Chapter 16 – Awakening (Part Two)
The golden scroll flew through the air and, in a flash, transformed into a film of golden light floating in the air.
Within the light screen, grain-sized silver characters started to appear and flash in a faint light.
The Lei Spirit Master then formed a sign with one hand, and at the same time the light around his body cracked open, revealing his true form.
Shockingly, it was a huge bearded man dressed in a purple robe. He had a wide chest and just by standing he gave off an imposing feeling.
Lei Spirit Master stared at the characters in the golden light. He changed his hand signs while he used his mouth to start his chant.
Liu Ming surprisingly found that he suddenly could not hear anything. He glanced over at the other Clan Practitioners.
He found out that most of them also had stunned faces.
Obviously, he was not the only one who couldn’t hear anything.
As Liu Ming’s gaze shifted toward the formation again, he found the Barbarian Ghost Sect Practitioners showing expressions of pain as soon as the bearded man had started to chant. Some of their faces immediately twisted and the white light that surrounded them flashed strangely.
A Spirit Master’s techniques were really mysterious. Their mantra could actually focus on a specific area, leaving everything outside the formation completely unaffected.
Liu Ming couldn’t help but start to look forward to the “spells” of a Spirit Master.
They obviously were not on the same level compared to Practitioners who could borrow the strength of talismans to cast some small techniques.
“Bang, Bang.” Two muffled sounds were heard.
The faces of two of the youths that were sitting in the formation convulsed, before their heads suddenly exploded from within. The white light that was surrounding them also disappeared, allowing their headless bodies to fall directly to the ground.
Seeing the bloody scene, some of the more timid Clan Practitioners let out a cry while the others couldn’t help but turn pale.
The Practitioners of the Barbarian Ghost Sect that hadn’t entered the formation also couldn’t help but feel a hint of unease.
But the Spirit Masters in the air and the Spirit Apostles within the formation acted as if they did not see it at all.
Right as Liu Ming finished looking at the two headless bodies, a third Barbarian Ghost Sect Practitioner stood up. His hands waved frantically for a bit before his head also cracked open.
“Hmph. How useless. We just started and there are people that already cannot withstand the energy. The next time our sect chooses Practitioners, we should probably be a bit more strict.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader said unhappily as he saw this from the high platform.
“Sect Leader Senior. Without going through the awakening ceremony, we can only predict the Practitioner’s talent. For there to be some mistakes is unavoidable. The Practitioner that just died, was actually one that I had high hopes for. During the training before, he performed quite well.” Junior Lin forced a smile from the side.
“No matter how it is said, our sect invests a large amount of resources on each Practitioner. To be more strict in choosing Practitioners can’t really be wrong.” The Sect leader replied, unmoved.
“Yes. Junior and the other Seniors will definitely deliberate more over the next batch of disciples, in order to choose even more talented Practitioners.” Junior Lin could only reply as such.
The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader heard this and gave a slow nod. He continued watching the rest of the Practitioners still going through the ceremony.
After the three deaths on the stage, there were no more instant deaths. But as time went on, the white light started to form into strands that frantically tried to squeeze through the Practitioner’s skin.
The face of the Practitioners that had this white light in them started to convulse and shake. Quite a few had eyes that glowed incredibly red, showing hints of madness within them.
After a couple of soft sounds, another four to five corpses fell into their own pool of blood.
Liu Ming saw the situation and the corner of his eye couldn’t help but twitch.
At this time, the Spirit Rain in the formation started to slow down and the white light on the Practitioners’ bodies shrunk quite a bit. It was to the point that some of their limbs could be seen.
A Spirit Master saw this and waved his hands without a word.
The Spirit Apostles outside the formation immediately used the bottles in their hands. Streams of Spirit Rain formed into white strings and shot out from them.
The white light inside the formation shone once again, and automatically flew toward each of the Practitioners. The white light surrounding them was repaired to how they were at first.
Thick Spirit Rain also started to fall again from the sky.
Suddenly, one of the youths that was sitting lost all traces of pain from his face. Instead, he had a very comfortable expression.
He suddenly opened his mouth and let loose a clear sound. At the same time the sound came out, clear white lines appeared on his body. One stripe, two stripes, three stripes, it continued to six stripes before finally stopping.
The Barbarian Ghost Sect Practitioner was at loss at first but when he saw the six stripes on his body, he cried out in immense happiness.
TL: Spiritual Pulses appear in three’s. They would appear in either a three, six, nine, or twelve pattern
“I successfully awakened my Spiritual Sea! I have Six Spiritual Pulses! I am a Spirit Apostle.”
“Why are you shouting? There are others that have not succeeded. Stay inside and stabilize your Spiritual Sea. Once you leave, there won’t be a chance as good as this for you to take advantage of.” A Spirit Master saw this and chided softly.
This Barbarian Ghost Sect Spirit Apostle’s mind cleared up and he quickly sat back down to take advantage of the energy.
As the first Spirit Apostle appeared in the formation, the second and third also made appearances. There were also some that could not withstand the energy and died with their heads exploding.
After half an hour passed, when the ninth Spirit Apostle appeared, more than a fourth of the Practitioners had already died. The rest of the Practitioners were holding on and continuing, but clearly to no avail.
Lei Spirit Master saw this and coldly announced, “Time is up. The rest of the Practitioners that did not awaken successfully will become our Sect’s Outer Disciples. Everyone must leave the formation now while the second batch of disciples may enter.
As Lei Spirit Master’s voice dropped, the formation stopped abruptly. The light on the Practitioners within all disappeared.
The pain of the disciples still trying to open their Spiritual Sea stopped immediately.
They immediately became dejected as soon as they understood what had happened.
Within the sect, the difference between an Outer Disciple and a Spirit Apostle was like heaven and earth. No matter how outstanding they were before, they could only become the lowest type of existence within the Barbarian Ghost Sect after their Spiritual Seas failed to open.
The nine successful disciples, who held similar positions as them while they were Practitioners, would be much superior to them now. Not only would the successful ones receive the sect’s careful nurturing but they will also be introduced to and practice unimaginable spells, like ones that will allow them to fly through the air and tunnel through the earth. Even their longevity will be increased incomparably.
At this time, the blood stains and corpses within the formation were cleaned up by tens of Outer Disciples that came out of nowhere. Even the floor was washed with clean water, rinsing away even the last drop of blood within the formation.
The second batch of Practitioners, under Lei’s Spirit Master’s command, also entered the formation and sat down.
The same scene was acted out once more.
The only difference is that there was a different Spirit Master using the mantra.
Lei Spirit Master landed outside the formation and started to rest with his eyes closed.
Using the power of mantra for two hours was a huge exertion for a Spirit Master. They could not help but rotate and rest.
The awakening process took about two hours every time.
The remaining three batches of Barbarian Ghost Sect Practitioners finished their awakening ceremony after six hours.
Within the first batch, the best awakened Spirit Apostle had Six Spiritual Pulses.
Within the second batch, there were twelve Spirit Apostles and two of them had Nine Spirit Pulses.
For the third batch, only eight people awakened successfully but there were three with Nine Spirit Pulses.
There were actually fifteen people that had awakened successfully in the fourth batch. However, there was only one Nine Spiritual Pulse Apostle.
From the high platform, the Sect Leader couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when the “Jia Lan” girl awakened successfully with Six Spiritual Pulses.
Even though Six Spiritual Pulses could only be considered average within the Spirit Apostles, with the sect’s full support, it was not impossible to cultivate to a Spirit Master.
As for the other Spirit Masters, their moods started to become different.
Some of them with successful pre-picked Practitioners, secretly became immensely happy. While the ones that had their picks fail, with some even dying in the formation, felt very depressed.
As for the vacant slots, they could only be filled by the other Spirit Apostles.
Although the Clan Practitioners were great in number, only a few would succeed in awakening. Besides the ones Gui Spirit Master named, the rest had little to no hope.
With a shout from Lei Spirit Master, it was finally time for the Clan Practitioners like Liu Ming.
After the first batch of Clan Practitioners entered the formation for two hours, the result caused the faces of Liu Ming’s group to turn ugly.
Out of the hundred Clan Practitioners, not a single one of them successfully in opening their Spiritual Seas. In addition, almost two-thirds of them immediately died.
The remaining thirty people walked out of the formation like corpses while the other Clan Practitioners did not dare walk into the formation.
“If the rest of you are not willing to enter, that’s good. Our sect can save on a large amount of resources. You can all become Outer Disciplines.” Lei Spirit Master smiled coldly as he saw the situation and did not urge the people at all.
The cultivation world was originally a world of survival of the fittest. He would not treat any of the Clan Practitioners with pity.
“Hmph. Why are we still backing out now. I’m going up!” One of the Clan Practitioners spoke and walked out first, taking large steps.
This was Lei Zhen from the Lei Clan.
The Lei Spirit Master saw this from midair and was startled, but quickly started to smile without saying anything else.
With someone taking the lead, the rest of the youths finally took up the courage and followed along.
Liu Ming’s gaze shifted for a bit, and he lightly took in a breath before walking up with this group.