Fighting over a path was the easiest way to cause disputes and conflict, let alone during a time like the Grand Examination, where tensions were high, with the rules prohibiting examinees from taking the same route, someone would have to make the choice of choosing a new path – the Dallying forest covered a vast area, making it rare for two examinees to come across the same route, for Tang Thirty-Six to encounter that scholar from Cassia Mansion could be described as nothing else other than bad luck.
From the understanding Chen Chang Sheng and the others had of Tang Thirty-Six, the bad luck was definitely not Tang Thirty-Six’s, and indeed, the reality was as such. In the end, it was the scholar from Cassia Mansion that was forced to choose a different route.
That scholar stared in the direction of Orthodox Academy, his face full of anger, wanting to go forth and argue with them; his fellow students stopped him, causing him to notice the presence of Luo Luo; he couldn’t help letting out a few sneers.
The group from Cassia Mansion passed by the group from Orthodox Academy as they went towards the river, they used various methods, elegant to the extreme, to cross the River Qu; before leaving, they gave some mildly derisory glances towards Chen Chang Sheng’s group.
At this time, Su Mo Yu had exited the forest, he went to the location of Chen Chang Sheng’s group. For some unknown reason, this young expert from Li Palace College was not in his best condition today, the amount of time he took to complete the Dallying Forest was far longer than expected.
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t like this prudish and stubborn person, but Chen Chang Sheng didn’t feel overly averse to his presence; seeing his slightly pale face, he asked: “Is there anything wrong?”
Su Mo Yu replied: “I suddenly started getting signs last night of a breakthrough into the next realm. In forcibly suppressing it, my True Essence flow reversed, causing some shock to my sea of consciousness.”
The young geniuses within the top 50 on the Proclamation of Azure Clouds were generally all at the upper stage of the Meditative Realm, if they wished to, they could have attempted breaking through to the Ethereal Opening realm at any time.
The barrier to the next realm was too high however, and the process of breaking through, too dangerous, therefore, without being fully prepared for this process, very few would choose to suddenly attempt the breakthrough.
Su Mo Yu was exceedingly diligent in his cultivation, and had come before the barrier long ago, due to the Grand Examination, he had been restraining himself, yet, he couldn’t have expected that the signs of a breakthrough would appear just as the Grand Examination was imminent; what would have originally been a good thing had instead become a source of trouble.
Logically, this type of information concerning your own cultivation status should not be revealed to anyone else, not to mention that Orthodox Academy and Li Palace College were opponents, yet, for some unknown reason, seeing Chen Chang Sheng’s sincere expression, Su Mo Yu naturally told him everything without too much consideration.
Tang Thirty-Six’s expression relaxed, his thoughts towards him became a lot less belligerent – being trusted by someone, was a very pleasant feeling. He looked at Su Mo Yu and asked: “How long till you recover?”
Forcibly suppressing the signs of a breakthrough was something that could cause damage to the sea of consciousness upon even the slightest mistake; in the short-term, the sea of consciousness would become unstable, therefore, it was unsurprising that Su Mo Yu, even with his solid foundation and ability, would have spent so much time on the Dallying Forest. With sufficient time to meditate and rest your thoughts however, this type of condition shouldn’t persist for too long.
“If I can last until the second round of the duelling phase, I should have recovered by then.”
Su Mo Yu did a formal hand greeting to the group from Orthodox Academy and then said to Chen Chang Sheng: “I will wait for you on the Southern shore.”
Upon finishing those words, he walked to the riverside, the outline of his body became mildly distorted as he initiated Li Palace College’s wave riding art; his image gently swayed to and fro as he headed forwards; not taking long to arrive at the opposite shore.
Though his sea of consciousness was unstable, his True Essence capacity was unaffected and his cultivation art was sublime.
With the passage of time, more and more examinees exited the Dallying Forest and made their way across the river; some of them arrived after much difficulty, while some fell into the river, requiring the clergy of Li Palace to bail them out of the waters.