“ALL DISCIPLES ARE TO HEAD TO THE CENTRAL COURTYARD IMMEDIATELY.”

Alex was awoken far earlier than usual by a voice that rumbled through the sect, the sound waves travelling through a thick wave of Qi he calmly observed washing through the sect's walls and floorboards.

Alex got up and made his way.

Upon arrival, he found himself facing a feast with all disciples present, ushered to head towards the section where the uninitiated disciples stood moving or sat feasting. The most central courtyard of the sect had been filled with colourful lanterns and the excited chatter of new inductees being formally welcomed to the sect. The banquet table was loaded with sumptuous dishes, while performers— system users— moved through the crowd and sect elders prepared to address the gathering.

At the feast's head, an empty chair commanded attention, surrounded by men and women whose Qi blazed like bonfires, their auras overshadowing all disciples present. Those must be the instructors and maybe some elders,Alex realised, noting Mistress Yan Hau among them, her flaming Qi more prominent than most.

Toasts rang out, cultivation stories were exchanged, and gifts—tokens of superficial goodwill—were presented to either recruit promising entrants or gain backing from powerful members. Seeing that roughly three hundred people were present, Alex instantly counted the number of disciples with visible traces of Qi much stronger than Jun Li’s, noting that they all wore uniforms slightly different from the rest, with various insignias. There’s about 100, maybe 150 of them wearing different uniforms to me, I’m betting they’re the stronger, or ‘Real’ disciples here, and about 30 of them seem to be somewhat weaker, presumably ‘outer’ disciples. That left the remaining 150 or so ‘uninitiated’ disciples who wore the same provisional uniforms as Alex and held Qi auras much weaker than Jun Li, the beginner he had bested. These numbers are not making sense, he thought as he eyed the varying strengths of those present. The only way there could be such a large number of new, provisional members for a sect with so few established members would be if the acceptance rate was unbelievably low.

Judging by the numbers, most of the people surrounding Alex would likely not make it into the sect proper. But what would the consequences be for the failures?

Probably death, knowing Imperials, Alex scoffed to himself, effortlessly moving through the crowd.

The environment buzzed with ruthless competition, and Alex’s keen senses could hardly miss the way all present eyed each other like hawks behind their smiles, as though each were searching for weaknesses in their peers.

The real question is what they’re all competing for, Alex wondered. Most likely treasures and better techniques. I suppose I’ll have to put my best foot forward here. He was loath to attract too much attention, given that he planned to abandon the sect as soon as he had found what he wanted, but he also needed access to the sect's innermost secrets. Or at least some knowledge of the building's interior and security, he chuckled to himself with greed, calmly observing the ruthless nature in which the disciples regarded each other and the system-users serving them.

“Ah-lex!” Turning at the words, Alex spotted Jin sitting in the crowd and promptly headed for a seat beside the gesturing star-pupil, somewhat pleased at the sight of a familiar face within the den of wolves.

Though nothing suggests that Jin’s not a wolf, too, he thought with scepticism as Jin spoke, clasping his shoulder. “You're a little unlucky,” the prodigy said, “the induction tests are held twice a year and have the biggest impact on rankings, much higher than any other tests…”, he met Alex’s gaze appraisingly. “And they say that this is a good batch….Time is not on your side— the others have had months to prepare.”

“Well isn’t that just a better opportunity to succeed, then?” Alex smirked in response, turning to eye the head of the feast where the sect Elder, Zhen, had appeared prepared to speak.

***

Elder Zhen stood before the gathered potential recruits, his presence imposing and his gaze cold, drawing all to silence.

"Welcome to the Ben Nui sect," Elder Zhen began, his voice a low growl that commanded immediate attention, his demeanour far different from what Alex recalled on their first meeting. "You stand here today because you seek power. You seek strength. And most of all, you seek to join the ranks of the most feared sect in this corner of the empire." He paced slowly, his footsteps loud in the silence. "Our sect is not for the weak or weak-hearted. We are rooted in unyielding strength and the principle of the divine bovine. We crush and destroy all things in our path without care or retreat. This was the first of your many lessons."

Elder Zhen's eyes scanned the room, locking briefly with each recruit. The intensity of his gaze was enough to make many avert their eyes, their confidence wavering, though Alex met his eyes with cool disdain. "An impending war is at our doorstep. Only the true and tested among you will survive it.” The elder continued, “Many of the provisional among you will fail to even pass today's test, let alone be present for the war. And some among our number will soon fall, unable to withstand the onslaught.”

“And that is how it should be. The strong survive, and the weak are discarded."

He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over them. The recruits shifted uncomfortably, some swallowing hard, others raising their heads in determination. Elder Zhen then moved, walking to a dark stone obelisk Alex had previously assumed was just a monument of some kind among the many statues of the central courtyard. The elder gestured to the tall dark obelisk behind him. "This is the Spirit Stone, an artifact that will reveal your true potential. The first test of your worth will be Spiritual Energy Scoring. Step forward when called and place your hand upon the stone. The colour it emits will determine your spirit root's purity and potential, hope for a colour more vibrant than your peers."

He called out, pointing a finger, "Liu Xian, step forward."

A young provisional sect member approached the Spirit Stone with measured steps, his expression a mixture of determination and trepidation. Placing his hand on the cold surface, he waited. The stone began to emit a light, starting dull but quickly shifting to a bright, vibrant gold. Gasps erupted from the crowd, and Elder Zhen's murmur cut through the air.

"Supreme potential."

The surrounding elders and instructors exchanged excited looks and whispered among themselves as the many disciples gasped in wonder. Elder Zhen addressed Liu Xian directly. "You possess unparalleled talent, seen once in a generation. You are expected to achieve legendary status and become a pillar of our sect."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Liu Xian stepped back, pride evident in his stance. Elder Zhen continued, "Now, demonstrate your mastery of our sect's Qi technique on a reinforced golem."

He gestured, and a metal cube flew from his palm, rapidly expanding to a lumbering titan of metal and Qi.

The young inductee drew his wooden practice sword and faced the golem, concentrating his energy. With a swift, controlled movement, he shot forward in a blur, the after-image of his stabbing technique striking the golem with precision and power. A slim crack formed on the metal construct and the crowd gasped, surprised by the accuracy, efficiency, and strength of his wooden blade’s attack on metal.

Elder Zhen nodded approvingly. "You have proven some of your worth. Now, receive the symbol engraving of our sect." A sect elder approached Liu Xian and engraved the insignia of a moon crossed with a horned creature, the divine bull, onto his robe. The young inductee then paid respects to the sect's ancestors, kowtowing before the ancestral statues that lined the courtyard.

With the formalities complete, Liu Xian returned to his seat at the feast, his chest inflated, his place in the sect now partially secured. Elder Zhen turned his attention back to the remaining inductees, the challenge clear in his eyes.

"Who will be next to prove their worth?"

At his words all provisional inductees moved to line up for their turns, Alex included. The sect grounds quickly became filled with tension as one by one, the inductees took the tests. Some did well, catching the eyes of the inner disciples and instructors with their skill. Others faltered, failing to even mimic the execution of a technique and were told to leave and never return. Among the crowd, Jin stood out. His aura glowed gold before he approached the golem, and his wooden blade left a deep concave indent in the metal. The inner disciples watched him with intrigue as he casually returned.

Finally, it was Alex’s turn. He approached the stone curiously, his steps tentative.

I’ve read about this in the breathing technique manual, Alex recalled the manual's introductory notes on spirit roots and their immense importance. A spiritual root determined how well he could absorb and use Qi—impacting the rate, strength, amount, and growth potential of its manipulation. And the colours represented the quality and potential… What was it? Gold light means supreme and unparalleled talent, once in a generation like Jin & that kid, Lui Xian.

Red is below that and signals a prodigy, but not as rare or as good as a golden root.

Purple holds high potential,

And Blue means you’re above average, whilst anything besides green has led to expulsion.

Let’s hope mine’s higher than green, he thought, splaying his fingers.

He outstretched his hand, feeling the stone’s cool, almost metallic surface. As he channelled his Qi to the edge of his fingertips, his senses keyed into the stone beneath his fingers and his eyes widened. He observed as the many energies he had stolen surged through him and into the stone, the point of contact beginning to burst into a rainbow display of energy.

Shit.

Alex’s thoughts whirred in recollection. Rainbow Multicolored meant he possessed a Unique and extremely rare potential, even far beyond gold. It was something that allowed a person to excel in multiple areas of cultivation to master diverse and powerful techniques. In that moment, Alex realized that if any others saw the growing light buried beneath his finger, the sect would latch on to him and never let go.

He focused intently, slowing his perception of time to a crawl through his latest passive skill, Monarch's Temporal Drift.

He further enhanced this by reaching for his Dao.

Alex grasped a mere portion of the scale of the interconnectedness of life and death within the transformative process of existence. It bucked between his fingers, an uncontrollable stream. He grasped the truth and understood that immortality transcended temporal perception, allowing him to perceive the constant motion and flux of time, enabling him to navigate its ebbs and flows with heightened awareness and deliberate clarity.

[Dao: ‘True Immortality’ - Progress 1 > 1.1%]

His Dao allowed him to slow time further, his crawling perception of time making several hundredths of a second feel much longer than it ever should.

Ok, think. His thoughts breezed through recollections of the attendees in slowly crawling time. Most of the people here are blue or green— above average and average— with about twenty high-potential purples, a few prodigy-reds and two golds.

And the brighter the light, the more powerful the root.

Anything higher than blue would be a problem and draw too much surveillance, and green is far too low to receive access to rewards without similar surveillance. Let’s go for Blue.

Concentrating deeply, he began to parse through and pull back the different energies one by one, observing the changes each withdrawal made to the obelisk's dot of colour in near-frozen time. Eventually, once he had removed a majority, only bright blue energy remained. He released his grip on his temporal perception and Dao, letting time snap back into focus. The obelisk before him burst into bright blue light.

The inner disciples exchanged approving looks at the intensity of his acceptable result. To them, it meant that he held good talent above the average-greens, and the intense brightness indicated that he held much higher potential than a majority of the other above-average blues, though still below the higher colours, Alex knew they would believe that he would still likely progress faster than most, achieving higher levels of cultivation with proper guidance. Rewards without surveillance, he thought as he drew a wooden blade from a nearby rack and headed towards the Golem, pleased with the outcome and still surprised by the initial burst of bright potential. He observed the strong patterns of Qi flowing through the strengthened metal construct, allowing it animation. My stats and passives won’t be enough to harm this thing, at least not until I have at least ten thousand points in each, he recalled. As it stood, Alex still only had a fifth of the stats required to harm beings at the first stage of cultivation, and though on cooldown, using active skills before the sect members would simply be an act of self-destruction. I’ll have to use the Dao instead, he decided.

Alex approached the Golem, assumed a stance, breathed in, exhaled, and moved, a Bull Charging the Earth.

His wooden practice blade carved a thin line through the Qi-reinforced metal as he reappeared with a slash, and it was only his action of retracting his swing and disconnecting from the Dao mid-swing that prevented a flow of impermanence from cleaving the metal construct to pieces.

As Alex returned to his seat and watched the remaining disciples' tests, once again, welcoming approval and acceptance at his performance washed over him from the eyes of all present, much to Alex’s disdain.

With the second test completed, Elder Zhen stepped forward, his gaze hard and unyielding. "Good. Today, we separate the wheat from the chaff. Your final test awaits."

The Elder extended his hand, and a surge of Qi flowed from his fingers like liquid fire, forming a set of massive, ornate gates intricately carved with strange patterns that shone through the light, while a swirling misty portal emerged within, its depths holding both death and glory.

He paused, allowing his words to sink in before continuing. "You will enter a secret training realm. This realm is teeming with high-level system beasts— high enough in number to pose a threat to beginners such as yourselves— and nine spiritual beasts at the seventh, eighth, and ninth stage of Qi Gathering. Each spiritual beast will be far stronger than all of you. Your task is simple: retrieve a piece of fur, feathers, flesh, or eggs from the spirit beasts within. The higher the beast, the higher your score. There are no rules or safeguards. Retreat is not an option. Return with your task completed, or become fodder."

With a swift movement, Elder Zhen gestured for the new disciples to enter. "Enter and succeed."

One by one, the new disciples stepped forward into the portal in intervals, its energy recharging for some time before another batch could enter, until it was Alex’s turn.

[2-hour mana cooldown ended. Skills now available for use]

Alex headed into the unknown, the portal closing behind him with a finality that left no room for second thoughts.

***

What awaited Alex on the other side of the portal was a bloodbath— dead creatures and scores of would-be disciples lay strewn across a clearing, and a freakish beast of blood, flesh and twisted Qi that blazed as strong as Jin’s that turned to regard his entrance sharply.

Alex responded the only way he knew how;

“The little demon of winding…fuck. Mana Burn.”