Jie scanned the crowd with her spiritual sense as she walked, and she felt so many auras that vastly outstripped her own, filled with powerful and profound energy.

But, when she compared them to what she sensed from Ming, it was like comparing a raindrop with the vastness of the ocean.

It only reinforced how far she had to go before she would be as strong as Ming, and she had to get even stronger than that to fulfill her side of the deal with him. He'd given her her life back. She owed it to him to become strong enough to save his world.

As she neared the front of the queue, she found that everyone was much more restrained and orderly here.

The crowd was nervous and not from her. Their eyes were fixed dead ahead, at men and women in red robes that stood in a line along the base of the stairs.

When she reached out and sensed the energy inside these robed people, it was easy to tell that many of them were far stronger than most of the guards escorting the young masters.

Not nearly as strong as Ming, but strong enough to be intimidating even to the guards that had displayed such brutal savagery only moments before. Now everyone stood as still as statues before the sharp gaze of the robed figures.

Was this what Ming spoke of? That strength was needed to keep people in line? If that was the case then why were they not ensuring the crowd's safety? They seemed totally unconcerned with it, and their attention fell only on those at the front.

It just didn't seem fair.

The children stepped forward one at a time, placed a hand on one of the stone pillars that were just a little shorter than Jie, and spoke with those in the robes.

From there, they would either be taken to another group of children behind the line of robed men and women, or they would leave with their heads hung low.

Some cried.

"What are they doing?" Jie asked.

"They're testing their cultivation level. It seems they only consider accepting those whose cultivation is at least at the sixth star of the Disciple rank under twelve years of age. You should get through fine," Ming said.

A young boy passed his test and went behind the line of robed people. Ming pushed Jie lightly, and she stepped forward. A few sent her hostile glances, but they didn't dare to act.

She stepped forward nervously.

She still wasn't sure about going to a school. She'd never liked the schools on Earth.

Her parents had made her enter them far ahead of time because she was gifted or something and some idiot told her parents that they should make her go to one of those glorified prisons sooner.

But, if Ming said this would be a good idea for her, then she wanted to get in.

"Name?" asked a man in a red robe.

"Jie," Jie said.

The man sighed. "Full name please," he said.

"Go ahead, kiddo," Ming said, "better you use your name from Earth rather than my name. Try to avoid lying as much as possible, these experts might sense it, and it serves no purpose here."

"Liu Jie," Jie said.

The robed man looked over Jie's elegant robes. "I've never heard of the Liu family before," he said.

"I come from far away," Jie said.

"I'll say," Ming said.

The man shrugged. "Place your hand on the testing pillar," he said.

Jie did as she was told.

"Hmm..." said the robed man, "you're nine years old? You know you still have three more years before the cutoff, right?"

"I know," Jie said, "but I want to get in now."

"Okay," said the robed man with a sigh, "you can come back in a few years when you reach the sixth star of the Disciple rank."

Jie frowned. "I'm already beyond the sixth star. I want to enter now," she said.

"If you say so," the man said, "let some of your qi into the pillar, so it can determine your rank."

Jie pushed some of her qi into the stone pillar.

It lit up at the base with nine brilliantly shining stars.

The robed man's eyes went wide. "I... I see. You're at the ninth star of the Disciple rank... and at such a young age. Truly remarkable. Please join the others over there to continue with the test," he said.

Jie walked toward the other children who'd made it this far and stood awkwardly among them.

"I hope this place is worth the trouble. Though, I'm sure you'll get through the next test with ease," Ming said.

Jie stood around for ten minutes, and more children joined the group. She didn't know how to talk to the others. A lot of them didn't even look human. At least... not entirely. What should she say? Were they all as savage as the people she'd seen earlier?

Most of the children were dressed in elegant and expensive clothing, but a few wore little more than rags. The children had automatically split into two groups with those from wealthy parents in one and those in rags in the other.

Which should she join? She couldn't imagine having much in common with either of them.

A few more minutes passed, and Jie started getting irritated at her time being wasted with senseless waiting around.

She sat down, closed her eyes, and started cultivating even in the middle of all these people. She had complete faith in Ming to protect her. She needed to use every spare minute to increase her strength.

***

Ming scanned the crowd while Jie cultivated. Many looked at Jie with disapproving looks, no doubt they felt that she was being disrespectful. But, a few looked at her with an approving gleam in their eyes.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Those were the ones who could recognize a genius.

Jie started truly cultivating, and all the Essence in the area rushed toward her like water getting sucked down a drain.

The crowd gasped, and even the arrogant robed figures all turned to Jie, their jaws slack.

Ming suppressed a chuckle.

How could he not delight in people seeing his little monster at work? And what made it more amusing was that Jie had absolutely no idea about any of this. Her concentration was fully on cultivating, and though he'd tried very hard to explain to her that she was indeed extremely talented, she had yet to grasp this fact.

Even the children around her backed away as if afraid she'd grow tired of the Essence in the air and somehow tear their hard-earned cultivation out of their bodies and into her own.

Ming scanned the crowd with an ever-growing smile until his eyes landed on a humanoid fox woman in a red robe. Her face was similar to a beautiful human woman although a pair of fluffy fox ears poked out of her mane of black hair.

Atop her head, she wore a fox mask with interesting properties, ready to be pulled down and activated at any moment. Her three black and purple tails were curved behind her, swaying slightly in the breeze as she stared straight at Jie with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her luscious ruby lips.

A smile not too different from his own.

***

One hour took another, and though the crowd had grown used to the dense amount of Essence pouring into Jie, they still shot wary glances at her from time to time.

One of the elders in red robes stepped forward. To most of the crowd, his aura was domineering and oppressive. Though, still nothing compared to Ming.

"That's it. We have all the applicants we need for this year. Thank you for coming. Congratulations to all those whose applications were accepted, and for the rest, better luck next year," he said in a booming voice that carried supernaturally far.

Many in the crowd looked dejected, while only a few were smug and full of smiles.

However, nobody said so much as a word of protest. Who could dare when such an overpowering aura weighed down upon them all?

A group of five people in red robes, two women, and three men, came over to the accepted children.

One of the three men stepped forward.

His red robes were open at the front, exposing his heavily muscled bare chest and a pair of loose, rough pants.

He carried a massive two-handed war hammer that radiated cold.

"My name is Kanev Kormak. I'm one of the elders in the outer court of The Crimson Academy, and as such, you may address me as Elder Kanev. Please come with us for the rest of your examination," said Elder Kanev.

Jie didn't move, and Elder Kanev scowled.

"Better get going, kiddo," Ming said.

Jie's eyes sprang open, and the children around her took a collective step away.

Elder Kanev sneered at her and turned away.

He led the group away from the crowd and off to the side along the base of a section of the Crimson Academy's enormous walls. Jie kept pace with the same ease as going for a leisurely stroll, but many of the other children were huffing and panting after only a few minutes. Half of them had already started to fall behind.

"Keep up," said Elder Kanev without a hint of compassion or concern in his voice.

The children gritted their teeth and picked up their pace, sending glares to the few youths who were hardly troubled at all.

They ran for hours, and Jie grew increasingly irritated. "This school better be worth it. I'm losing so much cultivating time for all this," she said.

"It should be. Even a mediocre school will have cultivation resources that will greatly aid your cultivation," Ming said.

A few straggling youths fell further and further behind before vanishing into the distance.

Jie spared a glance back.

"What about them?" Jie asked.

"I imagine they fail the test and are rejected from this academy," Ming said.

"That seems a bit harsh..." Jie said.

"Humph! You call that harsh? Despite my heritage, I still had to go through the trials to enter The Lightning Academy. For my first test, I was locked in a pit with horned vipers, each at my rank or higher, and made to fight my way out.

"And that was just one test of many. This academy is far too gentle. So what if they fall behind? Ninety percent of applicants died in our trials," Ming said.

"That's horrible! No academy should have tests like that!" Jie said.

"How else do you weed out the wheat from the chaff?" Ming said.

"With normal tests! Tests that don't kill you!" Jie said.

Ming shook his head. "You have a lot to learn, kiddo. The universe is a dangerous place, and the trials of my academy were still child's play compared to what I later faced. And, what you will face in time," Ming said.

Jie kept her gaze ahead as Ming's words echoed in her mind.

They passed through a massive archway and came to a stop at the edge of a forest of enormous trees, each over five hundred meters tall.

Elder Kanev scanned those that remained. "Hmm... more than half of you managed to keep up. Not bad. Now for the real test to begin.

"The forest behind me is maintained by our academy. Most of the magical beasts inside are of the sixth star of the Disciple rank or higher. For the final part of your examination, you are to enter the forest, slay these magical beasts, and return with their beast cores. You have three days, and you must return with at least ten cores.

"Should you return with your ten cores, your family will need to pay an additional forty silver coins or forty low ranked beast cores. Each core you return with beyond the required ten will be counted as payment toward your school fees.

"The three who return with the most cores will gain special residences surrounded by dense amounts of Essence to aid their cultivation. The one with the most cores will also receive a reward of their choice from The Crimson Vault," said Elder Kanev.

The poorer students looked into the surrounding forest with grim determination while the wealthier ones all had greedy smiles on their faces.

Jie had to admit, the way the test was set up was brilliant.

Regardless of class, or social status, everyone would do their best now. Either to help reduce the heavy investment their families and communities were making in them or to get their hands on the rewards for the top three.

"You may only hand in beast cores that you yourself collect as proof of your success in this trial. As such, you will all hand over any and all storage treasures beforehand.

"Should you require healing or otherwise be unable to continue without assistance, then you forfeit your application.

"Conflict with other applicants is acceptable, provided it does not result in a death. Being caught killing other applicants is grounds for disqualification or worse depending on the severity of your crime," Elder Kanev said.

"The severity of the crime? And how is killing someone just grounds for disqualification!" Jie said.

"I imagine that it varies depending on accidents, self-defense, whether the one killed is a noble or a commoner, and such things," Ming said.

"I guess some of that makes sense, but to distinguish between nobles and commoners? That's sick!" Jie said.

"It's unfair, but keep in mind that The Crimson Academy needs to be careful with what they do too. Imagine if they imprisoned or executed the child of a peerless expert or a powerful noble family?

"The consequences could be grand indeed. Strength rules above all. The only way to enforce justice is to be strong enough to do so," Ming said.

"So, hand over your storage treasures, and let's get started!" Elder Kanev said.

The children rushed up to the elder and handed over all kinds of odd-looking items. Some were stones, others were rings or boxes, one applicant handed over a scarf.

Elder Kanev looked at Jie with a fierce expression.

"And what about you, little girl? Did you not hear me?" he said, his words dripping with venom.

"I don't have any to hand over," Jie said with a calm voice.

Elder Kanev raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can hide it from me?" he asked.

Her skin tingled.

"Hmm..." Elder Kanev said.

"Indeed," said another of the elders, "I don't sense a single storage treasure on her person, and I don't think she's lying either."

Elder Kanev snorted and turned back to all the children.

"Fine then, you've all handed over your storage treasures. Here's the storage treasure you may use to hold onto your beast cores," he said as the elders handed out small red bags to all of them.

Jie tied hers to her waist and reached inside. Her whole arm disappeared inside, but she didn't feel anything at all.

"Remember the rules, and if you're not back before the three days are up, you will be left for dead. Now go, and return in three days with at least ten cores," Elder Kanev said.

The other children all dashed off into the forest in different directions, but Jie stayed still and watched them leave.

She then chose the direction the fewest applicants had gone in and casually walked that way with Ming hovering invisibly in the air beside her.