Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
An Lin looked at up the receding pillar of holy light before slowly getting to his feet and stretching lazily.
All the spectators on the plaza seemed to have completely forgotten how to applaud and cheer as all of them stared blankly at An Lin as if they were expecting him to pull another rabbit out of his hat.
A smile appeared on An Lin’s face, and he bowed to all the disciples and elders gathered on the plaza before stepping off the spell altar.
Is it all over?
All the disciples finally came to their senses, and the entire Holy Flame Plaza instantly erupted in raucous cheers and applause, with some of the disciples even cheering An Lin’s name at the top of their lungs.
After all, An Lin was a fellow disciple of the Vermilion Bird Sect, so even though they were a little jealous, they all poured forth their applause in a genuine show of joy and admiration.
An Lin returned to the Mo Hai’s group before sighing with emotion. “Not a bad harvest.”
Lu Jiazhi’s face convulsed. “For god’s sake… You’ve already defied the natural order! If this is only not bad, then I’m well below the poverty line!”
Mo Hai looked up at An Lin with an expression full of admiration. “I thought you were just flexing when you told me you would reach Return to Void Stage within ten years, but I believe you now. That was so bada*s! Don’t forget about me when you become a mighty figure!”
An Lin replied with a grin, “Don’t worry, I’ll look out for you in the future!”
Right at this moment, Great Elder Chen Xinran’s voice sounded again, “Next up is Ji Yongfang, please step onto the spell altar!”
Ji Yongfang’s heart trembled as he came to his senses.
He glared at An Lin, and his heart was extremely reluctant to accept defeat, but he could no longer summon up the courage to stand against him.
He made his way toward the spell altar and what should have been his moment in the limelight was instead stolen from him as everyone was too busy discussing An Lin to focus any attention on him.
Ji Yongfang gritted his teeth and released his projection of the Vermillion Bird Flame Wing. This was a crimson Vermillion Bird Flame Wing, which meant that it was a medial-grade one, which was the same as Lu Jiazhi.
None of the spectating disciples were really surprised by this. After all, Ji Yongfang was only Soul Formation Initial Stage. Even if he had a mystic treasure with him, it would be really difficult for him to defeat a heavenly fire mutant beast. Hence, a medial-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing for him was within everyone’s expectations.
All the chatter on the Holy Flame Plaza began to slowly die down as a show of respect for the next prodigy disciple to take the stage.
Everyone looked at the Holy Vermilion Flame with anticipation in their eyes.
Ji Yongfang was also staring nervously up at the Holy Vermilion Flame. He was praying with all his might that the Holy Vermilion Flame would approve of him. Otherwise, there really was no saving grace for him…
Perhaps it was only an illusion, but everyone felt like the holy flame in the air appeared to be a little dim, as if it had bestowed all its energy on An Lin.
A peculiar ripple appeared in the air, and the medial-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing flew toward the Holy Vermilion Flame, and the two flames then merged as one.
Ji Yongfang clenched his fists as his body trembled slightly with joy.
Success!
He finally succeeded!
Elder Ji also heaved a slight sigh of relief as he sat with the other elders. Thank God his son wasn’t a disgrace to the very end.
White holy light began to rain down on Ji Yongfang as the Holy Vermilion Flame merged with the Vermillion Bird Flame Wing.
The light was like a wisp of white smoke which slowly descended upon Ji Yongfang before disappearing after ten seconds.
Ji Yongfang was completely dumbstruck.
The whole plaza fell deathly silent.
Countless disciples stared with wide eyes at Ji Yongfang.
“Did my eyes just play tricks on me? Didn’t he have medial-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing? Why did the holy light disappear after only ten seconds? Shouldn’t it be a minute?!”
“Not only was the duration extremely short, the power contained within the holy light during that time also seemed to be very minuscule.”
“Does that mean we mistook his Vermillion Bird Flame Wing for a medial-grade one when it was only an inferior-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing?”
“Inferior-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing? Jeez, how long has it been since an inferior-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing has appeared in the sect…”
“Poor Brother Ji…”
…
Elder Ji slammed a fist into the table beside him. “What the hell was that?!”
All the other elders glanced at each other, and everyone was just as dumbfounded as one another.
Great Elder Chen Xinran cleared his throat to break the silence before replying in a voice audible to all the disciples, “The holy flame appears to be a little bit dim. I speculate that it might have bestowed too much energy on An Lin and now it’s exhausted from overexertion, thereby resulting in our current situation.”
Chen Xinran’s words rang out across the entire plaza in what was more of an explanation to all the disciples on the scene as opposed to just an explanation to Elder Ji alone.
All the disciples were dumbstruck after hearing this. Was that a valid explanation?
It didn’t sound like a very far-fetched one though!
Ji Yongfang had also heard Chen Xinran’s explanation, and his head rang incessantly.
He stared blankly at the air before him and muttered to himself, “How could this be… how could this be… Why am I always the one getting hurt…”
Perhaps it was because he was used to crying, but tears began to flow from his eyes again.
He turned to An Lin with an enraged expression. “It’s all your fault! Why do I have to pay for what you did? I’m innocent!”
An Lin rolled his eyes and didn’t respond. He simply couldn’t be bothered talking to Ji Yongfang.
Mo Hai feigned an expression of sadness and sighed. “Sigh… Brother Ji, don’t just stand there like an idiot, I’m very sad that you didn’t receive the approval of the Holy Vermilion Flame as well! However, some things are just meant to be, so you should stop delaying everyone and get off the altar!”
All the disciples were initially slightly sympathetic toward Ji Yongfang, but all of them couldn’t help but burst into laughter after hearing Mo Hai’s words as those were the exact same words Ji Yongfang had spoken to An Lin.
Ji Yongfang listened to Mo Hai’s ironic words and the laughter of the spectating disciples, and he almost blacked out from rage.
He gritted his teeth, and his body swayed as he walked down from the altar. He shot an angry gaze toward Mo Hai and sneered in a bitter voice, “It’s too soon for you to be laughing. The Holy Vermilion Flame is already exhausted, and you’re up next; I’ll be down here waiting to see you fail!”
Mo Hai’s expression faltered, and the smile was immediately wiped from his face.
F*ck! Ji Yongfang’s right, I’m screwed!
He turned to An Lin with a bitter expression. “Bro, you screwed me over!”
An Lin’s lips twitched slightly, and he raised his head to count the stars in the sky, pretending as if he didn’t hear anything.
Ji Yongfang sneered at An Lin, “Hehe, Brother An Lin truly is selfish, you only care about yourself and how much power you can absorb from the Holy Vermilion Flame, but you screwed the rest of us over in the process!”
He used an immortal spell to enhance his voice once again, and his words rang out across the entire plaza.
Many of the disciples knew that Ji Yongfang was targeting An Lin, and they all protested his words.
However, there were still some disciples who chose to remain silent as Ji Yongfang’s words were not entirely unreasonable. Although An Lin was unable to control how much power the holy flame bestowed upon him, it was an undeniable fact that he had hampered the holy flame absorption of the remaining disciples.
Great Elder Chen Xinran’s voiced sounded once again, “Next up is Mo Hai, please step onto the spell altar!”
Mo Hai smiled lightly and patted An Lin’s shoulder. “I’m a very forgiving man, so I won’t hold anything against you. After all, you made Ji Yongfang cry twice, for which I am very happy, hahaha…”
An Lin: “…”
Ji Yongfang’s chest constricted, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Mo Hai made his way onto the spell altar before releasing his high-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wing.
His flame wing was also absorbed by the holy flame.
Mo Hai heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this. At least he wouldn’t be going away empty-handed. He would be content as long as he was able to absorb the power of the holy flame.
The Holy Vermilion Flame glowed brightly before showering Mo Hai with a holy white light.
The white light draped over Mo Hai’s body like a veil and extremely rich flame power flowed relentlessly into his body.
Mo Hai blinked with a vacant expression. This was a bit more than he had expected.
All the other disciples also discovered this problem. The amount of holy light raining upon Mo Hai seemed to be comparable to that of Yang Yuan, and there were no signs of the holy light diminishing.
A light smile appeared on An Lin’s face. He was glad that he hadn’t screwed Mo Hai over after all.
As for Ji Yongfang, his expression fell blank again while his mouth gaped open.
The white light finally slowly receded after three minutes.
It was pretty much exactly the same amount of energy as Yang Yuan had received, which was quite normal considering they both had high-grade Vermillion Bird Flame Wings!
The entire plaza fell silent again. It was clearly a normal occurrence, but for some reason, it seemed so abnormal.
Elder Ji massaged his glabella with an exhausted expression. “Why is it back to normal? Is someone targeting my son?”
Chen Xinran took a deep breath before replying, “The holy flame has had some time to recover, so it’s no longer tired, and thus, the holy light has returned to normal.”
His words rang out across the entire plaza.
All the disciples heard this and had zero objections; it was an extremely reasonable explanation!
Ji Yongfang was once again rooted to the spot after hearing Chen Xinran’s explanation and his head began to ring incessantly again.
He stared blankly at Mo Hai, then up at the holy flame and muttered to himself, “How could this be… how could this be… Why am I always the one getting hurt…”
He was overcome by grief and indignation, and he began weeping again like a fully-grown baby.
