ZHANG YI INTERLUDE 7

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The Copper Egg Sect in Azurebreath City had an office in the wealthiest part of the city. It was surrounded by wide gardens with lots of green space. Not the packed and overcrowded slums that made up most of the city, but a pleasant-smelling district with houses so far from each other that the whole group from Jiang City didn't even take up the width of the road if they stood side to side. There was more greenery than actual building.

Similar to what the scammer Immortal had said, anyone under the age of fifteen could be tested, assuming they could afford the ticket price. With the wealth looted from the Immortal, everyone had more than enough. Zhang Yi would just use some of the coins in the pouch He Zhao had given him.

All of them arrived outside the office. Rather than hold tests every certain time period, they would do it on a come-and-go basis. There were only three natives from the city taking the test today, all of whom were surprised to see the huge group of townsfolk from Jiang City.

At noon, the doors of the office opened, and an Immortal stepped out. He wore the same copper-coloured robes as the slaving Immortal, only his had a golden trim that made it clear he was of much higher status. In his hand, he held a large glass orb filled with smoke. He looked at the large group of arrivals with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are there so many this time?" he asked.

"We're all from Jiang City, sir Immortal," said Old Man Ying Shanxi, one of the adults who had come for safety. "We'd like to have all of these kids tested. We should have enough to pay for it."

"Hppm, very well. It's five silver for each tested child twelve or younger, and ten for each under fifteen."

Ying Shanxi gathered money from all the kids and handed it to the Immortal. The three city members also handed over pouches of silver. The Immortal nodded, before floating into the air, to gaze imperiously down at the assembled crowd.

"Mortals, I am a tester of the Copper Egg sect here to check to see if anyone has a talent for cultivation! Those under the age of fifteen should gather in the center square. Any adults, step away."

The parents of the three city prospects and the Jiang City children moved back, leaving only those to be tested in the square. After quickly counting his money, the Immortal nodded. There was enough.

The test to enter the Copper Egg Sect was pretty simple. The children would press their hands upon the glass orb, which would then force Qi through their inactive meridian channels, to the Dantian, which was the center of cultivation.

Most Dantians were shattered and full of holes. They would leak out Qi faster than one could gather it. Without exorbitant resource consumption, any cultivation was impossible. Even if one did achieve a low level, the Qi inside them would still continue to dissipate. Unless they were constantly absorbing Qi to offset the loss, they would become mortal again.

The Orb would measure the Qi leaking from the Dantian and assign the prospective to one of four grades.

If the amount leaked was too high, the clouds would stay gray to indicate 'Insufficient', one who was not worthy to cultivate. In which case the prospective was left to their fate as a mortal.

If the amount leaking was moderate, the clouds would turn blue to indicate 'Sufficient'. In which case one joined the outer sect. They had the ability to become a cultivator, but would likely never reach a high level.

If the amount leaking was tiny, the clouds would turn gold to indicate 'Quality', in which case one would directly become an Inner Disciple. These were the future pillars of the Copper Egg sect, those expected to become useful.

There was also the final grade of 'Perfect', in which no Qi leaked at all. This was almost never seen randomly in the mortal world. Usually, only cultivator bloodlines produced perfect Dantians. Those who had one could directly join the Core Sect and were considered natural-born geniuses.

Of course, the Dantian grade was not very important to one's cultivation talent. After all, in the higher-level sects, effectively everyone had a perfect Dantian, and there was no higher grade than zero Qi leakage.

In those sects, unique physiques, bloodlines and statuses, alongside special inheritances or incredible martial skill or comprehension were the mark of geniuses.

With only exceptions for those with special talents, no member of the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada had anything below a perfect Dantian. In those Qi-rich southern lands near the tip of the Talon, even those with sufficient Dantians would be able to easily absorb Qi faster than it leaked.

It was only in the Qi-desolate wasteland of the absolute north of the Bird Talon Continent, Copper Egg Prefecture, that such a thing was of utmost concern.

"You first!" the Immortal pointed at Jiang Fang, the City Lord's son.

The young noble slid forward, pressing his hands onto the orb. It shuddered, the fog within condensing into a Red cloud.

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"...A perfect Dantian?! Incredible!" the Immortal praised, seeming shocked. "I wasn't expecting to find something like that in a mortal city... You can directly join the Core Sect!"

In all his time testing, he had never seen a single perfect Dantian. This was a completely shocking occurrence. Most of the people from Jiang City cheered joyfully, happy to see one of their own get such high praise from an Immortal, though they did not quite understand exactly why it was so important.

"Troublesome," Jiang Fang sighed. "I don't suppose I could bribe you to pretend it was a lower grade?"

"...What?" the Immortal blinked in complete confusion. "Why would you want that?"

"I prefer to stay low-key and take things easy," Jiang Fang explained. "How about a gold coin?"

"Hmph. The reward I'll get from the sect for discovering a Perfect Dantian prospect will be far more than any mortal could possibly afford."

Of course, the Immortal got a commission for each new prospect he brought in, with more for more talented grades. Otherwise, would any cultivator of his stature waste their time in a mortal city when they could be cultivating in the Sect? At the very least a Sect like the Copper Egg Sect could not build such devotion from its members, it had to pay them.

The young nobleman shrugged, accepting his fate. He walked over to the immortal's side, leaning against a wall with his eyes closed.

Next was He Zhao. The clouds swirled, turning blue. The Immortal raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"An acceptable grade. You can join the Outer Sect," he said.

'Even finding one prospect in a week is good! Two in a row? It seems that Heaven itself is trying to provide me with a bonus to my pay! Perhaps I'll be able to reach the sixth or even seventh stage of Foundation Establishment' the Second Realm cultivator smiled, stroking his goatee happily.

The next to go was one of the three from the city. She received an insufficient.

After her was Wan Zue, a boy from Jiang City, who was 'Insufficient'. He dejectedly walked over to where the adults stood.

Cao Ya's older brother Cao Xinyi too received an insufficient, alongside Dong Huo and Yang Mu.

Li Renlong, Zhang Yi's bully, walked over, placing his hands on the orb and receiving an acceptable grade. He went over to stand with Jiang Fang and He Zhao. He gave Zhang Yi a smirk of disdain.

The orphan boy, bit his lip, feeling his stomach roll over. Would he take the test and get an 'Insufficient', learning all his days of cultivation had been a complete waste? Seeing Li Renlong had accomplished it only made him more anxious. It could be anyone else, but if the bastard who had tormented him his whole life became an Immortal, and Zhang Yi didn't... He wasn't sure how he could continue living.

Cao Ya took the test and received a Sufficient. Next was Li Meimei, Renlong's sister and Zhang Yi's old fiancee. She placed her hands on the orb, receiving a gold-cloud 'Quality', that caused many villagers to cheer for her.

By this point, the Immortal's expression had become one of utter shock and disbelief. He had never seen such a high proportion of high-quality prospects in his entire life testing mortals in the Prefecture. That was already five prospects, and he wasn't even halfway through! Not to mention, all were from some tiny city out in the boons he hadn't even heard of.

"This isn't normal..." The Immortal muttered, eyes wide.

It was inconceivable for so many potential cultivators to be born in a bumfuck nowhere mortal village.

'Did some talented rogue cultivator come by and cuck all the mortal men in that village? How can there be so many prospects?'

Subconsciously, the wizened old face of his master appeared in his mind, repeating the saying he would give whenever something mysterious happened.

'In the end, it's all up to Karma. Leave it be!'

But whose' Karma?

The Immortal's eyes turned greedy as he stared at the rest of Jiang Cities children. He no longer saw mortals, but walking money bags!

'I'll have to make sure to drop by Jiang City when the next crop of children are born,' he swore. 'And I won't tell anyone they're all from there. No one gets to eat rice from my bowl!'

Ling Shuren was next. Insufficient. Several girls went. All Insufficient.

The next to pass was actually Hua Zi's sister, Hua Ming. She seemed completely terrified after passing, looking at her father for assurance. he smiled some, and she walked over to stand with those who passed.

Zhang Yi stood at the back of the crowd, watching the others. He felt a strong sense of anxiety. If he took the test and received an 'Insufficient', his heart and hopes would crumble. He would be doomed to die, like Hua Zi, and even worse, Li Renlong wouldn't be coming with him.

"Are there any in the under-fifteen age bracket left?" the Immortal asked.

"Zhang Yi hasn't gone," Li Renlong pointed at him, a mocking smirk on his face.

The children parted as the orphan trod up, scowling. At least he would get it over with. The black-haired youth placed his hand upon the orb as the Immortal watched.

He felt a tingling run through his body, just like when he followed the breathing pattern. This could only be Qi pouring into his Meridian System. Below his shirt, the copper coin began to glow with a blue aura, unseen by any. The tingling grew stronger, as if the orb was pouring more and more Qi into Zhang Yi.

The Clouds within the orb formed a vortex, swirling and condensing as if some hungry ghoul was sucking them up. They shrank rapidly, faster than the eye could see. Zhang Yi barely thought he saw a hint of red.

Crack!

The glass orb directly shattered, smoke spewing out in every direction. Under his shirt, a subtle green patina had grown over the surface of the copper coin.

"W-what the hell was that? What did you do?" The Immortal walked forward, picking Zhang Yi up by the collar of his robe, a glare in his eyes.

"I-I didn't do anything!" the boy defended, worried.

"Are you saying my Four Winds Orb broke itself?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm the mortal. It's your orb! You tell me!"

"I've tested thousands of mortals and never had anything go wrong. You must have done something!" the Immortal shouted, voice raising.

"I swear, I-I didn't do anything!"

The cultivator tossed Zhang Yi back to the ground, gritting his teeth.

"Maybe he's just so untalented even the orb couldn't stand seeing it," Li Renlong joked, causing several boys to laugh.

"Shut the hell up! You're in a joking mood when my Orb broke, huh?" the Immortal reeled on the 'jokester', eyes red with fury. "Are you mocking me?"

Li Renloing gulped, holding up his hands in apology.

The Copper Egg member scowled. A testing item like that would be very expensive to replace, and he only had the one. He would have to go back to the Sect for a second one, meaning his current testing session was over unless he borrowed one from a colleague. There were three cities nearby with testing offices, and he was friendly with one of them. He could go over and give them a bribe to let him borrow their orb to finish his day's test, so long as they didn't ask too many questions.

He didn't want anyone to find out about Jiang City, and its bizarre amount of cultivators.

Furthermore, there was the matter of the boy who had broken it. He certainly wouldn't let him use the second orb for testing, in case he broke that one. However, if he couldn't be tested, had he passed? Should the Immortal bring him back to the Copper Egg sect or just leave him here?

'To break a Four Winds Orb must count as an interesting result, I'll just bring him back to the sect and leave the rest to the Disciple Hall!'