Meng Qian, was the proctor of this year’s Blooming Violet sect admissions test. There were quite a few standouts this year in his eyes including Cheng Lian’s city lord’s daughter, and that weird blue haired girl, Astra. The third test had just begun and Meng Qian had overheard some unsettling news from some of the inner sect disciples who were meant to be assisting him in his duties proctoring the test.
He flew over to the elders' pavilion where discipline elder Chin Lao was presiding over the tests. Meng Qian, always the dutiful sect member, bowed to elder Chin. He had an urgent question for the elder; however, so he forgave himself the slight against the elder by questioning him in the spirit of fulfilling his duties as the proctor of the exam.
"Greetings elder Chin." Meng Qian said. The elder simply acknowledged him with a nod.
"I overheard from some of the inner sect disciples that a qi devouring python was released into this year’s hidden realm. Are you sure this is a wise decision? A qi devouring python is much more dangerous than normal outer sect disciples would be able to handle." He continued. The elder got a furious look on his face and yelled at Meng Qian in outrage.
"As the presiding elder over these tests I will decide what is appropriate. If this batch of new recruits cannot deal with a simple qi devouring python, then they are not worthy to enter our great sect. Now, begone, you have your duties to attend to in the testing ground, Meng Qian." With a flick of his wrist, the elder dismissed Meng Qian and sent him back to his duties. Now alone, the elder paced back and forth in the pavilion.
***
"Text, what was that glowing light on the stone platform?" I asked the mysterious text in my head.
"ANSWER: That was a teleportation formation. Its function is as its name describes; it teleports those inside the formation to designated places at the destination location." Text answered.
"So now I’m somewhere else entirely? Why wouldn’t they just lead us to the testing ground?" I asked.
"ANSWER: This location is most likely a hidden realm. A place in an alternate plane or dimension that is connected to the world you were just in. They created this formation to transport test applicants directly into the testing ground as it may be farther away from Cheng Lian city than you would expect."
"Is there anything left in the inheritance about formations and how to make them?" I asked, hopeful.
"ANSWER: No. The immortal who left the inheritance was not a formation master, nor did he have extensive knowledge on how formations work. The remaining techniques and manuals do not have any information on formations either." Text answered.
I drooped my head in disappointment, but regained my excitement when I remembered where I currently was.
"Text, can you keep an eye out for treasure for me?" I asked.
"ANSWER: Yes."
With that taken care of, I traveled through the jungle looking for treasure.
After traveling for about an hour and not finding any treasures I was getting a little impatient. Everyone else was probably finding a ton of treasures while I hadn’t yet. An explosion nearby drew my attention and I quickly headed in that direction to see what the commotion was all about.
When I arrived at the scene I quickly took in the situation. Jia was being harried by a group of five cultivators who seemed to have joined forces.
"Hey!" I called out.
"Ganging up isn’t fair! Pick on a group your own size!"
I quickly formed the three swords from within my dantian. Judging by the attacks from the cultivators, I held the sword of earth and wind and sword of fire and water in my hands. I sent the sword of wood and metal off to hold off a nature cultivator.
"Astra?!" Jia said, surprised at my arrival.
"Hi Jia! Looks like you could use a little help! We’ll talk after!" I told her as I engaged two of the cultivators near me. One shot a blast of fire qi at me, and I easily dissipated it with the sword of fire and water. I cut the cultivator down, making sure I didn’t kill him, this was just a test after all. The other cultivator was using some kind of sand technique to move around quickly. I wanted something like that! He was dodging me and attacking me with gouts of sand qi. It seemed he was trying to catch me in the sand, coating the ground with it. I covered my feet in qi which allowed me to maintain my footing on the uneven ground.
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I launched myself at the man, but he again dodged out of the way. I was able to beat back his attacks with the sword of earth and wind though, so we were at a standstill. Meanwhile I was still controlling the sword of metal and wood and using it to fight the nature cultivator. It was difficult to fight both at the same time, but the short reprieve for Jia gave her enough time to quickly finish the remaining cultivators and come to my aid.
As the sand cultivator was gearing up for another attack the temperature of the area suddenly dropped. He looked surprised as Jia appeared behind him and slashed him in the back with an icy blue sword.
The clearing was now silent save for my slightly labored breathing and the light crackling of ice breaking.
Jia walked up to me, her sword still out, my swords still out. I quickly dissipated my swords and to my relief she put her sword away.
"Astra, what are you doing here? Thanks for helping me out." she told me.
"Well, I heard the sound of a fight from this direction, so I came over and saw those jerks ganging up on you! Also, that was a cool move when you appeared behind that guy at the end, how did you do that?"
Jia nodded her head at my explanation.
"Well thanks again for coming to my aid, I’m not sure I would have been able to beat them all without your help. That was a movement technique called ‘frozen flurry steps'. It allows me to transport myself short distances instantly." She told me. My eyes lit up at her words.
"That’s so cool! That sandy guy I was facing used some kind of movement technique too but that just made him move faster." I told her.
"Text, can I make a movement technique next if I get enough treasures?" I asked.
"ANSWER: Yes, a movement technique is possible to make by combining existing techniques in the inheritance." Text responded.
Jia was looking at me like I was a crazy person and I realized I probably shouldn’t be talking to Text when other people are around.
"Anyways let’s see if these guys had any treasures on them!" I told Jia as I walked over to the sandy guy and looted him for his treasures.
Both Jia and I got a handful of treasures from the men we defeated. Once we had taken their treasure, robed individuals that must have been inner disciples appeared from nowhere and took the men away, presumably back to the testing ground for treatment.
We decided to split the treasures evenly as we both participated in the fight, and we also agreed to travel together for the remainder of the contest to prevent any more multi-person ambushes.
We were walking along the bottom of a cliff with a multitude of holes in its side. The cliff itself rose up above the clouds and I couldn’t see the top of it despite my enhanced eyesight.
"Astra, what were those swords? Based on your strength score during the second test I had thought you were a body cultivator." she told me, curiosity in her voice.
I had the good grace to look embarrassed as I spilled my secret to her. She was trustworthy after all!
"So, the truth is I’m both a spirit and a body cultivator. That’s why I can still use techniques when I’m so strong!" She stopped walking when I told her this.
"I’ve always been told that doing both spirit and body cultivation was impossible, going down one path precludes you from the other?" She questioned. I shook my head.
"I’ve had no problems so far, and It’s only made me stronger by doing it! You should try it out, I’ll help you out!" I told her. She seemed to ponder my suggestion and eventually relented.
"I think I will try, thank you Astra." she said, and I smiled widely at her.
Just then my next response was interrupted by a ‘Ding’ showing up in my vision.
"DING: Treasure location found." I looked around and noticed one of the holes in the cliff wall was glowing a bright blue color.
"Ooooh Jia let’s look in this cave, I have a good feeling we’ll find something in here." I said as I skipped over to the entrance to the cave and peeked inside. I didn’t see anything from the mouth of the cave, so it looked like we’d need to go deeper inside to find the treasure.
Jia conjured up a large snowflake in her hand which provided us enough light to be able to see a few yards in front of us in the cave. We walked for a minute before stumbling upon an open cavernous room. Inside the room, multiple small wolf-like forms were sleeping, illuminated by a box sitting on a dais at the center of the room.
We quickly dispatched the wolves and divvied up the treasure from within the box, a set of rings and gems. When I turned around from admiring my new treasures, I saw Jia cutting inside of the wolves and gathering some small red gems from inside of them.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
She looked around at me, confused until she remembered something.
"Ah yes, you’re from off world. Here on Dou Can, the demon beasts found in the wild like these wolves have a core within them. Even cores from tier 1 demon beasts like these are worth collecting and are treasures in their own rights." She told me.
"What are the different tiers of demon beasts? And how strong are they?" I asked.
"The tiers of demon beasts range from zero, normal animals, to nine, god beasts. At my current cultivation, I would find a high-level tier 3 demon beast a challenge to defeat alone. The cultivation realms of cultivators and the tiers of demon beasts are mostly analogous with the exception that tier two, and tier three demon beasts represent a power level similar to middle and peak foundation establishment realm cultivators respectively."
I thought about what she said. Was it really possible for animals to be that strong? I guess the wolves did seem a little strong.
We continued our trek through the jungle, encountering a few demon beasts along the way, but not encountering any more applicants as of yet. We were totally unaware of the predator currently stalking us through the jungle, a pair of crimson eyes watching us from under the brush.