Chapter Twelve: The Top Trainee

Third Training Hall

Sang Sang devoted herself entirely to the training, seeking solace in the baptism of holy light when she was exhausted, and relying on nutrition pills to quench her thirst and hunger. She was driven to the brink of madness.

"Ding! Training concluded. Purification intensity: one thousand seven hundred percent. Time taken: seven hours, eighty-nine minutes, and five seconds. Absorption rate: eighty-one. Guidance level: exquisite. Overall result: pass."

"Continue."

"...Absorption rate: eighty-three. Guidance level: exquisite. Overall result: pass."

"Continue."

"...Overall result: pass."

"...Continue."

"...Result: good."

"..."

"Good."

...

Sang Sang lost count of how many times she had finished the training; her entire being had grown numb. She relished the fleeting pleasure of the holy light's healing upon her body, swallowed the nutrition pill that appeared at her lips, and tried to rise again, but her limbs failed her and she collapsed. Just then, at the end of the familiar voice reporting the results, she froze.

"...This time, your performance is perfect..."

Sang Sang murmured, "I did it."

Ayslan's eyes shone with pride. Senna handed her a prepared nutrient drink, holding it to her lips with care. "You did it," he said seriously.

Sang Sang still felt as if she were dreaming. "Did I pass perfectly?"

Senna smiled. "Exactly. You passed the seventeenfold training perfectly. This is an excellent result. If nothing unexpected happens, you will be someone remarkable in the future."

Sang Sang grinned. "Little Jin, I finally passed perfectly. How many times was this?"

Little Jin raised his hands, trying valiantly to support her head: 'Forty-one times, Sang Sang. You've reached your limit. Let's go back. Seventeenfold is more than enough to lay your foundation. We won't continue.'

Sang Sang blinked away the sweat from her eyelashes and laughed. "So I repeated it forty-one times at seventeenfold. Each time I thought I'd reached my limit, but the next time, I could always go a little further. I haven't reached my limit yet. If I can pass it seventeen times, I can do eighteen, nineteen, even twenty. The higher the intensity, the better the purification. Your companion is the best."

Little Jin watched as Sang Sang propped herself up and sat back at the training machine, holding his empty hands aloft: 'You've truly reached your limit. I know.'

Sang Sang gave him a small smile, then looked at Ayslan. "Teacher, continue. Eighteenfold."

"...This training session: fail."

"Continue..."

"...Fail."

"...Continue."

"...Fail."

"...Continue."

"That's enough," Ayslan called out to stop her.

Sang Sang shook her sweat-matted hair away, her eyes red as she glared at Ayslan. "I can go on. Continue."

Ayslan replied, "I'm your teacher. Your progress is under my guidance."

Sang Sang's gaze grew darker, her voice icy. "I don't care who you are. I want to continue. I don't believe I'll fall here."

Senna interjected, "Little Red Leaf, that's enough."

Sang Sang's eyes turned as black as ink. "It's not enough. I want to be stronger, stronger, ever stronger. Let me continue."

Ayslan frowned and stopped Senna, who was about to say more. "Since you're insistent, we will continue."

After seven hours and ninety-nine minutes—

"...Pass."

Sang Sang lay on the ground, laughing. "Ha, see? I told you I could do it. I passed. As long as I can pass, there will be 'good,' then 'excellent,' and finally 'perfect.'"

'And then what?' Little Jin stood on her forehead, brushing away the hair stuck to her face. 'For a single training session, will you spend a month, two months, maybe half a year or a whole year? And when the Saintess reevaluation comes, you'll still not have completed your purification?'

Sang Sang's clarity began to return.

Little Jin said, 'Sang Sang, don't forget your goal.'

My goal?

San Sang's reason gradually returned, her eyes clear once more. She reached up to touch Little Jin, slowly sat up, cradled him in her arms, and looked towards Senna and Ayslan, who watched her with concern.

"Teacher, Uncle..." Sang Sang glanced at the time and realized she had spent six to seven hundred hours in the training hall, as if possessed. Embarrassed, she said, "I'm sorry for making you waste so much time with me."

"We have plenty of time," Senna replied, reaching out a hand. "But you need rest. However miraculous the holy light is, it can't cleanse the exhaustion buried deep in your mind. Let's go back, get some deep sleep, and recuperate. We can continue tomorrow, all right?"

Sang Sang shook her head, stood up by herself—though she swayed unsteadily, she refused help—and gritted her teeth. "No more training. Let's move straight to purification."

Senna smiled. "Don't you want to be even stronger? I believe, given time, passing at eighteenfold is within reach, maybe even nineteen or twenty. You might even break the current purification record."

"And then the preliminary selection ends next year, and I still haven't learned martial arts," Sang Sang thought, rolling her eyes inwardly. She bowed to Ayslan. "Teacher, I've made up my mind. Please arrange my purification."

"Very well." Ayslan nodded. "Go back and rest, adjust your state. Come to me at the twenty-fifth hour tomorrow."

The Seminary had a dedicated purification area, but Ayslan did not take Sang Sang there. Instead, he had requested a purification pool to be brought to his residence. When she arrived, an elf was just delivering the purification agents.

He had long, dark green hair with pointed ears peeking through, and eyes like the finest emeralds, reflecting one's soul. This was an elf whose elegance reached into his very bones and spirit. Though Sang Sang had never met him before, at his gentle nod and smile, she felt a strange sense of familiarity and kinship, as if she had seen him before.

Ah, she remembered now—he resembled the painting master, Old Qing.

Though one was a refined youth and the other a white-haired elder, their temperaments were strikingly similar. This man was surely a painter, one who painted from the heart.

"Sang Hongye, my student. Boya, you may call him Teacher," Ayslan introduced. Without waiting for them to become acquainted, he urged Sang Sang, "The agent will unlock automatically in five minutes. Hurry."

Bronwyn paced the room, restless and uneasy.

On the Seminary's training board, Sang Hongye's name stood at the top with eighteenfold intensity, ranking within the top twenty in the all-time records—a truly astonishing achievement. Everyone was awaiting her purification results.

Today was Sang Hongye's purification day. According to inside information, her mentor had requested a top-level seventeenfold purification agent—the highest in the past two centuries.

The Saintess of Blossoms drew strands of colored light from her fingertips, weaving them into flowers for her carpet, listening absentmindedly as her steward recited the latest news.

"Wait." The Saintess paused at a certain name, her hand faltering so that the flower exploded into a burst of colored sparks. "The candidate under Senna’s guidance ranked first in the trial, and will likely secure first in purification as well?"

"Yes, Your Highness," the steward replied respectfully. "The results will be released in eight hours."

The Saintess frowned slightly. "There have been changes among the higher ranks lately. The achievements of the Saintess candidates will heavily influence the bishops. If Bishop Anthony truly produces a human Saintess, his chances of ascending will greatly increase. I do not wish for such a thing to happen."

"Please do not worry, Your Highness. Bishop Anthony’s recommended seed candidate is of our own kind. Sang Hongye has no exemption and her foundation is too weak. However great her talent, it will be difficult for her to secure a spot in next year's reevaluation."

"But what if she is a true prodigy? Genius cannot be predicted by common logic. Take Ayslan, two hundred years ago—were it not for the Battle of Weian, he would already be at the Divine Court headquarters." The Saintess’s gaze sharpened. "I need to make certain that Bishop Anthony will not have an additional human Saintess under his command."

"Yes, Your Highness."