When they walked through the pathway that opened up when the mountain split to reveal, they had been expecting a great and vast Arena that would test the various candidates ans select them based on the scores they would attain.

But what they saw at the end of the pathway was way more than the large Arena they had been expecting. In fact the scene in front of their eyes couldn’t be called as the ‘Academy Selection Grounds’ any more.

It was a large patch of land that spread as far as their eyes could see and was completely surrounded by mountains on three sides. The mountains surrounding this place were all the same as the mountain they had come through.

They were all tall and majestic, with their peaks piercing through the cloud line and disappearing from their view.The height of these mountains was already so great and one could imagine the area of land they could could cover with their bases. And this place was surrounded by three of such mountains on the sides and it was still extending at the end of their visions!

When had they ever seen such majestic existences ever before in their lives?

“The tallest mountains that were regarded as the ‘roofs of the world’ on Earth could only be called as some dirt heaps before these mountains!” Azalon exclaimed in his heart.

But the area protected under the wings of these mountains was equally breath taking. The entire ground was covered with large trees and countless flowers that filled their eyes with an explosion of colors.

The branches and leaves of the trees and the petals of the flowers were swaying gently in the wind, giving the audience the illusion that the ground itself was rippling in the wind!

At the moment, a gently breeze suddenly blew over, bringing along the faint aroma of flowers that made anyone who scented it feel intoxicated.

Some petals and leaves dropped down from the branches of the trees and flowers and they were picked up by the flowing wind. Whether the petals were pure white, captivating red, or gloriously yellow… they danced with the wind and skies, filling the sky with extremely enchanting and beautiful scene!

The sky was completely void of clouds just above this area making the clear sunlight illuminate without any obstructions.

The bright sunlight reflecting off the countless colorful petals making them appear like clear crystals and gemstones instead of the normal and gentle flower petals. It was a very enchanting scene to watch, especially to them who grew up in the corners of the Empire!

Multiple small waterfalls fell down from the slopes and ridges on the huge mountains making the clear and pleasant sound of running water resound, further adding to the pleasant atmosphere.

The water accumulated at the bottom of the waterfalls overflowed into several small but clear streams that ran through the flower bed providing the land with the essential and natural irrigation!

Birds chirped from their nests on the trees and busy bees and butterflies flapping their big and colorful wings were busy visiting the numerous flowers savoring the sweet and bountiful nectar within those flowers, gave the already picturesque scene a unique and lively feel!

A light mist covered the entire area and it took only a few moments to know that this mist was actually Spirit Energy!

The Spirit Energy in this area was so rich that it actually coalesced to appear like a mist! The dense and rich Spirit Energy rolled in waves in the air and with every breath, the Spirit Energy rushed into their bodies, making them feel relaxed and peaceful, but bloated and content at the same time!

They felt that if they could cultivate in this tranquil and Spirit Energy rich environment, their cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds in a very short time!

Even their Spirits were extremely excited by the dense Spirit Essence present in the atmosphere due to the presence of bountiful Nature in this garden!! They immediately made various sounds as they tried to absorb the Spirit Essence in order to reach the next stage of their growth.

It was an instinctual habit of any Spirit Beast to seek out the areas that were rich with Spirit Energy and Spirit Essence! They would absorb the Spirit Energy and Spirit Essence within the Earth and Heaven to help them mature and raise their Cultivation Levels!

No matter, from where you looked at, this place was simply an ethereal and heavenly garden that could only exist in masterpieces drawn by famous painters or in the wildest imaginations in dream world! The ones watching this place all felt like such a place like this shouldn’t be in the mortal plane at all!

This was simply a place that would calm your heart and soothe your mind, a tranquil and peaceful place where one would want to spend the rest of their lives at!!

And this place was supposed to be the place where the Academies would conduct their examinations?

It looked nothing like that at all!!

Azalon’s eyes were darting around taking in everything. The water softly fell, the chirps of birds drifted about, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air. Everything was overwhelming to the senses; there even seemed to be an aura of Immortality in the air, fragrant and sweet.

Azalon took in a deep breath and felt his blood and Spirit Energy within his body being simulated!

When they were flying on the backs of those white birds, and were taken high into the skies, they managed to get a glimpse of this place from that high vantage point. But before their brains could register what the eyes were seeing, they were forced to take part in the Preliminary Test!

According to Azalon’s calculations, they have flew to a height of about 4 Miles when the Preliminary Test started. They could only get a glimpse of the outline of this area and not this breath taking scenery within. And then their concentration shifted on to holding on for their dear lives when they were falling.

4 Miles may sound like a large distance on the ground but believe it, it was extremely short distance when one falls down!! It took only a few seconds for the Preliminary Test to complete, but those were the longest and the shortest seconds that they ever experienced in their lives!!

“Ah! I finally managed come to this place again! How many years has it been and the place didn’t change at all. Instead it is even more beautiful than I remember!” Azalon’s sensitive ears picked up these softly spoken words.

He turned his head to look at the source of the voice. It was the Elder that they all followed who was supposed to take them to participate in the Academy Selections!

Question marks popped up above the head of Azalon when he heard the dazed muttering of the Elder.

“VANKO!!!” Suddenly, a thunderous shout resounded between the Heaven and Earth making their ears go pop. Some of the unfortunate ones even had their ears bleeding as their eardrums ruptured.

“Shit! I didn’t expect that that old devil was still alive and he was actually present in this place at this time!” The Elder’s expression changed as he tried to hurriedly retreat. But before he could even take two steps, a beam of light appeared in the distance and within a blink of an eye, it appeared before the Elder who was trying to flee!

The beam of light turned and changed into a slightly hunched old man whose face was red with anger and his heavy breaths indicated that he was trying to restrain it!

Everyone watching this felt their blood run cold and sweat drenched their bodies! The pressure this old man who appeared suddenly was like a huge mountain that was sitting on their chests. Even though the old man was clearly concentrating his aura on the middle aged Elder, the remnant aura that leaked out was still enough to pressure them to this extent!

“This old man’s cultivation should be unfathomably deep! This middle aged Elder should be at least a Mortal Core Realm Cultivator. If this old man could pressure this Elder to this extent, then he should be in the Soul Level Core Cultivation or even in the Nascent Soul Realm!” Azalon was trying to resist this heavy pressure while he tried to concentrate on the old man who stood before the middle aged Elder. But it was not easy at all. His blood was roiling and his bones were creaking while he tried to rotate his Spirit Energy to counter the pressure.

“Vanko! How dare you step into this [Crystal Flower Garden] again? Master explicitly forbid you from entering here and you dare go against his orders?” The old man was glaring at the middle aged Elder and thundered loudly!

“Ha! How could I have guessed that you old devil still didn’t die and was still grumpy as hell?” The middle aged Elder mumbled in a low and irritated voice but it was loud enough for the old man to pick up the words.

“You rotten fool!” The old man’s body trembled in anger and he directly gave a vicious kick to the middle – aged Elder’s butt! The middle – aged Elder couldn’t even put up a slight amount of resistance and was sent flying and he slammed into the mountain side!

The old man gave a cold snort when he saw the pathetic appearance of that middle – aged Elder’s appearance after he received his kick. It was only then that he registered the group of boys and girls that were watching him with their faces pale and breathing hard!

“Haa? Who the hell are you people?” His mind was still clouded with anger at Vanko who trespassed into the [Crystal Flower Garden] and therefore couldn’t manage to connect the dots behind this group of boys and girls.

No one in the group answered him as they were all almost scared silly! Let alone talking even making a whimpering sound was a struggle!

The utmost expert these people could have ever come across was only at the peak of the Spirit Condensation Realm! In their eyes, the middle – aged Elder who was in the Spirit Core Realm was already an ultimate expert that could wipe out the leaders in their home towns with just the flip of his hand!

Now looking at the scene where that unbeatable and powerful Elder dealt so effortlessly by this old man, how couldn’t they be calm?!

“Ah! You are the candidates for the Academy Selections!” Finally, the old man’s brain caught up to the present and his eyes widened as he exclaimed. “This bastard Vanko! He took advantage of this and snuck into this [Crystal Flower Garden]!” Once again, the old man’s subsided anger flared again.

“You guys are really unlucky. The Gathering of the Academies have already started and you are led here by this fool! If you don’t hurry, you might not show up in time and your spots will be taken away and you will be disqualified!” He turned his head and glared at the unconscious Vanko before he waved his hand pointing a finger to the skies. The finger flashed once and a small but bright beam of light shot into the skies.

“*Sigh* I have signaled for some one from the Academies to come here. That person will lead you to the Selection Grounds. I will take this fool to throw him out, so you people better behave yourself! This garden is full of powerful arrays that could be the path to your death if you step into them.” With a grave warning, the old man hoisted that Elder Vanko’s body and with a slight movement of his body, he disappeared.

The group of boys and girls looked around nervously and curiously, but no one dared to move an inch from where they stood.

15 minutes passed… But they didn’t see any Elder that was supposed to come and lead them to the Academy Selection Grounds. That old man said that the Academy Gathering had already started and they might lose their spots if they appeared late! Those in the group were all struggling with nervousness and anxiety. This was supposed to be the place where their fates and lives would be decided, and they were all anxious and nervous to begin with.

And now with the invisible sword hovering above them that could sever their fate, they were literally on pins and needles as their eyes darted around to catch the glimpse of the Elder that was supposed to come!

As the candidates were watching the skies and the ground for their savior to come, two pairs of eyes were watching this small group from high up on a mountain.

“This group may have some talents, but the things they have experienced in their lives can be said to be absolutely mediocre! They are nothing more than some peasants that were lucky enough to Awaken their Spirits and gather some Spirit Energy to reach this level! It would only be a fool’s dream if they want to reach any higher Realms!” It was the same middle – aged Elder that was supposed to be unconsciousness and full of injuries. But looking at him now, let alone any injuries, there was not even a speck of dust on him!

“Don’t be impatient, Vanko! It’s still only a short amount of time that passed. Wait till the allocated time to be completely finished. May be this ‘peasant group’ that you so gracefully called, will even give you a surprise! Don’t ever close your eyes to the world around you, Vanko. That will not only make you distant from the world, but the world will also move away from you. If that happens, you will miss many things and you will come to regret that later on!” The grumpy old man was no where to be seen in the old man but who stood beside him was a wizened Cultivator that had seen much in his long life and had countless experiences.

“Humph!” The middle – aged Elder snorted but he stopped speaking. The old man simply smiled but his eyes immediately brightened when he saw a small boy move from the crowd.

Azalon slowly walked out from the crowd. He had a pondering expression on his face as if he was contemplating about something.

But when he walked out, the group of boys and girls were terrified.

“Oye! What do you think you are doing? Didn’t that Old Elder tell us not to move about carelessly?” Someone yelled behind him and once one opened his mouth, the others followed.

“That’ right. You saw how powerful that Old Elder was. He could beat that powerful Elder that easily. If you don’ want to die, stay where you are and don’t move!”

“If that Old Elder finds out that someone has been disturbing his garden, he may get angry and kill us all! If you want to die, go die by yourself! Don’t drag us down with you!” The scene of that old man beating that middle – aged Elder was still fresh in their eyes and now this little bastard was doing this. They were almost panicking and some girls even started sobbing and begging Azalon to return to the group!

If they weren’t afraid of moving from where they stood, these people would have already rushed to Azalon and beat him to death!

Azalon didn’t care about those pathetic cries behind him and was instead moving deeper into the garden. When they saw that Azalon was not listening to their warnings, they quickly distanced themselves from him.

But there were a small number of people that didn’t do so but instead looking at Azalon interestingly. They hesitated for a while and move in different directions and started exploring the garden! And among them were Kazan Hin, Sophie, Hari Reran and others who got the top places in the Preliminary Test.

Azalon took a look around and sat down on the moist grass beside one waterfall among many. He quietly breathed in the cool and aromatic air as his body involuntarily relaxed. The Energy Vortex rapidly rotated and his [Devour] ability triggered automatically. The thick Spirit Energy mist was like a tangible existence, flew in small threads that made their way into his body through his mouth and nostrils.

He concentrated on his Lightning Spirit and the Spirit Energy that he absorbed from the Spirit Energy gathered around him quickly changed to that of the mixture of the normal Spirit Energy and Purple Spirit Energy. Countless threads of the Spirit Energy gathered in his Soul Root before being integrated into the Energy Vortex.

Watching Azalon take the initiative to cultivate in this place, the boys and girls watching him too sat down hesitatingly and started cultivating in this Spirit Energy rich environment!

The Spirit Energy in this garden was incomparably pure, so pure that Azalon didn’t even have to refine it and could directly absorb the Energy!

Time passed by and more than an hour flew away…

The cultivation level of the Purple Spirit Energy quickly grew from the 3rd Level of the Spirit Sense Realm to the 4th Level… 5th Level… 6th Level… and finally with a soft ‘Boom!’, he reached 7th Level!

He broke through 4 Levels in a short amount of time! His Energy Vortex now was like a roaring dragon that had a streak of thick but soft Purple streak roiling within! But what was strange that no one in the group of the boys and girls around him or the two people watching him didn’t even feel the slightest ripple of the Purple Spirit Energy that Azalon was currently focusing on!

But Azalon had no way of knowing that. In the eyes of others, he was simply sitting there surrounded by the thick Spirit Energy, but his Cultivation seemed to be like an immovable wall that couldn’t be moved no matter how much Spirit Energy you used to push it!

“… …” The old man watching Azalon was slightly puzzled. “Hmmm? There is something strange about this boy!” His sub – consciousness tingled in his mind as he came to this conclusion.

As cultivators, they would place immense priority on what their hearts told them. Even if you behave otherwise outside, but your heart knows who and what you really are. Cultivation is all about shedding the shackles of mortal realm and rising as an Immortal. It doesn’t matter if your body shredded its mortal shackles, but your heart had to do the same too.

And that can only be achieved by accepting what and who you really are! And that was only possible when one listens to his heart, no mater if it’s small or large aspects of himself!

And now his heart was telling him that this boy was not normal and something more! And he had to believe it because it was his heart!

“Vanko. Collect as much information as you can about that boy over there!” The old man decisively gave that order after thinking about for only a moment. He had to believe his sub – conscious and if he didn’t, it would be like rejecting himself and that would affect his cultivation progress! Only after giving this order did the feeling in his sub – consciousness disappear.

The Elder Vanko looked at the old man in surprise. But he didn’t react and only nodded his head.

As the old man was discussing about him, within Azalon’s Soul Root, the Energy Vortex was spinning like a ferocious dragon. Azalon hesitated slightly but he came to a decision promptly.

He gritted his jaws and activated his [Devour] ability to its maximum capacity. The Spirit Energy around him formed a small whirl pool with him at the center! The group of boys and girls who couldn’t get into their meditative states because of their nervousness were astonished when they saw the whirl pool of Spirit Energy formed around Azalon.

Even that Elder Vanko’s eyes twitched slightly as astonishment made its way onto his pupils.

The old man’s eyes glittered in pleasant surprise as a pleased smile cracked his face. He gave a light glance at the Elder Vanko who had a slightly stiff expression and his smile grew even more pleased!

The Spirit Energy was like a flood of water that reached an already overflowing reservoir. His Soul Root was under tremendous pressure as more and more Spirit Energy rushed in with every breath. His meridians felt like they were being stretched to their limits and could be teared with just a little movement!

Azalon felt like he was a bloated balloon that could burst at any moment. He ignored the sharp pain that rose from within him, and concentrated his consciousness on the Energy Vortex that was swiftly becoming unstable.

He took a deep breath and his consciousness spread around the Energy Vortex and completely encasing it. With a thought, the cage started shrinking and the wild beast trapped in the cage went crazy as it thrashed with all its might against the shackles that were restricting it.

But Azalon’s consciousness was like a thousand foot steel wall that didn’t budge an inch under the barrage of the Energy Vortex, but it was shrinking at a steady pace. Beads of sweat dropped from Azalon’s forehead as he had to concentrate his entire mental energy on maintaining the barrier around the Energy Vortex.

Under the constant rush of the pure Spirit Energy from the outside and the steady pressure of Azalon’s consciousness, large amounts of Spirit Energy were forced to gather in a small area. Finally, within the eye of the Energy Vortex, a single drop of dense and pure Spirit Energy formed and dropped in the Soul Root, and the mental barrier that Azalon formed had offered no resistance at all to this drop of Spirit Energy!

The Energy drop was so small that if Azalon hadn’t been concentrating with all he had on the Energy Vortex, he could not have detected this single drop of Spirit Energy. With the formation of a single drop, the Energy Vortex that was being restrained looked like it found a new way to escape the clutches!

The shape of the Energy Vortex changed to a funnel shape and the Spirit Energy started condensing at the eye of the Vortex at a massive rate. All this while, Azalon didn’t even stop the [Devour] ability that ensured a steady flow of Spirit Energy into his body.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Twenty Spirit Energy drops formed after the first one and they were like little fishes that were swimming around in the Energy Vortex. Ten of them were transparent and clear like crystals while the other ten were glowing with purple hue and were extremely eye catching!

The Energy contained in a single drop was almost equal to the Energy he had in his Vortex when he was in his 4th Level Spirit Sense Realm. And the Energy was incomparable pure and dense that Azalon had no way of comparing it with!

A Cultivator had to condense 10 drops like these and he could be called to break through to the 8th Level of the Spirit Sense Realm! Azalon finally broke through to the first and the most important bottle neck he experienced in his Cultivation!

But just as Azalon was about to condense his twenty first drop of Spirit Energy when he felt the flow of Spirit Energy from the outside stop suddenly. No matter how much he concentrated, not a single wisp of Spirit Energy moved towards him. Puzzled, Azalon opened his eyes and what met him was a … black world!