"Yes, Spirit Master. I am Mu Mingzhu from the Guangling Mu Family, and this is my Summoning Badge. Please, sir, examine it," Mu Mingzhu said urgently, presenting a dark and shiny iron badge with both hands.
"Oh, you are from Senior Sister Mu's clan! However, I'm not a Spirit Master, just a Spirit Disciple. True Spirit Masters are not so easily met by mere mortals who haven't even opened their Spirit Seas," the man in black robes replied, his cold expression softening slightly as he gestured toward the ground.
With a "swoosh,"
the iron badge in the purple-robed girl's hands shot up into the sky and landed firmly in the man's hand.
Then the Summoning Envoy, with a single-handed incantation, touched the iron badge, which started emitting spots of black light from one finger.
There was a "puff" as the badge trembled slightly and a small white misty screen sprayed out from its surface.
In that screen, the image of another purple-robed girl appeared, flickering in and out of visibility. Aside from some slight differences in dress and decoration, her facial features and expressions were strikingly similar, though she appeared slightly younger.
"Indeed, it's you. You may go and stand over there," the man in black robes said with a nod after only a glance.
Mu Mingzhu, hearing this, happily complied and walked towards the center of the platform.
"My... my respect, Envoy. I'm Gao Chong!" The sizable young man also took out a similar iron badge, holding it up high with some nervousness in his voice.
"Gao Chong... You are one of the three loose cultivator disciples in this Spirit Opening Ceremony. Not bad, perhaps you'll become a fellow disciple of mine. Let's see your Summoning Badge," the man in black robes said with a rare smile on his face, speaking in an unexpectedly friendly manner.
With the same flick of his hand, he performed an incantation.
Gao Chong easily passed the verification as well.
"Bai Family's Bai Congtian, presenting my Summoning Badge for your verification!" Liu Ming took a deep breath and raised the object in his hands.
He was slightly nervous inside, but it didn't show on his face.
This time, the man in black robes casually glanced at Liu Ming, took the badge without a word, and drew it towards himself.
As the white light rolled off the badge, another 'Bai Congtian' vividly emerged from it.
Liu Ming's eyes swept over the image, and his heart skipped a beat.
The 'Bai Congtian' in the image shared an eight or nine out of ten resemblance to him. However, he was notably dressed in a white garment, and there was a slight arrogance in his demeanor, which was somewhat different from Liu Ming's own.
"Huh?"
The man in black robes scrutinized the image of 'Bai Congtian,' then glanced back at Liu Ming below, a trace of surprise showing on his face.
Liu Ming felt his heart sink. The copper ring on his wrist flickered unintentionally a few times, but ultimately, he stood still without moving.
"Hmm, in just a single year, you've changed quite a bit. It seems you've been preparing earnestly for the Spirit Opening all this time, shedding much of that impetuous air," the man in black robes said slowly.
Relieved, Liu Ming quickly bowed and responded,
"I am aware of my limited talent, sir, and have thus devoted extra effort to cultivating my temperament, hoping to seize a sliver of chance for the Spirit Opening."
"Heh, opening the Spirit Sea isn't something that can be achieved just by putting in the effort, but no matter, these words are useless to you now. You'll come to understand in time. Everyone find a spot to sit; I must make haste to the next location," the man in black robes said with a chuckle, then gave the order, unwilling to say more.
Hearing this, the other young men and women promptly sat down where they were.
Seeing this, Liu Ming and the other two also found a spot on the platform to sit.
Perhaps because they came from the same summoning location, the three of them subconsciously didn't separate, but instead sat together away from the others.
However, after exchanging glances, no one initiated a conversation.
At that moment, the man in black robes in the sky casually flipped his hand and produced a grayish-white disc. With a flicker of his form, he soared up into the sky and directly vanished into the high-altitude light screen.
The next moment, amidst a humming sound, the surrounding statues emitted a soft light, and with a loud boom, the platform surged forward with a great inertia in a certain direction.
Many of the seated young men and women who hadn't secured their seats tumbled around in disarray.
The purple-robed girl in front of Liu Ming, caught unawares, also twisted and fell backward. Fortunately, the large young man next to her, quick as lightning, reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to safety.
"Thank you, Big Brother Gao!" Mu Mingzhu said, blushing as she resettled herself and expressed her gratitude to the large young man.
"No... no need for thanks, it was nothing," Gao Chong replied to the girl's thanks, somewhat awkwardly.
The purple-clad young girl responded to the tall youth with a smile, but then she turned her head to glare fiercely at Liu Ming.
Liu Ming, on the other hand, wore a smile that was not quite a smile.
He had been sitting steadily all along, clearly capable of lending the girl a hand, yet he had no intention of doing so.
As a result, Mu Mingzhu's impression of him worsened still further.
However, at this point, Liu Ming shifted his gaze from the two of them to a grey-white statue not far away.
The statue was very peculiar in appearance, not quite monkey nor bat, as if a monkey had grown a pair of bat wings out of nowhere, looking very ferocious and fierce, enough to send a chill down one's spine at a glance.
"Hmph, small families really are just that, not even having seen the most common type of ghost creature like the wandering ghost," Mu Mingzhu commented with a sneer, upon seeing this scene.
"Oh, does Miss Mu know what this is?" Liu Ming immediately grew interested and turned to ask.
The tall youth next to them also widened his eyes.
Mu Mingzhu originally did not want to say much more to Liu Ming, but seeing the expression of the tall youth and recalling the words of her 'Third Great-uncle,' she quickly changed her mind and put on a smile,
"Since Brother Gao is also curious, then I might as well share a bit of my humble knowledge. The wandering ghost, also known as the ghost Yaksha, is one of the most common of the 108 spirit creatures in the 'March of a Hundred Ghosts.' Aside from the ability to fly, it actually doesn't have much power…" Mu Mingzhu, indeed the daughter of the Mu Family, though not yet a disciple of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, was quite knowledgeable about ghosts. She explained the features of the wandering ghost clearly and even knew the origins of a few other ghost sculptures nearby, drawing the attention of other youths and girls, who couldn't help but turn their heads to listen.
"Hmph, there's no point in understanding such low-level ghost soldiers. Once we truly enter the sect, we'll at least have to tame a ghost general-level ferocious ghost to make learning the art of exorcism worthwhile," a tall youth with brown long hair suddenly said with a sneer.
"That's a big talk. To my knowledge, even among the spirit acolytes of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, most can only command some minion-level ghosts, with only a few disciples capable of commanding one or two more fierce ghosts. As for ghost generals, even the Spirit Masters probably don't have many who can command them," Mu Mingzhu replied frankly, looking at the brown-haired youth.
"Just because others can't doesn't mean I, Lei Zhen, can't," the brown-haired youth said proudly upon hearing this.
"Lei Zhen? You are a disciple of the Lei Family!" Mu Mingzhu's expression changed immediately upon hearing the name.
The other young men and women around also gasped in surprise at the name of the brown-haired youth, showing a hint of fear.
If the Bai Family is considered a first-class local family, then the Lei Family is a colossal force in the entire Daxuan Kingdom, ranked among the top three. They boast dozens of disciples who have become spirit disciples in major sects, and it's even rumored that the Lei Family has Spirit Masters among their ranks within the sects.
"Even if you are a disciple of the Lei Family, you should wait until you've passed the Spirit Opening Ceremony before making such grand claims," thought Mu Mingzhu, inwardly surprised yet unwilling to let down her family's pride on the surface.
This time, however, Lei Zhen did not say much more, simply glanced at the tall youth next to the girl, chuckled, and then turned to leave.
Throughout this, he didn't spare Liu Ming, who was beside them, a single glance.
Liu Ming remained seated on the ground, as if oblivious to everything happening before him.
On the Fierce Island, everyone wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible since that was the way to live a little longer.
Those who overestimated their strength and sought to stand out on the island usually didn't survive a year.
Although the outside world was different from Fierce Island, Liu Ming did not change his approach.
By this time, Mu Mingzhu and Gao Chong had obviously become closer. They conversed animatedly, and from time to time, the girl's light laughter could be heard, intentionally or unintentionally excluding Liu Ming from their interaction.
Liu Ming, indifferent to what they were doing, refocused his mind and resumed meditating in place.
For the remaining seven or eight days, the massive platform would stop at certain places about every half a day and pick up a few young men and women, sometimes as few as three or four and sometimes as many as a dozen.
Once the platform was jam-packed with three to four hundred people and could barely accommodate any more, the man in black finally stopped bringing new people onboard and steered the black cloud back to where it had come from.
Half a month later, after flying over several ranges of mountains, the gigantic black cloud finally arrived above a dark, dense forest and sped into its depths.
After penetrating a hundred li in one breath, a series of interconnected giant mountain ranges suddenly appeared in front of them.
The rumbling sounds could also be heard in the sky on the other side, as another black cloud sped fast towards the same mountain range.
Moments later, the two clouds approached the mountains, one following the other, and slowly descended at the foot of one of the peaks.
"Come down, we have arrived at the gates of our sect," the man in black clothes announced the moment the platform steadily landed on the ground. The black cloud and light barrier that shrouded it dissipated instantly, and the man in black clothes who suddenly appeared above them issued the instruction.
Delighted, the many young men and women hopped off the platform one after another.
Liu Ming, however, paused at the edge of the platform, narrowing his eyes as he took a careful look around.