Void Cultivation

The moment the woman left, the old man heaved a long sigh of relief. He cleaned the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead the moment he saw the woman. Even with his realm level being at the Early stages of Nascent Souls, he felt as if he was staring at a dangerous existence that could wipe him out in an instant.

The seemingly young and distant young woman was actually the ancestor of the Sky Mist academy and had the highest cultivation base in the whole city. With a cultivation base at the middle stages of the Nirvana realm, she was an incredible existence. But she was also a secret existence.

The ancestor of Sky Mist academy is actually from the direct bloodline of the Ghost emperor. Her seemingly ghostlike appearance and ghostly movements were proof that she hailed directly from the Ghost emperor bloodline.

Because of her presence, Sky Mist city will always be safe. Her mere existence was a bane to all that may pose a threat to the safety of Sky Mist's citizens.

Not many knew about her existence, partly because it was hard to sense any spirit energy fluctuations, and because of her ghostlike powers.

Even other Nirvana realm experts would have trouble discerning her presence, much less weaker cultivators. If she wanted to kill Grey in that moment, all she could have done was let a single of her breath touch him and he would have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Grey didn't know how close he had come to death. It was very hard to get an audience with the Ancestor, because of her specter like movements and her ever so nonchalant expression, most could go years without even catching a glimpse at her.

As Sky Mist ancestor turned illusionary and disappeared, before she faded away into oblivion, her detached face seemed to brighten a little and her lips twitched and then curled into something close to a faint smile. She disappeared soon after.

***

Grey suddenly opened his eyes after several hours of cultivating. His eyes flashed purple, but only for a split second before it disappeared.

His reserves had fully been replenished and his aura seemed to become more domineering. After comprehending Dragon eyes, his level of cultivation seemed to have sped up. He would no longer take a long time to cultivate a level.

"Comprehending Dragon eyes had brought so much benefits, it will take a while for me to get used to it completely!" Grey said with a calm expression. He let a soft sigh and a little white mist drifted out from his mouth.

The moment he stood up, a beam of light fell upon him. Grey had a complicated expression on his face, he could tell that he was about to be teleported. But before he was teleported, he scanned the surroundings and saw some people also sitting down and cultivating as well.

They had pale expressions on their faces and were drenched in sweat. "It seems it's not only me that was tired." He mumbled under his breath and in the next second, he disappeared from the forging hall.

***

When the light around him dissipated, he saw himself in a battle arena. They were other participants here as well. He even saw his teammates who were huddled together in a corner.

When Grey got closer, he could smell a faint medicinal fragrance coming from Ange. It was clear that she must've displayed her refining talents, and that led to her very tired expression.

Zayne was pale, he gave a small smile to Grey but didn't say anything. Grey acknowledged him a curt nod. Sylvia and Ange didn't even have the strength to greet him. But they still acknowledged him by waving.

"Why are you guys so tired?" Grey asked.

"We were only given one hour to complete our tasks! After that, we had even little time to rest!" It was Sylvia that spoke. Grey had a strange expression on his face. He felt very refreshed and not at all tired. He also felt as if he had been cultivating for several hours instead.

Grey was silent as he pondered deeply but couldn't think of any reason why he felt like he had cultivated for several hours when it was only for a few minutes.

'Is there something wrong? But it felt like I cultivated for several hours instead...'

"Participants, get ready for your next test!" A cold voice suddenly said, drawing peoples attention immediately. Grey also looked around and saw a young woman in white clothes with white hair standing on a small cloud of mist. They couldn't see her face because it was covered by strange clouds.

"This is your last test as well as deciding test! All the other tests you have passed a insignificant, except for this one. You will fight a Sky Mist student in battle. If you win, naturally you will enter Sky Mist. If you lose..." The woman let her words hang in the air. Although no one could see her, they coua tell that voice to belonged to a very nonchalant person.

Grey squinted his eyes but couldn't see through the mist. He poured spirit energy into his eyes and looked again with Dragon eyes, but retreated back one step. His face turned as pale as white, all blood seemed to have drained from his face.

His eyes held one emotion, fear! He felt so fearful for the cold aura that blocked his spirit gaze. He even felt the spirit energy start to freeze up, that was why he retreated. The lady coveted in Mist turned her face a bit facing towards Grey. Her gaze seemed to linger on him for a few seconds but Grey couldn't tell because she was covered in white Mist.

The woman did not day anything again, and instead waved her hand lightly and golden tokens flew to each and every participant in the hall. Grey reached out and grabbed a token. A chilly aura entered his body but he immediately suppressed it with his cultivation base.

'A very chilling sword aura!' Grey said inwardly. He looked down and saw the number seven on his token. Ange had fifteen, Zayne had twenty six, Sylvia had three and Alice had fourty four.

"According to your token number, go up to the stage. If you can defeat your opponent, or can last more than ten minutes, you've passed!"

Many people also grabbed the falling tokens and checked the numbers, the moment the young lady saw that everyone had a token, she turned around and disappeared into a cloud of mist. First published on M|V|L!EMPYR.

'Hm... So it means that I'm the seventh and Sylvia is the third?'

The person who had the number one token went up first. It was a petite looking girl. She had a timid expression on her face. She clumsily went up to the stage where her opponent stood. A young man with a cold expression on his face. He didn't even spare the petite girl a glance as she walked up to the stage.

"Are you ready?" The youth said coldly. When the petite girl nodded her head shakily, the young man moved. In the next second, everyone could hear the sound of flesh slapping flesh. A shrill scream was heard a moment later and the petite girl was thrown off the stage.

"That fast?" Zayne shouted, but everyone's attention was on the young girl. The side of her lip was cut and blood was gushing out. She was already knocked unconscious from that single slap.

The young man snorted coldly and walked off the stage. He disappeared shortly after.

Everyone was still in shock because of the quick battle. It could not even be called a quick battle. The petite young girl had just be slapped and lost instantaneously.

Despite being in the eigth level of Qi accumulation, which was impressive- she was still beaten so swiftly. Everyone shivered when the going girl was teleported away the next second. There were no words, everybody saw what happened.

The next person who went up stage managed to last a brief two minutes before he was eliminated as well. With a flash of light, he was beaten unconscious.

'These people are too tough! Are they really in the Qi accumulation realm?' Grey said inwardly. With his token number being the seventh, he was bound to go up sooner or later.

With the token in hand, Sylvia slowly walked to the stage. Grey was very attentive. The fighters were changed after every battle but he still wanted to see how she would fare.

Her opponent was a young man with a playful smile on his face. He acknowledged Sylvia with a curt nod. Sylvia was stunned, before she also nodded to him in greeting.

Once they were now in the middle of the stage, the playful young man spoke casually. "Here I come!" Sylvia nodded and in the next second there was a flash of light.