Additionally, the tailors here, while helpful, did not fully understand what Tang Ze needed.

The barber had been a bit more helpful. ‘Are you sure you want me to cut your hair even shorter?’ the barber had asked, to which Tang Ze had nodded. His hair was a bit overgrown as he hadn’t had a haircut sometime back on Earth, but nowhere near the level to which men in this world kept it. His hairstyle needed to be modified as well for the cosplay though, not to mention, he could always regrow his hair back longer as seemed to be the custom in this world.

Thankfully his hair was already black, meaning that hair dye or a wig was not necessary. He also didn’t need contacts as his eyes matched the color needed as well. But he had had difficulty assembling some of the other parts.

Still, the overall costume was… very lackluster from his own point of view. The symbol on the chest was slightly off-center and something about it seemed wrong though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what that was. A lack of references likely contributed to that.

The boots were also not made of what he would’ve wanted, but he could not find the required materials in this world. They were also out of shape and not the right fit for him, with him having to tie them to his feet with ropes so they wouldn’t fly off them.

His costume was basically held together with duct tape and prayers - not actual duct tape mind you, that might’ve been useful, but it was not as structurally sound as he’d have hoped.

It could probably not handle a large amount of strain, which was fine if this was back on Earth and he was only doing something like a photoshoot, but it was important for Tang Ze that his costumes be durable and easy to move about in, two things that this one lacked.

Not to mention there would be no photo editing he could do to make things look better in post. A lot of the more impressive cosplays you find online definitely have a touch of special effects added to them.

It was clear that even his natural talent thought that this was not a very good imitation, as he had access to only fifty-five percent of the character’s powers.

Still, it was far better than simply taking a red towel and wrapping that around his neck for sure. And even around half of this character’s strength, well, it would take him very far. So long as his costume held up, that is.

The entrance test began the moment the sun crested the horizon, and as Tang Ze basked in its glory as it cleared the horizon, he tried to put the doubts about his costume behind him.

Yes, he might’ve not been able to make what he really wanted to - but it wasn’t like this was the end of the road.

He could improve - no, he would improve on the design!

He would find better materials!

Not only that, but he would continue to add the strength of these characters to his own so he could use them when he wasn’t even wearing his costume. If he could cultivate on top of that, who knows what the limits of his power would be?

After all, wasn’t the best part of being reincarnated like this the fact that he could start over? Even if he hadn’t been proud of what he had done in his last life, he could look forward to a new start in this one.

And with that, his feet began to hover off the ground, and as the sun completed its climb, basking the world in its radiance, Tang Ze launched himself into the air.

“What?!” Elder He Xuan exclaimed. He looked over at Zhang Long, who was trying to appear as innocent as possible. “Zhang Long, did you know about this?”

Zhang Long shook his head. “Elder He Xuan, I am as shocked as you are!” If he had told people that Tang Ze could fly, thereby making all the preparations they had done for this test meaningless, they would have found some other way to test Tang Ze.

And that might’ve been a test where Tang Ze’s powers could not help him.

This however, ensured Tang Ze’s success. Which is why Zhang Long had chosen to omit that crucial piece of information in the first place.

Tang Ze actually ended up vastly overshooting his mark and ended up far above the clouds in a single breath’s time - the disparity in power that this costume provided compared to before was immense and so he was not used to it, and he took a minute to control himself and land at the mountain’s peak.

And with that, he was done with the sect's entrance test!

Elder He Xuan, once he got over his shock, had a sordid expression on his face. If Tang Ze or Zhang Long were able to sense Elder He Xuan’s Qi, they would sense the man’s Qi fluctuating wildly at this point.

But neither Tang Ze nor Zhang Long could not feel anything. Zhang Long, because his cultivation level of Qi Condensation did not allow him to sense the Qi of those at the Golden Core realm, and Tang Ze couldn’t as he had no practice in the matter.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

As He Xuan took a deep breath, curiosity overcame his initial irritation at having gone through the trouble of setting all of this only for Tang Ze man to leap over all the obstacles laid out before him like it was nothing in a heart beat.

Elder He Xuan had to admit, the man’s clothes were rather odd. Not in what they were made of - he had initially suspected that there might be some trick involving Qi, suspecting that the clothes were like magical armor or enchanted raiments one could find, though he could feel no Qi between the individual threads.

When Elder He Xuan had come into contact with one of the wandering tribes near the border during his earlier days, he hadn’t felt a drop of Qi from their masks either.

They were works of great craftsmanship, undoubtedly so, with the tracings on the wood carvings making them leak an eerie but exalted presence nonetheless. In addition they were adorned with the hair and occasionally bits of fur of the animals they were supposed to represent.

However, when one of the tribesmen had put one on his face, it was as if the mask rippled into life, and Elder He Xuan could actually feel the presence of a lion behind the man! All of a sudden, He Xuan felt a burst of Qi emitting from the man as if a lamp had been turned on bathing a formerly dark room in light.

It was not so here, however.

Elder He Xuan could not feel anything at all from Tang Ze’s clothes. There was no sensation of power or strength emanating from him. And yet, they were supposed to be his source of strength?

Tang Ze looked as he was - a guy who was cosplaying as a western-based superhero in a world of Qi and cultivation, standing before the elder of a sect.

In other words, he looked ridiculous - and was closer to seeming like a court jester than a powerful cultivator.

There was truly nothing exceptional about this Tang Ze - that was what Elder He Xuan’s spiritual senses told him.

And yet, Elder He Xuan could not deny that he had seen him soar up into the sky just now.

Rather than censure Tang Ze or let his true feeling be known, He Xuan gave a gentle smile instead and said, “Ah, well done Junior Tang Ze! I am quite impressed by your performance! To have cleared this test in so short a span of time - this was completely unexpected! A new record for the sect, as a matter of fact! One I don’t think will ever be beaten mind you…”

“I thank you for your kind words, Elder He Xuan,” Tang Ze said, cupping his hands and bowing just as Jin Zhen had taught him to.

“Now, as a formality, I would just like to examine your dantian before you enter our sect?” Elder He Xuan said rather casually, though Zhang Long’s eyes widened at the request.

The dantian was the key origin of a cultivator’s Qi, to ask to examine it was nearly tantamount to asking to examine another cultivator’s privates, though in such a situation, it was difficult for Tang Ze to say ‘no.’

Tang Ze, however, really didn’t understand the significance of this and merely nodded as Elder He Xuan put a hand forward and onto Tang Ze’s lower abdomen. Tang Ze, a newcomer to this world, figured this was just part and parcel of joining the sect.

By examining Tang Ze closely, even if he was multiple major realms above Elder He Xuan, Elder He Xuan would be able to detect the flow of Qi within him.

It was only at a distance where people could be fooled, at such a close range, and as long as Tang Ze wasn’t doing something funny to obfuscate his own talent, Elder He Xuan would have no problems with his little interrogation.

Elder He Xuan’s eyes widened at what he had just found.

He found… absolutely nothing!It appeared that Tang Ze had not even awakened his lower dantian, nor had opened any of his meridians!

If Elder He Xuan did not know any better, he would have guessed that what was standing before him was a corpse - there was no detectable Qi inside this person at all!

And yet, this person was breathing, and He Xuan could feel a pulse, so they were not some zombie-like creature either!

Elder He Xuan would normally interpret this as meaning that Tang Ze was, as a matter of fact, doing something that stopped such surveillance methods like what he was doing, but then he decided to take a second look.

Elder He Xuan looked further, and it was then that he found the tiniest spark of Qi - it truly was a spark, it could not even be compared to the dying flame of a candle - that was just how weak it was!

In other words, He Xuan was not being deceived with some kind of technique - it was just that Tang Ze barely had any Qi!

This was nearly inconceivable!

“You are… a Zeroth Realm individual?” Elder He Xuan said once he had found the right words, though they still felt odd in his mouth.

When children were born into this world, their bodies would normally start accumulating Qi from their environment in their lower dantian until it was filled, and after this they would gradually prime their meridians to be ready to enter the first minor realm of Qi Condensation.

This realm that existed before Qi Condensation - well, it couldn’t really be called a proper ‘realm’ in and of itself, but this state- was sometimes called the ‘Zeroth Realm.’ Few people even had heard of this stage because virtually no adult was at that level.

Babies, by the time they were around one year of age or even sooner if they were born to prodigal parents or in a place where the Qi in the air was thicker, would have their lower dantians completely filled by that time.

As for priming the meridians - that might take a bit longer, say, until one was four or five. But nearly everyone finished this stage by the time they were seven! It was not even something that had to be done consciously, so it was impossible to mess it up.

Tang Ze however, had not been born in this world. And as such, he had not the time to develop these parts of his body, and had to start from scratch.

Granted, he was older, and this process would theoretically be far faster than it would be for a newborn or child, but it would still take time.

He had only been in this world for about a week, after all.

“Tell me something,” Elder He Xuan said. “Were you ever injured in a way that reset your meridians?” It was theoretically possible that a major injury or exposure to some kind of poison could derail one’s cultivation and send it back to the Zeroth Realm, though Elder He Xuan had never heard of such a case in his entire career. Granted, anything that could drop it all the way down to the Zeroth Realm should’ve also killed the cultivator in question, but stranger things had happened in this world.

“I… don’t think so?” Tang Ze said. He didn’t even fully comprehend how the meridians worked or even what they were, but he was relatively certain that nothing had happened to damage his.

“That…” Elder He Xuan began to say. Even if one was just passively absorbing Qi from the environment, much like a plant, they should have been far beyond this level. Going beyond the Zeroth Realm… it was as simple as learning how to properly take a dump!

Anyone who had not reached this level was clearly a hopeless cause.

“I’m sorry,” Elder He Xuan said. “I know that you technically passed this exam, but we cannot accept you into the Rising Phoenix sect.”