The ancestral hall before Shen Tian was truly gigantic with height over hundred sixty meters tall, approximately three meters for each floor.
The door to the grand hall was a twin door ten meters wide and twenty meters tall each. On it were carvings of mountains and rivers made of gold, the carving was so vividly made one could see small birds and fishes.
Above, floor after floor was ringed by broad balconies with railings of sturdy wood embedded with golden and silver. The eaves of each floor curved outwards in sweeping arcs, each one edged with rows of dark brown tiles that gave off the feeling of majesty, together with gold carving on the edge.
Silken banners hung on each balcony in rows with some distance between them. On it was an image of a whirlpool and lumps of clouds above, a symbol of the Shen clan. These banners serve to shelter the balconies from wind and rain, but primarily to show the majesty of the Shen clan.
The crowd waited for a while in front of the hall, Tian Yi and Shen Ai stood at the front with some distance from the crowd.
The youth was getting restless from excitement and anxiousness. Soon they began talking among themselves, some expressed their worry while some talked in a boasting tone to cover up their anxiousness.
The adults said nothing and remained silent with serious expression.
Finally, when it was six o'clock sharp, the twin doors were opened from the inside by two servants.
Tian Yi squinted his eyes a bit due to the bright light, while the other youth closed their eyes directly.
What greeted him was an auspicious hall made of wood and gold, pillars stood in rows in the hall to support the structure, torches and candles brightly lit on each one.
Inside the hall room were the clan elders and leader already waiting for them.
A clan elder, recognized as the academy elder by the many youths, did a headcount and salute to the clan leader to signal there was no mishap and everyone was here.
The clan leader, Shen Min Jie, gave a slight nod to signal his approval.
The many adults and servants that followed the youth stopped in front of the hall, they are forbidden to enter the Ancestry hall in this ceremony as per clan rules.
The servants stood to the side respectfully while the clan leader and elders led the youth to a secret room led deep underground. Throughout this process, no one has spoken a word. The clan leader and all the elders of the clan must be present, unless there is a special circumstance. The entire ceremony must be performed with silence and solemnity as per tradition, the youths should not talk unless spoken to by the clan leader or one of the elders.
It goes without saying that the youths should not respond to other voices.
For other than the clan leader and elders, youths themselves excluded, nobody else was here.
'Looks like no one was here, no visible traces of intruders and no sign of ghosts and spirits so far.'
Tian Yi inwardly sighed in relief.
'Just as in my previous life.'
Although all signs indicate that the Winter Spring Butterfly successfully activated and everything should be the same as he remembered it, Tian Yi couldn't help but be cautious.
As Tian Yi was pondering the details and comparing them to his previous life, the group continued to walk for a long time in the underground passage with nothing but glowing stones embedded in the wall to light their way. They finally arrived at an underground cavern after an hour of careful navigating.
It was a large cavern with unknown diameters, many youths guessed that it has at least four times the area compared to the grand ancestral hall above. The ceiling was as high as thirty meters above the ground they stood on.
There are many giant stone pillars in the cavern, most were natural with some delicate carvings on them and some were man-made from a different materials, it was obvious at a glance which is which. These pillars serve to stabilize the cavern and prevent collapse of the ceilings.
The biggest one needs ten grown men to be able to surround and hug it, the smallest only needs two.
"Little ones, welcome to Blue Light Grass Garden, the heart of the Shen clan." Said an elder wearing pure white robes, with a long white beard and long gray hair. He exudes a scholarly air.
Many youths recognize him as the academy elder from before, his name Shen Tongxi.
The academy elder gestured for the youths to take a look.
Tian Yi's eyes followed his hand and before him stretched a vast field of blue grass as far as the eye could see.
Upon closer inspection, one will notice that the grasses were shaped like ginko leaves, with bright glowing cyan blue light at the tips and dark blue around the stems.
In this dark and damp cavern, the field of beautiful grass was a sight to behold.
The youths grasped at the beautiful sight before them, some tried to keep a straight face while some barely reacted at all, wearing an expression of pride.
From this, one could faintly see the difference in temperament and background of the youths.
Tian Yi and Shen Ai were part of the latter, though Shen Ai has a curious look in her eyes.
'Blue Light Grass Garden, I'm here again, this is the second time.'
Tian Yi's expression shifted slightly, the corners of his lips rose slightly into a tiny smile.
Most of the youths here have one or two ideas of where this place is, but only the heir and member of the three factions in Shen clan knows what this place really is.
Aside from its well known function as a place for aptitude testing and the burial place of the first generation ancestor, its true purpose was as a production hub!
This is the biggest production hub in the entire Shen clan!
Every single leaf of the Blue Light Grass are rank three resources for Meng cultivation, it is considered quite rare and hard to cultivate.
It has many uses, primarily to feed various types of Meng as substitute food with over eighty percent efficiency!
It was also the breeding ground of various type of Meng, even the rare and near extinct ones.
'The reason it can nurture so many diverse Meng was because it can be substituted for almost any food for Meng below rank four!