At dusk that day, Steward Victor Xu of Sanctum Martial Academy arrived in Sea Emperor City and convened the elders of each sect for a meeting.
Late that night, Elder Hu and Elder Warren returned from the meeting and once again summoned Leon Huang and the others.
Elder Hu said in a deep voice: "Tomorrow, the fifteen of you will board ships for Sanctum Martial Academy, but that does not mean you will automatically be admitted."
Upon hearing this, all but the six Core Disciples and Leon Huang, Yoon Zhengyang, and Harriet Gu felt a jolt of anxiety.
Elder Hu continued: "At normal speed, the voyage from Seacoast Province to Holy Spirit Island takes ten days. Any disciple who has received a Sanctum Admission Token must reach Holy Spirit Island within half a month. If you exceed the time limit, your academy status will be revoked."
"Elder Hu, what is going on?" Yoon Zhengyang couldn't help but ask.
Elder Hu ignored him and continued: "Steward Victor Xu has conveyed an order from the academy leadership: this time, candidates heading to Holy Spirit Island will be split among four different sea routes. Along the way, the academy will set various trials and obstacles. Only those who pass these tests may continue onward to Holy Spirit Island."
"Ah!"
Upon hearing this news, everyone except those already informed showed expressions of surprise and concern.
Elder Hu continued: "Late-stage Grandmasters will be grouped in threes, early- and mid-stage Grandmasters in groups of five, eighth to tenth layer Qi-Refining in groups of ten, and below eighth layer in groups of thirty. These are your number tags; tomorrow you will board your ships according to these tags."
As he spoke, Elder Hu handed out fifteen different number tags to Leon Huang and the others.
Core Disciples’ tags are gold, Elite Disciples’ are silver, Inner Sect Disciples’ are bronze, and Outer Sect Disciples’ are red.
Leon Huang checked his number: Bronze 36. Yoon Zhengyang’s was 37, and Harriet Gu’s was 38, meaning the three were likely to be grouped together.
Afterward, Elder Hu gave a few more reminders before announcing the meeting was over.
Early the next morning, Seacoast Province’s docks were packed with people.
Hundreds of medium-sized ships were already lined up side by side at the dock.
Numbers hung at the bow of each ship, and candidates heading to Holy Spirit Island only needed to board according to their assigned numbers.
The first to board were the candidates below the eighth layer of Qi-Refining.
At this level, candidates were grouped in thirties, filling over a hundred ships. In other words, there were more than three thousand candidates at this level, and no one could say how many would reach Holy Spirit Island.
Each ship had a helmsman.
However, the helmsman assigned to each ship is only at the Body-Refining level, arranged by Sanctum Martial Academy for his experience as a boatman.
Set sail!
Standing on the high platform by the docks, Steward Victor Xu gave the order, and over a hundred medium-sized ships quickly left the dock.
Next, several dozen small ships took their places, and the numbers hanging at the bows were changed accordingly.
Leon Huang knew it was time for disciples of their level to board.
Leon Huang and his two companions boarded the fourth ship from the left.
In less than fifteen minutes, seven other candidates boarded one after another.
Two of them were the same who had visited Leon Huang yesterday, so they were especially pleased, knowing that Leon’s strength rivaled a Grandmaster and sharing a boat with him was an extra guarantee of safety.
A quarter of an hour later, Steward Victor Xu issued another command, and dozens of small ships quickly left the dock under the boatmen’s control.
On Leon Huang’s ship, besides Harriet Gu, there were two other women. After introductions, one was Yvette Xue from the Flaming Sun Sect, and the other was Rose Changsun from Famous Sword Pavilion.
Additionally, there were two men from Flaming Sun Sect, Kurt Kou and Gavin Guan; Howard Changsun from Famous Sword Pavilion, who is Rose’s cousin; and Eric Zhou and Ian Tian from Limitless Pavilion, who visited Leon yesterday.
There were ten people on the ship; except for Leon Huang, the other nine were all at the ninth layer of Qi-Refining.
Still, none of them dared underestimate Leon Huang.
For the next ten days or so, everyone would be in the same boat, so they all wanted to maintain good relations. In just half an hour, everyone became quite familiar with each other—except for Harriet Gu.
Suddenly, Leon Huang thought of a question.
Last night, Elder Hu said that the candidates heading to Holy Spirit Island would take four different routes, but no one had told them which way to go.
“Did any of you get a route map?” Leon Huang asked.
"No." The Changsun cousins shook their heads.
"We don’t have one either!" said the two from Limitless Pavilion, shaking their heads.
"Neither do we," said the three from Flaming Sun Sect, also shaking their heads.
What a coincidence—we don’t have one either!
Leon Huang shrugged, then everyone’s gaze fell on the helmsman.
No one was foolish; seeing this, they realized the route map was probably with the helmsman.
The helmsman for Leon Huang’s group was a burly, bronze-skinned man in his forties, wearing a sleeveless vest and rough shorts, barefoot, and apparently at the eighth layer of Body-Refining.
Since boarding, the helmsman had quietly steered the boat without a word, remaining calm.
“What’s your name, sir?”
Yoon Zhengyang stepped forward and asked politely.
“I wouldn’t dare—just a boatman, my name’s Sam Gu.” The helmsman replied quietly, sounding a bit nervous, but his face remained calm.
“So, Brother Gu, do you have a route map?” Yoon Zhengyang asked.
"No, it’s all memorized in my head," Sam Gu replied.
Everyone was shocked—without a map, only the helmsman knew the route. If anything happened to him, they might not reach Holy Spirit Island.
Thinking of this, everyone looked at Leon Huang with relief.
If not for him noticing the map issue, any danger to the helmsman could mean their elimination.
“Can you draw the route map from memory?”
Leon Huang asked, thinking it would be better to be prepared in case anything happened to the helmsman.
"I’ve never been to school—I can’t draw," Sam Gu said, declining politely.
Hearing this, Eric Zhou from Limitless Pavilion grew annoyed, ready to scold the boatman, but Leon Huang stopped him.
“Brother Gu, here’s a Grade-One Xuan Pill. If you can draw the map, it’s yours!”
Leon Huang smiled, showing a fragrant green pill in his palm.
Sam Gu glanced at the pill, a hint of greed in his eyes, but shook his head: “Young master, you’re making things difficult for me—I really can’t draw.”
Greedy! Taking advantage of the situation!
Seeing the boatman’s attitude, the others grew angry.
Leon Huang just smiled, then took out two more Grade-One Xuan Pills: “Three pills should be enough for you to reach the Qi-Refining realm. Can you draw it now?”
“Since you’re so generous, young master, I’ll do my best!”
Sam Gu smiled, showing two rows of yellow teeth.