23 The Trials

Chapter 22: The Trials

While Van and the other cultivators from Red River City were admiring the scenery, an elder of the Flowing River Sect was currently reading a handwritten letter from the Guard Captain of Mulberry City.

"I guess I'll have to look out for this new cultivator friend of his. I can't let my nephew down."

The Guard Captain had used his connections with his uncle to allow Van a more smooth transition into the sect. Coupled with Van's talent, Van would be able to integrate himself in no time. At least, that was the plan.

Van and the others were currently admiring the scenery. Van inhaled a breath full of fresh air and enjoyed the pleasure from the dense Qi. Sanji squeaked with delight as he started to absorb the Qi outside. Van chuckled lightly before noticing the Outer Sect Elder's rather scornful expression.

The Outer Sect Elder felt rather proud of his sect and was scornful of the outsiders. Of course, if any of these outsiders managed to join the sect, he would treat them with their due respect. But with the sect's standards, most of them would fail.

Van was smiling inwardly, he would teach that elder to never look down on the cultivators of the Lower Reaches again. The great clans' trio also noticed the Outer Sect Elder, but grit their teeth. They could only try their best to improve the reputation of the Lower Reaches through the entrance exam.

"Enough wasting time, I don't have all day."

The Outer Sect Elder started to guide the cultivators to the riverboats. Despite his outwardly lazy personality, he was rather knowledgeable, especially when it came to matters relating to the sect. He would enthusiastically reply to any questions about the sect's surrounding and may have embellished a few details here and there.

Van and the others were in awe of the Sect. It felt as if they were transported into another world. There were cultivators bustling around on flying swords and Jade Fish leaped in the rivers. The sparkling river water was really a sight to behold.

Many of the female cultivators were brimming with anticipation as they walked. They hadn't even made it to the main sect yet and they were already extremely impressed. Van sighed, the Middle Continent really did live up to its reputation. The Lower Reaches had nothing that could compare even in the slightest.

They boarded the rather large riverboats and had the outer disciples ferry them to the examination grounds. A few moments later, they arrived at a large blue pagoda with 7 floors. Since it was the only building in the area, the examinees could tell that the pagoda was nothing ordinary considering this was a cultivator sect of the Middle Continent.

Van shook with anticipation as everyone turned their attention to the Outer Sect Elder. The Outer Sect Elder was rather exhausted. The only time he would get riled up was when he was showing off the Sect to the examinees. But, it also had its share of problems including causing the Elder to be rather tired.

"Okay, we have arrived at the 7 River Pagoda. Before we enter the pagoda, I will test your latent talent with the "Talent River Stone" over there.

The "Talent River Stone" was a large rather ordinary looking stone with the exception of a very unnatural smooth surface. It looked as if one had polished it many times a day. But if one looked closely, one would notice that it was formed that way through nature's many processes.

The examinees were once again in awe of the wonders the cultivation world had to offer. The Sects in the lower reaches had something similar, but it was very crude if compared to something like this "Talent River Stone".

"Alright, form 5 rows with 10 each in front of me. I will call out your names one by one to try out your talent."

The cultivators were rather nervous and brimming with expectation. What if they were an undiscovered genius of the century?! There was also the other extreme that would be considered, but who would think that they would ever get that rating?

"I will explain the rules for the first part of the examination. To pass, one needs to get an Orange rating. The stone will shine with one of 7 colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, or Gold. There are stages beyond that, but I am not qualified to know what they are. Now, any questions? None? Good. Let's begin."

The Outer Sect Elder picked up a clipboard that seemed to have come out of nowhere. The examinees were rather wide-eyed but decided not to ask when they saw the rather annoyed expression on the Elder's face.

"First, Bai Shui!"

A scholarly youth stepped up. He was at the bare minimum for going to the Middle Continent. He was rather nervous, but also immensely excited to test out his talent. This particular youth had very humble beginnings and had to struggle daily to compete for supplies. He eventually became important enough for the clan to send him to the Middle Continent, causing him to jump with glee when he heard the news.

Bai Shui took a deep breath and stepped up to the rock. He looked back at the Outer Sect Elder quizzically.

"Right, so... You have to place your hand in the middle of that circle drawn on there. Then you have to insert your Qi... Wait! Make sure your feet are inside the formation circle on the ground!"

Bai Shui was rather flustered. When he took the talent test from the Bai clan, he only had to place one hand on top of a rugged gemstone and wait for it to glow. At the time, he had obtained a remarkable ranking, allowing him to enter the sect immediately.

After a few more wrong instructions from the Outer Sect Elder, Bai Shui got it right and inserted his Qi into the rock. The rock started to glow a Green color before quickly switching to a constant yellow.

"Greenish-Yellow, Slightly Above Average Talent. Pretty good. NEXT!"

The cultivators woke out of their sleep and congratulated Bai Shui on his passing. All of them were thinking the same thing. If Bai Shui passed it, I definitely will.

"Nan Gongsheng!"

"Bai Chao!"

"Ye Ming!"

All of the cultivators except for Van took their first exam already. Yu Chao, surprisingly, got a Greenish-Blue Talent, which was rather rare, causing the Elder to look at the batch of cultivators again with different eyes. I guess being a muscle head wasn't too bad after all.

Ye Shui got slightly better with a Blue Talent, causing a shocked gasp to come from the Elder. He never would've imagined accepting in 2 Rare Talents at once. But he wasn't prepared for what came next.

When Fairy Cloud Feather stepped up to take the exam, the rock emitted a faint Red light. The Outer Sect Elder was about to give his condolences when the color sharply changed to a Gold color.

"Untouched By Destiny Talent! Legendary Rank!!"

The Sect Elder was awestruck. He started to cry tears of joy. He had really struck gold with this batch of youngsters. The Sect had demanded that he would be recruiting new disciples until he found at least 3 Rare Talents. With this contribution, he might even be able to choose from the Sect treasury!

The trio was immediately whisked away by another outer sect elder and was given command medallions. Fairy Cloud Feather would immediately become an Inner Sect Disciple while the other two would be given special benefits as Outer Sect Disciples.

There was still one youth left to be tested. Out of the 50 cultivators, 14 had passed, including the trio. Most of the others left to find lodging for the night for tomorrow's journey back while others decided to stay as servants, hoping to make their way through the ranks.

An inner sect elder had told him to keep an eye on a certain youth and this youth was currently in front of him. Nothing about the youth particularly stood out from the others. He looked rather average if one didn't consider his rather high cultivation base. The Elder was only at the 9th Stage of Dantian Formation, so he couldn't see Van's real cultivation base.

He was told to evaluate Van last, but to accept Van in as an Outer Sect Disciple no matter what happened. The Elder sighed but called Van to step up.

Van was rather nervous and did as everyone else had done before him. He stood before the stone and placed his hand on it. Please be above orange! Please be above orange!

Van had worked rather hard and had encountered a few hardships to get to the Middle Continent. He hoped that all of that hard work would not be in vain. He took a deep breath and inserted the Qi into the rock.

A few moments later, the rock still hadn't changed color.

"Maybe something went wrong with the rock?"

Van smiled at the Elder hopefully. The Elder sighed and was about to tell Van that there was no hope when something stopped him.

The stone started to tremble rather vigorously and the ground gently shook for a few minutes. Van was extremely surprised and turned his head around to find that the rock had disintegrated into a pile of dust! That's right. Disintegrated.

The Elder scratched his head. He thought that he had to pull some strings and use the Inner Sect Elder's authority to accept Van, but this youth had disintegrated the Talent River Stone! The Elder scratched his head and was about to go ask an Inner Sect Elder about the circumstances when he felt a strange wind flow by him. He turned around to see who it was to find an old man dressed in blue robes.

The old man had a shocked expression on his face and started studying Van. This old man was a previous patriarch of the Flowing River Sect. He had a cultivation base of "Saint" and was on the way to the 7 Steps of Ascension. He was currently at the peak of that level and was rarely aroused.

He had felt the connection with the Talent River Stone break and cast his divine sense over to see what happened. He found a peculiar youth standing before the remains of the Talent River Stone.

What kind of latent talent did this young man have to disintegrate the Talent River Stone? This had never happened in his entire lifetime.