Ed had spent the entire night reading through this text, but he was not drained. Instead, he felt energy like never before course through his veins. He examined himself and found he had reached the edge of his growth and was soon going to experience the spirit-picking stage. But the spirit picking stage is a very hard stage to reach. Many reached the stage which he stood, yet were unable to reach the spirit picking.

Getting up, he stretched as he took a look at his body; it was overflowing with spirit energy. He was not sure how much spirit energy a normal person had at this stage, but was sure his was too much. When he had killed a valley master the last year, he had touched this man on his lotus diam, which was a point at the middle of his spine and for a second, his spirit energy connected to the man's spirit energy and his spirit energy was so large, it started to devour that tribal chief's own. He was sure that all the tribal chiefs were at least at the spirit awareness stage. This stage was separated from the spirit picking stage by the spirit awakening and spirit merging stages.

How could his spirit energy overwhelm a tribal chief to that extent? That and he had never heard of spirit energy eating another spirit energy. He was sure of one thing; unless someone higher than spirit awareness appears, he should be able to secure a place in the Emperor sage academy.

Leaving his room, he went out to the arena where the contest would be held. He stood in the crowd of people for a while, listening to rumours and tales of last night's banquet and sighed. That Hun Ou had put him in a spot. He was a little worried about how far the Emperor sage academy would go because of this insult.

“He even said that the best of them could not beat down the Valley master,” one man said.

“Don't you think so too? Valley master is a very mysterious person. Didn't you hear how he killed that tribal chief with a lazy swing that time?” Another youth asked.

“It's probably that sword he was holding. Who knows what treasures the Valley Chief has given his adopted son,” the first youth snorted.

Ed sighed and walked away. He had always known what people thought since he killed the tribal chief and never intended to explain himself. Several times, the Valley chief had tried to ask him what he did that day, but he had never answered. What was he to tell them? They only saw him put his hand on the tribal chief's lotus diam and swing his sword. Was he to tell them that he had devoured all the spirit energy from the man causing him to be unable to block that lazy sword swing? It was better if people knew less and less about him. And he intended for it to remain so.

He made his way out of the crowd and stood by a corner and watched people enter the arena and wait. He listened to debates, bets and even fights about who would win.

Soon, the tribal chiefs arrived, and then the Valley Chief arrived with the Emperor Sage Academy elders. The younger generation followed and got seated. The valley master then stood to give a speech but kept looking around the crowd, making Ed sigh inwardly. He knew the Valley chief was looking for him.

“We welcome our guests from the Emperor Sage Academy. I will not beat around. We all know why we are here. Those who pass this admission will get a chance to become outer disciples at the emperor stage academy, so do well,” The Valley chief said and sat down and an elder from the Emperor Sage Academy replaced him.

“We have five stages. Only ten people can stand on one stage. Those who get on the stage and remain before I call an end will be allowed into the next round. Your time limit, the time it takes to brew a cup of tea,” he said, sitting down and pouring water into the kettle before him. Silence took over the arena. Many were still waiting for him to say start, but others had already understood that the game had started. Jian Ou made her way to one of the stages then other tribal chief’s children followed suit. Only then did the others discover that the contest had begun. Ed made his way there too. But unlike others, he was not rushing. Some tribes had already made alliances and taken up all the spots on one stage. Ed had his eyes on one stage. It was where his adopted family all gathered. Those from the Valley Chief's tribe all took up spots. Ed saw two of his adopted brothers and Jian Ou there. Others rushed to join. Some stages were already filled, so fights broke out. Many were trying all they could to get on the stage. One commoner rushed to Jian Ou's stage, but she threw a slap and he felt himself become airborne. After that became history as many did not look to see where he landed; if he landed.

“Lady Jian, please grant me entrance!” many from the Valley chief’s residence gathered there.

“I don't care what you do, this spot is for my brother Ed,” she harrumphed and looked away from them.

Ed had already expected this, that is why he had not bothered to hurry. Many saw his approaching silhouette and gave way as he climbed on the stage taking the last spot on that stage. They all sighed and tried their luck somewhere else. Fights broke on two stages, but the other three were more or less calm and unaffected as they watched these two stages with amusement. The three unaffected stages were Ed's stage and the other tribes, who had come to an agreement on who would be participating.

The other two stages were mostly commoner's stages. But some people from other tribes who had been left behind by their tribe tried to gain a spot too. But the commoners couldn’t care less about their person and a fight broke out. It now became a thing of power only those with the most strength will gain a spot. Soon, it was more or less settled as the strongest among them had taken up their spot. Ed had not really bothered to look at the commotion on the other stages as Jian Ou chatted with him nonstop. If anything, he felt a headache from all her talking.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He knew someone was looking at him with eyes of utter hate. Even his adopted brothers did not look at him with such eyes. He looked behind him, and unexpectedly, it was a young boy he had not seen before. The eyes he used to look at Ed made one think Ed had committed a sin against him. Ed but glanced at him for a second before looking back. But Jian Ou who had been watching his every move noticed this. She looked back as she felt the hostility from the person probably a year older than her.

The arena had more or less calmed down and many started to look at those on the stage and gauge their strength. Many paid attention to Ed and Jian Ou as they were the most eye-catching people. This caught the attention of those from the Emperor sage academy.

“Who is the young man?” Lu Guan asked.

“That is Ed. He is the Valley Chief's adopted son,” one of the tribal chiefs said.

“Isn't he too old to be trying to enter the academy?” Jia Lin said in mockery. He was right. Many there looked to be no older than sixteen. how old you look for your cultivation, is a reflection of how early you started cultivating; everyone knew this.

“Yes, he started in his twenties,” another tribal chief answered in what seemed to be an inquiry at the Valley Chief.

“Has he even gone through his spirit picking? Someone that late in age, even if he is a genius, would not be able to catch up to those his age. It's a waste of resources, Lord Valley Chief,” Jia Lin said, causing the Valley chief to frown.

“He has yet to do his spirit picking, but none of the chiefs here would be bold enough to fight him. He just discovered contemplating late. But that should tell you how unnecessary his age is if at spirit picking all those at spirit awareness cannot fight him. He levels up fast too. He has only been training for two and a half years to get to the bottleneck foundation level. You should all know how hard it is to train as one grows older,” Valley Chief said slowly as though he was calm, but one could not tell that his blood was boiling at this moment.

“Is it necessary to over exaggerate? Even if he trains fast and would catch up to his peers, there is no need to say that the chiefs would not dare fight him. Do you know the difference between spirit awareness and foundation levels?” Lu Guan said in mockery. But his toned sounded like he was advising an old friend.

“Are you hearing any tribal Chief claiming otherwise?” Valley Chief said calmly. Those from the Emperor sage academy looked at the tribal chiefs who had long looked away as though the topic did not concern them. This caused Lu Guan to frown. His disciple, Jia lin was boiling inside. Was this young man that dangerous? If he was not already annoyed with these valley people thinking him weaker than their valley master, he was now fuming. He snorted in his mind, how true can rumours be? But his anger did not lessen when he saw a beautiful girl chatting with him nonstop, and he paused. That girl was dangerous.

“Who is the girl?” he asked, but no one answered. Even the Tribal chiefs dared not speak. Lady Jian was a no-go topic. Lu Guan frowned.

“What? My disciple cannot even admire your daughter?” he asked the Valley chief.

“It is best if he looks away now. That is someone the Emperor Sage Academy headmaster would have to be polite to. You of all people know there are powers that hide in the weirdest places. This is all I can tell you, old friend,” Valley Master said and Lu Guan frowned. It was rare for him to hear the Valley Chief talk that seriously. It had been decades since he had seen that look on his face. He trained his eyes on the girl, and so did the others from the academy. They noticed that Lu Guan had not said a thing. Was she that special? Only then did they notice her look back when she saw Ed do the same.

Her eyes landed on someone and an invisible hand slapped the person she was looking at.

“Stop glaring at brother Ed before I pick your eyes out!” she scolded the person now bleeding from his mouth. The young boy spat out the blood in his mouth, looked up at Ed who did not bother to look back and glared at his back.

“You are still looking?” Jian Ou raised her hand over her head as though to strike but Ed caught it.

“Don't cause trouble,” he said.

“But he was looking...” she looked at Ed with a wronged expression before glaring at the boy and looking away with a harrumph. Her wronged expression looked so heavenly, many were lost staring at her. to the hot-blooded men there, this was a prime woman. one could tell from her movement she was raised sheltered.

Click!

They heard the sound of a teacup clicking as it was placed onto the tray. The tea had concluded and those who stood on the stage could enter the next round.