A hush fell over the square when Grand Secretary Fang walked in.
Everyone held their breaths, waiting for Mr Fang to announce the chosen terrain.
Feng Wu watched as Grand Secretary Fang scanned the crowd with his eyes, and he gave Feng Wu a slight nod when he spotted her. He then scanned the crowd again.
Huo Yin poked Mu Yaoyao in the arm. “Princess Mu, Mr Fang was looking at you.”
Mu Yaoyao was secretly elated, but she only said indifferently, “He’s my grandpa. What’s so surprising about that?”
Grand Secretary Fang had no idea of the silent war going on in the crowd. Without any preamble, he started to announce the rules of the physical tryout right away.
“Same as every year, the college will give each of you a headband, which you should tie around your forehead. The headbands are specially made by alchemists for the occasion, and they’re only effective in the chosen terrain.”
Soon, teachers came out to give each candidate a headband.
Feng Wu looked down at the headband in her hand.
It looked a lot like the sports headband she used to wear in her previous life. It was about 3 or 4cm in width, and one could easily tie it around their head.
Once all the candidates had put on the headbands, Grand Secretary Fang announced, “Activate your headband with your spiritual essence, and you’ll find seven stars on the front of the headband over your forehead.”
Everyone did as told, and they all had their seven stars. It was just that the stars looked rather dim.
“Mr Fang, Feng Wu doesn’t have any stars on her headband!” After hearing the rules, Huo Yin thought of a way to make fun of Feng Wu right away.
Did Feng Wu think she could look down on them just because she got first in the written exam? They were moving into the physical tryout now!
As expected, everyone turned in Feng Wu’s direction.
It was common knowledge that Feng Wu had no spiritual essence.
Instantly, everyone was talking under their breaths and sneering at her.
“Pfft —”
“She can’t even make the stars appear?”
“How is she going to get through the tryout if she can’t even do that?”
“Forget about the written exam. What’s she going to do now?”
–
Grand Secretary Fang frowned.
Only then did he remember that Feng Wu had been keeping her ability a secret from the world.
She was already a Level 5 Spiritual Grandmaster, but she could still stay calm and composed despite the taunts. That temperament alone was enough to win her much admiration.
She was too young to go through so much hardship.
All those ignorant youngsters. They knew nothing.
Grand Secretary Fang scanned the crowd with cold eyes!
Instantly, the temperature dropped and a cold wind blew.
The candidates felt a chill seeping into their bodies from their feet and up into all four limbs.
It was freezing…
And terrifying…
They realized that Grand Secretary Fang was angry.
With a wave of his hand, Grand Secretary Fang directed a streak of spiritual essence toward Feng Wu, and the next second, seven stars appeared on Feng Wu’s headband as well.
Like everyone else’s, they were dim.
Grand Secretary Fang then spoke in a solemn voice.
“You’ll be able to collect spiritual essence by killing spiritual beasts once you’re in the chosen terrain. With enough spiritual essence, you’ll be able to light up the stars on your headbands.
“As for other methods of increasing your spiritual essence, it’s up to you to find out.
“I’m only going to emphasize one thing: harming other candidates is forbidden! Everything you do will be watched by Imperial College!”
After that, Grand Secretary Fang waved his hand.
The portal slowly opened.
Instantly, white light shot out of the portal, enveloping all the candidates!