Chapter 22: Whalefall
A colossal vessel, blotting out the sky and sun, descended slowly and hovered above the ritual platform.
Around the vessel were engraved countless arrays.
Light interwove, flowing radiance surged.
“Whalefin Vessel!”
“It’s the Whalefin Vessel!”
“The Whalefin Vessel—the symbol of Linjiang Academy!”
“What?!”
“Linjiang Academy?!”
“The top divine-gifted university of Linjiang Prefecture?!”
“So many Level 3 talents appearing at once—did it really draw the attention of Linjiang Prefecture’s top university?!”
“I’ve only ever seen the Whalefin Vessel on television!”
As the vessel’s shadow fell, a thunderous wave of murmurs and exclamations erupted.
Linjiang Prefecture, seventeen states.
Seventeen divine-gifted universities.
Linjiang Academy ranks first!
While Fuanhe Academy and Luoying Academy both fall outside the top ten!
“Why are people from Linjiang Academy here…?”
The proctors from Fuanhe Academy and Luoying Academy exchanged glances, teeth clenched.
The ranking gap was too great.
Their local universities simply couldn’t compete with Linjiang Academy!
Under countless gazes,
the massive door of the Whalefin Vessel slowly opened.
Several figures leapt directly down, landing heavily on the ritual platform!
“We’re taking all Level 3 talents!”
“Below Level 3—art, martial, we’ll take them too!”
“The rest are yours!”
The owner of the earlier commanding voice spoke again.
It was a young man with a refined face.
As his words ended,
the proctors from the divine-gifted universities turned pale.
Other university admissions teams who had arrived earlier stood at a distance, too afraid to even approach.
As representative of Guangling City, Li Huahai forced a smile and stepped forward.
“I’m Li Huahai, Director of Education for Guangling. May I ask who this teacher is…?”
The refined young man smiled and said, “I’m not a teacher. I’m a third-year student of Linjiang Academy, named Gu Qi, here to recruit on behalf of the academy. Is there a problem?”
Li Huahai froze.
Gu Qi stood there, merely standing.
The aura he emitted was already immensely powerful.
Like a deep abyss, a mountain unmoved.
Even stirred a faint sense of dread in his heart.
“He’s just a student?!”
“Linjiang Academy sends students to recruit?!”
Two teachers in the chief proctor team stood at a distance, watching Gu Qi and whispering.
Gu Qi smiled, turned his gaze, and suddenly slashed his palm!
BOOM!
The sky darkened abruptly!
Dark, rolling clouds surged forth, roaring and howling!
Thunder exploded!
BOOM!
Lightning split the heavens, radiating a terrifying, furious aura!
The two teachers who had been whispering turned deathly pale and clamped their mouths shut in terror.
Countless people raised their heads, staring in stunned horror.
A few seconds later,
Gu Qi snapped his fingers.
Thunder vanished.
The clouds retreated like a receding tide, gone without a trace.
The sky returned to clear blue.
Gu Qi sighed and spoke to those behind him, “Every time I come to a new place, I waste so much spiritual energy. I’m done.”
He turned to face Li Huahai.
“Let me reintroduce myself.”
“I’m Gu Qi, third-year student of Linjiang Academy.”
Here,
he smiled, pausing slightly.
“Level 4 Art talent.”
“Surging Spring Realm.”
As his words fell,
Li Huahai’s expression froze on his face.
The surrounding proctors stood motionless, stunned.
A pin drop could be heard in every direction!
The once noisy Feiguang Stage fell utterly silent!
Not a sound.
Hundreds of millions were watching the Guangling City examination live.
A few seconds later,
countless comments flooded and exploded across Anhezhou’s forums!
Tens of thousands of comments scrolled every second!
“Huh?!”
“Surging… Surging Spring Realm…”
“Surging Spring Realm?!”
“Level 4 ‘Art’ talent?!”
“How old is he?!”
“How is this possible?!”
“I’ve only ever read about Level 4 talents in books!”
“My god!”
“Gu Qi is still just a student!”
“He looks barely twenty!”
“Guangling has millions of people—and fewer than a hundred Surging Spring Realm cultivators!”
“A twenty-year-old student already at Surging Spring Realm?!”
“Is this what Linjiang Academy’s prodigies are like?!”
“Unbelievable!”
“I’ve never seen anything like this!”
…
After standing frozen for a long while,
Li Huahai finally snapped out of it and immediately dialed Guangling City’s internal communications.
“Mayor!”
“Are you watching the exam livestream?”
“Someone from the Surging Spring Realm has arrived—I can’t handle this!”
In just three sentences, Li Huahai spoke breathlessly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
In Guangling City,
the Surging Spring Realm was an unreachable height.
Even in the Divine Illumination Zone, only family heads who had lived nearly a century possessed the Surging Spring Realm cultivation level.
All millions of Guangling’s people were Divine Gifted.
Only a few dozen people were at the Surge Spring realm.
Ordinary people had never even heard the term “Surge Spring realm.”
This time, if not for the live broadcast of the major exam…
Ninety percent of Guangling City didn’t even know the next realm was called “Surge Spring.”
“No need to call anyone!”
Although Gu Qi couldn’t hear Li Huhai’s voice, he could see him dialing a communication.
He glanced around, his gaze landing on Jiang Jian, Song Ling, and Du Fang, then walked over.
Song Ling lowered her head slightly.
Du Fang stood beside Jiang Jian, his heart uneasy.
Jiang Jian lifted his eyes, looking at the young man approaching.
On Gu Qi, Jiang Jian sensed a terrifying aura.
This thin, frail young man.
Seemed capable of unleashing unimaginable, terrifying power at any moment.
“You’re Jiang Jian.”
Gu Qi stepped before Jiang Jian, his tone softening slightly.
“I accessed Guangling’s grading permissions and reviewed your written exam.”
“Your answers to every conceptual question were excellent.”
He lowered his voice, “Originally, for this side job of mine—recruiting—I didn’t plan to come to Anhezhou, such a remote backwater, usually skipped entirely.”
“But I heard a Level 3 ‘Art’ appeared here.”
“So I rushed here as fast as I could.”
“Jiang Jian, you’re the second Level 3 Art I’ve encountered during this recruitment tour.”
“My quota’s covered.”
Saying this, Gu Qi nodded toward the whale-oar skimmer behind him, “Of the seventeen prefectures in Linjiang, I’ve visited six.”
“I found two Level 3 ‘Arts.’”
“The rest of the Level 3 Talents: seventeen.”
“Anhezhou is too remote.”
“I never expected three Level 3 Talents to appear here at once.”
Saying this,
Gu Qi looked at Song Ling and Du Fang, “The three of you, contact your families immediately. Gather anything you need to bring.”
“Board the whale-oar skimmer within ten minutes!”
At that moment,
The Guangling City government’s aerial skimmers began landing one after another.
Among them, an elderly man in lavish attire strode forward with a smile, engaging Gu Qi in conversation.
Du Fang looked at Gu Qi in the distance and let out a bitter laugh.
“They’re giving us zero choice.”
Song Ling nodded: “Linjiang Academy, the premier Divine Gift university of Linjiang Prefecture, always acts with brute force.”
Du Fang pointed to the forty-three students nearby, saying, “Gu Qi just said all Arts and Martial Talents should bring everything—what about the rest of us? Aren’t we just out of luck?”
Song Ling opened her identity device: “It’s none of our concern. Just take care of ourselves.”
As she dialed her family, she added, “Haven’t you realized yet?”
“Our Level 3 Talents aren’t even top-tier among Linjiang Academy’s new students.”
“In Guangling City, or even Anhezhou, Level 3 Talents are rare.”
“But.”
“Linjiang Academy gathers countless geniuses from all seventeen prefectures of Linjiang.”
“We need to change our mindset.”
Hearing Song Ling’s words,
The arrogance Du Fang had worn on his face gradually faded.
His pride in possessing the Level 3 “Martial” Talent was also suppressed.
“Jiang Jian, Gu Qi seems to value you greatly.”
Du Fang turned his head.
Song Ling replied, “That’s obvious!”
“Arts are already exceedingly rare!”
“A Level 3 Art—even among Linjiang Academy’s new students—is impossible to overlook.”
(End of Chapter)
End of Chapter
