บท 5: Impress Us
Red, green and gray shone steadily in the crystal ball.
"Fire vein, wood vein, and wind vein." The strict looking man promptly announced the result before recording them down on a jade plate. "A tri-spirit vein, suitable for cultivation. You may join the rest of the chosen candidates on the side."
According to what Ling Guan had said to her, the best result would be for her to be tested with only one spirit vein. However, Jia Li wasn't too disappointed to be tested with three. What's important is that she has the potential to cultivate and with her extra strong physique she already had an advantage over others.
Hmmm.... but still it would have been nice if she had been tested with a heavenly spirit vein. Combined with her natural strength she can easily imagine how powerful she could be.
"Next."
It's Ling Guan's turn! Jia Li paid close attention, curious to know just what kind of spirit vein would he possess.
The crystal ball swirled a various of color but unlike when Jia Li had held it, the ball became a solid deep shade of violet.
"!"
The cultivators administrating the test all gave looks of admiration and envy while the onlooking crowds murmured excitingly among themselves.
Indeed, Ling Guan has been tested with a Heavenly lighting spirit vein, a spirit vein known for having the most destructive powers. But what the cultivators and onlookers were looking at wasn't the color of the crystal ball but the thin chains of white lightning sparking violently around it.
"Heavenly lightning spirit vein. Talent for cultivation: Exceptional." The strict looking cultivator looked pleased as he wrote it down on the jade tablet. "You may join the rest of the candidates"
Jia Li had noticed that they were all ranked from poor talent in cultivation to average talent and good talent. People with no talent were directly eliminated while the majority of the people had been tested with poor talent. Jia Li herself had been labeled with average talent in cultivation while the person who got tested with the Heavenly Fire spirit vein was evaluated as a good talent. Ling Guan was given an exceptional talent so does that mean his potential in cultivation exceeds even those in the top ranks?
"Hey." Jia Li puts her arm around Ling Guan and poked his face. "I can't believe you tested for better aptitude than me."
Ling Guan slightly lost in thought was jolted out of his dazed by Jia Li's teasing. "Hmm, what? Are you jealous? Are you worried that in the future you might not be able to beat me in a fight anymore?"
"Hahahaha" Jia Li gave Ling Guan's forehead a hard flick, reminding him that for now, she is still the stronger one.
At the waist of each cultivator hangs a black pouch with intricate gold patterning. When the last person on the line has finally been tested, the five cultivators each pulled out a piece of parchment from their pouch.
"Rip"
When the parchments in their hands were ripped into halves, clouds of dark black ink flowed out, wriggling in the air before forming into majestic black and white tigers.
Five tigers swayed lithely on the ground, each of them was bigger than the size of a house. Their body was made of flowing brushstrokes like they had jumped directly out of a painting.
The tigers bent down so that the candidates with no cultivation could easily climb onto them.
Jia Li's finger lightly caresses the surface of the tiger as she got on top of one. The tigers despite looking like it were made of nothing but air in between the spaces of the brushstrokes were surprisingly solid. Its body didn't feel warm or furry like an actual tiger, in fact, it didn't feel like much of anything but air that bends and accommodates for her every motion on the tiger.
There was one cultivator on each tiger responsible for steering it and when everyone had gotten on, the tigers leaped off the ground with an easy jump, running higher and higher into the sky as if the air was solid.
For the first few minutes or so, the candidates who have never been so high up in the air were all either silent with awe or fear. When someone realizes that there was some sort of invisible force that kept them from falling off the tiger's body, the atmosphere relaxes and soon people began chattering among themselves, eager introductions can be heard everywhere.
Jia Li sat quietly by Ling Guan's side, enjoying the closeness of the wisp of clouds floating past them and the view of the city far below them was something she had never seen before. Even when she was in the highest room of the royal palace, the city had never looked so distant and far away.
After a while, Jia Li felt a strange sensation of passing through something even though there was nothing around her.
"We are passing through the sect's protective barrier. In just a few moments we will be arriving at the sect."
Sure enough, soon after the announcement was made, the hazy silhouettes of seven mountain peaks can be seen. When they have finally arrived, they stopped just short of those mountains, landing on the outside of a towering ivory gate, plain and simple in design but elegant all the same.
They were not alone when they reached the gate. Groups of candidates from other places were already there.
At the very front, standing by the gate were six people. A figure flew hurriedly through the air on a sword to join the group of six, seeming to be the last member running late.
When they landed, the tigers unraveled into strings of ink again before fading away, its passengers were lifted onto the ground safely with a gentle gust of wind.
Since they had entered the sect's protective barrier, their surroundings slowly became more and more enshrouded in clouds and mist. Especially now, everywhere that Jia Li look was a thick layer of fog and even the ground was strangely white. The tall ivory gate was the only prominent feature in the midst of white.
Upon seeing the seven people waiting at the gate, the cultivators that had escorted them here gave a quick bow of respect. After receiving an affirmative nod, the cultivators passes through the ivory gate and left, leaving the candidates alone with the seven people.
"Ahem" A man wearing robes of deep emerald green was nudged forward by another man dress in crimson. "Welcome to Immortal Range Sect. As you know, just because you've made it here doesn't guarantee that you will be accepted as an official disciple. Whether you make it or not will still require further testing."
[A Few Weeks Ago, Prior to the Disciple Selection ...]
Today the peak masters were called together to decide on the content of the disciple selection test.
"How about making them climb the old stairs at the mountain peaks? You know, to test their determination." The one who suggested this was a beautiful woman wearing an amber colored robe. Her silky black hair was twisted into a bun, kept together by a golden clip. Her hand held a brush that was moving busily across a piece of parchment and occasionally she would pause while pursing her small cherry lips in deep thoughts. She is the Formation Peak's Peak Master, Chang Jiu Ling. The formations and arrays used by the sect are all provided by her including the sect's protective barrier.
A man dressed in crimson objected. Dark hair tumbled freely down his back, his phoenix brown eyes with specks of gold narrowed. He is the peak master for Artifact Peak, Xi Jin Yu. "Are you going to watch them climb while I sleep the whole day? Also, I refuse to accept someone just because they climbed some stairs. I want talents. Talents!"
"Urm, Jin Yu has a point. I would prefer to keep the test as short as possible." Sui Ming, the peak master of Alchemy Peak used his fan to tap against the table. His deep emerald robe offsets his clear green eyes and his hair was tied to the side, resting on his shoulder.
Zhang Luo Luo, Peak Master of Beast Taming Peak, laid lazily on the stomach of a panda bear with her entire face buried into its fur. "We can make them fight against a low-level spirit beast?"
"I agree. That would be fun to watch." The Peak Master of Martial peak, He Yang tilted his chair back. His black robe contrasted with his pale skin giving him a devilishly kind of charm.
Sitting silently the entire time was a pair of twin, silver-haired and blued eyed. They are the Peak Masters of Twin Peak Yu Bi Ming and Yu Su Song.
"Ahem." Yu Su Song spoke up. "Since we all want to save time..... why not just skip the tests and go pick out the disciple directly ourselves?"
Everyone thought about it. Hmmm...that sounds simple and straight forward. Picking up a disciple and then flying back to their peaks, they can probably wrap it up in under an hour? Every time effective!
[Present time]
"So" Sui Ming pointed his fan towards the candidates. "If you want to enter the sect, impress one of us enough to bring you back."
It was a free for all talent show. (ノ*゜▽゜*)
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