Chapter 48

Zhou Yan stood silently on his own; there was not a single friend next to him.

Every genius that was selected this time was extremely close to Zhou Lingyi. Even if there was someone who had zero ties with Zhou Lingyi, it would be man’s nature to love Zhou Lingyi. Now he was on horrible terms with Zhou Lingyi, so being hated by everyone was an expected outcome.

The demonstration was a swift one. These seven people dared not add anything they observed from Zhou Yan’s demonstration of enlightenment in their presentations and took the safer route in completing this test.

The next test was the assessment of the Qi Column.

This time, the elder of the main branch himself would be overseeing the test.

He took out an ancient rock the size of a human. This rock was extremely life-like and resembled a maiden sitting atop the cliff. In her hands was an instrument that resembled a flute.

This maiden looked as if both her eyes had been gouged out—underneath her beautiful eye lashes were two hollowed out pits; her eyeballs were not there.

This scene felt odd but as the maiden sat, she somehow emanated a melancholic and depressing aura.

“Go ahead Zhou Lingyao!”

“Yes Elder.”

Upon receiving the orders from the elder from the main branch of the Zhou family, Zhou Lingyao walked with his utmost pride as he quickly approached that rock.

“Pour your detection energy into the maiden’s instrument. After that, a spiritual energy will engulf you but don’t resist it.”

After the elder from the main branch of their family finished explaining, he proceeded to watch the hollowed out eyes of the maiden.

Thus, Zhou Lingyao approached the rock and did exactly as the Grand Elder had told him to and proceeded to pour all of his detection energy into that wooden like object.

At that moment, there was a shroud of extremely depressing Blade’s Menace emanating from the maiden. After that, the hollowed out eyes lit up instantly as two swift ‘swooshing’ sounds could be heard while two rays of bright light shot out of the hollowed out eyes.

Two rays of light filled with hints of spiritual energy shot out!

“Hmm, not bad. A single Qi Column, two segments! An outstanding Qi Column indeed!”

The elder from the main branch of the family stroked his long white beard as he nodded satisfyingly.

“You’re next Zhou Lingyi!”

“Yes, Great Elder.”

…

“Swoosh swoosh!”

The same rays of white light shot out of the hollowed out eyes.

“Zhou Lingyi, similar to him, Single Qi Column with two segments!”

…

“Zhou Xian, Single Qi Column, three segments!”

…

When it was Zhou Xian’s turn, his results had caused a shocking uproar of countless people.

Every single soul was able to very clearly understand how that hollowed out carving of a maiden worked. If the hollowed out eyes lit up on one side, that represents the existence of a Qi Column.

If a single ray of light had been emitted from the eye, that would represent a single segment, and two rays would be two segments!

When it was Zhou Xian’s turn to be assessed, a single side from both hollowed out eyes of that maiden lit up, then instantly shot out three rays of light. This display instantly made countless spectators stand up from their seats to cheer in shock!

The uproar Zhou Xian caused was actually not lighter than the one Zhou Yan caused earlier!

Although Zhou Xian himself was also stunned, the reaction from his expression after that resembled a state of mad joy!

The instant the elder from the main branch of his family was done speaking, Zhou Xian unleashed a series of manic cackles out loud.

“Zhou Yan, I would love to see what you would have in your possession to compete with me! Whatever resources, whatever enlightened abilities, the most important foundation is still one’s Qi Column. You useless trash. What would you have in your possession to possibly compete with me?”

Zhou Xian was extremely ecstatic as he felt in that moment he was the best in the entirety of the Zhou family!

Never had the young lad expected something so mundane, his ordinary assumption of his single Qi Column of three segments, would hide such amazing natural gifts!

Hence, his sudden acknowledgement of his amazing talents made him feel like a blessing that had fallen from the heavens above!

Thus, he continued to cackle as his expression looked slightly hideous while he spoke directly toward Zhou Yan.

As Zhou Yan watched his mindless behavior, he cracked an expression filled with mockery.

His expression angered Zhou Xian, but he did not say anything in response and merely stared at Zhou Yan with a prideful gaze. That glare was seemingly hinting at Zhou Yan, ‘I’m invincible in the attributes of the Qi Column, so do you think useless trash like you could possibly defeat me?’

…

After Zhou Xian was Zhou Yan’s turn.

He was the last person to be assessed since the people after Zhou Yan were all in possession of a single Qi Column with a single segment.

Hence, pupils who were favored in the assessment of the Qi Columnsso far were Zhou Lingyi, Zhou Lingyao, and Zhou Xian.

The entire academy instantly was silenced as Zhou Yan walked onto the podium.

Almost every single person was focused completely on Zhou Yan alone.

Since the young lad had put on a shocking display in the earlier enlightenment assessment, it seemed his ‘manic’ presentation caused his results to be completely disqualified and discredited. This alone made plenty of scholars lament since they felt that it would be extremely unfortunate if the young lad was denied entry into the main branch of the family due such a reason.

However, the assessment of the Qi Column seemed astoundingly important so these people wondered what sort of display would Zhou Yan have then?

Under such excitement, the entire academy gradually became silent.

That elder from the main branch of the Zhou family watched in silence even though he had already assessed his Qi Column earlier under the shroud of the Blade’s Realm. Even though he somewhat had an idea of what the results would be, the prediction may not be accurate.

Every speculation would never be as accurate as an assessment, especially since this test would very accurately determine the condition of one’s Qi Column.

Hence, even though the elder had an idea of what the results would be, he watched Zhou Yan carry out the test in silence.

Besides, a single Qi Column with three segments had already appeared in one of the members of this family. Having another one would not yield a huge reaction.

With that thought in mind, both of these people stared at Zhou Yan—their gaze filled with the emptiness of disregarding whatever the young lad did.

Zhou Yan paid no mind as he could very clearly feel he had destroyed some sort of plan which was the result of the immense resistance and challenge he had faced thus far.

He pondered about what exactly he would do during the test of combat after this assessment was over.

Perhaps these people might continue using this result against him?

If it was not for his father’s persistence, even if the main branch of the family begged him to join them, he would never even be bothered to move an inch. However, all of this was done in the name of his father to retrieve the ‘Heaven-Fiend Blade’ from the main branch of his family!

What kind of blade this might be, or whose hands did this blade ended up in was completely unknown to the young lad. However, Zhou Yan knew this blade was extremely important to his father.

Hence, he took a deep breath as he stared directly at this carving of a blind maiden. It seems as though a strange wave of emotion flashed through his heart, feeling as if he had met this maiden from somewhere!

Zhou Yan was frowning slightly since with the current state of his incredible memory, it made no sense to him that he was unable to put his finger down on where exactly he had met this maiden! His memory was impeccable and it seemed that he would never come across any moments his lack of memory would make things shrouded and unclear to him.

Hence, after pouring every ounce of his focus into recalling from the archives of his memory because he was unable to recall where he had seen this maiden and felt that it was quite an unfortunate omen.

Thus, since Zhou Yan could not recall any of it, he decided to forget about it. Hence, he focused on his detection ability, and before doing anything else he coiled the purple lightning around the bottom two of his segments on each side of his Qi Column, revealing only two segments on each side of his Qi Columns. Only after doing all of that did he pour his detection ability into the bamboo flute shaped instrument.

In that very moment, the young lad was also focused on observing the changes in that peculiar maiden’s eyes.

As expected, immediately after doing so a wave of Blade’s Menace filled with sorrow and sadness invaded him. Zhou Yan felt as though his soul started to resonate and vibrate. In that single instance, he felt an endless wave of sadness.

This was an indescribable feeling of sorrow and despair, an endless sorrow, endless despair, and an endless shroud of darkness and depression.

At the same time, his soul seemed to have ventured into a dark void and arrived at an endless void with no borders.

Within this void, it contained the maiden from that peculiar carving. She was facing her back toward Zhou Yan while her dark hair draped onto her shoulder.

She did not turn around but it seemed this maiden knew everything.

“This isn’t a place you should come to… Return now…”

The maiden suddenly projected her thoughts into Zhou Yan’s mind, as Zhou Yan felt as if his soul had been struck by lightning. While the young lad trembled, he felt as if the entire galaxy had been flipped over with a wave of destruction.

Thus, he suddenly returned to his body. However, he realized his eyeballs were no longer present in his eyes, and a hollowed out void was there in its place.

He felt two waves of burning energy building up in his eyes, and could no longer hold back any of it. He seemed to have gone mad. However, he felt that his current state would be exactly as the peculiar carving of that maiden as both of his eyes were shooting out rays of light!

However, he was unsure how much light had been expelled from him…

As the light was being expelled from him, his entire body grew cold and his consciousness awakened. However, the young lad soon realized that the frozen time had once again begun moving.

It was only at this moment, the eyes of the peculiar carving of that maiden gradually began to light up. Both of her eyes had been lit, and at the same time two rays of light shot out from her eyes!

“Twin Qi Columns, each with two segments!”

The elder’s expression instantly changed drastically. It was as if he was completely baffled by the result—they were exceedingly shocking!

As the young lad trembled, a sudden wave of aura capable of reaching the heavens and earth exploded from him. It felt as if a frail and tiny elderly man had morphed into a giant within an instant and this aura manifested itself in that moment.

“Twin Qi Columns, each with four segments! This is a genius who broke the heavenly laws! No, it will not fall. This is truly an earth shattering genius from the ancient days! The main branch of our Zhou family, and our Zhou family would soon rise to glory!”

“May the heavens above watch over the majesty that is my Zhou family!”

That elderly man’s expression grew exceedingly complicated as he took another glance at Zhou Yan. His entire gaze had completely changed.

After that, the wrinkles on his face that were caused by pure excitement instantly relaxed.

This gaze, his current gaze was indescribabl… emotional.

This time, Zhou Yan was able to feel the gaze from this elderly man had changed—it was as if his gaze had gone through a cycle of mutation!

His natural gifts paired alongside his twin Qi Columns had changed his fate!

He knew there would be no shackles that would hold him back from entering the main branch of his family.

Thus, the young lad stood on the same spot, unmoving. Both his eyes stared calmly at that elderly man. No longer was insanity filling his gaze; nay, not even the displeased emotions that the young lad felt earlier. Nothing was left in the young lad’s eyes.

That was all due to how massive of an impact facing the back of that maiden earlier had onto him. All of his focus were no longer on the current matters in hand.

…