The First Summoner - Chapter 99

Under the crowd’s astonished gazes, Shen Yan returned to the waiting area.

A little while later, someone else woke up. It was… Pei Wusu.

No one was surprised that he had broken through the illusion so quickly. They had expected as much.

Pei Wusu looked toward the waiting area and found only one person there: Shen Yan.

He slowly lowered his eyes, concealing whatever emotion lay within them, then walked toward the waiting area. It was spacious, and he did not approach Shen Yan, instead keeping a great distance between them.

After that, more applicants began waking one after another.

Four hours later, the first thousand people to break through the illusion had emerged.

Apart from Chi Yue, all the geniuses with Heaven-rank aptitude had escaped the illusion. Chi Yue alone had needed to be awakened.

Everyone had assumed he would pass the intelligence test. Apparently, they had overestimated him.

Someone could not resist speculating, “Could Chi Yue be an idiot? He never says a word, sleeps wherever he goes, and ignores everyone…”

“It’s possible.”

At that moment, Chi Yue was carried back to the waiting area wrapped in vines, still asleep with his eyes closed.

The elders and instructors of Western Region Academy were speechless.

Chi Yue truly was a strange one. They had never seen anyone like him.

After the intelligence test ended, Dean Xuanyun stepped forward and announced in a deep voice, “The aptitude and intelligence tests have concluded. Rest for fifteen minutes. The combat test will begin afterward.”

Most applicants in the waiting area went ashen.

Far too many of them had failed both the aptitude and intelligence tests, which meant they had effectively lost any chance of entering the next stage.

Those confident in their strength, however, refused to give up their final opportunity. They still hoped to obtain a special-admission order from Dean Xuanyun!

In the crowd, Zhuge Youlin gave Shen Yan a thumbs-up. “Shen Yan, you were the first person out of the illusion. That’s incredible!”

“Of course Yanyan is incredible,” Jiang Xianyue scoffed lightly.

Zhuge Youlin narrowed his eyes. “Hey, why do I get the feeling you have it in for me?”

Jiang Xianyue looked perfectly innocent. “Do I?”

Zhuge Youlin was silent.

He could find no proof, but he had the distinct feeling that Jiang Xianyue disliked him. Whenever he spoke to Shen Yan, she never once gave him a friendly look.

Was it because of Shen Yan?

Baffled, Zhuge Youlin gave Jiang Xianyue an odd look.

She returned it with a kindly smile.

Shen Yan had also noticed Jiang Xianyue’s subtle hostility toward Zhuge Youlin. She lowered her gaze to study the girl. Jiang Xianyue was pretty and petite, almost doll-like, with two braided pigtails and an adorably round head. Her smile was genuinely sweet, the sort that unconsciously lifted anyone’s mood.

As though sensing Shen Yan’s gaze, Jiang Xianyue looked up. Her eyes sparkled. “Yanyan, let’s enter Western Region Academy together!”

“All right,” Shen Yan replied softly.

At that, Zhuge Youlin grinned as well. “Little Yanyan, let’s enter Western Region Academy together—and take first place!”

Little Yanyan?

Shen Yan frowned in resignation. “Talk properly. Don’t call me Little Yanyan. It’s disgusting.”

“All right, Yanyan!” Zhuge Youlin flashed his teeth in a grin and folded his arms.

Jiang Xianyue’s eyes darkened. She knew the wretch was mocking her. Lowering her gaze slightly, she concealed the murderous intent within it.

Shen Yan immediately sensed the faint trace of killing intent emanating from Jiang Xianyue, and her expression tightened. Jiang Xianyue was dangerous, while Zhuge Youlin was hardly a good sort himself.

These two…

At this point, Zhuge Weiran seemed like the only honorable gentleman among them.

Reason told her not to get mixed up with Zhuge Youlin and Jiang Xianyue. Yet there they stood, one on either side of her.

It seemed she would have to wait until they entered Western Region Academy before she could find a chance to separate from them.

Fifteen minutes soon passed.

Dean Xuanyun announced, “The combat test comes next. It will take the form of a grand melee divided into twenty rounds. Roughly four hundred people will compete in each round, from which fifty victors will be chosen. After all twenty rounds, only one thousand people will have passed the combat test.”

The crowd gasped at the rules.

More than four hundred people fighting all at once…

How fierce would that be?

The spectators also grew interested. They enjoyed watching martial contests.

This combat test would depend on both strength and luck!

After all, a few clever people might hide among the others and avoid being knocked off the arena.

But Dean Xuanyun continued, “There will be no arena platform for this combat test. The fifty victors must be the last fifty people left standing. Anyone who falls and cannot rise will be considered defeated. One more thing: killing is forbidden. Anyone who takes a life will be eliminated.”

Faces changed at this additional rule.

Did that not mean luck would be useless and only strength would matter?

Naturally, those with higher cultivation would seek to take down the weak. Without a platform to fall from, anyone knocked down could rise and fight again as many times as they liked—provided they still had the strength to do so.

After speaking, Dean Xuanyun summoned an orb of light above his palm. He supported it with spiritual power and sent it into the air, where it instantly expanded.

“The orb will randomly select the applicants for the first round of the combat test,” he announced.

The orb spun rapidly, then gradually slowed.

The applicants watched nervously. Soon, it projected more than four hundred names and sets of basic information.

The chosen youths felt uneasy.

The first round included Pei Wusu, Qi Lingxuan, Zhu Miaoqing, and others.

Together, they left the waiting area.

More than four hundred people assembled in the broad martial field. Their combat area was its very center.

An elder of Western Region Academy served as referee.

The elder looked over the contestants. Once they had all spread out on their own, he announced solemnly, “The first round of the combat test—”

“Begin!”

Almost all four hundred contestants moved at once.

Blades and swords clashed!

Most of the youths were only around the first stage of the Mystic-rank realm. Those with higher cultivation quickly crushed them and sent them flying.

Yet no one dared attack Pei Wusu.

His cultivation was the highest of all the applicants.

Expressionless, his profound eyes unreadable, Pei Wusu raised one slender hand. A pitch-black longsword dropped into his grasp.

He did not take the initiative to attack. He wanted to conserve his strength for the next stage of the examination.

Even so, someone came to challenge him.