Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Among the mountains proudly stood a gigantic tower! Just like the Heavenly Columns in the legends!
This was the true hub of the Sacred Martial Hall. The more powerful the martial artists were, the more qualified they were to live in the higher towers.
Bai Sheng stood behind Ferrero, perturbed and eyeing the surroundings of the Round Table Meeting Room secretly.
There were no flashy decorations nor arty scrolls in the room. Its minimalistic style came off as a surprise to its visitors. Apart from the seats and huge round conference table, almost nothing else could be found.
In their former days, the fourteen-star martial artists in the Foreign Affairs Office were not qualified to ascend to the top of the tower, let alone meeting martial experts who rarely appeared in the Sacred Martial Hall.
The beautiful blonde who sat next to Mahoraga Ferrero with her eyes closed was Jennifer, the Sect Master of the Foreign Affairs Hall, who was also known as the Auspicious Goddess.
Having a height of approximately five foot two to five foot four, Jennifer might not have a tall stature, but she possessed a devilish body with angelic skin devoid of the freckles prevalent among Caucasians with the absence of thick pores, similar to the delicate skin of a black person. Her greenish and deep pupils were filled with unspeakable mysteries. They complemented her golden shoulder-length hair well. Jennifer was indeed deserving of the title as one of the three Great Beauties of the Sacred Martial hall.
The lighting of the conference room dimmed as the hologram of six martial artists were projected onto the conference table. Bai Sheng became more solemn and nervous.
Sacred Martial Six Stars! They actually managed to invite Sacred Martial Six Stars for today’s meeting! Holding a supreme position in the Sacred Martial Hall, their advice was frequently sought even by Wu Zun before making a decision on various matters.
Martyrdom Star, Fairy Star, Justice Star, Benevolence Star, Leadership Star, Fiend Star.
Sacred Martial Six Stars was embroidered at the chests of the holy-six-star martial art outfits, each of them with slight differences. The position of the brightest star in the embroidery differed from each martial artist, as the brightest star on their outfit signified their star name.
“Everyone is present.” Ferrero coughed and said, “We gathered each of you today because our Recruitment Department has found a few promising talents.”
“Promising talents? You gathered us just for this?”
Bai Sheng traced the slightly discontent voice to Aziya, the Śakra from the disciplinary division of the Internal Affairs Hall. His snow-white skin was fully engulfed by dark shades of purple, which was a sign of achieving the peak of Neo Martial Arts, Sky Thunder Art.
Ferrero’s eyelids weren’t aimed at Śakra Aziya, but rather at the other higher ranking martial artists of the Sacred Martial Hall.
These people had similar nonchalant expressions like Śakra Aziya. What do you think the Sacred Martial Hall is for? It is a gathering place for prodigies! Discovering promising talents on the grounds of the Sacred Martial Hall? Every person receiving an invitation to the Sacred Martial Hall is already talented by right, the Recruitment Department is really wasting our time today.
Jennifer unhurriedly leaned back on her chair with her gemlike eyes slightly closed and a faint smile on her lips. I like the reaction of you all, especially the indifferent attitude, or else my shock earlier will be embarrassing.
Ferrero also laughed. “Not taking it seriously? You guys are in for a surprise!”
The projections of Sacred Martial Six Stars remained silent. Their expressionless face did not show any emotions, be it surprise or nonchalance – such emotions were devoid among them as if nothing except the vast and deep realm of Martial Dao can catch their attention.
Ferrero squinted and looked at Gao Yuan who stood behind him, “Xiao Gao, you are more well-suited to announce it.”
“Okay so…” Gao Yuan nodded slightly, “Today, a group of young men invited by our Recruitment Department had reached the island and successfully passed the Three Sacred Martial Exams.”
Śakra Azia slightly furrowed both of his blue eyebrows with a hint of impatience in his eyes. “What is so special in passing the Three Sacred Martial Exams? If the young applicants chosen by the Recruitment Department is unable to even pass the Three Sacred Martial Exams, we should just disband the Recruitment Department altogether.”
Ferrero reached for a cup of tea indifferently and enjoyed it slowly.
“Then they entered the Three Bells of the Stone Arch…”
Three Bells of the Stone Arch? The people reluctantly raised some interest. Did someone ring the sound of the temple bell out of the stone bell?
“Among the applicants, barring one of them, the rest managed to ring the stone bell.” Gao Yuan noticed that everyone did not have much reaction and continued, “We surmised that everyone can knock and produce sounds of a temple bell…”
What? Everyone shook their eyebrows a little, and their expressions looked exactly the same as Ferrero’s at the time, except for the Sacred Martial Six Stars, who as usual, remained expressionless. Martial dao was not dependent on natural talent alone. It was indeed remarkable for them to be successful in ringing the stone bell, but their performance was nothing wildly surprising.
“Two of them managed to ring the paper bell.” Gao Yuan looked at the surprised eyes of everyone else with hidden glee in his heart. These lofty masters were finally amazed, and will for sure be bragging today’s events for quite some time.
Bai Sheng remained focused at the Sacred Martial Six Stars. The six supreme elders of the Sacred Martial Hall did not even twitch their cheeks, nor show any signs of change in their eyes, as if nothing in this world could amaze them.
Gao Yuan was unhappy with their emotionless expressions. He secretly vowed to produce any form of change in the expression of the Sacred Martial Six Stars.
“One of them tapped the paper bell with their finger and rang the sounds of a large temple bell.” Gao Yuan continued while looking at the audience, “Another person managed to produce the sounds of metal clanking by using the Iaido technique on the paper bell.”
“What?”
Everyone raised their heads and stared silently at Gao Yuan’s truthful eyes. It seemed like there was going to be an addition of two demon-like young people in the Sacred Martial Hall.
What a pity! If they appeared earlier than that demon, such results would surely amaze everyone. However, since this wasn’t a new record, these results could only be appreciated briefly.
“Is that all?” Dissatisfaction was showing between Śakra Azia’s eyebrows, “Why did the Recruitment Department bother to invite us to such a meeting when you can just invite the Military Ministry instead?”
The masters from other departments nodded in unison. Why did this warrant a meeting with everyone? There was already a demon of such caliber some time ago, and no one could give a d*mn. Just adapt the program to that demon! The young martial artists possessing such caliber were usually radically obsessed with Martial Dao and will join the Sacred Martial Hall anyway. Does the Recruitment Department intend to show off their scouting abilities through such pointless meetings?
“It doesn’t end there.”
Bai Sheng voiced out gently, breaking the silence of the meeting room. Under the encouraging eyes of Ferrero, Bai Sheng rose against the dissatisfaction of Śakra Azia.
The hierarchy of the Sacred Martial Hall was determined by the martial prowess of an individual. Bai Sheng’s speech seemingly offended some of the Sacred Martial Hall’s masters. Although it didn’t equate to insubordination, the speech was sufficient in embarrassing the Śakra.
If the masters under the Sacred Martial Hall made an appearance, they would be highly revered and respected by everyone present.
Bai Sheng stood up and faced the doubts of everyone and said, “Someone rang the fog bell…”
“What!?”
A small commotion was raised in the quiet conference room. The dim room was flashed with thousands of lightning flashes, which was produced as a result of amazement by the masters in the room.
The Sacred Martial Six Stars couldn’t maintain their clay-sculpture-like emotionlessness on their faces as shock and amazement traveled through their faces. Although it was just a projected hologram, Bai Sheng could see the drastic changes in their expressions clearly.
Ferrero did not give anyone the opportunity to voice out their amazement. He carried on by shaking his wrist to push the projector to the center of the conference table to show everyone how Qin Fen rang the fog bell.
…
The conference table was met with an unprecedented silence to the point Bai Sheng heard only the breathing sounds of everyone and nothing else.
Sacred Martial Six Stars stared at the projections intently. The fog bell used to punish newcomers of the Sacred Martial Hall was rung by someone?
After dozens of silent seconds, Bai Sheng noticed that the woman sitting across Ferrero, the leader of the Wuluntang, Asura Fenghua Danyun, displayed an excited smile. Her pair of emerald pupils shone bright with excitement and interest.
Bai Sheng took a deep breath of cold air, his lungs and internal organs seemingly freezing under the cold air. It wasn’t from the air, but the feelings of fear toward Asura that caused the freezing inside his body.
Fenghua Danyun won the title of Asura at the Sacred Martial Hall not because of her ugly demonic appearance. On the contrary, she was a very beautiful woman, whose beauty earnt her a spot of one of the Three Beauties in the Sacred Martial Hall alongside Jennifer.
While Jennifer’s beauty stems from her seductive sexiness, Fenghua Danyun’s beauty was a distinct form of beauty. She possessed a tall stature with an oval face clean as white snow, pupils as dark as the abyss, with silky long hair tied into a ponytail behind her head, complemented by a white waist belt that tightly wrapped around her purple martial art outfit which amplifies her elegant figure.
The leaders of Sacred Martial Hall’s Martial Theory Hall, Asura, were often given an impression of being boorish, awkward, having imposing builds, fiendish faces, with vicious appearances.
Ordinary people that met Fenghua Danyun found it difficult to associate her with a person holding the title of Asura. A combination of naivety, wit, agility, and a slight indescribable purity resembling a woman raised with godly essence was found within Fenghua Danyun, who was officially leading the Martial Theory Hall.
Bai Sheng was very clear on the hidden destructive power beneath that harmless appearance.
Just a year ago, during the battle for the Asura title as the leader of the Martial Theory Hall, Fenghua Danyun, who was twenty-nine years old at that time, had completely defeated the former Asura, Steveron Sartre, when no one had hopes for her.
Since then, Martial Theory Hall entered the era of Fenghua Danyun. Almost every martial artist in the Sacred Martial Hall became her plaything. She would occasionally look for martial artists to spar with, or sadistically trained talented martial artists to the point where almost every person she trained had to be admitted to the hospital for some time.
Even the demon-like martial artist actively avoided Fenghua Danyun after being trained by her.
However, it was a fact that the demon-like martial artist was the only one who did not get admitted into a hospital after going through Fenghua Danyun’s training that exemplified the bottomless potential he held.
Fenghua Danyun’s eyes revealed further interest to the point where Bai Sheng couldn’t help but be worried. This Fenghua Dan, who is known as the Asura and also as a demon, will torture Qin Fen in her training until he is admitted to the hospital.
After a brief silence among the Sacred Martial Six Stars, they huddled together and discussed in whispers. Finally, the Black Fiend Star among the Six-Stars, Bogut came forward to announce the results.
“Let’s warmly invites the martial artists who rang the fog bell, and as for the two reporters who discovered them… each will be rewarded an Auspicious Pill .”
Auspicious Pill? Star Pill? Bai Sheng’s muscles were tense and stiff. With the help of these two pills, the chance of Nirvana Marrow Transformation would increase a bit. Qin Fen is really a lucky star! It worth the risk of breaking the rules on the day, secretly leaving the book to him for one night.
Śakra Aziya heavily released a gust of cold air through his nose. He once again said gloomily, “It is amazing to be able to ring the fog bell, but because this does not warrant a meeting with everyone, a report to the six-stars, as usual, should suffice.”
Ferrero looked at the iron ruler, Aziya with a smile, “Of course, it does not warrant a meeting if it is just like this.”
The first-seaters looked at Ferrero curiously. Is there anything more surprising?
“Actually,” Ferrero spread his hands, “The young people that I just mentioned, apart from the martial artist that couldn’t even ring the stone bell, had modified the contract of the Sacred Martial Hall earlier…”
…
Bai Sheng clearly felt vibrations throughout the air in the conference room! It seemed as if a thunder appeared from nowhere and begun thunderously vibrating the air!
Aziya’s face turned gloomier like a rusty bronze covered with pale green rust, “Mahoraga, what do you want to say? Are we going to modify the contract with them again?”
Mahoraga Ferrero shrugged his shoulders indifferently, “Never in the history of the Sacred Martial Hall had a newcomer been able to ring the fog bell. With this uncommon situation, I am unsure if we should proceed as usual, and therefore I came to ask.”
Asura Fenghua Danyun looked on with her watery eyes and asked curiously, “Mahoraga, did you just say that they’ve changed to the basics of the Sacred Martial Hall? That means they used to…”
Bai Sheng secretly assessed Fenghua Danyun, How is this woman a thirty-year-old when she looked like a woman in her early twenties?
“Yes, they modified the contract.” Under the gaze of the crowd, the Mahoraga slowly nodded and described Bai Sheng’s recent story.
…
The room fell into silence once again. The first-seaters of the various departments contemplated deeply. The seemingly invincible fog bell was rung. To have this person outside the Sacred Martial Hall is an evident waste of talent. If the Sacred Martial Hall could train him into a divine beast, it would indeed be a very honorable feat.
A divine beast martial artist was just what the Sacred Martial Hall had been lacking all the while.
Most of the powerful martial artists in the Federation today were alumni of the Sacred Martial Hall. However, none of them were divine beasts. Wu Zun might possess the power of a divine beast, but he was not recognized as such by other divine beasts, and as such did not receive the title.
It was the wish of almost all the martial artists in the Sacred Martial Hall to train a divine beast martial artist. The madman earlier was always the most desired candidate among all within the Hall. Now that there was a more talented new-blood capable of ringing the fog bell, everyone’s spirits were at an all-time high.
If lady luck is on our side, we can probably train two martial artists in one go! By then the influence of Sacred Martial Hall will definitely far exceed the influence of those divine beast martial artists!
Bai Sheng observed the expression of everyone in the conference room secretly. The expressions of the Sacred Martial Six Stars remained cold as stone, making it impossible to guess their inner thoughts. Both the auspicious goddess Jennifer from the Foreign Affairs Hall and the Brahma Zhen Fan also put up an expressionless face like Sacred Martial Six Stars, clouding their true intentions.
Śakra Azia flashed both of his hawkish pupils around the conference room and asked, “What do you take the Sacred Martial Hall as?”
At the same time, the other five leaders were suddenly released from their deep thoughts, their eyes flashing with understanding from the words of Aziya.
What was the Sacred Martial Hall? This was something well-known to all martial artists in the entire Federation – a Holy Land for martial arts training! To receive an invitation to the Sacred Martial Hall was an honor above all else.
“That’s right.” Aziya’s face revealed a rare proud smile, “Confidence is indeed beneficial for martial arts training, but it may become a hindrance should arrogance be mistaken for confidence. In the case of young people, arrogance has clearly gone to their heads. They will naturally join the ranks of the Sacred Martial Hall once they realize they can not improve with a pace similar to the training in the Sacred Martial Hall. When that time comes…”
Aziya suddenly showed a merciless face, “They will still need to go through a grueling test to enter the Sacred Martial Hall. At that time they shall understand what the Sacred Martial Hall really is about. There may be plenty of undiscovered talents in the world, but there is also no shortage of talent in the world!”
Bai Sheng realized that even though the leaders and the Sacred Martial Six Stars kept their usual emotionless expressions, they were repeatedly nodding in approval of Aziya’s words.
Qin Fen and others couldn’t modify the contract of the Sacred Martial Hall again!
“Mahoraga, you did a very childish thing today. I highly doubt if you are still qualified to be the leader of the Recruitment Department.” Aziya’s cold words spared no mercy, “We decide our actions on our own will, and every action lies a consequence. Since you have chosen your actions, you shall pay its consequences.”
Ferrero twitched both of his long eyebrows, and challenged with a sense of disregard in his eyes, “What now? Are you feeling that you overstayed your term as Sakra and would like me to take over your title?”
Cold chills kept flowing through the bones of Bai Sheng as his chest felt the heavy impact of a huge hammer. His face became as pale as gold paper as he took a few steps back while looking at both leaders.
This was the strength of the departmental leaders. Just a mere collision of aura of power could render even a fourteen-star martial artist breathless.
Terrifying! Gao Yuan focused his energy on his blood flow to resist the terrifying aura collision of both leaders.
The other leaders did not intend to intervene but spectated the confrontation between the two leaders excitedly.
Sacred Martial Hall was a world made purely for martial artists. It was not a place to talk about mercy, nor a place to discuss the virtues of being a hermit as a master.
Improving your physical fitness? Then there was no need to visit the Sacred Martial Hall. Some Tai Chi in your free time while maintaining a healthy lifestyle was sufficient enough, as there was no need for you to pursue and wield strong combat prowess to do so.
A true martial artist spilled blood everywhere they go! How was one a martial artist without bloodlust in them?
The more powerful one becomes, the more powerful and respectable they should look like.
Smiling and shrugging off thrown insults and provocations was exactly what a Confucian master would do. Such behavior was not to be expected among martial artists, let alone practiced by leaders of martial artists.
“Both of you, have you forgotten the rules set by Wu Zun? Leaders should obtain Wu Zun’s consent before settling their disputes by force, or they can wait until the next battle for the leadership title.”
The words projected from the holograms of the Sacred Martial Six Stars might be lacking in anger, but lacking none in authority. Just by bringing out the rules set by Wu Zun, the confrontational energy between both leaders were largely dissipated. Yet, the words did not wipe off much of their rage.
Bai Sheng was very clear that Wu Zun’s rules might have suppressed the matter, but both leaders would not let it slide that easily. Both of the leaders might even put their titles on the line just to bring each other down in the next competition.
“Haha, since there is nothing interesting happening right now, I shall go check out the newcomers.”
Just as Asura Fenghua Danyun’s words entered Bai Sheng’s ear, she disappeared from the conference room.
“Hmph.” Sakra Aziya sneered, “Now, I assume I will be meeting them at the hospital?”
Hospital? Bai Sheng’s lips showed some sense of disregard towards Sakra’s words. Qin Fen is a martial artist who rang the fog bell. We can’t assess this young man by conventional standards, or we will be in for a shock.
Sakra responded to Bai Sheng’s condescending smile with a sneer, “The ability to ring the fog bell only shows that he is a cut above his peers in terms of controlling his real qi. Yet, it also shows the naked truth that his real qi hadn’t reached its peak. He may be able to win in fights against people of higher rank outside the Sacred Martial Hall, but everyone in the Hall possesses the capability to do the same. As such, he possesses no advantage over anyone in the Sacred Martial Hall!”
Just as Bai Sheng stood up and wanted to speak, he felt Sakra Azia’s cold and thunderous stare and subconsciously retreated a little. At this moment, Bai Sheng felt a big and powerful palm holding his back, as if he was leaning against the firm mountains of the Himalayas.
Mahoraga Ferrero! Without looking back, Bai Sheng also knew that this large and stable palm was an invitation of support from the leaders.
“What do you really want to say?” Ferrero stood beside Bai Sheng and asked with a smile, “Do you intend to say that those young people will break this tradition?”
Bai Sheng gave a hard nod. Being part of the audience that witnessed Qin Fen’s demonic abilities in the recruit competition, Bai Sheng had absolute confidence in his words.
“Is that so?” Ferrero’s eyes expressed a slight doubt before noticing the unprecedented firmness in Bai Sheng’s eyes. He pondered for a few seconds and looked up at the coldly professional face of Sakra Aziya, “We can’t take action right now because of the rules. Does the Śakra dare to gamble around with me? We shall gamble on those newcomers.”
“What?” Aziya slightly lifted his chin and looked at Ferrero condescendingly, “Mahoraga, are you going to believe in the judgment of a recruiter and gamble with me?”
“Are you afraid?” Ferrero patted Bai Sheng’s shoulder, “This time, I want to prove that even the recruiter I chose had better judgment than you.”
Bai Sheng looked at the hand at his shoulder with disbelief. A leader actually patted my shoulder? God! Many martial artists will be green with envy if they knew about this! Qin Fen, you are really my lucky star! Because of you, a leader patted me on the shoulder!
Unable to fight, gambling had become a means to settle disputes between both first-seaters.
Aziya stepped closer to Ferrero, locking their eyes together as if their eyes are going to collide and produce electric sparks. Aziya asked coldly, “Mahoraga, what are you going to wager with?”
Ferrero once again looked at Bai Sheng. He was also curious about Bai Sheng’s firm gaze. How could his subordinates have such firm confidence in this newcomer?
There is no turning back now! If he takes back his word, future meetings with Aziya will be affected by this shameful backtracking.
“Real private martial dao notes, and half of the total amount of medicine available for the first-seaters combined.”
Ferrero did not raise his voice, but it caused a series of exclamations in the first row. This was definitely a big gamble.
The real private martial dao notes bore the core essence of a martial artist’s practice of martial dao. If both martial artists of a similar class are matched evenly, getting their hands on their opponent’s real private martial dao notes would be a game-changer.
If martial artists of different classes got their hands on the martial dao notes, it would be equivalent to mastering the secrets of the other party’s martial dao. If you fight with the owner of the notes in the future, you would already have an advantage over them before the battle had even started!
In other words, if Ferrero won the gamble, he would be able to defeat Śakra Aziya easily in the future Seat of Honor Tournament just by studying the notes alone.
Similarly, if Aziya won the gamble, then Ferrero would be caught in a state equivalent to surrendering in advance before the Seat of Honor Tournament even began.
Half of the total medicine entitled to the First Row? Bai Sheng’s heart raced and almost exploded just from hearing that.
The first-row was desired by many in the Sacred Martial Hall. Being in the first row did not only earn you glory, but also other great benefits.
Even the basic martial artists of Outer Sacred Martial Hall would greatly benefit in their martial dao training from the medicinal pills given by the Sacred Martial Hall!
The position of a leader granted not only massive amounts of medicinal pills but also top quality medicinal pills desired by every martial arts practitioner.
Half the amount? The other leaders shook their heads together in amazement, both of them really went ahead and wagered their fortunes just for the upcoming Seat of Honor Tournament.
“Good! I shall wager!”
Ferrero listened to Aziya’s unhesitating response as the palm on Bai Sheng’s shoulder increased in power.
Everyone in the first row was a true master of martial arts that clearly understood the similar importance of the quantity and quality of true energy. Qin Fen was indeed the strongest among the newcomers of the Sacred Martial Hall, to the point where he should be able to repel the first wave of battle-hardened martial artists in the Hall.
But what about the second batch? The third batch?
The Sacred Martial Hall was not built in a day but rather gradually and eventually established powerful echelons within.
“Go! Let’s go to the monitoring room.”
Aziya disappeared from the conference room as he uttered these words. The other leaders quickly followed suit and proceeded to the monitoring room.
This kind of gambling rarely happened between the leaders. Everyone was excited to see the outcome.
Bai Sheng followed Ferrero without saying a word, secretly praying, “Qin Fen, you must be strong and determined enough to hold out! The leaders made a big bet this time. According to the habit of the leaders, if you win, you will definitely get a lot of medicine as a reward. I will gift all that medicine to you if you win, and that’s why you must hold out!”
