The next few days before the admissions test I spent exploring Cheng Lian city. It had a lot to offer a tourist turned would be resident like me. The local bath houses were quite comfortable, and I luckily didn’t run into any more trouble like on my first day in the city.
I was thoroughly enjoying the amenities the large city had to offer, but I wasn’t able to enjoy them forever. After three days the admissions test had finally arrived. I left the inn room, thanked the proprietor and the waitress I had saved and went on my way. I made my way to the testing grounds and quickly added myself to the throng of applicants. I made my way through the crowd, trying to move closer to the front when I noticed a large open spot near the front. The only figure standing in the center of the void in the crowd was a young girl who looked to be around my age. She had waist length raven black hair and a small, serious face. She wore dark purple robes accented with light blue and looked to all the world the young lady of a noble house.
Deciding that she looked nice, I walked up to her. The murmuring of the crowd around me grew as I approached her, but when I finally got close enough to her to strike up a conversation the noise around us abruptly cut off.
"Hi there! I’m Astra, what’s your name?" I asked, completely oblivious to the frightened looks around us and the whispers of ‘Ice princess’ from the onlookers.
The girl turned to look at me with a stony expression on her face. She looked so serious I almost laughed out loud. She didn’t say a word and instead turned away from me, though she was now fidgeting so I could tell she wanted to be my friend!
I pouted at her.
"Oh, come now, if we’re going to be future sect disciples together, we’re going to have to get to know each other!" I prodded. The look on her face wavered for a bit but she seemed to steel herself and remained silent. I knew I was getting to her though so I decided I could take my time and peel back that frosty exterior she was showing.
Before I could say anything else to her, I heard a familiar voice come from my right.
"You! That wench from the other night! How dare you sneak attack me the young master of the Cian family, Cian Lu!" Cian Lu said as he approached me. He didn’t step into the ring of emptiness surrounding the pretty raven-haired girl and I, and he seemed to lose his bluster at the sight of her.
"Miss Lian Jia, it’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Cian Lu of the Cian family to the west." He said, putting one fist into his other hand and bowing at the waist to her. She paid him no mind, but I looked between the suddenly obsequious Cian Lu and the young girl, Lian Jia.
"So, your name is Lian Jia? That’s a pretty name!" I told her with as much of my natural enthusiasm I could inject into my statement. I looked at her face closely and noticed a slight blush on her cheeks. I smiled.
"You wench!" Lu cried out at my words. But he was cut off by a booming voice from in front of us.
"Welcome applicants one and all! I’m sure you’ve heard but our Blooming Violet sect is only taking fifty of you as outer disciples this year! Will you have what it takes to gain the lauded rank of outer disciple?! Test yourself and push past your limits! Good luck to you all! The first test is an evaluation of your spirit root. Not just the number of branches, but the quality of your spirit root matters for this test. You won’t be accepted if your spirit root isn’t up to snuff. When you hear your name called, come up and touch this testing stone, it will analyze your spirit root and give us the results so they can be recorded. Good luck to you all! First up, Duan Bo, from western city."
I watched patiently as applicant after applicant went up on stage, touched the stone for a few seconds and then received the news that they either passed or didn’t. I didn’t recognize any of the names but a few of the more flamboyant entrants caught my eye. One fiery looking boy with sharply styled red hair went up and made a great show of his muscles as he flexed in front of us all before touching the testing stone. His confidence was warranted. His high rank single branch fire spirit root was nothing to scoff at. I think his name was Ban Li? He would be someone to look out for during the remaining tests.
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"Next up, Lian Jia" The proctor said, and Jia immediately made her way up onto the stage.
"Woo! Let’s go Jia, crush this test!" I cheered her on. She looked at me with a complicated expression on her face but nodded and continued up to the testing stone.
She touched the stone, and it lit up with a brilliant cyan light before dying down.
"Highest rank twin-branch ice spirit root, pass." The proctor said, nodding.
After Jia came back down, I put my hand up for a high five and she reluctantly returned my gesture. My mood was sky high until I heard the proctor call out my name.
"Next up, Astra from Setria 9!" He called and I bounced on the balls of my feet.
"That’s me! I’ll be right back!" I told Jia and made my way up onto the stage.
I waved at the proctor who nodded at me and beckoned me towards the testing stone. I touched it and felt it take a little bit of my qi. It glowed in a beautiful incandescent light, and I had a look of awe on my face.
"Peak level myriad branch spirit root, pass." The proctor said and left a mark on the holo-tablet he was holding. I heard some laughing from the crowd, but I ignored them and bounced my way back over to Jia.
I made it back to my place next to her, but I was interrupted by Lu piping up from next to me.
"I can’t believe they’re letting some myriad branch spirit root trash move on to the next round." he said from his place at the edge of the circle of bodies around Jia and me. I suddenly felt a little chilly and looked over to Jia to see a look of annoyance on her face. She was getting upset for me! What a good friend I thought to myself and smiled. Nothing was going to ruin my day now.
I saw a few more notable people go up and get tested. Lu had a middle rank single branch wind spirit root, so he passed, but other than him I saw a decidedly gloomy looking guy named Heng Jian who had a highest rank twin-branch lightning spirit root, and a body cultivator named Fuan Ji who put even Ban Li’s muscles to shame. Fuan Ji passed with a high rank twin-branch steel spirit root.
Finally, the last cultivator went up and was failed from the next round.
"For the next test, you will each come back up to the stage and use all of your strength to punch the testing stone. It will evaluate the force of your attack. This test will not eliminate you from the competition should you not reach a high mark so worry not. You’re all going to make it into the next round, but your score here may be used later on in the fourth round of testing." The proctor told us. He began listing off names from the sheet in front of him and counted off various force amounts and points out of one hundred for each applicant.
Eventually it was Jia’s turn and she walked back up to the stage.
"Woo! Punch that rock super hard Jia!" I yelled to her. This time I saw her smile slightly at my exclamations.
Qi coated her palm, and she struck the testing stone with all her might.
"458 pounds of force. 75 points." the proctor called out.
Jia came back down, and I gave her another high five before making my way up to the stage. I took a fighting stance, used my cultivation technique to calm my breathing and coated my arm in my iridescent qi. I punched out and the testing stone shook with the force of the blow.
"1,145 pounds of force. 100 points." The proctor called out and nodded before marking it down on his tablet.
I made my way back down next to Jia and the look on Lu’s face was priceless. Jia seemed to be looking at me with new interest now too. I pointed my nose up and basked in the new attention my friend was giving me. We continued watching, no one matching up to my strength score, or even up to Jia’s until Fuan Ji lumbered his way up to the stage. He took a fighting stance similar to mine and a shiny silver qi coated his hands. He punched out and, similar to my attack, his made the testing stone vibrate from the force of the blow.
"1,543 pounds of force, 100 points." The proctor said. That was to be expected from a steel aligned body cultivator, in my estimation so I didn’t feel bad about being beaten. We finished watching the power assessment until the final cultivator took his leave from the platform.
"The next test is of course the famed Blooming Violet treasure hunt! You’ll all be taken to a hidden realm prepared specifically for this test each year. Within the hidden realm there are many treasures hidden in myriad locations. It’s up to your luck and ability to find hidden treasures. Of course we don’t encourage fighting between applicants, but it’s always dangerous inside of hidden realms. Be careful and do your best. You will be graded on how many treasures you are able to find. Should you find yourself in too much danger, launch a qi blast into the air and one of the inner disciples assisting in this year’s tests will escort you out of the hidden realm. Though you will be disqualified should this occur. Good luck to you all, follow me to the staging ground."
We all moved as a group and followed the proctor through the testing zone and to a larger clearing with a stone arena with some type of symbols carved into it standing in the middle. The proctor motioned for us all to stand on the stone and we took our positions. After we were all in position the stone below us began glowing and I felt a sense of falling before I was suddenly somewhere else entirely surrounded only by towering trees and jungle.