NOVPUBShao Mingyu pushed through the crowd, looking at the youth curled up on the ground, shivering.
Frowning, he surveyed his surroundings and said indifferently,
"Do you not know that fighting here will lead to the cancellation of your enrollment eligibility?"
Hearing Shao Mingyu’s words, the surrounding youths hastily shook their heads.
They replied, "Senior, we didn’t, we didn’t fight.
We just said a few words to him, and he got scared like this."
Shao Mingyu furrowed his brow slightly, patted the shoulder of the youth in the black robe, and asked, "Are you all right?"
"I’m fine, I’m fine," the youth in the black robe quickly shook his head.
Seeing the demeanor of the youth in the black robe, Shao Mingyu then understood why everyone was ridiculing him.
The Third-Eye Demon Clan was inherently dull and of low aptitude, often ostracized by other races.
"I do not wish to see such things happen again, or else I will cancel the enrollment eligibility of all of you," Shao Mingyu glanced around.
He said softly, "Whether or not you can enter the Holy Institute depends on the assessing teachers.
It’s not for you to decide."
Everybody hastily nodded their heads, silent as cicadas in winter.
Once Shao Mingyu had left, everyone also stayed far away from the youth in the black robe.
Isolating him.
The youth in the black robe stood up, standing alone in a corner.
Xu Zimei watched this scene, shook her head slightly, and quickly directed her gaze elsewhere.
On the tree-lined avenue in front of Vermilion Academy, throngs of young men and women gathered, seeking admission.
On both sides of the avenue, the fiery red Flame Yang Trees had just sprouted.
Leaf after leaf, like maple leaves, densely covered the trees.
Rustling gently as a light breeze passed by.
Walking through the crowded avenue, at the very front stood the imposing academy.
Mist enshrouded the grand structures within the academy, partially hidden from view.
The gate was a deep red, and in the center where the two doors met, there was a vivid depiction of the Vermilion Bird.
This Vermilion Bird, with wings spread wide and aflame, seemed to challenge the heavens, setting the entire gate ablaze.
From a distance, within Vermilion Academy, there were towers red as fire that reached into the clouds.
There were massive floating islands, like Divine Beasts with outstretched wings, majestically suspended in mid-air.
There were also red-robed seniors who flew sword-first into the clouds, and others who absorbed the Essence of Sun and Moon atop mountains.
With a gust of wind, the mist thickened, and then nothing could be seen.
In front of the fiery red gates of the academy were six lines, each like a massive dragon.
At the front of these lines were the teachers from Vermilion Academy.
Xu Zimei took a distant look and saw that Vermilion Academy tested its students in two ways.
One method was to give students a brand-new Vein Skill book.
After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, they observed how much of the Vein Skill’s mysteries the student had grasped.
The other method involved giving each student a jade pendant shaped like the Vermilion Bird.
Those who could hold the pendant the longest were deemed to have the highest aptitude.
Xu Zimei speculated that there must be illusions hidden within such a pendant.
The so-called illusions were mostly designed based on one’s Seven Emotions and Six Desires.
They could strike directly at the weakest place in each person’s heart.
The teachers could test ten people at once, and while the process was fast, it couldn’t keep up with the continuous stream of students coming to participate.
According to the residents of the nearby Vermilion Bird City, every year on the days Vermilion Academy recruited students,
This kind of spectacle would last from three to seven days.
Those who passed the first stage of the test could enter the fiery red gates behind.
They would face the second test, the contents of which outsiders could not see.
......
The recruitment process was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Xu Zimei, watching idly by the side, suddenly heard a burst of cheering from within a small area of the crowd.
"Someone has reached the limit and passed the test."
"Who is it? So impressive."
"It seems to be the seventh prince from the Lu Kingdom."
"As expected, the seventh prince has been intelligent beyond his peers since childhood.
Although he dwelt deep within the palace, rumors often emanated from within its walls.
In our Lu Kingdom, the seventh prince’s reputation is not the slightest bit inferior to that of the Crown Prince."
Hearing the surrounding people’s discussions, Xu Zimei’s gaze followed suit.
He saw at the front of the third line, a young man dressed in dark yellow satin standing with an impressive bearing.
He looked at everyone present with a proud demeanor, and although he didn’t speak,
the expression on his face revealed the pride in his heart.
Every year at the Vermilion Academy admissions, there are always a few of the truly talented disciples who manage to pass the tests to the utmost limit.
Most of these talented disciples thrived at the Vermilion Academy.
The so-called passing the tests to the utmost limit means that the Vein Skills given by the teacher can be completely mastered within the span of a single incense stick.
And for the illusions generated by the Vermilion Jade Pendant, other students compared how long they could endure within the illusionary realm.
Whereas he promptly shattered the illusion.
Only by meeting both conditions would one be considered to have passed to the utmost limit.
Watching the seventh prince hold the teacher’s written comments, he walked into the academy with his head held high and chest puffed out.
The surrounding youths all felt a wave of envy.
......
The setting sun dipped in the west, and the evening glow bathed half of the sky red.
The former glory was boundless and beautiful, with the Flame Yang Trees on both sides reflecting on the path in the middle.
The fiery red afterglow, the Clouds of Fire Refining similar to that of clouds.
Interweaving with the fiery red Flame Yang Trees.
Reflected in the sky above the academy, floating amidst the air, it seemed like an island where the Divine Beast Vermilion Bird spread its wings.
The entire world seemed to have been painted a fiery red.
The testing concluded in the evening, and everyone who received their number tags would line up the next day with their tags.
To continue the enrollment test.
Xu Zimei also returned to the inn he was staying at previously.
He planned to go back to see the academy the next day, then leave the Vermilion Bird City.
To travel to the Slaughter City and take the Teleportation Array to reach the Heaven Tiger Empire.
The early spring weather wasn’t completely rid of winter.
The weather changed abruptly.
In the deep of night, the sky darkened.
Dense clouds gathered, heavy and insistent, reluctant to unleash their rain.
There was a faint warmth in the air.
This condition lasted until the next day, with the weather becoming even more ominously gloomy.
It eerily reminiscent of the calm before a storm.
Early in the morning, the long line once again formed in front of the Vermilion Academy.
Xu Zimei remembered that inside the Vermilion Academy there was a Lihuo Divine Sparrow Body.
It was one of the Hundred Great Battle Bodies.
But now that he possessed the Prison Suppressor Demon Body and the Nine Regions Grand Body, other Battle Bodies were of no use to him.
.........
At noon, when the young men’s line advanced to the youth from the Third-Eye Demon Clan, this caught Xu Zimei’s attention.
At the same time, many of the surrounding youths also looked over.
The impression the Third-Eye Demon Clan left on people was one of dullness and being an exotic species.
A member of the Third-Eye Demon Clan who couldn’t open their third eye was considered the lowest of creatures.
Yue Qingli took the Vein Skills passed over by the teacher and carefully looked them over.
This Vein Skill was called "Geng Blade Slash," an Earth Tier Vein Skill.
It wasn’t too difficult in itself, what was really hard was that the learning time was limited to just one incense stick’s duration.
Compared to other cultivators who could memorize the content of Vein Skills after a single glance,
Yue Qingli was clearly much worse; he needed to review them again after practicing for a while.
