Chapter 61 61: Crashing The Selection

"Father, don't you think that something feels wrong?" In the end, Yu Ming spoke out his thoughts before his father.

"I know what you're thinking about. But I've already checked. I made Fei take herbs that don't allow her to lie. Her words still remained the same," the middle aged man on the seat replied.

Even though he also felt something was amiss, but there was not much to doubt.

"But..."

"That's enough. If that's all you want to talk about, then you can leave. I still have many things to attend to."

The young man tried speaking but before he could even finish his sentence, the Palace Master cut his words.

He also felt that his son might be trying to side with Qin Ye because he had spent a lot of time in the Qin Dynasty, when he recently went out of the Palace to explore a tomb that he had discovered in the Qin Dynasty. It felt as if his mind was biased towards Qin Ye.

Yu Ming closed his mouth, not finishing his sentence. He just looked at his father, momentarily. It was clear that his father was angry at the Qin Dynasty and wasn't thinking seriously.

There were still many things that didn't make sense, especially regarding all the strange herbs that Yu Fei was supposedly fed. Unfortunately, since his father didn't want to listen, he couldn't force either.

He could only watch as his father stood up, leaving directly, as if this was the end of the conversation.

A void opened behind his father, which his father entered, disappearing. Only Yu Ming was left behind in that place, carrying a thoughtful look on his face.

After a moment, he decided to take matters into his own hands and investigate the truth himself.

When he went to explore the tomb recently, he had heard quite a few bad things about the Third Prince of the Eternal Dynasty. It was really suspicious that a person like that suddenly gained some righteousness and saved his sister for no reason but to help her.

He was sure that it had something to do with Xu Shan. As for what, and to what extent, he didn't know.

"Third Prince Xu Shan and Emperor Qin Ye... Just what game are you two playing amongst yourselves? Since you two decided to involve my sister, I'll have to involve myself as well..." he muttered, turning around and silently leaving as well.

****

The Celestial Island was a beautiful island, floating high in the sky, covered by mist all year round.

There were even many rumors that the island was once the sacred place of the Immortals, and only those who were blessed with their favor could step onto it. It was also because of the strange rumor that the Celestial Palace became even more famous.

Throughout the entire year, many people tried to enter the Celestial Palace since there was a rule. It was that if a person managed to land on the Celestial Island without the help of any Celestial Palace members, then they could be selected as the Celestial Palace Core Disciples, jumping straight to the upper echelon amongst the disciples.

Unfortunately, no one was able to achieve this, other than a rare few people in history. That's why the Celestial Palace used another member to select Disciples.

Throughout the years, there were over a hundred Celestial Palace Elders who were sent outside to explore the entire continent in search of talented youngsters every five years.

Each elder was given hundred participation tokens that they could give to potential candidates. The tokens were what allowed the youngsters to take part in the Selection Test of the Celestial Palace which was held every five years.

In total, ten thousand people were allowed to take this test every five years, all being the top candidates with the highest potential who weren't a part of any high ranking organization which was comparable to the Celestial Palace.

No matter how talented a Prince of a Dynasty was, the Celestial Palace couldn't ask him to become a disciple since that person probably had the support of a Dynasty which was close in strength.

Instead, the Celestial Palace preferred independent candidates who were free from the influence of any external organizations. This ensured that their disciples were loyal to the Palace above all else and could be trusted with their most important secrets.

Today happened to be the end of those five years, where the Celestial Palace was to hold the Disciple Selection Ceremony.

The Majestic Floating Island could be seen high in the sky, but on the ground under the Floating Island, over ten thousand people had already gathered, each holding a token firmly in their hands which was granted to them by one of the Elders of the Celestial Palace who saw potential in them.

In the distance, close to Ten Elders were sitting on chairs, next to each other, waiting to start the test.

Each of the Elders was assigned one test each, and at the end of ten tests, the final thousand people were named, who would become the real disciples of the mysterious Celestial Palace.

Other than the Elders, there were also multiple guards from the Celestial Palace who were standing all around, maintaining security and order in the place.

Despite there being so many people, the place was filled with silence. Not a single whisper could be heard.

Amongst the ten thousand people, many people had before friends on their long journeys to this place. However even those friends behaved like strangers in this place, maintaining absolute silence.

In the eyes of all the disciples of the Celestial Palace, a desire to reach the Floating Island could be seen. It didn't matter if a person came from a humble background or an influential family... As long as they could become a disciple here, they knew that they were going to reach the skies right away!

After the elders finished discussing amongst themselves, the tests finally began. The candidates showcased their unique skills and abilities while going through tests that were made to judge their talents, battle tactics, Celestial Spirits and even soul power and quick thinking abilities.

It was as if the tests were prepared keeping a person's all round skills in mind.

Every candidate was trying to impress the Ten Elders with their prowess. Some displayed unparalleled mastery in martial arts, while others exhibited exceptional intelligence and knowledge about the world. It was a grueling process, but the candidates remained determined to prove themselves worthy of being chosen.

As the tests progressed, the challenges became even tougher. But the candidates did not falter and kept pushing themselves to their limits. Some even discovered new abilities within themselves as they faced their fears and conquered them. It was a true test of strength and resilience, and only the best would emerge victorious.

The Elders observed the candidates closely and noted their performance in each task.

There were already some candidates that managed to attract the attention of most of the Elders, to the point that they already started arguing about who was going to take them as disciples before the tests could even end!

At around the same time, one of the candidates noticed a strange flying creature in the distance, which looked tiny initially, yet only getting bigger as it drew closer. However, when it reached closer, its powerful aura management surprised even the Elders.

There were two Gryphons coming in their direction!