It was a bright sunny morning the next day.
Huang Xiaolong stepped out of the inn, and out of the Northside Merchant City's city gates, walking where the Blessed Buddha Altar was located. According to the restaurant waiter, the Blessed Buddha Altar was right above the square in front of the Buddha Cavern entrance. It was rumored that the Blessed Buddha Altar awaits the fated person every time it appears and only disappears after one was selected.
This time, the Blessed Buddha Altar had been floating before the Buddha Cavern for one month. Due to the close distance between the Northside Merchant City and the Buddha Cavern, Huang Xiaolong soon arrived at the said square.
The huge square in front of the Buddha Cavern was named Thousand Blessings Square. Ten thousand Buddha statues lined the perimeter. Each statue was different, from expressions to positions, but there was one common denominator: all these statues were ten zhang tall!
By the time Huang Xiaolong reached Thousand Blessings Square, it was already crowded. Following the flow of the crowd, Huang Xiaolong slowly moved closer and finally stopped right in front of the Buddha Cavern entrance. From this angle, Huang Xiaolong could clearly see, right above the Buddha Cavern entrance, a squarish-shaped golden medallion floating in the air. The golden medallion was roughly a dozen cubic meters, densely carved with scenes that depicted a myriad of Buddhas on its many surfaces and some peculiar patterns of buddhism scriptures.
Up in the air, the golden medallion pulsated with rings of aureate glow, spreading the pure energy of Buddhism as far as a hundred zhang in its surroundings.
A sudden wave shot through the crowd at this time. "Look, that's the Luo Family's Luo Wuyi!"
Huang Xiaolong's gaze followed the general direction of the crowd and saw a young man in blue robe headed straight towards the golden medallion.
"Luo Wuyi, Luo Family's most talented genius in a thousand years, also one of the recent outstanding geniuses of our Blessed Buddha Empire. First-rank grade eleven martial spirit, Windfire Beast," enthusiastic discussions sounded amongst the crowd. "With Luo Wuyi's talent, it's very likely he would be selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
In general, the higher one's martial spirit grade was, the higher one's talent was, and the higher one's chances of being chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar. In the past, every time the Blessed Buddha Altar appeared, the fated ones chosen were always geniuses with superb talent martial spirits. Then again, an exception had occurred once: the Blessed Buddha Altar chose a young man who possessed a grade ten martial spirit.
While the crowd buzzed, Luo Wuyi arrived at the Blessed Buddha Altar. When Luo Wuyi stood below the Blessed Buddha Altar, lucent battle qi light surged out from his body, and when he did so, the Blessed Buddha Altar seemed to resonate, releasing a glimmering glow of its own.
"Look, there's a reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
"It really seems like Luo Wuyi is the chosen one by the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
An uproar swept through the mass crowd, cries of excitement built up like waves.
When the Blessed Buddha Altar appeared, one needed to stand below it and release their battle qi. If they could trigger the Blessed Buddha Altar's resonance to break out in a shining beam of light reaching ten thousand zhang and the buddha carvings on all four sides to project images in the void above, without a doubt, that person was the fated one.
Huang Xiaolong's eyes narrowed watching this; if this Luo Wuyi was chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, wouldn't that mean his plan of using this opportunity to meet Shi Fantian so that he could enter the Buddha Cavern just went down the drain? He would need to think of another method.
This was a troublesome result for him.
The brilliant light beaming from the buddha blessed altar continued to soar higher as Huang Xiaolong and the crowd looked on, even issuing a clear humming sound.
Seeing such a reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar, even Luo Wuyi's was affected by rising anticipation and excited.
From past records, those that could triggered such a reactions and humming sounds from the Blessed Buddha Altar were very likely the fated one being chosen! Being chosen meant that one would be sanctified by the Buddhism power, he, Luo Wuyi, that had been stuck at peak late-Xiantian Third Order absolutely could break through to the Fourth Order.
Xiantian Fourth Order was a mid-level Xiantian warrior!
At that time, his status and position within the clan would be different.
Just when Luo Wuyi was immersed in his bubbling ecstasy, the initially rising aureate beam from Blessed Buddha Altar occluded. The rising beam of light dimmed and receded, gradually dissipating together with the clear humming.
The Blessed Buddha Altar returned to its prior calm state.
Luo Wuyi was dumbfounded.
So was everyone watching in the crowd for a full three seconds, before someone hissed in surprise.
Many were shaking their heads in pity, yet many more were laughing gleefully inside.
Luo Wuyi remained standing in the same spot looking slightly ugly, the joy and ecstasy he felt earlier vanished without a trace, replaced with unwillingness and annoyance.
"Luo Wuyi, since you're not chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar then roll down from there, don't block the spot!" at this time, a harsh arrogant voice sounded on the square.
"It's the Chen Family's genius, Chen Dingyuan!"
"The Chen and Luo Families are nemesis like fire and ice, moreover, Chen Dingyuan and Luo Wuyi have grudges between them. This time, Luo Wuyi wasn't chosen, he must be delighted!"
The crowd parted a small gap way for Chen Dingyuan to pass as whispers continued. Chen Dingyuan swaggered through the opening, exuding an atmosphere that made hearts palpitated, stopping ten meters in front of Luo Wuyi.
Luo Wuyi's face sank as he looked at the other side, "I wasn't chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, do you think your average grade eleven martial spirits would be selected?"
A sharp glint flitted across Chen Dingyuan's eyes, retorting with a cold sneer, "Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean that I can't."
Luo Wuyi snorted yet he no longer spoke, emptying the spot underneath the Blessed Buddha Altar. He chose a spot on the side and waited to watch Chen Dingyuan's test.
The crowd and Huang Xiaolong's focus shifted onto Chen Dingyuan.
Chen Dingyuan walked up, standing of the same spot Luo Wuyi had vacated beneath the Blessed Buddha Altar, projecting his battle qi. Seeing it trigger a glowing reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar, a trace of joy flashed in Chen Dingyuan's face.
Its glow grew brighter, beaming higher and higher. Before long, it issued another series of hums.
Faces in the crowd tightened nervously.
But at this moment, the beaming brilliance occluded just like what happened to Lo Wuyi. The humming disappeared.
Another stretch of stunned silence before the crowd broke in another uproar.
"Chen Dingyuan, since you weren't selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar, roll away from there, don't block the path!" Luo Wuyi's voice cut through the noises, returning Chen Dingyuan's words to himself.
Chen Dingyuans' face distorted with anger, but in the end, he vacated the spot.
After Chen Dingyuan, there were five other people that tried, however, for these five people, there wasn't the slightest reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar when their battle qi was released.
The silence around the five people was extremely awkward.
Under normal circumstances, only those with grade ten and above martial spirits would be chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, therefore, those with grade ten martial spirit and below doesn't stand any chance. It was because of this reason that the people who went up to try were scarce in number.
Seeing there was no one else, Huang Xiaolong lifted his leg and stepped out from the crowd, towards the Blessed Buddha Altar.
Huang Xiaolong's action attracted a lot of attention from the surrounding people.
"This kid looks unfamiliar, I wonder which empire's family genius is he?"
"Genius? Who knows, maybe his martial spirit is only the most common of grade ten, going up to test his luck. If he really is a genius, it's impossible to stay unknown!"
Luo Wuyi and Cheng Dingyuan remained standing at the side amongst the crowd after their trial, both gave Huang Xiaolong a glance when he walked beneath the altar. But there was no expectation of Huang Xiaolong, like the rest, they thought Huang Xiaolong was just another person that just wanted to try their luck.
Huang Xiaolong came to a stand underneath the Blessed Buddha Altar followed closely by everyone's gaze. Battle qi shrouded him as it projected outside his body, instantly illuminating the center area.