Chapter Eleven: Selection

  The Great Dragon Continent, Year 4799, June 11th!

  Yu Shui City, in the Xia family's mansion, on the vast square, gathered thousands of people. These people, mostly direct and collateral descendants of the Xia family, as well as a small number of celebrities from Yu Shui City and representatives of two other prominent families in Yu Shui City that are on par with the Xia family.

  Today is the day when the Xia family selects its excellent young talents every three years. The selection of excellent young talents, which takes place once every three years, is very similar to the system used by the Violet Leaf Academy to recruit students. It's not just the Xia family; the other two major families in Jade Water City, the Wang and Xi families, also select their own excellent young talents this June.

  It's all for the entrance examination of Violet Leaf Academy. Only the most excellent family members selected from within the family can pass the entrance examination of Violet Leaf Academy.

  Zi Ye Academy is a top academy on the Dragon Continent, located in Zi Ye City. Zi Ye City is one of the fifty-four main cities on the Dragon Continent. The highest authority in Zi Ye City is the Holy Temple, which has a Temple Master and twelve Hall Masters, governing thirty-three county cities including Yu Shui City. Among these thirty-three county cities, there are thirty-three Saint Temple Hall Masters, but only twelve people can enter the Holy Temple of Zi Ye City.

  The temple masters who can enter the Temple of the Holy Land have more power, and the counties they control are also stronger. The temple master of Yu Shui City has not entered the Purple Leaf City Temple.

  Zi Ye Academy is the top academy on the Dragon Continent, aside from those three super academies. Every three years, there's an entrance exam that many people crack their brains to get into Zi Ye Academy to study and cultivate. Because, as long as you enter Zi Ye Academy, it means that after graduation, you'll be able to obtain a relatively high social status. The students recruited by Zi Ye Academy have strict age restrictions, only recruiting young people between the ages of 8 and 15.

  Excellent graduates of Violet Leaf Academy can directly enter the Holy Halls of various counties, and even enter the Holy Temple of Violet Leaf City! Who wouldn't want to achieve such glory? Of course, the reason why Violet Leaf Academy is so famous is still its own strength. Many powerful people who shook the mainland are from Violet Leaf Academy.

  The sun was high in the sky, and the Summer family's plaza was surrounded by people. On the high platform were the head of the Summer family, Xia Fei Long, and nine senior members of the Summer family who held important positions. Seated on the guest seats were famous scholars from Jade Water City, as well as representatives sent by the other two major families, the Xi family and the Wang family.

  Although the three big families are openly and secretly fighting for benefits, on the day of selecting excellent young people in the family, they will still sit together harmoniously, observe and learn from each other, and also understand the strength of their younger generation.

  The quota for Yuanshui City to participate in the entrance examination of Zǐyè College every three years is only twenty, while the quota for the three major families is only five. The other fifteen quotas are selected from the famous families and dozens of towns under the jurisdiction of Yuanshui City. The three major families can firmly occupy the five quotas, which is inseparable from their rights in the Holy Temple. The heads of the three major families are all executives of the Holy Temple!

  The three big families, naturally hope that their own family can get more quotas in these five quotas. The more children of the family enter the Violet Leaf Academy, the brighter the future of this family will be.

  "Knock knock knock~"

  After the three drums sounded, young men from the Xia family, aged between 8 and 15, who had been selected to participate in the event, walked into the central square under the leadership of Xia Guqiu. Each face shone with pride. Today was their day to prove themselves.

  If he can stand out in today's selection, he will surely make a great career and the status of Xia's family will also rise.

  As these dozens of young people walked out, the thousands of direct and collateral descendants of the Xia family in the square all raised their arms and shouted. Because at this moment, the dozens of young people standing in the center of the square were the hope for the continued prosperity of the Xia family.

  Xia's focus on nurturing was also on these dozens of direct descendants standing in the center of the square at this time.

  When one prospers, all prosper; when one suffers loss, all suffer loss. As long as the Xia family is prosperous, even those collateral descendants can also share in the glory. Therefore, the vast majority of the Xia family's collateral descendants sincerely hope that these direct descendants of the Xia family will be able to lead the Xia family to become even stronger in the future.

  Of course, the dozens of famous people from Yushui City and representatives of the other two families sitting in the guest seats had their own thoughts, which others couldn't know. As for the Wang family and the Xi family, they certainly didn't want the Xia family to have an exceptionally excellent son appear.

  Xia Guqiu led his followers to the center of the square, then stopped them and walked alone towards the high platform for about fifty steps.

  "Summer ancient autumn, has seen the clan elder, has seen all the elders, has seen all the celebrities of Jade Water City. The summer family's direct descendants from 8 to 15 years old total 43 people, today 42 people participated in the selection, and Summer Mo Fei was unable to attend due to illness." Summer ancient autumn bowed deeply towards the high platform, his face solemn, with a loud and clear voice said.

  "Alright!" Elder Xia Lei stood up and waved his hand, then looked at the tribe leader and said: "Tribe leader, it's getting late, why not start now?"

  In the square, there is a huge round stone with a recessed groove below it. The selection first examines the internal force, and this stone is used to test the internal force of the practitioner. The practitioner only needs to place both hands on the stone and slowly push forward. The farther back you go, the stronger the force required. In other words, the farther the stone can be pushed, the stronger the internal force of the person pushing the stone. There are corresponding grade marks in the groove, and according to the position of the stone, it is clear how many martial arts meridians this disciple has opened up.

  "Hmm..." The eyes of Patriarch Xia Fei Long rose slightly, his gaze falling on the more than 40 disciples in the center of the square.

  "Xia Gu Qiu!" Just as Xia Fei Long was about to nod and signal the start, the Third Elder Xia Chang He stood up, his eyes blazing with anger, and bellowed.

  "What instructions do the three elders have?" Xia Guqiu clasped his fists together and looked at Xia Changhe.

  Xia Changhe, although one of the three elders of the family, was not particularly respected by Xia Guqiu, and could even be said to be hypocritical. There were two reasons for this: firstly, Xia Changhe's own strength was not strong, as he was more focused on literature than martial arts; secondly, Xia Changhe had previously been close to Xia Yan's father, Xia Dongsheng, and had often opposed his own father, the great elder Xia Lai, at council meetings.

  In Xia Yan's affairs, Xia Changhe has always been more considerate of Xia Yan, which makes Xia Guqiu somewhat resentful of the three elders Xia Changhe. Moreover, his father is the family's eldest elder Xia Lai, and Xia Changhe cannot do anything to him.

  "From eight to fifteen years old, there are forty-four direct descendants of the Xia family. Why did you say forty-three?" Xia Changhe asked with a stern face, pointing at Xia Guqiu.

  The other two family representatives on the guest seat suddenly looked at Xia Guqiu and Xia Changhe with great interest. What's going on? Xia Guqiu is the executor of the Xia family, and he is in charge of teaching the excellent younger generation of the Xia family in the heavy ground martial arts hall. Did he even get this wrong?

  "Return to San Zhang Lao, indeed there are forty-three people, and never a forty-fourth person!" Xia Guqiu sneered, his eyes flashing as he responded.

  A surge of anger rose in Xia Changhe's heart. It was clear that Xia Guqiu had intentionally left out Xia Yan.

  ————————————————————————

  New book needs votes and collections, Xiao Ye asks for votes and collections!