Chapter 30 - 30: Light

"Why are you here?"

"!!!"

Yun Hao looked to see who the words belonged to that whispered into his ears, only to see that he was still alone in the gazebo. There wasn't even a slight change of wind or even a shift in the weird still water. Yun Hao then slightly leaned over the fence of the gazebo to see if there was an upper floor to the gazebo, but all he could really see was its roof…

...and a view of 9 moons that lined up in the skies.

"Now this just got even weirder," Yun Hao exclaimed as he blinked a couple of times, trying to see if it wasn't just a speck of dirt on his eye. But no matter how much he rubbed his eyes, there were still 9 moons in his view.

Perhaps it wasn't right to call them moons, as they looked more like Earths if anything.

"You shouldn't be here."

"!!!"

Yun Hao almost jumped off of the gazebo as a whisper once again entered his ears. But once again, there was no one else to be found other than him. Yun Hao was starting to get irritated as it felt like someone was playing with him. The source of the voice seemed to be almost breathing down into his neck, and yet he couldn't shake it off.

"Leave."

Once again, Yun Hao felt a certain shiver. It felt like the voice was surrounding him, and he couldn't really pinpoint where it was coming from… or perhaps it was better to say that it was coming from every direction.

"You shouldn't be here."

Yun Hao could only sigh as the words started to repeat themselves. For a realistic dream, he could have at least gotten a more exciting one. Because this one was boring as f--

*BOOM*

Before Yun Hao's thought could come to a conclusion, he heard a thunderous and almost deafening explosion. The calm and almost frozen water started to move, trembling as small ripples started to fly out of it like small litters of fish. But still, even with the scenery around him almost vibrating, the gazebo he was in was unmovable, as if it was unaffected by whatever the explosion was.

Yun Hao then once again leaned over the fence to see what was happening, only to see two of the nine moons colliding with each other.

"Oh shit!"

Yun Hao then quickly moved to the center of the gazebo as a huge comet seemed to be heading over to where he was. Everything turned brighter and brighter as the comet entered into the atmosphere, and soon, the only thing that Yun Hao could see was white.

"Oh fuuuu--

--ck."

"Well, fuck you too."

"What?"

Yun Hao then blinked numerous times as the light that drowned his eyes instantly dissipated, to be replaced by proctor Hannah's face. Yun Hao then quickly turned his head around, only to see that he was back to where he was before; or rather, he was awake now.

"I came to check up on you 'coz you seemed to have fallen asleep, and you curse me?" Hannah shook her head in disappointment as she stepped away from Yun Hao, "Now I am starting to think if I should really have you in my vlog and give you a Beast Core."

"Invite me instead, madame Hannah!"

"Shut up."

Sun Fang was quickly shut down by proctor Hannah before she once again turned her attention to Yun Hao, "That's as empty as it could be, boy," she then said as she pointed at Yun Hao's stomach, or more specifically, the Beast Core he was holding.

"...Right," although Yun Hao was still a bit confused from the sudden shift, he quickly stood up as both Sun Fang and Jia Ning were already up on their feet. He then handed the empty Beast Core to Hannah, but the only response he got was a look of disgust.

"Do I look like your maid? Throw it yourself."

"...Oh, sorry. I thought you still needed it back," Yun Hao retracted his hand and quickly hid the empty Beast Core into his pocket.

"Hm," Hannah slightly rolled her eyes at Yun Hao before calling everyone's attention, "Alright, now that you've stimulated and fed your dantian, you should start to gradually feel the changes in your body within 24 hours. Those who unlocked more than the ordinary 12 meridians, however, should already be feeling something different."

Hearing Hannah's words, Yun Hao quickly turned to look at Jia Ning and Sun Fang. Out of the three of them, he was the only one that didn't unlock a 13th meridian so he was quite curious as to what they got.

Proctor Hannah then stretched her hand, and out of nowhere, a couple of what seemed to be… 2 branches appeared on her palm. She then gave Sun Fang and Jia Ning a piece.

"Try inserting your qi into the branch."

"H--"

"You can do it in instinct, it should feel like moving a finger, but instead it extends through your veins."

Hannah did not even let Sun Fang talk. But as Hannah said, they didn't really need an effort to do it as their mind and body seemed to already know what to do.

"You don't have to worry, Mr. Yun Hao," proctor Hannah saw the look of curiosity and confusion in Yun Hao's eyes, "You're able to do this as well, just try it with another thing in the near future."

"I hear you, coach," Yun Hao nodded before turning to look at the branches that Jia Ning and Sun Fang were holding. Nothing was happening, but after a few seconds, both the branches suddenly caught on fire.

"Eek!" Sun Fang quickly threw the stick away. Jia Ning, on the other hand, just let out a short breath before the fire on her branch dissipated.

"Obviously, the two of you know what this means?"

"We both unlocked the Element meridian, madame Hannah." Jia Ning quickly answered as she returned the branch back to proctor Hannah.

"Exactly. Burning means Element, sprouting means Beast, and extending means yada yada," Hannah waved her hands lazily before looking at Yun Hao, who was now holding the branch that Sun Fang dropped.

"Nothing is going to happen, Mr. Yun Hao," Hannah once again could not help but let out a sigh as she saw Yun Hao staring at the branch with his eyes filled with intensity, "Don't grip it too tight as it's very fragil-- Ah!"

Before Hannah could even finish her words, a light clicking sound entered her ears as the branch snapped in half.

"What did you do!? I told you not to grip it too tight!"

"I wasn't--"

"Give it here!" Hannah quickly grabbed the half of the stick from Yun Hao's hand. Yun Hao picked up the other half from the floor and also quickly gave it to Hannah.

The only sound that remained in the testing hall was Hannah's long and loud sigh as she tried to stick the branch back together. But alas, there was no reversing what happened. "...You know how much it would cost to fix this? This branch doesn't have an Artifact Specialist and I need to go to the countryside to have it fixed!"

"...Sorry."

"Well, good thing this isn't mine," Hannah then shrugged as the branch disappeared from her hand.

"..." Then what was all the complaining about?

"Well then," Hannah once again clapped her hands, "Congratulations, the three of you are now officially registered as Cultivators. We're preparing your license as we speak and it should be ready once you leave the testing hall…

...which is now, so go. Shoo."

Hannah then waved her hands as she gestured for them to leave. The three could only awkwardly look at each other before turning to leave. That was it? There wasn't any grand awarding ceremony or something?

However, before Yun Hao could even take a step towards the exit, Hannah grabbed his wrist.

"Where are you going?"

"...To get my license, coach."

"That can wait, have you forgotten our deal?" Hannah then let go of Yun Hao's wrist as she ran towards the side of the testing hall, grabbing her tripod,

"I'm featuring you in my vlog. Let's go."

"W--"

Before Yun Hao could even protest, he was dragged away by Hannah. Jia Ning and Sun Fang could only stare at him as they passed through a different door and into one of the private smaller testing halls. Hannah didn't waste any time as she quickly set up the scenery, with different kinds of things coming out from her hand out of thin air… mostly furniture and a sofa.

Is this the so-called interspatial space that cultivators have? Yun Hao thought as he scanned Hannah, only to notice that she was actually wearing a ring on her pinky finger.

...Can he duplicate that?

"We don't have much time, sit down so we can start," Hannah then pushed Yun Hao towards the seat and quickly set up her camera, "I'll be asking you some very light questions, and just answer them however you want, alright? You can curse, it's not a family-friendly channel."

"...Okay?" Yun Hao was no longer able to follow Hannah's pace, so all he could do was nod his head.

"The huge scar on your face, how did you get it?"

"..."

How is this a very light question?"