Azalon felt the gaze of the old Elder on him and quickly recovered his expression from seeing the Spirit Phantom of the golden scaled serpent projected behind Elder Vanko’s body. He turned towards the old Elder and smiled as he took a step towards him in order to get some answers for his questions but his steps stopped when he heard the voice of that old Elder beside his ears.

“Don’t worry, kid. We will talk later. But first enjoy the rewards and pass this final hurdle that stands in your way to the final battle to enter the Academies. I am sure that we will be seeing each other very soon.” The voice was gentle and calm but Azalon could detect a sliver of excitement within that calm voice. He glanced at the old face that was smiling at him and slightly nodded before he turned around and went to the same spot he sat at before; on the wet grass beside the waterfall and closed his eyes.

When Azalon took the lead to start cultivating, the rest of them who were excited beyond themselves because of the fact they were allowed to cultivate in this place also quickly traveled to their own spots and concentrated on cultivating.

The remaining candidates that couldn’t pass the dream world trial and were woken up when the [Dream Rendering Array] was turned off were quickly ushered off from the [Crystal Flower Garden] by some youngsters that came under the command from Elder Vanko. They weren’t even given the chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them before they were chased away!!

The dense Spirit Energy that was so thick that it condensed to form a mist like covering in the garden was quickly drawn to the ten youngsters that were cultivating. Tendrils of Spirit Energy extended from the thick mist and coalesced around the small human figures.

But very soon, they discovered that they couldn’t even draw a single strand of Spirit Energy into their bodies no matter how much they concentrated. It didn’t matter how much Spirit Energy they managed to attract from the surroundings, there seemed to be something that was blocking the Spirit Energy from reaching them and they had no way of absorbing that unbearably thick Spirit Energy into their bodies!!

The mist like Spirit Energy gathered around the bodies of the youngsters like a thin cloud and was swirling around them at a certain distance from them. It was like they were really sitting within the clouds and the enchanting garden that was beautiful and peaceful to the extreme with the crystal like petaled flowers that reflected the warm sunlight like glittering jewels made the land appear extremely beautiful and mystical.

But the mist cloud of the Spirit Energy that swirled around the human figures within them was formed with different intensities. It was no wonder as everyone had different affinities with the Spirit Energy limiting the amount of Spirit Energy they can attract.

But there were two figures who were having the thinnest of the mist cloud of Spirit Energy around them. One of the two was an immature but nonetheless beautiful girl. A blue lotus was hovering on her left shoulder and a pale blue crystalline ice lotus was slowly forming beneath her like a lotus seat. Sophie was not actively attracting the Spirit Energy but once she found that there was some sort of barrier that was preventing her from absorbing the Spirit Energy, she immediately understood that this was also a kind of test that was camouflaged as the reward.

She was naturally rather intelligent and she realized that her solution to this test rested on her ability to break this barrier. So, she was currently focusing on her Soul Spirit, the [Ice Lotus] to increase the synergy between them. If she can increase the harmony that existed between her Spirit and her, she believed that she can break this barrier.

After all, this was how Spirit Cultivation works! The cultivators rely on their Soul Spirit they Awaken to form the Soul Bridge and draw in the Spirit Energy between the Heavens and Earth to cultivate and advance through the Realms. The farther they can link up with their Spirits, the more easily they can absorb the Spirit Energy and advance through the Realms.

But that was just one factor the influenced the talent of a Cultivator. But this was also one of the fastest and also the slowest methods to increase your talent.

The other candidates also quickly recognized this and also concentrated on their Spirits.

The other figure was naturally Azalon who was having his [Heavenly Demon Tiger] Raka in his lap and was just sitting there with his eyes closed and a slight but excited smile on his face. He was also not actively cultivating but he just sat there calmly concentrating on the changes he was currently feeling within him.

He was waiting, waiting for his three Spirits to finish their evolution to the next stage. His thinking was also a lot like what Sophie has come to, but it was also different. His path of Cultivation was a lot different from the normal cultivators whose Spirits would grow after breaking through a Realm. He had to first Evolve his Spirits in order to reach the next Realm.

This place not only had dense amounts of Spirit Energy but the abundant nature also drew in large amounts of Spirit Essence as well. And that was what was needed by his Spirits to evolve. This was the second method recorded in the scroll of the [Soul Embryo Cultivation Technique]. It’s just that this method of evolution was rather slow. It was because the Spirit Essence from the Soul Spirits could be converted to Spirit Energy that could be used by the cultivators, but the Spirit Energy couldn’t be so easily converted to Spirit Essence that could be used by the Spirits. It was also the reason why Spirit Beasts were powerful than their human counterparts at the same level of Cultivation. And Azalon simply took the best way among the two by using the Souls of the Spirit Beasts for the evolution of his Spirits.

But with this place having an abundant supply of Spirit Essence, he could now use this for the evolution of the Spirits. The barrier constructed by Elder Vanko around him only blocked the Spirit Energy but not the Spirit Essence. So, he was simply waiting for his Spirits to complete their evolution.

Time passed by and more than half an hour was used up within the two hours that were allotted to them. Elder Vanko and old Elder Paul were standing observing the ten youngsters trying to work their ways around the barrier made by the Core Sense of the Elder Vanko, but till now no one succeeded. But they were not concerned about that as these were just a very small part of the total number of candidates that were attending the Academy Selections. But their two gazes were on two candidates among the ten. Elder Vanko was observing Sophie as her Spirit was a rare Variant Spirit and Elder Paul was obviously interested with Azalon.

Another 10 minutes passed by and then a change appeared on one of the candidates. The [Ice Lotus] hovering on Sophie’s shoulder trembled slightly and a petal slowly bloomed on the ice lotus bud. Along with the blooming of that single petal, the Spirit Energy surrounding her suddenly went chaotic as the thin cloud formed around her thickened by a huge degree as more and more Spirit Energy was drawn to her after her connection with her Soul Spirit went up by another degree.

The Elders were slightly surprised but they were not overly shocked as this was just barely acceptable by their standards. With their age and statues within the Academies, they should have encountered far more peerless talents than what Sophie was displaying.

The mist around Sophie became so thick that it simply obstructed her figure to be seen from outside. Just as the petal of the Ice Lotus bud bloomed fully, the Spirit Energy around her quickly took on a pale blue hue and a mysterious cold feeling spread out from the Spirit Energy. The barrier that was constructed by Elder Vanko by his Core Sense was completely dissolved by him as he sensed that this was the maximum potential she could extract from within after the trials. So, naturally there was no need to hinder her further and let her cultivate.

The pale blue Ice Cold Spirit Energy swiftly rushed into her body like a flood and after Sophie refined the Spirit Energy, it was then guided into the Energy Vortex within her Soul Root, making her Cultivation raise with every passing moment.

Another 10 minutes passed by and the cloud surrounding the candidates were the same and only Sophie managed to start cultivating after the barrier has been lifted up. She even managed to break through to 8th Level Spirit Sense Realm. Basically, her talent was even more than Azalon. It was just that the nature of her Spirit constricted her Cultivation, otherwise she was one of the peerless geniuses within the Blue Wind City.

But it was at this moment, Azalon’s still body suddenly trembled slightly. The tiger cub Raka was sleeping in his lap had small threads of Spirit Essence that were interwoven around his body like a sort of a transparent cocoon.

Within Azalon’s Soul Root…

The Energy Vortex was like a small raging tornado that was confined within his Soul Root. The previously Vortex shape was transformed to form a funnel shaped vortex with his Soul and the Souls of his Spirits at its eye. The Spirit Energy was quickly ushered into the eye of the funnel and it was slowly condensed to form a single drop of Spirit Energy Liquid.

*Drip* *Drip*

Every few minutes, there will be an Energy drop that will fall from the funnel shaped vortex to join the 30 already formed Spirit Energy Liquid drops that were whizzing all over the Soul Root. With every drop of the Spirit Energy Liquid drops formed, the Energy Vortex will shrink by a bit. Azalon didn’t know what will happen when the entire Energy contained within the Energy Vortex was used up to form the Liquid Spirit Energy drops.

Right now, there are 16 Purple Colored Liquid Drops and 18 colorless Liquid drops within his Soul Root, and there was another Purple Colored drop that was in the middle of its formation within the eye of the Energy Vortex. But he was not focusing on them right now. He was looking at the Soul Embryos of his three Spirits and waiting for them to Evolve.

The Soul Embryos of Raka and LILY that were in the form of a small figurine sized gray tiger cub and a fairy were moving around the black sphere that was his Soul. Only Merup’s Soul was still in the spherical shape. All three of them had a transparent membrane around them that was formed by the Spirit Essence that was incubating the Soul Embryos.

*Crack*

A small cracking sound resounded in his Soul Root and Azalon quickly concentrated on the three Soul Embryos. There were tiny cracks that were spreading on the surfaces of the Soul Embryos.

Azalon could feel that same feeling he felt whenever his Spirits would Awaken from their Evolution and three names sounded in his mind from who knows where.

“Heavenly Demon Tiger, Raka…”

“Otherworldly Fairy Maiden, LILY…”

“Lightning Foliot, Merup…”

Just as the three names rang in his mind, the three Soul Embryos shattered with a loud bang that was not audible to anyone but Azalon. The gray Soul Embryo shattered to reveal a adolescent tiger with gray fur and pure golden pupils. It stood on its four limbs in the Soul Root, raised its head and let out a soundless roar. It then started running around Azalon’s Soul flashing with a gray light on its body.

The silvery golden Soul Embryo melted down and reformed into a small Fairy with four dragonfly like wings and a golden band on her head. But there was a small Silver Gem embedded in the golden band. She lightly fluttered her wings and followed Raka as she too flew around his Soul in a fixed path, leaving behind some silvery light with golden specks forming a silvery ring around his Soul.

As for the purple Soul Embryo, it formed into a small human like figure with thin arms and legs. Two bone wings like protrudings but a thin membrane covered them making them appear like wings. It too let out a shrill cry as purple light flashed on its body and it formed into a purple ring around his Soul as it revolved around his Soul.

The moment his Spirits completed their Evolution, Azalon didn’t tarry around and immediately opened the vertical eye within his eyebrows. The mysterious feeling he felt back then once again surfaced and gushed out from his body like a membrane. But the moment it met against the Core Sense barrier of Elder Vanko, it couldn’t extend a single inch beyond that.

Azalon simply smiled when he felt that. He naturally understood that this thing created by a Spirit Core Realm Cultivator was not something he could break that easily. But he was not looking for a way to break it with force. What he was looking were the weak points in this barrier that would be in the barrier and work his around them.

But before he could probe further, Raka who had been sleeping till now opened its eyes after his Soul Embryo completed the Evolution. Merely, there were no physical changes on his body as Azalon still didn’t the Spirit Core Realm that would completely finish its evolution. But the aura around him had gone some changes.

Roar!!

It suddenly opened its jaws and let out a loud roar!

The roar was not particularly loud but a faint ripple spread out with Raka as center and the barrier of the Core Sense of Elder Vanko simply disappeared under that faint ripple like smoke in a breeze.

Azalon, Elder Vanko and even that old Elder Paul turned their eyes towards the little tiger cub that still had its jaws wide open with a mysterious aura pulsating around it. And there’s no need to talk about the other 9 candidates whose Spirits were trembling when the roar of Raka passed by them.

“An Adolescent Level Spirit Beast!! How is this possible??!!” Elder Vanko asked with wide eyes and a completely astonished look on his face. This kid… He was like a box that was capable of taking out surprise after surprise and Elder Vanko was so frustrated that he wanted to tear his hair off!

Elder Paul’s face was unnaturally serious when his eyes were locked onto Raka and Azalon. “No. It is not an Adolescent Spirit. It seems to be in a pseudo Adolescent state. It seems that it absorbed the massive amounts of Spirit Essence to reach this stage. And by the looks of it, the connection between that boy and his Spirit seems to be especially high. I believe that this kid should have Awakened a Soul Spirit that was at Infantile Stage when it was just Awakened. If his Soul Talent Grade is just as high as his abilities, then this kid will become a great figure of his generation.” Elder Paul was still staring at Raka who returned to Azalon’s side after the barrier that was surrounding them dissolved and sat there with his head on its paws and eyes closed.

Azalon was also curious about the changes that the Evolution to the Third Stage of Evolution would bring in his Spirits, but he had to give up as the Spirit Energy started rushing into his body the moment the barrier was taken down. He had many secrets on him and his first priority would be to increase his strength. Only then could he guarantee his life and go about exploring.

[Devour]…

He immediately deployed his ability and the Spirit Energy was riled up like a massive beast as it rushed like mad towards Azalon. Even the Spirit Energy that was around the other 9 candidates was also forcefully pulled over by Azalon!

Majestic amounts of Spirit Energy surged from all the directions and formed a tempest around Azalon. The tempest quickly rose up and it finally formed a 10 foot high hurricane of Spirit Energy with Azalon at its eye.

If one could see into Azalon’s Soul Root, they would see that this hurricane formed by the Spirit Energy was almost identical to the funnel shaped Energy Vortex within Azalon’s Soul Root!

Even though his eyes are closed, Azalon could see the Spirit Energy constantly enter his body through his nostrils and mouth only to be refined by his ability and himself before it was sent into the Soul Root. In fact with the barrier around him gone, after he opened the vertical eye between his eyebrows, everything within 99 meters of distance became extremely clear to him. Once again that sensation of control washed over him, but he forcefully restrained it.

The funnel shaped vortex was like a hungry animal that was finally given some meat. No matter how much Energy was passed into it, the vortex would gobble it up without any problem. It quickly grew in size and its rotation speed also picked up.

*Drip* * Drip* * Drip*

The previously Liquid Energy drops that took several minutes to condense a single drop now fell like a continuous drizzle as more and more Spirit Energy rushed into the Soul Root.

Azalon also quickly diverted the vertical eye to within himself and immediately restrained the funnel shaped Energy Vortex from spreading. With the forming of the vertical eye, he felt a sense of perfect control in the outside world. Now there is no need to talk the level of control he could achieve within his own body.

The funnel shaped vortex had no way of breaking the shackles that were many times more powerful than before. It obediently shrunk its size even though the Spirit Energy was continuously gushing in from the outside. Azalon divided his attention into three parts, one for constricting the Energy Vortex, second for maintaining the [Devour] ability and the third for refining the Spirit Energy. His main focus was on the Energy Vortex as the remaining two didn’t require that much attention from him.

Time gradually passed by and the Spirit Energy in the surroundings continuously entered his Azalon’s body and it was then condensed into Liquid Spirit Energy drops.

50 drops… 9th Level Spirit Sense Realm…

100 drops… Peak of the Spirit Sense Realm

200 drops… Reached the Peak of the Spirit Sense Realm for both the Energies…

The Spirit Energy drops within Azalon’s Soul Root were just like a small rain that was falling from the funnel shaped vortex continuously.

The Spirit Energy hurricane that was formed around Azalon suddenly grew to form a ten meter high bright pillar with him at the center. The Spirit Energy was even more thick than the moment Azalon started cultivating. Suddenly, Azalon’s body was lifted off the ground and he floated half a meter in the air and the Spirit Energy was converging into his body like a flood through his ears,nostrils, mouth, and even his eyes. Not only that Azalon felt that the Spirit Energy was trying to tunnel in through his pores on his skin.

The mad rush of the Spirit Energy was as if there were countless needles that were piercing every inch of his body. The Spirit Energy was like a raging flood that was rushing in his meridians and finally reached the Soul Root to join the Energy Vortex.

With the sudden increase in the input of Spirit Energy and with the pain all over his body, Azalon was facing some difficulty maintaining his concentration. So, he gave full reign to the [Devour] ability and fully diverted his attention to the Energy Vortex that was about to go out of control.

Mustering every bit of concentration, he slowly guided the Spirit Energy in his meridians to the Energy Vortex while maintaining the pressure on it so that it would continue to condense the Liquid Spirit Energy.

Within the [Crystal Flower Garden]…

Everyone present in the garden were watching the bright pillar that was formed with Azalon at its center. The Spirit Energy was continuously being drawn to the pillar from every corner of the garden. They couldn’t even cultivate with all the Spirit Energy rushing to that pillar that was glowing with a bright light.

“…”

Not a single one uttered a sound as they stared at the pillar of light with astonishment and envy written all over their faces. Some were even viciously cursing Azalon within their hearts due to jealousy and anger! But they didn’t dare do a thing with the two Elders present here.

Boom!

Suddenly, the pillar of light shattered and a small body slowly descended to the ground. A powerful aura was pulsing around him and the candidates that were still in the Spirit Sense Realm felt a burst of oppression when the aura passed by them.

Azalon was exhilarated by the new rush of strength that was flowing in his body. His black eyes were shining brightly like two black jewels that were filled with excitement. His muscles were rippling with explosive power hidden within that lean figure. His blood was like a massive river that was coursing through his veins.

Within his Soul Root, there were now two small lakes that were formed of the Liquid Spirit Energy. One was a crystal clear lake and the other was a purple colored lake that was glowing with a purple glow from within. Occasionally a stream of the Liquid Spirit Energy would bubble up from the Spirit Energy lakes that would shoot out from the surface of the lake and would fall back.

He had reached the Spirit Condensation Realm! He could now be considered as a true Spirit Cultivator and he was finally at the starting line of the race to Immortality!

He could feel that there were a lot of changes within his body and mind, but he didn’t have the time to check his new condition because of two facts.

One was that he discovered that his entire body was covered with a thick black tar like substance. It covered every inch of his body and even his clothes turned black due to that black substance. It stank so horribly that even Raka was trying to get away from him.

Azalon smiled bitterly as he couldn’t do other than be the skunk for the while.

The other was that the old Elder Paul suddenly took out a hour glass with its upper part completely empty. Azalon understood that the two hours that were allotted to them were up. He looked around only to see 9 pairs of eyes that were boring into him. He felt that if looks could kill, he would be a skewered kebab by now!