บท 2: Heavens Favourite
It did not take too long for Vasari to reach the entrance gates of the sect and although he could not see the gates, he could feel the aura emanating from it.
It felt ancient and robust with no signs of it deteriorating as if it was made to stand the test of time and Vasari had to admit that he was thoroughly impressed.
A pretty young woman wearing a plain white robe with a big light blue cloud embroidered on the back was diligently performing her job by directing all the examinees to the location where the exam was being held.
The young lady was stunning and many of the young males walking past stole more than a few glances but she ignored them and focused on her duties. Her wavy brown hair with dirty blonde highlighted tips was tied into a split high ponytail. Her brown hair complimented her ivory skin tone well and her body seductive with curves that even the slightly baggy sect robe could not fully hide. Her brown upturned eyes, seductive S-shaped eyebrows, perfect Greek-shaped nose and voluptuous lips coated with bold red lipstick, sent these young men into a frenzy.
This young lady suddenly noticed a tall young man standing still about 10m(32ft) in front of her. He was the only one not moving with people walking around him to get to their destination. She first ignored him and thought that he was just mesmerized by her beauty but 3 minutes passed and he was still in the same position as before.
She eventually got annoyed and was about to give the boy a stern warning when she finally noticed the thin piece of white cloth wrapped around his head and covering his eyes.
'Is he blind? Why would he join an entrance exam when he can't even see.', feeling pity for his circumstances and the fact that it was her fault for not paying attention in the first place, the young lady walked up to the blind boy.
"Do you need help, young man? I can escort you to the exam destination if you like.", she asked as she walked closer to Vasari.
Vasari smiled awkwardly before replying with a 'Please.'
The young lady reached in front of him and finally got a good look at his face. She could not help but gasp softly and widen her eyes in surprise.
"So handsome.", the words subconsciously escaped her mouth and realizing what she did caused her to blush in embarrassment but Vasari just smiled.
"Thank you. I think Miss has a beautiful voice."
"Mnn thanks.", she replied meekly, still embarrassed, and grabbed his big hands that were much larger than hers before escorting him to his destination.
"My name is Vasari by the way. May I know yours?"
"I'm Olivia Cruz and an Outer Cloud Disciple."
"You don't mind if I call you Olivia then?"
"Only if I can call you Vasari."
"Deal."
A charming smile found its way onto Vasari's face and Olivia thanked the heavens that she turned around in time to witness it.
'EEEK! He is so freaking sexy, tall, muscular, handsome as hell and his voice is so dreamy~ He also has this slight oppressive aura that his body releases subconsciously. If he passes the exam I have to snatch him up before anyone else does.'
While Olivia was plotting different ways to steal Vasari for herself, they arrived at their desired destination.
A massive field large enough to cater for all the examinees and some. There were ten 5m(16.4ft) tall, silver monoliths erected in the middle of the field with instructors standing next to them. On the edges of this field, there was a spectator stand built and it was possible to view the entirety of the field when seated on it but only those instructors knew it was there.
20 youths, all with different builds and appearances were seated on these stands. 12 young men and 8 beautiful young ladies. All of them were wearing black sect robes with red clouds embroidered on them over their clothes.
"Apparently this year there are supposed to be some talented recruits joining our Sect.", one of the young men with silver hair and blue eyes said out loud, seemingly to nobody in particular.
"Master did say that some offspring from powerful families will be participating in the exam.", another male with long spiky black hair and red eyes said.
"There are quite a few beauties this year too. I'm getting excited just thinking about them.", A girl with multi-coloured hair and pink irises said while squirming in her seat.
The people in the stands were already used to her...unusual behaviour, so they ignored her.
"The past few entrance examinations only had a handful of amazing talents. It would be best if many talented showed up since some are getting complacent with their rankings.", a female with fiery red hair stated which caused a few to nod in agreement.
"Looks like it's about to start."
A middle-aged man suddenly floated above everyone in the field, easily catching the attention of everyone beneath him...well everyone except for one.
"Hello to all of you, who have decided to partake in the entrance examination to our glorious CloudHaven Sect. Being a Sect within the top 10 throughout the entire world, we pride ourselves on boasting talented, hardworking and dedicated disciples that strive to make CloudHaven the number 1 sect."
The man took a brief pause before continuing, "Now on to the entrance examination, there will be 2 tests which you will have to pass in order to become a disciple of the CloudHaven Sect. There is also a requirement that you must be in the Mortal Ascension Realm, if you are in the Foundation Establishment Realm then you are not eligible to partake in this exam. Also, you must be no older than 21 years of age. The First exam is to test your aptitude for Mana. As long as you can achieve more than 30% you will pass. The second exam is a basic combat exam where you will have to avoid or block 3 moves from our training dummy. Passing the second exam makes you an official disciple of the CloudHaven Sect. Now...let's begin!"
Some in the crowd cheered, hyping themselves up for the challenge ahead. However, none were lacking self-confidence, as a cultivator, if you lack self-belief then you will get nowhere and stagnate, unable to push yourself to reach greater heights.
The first 10 people walked up to the monoliths and the instructors instructed them to place their hands on the surface of the monolith and circulate their Qi into it.
The process was simple and quick which it had to be since testing over 300 000 cultivators one by one would be extremely time-consuming.
An average-looking young man put his hands on the monolith and circulated his Qi into his fingertips, suddenly the monolith lit up with a blue light starting from the bottom and slowly made its way up. The light stopped ascending when it reached right over halfway before dimming out of existence and the number 18 showed up at the top of the monolith.
"51%; 18 years old; pass. Make your way through to the next test.", the instructor announced before sending the boy off towards the second part of the exam.
The boy made his way to the next testing space, which was 10 metres behind the monolith, there he saw a training dummy that seemed to be made of some type of wood. There were no details on the dummy just arms, legs, a body and a head.
"Say when you are ready.", the instructor said with a remote nestled in his hand.
"I'm ready!", the boy got into his fighting stance and yelled to hype himself up.
The dummy suddenly dashed at the cultivator at a speed that was not too fast but not slow either and the young man waited for the dummy to reach him. This action of his caused a few sighs to escape from those 20 spectators sitting on the faraway stands.
"First one is a failure it seems.", one of them said and just as they predicted would happen...happened.
The dummy threw an ordinary hook punch towards the boy. The boy moved his head to dodge the hook but suddenly found himself flying backwards like a ragdoll before hitting the monolith which stood firm like a mountain.
"Fail. Please escort the boy out.", the instructor announced before an Outer Haven Disciple carried the unconscious boy away.
The nine others who partook in the exam all failed, with 3 failing the mana aptitude test while the rest failed the second test.
Although it may seem simple at first glance, these were tests that less than 0.2% of the confident cultivators that planned on becoming CloudHaven Sect disciples would pass. The majority of these cultivators spent most of their younger teen years solely concentrated on cultivating instead of focusing on combat experience as well. Therefore, the outcome was obvious when paired against a combat training dummy fine-tuned to face cultivators with above-average combat instincts.
At the back of the line Vasari and Olivia were standing side by side. Olivia was commentating on all of the events happening that Vasari was unable to view. Now and then she would give Vasari tips on how to face the training dummy and some of its basic manoeuvres.
"Hmm, interesting..." Vasari looked in the direction of the 4th monolith where a handsome young man stepped up to the monolith. He had short black hair with shaven sides and bright yellow irises. His skin was clear and pale with his facial features delicate and feminine. Most females and even some males felt their hearts beat in awe and desire when they saw this young man. He was more or less 176cm(5ft7) tall with a slim build, wearing a traditional black hanfu with the collars being red and the sleeves were loose and long, covering his arms and hands.
"A Heavens Favourite," Vasari mumbled softly.
"Did you say something?" Olivia asked as she was too busy commentating to hear what Vasari said.
"I asked if this is alright. Helping me this way, surely if anyone found out then you would get in trouble no?" Vasari said with furrowed eyebrows.
Olivia could see the concern on his face and she felt warm on the inside.
"It will be fine as long as we keep this a secret just between the two of us." She said while closing the little distance separating them. She looked up at Vasari to see him smiling back at her with a reassuring smile.
"Of course. Just between the two of us."
------
"85% 17 years old! Pass!" One of the instructors announced with fervour in his voice. 85% was the highest affinity so far and it was highly unlikely to be topped. It had to be known that getting over 70% was an amazing achievement, enough to be called a genius by many. So nobody blamed the instructor for being overly excited since this was good news for the entire sect. 80% was Core disciple levels so if he works hard and fortune is on his side, there was a high possibility of him becoming a future Core Haven Disciple.
The handsome young man made his way towards the training dummy before nodding his head towards the instructor to start the test.
The instructor activated the training dummy and it immediately shot off towards the young man. There was no hesitation in the young man's eyes as he simultaneously shot off towards the incoming dummy.
The training dummy threw a mean right hook towards the young man's head. Most of the previous examinees would try to dodge the incoming fist but this boy was different, instead of dodging he threw a right hook of his own towards the dummy.
*BAM!*
The fist of a dummy and a fist of a human clashed against each other with neither budging a single inch.
Sensing the stalemate, the dummy was the first to move. It lifted its right leg off the ground, placing all its weight on its left leg before quickly rotating its hips to perform a perfect roundhouse kick aimed at the boy's torso.
The boy reacted quickly by raising his left arm to block the kick which sent him skidding a few metres away but he was still standing upright with a focused look in his eyes.
The dummy wasted no time and quickly caught up to the boy before jumping in the air to perform a 'jumping front kick' that was aimed at the boy's head.
His eyes widened as he did not expect such a unorthodox move from the dummy but he quickly calmed down, he simply lowered his knees and watched as the dummy flew right over his head.
"Second exam, pass." The instructor announced and an Outer Haven disciple escorted the young man to where the others who had already passed were viewing the exams.
"The one who just passed, do you know who he is?" Vasari asked Olivia who was comfortably leaning on his muscular arm.
"Hmm...oh him, he is the 2nd son of the Duke of Rales, Alex Rales, and there are rumours of engagement talks between him and the third Princess of the Timore Kingdom, who is also taking part in this exam today."
"I see."
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง