Awakening (Part Two)

The golden scroll flickered in the wind and then transformed into a golden, hazy screen that hovered in the void.

Within the screen, tiny silver ancient characters flickered in and out of visibility, shimmering with light.

The Lei Family Spirit Master immediately formed a hand seal, and the halo around his body tore open, revealing his true face.

It was actually a big man with a full beard, dressed in a purple robe, with broad shoulders and a round waist, giving off an imposing and impressive air.

The Lei Family Spirit Master stared at the text on the golden screen, changed the spell in his hands, and began to chant with his mouth opening and closing.

Liu Ming, however, was shocked to discover that he couldn't hear anything and turned his gaze to the faces of the disciples from other noble families nearby.

He found that most of them also wore expressions of astonishment.

Clearly, he was not the only one in this situation.

But when he looked towards the disciples in the middle of the formation, he saw their faces contorting in pain the moment the bearded man started to speak; some even began to twist grotesquely, and the white halos enveloping them flickered wildly.

Spirit Masters' methods were indeed mysterious and profound; the 'true words' they spoke could be targeted to affect only a certain area without impacting the surroundings outside the formation.

Liu Ming couldn't help but look forward to the Spirit Masters' 'spells' with great anticipation.

Compared to them, Qi practitioners, although they could also use talismans to perform some small tricks, were obviously no match at all.

"Bang" "Bang," two muffled sounds came.

Two of the young disciples seated in the formation suddenly had their heads burst from the inside out after a series of convulsions, their protective white light vanished in a flash, and the headless bodies swayed before collapsing onto the ground.

Witnessing such a bloody scene, some of the more faint-hearted noble disciples immediately cried out, while others went pale.

The disciples who had yet to join the Barbarian Ghost Sect also revealed a hint of unease upon seeing this.

However, the big man in the sky and other apprentices outside of the formation seemed to take no notice.

Just as Liu Ming's gaze swept past the two headless bodies, a third Barbarian Ghost Sect disciple suddenly stood up, waved his arms wildly, and his head exploded as well.

"Hmph, useless. The selection has just begun, and there are already those who cannot withstand the backlash. When our sect selects spiritual vein disciples next time, we should be even stricter," the Sect Leader of the Barbarian Ghost Sect said with a snort of displeasure upon seeing this situation.

"Sect Leader Senior Brother, before the Opening Spirit Ceremony, we can only estimate the approximate potential of the disciples. Some mistakes are inevitable. The disciple who just perished was actually one of the candidates I had high hopes for, as he had performed quite outstandingly in his previous cultivation," Junior Sister Lin said with a wry smile.

"Regardless, our sect has invested a lot of resources in each spiritual vein disciple. It is never a mistake to be stricter in our selection," the Sect Leader of the Barbarian Ghost Sect said indifferently.

"Yes, for the next batch of spiritual vein disciples' selection, I will definitely discuss more with the other Senior Brothers to strive for selecting even more outstanding disciples," Junior Sister Lin could only respond in such a manner.

The Sect Leader of the Barbarian Ghost Sect finally nodded with a slightly eased expression upon hearing this and continued to watch the disciples in the ceremony from afar.

In the formation, as the third body fell, there were no more immediate deaths for some time, but as the moments passed, strands of white, lint-like light began to condense and aggressively burrow into the skin of the disciples from the white halos around their bodies.

The expressions on the disciples' faces convulsed violently; many shook and their eyes became blood-red with madness barely hidden within.

After a few more muffled sounds, another four or five bodies fell into the pools of blood.

Liu Ming's eyes twitched slightly upon seeing this.

At this moment, the rain of spiritual energy in the formation gradually began to cease, and the white halos around some were reduced significantly, even revealing parts of their bodies.

Seeing this, a Spirit Master, without a second word, gestured grandly with his hand.

The apprentices outside the formation immediately urged the long vials in their hands, and streaks of spiritual liquid once again shot out in white lines.

Countless white specks reappeared in the formation and flew down on their own to envelop the disciples, instantly replenishing their halos to their original state.

A foggy spiritual rain also began to fall from the sky!

...

A young disciple seated in the formation suddenly had all traces of pain vanish from his face, replaced by a look of utmost relief.

He abruptly opened his mouth and let out a clear cry, while a series of crackling sounds like firecrackers erupted from within his body. Shimmering white light bands appeared on his skin one after another—one, two, three..., stopping only after the sixth band appeared, then abruptly ceased.

The Barbarian Ghost Sect disciple first looked bewildered, but after glancing at the six light bands wrapped around his body, he cried out in extreme ecstasy:

"I've successfully opened my Spiritual Sea, I am a Six Spiritual Vein, I am also a spiritual apprentice now!"

"What are you yelling for? There are others who aren't successful yet. You stay inside and continue to consolidate your Spiritual Sea. Once you leave, there won't be a second chance with such good conditions for you to squander," a Spirit Master, upon seeing this, immediately scolded lowly.

The Barbarian Ghost Sect disciple then came to his senses, hastily nodded in agreement, and sat down cross-legged again to continue breathing in and out, consolidating his cultivation.

Shortly after the first Spirit disciple appeared in the array, the second and third ones followed, but during this period, others couldn't withstand the backlash and their heads exploded, dying on the spot.

Half an hour later, after the ninth Spirit disciple emerged, a quarter of the Spirit Vein disciples had died. Although the remaining ones were still desperately persevering, it was clear that there were no more effects.

The Lei surnamed big man, who had been silently urging the true words in the air, saw this situation and suddenly lifted his mouth to coldly announce,

"Time is up. Those remaining who have not succeeded in opening their spirit veins will become outer disciples of our Sect. Now, everyone leave the formation and make way for the second batch of disciples to come in."

No sooner had the words of the Lei surnamed big man fallen than the still operating formation came to a sudden halt, and the clusters of light on the bodies of the Barbarian Ghost Sect disciples burst and dissolved like bubbles.

The intense pain that the disciples challenging their Spirit Seas felt vanished in an instant.

But when they realized what was going on, they immediately became disheartened.

In the higher echelons of the clan Sect, the status gap between an outer disciple and a Spirit disciple was immense. No matter how outstanding their previous performances, from now on, they could only become the lowest existences within the Barbarian Ghost Sect.

As for those nine who successfully initiated their Spirit Seas, they were from that moment above the rest, not only receiving further meticulous cultivation from the Sect but also being able to practice incredible techniques that allowed flying and earth escaping, and even extending their lifespans many times over than theirs.

At this time, the blood and corpses within the formation were cleaned up by a dozen outer disciples who had come from nowhere, leaving not a single drop of blood after washing the ground with clear water several times.

Upon the command of Lei Zhen, the Spirit Master, the second batch of Spirit Vein disciples from the Barbarian Ghost Sect also flocked into the formation and sat down cross-legged.

The same scene was then reenacted.

Only this time, the person reciting the silver inscriptions within the golden light barrier had changed to another Spirit Master.

The Lei surnamed big man landed outside the formation and began to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.

Clearly, nearly an hour of continuous use of the power of true words was not a small consumption for a Spirit Master. They had to take turns resting.

The process of opening the spirit took about an hour each time.

Three hours later, the remaining three batches of Spirit Vein disciples from the Barbarian Ghost Sect also swiftly completed the initiation ceremony.

In the first batch of disciples, the highest number of Spirit Veins opened was only six.

In the second batch, twelve Spirit disciples appeared at once, two of whom were nine Spirit-Vein disciples.

The third batch saw only eight people successfully opening their Spirit Seas, but among them, three were nine Spirit-Vein disciples.

In the fourth batch of disciples, as many as fifteen Spirit disciples appeared all at once, among whom, however, there was only one nine Spirit-Vein disciple.

When the head of the Barbarian Ghost Sect on the high platform saw a pretty girl named 'Jialan' also successfully open her Spirit Veins, and furthermore, showing the phenomenon of six Spirit Veins, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the aptitude of six Spirit Veins was only considered average among Spirit disciples, with the full support of the Sect, rising to the realm of Spirit Master was not without hope.

As for the other Spirit Masters, their feelings varied at this moment.

Those whose chosen disciples had successfully become Spirit disciples were naturally extremely pleased. Those whose chosen disciples failed to open their Spirit Seas, or even died on the spot from backlash, were undoubtedly feeling quite dejected.

The vacancies would have to be filled by selecting from among the other Spirit disciples.

As for the many clan disciples left, very few became Spirit disciples, excluding the Confucian scholar with the Gui surname, and no one else held any further hopes.

After the command of the Lei surnamed big man, it was finally the turn of Liu Ming and the other clan disciples.

An hour after the first batch of clan disciples entered the formation, Liu Ming and the others had extremely ugly expressions when they saw the result.

Not a single one of these hundred clan disciples successfully opened their Spirit Seas, and nearly two-thirds of them died on the spot.

The remaining thirty or so came out of the formation looking like walking corpses, and for a moment, no one from the clan disciples dared to enter the formation.

"If you don't wish to go in, that's fine! Our Sect can save a considerable amount of resources and simply demote you all to outer disciples," said the Lei surnamed big man, seeing this situation. He didn't urge them but simply sneered.

The cultivation world was, after all, a world where the strong prey upon the weak; he felt no sympathy for these clan disciples.

"Humph, what's there to hesitate about at this point? I'll go!" One of the clan disciples snorted and strode forward first.

It was none other than Lei Zhen, a young member of the Lei Family.

Seeing this youth, the Lei surnamed big man in the air was a bit startled, but soon smiled without saying much more.

Seeing someone taking the lead, the rest of the young men and women stirred, and finally, some of the braver ones followed suit.

Liu Ming's gaze flickered a few times, then he suddenly took a deep breath and also stepped out from the crowd.