The Spirit Gathering Assembly, a First Glimpse of Brilliance

The Spirit Gathering Assembly, a First Glimpse of Brilliance

The Spirit Gathering Plaza in the Jia Ma Empire's capital was already a sea of people.

At the center of the bluestone-paved plaza, three white jade platforms, each ten feet high, stood in a triangular formation. Intricate Spirit-Gathering Runes were engraved across their surfaces, with pale golden spirit liquid flowing through the grooves and gleaming softly in the morning sunlight.

Representatives of the great families and factions gathered on the Viewing Platform surrounding the plaza, faint fluctuations of spiritual energy stirring amid their fluttering robes.

Xiao Yan stood in a corner of the contestants' rest area, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the hilt of the Black Iron Heavy Sword.

He had changed into fitted combat attire that day. Mysterious yellow flame circulated slowly through his meridians, refining the Dou Qi within him until it grew increasingly condensed.

Deliberately hushed voices drifted over from nearby, where several young Spirit Gatherers dressed in aristocratic finery were pointing at him.

"Is that Xiao Yan, the one President Fa Ma made an exception for? He doesn't even have a Spirit Gatherer badge. Surely he's just here to make up the numbers."

"I heard he came from a little border village. He should thank heaven and earth if he can concoct third-grade Spirit Liquid, yet he wants to compete for a place?"

Xiao Yan lifted his eyelids slightly but ignored their mockery.

A drop of pale cyan liquid quietly appeared in his palm-the Spirit-Calming Liquid he had extracted the previous night at the cost of three stalks of demon companion grass.

The drop glimmered like glass in the sunlight, giving off a fragrance that soothed the soul.

-This was his true trump card for the day.

"Silence!"

At the Ceremonial Elder's ringing proclamation, the plaza fell silent at once.

Clad in a gold-trimmed robe, President Fa Ma slowly ascended the presiding platform. He lightly tapped the ground with his Crystal Scepter, and all three white jade platforms erupted with dazzling light:

"This Spirit Gathering Assembly will consist of three rounds.

"The first round will test the fundamentals of the Spirit-Gathering Art. You must purify ten portions of demon spirit flower juice within the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Those who achieve eighty percent purity will advance!"

Thirty contestants filed onto the platforms. Xiao Yan was assigned to the one on the far left.

On the jade tray before him lay ten neatly arranged demon spirit flowers, their buds just about to bloom. A faint fluorescent glow edged their petals; they were the core ingredient for refining Spirit-Gathering Spirit Liquid.

At President Fa Ma's command, the contestants brought out their Spirit-Gathering Cauldrons.

In an instant, flames of every color rose across the plaza. Amethyst flame, azure netherfire, mystic ice flame... heavenly flames and spiritual flames intertwined into a brilliant web of light.

Xiao Yan drew a deep breath. Mysterious yellow flame condensed in his palm into a tongue of fire barely an inch high. Though the golden flame looked weak, it carried an aura of purity that made hearts tremble.

Rather than rushing to refine the demon spirit flowers, he first dripped the Spirit-Calming Liquid into his Spirit-Gathering Cauldron.

The pale cyan liquid turned to mist the instant it met the fire, merging with the mysterious yellow flame to form a pale golden blaze.

This step brought surprise to the faces of several elders on the Viewing Platform. Fa Ma stroked his beard and chuckled:

"The lad knows how to adapt. Using Spirit-Calming Liquid to temper the flame's harshness is a fine method."

Xiao Yan formed the Spirit-Gathering Hand Seal with his left hand while his right guided the flame around the demon spirit flowers.

As though alive, the golden flame precisely stripped impurities from the petals, leaving behind crystal-clear juice.

His movements were unhurried, yet carried a peculiar rhythm. Every turn of the flame was perfectly measured, without a trace of wasted spiritual energy.

Half an hour later, Xiao Yan placed the tenth jade vial on the platform.

The liquid inside was a pure emerald green. Through the vial, tiny suspended points of spiritually charged light could clearly be seen.

-Its purity had already reached ninety-five percent.

Meanwhile, most contestants had purified only six or seven portions, and black impurities still lingered in several of their jade vials.

"Impossible!"

The young noble who had mocked Xiao Yan earlier went deathly pale. He looked at the murky liquid in his own vial, then at Xiao Yan's nearly perfect results, and his fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.

The first round ended with only twelve contestants advancing. When the master of ceremonies announced Xiao Yan's name and purity level, incredulous cries erupted across the plaza. The Spirit Gatherers who had looked down on him now wore expressions of shock.

The second round was more demanding, requiring the contestants to concoct a complete portion of fourth-grade Spirit Liquid within the burning time of two incense sticks. A screen of light descended above the platforms, displaying the required ingredients: three-thousand-year-old heart-chilling grass, the stamens of netherbone flowers, and, most crucially—a drop of magical beast blood essence.

"Fourth-grade Blood-Coagulating Liquid!" A stir swept through the Viewing Platform. Blood-Coagulating Liquid required three cold-natured medicinal ingredients to be perfectly fused with intensely yang-aspected blood essence. The slightest carelessness would cause their properties to clash; successfully concocting it would be out of the question, and even a minor mistake could trigger an explosion.

Xiao Yan's brow furrowed slightly as his fingertip passed over the ingredient list. Heart-chilling grass and netherbone flowers were both yin-cold substances; ordinary flames could not balance their medicinal properties at all. His gaze sharpened, and the mysterious yellow flame abruptly surged three inches higher. Fine cyan patterns emerged within the golden fire-a transformation caused by incorporating the Spirit-Calming Liquid.

He first placed the heart-chilling grass into his Spirit-Gathering Cauldron. Like a gentle palm, the golden flame enveloped the herb and slowly refined it. As the leaves gradually dissolved into cyan mist, Xiao Yan suddenly flicked a finger, sending the magical beast blood essence dropping into the cauldron as a bead of blood. At the very instant the cold was about to freeze it, the mysterious yellow flame sharply increased in temperature. Cyan tongues of fire ignited within the golden blaze, forming a wondrous mingling of ice and fire.

"Using spiritual fire as a bridge to bring yin and yang into harmony... this technique carries quite the essence of the Ancient Spirit-Gathering Art."

A white-browed elder on the presiding platform clapped his hands in admiration.

Barely one incense stick had burned before Xiao Yan poured the liquid from his Spirit-Gathering Cauldron into a jade vial.

The Blood-Coagulating Liquid inside displayed an unusual blend of gold and silver. A faint halo of spiritual energy floated over its surface, clearly marking it as a supreme-quality product.

The other contestants, meanwhile, had either blown up their cauldrons with their ingredients or lost the balance of medicinal properties. Only three were still struggling to hold on.

The final round began as the sun sank toward the horizon. Xiao Yan's opponent was the prized disciple of an expert retained by the Imperial Family, a gifted young man who possessed a Fourth-Rank Spirit Gatherer badge.

Under identical conditions, the two had to prolong the life of a thousand-year-old spirit ginseng on the verge of withering. Whoever restored more of its vitality would win.

The young man immediately brought out the rare earth core flame. Crimson fire enveloped the spirit ginseng as he tried to force its vitality to bloom.

Although the spirit ginseng responded, its leaves took on an unnatural flush of red. Xiao Yan took a different approach, turning his mysterious yellow flame into strands of golden thread that carefully penetrated the spirit ginseng's roots and stem.

Wherever the golden flame passed, the spirit ginseng's withered markings faded at a rate visible to the naked eye. Its shriveled roots grew plump again and even sprouted tender green shoots. More astonishing still, specks of spiritual light condensed in the air around the spirit ginseng-a sign that its medicinal properties had been elevated!

"This... this is the Life-Nurturing Art!" Sharp intakes of breath rose from the Viewing Platform. The Life-Nurturing Art was a long-lost Secret Art for gathering spirit energy that could improve a spiritual plant's quality while restoring it. No one had expected it to reappear in the hands of a youth.

As the last ray of sunset spilled down, President Fa Ma personally announced the result: "Xiao Yan wins!" He approached Xiao Yan and pinned a brand-new Fourth-Rank Spirit Gatherer badge to his chest, his voice brimming with excitement he could scarcely conceal. "Well done, lad. You will represent the Spirit Gatherer Association on the expedition to the Otherworldly Demon Lair!"

Xiao Yan touched the cool badge on his chest, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over a corner of the Viewing Platform. A figure dressed in plain white stood there, eyes beneath a cyan bamboo hat seemingly meeting his across the distance. A sect leader's jade pendant glimmered faintly at the figure's waist in the dusk. Something stirred within him. It seemed more than one person at this assembly had been watching him.

Cheers rang through the clouds above the plaza, but Xiao Yan had already begun contemplating the coming expedition to the Otherworldly Demon Lair.

He could feel the mysterious yellow flame stirring eagerly within him, as though anticipating something. A greater challenge awaited him ahead.