Chapter 149 Turning Away in Awe

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. On the sixth day, a fiery red sun rose from the distant horizon, foretelling a fine day. Ten thousand rays of brilliant light cascaded downward, bathing the entire Myriad Beast Spirit Valley in radiance, while the fatigue of the previous night gradually dissipated.

A rustling sound drifted over. Standing like statues beside the spirit spring, Ye Zhong and Cheng Feng turned their heads simultaneously, their gazes carrying a slight burning intensity. Had someone who truly completed the trial finally rushed to the center?

Beneath the ancient tree, Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun opened their eyes at the same time and looked forward, immediately spotting three battered and bedraggled figures emerging from the thicket, whose appearance clearly indicated they had endured an arduous battle.

After crawling out, the three figures braced their hands on their knees and panted heavily. "We... we made it through!"

The eye rims of the other two turned involuntarily red and moist. What they had experienced over the past few days was simply a nightmare! Even during rest, they had to keep their guard up and be alert to their surroundings.

Now, stepping into the center meant that their nightmare had come to an end. They no longer had to face the watchful eyes of their academy peers and those ferocious fierce beasts.

"Your trial is over. Find a place and get some good rest," Ye Zhong's voice arrived just as they were rejoicing.

The three directed their gazes forward, composed themselves, straightened up, and bowed to Ye Zhong and Cheng Feng. "Greetings, the two Vice-Deans."

Ye Zhong could not help but nod, thinking to himself, "Now this is what a student should look like!" Casting a sidelong glance at the calm-looking Shen Qingyun nearby, Ye Zhong said, "Go rest."

"Yes!" the three replied respectfully, and then their gazes swept around the open ground, which was spacious enough to rival the academy square. Fresh tree stumps proved that its original area was not as large as it appeared now.

When they spotted Shen Qingyun and his companion, a look of lingering confusion appeared in their eyes for a few seconds, followed by a heavier sense of gravity. Originally, they had thought they were the first to reach the center. They had not expected anyone to be faster than them, and judging by appearances, these two had arrived long ago.

Having finished the trial so early, would their results be even worse than their own? The three of them could not help but think this. The earlier one arrived at the center, the earlier the trial ended; correspondingly, the harvest would be all the lesser.

With this thought, the smiling man in the middle walked up to Shen Qingyun and asked, "Brother Shen, when did you guys arrive at the center?"

Shen Qingyun raised his eyes to look at him and replied, "Eight days ago. Is there something the matter?"

The young man felt a surge of secret delight. He shook his head and said, "No, nothing at all. Just asking, I was merely asking."

Shen Qingyun glanced at him again, seemingly guessing his intention, but he did not expose him, letting them continue with their misunderstanding.

When the man returned and mentioned this to the other two, joy bloomed even brighter in their hearts. Eight days ago meant the trial had only been open for a few days, and there were still plenty of fierce beasts in the forest to hunt. Since they had arrived here so early, it proved they possessed very few Beast Soul Pills.

At the very least, they would not be at the bottom. This was what they believed...

"What are they thinking?" Feng Chuxun frowned, his intuition telling him that this fellow had not approached with good intentions.

"Nothing. They've just fallen into a beautiful misunderstanding," Shen Qingyun said with a faint smile.

"A beautiful misunderstanding?" A trace of suspicion crept into the depths of Feng Chuxun's eyes. He looked at the three men who were still secretly grinning, said nothing more, and closed his eyes to continue cultivating.

The large black wolf lifted its head, let out a yawn, and then dropped back down to continue sleeping.

In the time that followed, people arrived at the center one after another, all in groups of a few.

As the crowd gathered and grew larger, the place became bustling and noisy.

"Boss, it's too noisy." Feng Chuxun could no longer maintain his composure in cultivation and spoke to Shen Qingyun.

"Mn." Shen Qingyun nodded slightly. He had long since stopped cultivating; with so many people around, peaceful cultivation was out of the question.

Shen Qingyun slowly opened his eyes, stood up, and said, "Let's go up into the tree." As his words fell, Shen Qingyun leaped directly onto the ancient tree behind him, and Feng Chuxun watched him before following closely behind.

Several gazes looked toward Shen Qingyun with astonishment—not because he stood out among the crowd, but because the rumor that he had arrived at the center eight days early to finish the trial had spread among them.

Many people now held a wait-and-see attitude, waiting to see what ranking Shen Qingyun would secure when the final decisions were made. Thinking back, how glorious Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun had been when the two of them overturned the entire outer courtyard, completely unrivaled in their prominence!

If the two of them ended up at the bottom of the rankings, quite a few people would be quite eager to witness that scene.

The central area was crowded with people, forcing Ye Zhong and Cheng Feng to rise into the air and stand above the void, looking down upon them. They also casually placed a barrier around the spirit spring to prevent students from crowding and accidentally touching it.

Right now, however, the central area was extremely lively, with many familiar students gathered in groups, discussing the outcomes and comparing notes to estimate what kind of rankings they might achieve.

Some were overjoyed, while others sighed in disappointment because their Beast Soul Pills had been completely plundered.

"Hey, where are Shen Qingyun and the others?" someone asked, craning their neck. "I heard they reached the center eight days ago."

"Up in the tree."

Someone replied with a grin, having witnessed Shen Qingyun leap into the tree with his own eyes.

"Up in the tree?" The speaker paused, glanced around at the surrounding ancient trees with their lush foliage where no one could be seen, lowered his head, and asked, "What is he doing up a tree?"

"How would I know?" The disciple who knew Shen Qingyun's whereabouts shrugged. "Probably too embarrassed to show his face."

With hardly any Beast Soul Pills in his possession, being too embarrassed to stay down here was entirely understandable.

"Old Ye, I just received a message from the mentors. Aside from the students who lost their qualifications, everyone else is already here," Cheng Feng murmured softly from behind Ye Zhong.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zhong nodded gently. Naturally, the academy could not possibly let the students march to their deaths; mentors secretly protected them throughout the entire process. Once a student was in mortal danger, a mentor would intervene. Of course, once that happened, the student would also forfeit their trial qualifications and be gathered in a single location to be sent back to the academy together.

Feeling several gazes land upon him, Shen Qingyun felt he could no longer sit still. He greeted Feng Chuxun and leaped down from the ancient tree.

"Heh, I thought you were going to stay up in that tree forever." As Shen Qingyun landed, a light, teasing voice sounded.

Shen Qingyun turned his head and saw Zhan Yan, He Ming, and Guanyan, along with two others—the five of them.

Shen Qingyun turned around and smiled at them.

"Brother Shen arrived here eight days early. I wonder how your harvest was?" Zhan Yan asked with a smile, while He Ming and the others stood behind him, also looking at him with smiles.

"If your harvest was less than satisfactory, we have quite a few spare ones here and can share some with you."

Shen Qingyun looked at Zhan Yan and could tell that Zhan Yan was not putting on an act; his words were sincere and genuine. Because of this, Shen Qingyun hesitated instead. Should he tell them the truth? If he told the truth, would it frighten Zhan Yan and the others?

After all, a Beast King-level Beast Soul Pill was not something just anyone could acquire.

Seeing Shen Qingyun hesitate, Zhan Yan assumed he was just feeling embarrassed. With a flip of his hand, five Beast Soul Pills appeared in his palm. "These five Beast Soul Pills are for you."

In the palms of He Ming and the others, a few more Beast Soul Pills also appeared—three or four of them each.

In an instant, Shen Qingyun distinctly felt the majority of the surrounding gazes converge upon this spot, burning with intensity.

Shen Qingyun smiled and said, "You all don't need to do this. My harvest actually isn't bad at all."

Upon hearing Shen Qingyun's words, quite a few people curled their lips in disdain, and low chuckles rippled through the air. They simply assumed Shen Qingyun was trying to save face; how could his meager harvest possibly be worth showing off?

"What are you all laughing at? Your own hauls aren't even decent, yet you have the nerve to laugh at others!" Zhan Yan turned his head to scold them, then said to Shen Qingyun, "Brother Shen, pay them no mind. They're just jealous of you."

Shen Qingyun smiled and nodded. Naturally, he wouldn't stoop to bickering with those people. Let them laugh; when the true rankings were announced, they wouldn't be laughing anymore.

"Brother Zhan, words are words, but I really can't accept your Beast Soul Pills." Shen Qingyun still shook his head firmly.

Seeing Shen Qingyun's persistence, Zhan Yan pressed no further and put the Beast Soul Pills away. "Well then, Brother Shen, I wish you good fortune in the rankings. As for me, I've practically offended most of the academy." As he spoke, Zhan Yan patted the Qiankun pouch at his waist.

Shen Qingyun immediately understood that the Beast Soul Pills of the vast majority of the students in the academy had likely ended up inside his pouch.

A wave of spiritual pressure spread outward at that moment, instantly subduing the noisy grounds into quietness.

It was Ye Zhong. His voice was carried by spiritual energy into the ears of every single person present.

"The trial has ended. I will now announce the rankings based on the data reported by the mentors." As he spoke, a jade slip appeared in Ye Zhong's hand. "If there are any errors in the data, point them out immediately and report the number of Beast Soul Pills you hold."

"Li Tai, three Beast Soul Pills, ranked two hundred and eighty-third."

The moment Ye Zhong's voice fell, a person in the crowd instantly flushed red. That person was Li Tai. It wasn't that he only had three Beast Soul Pills by nature, but rather that all his others had been snatched away. These three were merely ones he had managed to seize from someone else.

Yet no one laughed at him, because behind him there were still many who failed to make the rankings at all—those individuals possessed zero Beast Soul Pills.

...

"Yiran and Yilin team, a total of two hundred and thirty-seven Beast Soul Pills, ranked third. How you choose to divide them is up for you to discuss among yourselves."

Hearing Ye Zhong's words, Shen Qingyun raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected them to actually possess some real strength; had they only exerted themselves in these final few days?

A wave of commotion also erupted from the crowd. The gap in the number of Beast Soul Pills held by those in the top ten individuals or teams was simply incomparable to the rest. The differences between them were so vast that the combined totals of everyone in the lower ranks might not even equal a fraction of their surplus.

"Zhan Yan team, a total of five hundred and seventy Beast Soul Pills! Ranked second. How you choose to divide them is up to yourselves."

"Boss Zhan truly deserves to be the number one person in the academy. Look at that quantity, tsk tsk."

"Just look at who's in that team—Senior Brother He, Senior Brother Guanyan... Which of their strengths doesn't utterly crush patches of us?"

"That's true as well... But what about Shen Qingyun? Why hasn't he been ranked yet!"

"Brother, are you stupid? Only people with zero Beast Soul Pills don't get ranked."

"Oh right! I am so looking forward to seeing Shen Qingyun's ranking."

Ye Zhong swept his gaze over them and slowly spoke, "Next, ranked first is—"

Silence. Utter silence. Everyone held their breath in absolute concentration. Even Zhan Yan could only manage second place, so just who on earth was the number one, and what kind of monstrous capability must they possess?!

"Shen Qingyun..." Ye Zhong enunciated each word clearly, watching as the crowd's eyes gradually widened. "Shen Qingyun, Feng Chuxun. A total of thirty-two Spirit Phase-level Beast Soul Pills, and one Monarch-level Beast Soul Pill. Rank: First!"

"How is that possible? With such a small number of Beast Soul Pills, he can still be ranked first? Did this guy cheat his way through at the back!"

The previously silent grounds erupted into noise once again because of Ye Zhong's words.

Ye Zhong closed his eyes and let them make a fuss. Only when some students finally noticed something amiss and the voices began to gradually quiet down did Ye Zhong open his eyes and say, "Have you finished making a racket?"

"If you haven't finished, I'll let you make a racket until you're done."

"This disciple wouldn't dare..."

"Humph." Ye Zhong let out a cold snort. "This dean has made himself clear enough. Thirty-two Spirit Phase-level Beast Soul Pills, and one Monarch-level Beast Soul Pill. Do I still need to explain? Today, if you added up all of your Beast Soul Pills combined, they still wouldn't match up to a single Monarch-level Beast Soul Pill!"

"Racket, racket, racket! My Purple Firmament Academy only recruits proud geniuses, but just look at yourselves—which part of you resembles a proud genius? Jealousy, and a lack of drive to improve."

"Did Shen Qingyun say a single word this entire time? You mocked him, and he let you mock him however you pleased. But do you know what he sees you as in his eyes? Clowns jumping on a stage!"

"I might as well tell you all, this trial's top ten individuals will all represent Purple Firmament Academy to participate in the quota contention tournament jointly hosted by the three major academies. At the same time, the top ten can directly enter the inner courtyard to cultivate!"

With that, Ye Zhong added one final remark: "Think carefully. Aside from capability, what other gaps exist between you and him?"

"Shen Qingyun's state of mind is a realm you could only ever look up to from behind for your entire lives."

Shen Qingyun raised an eyebrow. From beginning to end, he had remained completely quiet, but Ye Zhong's words were quite unexpected. He hadn't anticipated that Ye Zhong's evaluation of him would be this high.

Though, it was only the truth.