Chapter 92 First Trial

First Trial

Thanks to Big Wang and his imposing aura, the group managed to get the name and location of the nicest hotel in Soaring Sword City from one of the other youths preparing to register. And after buying four rooms for a day, the group went to cultivate for the night.

However, inside his room, Xue Bai looked at his guest with an odd gaze.

"Xiao'er, what are you doing in my room? I thought you had one for yourself." Xue Bai asked as he noticed Xiao'er sitting on his bed.

"I have Wang Shu my room to sleep in," Xiao'er replied innocently.

"But where are you going to sleep then? There is only one bed in here." Xue Bai said in response.

"You're going to cultivate tonight, Young Master. I can sleep on the bed." Xiao'er replied as she tucked herself in the bed as if it were her own.

And before Xue Bai could say anything in response, she fell asleep.

"This woman just stole my bed, didn't she?" Xue Bai was dumbstruck at the odd series of events, "She's right. I wasn't planning on sleeping, but still, how can you just take it?"

But no matter how much he thought about the situation, Xiao'er was still fast asleep on his bed.

Shaking his head, Xue Bai chose to ignore his rebellious maid's action and sat cross-legged to cultivate for the day,

Though it was still the early hours of the afternoon, Xue Bai didn't have anything to do in the city. So instead of wandering the city aimlessly, he planned just to seclude himself and cultivate for the day.

Swallowing a few Bone Strengthening Pills, Xue Bai closed his eyes and started to strengthen his bones.

The Bone Strengthening and Organ Tempering Realm Realm were the opposite of the previous Realm, the Muscle Nourishing Realm.

As in the latter, you would have to use Spiritual Qi and slowly nourish your muscles giving them strength, flexibility, and endurance.

However, in the Bone Strengthening and Organ Tempering Realm, you'd do the opposite. Using Spiritual Qi as a blacksmith's hammer, you'd have stamped out all of the impurities within your bones and organ, thereby strengthening and purifying them at the same time.

Because of this, the Bone Strengthening Realm and the Organ Tempering Realm were known as the test of will and determination of a cultivator.

However, thanks to the Bone Strengthening Pills Li Rou gave him, Xue Bai could ignore the heart-wrenching pain normal cultivators had to go through.

The Bone Strengthening Pills were made with the intention of giving Xue Bai a painless time through the Realm. And while they were most definitely slower than being rough and merciless to yourself, Xue Bai had the time.

He was merely 13 and a half currently. So his taking an extra month or two during the Bone Strengthening and Organ Tempering Realm to avoid a lot of pain was worth it in his mind.

Losing his sense of time, Xue Bai cultivated diligently throughout the day until he was awakened by a nug from Xiao'er.

"Young Master, the entrance exam is starting soon. Wake up." Xiao'er gently spoke, trying to wake Xue Bai up.

Opening his eyes, Xue Bai awakened from the cultivation session. And after giving his sore limbs a nice stretch, he changed into his athletic wear.

While Xue Bai didn't know what the entrance exam would be about, he knew that he would have to fight something eventually.

So after freshening up and with Xiao'er at his side, Xue Bai walked out of the hotel room and made his way to the square. He didn't know what his mother was doing. However, he was sure that she could still sense him from wherever she was.

The Spiritual Sense of someone in the Spirit Awakening Realm was more than enough to cover the entire Soaring Sword City.

However, just in case, Xue Bai still notified the Wang Twins for them to come and protect him.

Meanwhile, almost ten thousand prospective disciples had congregated in the city square. The entrance exam was scheduled to start at noon, but since the Core Elder who was in charge was a known lazy man, he had yet to arrive even though it was 11:45.

Even some of the Inner Disciples who were there for crowd control were getting impatient, but after remembering who it was, they forced themselves to hold it in.

But as the time grew closer and closer to noon, eventually, the Inner Disciple with the highest cultivation stood up to address the crowd of exam takers.

"All potential Junior Disciples, Since Elder Yang is not yet here, then I, Luo Ye, will announce the rules in the meantime!" Luo Ye yelled out to the crowd.

"There are going to be 2 trials today that will determine whether you can join our Soaring Sword Sect, and tomorrow there will be one final test that will decide your placement within the Sect!' Luo Ye explained simply before going into detail.

However, the first exam was supposed to take place right after Elder Yang appeared in the square. And it consisted of him unleashing his aura of the Peak Stage of the Domain Lord Realm out. This would test the will and the foundation of the exam takers.

Cultivators who were raised up with medicines while staying inside their comfortable homes and ignoring any chances to fight and temper their will were no cultivators that the Soaring Sword Sect wanted.

The Soaring Sword Sect was a sect that needed swordsmen who were not only ruthless to the enemy but also themselves, and weak-willed noble generation medicine jars weren't needed.

And the easiest way to fish them out was to use the strength of a powerhouse like Elder Yang. As participants who had weak and unsteady foundations, thanks to having their strength forcibly advanced by pills, wouldn't be able to survive the aura of someone that strong.

But now that Elder Yang wasn't showing himself, Luo Ye didn't know how to start the exam. After all, while he was a mighty and famous inner disciple, he was merely in the Dharma Idol Realm, and his aura was nowhere near the strength of a Domain Lord, let alone a Peak Stage one like Elder Yang.

Thankfully just as Luo Ye was going to reschedule the exam, a sword came flying in from the Soaring Sword Sect above. And on top of that sword stood a white-haired young man.

He was wearing the standard garb that was required of a Core Elder from the Soaring Sword Sect. Still, instead of wearing it correctly as it usually was, he had opened it loose in the middle, allowing his arm to rest in the pocket he had created rather than having it at his side.

And in his other arm, he held a wine gourd that permeated a fruity wine aroma that even the exam participants on the ground could smell even though they were almost 100 meters below the man.

However, unlike the professional-looking Core Elder that Xue Bai had yesterday, that oozed noble bearing and eloquence, this Core Elder who flew in looked like a drunk that anyone could find in a town. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't have a long messy beard or was wearing the uniform of a Core Elder from the Soaring Sword Sect, the exam participants would assume he was.

The Core Elder in question flew down from the sky and sheathed the sword he rode in on before taking a long swig from his wine gourd. After this, he finally addressed the people in the crowd, who were stunned.

"Potential Martial Nephews and Nieces, I am Elder Yang and the proctor for your first trial. And since I was late and I was never a man for pleasantries, the trial will start now!" Elder Yang shouted before he unleashed his aura without warning.

And because of the no warning, almost right after Elder Yang's aura released, hundreds of people knelt, slamming their faces onto the hard concrete.

"This is only the aura of someone in the Early Stages of the Dharma Idol Realm! Currently, there are just over 9,000 people in this square. But Senior Brother told me that is way too much, so I will keep increasing the strength of the aura until there are only 5,000!" Elder Yang yelled out.

And true to his word, Elder Yang would increase its strength slightly over the course of the entire test.

As time passed during the first test, more exam takers were forced to kneel and fail the test.

By the time it had reached 5 minutes, Elder Yang's aura had risen to the Middle Stages of the Dharma Idol Realm, while more than 2.500 people had already failed the trial. But thankfully, because of the strong inner disciples nearby, anyone who had failed were picked up and taken out of the square before any lasting harm could happen to them.

Elder Yang, seeing this grew somewhat impatient and raised the strength of another Minor Realm going to the Late Stages. And almost immediately after he did so, hundreds of exam takers wobbled, struggling to stand while some couldn't hold on and face-planted onto the ground.

"Elder Yang, the number has reached 3,000!" Luo Ye shouted as he pulled another young teen out from the concrete.

The only requirements of this entrance exam were to be under 25 years old, but since later on there would be a demonic beast hunt, most examinees were in the older age range. So while seeing a young teen was rare in the crowd, they were still there.

However, sadly since strength was going to be needed in the later parts of the exam, most of the young people were going to fail this year.

Well, except for a few.