Chereads / Chaotic Phoenix Exalt / Chapter 5 - Azure Moon Martial House and the Awakening Ceremony

Chapter 5 - Azure Moon Martial House and the Awakening Ceremony

It's been a week since Yang Ling met the senior who saved her from the four-tailed fox monster beast in the Silver Mountains Range. They arrived at the White City, where the senior purchased a carriage and hired a mercenary group to escort them to the Moon Star Kingdom.

Yang Ling got to know the senior. While they were sitting inside the carriage and traveling to the Star Moon Kingdom, the senior name was Huang Ah, and she is one of the Bright Moon Sect's supreme elders.

Huang Ah is a sword cultivator, which means she cultivates a sword cultivation method and specializes in wielding a sword.

Huang Ah also told Yang Ling she followed the Yuan Spirit cultivation path, and she explained to Yang Ling the different cultivation realms in this particular cultivation path. 

The Yuan Spirit cultivation path has six cultivation realms: the Beginning realm, Knight Ascension realm, Knight realm, Earth Knight realm, Sky Knight realm, General realm, King realm, and Emperor realm.

According to the ancient records, there is a realm above the Emperor realm, but no one has been able to breakthrough to this realm ever since ancient times, which led a lot of cultivators to believe it is just a myth, nothing more, nothing less. 

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After one month of traveling, Yang Ling and Huang Ah arrived at Moonlight City in the Moon Star Kingdom. Huang Ah then looked at Yang Ling and said, "Listen up, Yang Ling." We'll now go to the Azure Moon Martial House and register you for the awakening ceremony. If you survive the ceremony and awaken your spiritual veins, you will be able to join the martial house as a disciple. Do you still want to be a cultivator? You can live a normal life here, you know."

Yang Ling's eyes shone with determination, and she said to Huang Ah, "I want to be a cultivator senior." Huang Ah smiled and nodded. "Alright, let's go. I will register you for the next awakening ceremony at the Azure Moon Martial House."

Both Yang Ling and Huang Ah walked for twenty minutes, then they arrived in front of a huge Azure gate. A huge board above the gate bore the words Azure Moon Martial House.

When the guards saw the robe Huang Ah was wearing, they fell to one knee, and one of the guards asked, "Supreme elder, how can we help you?"

Huang Ah said coldly to them, "I would like to register this girl for the next awakening ceremony."

One of the guards quickly stood up, picked up a form, and handed it to Yang Ling. He then said to her with a smile on his face, "Please fill up this form so we can book a place for you in the awakening ceremony."

Yang Ling nodded, and she started filling up the form. After finishing filling it up, she handed the form back to the guard.

The guard then took the form from Yang Ling, handed her a token, and said to her, "The next opening ceremony is in two months; don't be late, please." Yang Ling nodded to the guard.

After Yang Ling registered for the awakening ceremony, she and Huang Ah left the Azure Moon Martial House.

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Yang Ling and Huang Ah returned to Moonlight City. Huang Ah turned to Yang Ling and said, "Yang Ling, this is where we depart." I wish you luck in the awakening ceremony. I am sure that one day we will meet again if you survive the awakening ceremony."

Yang Ling cupped her fist and said to Huang Ah, "I thank you for everything you did for me, senior. I will do my best to not disappoint you."

Huang Ah smiled and nodded to Yang Ling, and then she started flying in the air, which shocked Yang Ling. "SWISH!" Huang Ah then flew at incredible speed through the air, disappearing from Yang Ling's sight.

"Cultivators can fly in the air!" Yang Ling took a deep breath to calm her beating heart, then gave a wide smile and thought, "One day I too will fly like Senior Huang Ah."

Yang Ling then began to look around Moonlight City. "Well, first, I need to find a place to stay for two months, and then I will need to find a secluded place for me to master the Unbreakable Sword Art."

After making up her mind, Yang Ling started looking for an Inn to stay at. She found an Inn and booked a room for two months. Then she went shopping and bought a red, elegant dress for herself.

After buying the dress, Yang Ling returned to the Inn She took a bath in the inn, ate a snack, and exited the Inn .

Yang Ling walked around Moonlight City, looking for a secluded place for her to train her unbreakable Sword Art.

After fifteen minutes of looking around, she found a secluded place next to a lake to train her sword art. She unsheathed her sword and closed her eyes. "The Unbreakable Sword Art's first layer, the unbreakable defense, comprises two components: solid blocks and deflecting attacks."

"The unbreakable defense required minimal footwork movement, and it is also very important to read and predict the foe's movements in order to execute the two components of the unbreakable defense to their highest efficiency."

After completing her analysis of the first layer of the Unbreakable Sword Art, Yang Ling began to visualize the crimson fox monster beasts that had attacked her before she met Huang Ah.

Yang Ling, following the sword art's instructions, assumed the defensive stance and began elegantly waving her sword in the air.

Her footwork was small, and the sword movements were simple; however, every movement she did was perfect, according to the sword art she received from the sword spirit.

Yang Ling spent four hours training the sword art before returning to the Inn.

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It took Yang Ling five days to totally master the first layer of the Unbreakable Sword Art, and she started practicing the second layer of the sword art, the Unbreakable Swing.

The unbreakable swing layer consists of two swords: swings, a heavy sword swing, and a light sword swing.

The heavy sword swing is a strong sword swing that sword wielders use when swinging their sword with all of their strength.

The light sword swing is the opposite of the heavy sword swing. The sword wielder swings their sword nimbly at the foe.

Yang Ling trained diligently to master the second layer of the sword art, and it took her only two days to completely master the second layer.

After one month, Yang Ling mastered the Unbreakable Sword Art completely, and now she is thinking of a way to improve the sword art.

"Can I merge the sword art layers into one?" Yang Ling asked herself as she focused her eyes on the sword blade that she was carrying with her right hand.

She smiled at her idea and said loudly, "Let's give it a try." Yang Ling then started working on merging the Unbreakable Sword Art layers into one.

First, Yang Ling worked on merging the unbreakable defense layer and the unbreakable swing layer. It took her two weeks to merge the two layers together. Then she worked on merging the third layer of the sword art, the unbreakable counter, with the first two layers. It took her five days to merge the unbreakable counter with the first two layers.

Yang Ling spent another week trying to merge the fourth layer of the sword art, the unbreakable dance, with the layers that she already merged, but she wasn't successful, and now there are only a couple of days left before the awakening ceremony.

"Well, too bad I couldn't merge all the layers of the Unbreakable Sword Art before the awakening ceremony. Oh well, I will just work on merging the rest of the unbreakable sword art layers after I join the Azure Moon Martial House." After making up her mind, Yang Ling nodded to herself and returned to the Inn.

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In Front The Azure Moon Martial House

After a couple of days of resting in the Inn, Yang Ling arrived in front of the Azure Moon Martial House. There were many aspiring cultivators who wished to attend the awakening ceremony and join the Azure Moon Martial House; there were more than five hundred standing patiently in front of the gate. 

Yang Ling and the other aspiring cultivators waited for four hours until an old man walked out of the gate. The old man was bold; he had a long grey beard, and his face was filled with wrinkles. He was wearing an Azure-cloured robe and a badge on his chest; written on the badge was Outer Elder of Azure Moon Martial House. "Greetings to all of you. I am one of the Azure Moon Martial House's outer elders, and I will guide you through the awakening ceremony. This is how we will proceed: "First, you will be required to show the tokens you received from the guards when you applied to participate in the awakening ceremony. After the guards verify the tokens, they will allow you to enter through the Martial House gate."

"After entering through the gate, you will stand behind me and wait for all the ceremony participants to verify their tokens. After the guards finish verifying the tokens, I will take you to the awakening ceremony site. Is that understood?"

Most of the ceremony participants replied back to the elder, "Understood."

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The guards started checking the tokens the participants possessed to verify their authenticity. The Martial House expelled those who carried fake tokens, leaving only two hundred out of five hundred participants with authentic tokens.

All the two hundred participants stood behind the elder, and the elder turned to them and said, "Now that we have gotten rid of those clowns, we can start going to the ceremony site; follow me."

The elder began walking deeper into the Martial House, Yang Ling, and the rest of the participants started following the outer elder.

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Yang Ling and the other participants in the awakening ceremony arrived in a vast open space between four huge mountains.

The outer elder looked at Yang Ling and the others and said, "Now you only need to sit in this open space between the four mountains, and I will activate the awakening formation after thirty minutes." This is the last chance you have to back off. There is a big chance that you might die if you participate in this awakening ceremony."

Yang Ling thought of what the elder said, and she smiled widely. "Well, I can't back off; I already made a deal with the sword spirit to reunite her with her master. I need to become strong to fulfill my part of the deal. Furthermore, I promised the original owner of this body to take revenge for her on the Yang clan and on her fiancée. There is no way I am going to break my promise; if I don't walk on the cultivation path, I will not be able to take vengeance. Senior Huang Ah was incredibly strong. She took care of the four-tailed fox monster beast like it was an ant. She could also fly through the air. I want to experience the cultivation path to its fullest and stand on top of the cultivation world."

Many of those who came to participate in the awakening ceremony raised their hands, and the outer elder allowed them to leave. Only eighty participants stayed behind to attend the awakening ceremony.

Yang Ling noticed many old and middle-aged men standing on top of the four mountains. They were all wearing an Azure-colored robe just like the outer elder, but some of them were wearing different badges than him. She also noticed a middle-aged man standing on the tallest mountain. The man had long black hair, onyx eyes, fair skin, a slim physique, sharp eyebrows, and an ordinary face. He is holding a long staff in his right hand; the staff was twice his height, and he was wearing a silver robe with gold lines on the side of the silver robe.

Two middle-aged men stood next to the silver-wearing man. One had a long red-haired man with a handsome face, sharp eyebrows, and azure eyes. He had a slim physique and a red sword tight around his waist.

The man looked at the silver-robed middle-aged man and asked with a smile on his face, "Well, Martial House Master, how many do you think will survive this time in this awakening ceremony?" Last time only five survived, and those five weren't special; they only possessed ordinary talent." 

The other man, who was standing next to him, chuckled. "Yeah, hopefully this time we will get a good prospect."

The other man had wild, long brown hair and beard; he also had sharp eye brows, brown eyes, a fair complexion, and a burly muscular physique. He was carrying a huge, heavy black spear on his back.

The Martial House Master didn't answer the two men; he just stood there waiting for the awakening ceremony to begin.

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After thirty minutes, the outer elder looked at the participants in the awakening ceremony and said, "Now the ceremony will begin; I advise you to sit down now."

The awakening ceremony took place in the empty space between the eighty participants who sat on the ground, with four elders standing in each corner.

The four elders started going through a long sequence of hand signs, and after they finished the hand sign sequences, they all clapped their hands simultaneously.

A huge golden formation appeared on the ground where the participants in the awakening ceremony were sitting. All the participants started gritting their teeth in pain, including Yang Ling. 

"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM," many of the participants exploded into pieces of flesh; the remains of their bodies and flesh fell to the ground motionless.

It didn't take long for only nine participants to remain alive. After a couple of minutes, four participants started to shake violently, and after a few moments, golden circles started to appear in their chests.

All the elders and the Martial House Master looked at the four participants intently; they were three boys and one girl.

The girl has green eyes and blond hair tied in a bun. She has an ordinary face, three golden circles appearing on her breasts.

She suddenly stood up and screamed to the sky as loud as she could, "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

The remaining three boys also had golden circles appear on their chests. A brown-haired boy with wavy hair had two golden circles on his chest. He had a slim physique, wore a white robe, and had an ordinary face. He looked to be fourteen years old.

The other boy, who seemed to be around sixteen years old, had long purple hair and black eyes. He looked quite handsome; he had black eyes and a slim physique. In his chest appeared one golden circle. He was wearing a black robe.

The next boy had silver spikey hair and grey eyes; he had a fair complexion and was quite thin. Five golden circles appeared on his chest. He looks like he is fifteen years old. He was wearing a dark blue robe.

Those boys rose to their feet in the same manner as the blonde girl and cried out, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" to the sky.

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When they saw this, the Martial House Master and the other elders shocked their heads in disappointment, but suddenly their eyes widened.

"SWOOSH" a huge water column, shoots to the sky, covering a cyan-haired girl who looks around fourteen years old, and all of a sudden a mermaid silhouette appeared inside the water column. The mermaid looked very attractive inside the water column, and she was wearing a crown over her head. 

The Martial House Master and the elders saw six golden circles on the girl's breasts. The Martial House Master smirked when he saw this, "Mermaid Queen Spiritual Veins." The two elders nodded to the Martial House Master with a smile on their faces, and the red-haired elder said, "At last, we have a good prospect to cultivate." The other elder nodded his head in agreement.

The water column then disappeared, along with the mermaid silhouette. The girl is very cute with a curvy body, and she tied her hair into twintails. She has pale skin that is like jade, and she has a petite body.

She stood up from her seating position and yelled as loudly as she could to the sky, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH."

Suddenly, the Martial House Master and the elders sensed a drastic shift in the air—a huge pressure emanating from one of the participants.

Six golden circles appeared on the participant's chest. He was a burly, muscular boy who looked like he was fifteen years old. He had tan skin and short, dark blue hair.

Suddenly, the figure of a huge ape with red fur appeared behind the tan-skinned boy. The ape had a big staff in his right hand, and the ape's eyes were red just like its fur.

After a few moments, the boy stood up, and he and the ape roared loudly into the sky. "GRRRRRRRRAAAAAOOOOOO", creating tremendous pressure in the vicinity.

"It is the ancient bloodline, the great war ape," the Martial House Master said with a smile on his face, and the other elders too smiled when they heard what he said.

They suddenly saw a bright blue light shoot into the sky, and nine bright blue cauldrons appeared above a pink-haired girl. At the same time, six golden circles appeared on her breasts. 

All the elders were shocked, and one of the elders said with a wide smile on his face, "Things are getting very interesting."

The other elders didn't have time to reply back because, all of a sudden, the temperature around them rose dramatically, and a column of huge red and orange flames burst into the sky.

The Martial House Master and the elders saw the one responsible for the flame column; it was Yang Ling.

All the elders and the Martial House Master witnessed a phoenix silhouette soaring through the flames. After a few moments, a massive silver sword appeared in front of the massive flame column. The sword was releasing a holy feeling into the surroundings. Numerous holy stones adorned the black-colored sword handle, sword guard, and sword blade. Finally, a black phoenix figure emerged behind the fire column.

When the black phoenix figure appeared, everyone could feel a destructive power descend on the surrounding area.

The Martial House Master smirked widely and said in a very excited tone, "This girl didn't just awaken spiritual veins; she also awakened a powerful bloodline and a powerful mutated spirit."

The red-haired elder nodded with a smile, but he asked the Martial House Master, "I recognize her spiritual veins; it is the Nirvanic Phoenix spiritual veins, but I don't recognize her bloodline or her mutated spirit." "Do you have any idea what they are?"

The Martial House Master smiled and said to the red-haired elder, "I don't know about the bloodline." To figure out her bloodline, I will need to search through the ancient text. However, her spirit is the Immortal Divine Sword. I recently read about this spirit in the ancient text, but to find it appear in front of me was really a great coincidence."

The huge flame column disappeared along with the phoenix silhouette, and eight golden circles appeared in Yang Ling's plump, round breasts. After a few moments, Yang Ling opened her eyes, and the silver sword disappeared.

Yang Ling stood up, and she, along with the black phoenix, screeched to the sky, "SCREEEEEEEEEECH." The phoenix and Yang Ling unleashed a torrent of destructive air into the surrounding area.

The Martial House Master continued to smile as he looked at Yang Ling. "Things are getting interesting; maybe those four will be able to create a miracle for our martial house."