Chapter 390 - A Stunning Gamble! (1/2)
Among the mountains proudly stood a gigantic tower! Just like the Heavenly Columns in the legends!
This was the true hub of the Sacred Martial Hall. The more powerful the martial artists were, the more qualified they were to live in the higher towers.
Bai Sheng stood behind Ferrero, perturbed and eyeing the surroundings of the Round Table Meeting Room secretly.
There were no flashy decorations nor arty scrolls in the room. Its minimalistic style came off as a surprise to its visitors. Apart from the seats and huge round conference table, almost nothing else could be found.
In their former days, the fourteen-star martial artists in the Foreign Affairs Office were not qualified to ascend to the top of the tower, let alone meeting martial experts who rarely appeared in the Sacred Martial Hall.
The beautiful blonde who sat next to Mahoraga Ferrero with her eyes closed was Jennifer, the Sect Master of the Foreign Affairs Hall, who was also known as the Auspicious Goddess.
Having a height of approximately five foot two to five foot four, Jennifer might not have a tall stature, but she possessed a devilish body with angelic skin devoid of the freckles prevalent among Caucasians with the absence of thick pores, similar to the delicate skin of a black person. Her greenish and deep pupils were filled with unspeakable mysteries. They complemented her golden shoulder-length hair well. Jennifer was indeed deserving of the title as one of the three Great Beauties of the Sacred Martial hall.
The lighting of the conference room dimmed as the hologram of six martial artists were projected onto the conference table. Bai Sheng became more solemn and nervous.
Sacred Martial Six Stars! They actually managed to invite Sacred Martial Six Stars for today’s meeting! Holding a supreme position in the Sacred Martial Hall, their advice was frequently sought even by Wu Zun before making a decision on various matters.
Martyrdom Star, Fairy Star, Justice Star, Benevolence Star, Leadership Star, Fiend Star.
Sacred Martial Six Stars was embroidered at the chests of the holy-six-star martial art outfits, each of them with slight differences. The position of the brightest star in the embroidery differed from each martial artist, as the brightest star on their outfit signified their star name.
“Everyone is present.” Ferrero coughed and said, “We gathered each of you today because our Recruitment Department has found a few promising talents.”
“Promising talents? You gathered us just for this?”
Bai Sheng traced the slightly discontent voice to Aziya, the Śakra from the disciplinary division of the Internal Affairs Hall. His snow-white skin was fully engulfed by dark shades of purple, which was a sign of achieving the peak of Neo Martial Arts, Sky Thunder Art.
Ferrero’s eyelids weren’t aimed at Śakra Aziya, but rather at the other higher ranking martial artists of the Sacred Martial Hall.
These people had similar nonchalant expressions like Śakra Aziya. What do you think the Sacred Martial Hall is for? It is a gathering place for prodigies! Discovering promising talents on the grounds of the Sacred Martial Hall? Every person receiving an invitation to the Sacred Martial Hall is already talented by right, the Recruitment Department is really wasting our time today.
Jennifer unhurriedly leaned back on her chair with her gemlike eyes slightly closed and a faint smile on her lips. I like the reaction of you all, especially the indifferent attitude, or else my shock earlier will be embarrassing.
Ferrero also laughed. “Not taking it seriously? You guys are in for a surprise!”
The projections of Sacred Martial Six Stars remained silent. Their expressionless face did not show any emotions, be it surprise or nonchalance – such emotions were devoid among them as if nothing except the vast and deep realm of Martial Dao can catch their attention.
Ferrero squinted and looked at Gao Yuan who stood behind him, “Xiao Gao, you are more well-suited to announce it.”
“Okay so…” Gao Yuan nodded slightly, “Today, a group of young men invited by our Recruitment Department had reached the island and successfully passed the Three Sacred Martial Exams.”
Śakra Azia slightly furrowed both of his blue eyebrows with a hint of impatience in his eyes. “What is so special in passing the Three Sacred Martial Exams? If the young applicants chosen by the Recruitment Department is unable to even pass the Three Sacred Martial Exams, we should just disband the Recruitment Department altogether.”
Ferrero reached for a cup of tea indifferently and enjoyed it slowly.
“Then they entered the Three Bells of the Stone Arch…”
Three Bells of the Stone Arch? The people reluctantly raised some interest. Did someone ring the sound of the temple bell out of the stone bell?
“Among the applicants, barring one of them, the rest managed to ring the stone bell.” Gao Yuan noticed that everyone did not have much reaction and continued, “We surmised that everyone can knock and produce sounds of a temple bell…”
What? Everyone shook their eyebrows a little, and their expressions looked exactly the same as Ferrero’s at the time, except for the Sacred Martial Six Stars, who as usual, remained expressionless. Martial dao was not dependent on natural talent alone. It was indeed remarkable for them to be successful in ringing the stone bell, but their performance was nothing wildly surprising.
“Two of them managed to ring the paper bell.” Gao Yuan looked at the surprised eyes of everyone else with hidden glee in his heart. These lofty masters were finally amazed, and will for sure be bragging today’s events for quite some time.
Bai Sheng remained focused at the Sacred Martial Six Stars. The six supreme elders of the Sacred Martial Hall did not even twitch their cheeks, nor show any signs of change in their eyes, as if nothing in this world could amaze them.
Gao Yuan was unhappy with their emotionless expressions. He secretly vowed to produce any form of change in the expression of the Sacred Martial Six Stars.
“One of them tapped the paper bell with their finger and rang the sounds of a large temple bell.” Gao Yuan continued while looking at the audience, “Another person managed to produce the sounds of metal clanking by using the Iaido technique on the paper bell.”
“What?”
Everyone raised their heads and stared silently at Gao Yuan’s truthful eyes. It seemed like there was going to be an addition of two demon-like young people in the Sacred Martial Hall.
What a pity! If they appeared earlier than that demon, such results would surely amaze everyone. However, since this wasn’t a new record, these results could only be appreciated briefly.
“Is that all?” Dissatisfaction was showing between Śakra Azia’s eyebrows, “Why did the Recruitment Department bother to invite us to such a meeting when you can just invite the Military Ministry instead?”
The masters from other departments nodded in unison. Why did this warrant a meeting with everyone? There was already a demon of such caliber some time ago, and no one could give a d*mn. Just adapt the program to that demon! The young martial artists possessing such caliber were usually radically obsessed with Martial Dao and will join the Sacred Martial Hall anyway. Does the Recruitment Department intend to show off their scouting abilities through such pointless meetings?
“It doesn’t end there.”
Bai Sheng voiced out gently, breaking the silence of the meeting room. Under the encouraging eyes of Ferrero, Bai Sheng rose against the dissatisfaction of Śakra Azia.
The hierarchy of the Sacred Martial Hall was determined by the martial prowess of an individual. Bai Sheng’s speech seemingly offended some of the Sacred Martial Hall’s masters. Although it didn’t equate to insubordination, the speech was sufficient in embarrassing the Śakra.
If the masters under the Sacred Martial Hall made an appearance, they would be highly revered and respected by everyone present.
Bai Sheng stood up and faced the doubts of everyone and said, “Someone rang the fog bell…”
“What!?”
A small commotion was raised in the quiet conference room. The dim room was flashed with thousands of lightning flashes, which was produced as a result of amazement by the masters in the room.
The Sacred Martial Six Stars couldn’t maintain their clay-sculpture-like emotionlessness on their faces as shock and amazement traveled through their faces. Although it was just a projected hologram, Bai Sheng could see the drastic changes in their expressions clearly.
Ferrero did not give anyone the opportunity to voice out their amazement. He carried on by shaking his wrist to push the projector to the center of the conference table to show everyone how Qin Fen rang the fog bell.
…
The conference table was met with an unprecedented silence to the point Bai Sheng heard only the breathing sounds of everyone and nothing else.
Sacred Martial Six Stars stared at the projections intently. The fog bell used to punish newcomers of the Sacred Martial Hall was rung by someone?
After dozens of silent seconds, Bai Sheng noticed that the woman sitting across Ferrero, the leader of the Wuluntang, Asura Fenghua Danyun, displayed an excited smile. Her pair of emerald pupils shone bright with excitement and interest.
Bai Sheng took a deep breath of cold air, his lungs and internal organs seemingly freezing under the cold air. It wasn’t from the air, but the feelings of fear toward Asura that caused the freezing inside his body.
Fenghua Danyun won the title of Asura at the Sacred Martial Hall not because of her ugly demonic appearance. On the contrary, she was a very beautiful woman, whose beauty earnt her a spot of one of the Three Beauties in the Sacred Martial Hall alongside Jennifer.
While Jennifer’s beauty stems from her seductive sexiness, Fenghua Danyun’s beauty was a distinct form of beauty. She possessed a tall stature with an oval face clean as white snow, pupils as dark as the abyss, with silky long hair tied into a ponytail behind her head, complemented by a white waist belt that tightly wrapped around her purple martial art outfit which amplifies her elegant figure.
The leaders of Sacred Martial Hall’s Martial Theory Hall, Asura, were often given an impression of being boorish, awkward, having imposing builds, fiendish faces, with vicious appearances.
Ordinary people that met Fenghua Danyun found it difficult to associate her with a person holding the title of Asura. A combination of naivety, wit, agility, and a slight indescribable purity resembling a woman raised with godly essence was found within Fenghua Danyun, who was officially leading the Martial Theory Hall.
Bai Sheng was very clear on the hidden destructive power beneath that harmless appearance.
Just a year ago, during the battle for the Asura title as the leader of the Martial Theory Hall, Fenghua Danyun, who was twenty-nine years old at that time, had completely defeated the former Asura, Steveron Sartre, when no one had hopes for her.
Since then, Martial Theory Hall entered the era of Fenghua Danyun. Almost every martial artist in the Sacred Martial Hall became her plaything. She would occasionally look for martial artists to spar with, or sadistically trained talented martial artists to the point where almost every person she trained had to be admitted to the hospital for some time.
Even the demon-like martial artist actively avoided Fenghua Danyun after being trained by her.
However, it was a fact that the demon-like martial artist was the only one who did not get admitted into a hospital after going through Fenghua Danyun’s training that exemplified the bottomless potential he held.
Fenghua Danyun’s eyes revealed further interest to the point where Bai Sheng couldn’t help but be worried. This Fenghua Dan, who is known as the Asura and also as a demon, will torture Qin Fen in her training until he is admitted to the hospital.
After a brief silence among the Sacred Martial Six Stars, they huddled together and discussed in whispers. Finally, the Black Fiend Star among the Six-Stars, Bogut came forward to announce the results.
“Let’s warmly invites the martial artists who rang the fog bell, and as for the two reporters who discovered them… each will be rewarded an Auspicious Pill .”
Auspicious Pill? Star Pill? Bai Sheng’s muscles were tense and stiff. With the help of these two pills, the chance of Nirvana Marrow Transformation would increase a bit. Qin Fen is really a lucky star! It worth the risk of breaking the rules on the day, secretly leaving the book to him for one night.
Śakra Aziya heavily released a gust of cold air through his nose. He once again said gloomily, “It is amazing to be able to ring the fog bell, but because this does not warrant a meeting with everyone, a report to the six-stars, as usual, should suffice.”
Ferrero looked at the iron ruler, Aziya with a smile, “Of course, it does not warrant a meeting if it is just like this.”
The first-seaters looked at Ferrero curiously. Is there anything more surprising?
“Actually,” Ferrero spread his hands, “The young people that I just mentioned, apart from the martial artist that couldn’t even ring the stone bell, had modified the contract of the Sacred Martial Hall earlier…”
…
Bai Sheng clearly felt vibrations throughout the air in the conference room! It seemed as if a thunder appeared from nowhere and begun thunderously vibrating the air!
Aziya’s face turned gloomier like a rusty bronze covered with pale green rust, “Mahoraga, what do you want to say? Are we going to modify the contract with them again?”