I followed the proctor with a skip in my step but any attempts I made to spark a conversation with the kind man were shot down with a withering look from the man.
He led me through hallways inside of a large ornate building that felt more like a castle in my estimations. We walked through the solitary corridors until we reached a room with paper sliding doors at its entrance. He beckoned me through the doors, I walked in and the door closed behind me.
It was dim in the room, but multiple lights turned on in a dramatic show. Sitting across the room from me at a long table were seven people. Most were old men, but their number was bolstered by one older looking woman and one woman who looked to be in her mid twenties. Each person in the group wore the emblem of a blooming purple flower on their chest. Everyone sitting at the table was staring at me and as I approached them I noted that most of them seemed interested in me, but one of them was doing an awful job at hiding their opinion of me. The old man sitting in the last chair on the right side of the table was glaring at me with a look of hatred. I don’t know what I did to anger an elder but I’d have to try my best to rectify that in the future if possible.
I reached the designated area marked with a formation in the ground and stopped in my place there.
“Welcome, applicant Astra.” The old man sitting in the middle of the group of strangers said.
I nodded and bowed to the group of what was most likely elders of the Blooming Violet sect.
“As you may have guessed, we are elders of the seven peaks, or petals as we call them, of the Blooming Violet sect. We’re here to evaluate whether you are a good fit for our sect. We have your previous exam results and I must say I’m very impressed. Not only do you have significant strength despite your myriad branch spirit root, albeit a peak ranked one at that. You also successfully hunted a core formation realm qi devouring python while only in the foundation establishment realm. This is an astounding achievement young lady.” The nice older man said. I blushed at all of the praise and put a hand behind my head, scratching it in my anxiety at being the center of attention.
“That would be enough for me to accept you into the sect, but rules are rules. We will activate the formation beneath your feet which will simulate an environment where you can cultivate freely. We ask that you show us your cultivation method and how efficiently it allows you to cultivate. Were you a normal contestant, this might contribute to whether we accept you as a disciple, but it’s my understanding that elder Niang to my right has offered to accept you as an outer disciple of the flowing petal peak. Is that correct Jin?” He asked the youngest elder on the panel to his right. She nodded before speaking.
“Yes, I’m intrigued by you Astra, and I have a feeling your cultivation method will astound us as well.” She smiled at me and I smiled back at her.
Without further ado I entered into my cultivation stance as the formation beneath me began glowing. I felt that the room was suffused with an abundance of qi from all of the elements. My cultivation technique greedily sucked up the qi at an astonishing rate and I broke through to the middle rank of the foundation establishment realm. The formation beneath me went dark and I assumed that the test had ended so I got up. All in all I had only cultivated for a short few minutes but raising up a rank made me chipper. I looked to the elders but they were all staring at me in open mouthed shock.
“Astra…what did you say the name of your cultivation method is?” Elder Niang asked.
“The myriad elemental halcyonic scriptures.” I answered.
The elders murmured to each other for a few moments before coming to a consensus.
“I believe we have seen enough. Your cultivation method is astounding, young lady, that amount of qi would take at least half an hour for a normal cultivator of your realm to absorb. You’re suitable to join the Blooming Violet sect. Information on where to go in a few days will be given to you in a slip on your way out, please follow the attendant outside the room and they will show you the way out. I’m looking forward to seeing you progress in the future. Welcome to the sect, young Astra.” The nice old man at the center told me. I smiled at all of the elders, even the grouchy one that still didn’t seem to like me and followed their instruction.
The attendant led me to the front entrance of the large complex and handed me a jade slip before bowing to me in deference. I waved to them, thanked them for leading me and walked down the many steps of the front of the complex. To my happy surprise, Jia was waiting for me at the bottom with a similar jade slip in her hands. She smiled when she saw me with my proof of acceptance and we both happily chatted on our way through the city.
“I want to wash up, do you know any good bath houses in the city? I’ve tried a few, but you’re a local!” I asked Jia. She looked away from me sheepishly before responding.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I’ve never used the bath houses in the city, the city lord’s manor has a bath house within it for my own personal use.” She said. As if coming to a tough decision she hastily asked her next question.
“Would you… like to come visit my house? We can bathe in privacy there and it’s probably the best bath house in the city.” She was blushing furiously at the question but I smiled at her and accepted.
“Of course! I can’t wait to see your house, it sounds awesome!” I told her and she happily led me through the city in the general direction of the largest building I'd seen in the city. We walked up to a set of heavily guarded gates in front of a building that was constructed of increasingly smaller layers with tiling that flowed smoothly along the edges of the levels. Each level was adorned with many wooden doors and large windows. Wooden fences were formed with the symbol of Cheng Lian city, a bird dipping its mouth into a lake, along each of the levels reaching up to the upper floors.
“Welcome back lady Lian.” The guards said all at once before opening the gates and allowing us through. On the other side of the gate, a well dressed man in formal robes matching the color scheme of the manor, black and gold, met us.
“Seneschal Han, this is Astra, my guest, please alert father that I have returned home and we will join him for dinner once we have bathed.” Jia said, missing any sign of the awkward girl from earlier. Now she was the young daughter of the city lord through and through.
“Very well young miss. Welcome Astra, please ask should you require anything.” he told me before departing for the inner rooms of the manor.
I followed Jia through the winding hallways on the lowest floor of the building until we came upon a room that reminded me of the entrance to a traditional bath house. They must have modeled it after a real bath house for authenticity. We disrobed and I stored my belongings, including the tier four monster core into a basket in the room and I followed Jia into the bath proper. We both took our time washing ourselves, the grime of the day having built up. After we finished bathing, we both soaked in the bath together. We talked about the final test for a few minutes before a bit of an uncomfortable topic came up.
“So, Astra. When the python was attacking, you started talking to yourself and then it looked like you were in severe pain a few minutes later. Then you suddenly used a movement technique I hadn’t seen you use before. If it’s a secret, I'll understand if you don’t want to tell me though.” Jia said, sliding further down into the water so her nose was submerged and she cutely blew bubbles in the water.
I knew I could trust Jia, but I didn’t know if I was ready to reveal everything about the inheritance to anyone. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I decided that Jia was a good friend. Jia for her part was stewing in the bath water looking more and more horrified the longer I thought. I laughed and told her I’d tell her and began retelling my story from the beginning.
At the mention of the inheritance she looked shocked and became contemplative. I continued my story despite her contemplations and after I finished my story she hugged me.
“Thank you for telling me Astra. That kind of secret would be bad to give to the wrong person, but the fact that you trust me means a lot to me. As you can probably guess, I didn’t grow up with a lot of friends. Any I did have were sucking up to me to get in the good graces of my father. I just stopped trying to make friends and took on the stony affect I showed you when we first met. That’s where my nickname of ‘The ice princess’ comes from, but I’m glad you reached out to me.” She said smiling and tearing up. I hugged her tightly back and we talked about unimportant things for a while before getting out of the bath. When we came back to our possessions I found my clothes gone and replaced with an elegant black and golden robe.
I put on the robe and tied my hair up in a short bun with the given hair pins. Jia was dressed in a similar outfit, though hers was adorned with the symbol of Cheng Lian city on the chest. She led me down the hallways again until we entered a large banquet hall with a large table set up all across it. At the head of a table, a striking man in black and gold robes sat, opulent tableware set out before him. He stood as we entered and waited for us to approach. He had a stern look on his face but when Jia walked up to him his face softened and he leaned down to bring her up into a hug.
“Congratulations Jia, I’m so proud of you for being accepted into the Blooming Violet sect.” He said.
“And this must be young Astra, congratulations to you too young lady, I welcome you to our home and encourage you to ask should you need anything. I’ve been apprised of your efforts during the treasure hunt and how you saved Jia from the qi devouring python. I cannot thank you enough for saving my daughter.” He said, bowing at the waist, I hurriedly comforted him.
“It’s no trouble sir, Jia is my friend, of course I would save her! I’m just glad we both survived the encounter.” The city lord smiled at me and stood back up.
“I knew you would be a kind hearted person. My daughter has made a good friend this time.” He said.
“Daaaaaad!” Jia said, blushing.
We all sat down and ate together talking about various parts of the test and other applicants. I told the city lord a bit about my experiences on Setria 9 and he said he was worried about the existence of the church of the one true dao when I told that part of the story.
“If such a church exists on Setria 9 then it could exist here as well. I’ll send out my informants and look into this issue, thank you for bringing it to my attention Astra.” He told me.
The rest of dinner was a relaxing affair and the food was unlike anything I had ever eaten. The city lord offered to let me stay in the manor for the duration of my stay in Cheng Lian city and I accepted. I made my way to my inn, checked out, and brought all of my belongings back to the city lord's manor where I spent the next few days lazing around, cultivating and practicing techniques with Jia. Finally, the day arrived for Jia and I to join the Blooming Violet Sect.