The sun was slowly rising, and it was lightly snowing. Over a hundred youths, aged 12 to 14, gathered in the courtyard of the Jade Sword Sect.

The courtyard was vast and spacious, surrounded by tall stone walls that offered some shelter from the biting wind. The ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, which crunched softly underfoot. At the center of the courtyard stood a large stone platform, elevated slightly above the rest of the yard. On the platform, intricate carvings of mythical creatures and ancient symbols

The man in the green robe introduced himself as Li Zhung, the one who would test them. Li Zhung, stood on the stone platform, overseeing the process, his harp eyes scanning the crowd with hopefuls gaze

The candidates were told to sit down and try to gather Qi. Under the extremely cold weather, it was already hard to breathe, and now they had to concentrate and gather Qi. The sun wasn’t helping either—they were truly on their own.

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After a few minutes, the time was up. Some failed, and some passed. The people who didn’t pass were pulled out of the courtyard, while only the ones who succeeded stayed.

Out of the hundred, only fifty people passed. LianXian easily passed this test as he knew more than most people who were taking the test here.

The second test was explained by the instructors which was to stand under spiritual pressure for some duration. The candidates who passed were called one by one into the hall. Some came out with disappointed faces, while others had happy expressions. They didn’t call in an orderly fashion but randomly chose people who had passed. Every moment was tense, tension filled the air, never knowing who would be called.

“Number 27...”

...

“Number 13...”

...

“Number 7...”

After an hour of waiting, “Number 17” was called. It was LianXian’s turn, as he was going into the hall, he saw a girl coming out. Their eyes met for a split second before they both continued on their respective ways.

The hall was large mostly made up of wood and here and there were some touches of stone, Li Zhung stood in the middle, while some people were scattered around the hall.