As Verus was nervously studying the crowd of young cultivators around him, some of them looked his way in return. For the most part, their gazes were dismissive, as if Verus and his companions were beneath their notice. That did nothing to make Verus feel less agitated.
He was far from an expert on nobles, but he did know that actual landholders with imperial title were quite rare. There was no way that most of the highborn here were from actual noble families. Instead, most cultivator families gained wealth and power though service in imperial organizations. That didn’t make them much humbler or stop them from hoarding a lot of political power though.
There was a pair of young highborn men in crimson robes standing to Verus’s left. Both of them had pale skin and long black hair, although they looked too dissimilar to be brothers. The shorter one frowned as he studied Verus’s group. “Hmm, who are those monks?”
His companion chuckled. “Don’t worry about them. They’re simple temple wards. Poor orphans here to fill spots and give us someone to beat up. They probably have no idea how far out of their depth they are.”
As the first noble nodded in understanding and agreement, movement up on the stage drew Verus’s attention. The elders had stepped forward to the center of the stage to address the crowd. The first was an older man with a long white beard. Slightly hunched over, he looked older and less vigorous than most other elders Verus had seen. His two companions were a sour-looking younger man with messy black hair and a stern woman with her brown hair up in bun. Behind the elders, Verus noticed a large dull crystal of some sort. It had a hexagonal shape that ended in a sharp point, and although he couldn’t see the bottom of it, it looked to be about 5 feet tall.
The crimson robed nobles noticed the elders as well. “Three elders? They really want to intimidate us.”
His friend nodded. “I’m surprised there are no great elders here to awe us.”
The other snorted rudely. “Don’t be a fool. As if a great elder would ever waste his time with lowly beings such as us. Most of them are centuries old and spend all their time in closed cultivation. They almost never emerge from their chambers unless summoned by a representative of the empire. Besides, I doubt you’d enjoy meeting one. Those old monsters are barely human anymore. Their very presence can kill mere mortals.”
“Attention. You will all be silent and listen,” the female elder announced in a loud ki-enhanced voice that washed over the entire courtyard.
The voice hit Verus like a physical wave. He almost stumbled backwards from the pressure, and he saw many other people be affected the same way. One foppish noble actually did manage to trip over himself and fall. Thankfully, the pressure soon dissipated, and the gathered disciples straightened and turned to gaze at the elder with meek respect. They were all utterly silent now.
Seeing this, the brunette elder began speaking in a commanding tone. “Greetings, new disciples. My name is Elder Chu, and I serve as the Master of Discipline here at this temple. That makes me responsible for the training programs of the Great Wind Sect’s new disciples. Congratulations, on becoming official members of the Great Wind Sect. A path full of incredible rewards and achievements lays before you, but you will have to earn them through hard work and dedication to your sect and the empire. The Great Wind Sect is one of the four most powerful sects upon this world, so make no mistake, the competition for the best rewards will be fierce. However, should you succeed, you will gain far more than you can even imagine. Immortality, true enlightenment, and the endless heavens lay before you now.”
Verus gulped nervously as he eyed the other people in the courtyard. It seemed like he would be competing with them after all. He had strongly suspected that would be the case. He’d been taught that the path toward enlightenment was one of constant struggle. There was no other way to grow in understanding.
“Many of you come from diverse backgrounds, from commoner to noble, which means the knowledge you possess will necessarily vary as well. To remedy such deficiencies, I will explain to you how your first years in the sect will be structured. All of you are currently outer disciples, which means the sect will offer you residence here at the temple and a generous stipend of cultivation resources for your first two years. You are expected to use this time to train yourselves to better serve the sect, and once it is over you will need to purchase resources using your own coin. For most of you, this means you will need to seek employment, and the sect will aid you in finding it. The empire is always in need of cultivators to serve it in many different ways.”
“Ugh, a job. I hate working,” Warin remarked with complete sincerity.
Verus gave him an amused look. He wasn’t sure how his friend had kept that attitude after growing up back at the temple. They’d spent almost all their time working there. Still, he had a point. It would be a serious let down if after coming here to the capital they were forced to leave after two short years and find a job.
“However, this is not the only path that you could follow,” Elder Chu announced. “At the end of every year, the sect holds the inner disciple selection test. If you earn a spot among the inner disciples, you will be granted access to substantially better resources than those given to outer disciples, and you will even have a chance at receiving personal lessons from the elders. Also, unlike outer disciples, inner ones may stay here and train for as long as they wish. They are recognized by the sect as young geniuses with the potential to reach lofty Realms.”
Verus couldn’t help but grin now. This was more like it. Despite the challenges, he knew exactly what he wanted. He needed to join the inner sect so that he could stay in the temple, meditate on enlightenment, and eventually become an elder.
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“Now, Elder Lamar will now instruct you in what to expect during this initiation ceremony. He is the Master of Cultivation here, and thus one of the wisest experts on cultivation techniques upon this world.”
The old elder with the long white beard stepped forward and began talking. “One-by-one you will be called up to the stage where you will place your hand on the crystal behind me to be tested for elemental attunements.”
The crowd of disciples gasped and murmured excitedly now, despite their earlier fear. Even Verus, who had lived almost his entire life being wary of sect elders, couldn’t help but grin broadly. He had been waiting to get his attunements tested ever since he’d reached the Foundation Realm.
Elder Lamar frowned at the crowd but simply kept explaining. “Regardless of their Realm, all human cultivators can use basic ki, which is truly called human ki, since it is produced solely within humans and is an innate part of us. However, upon reaching the Foundation Realm, a cultivator becomes able to train themselves to use elemental or mental ki as well. As the heavens are endless and the worlds beneath them uncountable, so too are the number of possible attunements, but most cultivators only have a talent for the basic elements. Although, technically any cultivator could train to use almost any element, the depth of your attunement to a type of ki determines your talent in using it. The deeper the attunement, the faster and easier it will be to absorb ki of that type and learn to use its techniques.”
Verus nodded along and even Warin grinned hungrily. They both knew this theory, and Verus suspected everyone else here did as well.
“Every individual has a unique ability to attune and use different forms of ki. After examining your results, and discussing what the crystal has shown us, we will recommend you a cultivation technique, although you aren’t required to use it. Currently, you only know a very simple technique to gather human ki and use it to form your core, since that is all you need to reach the Foundation Realm. However, a proper cultivation technique that matches your attunements will allow you to greatly increase the rate at which you absorb external ki. Every cultivation technique has its strengths and weaknesses, but our ancient sect has access to many powerful and unique techniques that we have guarded for centuries. For instance, those of you that are lucky enough to possess a strong wind ki attunement will be offered our sect’s prestigious Way of Gathering Storms technique. As some of you know, this technique is considered one of the strongest upon this world. It allows you to gather and control not only wind ki, but several other ki elements as well, such as water and thunder, if you possess those attunements.”
Verus had to resist the urge to jump for joy. He couldn’t believe it. They were handing out proper cultivation techniques on the very first day! This was way more than he could have hoped for! He couldn’t wait to get his own and begin using it. His attunements and cultivation technique would decide his path as a cultivator, allowing him to use advanced ki techniques that suited his strengths.
“Your hearts should be filled with gratitude to your sect, young ones. We are granting you a great honor today. Only a proper cultivation technique will allow you reach the next stage in your enlightenment, the Tempered Realm. For ascending to that Realm requires a cultivator to not only gather a large amount of ki, but also to gain insight into the nature of ki itself by becoming fully attuned to at least one aspect of it. Now, please wait and approach the stage only when your name is called,” the old man explained before stepping back to allow the younger male elder to come forward and began calling out names.
As Verus shared an excited look with Warin, the chubby young man spoke up. “I’m surprised they have everyone’s names. There’s a lot of people here, and most of them don’t come from within the sect, like us.”
“I think the elders of a great sect can manage that much without difficulty,” Verus replied as he watched the first disciple go up on stage with interest. There was flicker of light within the crystal after the young man touched it, and then he had brief conversation with elders before stepping back off the stage. The next disciple was then called.
This went on for half an hour before Warin was called. The chubby disciple jumped in surprise upon hearing his name. He then threw Verus an excited grin before hurrying over to the stage. There, the same process Verus had seen many times by now repeated itself, although Warin had a satisfied expression on his face as he left the stage. Verus let out sigh of relief as he watched. It seemed his friend had gotten at least half-decent attunements.
That was when Verus heard his own name. A shot of nervousness flickered within his chest, but he stifled it and began striding quickly over to the waiting elders. It wouldn’t do to waste a single moment of their time.
Bounding up the steps, Verus stopped in front of the bearded old man. However, the elder simply motioned toward the crystal.
“Place your hand on the stone and attempt to push your ki into it,” he told Verus in a bored tone.
After a brief respectful bow, Verus did as he was told and hurried over to the crystal. He placed his hand on the crystal and began using his core to circulate ki through is body and push it out through his hand. That was simple enough, thanks to all the training he’d undergone back at his home temple, but being put on the spot in front of three unfamiliar elders and a crowd of strangers made him extremely uncomfortable. How exactly did this test work? What if it revealed something embarrassing? He wasn’t the most faithful or dedicated student…
His cascading thoughts were only interrupted when a light flickered within the depths of the crystal. All three nearby elders glanced down at the light and studied it for a few seconds.
“No strong attunements outside of human ki,” Elder Lamar commented dryly.
Verus frowned as his stomach wobbled nervously. That didn’t sound great.
The woman nodded. “Even his attunement with that is only average.”
This really sounded bad to Verus now. His legs grew weak beneath him as his lofty expectations crumbled, leaving him with nothing but dread. It would be hard to get a worse result.
“The Way of Imperial Might is the obvious cultivation technique for you,” the bearded elder said as he turned to look at Verus, who could only gaze back with poorly concealed shock.
“Yes, you seem destined for a career in the army, where your aptitude for human ki can be developed best,” the woman added in a conciliatory tone as she handed him a small scroll.
Verus was too horrified to reply. All his plans had come to nothing. He could only stare as the woman handed him a small scroll and then shooed him toward the far edge of the stage. “Now, off with you. We have many other disciples to get to before the ceremony is over.”
“More talented ones,” the old man huffed as Verus began walking stiffly away.
The young disciple felt hollow inside, and dreadfully cold. He couldn’t keep his hands from shaking as they clutched the scroll. Was he really so talentless? With no real attunements whatsoever? He didn’t want to join the army! He’d spend his life marching around the country until he died in battle, while barely advancing toward enlightenment. You couldn’t meditate while marching! How could this have happened to him? In one moment, all his dreams had crumbled.