Another melodious bell rang, a rich sound that settled over them peacefully.

A breeze picked up, and the entire tree began to sway ever so slightly. There was a responding surge of worldly natural energy.

The energy swelled forth, shooting through to the branches, creating little vortexes of energy on the leaves.

At the center of each vortex, a student.

Everyone sank down into their cultivation.

At a wooden platform near the new student zone. Five people were lounging there, either silent or speaking softly. They were the five Violet Vibrance mentors.

Shen Jinxiao was sitting in front of a short table, kettle in hand as he poured himself cup after cup. His gaze strayed in the direction of a certain violet jade leaf, eyes staring into the mist.

"Mentor Chi Chan, are you satisfied with guiding Li Luo and his dual resonances?" he suddenly asked, turning cheerfully to the slim woman sitting some distance away, her face carefully veiled in her usual black.

Her eyes were unflinching, as if she had not even heard him.

He was not discouraged, continuing as if to himself, "Li Luo's second resonance's grade is not high. A fourth-grade? Fifth? If he can't master true duality, then all he has is a slightly more substantial resonant power reserve. A low-grade dual resonance cultivator might not even beat a lower eighth-grade single resonance user. He only beat Duze Beixuan due to the latter's carelessness."

"As meddlesome as a dog catching mice. A pity, Shen Jinxiao, when you could spend your time learning to be a better person instead," Chi Chan commented mildly.

“Pfft!”

Mentor Cao Sheng spluttered over the wine jar he was nursing. He wiped his mouth, looking at the spray of wine on the floor with regret.

Shen Jinxiao gave her a greasy smile. "I was just concerned for Mentor Chi Chan. After all, you're quite young yourself, and you haven't raised many heavy-duty hitters in these past few years. And in another year or two, perhaps the Academic Federation will open the Mirror of Heaven Pagoda again. If Mentor Chi Chan is still as ordinary as ever, you might well lose your chance again this time."

"It's a pity you couldn't keep a student like Jiang Qing'e. Or your own chance would be secured," she nonchalantly sniped back.

His eyes narrowed with an ominous rumble of worldly natural energy at that snarky comment.

Mentor Chi Chan met his gaze coolly, and the temperature seemed to drop.

"Ahem..."

Mentor Mi Er cleared his throat to break them up. "Who do you think will get the brightest resonant luminescence this time?"

"Probably Qin Zhulu, if everything goes according to calculation," a gaunt, scholarly Violet Vibrance mentor replied cheerfully. "He possesses an upper eighth-grade resonance and a soul that lives for battle. His potential is remarkable."

This was the fifth Violet Vibrance mentor, Chu Zi.

"Wang Hejiu, Bai Doudou, Duze Beixuan, and Yi Lisha have lower eighth-grade resonances too. With luck, they stand a chance," Mentor Cao Sheng said with interest, setting aside his jar.

"Still, resonant luminescence is not just about resonance grade. It also depends on one's faith... An inner mettle and belief in oneself, a dedication to cultivation... That is just as important as resonance grade."

"We've seen Gold Gleam and Silver Spark students trigger resonant luminescence before, and brighter ones than Violet Vibrance students too. It's all conviction."

The others nodded. As Duke experts, they understood this concept well. Still, inner mettle and belief? It was a power that less mature cultivators like these students might not understand.

A strange blast of resonant power interrupted their conversation. They looked over to see a light glowing on one of the violet jade leaves. It slowly began to spread. 

"So fast?"

The five mentors were all surprised. They could see through the light that it was Qin Zhulu.

The light flowed through his body, shining very brightly.

"This one's light is quite intense. I haven't seen one like this in the last two years." The others agreed, admiring it.

Still, no one was surprised by Qin Zhulu's resonant luminescence. After all, his resonance grade and self-conviction were both stronger than his peers'.

Not long after, other glows of resonant luminescence began to pop up here and there.

These were definitely the elites among the new students.

The many luminous glows all across the tree made for a magical moment.

...

While light glows were spreading outside, Li Luo's attention was firmly within, on the two resonant palaces in his body. They were currently absorbing huge quantities of worldly natural energy, and he was using his energy cultivation arts to maximize the process as best as he could.

Within his two resonant palaces, his resonance seeds absorbed the energy as quickly as a dry sponge with water.

He could see that faint specks of resonant power were appearing on the surface of his resonance seeds.

As his resonance seeds continued to thirstily absorb the energy, they also grew bigger.

He was pleased with the development. The Astral Sage College's Tree of Resonant Power was indeed special. This first cultivation session had yielded much better results than he had expected.

As more energy began to flood in, the two resonance seeds began to quiver slightly.

Li Luo could feel a curious disturbance in the energy. He smiled to himself.

He knew that his resonance seeds were responding to the worldly natural energy outside.

His resonant luminescence was here.

...

At the same time, on another violet jade leaf.

Yu Lang closed his eyes, absorbing the worldly natural energy from all around him. His cultivation was going well, but no resonant luminescence.

Clearly, his sixth-grade resonance was a little too low.

Yu Lang felt a prickle of impatience and anxiety, which he quickly quashed.

"I'll have to pull out my ultimate move, I guess."

He told himself. "I AM YU LANG!" he shouted in his mind. "I HAVE AN EIGHTH-GRADE RESONANCE, AND I WILL BECOME THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE!

"I AM YU LANG! I HAVE AN EIGHTH-GRADE RESONANCE, AND I WILL BECOME THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE!"

He repeated this phrase over and over again, until there was no other thought in his mind.

He continued to shout within his mind, and a stern look crept across his face.

If someone could peek into Yu Lang's mind, they would be amazed at the gall of the guy trying to hypnotize himself.

And he wasn't even hypnotizing someone else. He was trying it on himself...

Layer after layer, until he truly believed that he had an eighth-grade resonance, and that he would become the fastest man alive.

By all logic, such hypnotism shouldn't work, but... only with a guy like Yu Lang.

At this moment, in his mind, he truly had an eighth-grade resonance.

A roar of worldly natural energy erupted on his violet jade leaf, and his resonant luminescence emerged!