Chapter 531 – Ethereal City

　　The purpose of the powerhouse in creating this world was unclear, but he obviously wanted Myriad Dao Academy’s disciples to obtain some magic treasures, pills, and secret scripts hidden in the evil spirit array, as well as obtain ways to fight certain enemies.

　　For example, this strange town — Wan Miantang and Lin Xuanzhi guessed that they had to skillfully find the method to counter the Northern Wild Wolves.

　　Wan Miantang nodded. “That’s right. After all, this is just a Profound Ranked array. It’s not difficult for us to leave.”

　　Profound Ranked Tier A arrays were not difficult for Huarong Sword Immortal and Wan Miantang. This evil spirit array’s world had a rule — as long as someone killed all the villains in this world, the array would break on its own, so Lin Xuanzhi and Wan Miantang had nothing to be afraid of.

　　If worst came to worst, they would just kill all the wild wolves.

　　Outside the evil spirit array, the ship went on for seven days before arriving at the mainland on the other side of the sea.

　　This continent was the legendary tenth Land, surrounded by the sea. Its size was naturally inferior to that of the other Nine Lands, so much so that it was even less than one tenth of those Lands. At best, it was a relatively large city.

　　The name of the city was not Myriad Dao Academy but was called Ethereal City instead.

　　There were residents living in Ethereal City. Most of them were different from the disciples from mainland cities who came to study. These residents were born in Ethereal City and died in Ethereal City. The vast majority of them had never even set foot outside Ethereal City all their lives.

　　Because for the residents of Ethereal City, this was a paradise.

　　There was no war and no politics here, only stable, peaceful days and abundant spiritual Qi.

　　There was a rule for the permanent residents of Ethereal City — if someone wanted to leave Ethereal City, then they would have to leave it for the rest of their lives.

　　Nobody wanted to leave paradise, so very few people wanted to enter the secular world.

　　Although there was abundant spiritual Qi and it was backed by Myriad Dao Academy, the most famous sect in the Nine Lands, Ethereal City’s residents didn’t necessarily have high cultivation levels. They were content with peace and enjoyment and saw through life and death. They accepted that all living beings experienced prosperity and decline, and life and death were impermanent, so they were not keen on cultivation, and there was almost no one with a high cultivation.

　　But they also didn’t really have many uses for cultivation in their entire lives.

　　After all, if foreign enemies invaded, Myriad Dao Academy would meet them. During the spring ploughs and autumn harvests, there were disciples from Myriad Dao Academy who came to help. These natives all received rent payments. As long as Myriad Dao Academy didn’t fall, they would never die of hunger.

　　The ship stopped at the port, and 120 disciples and examinees on board came down methodically.

　　Looking at the ethereal Myriad Dao Academy in the distance, the examinees showed their yearning for the future, and even events like how they had almost been scammed out of their pants at the sect gates were suddenly thrown aside.

　　“Wow, the spiritual Qi here is very rich, much stronger than in my hometown!”

　　“It’s so beautiful here ah. Look, is this Myriad Dao Academy’s main mountain in front of us? It looks so powerful and tall. I think I heard the sound of bells ringing.”

　　There were not many rules in Myriad Dao Academy, but each one was very strict. For example, if you weren’t a disciple of Myriad Dao Academy and also didn’t have important matters, you wouldn’t be able to casually step foot into Ethereal City, even if you were a prince or nobility.

　　Yan Tianhen had wanted to come to Ethereal City many times before, but was stopped by You Ming.

　　You Ming said, “Let’s not talk about whether you can even find Ethereal City by yourself. Even if you can, you may not be able to enter Ethereal City. Why bother making things hard on yourself?”

　　Myriad Dao Academy was both mysterious and dignified. It had existed since ancient times, and already had a longer history than the Qianyuan Dynasty. Sects were made of iron while dynasties were like flowing water. Myriad Dao Academy was akin to a colossal stabilizing force, towering outside of the Nine Lands from the ancient times until now. It overlooked every living being in the Nine Lands and also nurtured the Nine Lands’ new powers.

　　The residents of Ethereal City didn’t really feel much for these batches of disciples who would arrive every seven years. These disciples twittered and laughed as they walked and observed everything in the streets. The native residents next to them only glanced at them a few times at most, but they didn’t say much, and soon they continued doing their own things.

　　However, everyone had a love for beauty. If they saw any boys or girls in the group who looked amazing, the residents were still willing to talk about them.

　　Just like the youth walking beside Yan Tianhen — he had a very beautiful appearance. His beauty was exquisite and indistinguishable from male and female, but he himself was cold, like an unsheathed sword. If someone dared to disturb him, he would give that person an icy glance.

　　Yan Tianhen actually had great immunity to beauty. After all, he lived among a group of beauties from an early age, and his sweetheart was a peerless beauty in this world.

　　But when he saw the youth, he still couldn’t help giving this person a few more glances at first.

　　His lips were as red as blood, his skin was as white as milk, and his eyes were black and bright. He wasn’t very expressive, which made him look like a beautiful doll.

　　However, Yan Tianhen withdrew his gaze after only a few glances, which was fundamentally different from those inexperienced fools who kept staring.

　　Probably because Yan Tianhen’s attitude could still be considered satisfactory, in the next few days on the ship until they arrived at the city, that gorgeous youth took the initiative to follow beside Yan Tianhen.

　　Yet Yan Tianhen’s disguised face didn’t seem to stand out very much at this time. At most, it could only be considered pleasing to the eye. Naturally, he didn’t have much presence. There was also no brother who experienced hardships with him and entered the same evil spirit array with him on this boat. Thus, he ignored the others, and other people also didn’t take the initiative to pay attention to him.

　　Ethereal City was very big. After all, this city occupied an entire mainland. No matter how small the mainland, it was still pretty big when compared to other cities.

　　People were allowed to fly on their swords in Ethereal City, and there weren’t too many restrictions in this area. It’s just that so many new disciples were already disturbing enough, and if you added flying swords to the mix, who knows whether accidents beyond your control would happen.

　　So when people entered the city, they were not allowed to be more than three feet above the ground.

　　As for those who entered Myriad Dao Academy, they definitely weren’t allowed to fly on their swords. Such an act was expressly forbidden for students. After walking rapidly for an hour, the ship’s batch of new radishes finally saw the sect’s main gates after much difficulty. Myriad Dao Academy used academic style architecture. Even from the outside, it looked like an academy. Compared with some sects in the Nine Lands, the gate didn’t not give the slightest feeling of “hating how high the heavens are”. However, it was extremely wide and was also engraved with complicated array patterns. It looked heavy and full of vicissitudes, which was very reassuring.

　　Eighteen gates opened towards both sides, and in the front was Myriad Dao Academy’s public square, which was said to be able to accommodate 100,000 disciples at the same time.

　　Immortal and ethereal, cranes and Luan birds spread their wings and flew in the air.

　　Disciples stood at the gate and sighed one after another, glad that they could arrive here smoothly.

　　A little while later, someone came to receive them. This was a woman dressed in a steward’s uniform.

　　She wore a high bun with an ebony hairpin inserted diagonally. She didn’t smile much and had some fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. One could tell at a glance that she wasn’t young.

　　“My surname is Ruan. You may call me Steward Ruan.” Steward Ruan said, “Today, I’ll be the one to receive you all. You are the 64th batch. Later, I’ll take you to the temporary accommodations. When you all pass the final assessment, your accommodations will be changed.” With that, Steward Ruan turned and began walking.

　　Several sect disciples followed up and spoke to Steward Ruan.

　　Steward Ruan asked, “How is the state of mind of this batch of students?”

　　By Steward Ruan’s side, there were four disciples in black, white, blue, and purple robes. They were probably the leaders on this ship for the East, West, North and South Courtyards.

　　The black-robed martial brother answered, “I’m afraid some examinees’ state of mind has already collapsed. They are quite unlucky. They had been selected for the Primary Ranked Tier B evil spirit array, or they had met mass murderers. It seems that they will need treatment and guidance.”

　　Steward Ruan nodded, accustomed to this. “A common occurrence. It’s inevitable.”

　　The white-robed martial brother added, “There are a few incredible examinees. The candidate with the most people surrounding him, Shen Congrong, is from the Seven Stars Sect of the outside world. He is calm and steady, and is a good sprout for the sword path.”

　　Steward Ruan nodded and lifted her right hand, which had a transparent ring. The ring reflected the images of some disciples behind them.

　　Shen Congrong was easy to distinguish. After all, he was surrounded by the most people and was also very good-looking. He was handsome in appearance and had a somewhat wicked smile, which made it easy for people like him.

　　Steward Ruan put down her hand. “He looks good, you can recommend him.”

　　The young man in purple robes said with a smile, “I didn’t find any powerful people, but I saw some disciples who were quite good-looking. The examinee with simple clothes and a high-profile face is named Yin Changge. Although I haven’t gotten his origins for the time being, he must be a person who can cause some rumors.”

　　Steward Ruan smiled and knocked on the purple-robed youth’s forehead with a jade tablet. “I had you receive them, but this is how you received them? I shouldn’t let you go next time, you lecher.”

　　The purple-robed youth smiled and happily made a silly face.

　　The blue-robed young man said, “Their East Courtyard has always been like this. They’re not serious at all.”

　　The young man in purple said, “Your West Courtyard is very serious and proper. Every single one of you seems to be an ascetic maniac all day long. You don’t know how to dress yourself well. If you go out looking ugly, you’ll lose all of our sect’s face.”

　　The blue-robed youth said, “Be more careful. If you say any more nonsense, I’ll see you on the dueling field.”

　　The young man in purple responded, “Then I’ll see you there; who’s afraid of whom?!”

　　The people in front were bickering, while the people behind were nervous.

　　“I originally thought that as long as I left the evil spirit array, I’d have already passed the assessment. I didn’t expect that we actually have to continue the exam.”

　　He also didn’t know what this year’s topic was and whether or not it would be too difficult.

　　“I heard that in the exam seven years ago, only 1,200 people were left, and 100,000 people came to take the examination. And one-fifth of the 1,200 people came directly with ship tickets.”

　　“Heavens ah, I’m starting to feel nervous now. If I get rejected after getting this far, I…I won’t live anymore.”

　　“Tch, look at your state of mind. Don’t even mention the assessment; you won’t even be able to pass the heart stone’s test.”

　　“Speaking of the heart stone, that round can cut down ten percent of students every year.”

　　“Yeah, it’s difficult to pass the heart stone test. It can show people what they fear most in their hearts. Speaking of which, in Myriad Dao Academy’s entrance exam seven years ago, a Huarong Sword Immortal walked out. It’s said that when they tried to test his innermost fears, they ultimately found that his heart lacked any fear or desire. The result that was displayed actually turned out to be blank.”

　　“Ah, Huarong Sword Immortal is the person of my dreams. I have three dreams in coming here, one of which is to see Huarong Sword Immortal.”

　　“Forget it. Everyone wants to see him; he is a legend of Myriad Dao Academy.”

　　Yan Tianhen listened with relish to these fans mentioning Huarong Sword Immortal with tones of worship, but in his heart, he nobly and elegantly thought, You all can only think and talk about him, but you can’t touch him, but this Prince actually shared a bed with him. En, if you round up, living in the same room is basically the same as sharing a bed.

　　There’s nothing wrong with this logic. It’s perfect!

　　Yan Tianhen thought happily, and soon followed the group to the temporary residence.