Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Holy Sun

“What? My mother?” Qin Yefeng’s eyes instantly misted over as he muttered.

Growing up, in Qin Yefeng’s memory, there was only the figure of his father.

When he was young, Qin Yefeng had asked Qin Pengfei a few times for news about his mother.

But every time he asked about this matter, Qin Pengfei would reveal a look of sorrow and refuse to talk about it. Later on, Qin Yefeng stopped pressing the issue.

He didn’t expect that now, his father would actually bring it up on his own initiative.

A trace of grief appeared on Qin Pengfei’s face as he slowly said, “I didn’t tell you before because I was afraid you would go and throw your life away.”

“Back then, I was just an ordinary outer court disciple of the Holy Sun Academy. Due to an accident, I encountered your mother. She was just an ordinary person, but she was the legitimate daughter of the Wang Family, one of the four great families of the Great Ming Empire.”

“After we got together, I found out that she was already engaged. The other party was an inner court disciple of the Holy Sun Academy, and also a member of the Liu Family, another of the four great families.”

Pausing for a moment, Qin Pengfei continued, “Your mother threatened them with her own life, which allowed me to survive. I don’t have any grand wishes; I only hope that after you enter the Holy Sun Academy, you will live well. As for your mother, I don’t even know if she is dead or alive right now.”

After speaking, Qin Pengfei’s face was filled with sorrow.

“Who is that person?” Qin Yefeng’s eyes were misty, and his fists were tightly clenched.

“Liu Yan!” Qin Pengfei stated.

Subsequently, a trace of complexity flashed in Qin Pengfei’s eyes as he said with concern, “I heard that he was later selected to enter the Holy Sun Sect. So after you enter the Holy Sun Academy, you must not expose your identity, lest you bring a fatal disaster upon yourself.”

“Liu Yan!” Qin Yefeng’s eyes were filled with ice as he spoke in a chilling voice.

Originally, Qin Yefeng didn’t have many thoughts about the grand competition two months from now, but now, he absolutely had to enter the Holy Sun Academy and seize the position of a seeded contestant.

………

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

Holy Sun City was a major city in the Eastern Region, boasting a population of over nine million.

It consisted of three layers: the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City, covering an area of sixty square kilometers.

Countless golden terraces and jade pavilions filled the city, making it one of the cities with the highest concentration of martial artists in the Eastern Region.

This Holy Sun City was towering and magnificent. Looking up at the high outer walls, one couldn’t even see the end of them at a glance. The heavy vermilion city gates gave off an imposing majesty and an inviolable aura.

Holy Sun City had always been prosperous, and now it coincided with the Holy Sun Academy’s annual grand event of recruiting students. Throughout the entire city, pavilions and towers were decorated with lanterns and colored banners, and the bustling crowds were innumerable.

Qin Yefeng’s figure quickly shuttled through the sea of people coming and going.

He originally wanted to enter the city and register at the Holy Sun Academy first, but as he walked, his stomach uncooperatively began to rumble.

Qin Yefeng looked up at the signboard above him and walked into an elegant establishment called the Listening Rain Pavilion.

The Listening Rain Pavilion’s plaque was written in golden regular script and framed with red nanmu wood, appearing extremely high-class.

Qin Yefeng went straight to the second floor, found a seat by the window, and called the waiter to order a few exquisite dishes.

After ordering, Qin Yefeng began to admire the beautiful scenery within Holy Sun City. Beside him, a few middle-aged merchants started chatting.

“I heard that the Holy Sun Academy is going to recruit thousands of new students again this year. The content of this assessment will test three aspects: talent, strength, and actual combat. Those who can pass are all one-in-a-hundred young talents.”

“Yeah, just looking at the fact that the Holy Sun Academy has an actual combat test, I know its reputation is well-deserved. An academy that emphasizes actual combat is truly worthy of being the talent selection mechanism affiliated with the Holy Sun Sect, one of the overlords of the Eastern Region!”

“Exactly. In the Holy Sun Academy, even those at the ninth level of the Houtian Realm can only become outer court disciples. To become an inner court disciple of the Holy Sun Academy, one must at least reach the Xiantian Realm.”

“If even an inner court disciple is this strong, no wonder this city is named after the Holy Sun, not to mention the outer court disciples of the Holy Sun Sect who are in the True Essence Realm!”

Qin Yefeng ate his food silently, listening to the merchants in the restaurant discussing various matters regarding the Holy Sun Academy and the Holy Sun Sect.

Suddenly, another table started discussing the actual combat portion of the assessment for promoting from the Holy Sun Academy to the Holy Sun Sect. He pricked up his ears and began to listen carefully.

“During the final actual combat process of the Holy Sun Academy, there is first a hundred-person challenge tournament. The victor can become the arena lord, and if they successfully defend the arena, they can become an outer disciple of the Holy Sun Academy. But wanting to enter the Holy Sun Sect is not that easy!”

“Yeah, among the thousands of ordinary students in the Holy Sun Academy, there are only ten seeded students. To become a seeded contestant, one must display sufficient talent upon entering the Holy Sun Academy to even have a chance.”

“Mhm, after becoming a seeded contestant, there is another selection. That takes place during the triennial Battle of the Holy Sun, where the seeded students from all the Holy Sun Academies in the regions subordinate to the Holy Sun Sect battle it out. Only the top one hundred can officially join the Holy Sun Sect!”

“Only seeded students can participate in the Battle of the Holy Sun, which is the martial exhibition of the Holy Sun Sect. No one knows exactly what is assessed in this martial exhibition, but legend has it that people can actually die in it!”

Qin Yefeng smiled faintly after listening carefully and muttered, “To enter the Holy Sun Sect, it seems I must first become a seeded student of the Holy Sun Academy. And as for that martial exhibition of the Holy Sun Sect, I’m really looking forward to it.”

After finishing his meal, Qin Yefeng headed straight to the Holy Sun Academy’s testing and registration area.

After registering, Qin Yefeng arrived in front of the main gate of the Holy Sun Academy.

“It’s truly grand,” Qin Yefeng couldn’t help but sigh in admiration as he stood at the entrance of the Holy Sun Academy.

The main gate of the Holy Sun Academy was a full hundred meters wide. Above the gate was a massive crescent-shaped structure, and on that crescent-shaped structure were various profound patterns of sabers and swords.

Walking through the academy’s spacious entrance, he arrived at the main hall of the Holy Sun Academy.

This was an incomparably massive purple-gold grand hall, radiating what seemed like a thousand zhang of purple-gold light.

Every time the Holy Sun Academy recruited students, talent testing was conducted within this main hall.

At this moment, Qin Yefeng arrived outside the main hall and found the place to be exceptionally bustling.

Many young men and women were already waiting here. They were dressed in silks and satins, with only a few wearing relatively plain clothes.

“Rumble!”

After a short while, Qin Yefeng suddenly felt a beam of purple-gold light shoot up into the clouds from the main hall.

Only then did everyone notice that the spiritual energy fluctuations between heaven and earth had suddenly become violent, and a voice resounded from the sky above.

A white-haired elder slowly descended from the center of the grand hall. He flew down from the sky and stopped atop a hundred-zhang giant pillar of the main hall.

Instantly, all eyes snapped toward the high sky, looking at the white-haired elder on the hundred-meter-tall giant pillar.

“To actually be able to descend from the sky, is he a Xiantian expert, or a powerhouse of the True Essence Realm?” In front of Qin Yefeng were two young boys, the younger brother pulling his older brother’s hand and asking.

“Flying so effortlessly, he must be a powerhouse of the True Essence Realm!” The older brother nodded heavily and said.

“An expert of the True Essence Realm is an existence that doesn’t even need to kowtow when meeting the Emperor of the Great Ming. This is my first time seeing such a divine person!” The younger brother appeared extremely astonished.

Qin Yefeng also looked at the guiding white-haired elder and thought to himself, “As expected of the Holy Sun Academy. Just the strength of a guide is terrifying to this extent.”

The elder smiled faintly as he looked at the young men and women below the hall. Gently stroking his white beard, he said, “Welcome, everyone, to the Holy Sun Academy. That you have come to the Holy Sun Academy to participate in the assessment is a great honor for our academy. Now, I announce—the Holy Sun Academy assessment begins now.”

Hearing these words, the examinees all began to jump for joy and cheer.

At this time, the main doors of the Purple Gold Hall also opened. Immediately, the numerous young men and women lined up outside the main hall, preparing to enter and test their talent.

Qin Yefeng also joined the queue along with the sea of people. It seemed he had to first go inside the Purple Gold Hall to test his talent.

In the center of the resplendent grand hall stood a hundred-meter-tall black coiled dragon stone pillar. The stone pillar was covered in complex magic patterns, and those who entered took turns touching it with their hands.

A young girl quickly stepped forward, her small hand familiarly touching the pitch-black stone pillar, and then she slowly closed her eyes…