The Sacred Ruins

Under the scorching sun, even the leaves have withered.

In a long hall way filled with crawling vines, a group of mutants have come to take refuge from the intense heat of the day. They formed a diverse gathering of both genders, ranging from teenagers to those in their fifties and sixties.

Chu Feng could be said to have arrived rather late as he attracted several gazes from those present.

"Are your family members all mutants?" a skinny youth asked, his eyes were especially bright, akin to a pair of golden lanterns.

"No, I’m the only mutant," Chu Feng replied.

A fair-skinned youth with especially large ears sneered. "A grown man who needs to be accompanied by his parents thinks he can enter the Hollow Jade Temple. "

Many among those in the hallway turned to glance at them.

Chu Feng felt a strong urge to trample the man. He had barely spoken a few words before suffering blatant ridicule.

"Everyone, let’s try to be amiable. Perhaps we might become colleagues later on. At that time, we would be seeing a lot of each other, so it would be for the best if we could help each other," Zhou Yitian persuaded.

Right afterwards he departed, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Don’t mind him. He’s naturally too frank. He speaks the truth without much thought," said the skinny youth with lantern-like eyes.

How could this be called reconciliation? The former part appeared appropriate, but the latter was outright belittlement.

Chu Feng faced them. "You two complement each other quite well, don’t you think? This kind of provocation is simply asking for a beating."

"The youths of this age are so rash and easily agitated." The large-eared youth sighed, shaking his head in the manner of a wizened elder as his large ears swayed ridiculously.

Chu Feng truly wished he could grasp his ears and ruthlessly give him a good beating.

Their conversation was then disrupted by the loud commotion of surprised people.

"Oh my, what a pretty and charming young lady! She must be at least 36... ‘E’, I suppose?" exclaimed the lantern-eyed youth in a low voice.

"That’s unlikely, I say she’s 36D," said the large-eared youth, equally excited.

Chu Feng realized these two people were definitely of poor character; their mouths being inherently evil.

Many turned to glance. She was definitely an attractive beauty—fair skin like snow, locks akin to waves, fiery red lips and a pair of pristine wings on her back.

"Phew, I made it in time!" She landed gracefully as she let out a long breath and patted her well-endowed chest.

"Damn... I’m about to be intoxicated," the large-eared youth exclaimed with a blush while beating his own shriveled chest.

"Dear lady, you did not arrive late. But, if you’re concerned, you can line up in front of me." The skinny lantern-eyed youth offered enthusiastically, letting the lady jump the queue. At the same time, he introduced himself, "My name is Du Huaijin".

"That’s right, you can line up with us." the wide-eared youth chimed in, likewise introducing himself, "I’m Ouyang Qing."

Chu Feng’s temper had thoroughly dissipated. These two wretched fellows were now completely ignoring their family of three and arranging for the lady to jump the queue.

"This... is rather inappropriate. I’ll just stand here." The lady gently smiled while playing with her locks, appearing extremely charming.

Her snow-white wings had been withdrawn. The gaps on the back of her dress designed for the wings were exposing her white skin underneath.

She also introduced herself: "Ye Qingrou."

"Oh, you’re Ye Qingrou?!"

"Ye Qingrou the heavenly wings—I never thought I would be able to meet you in person!"

A crowd suddenly formed in the hallway. Surrounding her were a mixture of both men and ladies with passionate gazes.

The ladies were also excited, saying, "I admire you so much, Ye Qingrou!"

What was the matter? Chu Feng and his parents were stuck in the middle of the crowd, completely unaware of what was the cause of this commotion. They only heard the name Ye Qingrou being exclaimed.

"Are you sure you’re even a mutant? Don’t you follow the discussions about mutants? You haven’t even heard of Ye Qingrou the heavenly wings. She was the one who killed snow panther, her battle accomplishments would rank her in the top 50 elites within the country!"

With this, Chu Feng finally understood what was going on. He would have never thought this lady with charming eyes and a fiery figure was this powerful.

However, he felt that this stop 50 ranking should not have included hidden experts like the disciple of Buddha or Lei Zhenzi. These were existences that had risen to power over 20 years ago.

Just as the title of the 4 elites being bestowed upon the Vajra [1], Silver Wing, Fire Spirit and White Tiger did not take into account apex existences like the lord of Hollow Jade Temple.

"Sister Ye Qingrou, you’re not only powerful but also very beautiful, you’re even more beautiful than in the photos," a young girl exclaimed.

The young men present nodded their heads repeatedly.

With her wavy locks, her flaming red lips, bewitching eyes and fiery figure, Ye Qingrou attracted attention everywhere, even if she tried not to.

"Brother, be tactful and quickly make way for the beautiful lady to move forward," the scrawny youth with lantern-like eyes named Du Huaijin said to Chu Feng.

"Right, right!" The big-eared Ouyang Qing nodded in agreement.

Now, Chu Feng did not even want to bother feeling offended by this vulgar duo.

Ye Qingrou was pushed forward by the crowd as she turned back to glance at Chu Feng with a smile. "Thank you!"

"You’re welcome, it’s more delightful for me to admire you when you’re standing in front, or else I would have to turn back," Chu Feng said with a laugh.

"..."

Everyone present was dumbfounded while Ye Qingrou turned to glare at him.

Right at this moment, a group of no less than 10 people arrived. They were led by a handsome youth wearing an amiable smile, full of charisma.

"Eh? he looks quite familiar." One of the mutants was surprised, but then quickly recognized the youth. "He’s Chen Luoyan!"

Everyone turned their attention to the group of people as they looked at the young man.

"Chen Luoyan?" someone asked with astonishment.

"That’s right, it is indeed him. He’s also ranked within the top 50 elites. Unexpectedly, he had also come. Today is quite the lively day; seeing 2 elites in succession."

"Hello everyone," Chen Luoyan courteously greeted the masses. His appearance was elegant, and his combat accomplishments were astonishing. Within the mutant society, he was quite famous.

With the high number of mutants on the rise, ranking in the top 50 was absolutely impressive.

In Shuntian, this kind of talent was very rare; 2 or 3 would be the absolute limit.

"Is Brother Chen also from Shuntian?" someone asked.

"No, I had rushed over from Jinmen," Chen Luoyan replied.

The masses were astonished, Jinmen was at least 3 to 4 thousand kilometers away from Shuntian. Having traversed such a long distance was sufficient proof of his strength.

Finally, the female mutants politely came to negotiate with Chu Feng, hoping he would be willing to let Chen Luoyan jump the queue to line up at the front.

"No problem." Chu Feng waved his hand, yielding two positions wasn’t that much of a difference from yielding one.

In the end, Ye Qingrou and Chen Luoyan had been shifted to the front of the line.

Chu Feng and his family were still at the last position.

"The time has arrived. Everyone should follow me." Someone arrived to lead the mutants forward into a courtyard.

At this point, Wang Jing and Chu Zhiyuan would only wait outside.

This courtyard was fairly big, and it was surprisingly cool there, most probably due to the presence of a large pool which was emitting an astonishing coldness.

The architecture of the courtyard was old-fashioned, and the interior was mostly barren except for the single cold pond. The place gave one an impression of mystery.

A smiling female mutant announced: "Even though everyone is passionate, the Hollow Jade Temple’s selection process is very strict—only the strong will be able to pass."

She announced that they were required to dive into depths of the pool in search for the exam site.

"Do not overexert yourselves. This pond is extremely cold, staying within for long periods of time may damage your body," she reminded the participants.

Everyone showed some hesitation; did they really have to dive into the pond?

"How about those that cannot swim?"

"Then it will depend on your courage," the lady replied with a smile.

"Plop!"

The first person dived in, followed by a second, then several people dived down in succession.

Chu Feng had also entered the pond. The mysterious pool caused him no end of amazement. The chill was penetrative. If a normal person entered, he would no doubt be frozen solid.

He even wondered whether this was actually water; why hadn’t it frozen over at this temperature?

On the way, there were participants who could not keep diving and had to give up. They bodies became rigid and even their blood had almost become stagnant.

There were mutant staff observing the participants in the pond. They would rescue the ones who were incapable of continuing.

Chu Feng dived down slowly until he gradually saw a hazy illumination on the stone wall. He swam over and discovered that the area was translucent, as if there was another space within the light.

Using some force, he squeezed into the halo of light.

He was surprised to find that the water did not flow in. Furthermore, this place was very hot—flames were spewing out of the ground amidst the flowing lava.

"Please continue forward," a mutant instructed.

After walking through this burning area, Chu Feng’s clothes dried. He then entered an extremely wide space.

Was this an underground world or a folded space? Chu Feng had some doubts. This underground area was so much larger than the Hollow Jade Temple above ground.

He arrived at a colossal martial hall which was incomparably spacious. There was no lighting but it was not dark as a hazy glow was suffused in the air.

A number of mutants had already arrived, and everyone felt this place to be quite odd.

At this point, there were only roundabout 30 mutants remaining; half of the participants had been eliminated.

There were tens of staff stationed at this location, all of whom were mutants.

"Qualifying is simple. It will mainly depend on your strength!" a vigorous old man said as he gazed at the crowd.

He scanned the present participants and said, "Not bad, Ye Qingrou and Chen Luoyan – I recognize the both of you. You have both made a name for yourselves and your accomplishments are remarkable. Hollow Jade Temple welcomes you."

Obviously, these two had been noticed by the Hollow Jade Temple—they were good saplings worthy of heavy investment and grooming.

"I understand there are some among you who have special abilities such as clairvoyance and clairaudience. Have these people arrived here yet?" the old man asked.

"Present!" Du Huaijin stepped out. The brilliance in his eyes were akin to golden lanterns. The masses quickly understood that he was the so-called Clairvoyant.

"I’m also here," Ouyang Qing walked out of the crowd as his large ears flapped with each stride.

Everyone couldn’t hold back the laughter.

These two were the clairvoyant and clairaudient? Chu Feng had a weird feeling.

"Even if you two have insufficient strength, I will still make an exception and accept the both of you," the old man said as he laughed.

The masses were greatly envious of them.

"No problem. We would still like to try," the two said, highly confident about their strengths.

"The test is very simple, there are no tricks. We will first test your physical qualities and then proceed to direct combat," the old man announced.

Physical qualities included hearing, vision, speed and strength.

Ouyang Qing was remarkable. As expected of a clairaudient, he was able to hear the buzz of mosquitoes several hundreds of miles away, startling the crowd.

A normal person would at most be able to hear the mosquitoes’ wingbeat half a meter away. His hearing had to be at least hundreds of times better than a normal person.

"Definitely worth grooming. In the future, we will provide you with suitable mutant fruits, perhaps allowing you to really hear sounds from thousands of miles away." The old man was very satisfied.

Ouyang Qing’s large ears swayed as he happily said, "This is still not the extent of my abilities."

Chu Feng’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Even though he had impressive hearing abilities, he possessed a vulgar personality.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you not convinced?" Ouyang Qing was evidently unhappy when he noticed Chu Feng’s scoff.

The gazes of those present were directed at Chu Feng.

"Isn’t this merely a good sense of hearing?" Chu Feng had no intention of laying low. His initial plan was to showcase his abilities and gain the attention of the Hollow Jade Temple, ensuring the safety of his parents while maintaining his own freedom, just like White Tiger.

"Eh? A Challenge?! If you have the same hearing capabilities, I’ll eat all the mosquitoes in that box over a hundred meters away." Ouyang Qing glared at him.

"Very well, then you should prepare yourself to eat mosquitoes," Chu Feng calmly said.

At 300 meters, a staff replaced the cardboard box with a new one.

"Five mosquitoes," Chu Feng claimed, recognizing the sound of the mosquitoes.

"Correct!" a mutant replied.

Everyone was petrified. Was it another clairaudient?

"You... you must have guessed!" shouted Ouyang Qing. He was greatly intimidated.

"Once more!" the old man was deeply astonished as he commanded the staff to prepare another test.

"Six mosquitoes," Chu Feng replied once again.

"Correct!" a staff replied from 300 meters.

"Bring that box over here." The old man liked trouble. He ordered his man to retrieve the box.

Ouyang Qing had a huge headache. He was now in a difficult position, akin to riding on the back of a tiger.

When the box was opened. He cried out in alarm, "How could there be such huge mosquitoes?"

The cardboard box was very large. Inside, each mosquito was over an inch long, flying around making droning sounds.

5 mosquitoes of this size, will I really be able to eat it all? Big-eared Ouyang Qing’s expression was starting to look very ugly.

"In the Hollow Jade Temple: if you dare to bet, you must be willing to pay when you lose. Eat it," the old man encouraged with laughter.

All those present were speechless. They felt this old man did not maintain the loftiness of an elder, but, at the same time, they were all looking forward to the ensuing chaos.

The old man was very attentive as he said, "Don’t worry, these are not real mosquitoes, they are all artificial, designed to sound like an actual mosquito. Be brave and eat them!"

"They’re made from plastic? They’re all so big, do I really have to eat 5 of them? They’re not even real meat!" Ouyang Qing was about to cry. Can these things really be digested?

He wanted to cry but have no tears. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he stuffed the mosquitoes into his mouth.

"You sheltered brat, I didn’t expect you to be this evil!" the clairvoyant Du Huaijin exclaimed with a glare, speaking up for Ouyang Qing.

"Then why don’t we also engage in a little contest? The loser eats mosquitoes," said Chu Feng giving him a sideways glance.

Hearing mosquitoes, Du Huaijin shut his mouth immediately. He was truly afraid he would lose and be forced to eat them. Ouyang Qing was just beside them, retching miserably.

"No need to force yourself to vomit. The mosquitoes are environment friendly and biodegradable, at most, it’ll cause a few days of diarrhea," the old man kindly reminded.

"Retch..." Ouyang Qing was so angry he wanted to bang his head on the wall.

"Well, if you don’t dare, then let it be. I’m not really in the mood for a competition anyway." Chu Feng wore a completely relaxed expression.

"We’ll compete!" Du Huaijin blurted out. He decided that Chu Feng must be bluffing.

"Very good!" the old man decided, not even waiting for Chu Feng to confirm.

The masses were temporarily dumbfounded by the old man’s actions.

Far off in the distance, the hall was pitch-black. There was no light at all, and it would be difficult for a normal person to even see his own fingers after extending his arm.

However, the clairvoyant Du Huaijin’s eyes were bright and lustrous; he was able to directly see a number of mosquitoes flying around at 3000 meters.

Even the old man was astonished by the power of his eye-sight. "Very good, in the future when the fruits on that tree mature, I’ll reserve one for you. Perhaps you’ll be able to evolve to the level of legendary clairvoyance."

"Your turn." Du Huaijin laughed as he looked at Chu Feng.

Chu Feng calmly activated his divine sense to its maximum extent. His eyes were deep and abstruse as two beams of divine light pierced forth through the darkness. Suddenly, he was able to see the spots on a wall 4000 meters away.

"5 spots!"

"Seriously?" the old man was surprised.

"Correct!" a staff responded.

All the participants were shocked. This sheltered man, accompanied by his parents, was actually this powerful?

Everyone was petrified including Ye Qingrou.

Clairvoyant Du Huaijin was squatting on the floor, clutching his head. He was about to cry: "I don’t want to eat mosquitoes."

The old man consoled him, saying, "Don’t worry, it is completely digestible —eat!"

Du Huaijin: #@$...

This was just the interlude; after 2 people were forced to eat finger-sized mosquitoes, no one dared to challenge Chu Feng again.

"Dang!"

During the strength test, Chen Luoyan’s entire body was golden yellow – emitting a resplendent brilliance. He lifted a cauldron weighing over 30,000 catties over his head.

Everyone looked towards Chu Feng.

He walked over in a natural manner and, with a simple kick, a cauldron weighing over 37,000 catties flew into the air. A kick from Chu Feng caused it to rise over 10 meters into the air, causing the crowd to become stunned once again.

At this point, everyone had realized Chu Feng was a terrifying genius.

During the speed test, Chu Feng dashed 268 meters in a single second, leaving the flying Ye Qingrou in the dust.

"Actual Combat!"

Over 30 mutant staff were present, all prepared for the true combat assessment. Their duty was to spar with and examine the power of the participants.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

Chu Feng was unreserved, he swept through all 30 examiners within the blink of an eye. Everyone was sent flying out of the ring, and none were left standing.

"What perverse strength!" An instructor clutched his chest with a pained grimace and complained, "You only needed to spar with one of us for a few moments to be qualified."

"You guys should’ve said so earlier!" Chu Feng truly did not know.

"Good, good, good!", the old man stepped forward. He knew he had struck gold. This Chu Feng was even stronger than White Tiger.

He carefully sized-up Chu Feng and said, "You will be the leader of a squad. You may select your subordinates from these participants."

"What I want is freedom and the ensured safety of my parents!" Chu Feng calmly replied.

"No problem, but even so, you may still select some subordinates to help you with your daily activities." The old man laughed.

"Very well then, you two shall follow me from now on." Chu Feng pointed towards the clairvoyant and the clairaudient.

"No!" the duo screamed as their faces pale.

"Yes!" Chu Feng replied.

"Big brother!"

"Boss."

The two men changed their stances with lightning speed and hurriedly ran over to Chu Feng. Their faces were full of smiles, ready to massage his shoulders and back.

"I also want to join them," Ye Qingrou declared as she walked over in a willowy manner.

...

[1] Kong Kim is now named Vajra. His name from earlier chapters will be changed overtime.