20demayo Chapter 1: Will He Succeed?
Chapter 1: Will He Succeed?
Inside the magnificent Xishen Hall of the outer sect of Yunding Sect, on the black stone tablet that all disciples both love and fear, hundreds of characters resembling seal script shimmer with different lights like stars, as if they were gods high above.
"Endure all hardships, write more characters for 'god,' become stronger and stronger, and defeat the man-eating mythical beast."
On the walls on both sides of the main hall, the inspirational inscription with the character "神" (god) continuously emitted streams of colorful and mysterious energy, enveloping all the hundreds of outer disciples in the hall, including Wang Yan.
Fourteen-year-old Wang Yan, a thin boy, and his disciples, who were lying on low stone tables around him, were all frowning as they painstakingly used specially made thin stone nails to draw a curved line in the inch-thick layer of wet mud on the stone tables.
The internal organs were immediately subjected to waves of intense pressure from the surrounding body, causing them to feel both sore and numb.
"Hiss!" He trembled uncontrollably, baring his teeth and forcibly suppressing the groan that was about to escape his lips. He managed to draw a line about half an inch long before immediately summoning a divine character from his sea of consciousness to release a soothing heat. With the help of the profound energy within his body, the unbearable soreness and numbness slowly dissipated.
At the same time, he secretly released his divine sense to observe his surroundings.
Several disciples around him, whose figures were only partially drawn, were being forced to contort their bodies and faces by the unseen forces of heaven and earth. Beads of sweat dripped from their bodies, their eyes were bloodshot and red, and they let out painful, unwilling roars from their throats.
Words, short phrases, and long sentences composed of tiny divine characters emerged from between the brows of these disciples, releasing various energies, some cool and some warm, around them to resist the pressure from different forces.
But the nail tip still moved only slightly faster than a snail in the wet mud.
It seemed that every additional stroke or line of writing was extremely difficult.
It's far inferior to Wang Yan's previous stroke.
Despite this, as long as they were enveloped by the colorful energy emanating from the wall, each disciple was writing diligently on the wet mud, as if this was something they absolutely could not give up on easily.
Inside the main hall, cold and ruthless voices could be heard from time to time.
"Zhao Dashi, a second-level spiritual sprout, failed to write three second-tier divine characters in a row. He has collapsed due to exhaustion. Replace him!"
"Jiang Erni, a first-level spirit sprout, failed to write four first-tier divine characters in a row. She has collapsed due to exhaustion. Replace her!"
"..."
Within a mere 15 minutes, 21 people failed in a row.
Dozens of streaks of light descended from the rooftop, taking away the losers one by one, and then new disciples filled their places.
The atmosphere inside the main hall was unusually oppressive, and most of the young Lingya disciples looked somewhat bewildered.
Only when the energy of the divine word on the wall washed over them did their confusion turn back into fervor and determination.
No one knew that in Wang Yan's lowered eyes, there was a hint of disdain for the energy enveloping him.
At this moment, satisfied voices rang out again from inside the hall.
"Di Nan, a level-three spiritual sprout, has successfully written a third-tier divine character!"
Several disciples who had just failed to write and were resting to recover their strength couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Di Nan, a square-faced boy with a flushed face but relaxed brows, dozens of steps away.
Wang Yan also breathed a sigh of relief and eagerly probed the area with his divine sense.
Di Nan sat up straight again, his eyes closed. Between his resolute yet sweat-drenched, weary brows, a dazzling, multicolored light swirled, as if bestowing a blessing from the gods.
The boys couldn't help but look on with envy, and two of the gossipy girls couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"Di Nan succeeded again! A state-level sea of consciousness is truly amazing! It would take me at least three days to write a third-tier divine character, but he's already written two today. No wonder he's the top outer disciple in the last five years!"
Wang Yan also secretly admired it.
"Out of more than 500 outer disciples, only one has reached the state-level Sea of Consciousness. This kid's aptitude is indeed good, and his temperament is also remarkable."
At this moment, satisfied voices rang out again from inside the hall.
"Zhao Mingtong, a second-level spirit sprout, has successfully written a third-tier divine character!"
"Huh?" The boys who were looking at Di Nan with envy immediately turned to another strong boy who was drenched in sweat but clearly relieved.
Wang Yan simply turned his head slightly, without releasing his divine sense further, but he could already clearly hear everyone's discussion.
"After all, he's the grandson of the Second Elder of Fire Refining Peak. He's been well-fed since childhood, and he has a Mansion-level Sea of Consciousness, ranking second in the outer sect. Just two quarters of an hour ago, he wrote a second-tier divine character, and now he's written a third-tier divine character. His speed is only slightly slower than Di Nan's!"
Just as the crowd's low morale was slightly boosted, they heard a cold voice again.
"Level 2 Spirit Sprout Huo Erdan failed to write four consecutive third-tier divine characters, collapsed from exhaustion, and is replaced!"
Huo Erdan was a friend of the original owner from the same village. Like the original owner, he was a relatively ordinary town-level scholar, and his speed in learning to write the character "神" was above average.
Wang Yan sighed inwardly.
"This kid is probably unhappy that I can write the character 'divine' faster than him these past two days, so he specifically chose to write the third-tier divine character. Little does he know, I've now changed my soul and have a cheat code."
Just then, he heard two level-three female spirit sprouts whispering not far away: "Zhao Mingtong succeeded too. I wonder if Wang Yan will succeed again this time? Ever since he went crazy and wrote the third-tier 'Endurance' divine character the day before yesterday, his speed in writing second-tier divine characters these past two days has caught up with Zhao Mingtong's!"
"The character 'Nai' (耐) is so difficult to write. Di Nan only managed to write it a month after becoming a Level 3 Spirit Sprout. Zhao Mingtong opened his Sea of Consciousness two months earlier than Wang Yan, and he still hasn't written it!!"
"It's really hard to say... Maybe Zhao Mingtong just didn't want to be outdone by Wang Yan, so he chose to write the third-order divine characters."
Wang Yan chuckled.
Di Nan and Huo Erdan are considered upright individuals.
Whether Zhao Mingtong will be a good guy or a bad guy in the future is unknown, but at least in the last two days, he has shown some hostility towards Zhao Mingtong, the farm boy who replaced the original owner of this body.
Thinking of this, Wang Yan lowered his back again and continued to write while lying on the stone table. His body began to tremble again under the pressure of that strange force.
A few dozen steps away, Zhao Mingtong, who was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, had obviously heard the whispers. The smug smile that had just appeared on his long face quickly disappeared, and his narrow eyes became sinister.
He turned his head and, along with several other second-tier spirit sprouts, looked at Wang Yan, a second-tier spirit sprout, who was writing on a stone table dozens of steps away, his body contorted under pressure.
His slightly thin body and slender arms were still trembling.
Zhao Mingtong narrowed his eyes, feeling a pang of jealousy.
"This poor country boy lost both his parents at a young age. I heard he could only eat two dried vegetable dumplings per meal. When he first arrived, he was thinner than a monkey, and his speed in writing the character '神' (divine) was only average!"
"If he hadn't accidentally ingested the mutated Mad Hemp Grass two days ago, and miraculously survived without going insane, thus managing to write the third-tier divine character 'Endurance,' which greatly increased his physical strength and endurance, how could he have withstood the pressure of the divine character until now?"
"The residual medicinal properties of this 'mad hemp' herb will only last for two days at most. Now that two days have passed, his madness should have completely dissipated!"
Zhao Mingtong stared at the still trembling Wang Yan, wishing that the boy who had embarrassed him in front of all the disciples would collapse and faint the next second.
Not only him, but also many other disciples resting in the main hall were staring at Wang Yan, who looked like he was about to collapse, with complicated emotions.
As a result, the energy flow and Xuan Qi fluctuations around Wang Yan became more active.
One breath... two breaths...