For today they had decided to have their meal at the cafeteria, which was free for them thanks to their status. This was mainly to try out what 'food' was provided by the sect without cost. After all, the restaurants and stalls would cost them contribution points as to anyone else.
The cafeteria or mess hall was an enormous building that could accommodate a pair of thousand people at the same time and occupied the biggest one-storied building of the sect, at least between the visible ones in both the inner and outer districts.
It was almost empty since they arrived at sunrise, so the group quickly received their meal and ate while talking. The meal they got was plain broth, rice, and a dish of stir-fried vegetables with meat, while water, tea, and fruit juice were provided as drinks.
There was a lot to talk about during and after the meal, after all, they would not only have the graduation ceremony to attend but they would also need to choose their mentor. And with that done, they could at last consider that they entered the sect in full.
From this talk, Wu Guang confirmed that Lang Juan and Duqi already had a mentor, while Yuan Taotu who remained silent for most of the time only confirmed that he will go with his partner's decision. Wu Guang mentioned to this that he would ask Xiao Feng which the Clansmen had already met or if not go with a recommendation of the elders.
As food was also discussed, Wu Guang having the memories of different rare, spirit or even master-chef foods did not really pay attention to the flavor, but to be fair he noted that the cafeteria food although plain, was decent enough to sustain them in case they wanted to save up points.
It was just around midday and they had the rest of the day free, so after thinking for a while Wu Guang separated from everyone and walked towards the wall's direction. Reaching it he chose to follow it to the right, going opposite to the main road and gate location.
Walking for several minutes Wu Guang found an empty space and after scanning the area and finding no one around stood there for a while before starting to train.
During this training he wanted to use the leg technique he just learned to finish the tempering of his muscles, so he could break to the 8th level of the Body realm or at least reach the full peak of the 7th one.
It took him only a couple of hours before sensing that the peak tempering for the legs was reached and after scanning his body he confirmed that he was at the peak of the 7th body level.
Breaking to the next level was a bit tricky as it had to occur naturally while one trained his body and infused qi into the muscles, so after thinking for a bit, Wu Guang decided to attempt it while also using this opportunity to master the other four techniques he saw today.
He only returned to the tower where they would stay for the last time tonight several hours after sunset.
He had entered the 8th level of the Body realm successfully and so on his way back Wu Guang had bought food at a stall in the outer district as a small personal celebration. He also took the chance of it being late to use the district communal bath.
The process to breakthrough took him a bit more than he expected, but he did in the end. Now further cultivation progress was impossible without the medicinal baths intended to strengthen the skin, an issue that he would resolve easily by buying the components from the Sect now that he entered.
Seeing that there was no one in the common room of the tower, Wu Guang reached his room and after the brief time that it took him to disrobe and store the weapons on himself, laid down to sleep.
***
The next day no breakfast or guide was present when they got up, so Wu Guang and the rest decided to eat something while walking towards the Ceremony location. Judging from the number of people and stalls present on the main road of the Sect, this Ceremony was more festival-like than expected from the graduation of a few disciples.
The place they had to reach was easily visible from several miles away and it was located on one of the sides of the central square in front of the Main Palace. It was the main arena of the Sect, a gargantuan semi-circle built of white stone standing there for hundreds of years, even before the Sect's founding. The latter was something that the group read inside the booklet with the rules. Not only the arena but also most of the main buildings including the dungeons and wall were actually the remnants of an old pre-cultivation era city.
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The information also explained that as cultivation became common, the city-state that occupied this land slowly deteriorated and disappeared. After that, during several generations the ruins were occupied by different experts and so the buildings were preserved. None of the old powers from the island could actually control such territory until the island's war. Surprisingly when the 'Three Hills Sect' was founded the entire land was granted to it, and the founder alongside the first elders transformed the ruins into the current state.
Although this information answered Wu Guang's questions about the sect's land, he still was surprised to find that the sect was so young. Also, a question of how powerful was the founder or the experts with him to lay such an amount of runes arouse. Regretfully nothing of this was explained, and surprisingly, the founder or his companions' names were not mentioned at all.
The arena that they reached after an hour of walking had one hundred arches that served as exits and could accommodate up to 10 thousand people, which was almost all the sect at the same time.
It had 12 levels with a single stone bench built in each and judging from the signs, Wu Guang and the rest could occupy any place on the 9th and following levels. The lower levels were divided between the inner circle and the Palaces respectively. Excluding the first one, which was also the only one that stood out from the rest by having imposing stone chairs. This first level was exclusive for the Senior Elders and special guests of the sect.
There was a stage and several smaller battle arenas located on the main arena, seemingly prepared for the event. Which was confirmed after an hour when an Elder appeared and commanded everyone's attention while giving the official start to the first part of the ceremony.
Wu Guang scanned the area and noticed that the three Palace masters were sitting on similarly imposing half-thrones made of stone on the first level. He also found several of the Elders and disciples he was acquainted with sitting on their respective levels.
Except for the high Elders and Masters from the first level, the rest of the Elders sat on the same bench as their circle disciples, which was a bit strange for a Sect, but after remembering Elder Chen explanation about the sect's core, he understood why this Elders outside it were treated more simply.
The first part of the ceremony was extremely simple as to not bore the elite of the Sect and it was concluded in a few minutes. This first part was the announcement of how many disciples participated in their respective tests and the highest five scores were also announced, as well as the reward that they would get.
For this, Elder Ku and an Elder from the first level who had a half-silver badge showing him as a High or Senior elder came on the stage. The custom was for the outer circle to announce first, so Elder Ku quickly announced that a thousand disciples participated in the main tests and then proceeded to the high scores.
First, he announced that the highest score on both main tests was a perfect one. Such an announcement actually provoked a wave through the outer circle disciples zone. And after it was announced that both top results were from the same team the wave grew more noticeable.
Wu Guang was sitting among them and so overheard several discussions on the matter. From what he could hear, no one had scored full marks in several years. Such matter as this obviously bred some speculation about who were the members of the team and surprisingly some of the disciples got it right. Coincidentally or not after remembering that one of the new inner disciples-in-waiting scored full marks during the entrance as well, they guessed that the same person could be part of this top-scoring team.