Chapter 11 – Nine-colored Halo (1)
“Brother, I didn’t hear your name being called out yet. Why?” At the corner of the left row, Qingyu grumbled, with her hands put beneath her chin.
It was already afternoon, as the dusk sunlight shed through the entire Battle Beast Hall. Up until now, only half of the candidates had finished the ceremony. However, Qinghan was still patiently awaiting his turn, though he didn’t have a clue when that would be.
“Hehe, the elders always prioritize the descendants with the highest potential. Don’t worry.” Qinghan stroked Qingyu’s hair, pretending not to care about the sequence.
Actually, Qinghan had deliberately observed his counterparts. In the morning, most of them were the young pupils and their accomplishments were satisfactory – Apart from Qingfeng’s seventh-grade spirit wolf, there were battle beasts from third-grade to sixth-grade.
While in the afternoon, the candidates were clearly weaker than those before them. Although there was a key descendant named Ye Qingchen who had summoned a sixth-grade battle beast, others had yielded rather disappointing results. Some of them, for instance, failed to summon a beast, as the halo color remained white for them.
As a third-time candidate, Qinghan was regarded by the Ye Family as a futureless descendant, so it wasn’t really a surprise that he had to wait this long.
“Ye Yunhai, first-grade spotted pig, Ye Huatian, second-grade dog, Ye Jianhong, second-grade coquettish chicken… The last group, Ye Xiaosa, Ye Qinghan and Ye Yanyu.” Elder Tianqing unpredictably smiled, as he seemed to be depressurized by the nearing ending of the ceremony.
Once the last group finished their tasks, the ceremony would end. Despite the fact that some candidates didn’t summon any beast, Elder Tianqing was rather satisfied with the general outcome. A seventh-grade spirit wolf could be categorized as a superior beast, which was the true reason why he smiled so cheerfully. He even started considering, that if these candidates would summon a seventh-grade battle beast each year in the Awakening Ceremony, then the Ye Family’s influence in the continent would soar. Because, when the seventh-grade battle beast matured, it would likely become equivalent to a cultivator in the Realm of the Prince.
“Pfffffff!”
Qinghan let out a long sigh to quell down his excitement. Finally, it was his turn! He recited the fourth step, as per described in the Secret Code for Sacred Blood, in a quiet and low voice.
“Step four – Stop the flow of your blood. At the awakening ceremony, you have to deliberately block the flow of your blood in order to activate the sacred blood, so that it may resonate with the ancestral power. Possible symptoms: blood starts to flow backwards or meridians get cut off, or perhaps… Even death…”
Qinghan turned to his sister, and dotingly looked at her. He wasn’t sure if he could survive this dangerous method and felt guilty that he could die inside the altar and leave Qingyu alone in this world.
“Hey, brother. Come on... It’s not your first awakening ceremony, relax! Believe in yourself and you’ll definitely succeed!” Qingyu blinked her charming eyes, while she tried to console her seemingly unconfident brother. Looking from afar, in her white dress, Qingyu very much resembled an elf from the celestial heaven.
“Yes, I will!” Qinghan firmly nodded his head. He then straightened his spine and strode fearlessly towards the altar.
Walking into the white halo, Qinghan entered the altar.
Although it was his third awakening attempt, Qinghan still thought that the altar was rather strange and mysterious.
Indeed, the size of the altar was far from large. The floor of the altar was made of some unknown kind of slates, on which some illegible words were sculptured. On each of the four corners, there was a piece of white crystal placed, without which the white halo would fail to appear.
Gradually, from inside the altar white smoke emerged, which quickly became thicker and thicker. Strangely, large amounts of the white smoke penetrated into Qinghan’s body.
Three minutes quietly passed by. The white halo remained the same, as there wasn’t even the slightest of changes, except for some ripple-like fluctuation.
“If I don’t follow the Secret Code for Sacred Blood, I’ll fail to summon any beast, just like my previous two attempts… Alright, I have to practice the fourth step. Daddy, don’t let me down and please bless me.” Qinghan was determined to take the risk and stop the flow of his blood.
Crouching towards the middle of the space inside the altar, Qinghan deliberately blocked the acupoints that connected his yin and yang blood vessels.
Instantly, his body grew redder and redder, because all his blood vessels pumped up.
“Oh! So suffocating, as if someone is strangling my neck! Ah? Why am I so dizzy? Come on, it’s about time for my sacred blood to activate and resonate with the ancestral power...”
The whole experience was grotesque, as if he was forced to be drowned in the deep waters of the ocean. Right now, he was suffering from a severe deficit of oxygen in his brain.
“Hold on! Hold on!” Only these two words lingered in his mind, Qinghan chose to believe in his father and continued blocking the blood from flowing.
Anyone who saw Qinghan right now would be shocked by his horrible appearance – various protruded veins, a scarlet-red body and blood that kept oozing out of his mouth, nostril and ears… Very much like a ferocious demon.
“Oh, no!” Qinghan vomited a mouthful of blood. The blood vessels could no longer stand the pressure caused by the blockage of his blood flow.
“I’m doomed! I will die…” Unexpectedly, his mind was extremely sober, despite the physical suffering. As if in a trance, he felt like he could see all his yin veins crack with blood pillars flooding out of them. Also, through the white smoke, he could see the various expressions of the spectators. Here, he saw his sister, Qingyu, who was sitting there with her tender and hopeful eyes… It was like a momentary recovery of his consciousness before death.
Because of the severe hemorrhage, Qinghan was on the verge of falling into unconsciousness... Or even death!
At this critical moment, the bronze ring on his left hand suddenly emitted a gleaming white ray. Like a silk thread, the ray shot into Qinghan’s body.
Surprisingly, Qinghan’s body was wrapped up by a glowing aura, as the red color of his skin gradually disappeared. Thanks to the white ray from the ring, Qinghan’s outlook went through a series of positive changes.
Eventually, the white ray went through Qinghan’s heart, where his yin vein was broken. His skin, muscles and veins, all recovered from their previous horrible appearance. Now, the gleam only lingered on his chest, as it was the most severely injured part of his body.
Despite the ongoing changes that were happening in Qinghan’s body, he was totally unaware of it. He had already lost consciousness before the white ray had even entered into his body.
……
“It has been more than five minutes since my brother stepped into the altar. Why is there no change in the color of the halo?” Qingyu frowned, as she was extremely worried about her brother, who had been so determined to succeed.
Honestly, Qingyu didn’t care much about success or failure. All she was anxious about, was whether her brother would be saddened by any kind of failure.
“Ah, the color starts to change!” A spectator in a nearby seat suddenly exclaimed.
Out of excitement, Qingyu quickly raised her head. However, after having a closer look, she lowered her head again, in great disappointment. It was the left altar that was changing colors, not her brother’s.
“Alas… How shall I soothe my brother when he comes out?” Qingyu was caught by a feeling of indescribable uneasiness, as she knew that her stubborn brother would turn crazy if he found himself failing yet again. Occasionally, she would cast her eye on her brother’s altar to see if there was any miracle...
“It changes, it changes!!! The halo around my brother’s altar is changing color!!”
The girl’s abrupt exclamation caught everyone’s attention. They all fixed their eyes on the middle altar, where Qinghan was in.
The left halo had already stopped changing, as it had turned yellow. While the middle one finally started to change its color from white to red… And there were no signs of stopping quite yet!
Chapter 11 – The Nine-colored Halo (2)
“Why are you so excited? I bet the color will change to orange at most. If it becomes yellow, it’ll be a miracle.” One of the spectators interrupted. After all, the phenomenon he described was not unfamiliar for them, as it had happened many times throughout this ceremony. Whenever they had raised their expectations, they tended to end up disappointed
“Oh, you might be right. Now it changes to yellow.” The discussion went on. While Qingyu was engrossed with the halo, as two lines of warm tears streamed down her face. She was so thrilled to see the changes that were going on in the halo of her brother’s altar. Now, she was in a world of her own, disregarding the negative predictions of the others.
“My brother has finally made it!” Qingyu couldn’t conceal her happiness.
The four elders in the front row seemed rather calm, as they were chatting absent-mindedly, while sometimes they would take a sip of their tea. They were experienced elders, who controlled their expectations wisely.
“Oh? The color keeps changing. Now, it’s green. Who is in the middle altar? Hmmm, he must have some potential...”
As the halo changed its color from yellow to green, the spectators were once again reignited. Some of them started to inquire about the name of the descendant in the altar. After all, the green color represented a fourth-grade battle beast, which was already above average.
“What?! It’s still changing? Now it’s cyan! How is this possible?”
The middle altar grabbed most of the attention from the spectators, as some slight cyan beams were now shining within the halo. This time, the elders also widened their eyes, as they momentarily stopped sipping their tea.
“Let me check who is in the middle altar. He seems rather promising. Er… His name is Ye Qinghan. He is already fifteen years old! For this age, it’s really rare to have a cyan halo to appear. It seems he is probably a late bloomer.” Elder Tianqing thumbed through the manual and smiled in a delighted manner.
The moment when Elder Tianqing was about to pick up his cup of tea, the whole crowd suddenly bursted into a loud clamor.
“Ah, look, it’s still changing…”
“Oh, my God! Blue! Oh, no… Now it’s purple! It’s the same color young lord Qingfeng had.”
“Congratulations! Tonight we should hold a banquet to celebrate…”
Elder Tianqing could no longer stand quietly; he put aside his cup of tea and stood up. The other elders quickly followed suit. They all attentively stared at the middle altar, so as not to miss a single of the ongoing changes.
The green color gradually faded away, before a purple color took over. Looking from afar, the altar was like a purple egg that stood vertically in the middle of the hall.
“Gosh! It doesn’t stop…”
The spectators were on the verge of madness. They exclaimed and cheered.
“Be quiet, all of you! Otherwise, you’ll be punished by the family rules!”
A terrifying voice suddenly pierced through the air. The crowd abruptly shut their mouth out of fear.
The voice was Elder Tianqing’s, as he conveyed his voice with his mouth closed. Obviously, he had used an extraordinary technique.
Realizing that the middle altar might break the record of this ceremony, the four elders went closer to the “egg” and stood around it.
Now, the purple color disappeared bit by bit, as a black color emerged. At last, the halo turned out to be utterly black, as if there was black water floating around the surface of the altar.
The black halo! It was highly likely that the candidate in this altar would summon an eighth-grade battle beast, which would fall in the same ranking as that of the leader of the Ye Family!
Nevertheless!
To everyone’s astonishment, the halo kept on changing color after turning black!
Instantly, the black halo turned into a golden halo. Strangely, the golden halo only existed for a second, before it was joined by the other eight colors – red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black and gold. The nine colors mingled with each other, emitting colorful gleams throughout the hall.
“A nine-colored halo!”
“This is insane! What has happened?”
Everyone exchanged inquisitive looks with each other, but they failed to find a proper explanation.
The four elders were also bewildered by the nine-colored halo. Never in their entire life, or even in the history of the Ye Family, had such an abnormal phenomenon been seen.
Suddenly, Elder Tianqing’s eyes lit up, as if he was enlightened by something. He turned to one of the other elders and instructed, “Second brother, you’d better invite all the members of the Elder Clan to come here. As far as I know, something big is about to happen…”
Several minutes later, the Battle Beast Hall was crowded with the leading members of the Ye Family, except for Ye Tianlong, as well as the two oldest elders, who said they would only come out of reclusion if it was a matter of life and death for the Ye Family.
The middle altar was surrounded by layers of people, craning their head over the shoulders of those in front of them to get a better view of the halo.
“Everyone, listen to me. First, I apologize for taking the liberty to invite all of you to come here. Second, let me explain why this event is so important. Look, the halo here has nine colors, has anyone here seen this kind of halo before? I think the answer is definitely no. As we all know, the most impressive golden halo was made by our ancestor, Ye Ruoshui, who had summoned a ninth-grade white tiger. Now, we have this halo, which encompasses all nine colors. It should be of a higher grade than the ninth-grade! That’s why…” Elder Tianqing was off the reel. Obviously, he was overexcited.
“Could this be…”
“Errr.. Really?”
“Is that rumor real?”
All the elders were agitated, quite the opposite to their normal straight face. They all remembered the words of Ye Ruoshui, who had summoned the holy-grade white tiger. It was said that Ruoshui had actually entered the peak level of the Realm of the Saint, which meant, he was only one step away from becoming an immortal. Not only did this ancestor excel at cultivation, he also boasted a deep knowledge of battle beasts.
“If there appeared a nine-colored halo in the Awakening Ceremony, then the likelihood of summoning a divine-grade beast is high. Sadly, I won’t have the opportunity to witness it…” Ruoshui had said this during his last year in this world.
A divine-grade beast!
What actually was a divine-grade beast? The divine-grade was equivalent to immortals! If… If there emerged a descendant who could summon a divine-grade beast, it would be a guarantee for the Ye Family to outmatch the other four prominent families; it would even be possible for the Ye Family to challenge the authority of Immortal City.
“Is that Ye Qinghan, who is in this altar? Hmm... Good, very good. His father was a genius, no wonder he has this kind of potential.”
“Absolutely. I predicted that Qinghan would become a remarkable kid. Oh, I once even recommended him to be listed as one of the key descendants of our family.”
“Hum, this kid is pitiful, his parents both met with an early demise. The family should pay special attention to this kid and give him more care. After the ceremony, we should compensate him with more love and concern.”
“Yeah, not long ago, when his mother passed away, he requested to move her body to the ancestral tomb. Now, I think it would be absolutely acceptable to do so…”
The elders were immersed in their jubilant atmosphere, expecting that Qinghan would summon a divine-grade beast, which would make a great contribution to the Ye Family.
The only one who wore a gloomy face was Ye Jian, who had long been hostile with Ye Dao’s family. He was almost pissed off by the other elders’ compliments for Qinghan. He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he impolitely cut in, “Calm down, everybody. It’s still too early to jump to any conclusions. The halo itself just serves as a clue for us to predict. Whether he can summon a high-ranked battle beast or not remains the question.”
“Er!”
The hot discussion cooled down a little bit because of Ye Jian’s reasonable analysis. It was true, that sometimes, the candidate only summoned a low-ranked battle beast despite the halo showing a high-ranked color. Plus, the nine-colored halo was only a prediction of Ruoshui, who had never seen it himself. Now, it seemed that the halo only told half of the story; they still needed to wait for Qinghan to come out to confirm the final result. However, despite all their doubts, the expectations in their eyes were self-evident.
The nine-colored halo was still lingering around the middle altar, dazzling the eyes, as well as the minds of the crowd.