from his seat and appeared before her. His immense presence made nearby youths pale and look at him with reverence.

Suppressing his surging excitement, he produced another enormous testing pillar from his storage space and set it before Shen Yan.

“Place your hand on it again.”

Her expression shifted. “All right.”

The crowd was stunned that the headmaster had intervened personally. Had the first pillar malfunctioned?

But such pillars could not break so easily.

Everyone held their breath.

Xuanyun erected a barrier before Shen Yan touched the second pillar.

The instant her hand made contact, silence engulfed the grounds.

Bang!

The pillar exploded again.

Protected by Xuanyun’s barrier, Shen Yan remained unharmed.

The headmaster stared at her in excitement.

He had heard of only one peerless genius in the Central Region who had shattered a pillar during an aptitude test. That genius had ultimately…

Xuanyun drew a deep breath and smiled.

“You possess Transcendent Heaven-rank aptitude.”

“Transcendent Heaven-rank aptitude?” Shen Yan frowned.

“Yes. Transcendent Heaven-rank aptitude!”

Disbelief filled every face. Most had never heard the term.

Clearly, it meant a level beyond Heaven-rank aptitude.

Who was this girl?!

The recording instructor checked his crystal orb. “Shen Yan, fifteen, Mystic-rank level three, from Nanxiao Kingdom. Aptitude…”

The instrument could not measure it, so he recorded Xuanyun’s judgment.

“Transcendent Heaven-rank aptitude!” he finished.

At that moment, nearly everyone committed Shen Yan’s name to memory.

Zhuge Youlin could only give her an excited thumbs-up from nearby.

Wonderful!

Shen Yan’s features relaxed. The higher her aptitude, the more highly Western Region Academy would value her—and the sooner she could gain access to the Three Top-Secret Missions.

She needed to find Shen Huai.

Xuanyun was surprised by her low cultivation. A genius with Transcendent Heaven-rank aptitude should have advanced much farther.

Then he remembered that she was Shen Huai’s sister, once considered incapable of cultivation.

She had likely begun very late.

Shen Yan had passed the aptitude category, but still needed to pass either intelligence or martial strength to advance.

Xuanyun worried. Mystic-rank level three was low among these geniuses.

“Do your best,” he encouraged.

In truth, even if she failed, he intended to grant her a special-admission token afterward.

As headmaster, he possessed that privilege. Each year, he issued three such tokens to peerless talents who failed for exceptional reasons.