The night before the sect exams were scheduled to begin Naath grabbed everything he had and put it in his bag. He put it on his back and left the inn with Brutus, then turned and left the city heading towards the sect. After walking for a short time they arrived outside of the sect. Once they got there they saw other groups of people there as well with the same idea Naath had. They were all surrounding fires with basic tents set up and camping here for the night so they wouldn't miss the start of the sect exams. Naath found a convenient open space and sat down pulling the bag off of his back and digging out his and Brutus’s dinner. After the two of them ate Naath closed his eyes and went back to work on his compressions.
After the experience he had gained from before it became slightly easier for him. In only 15 days of time, he was now at 23 compressions and his cultivation was at the middle stage of the second level of bone hardening. As Naath cultivated and worked on his compressions Brutus silently guarded him and kept an eye on all of the cultivators in the surroundings. The night passed quickly and Naath managed to get in two more compressions before the sun started to rise.
When the sun had just barely peeked over the horizon and the first rays of light shined down from the sky, a bell sounded out. The sound of the bell had an odd feeling to it, it was as if the bell’s sound had martial energy in it. This allowed the sound to spread well into the city nearby before dissipating. However even at the very start to the very end of where the sound reached it was exactly the same volume. After this bell sounded Naath opened his eyes and got up from his cultivation.
Naath let out a yawn and stretched slowly as he started to walk towards the nearest gate to the sect. There was another line formed already, however, this one was moving at a fast enough pace. The people simply had to show their badges and verify their identities before being allowed in. After a few minutes Naath was at the gate, as chance would have it the same examiner as last time was the one in charge. When he saw Naath he nodded and didn't even ask for his badge before letting him and Brutus through the gate.
Once Naath was inside he followed the crowd of cultivators that were in front of him down a set of streets. At the end of this path was a large hall the size of a football field and made of clean white marble. It was like a typical gymnasium from earth, when Naath walked in there was row after row of seats in front of a large stage at the front with nobody on top of it. Naath found an empty seat at the outer row so Brutus could sit next to him without any issues and silently waited for the exams to start. After half an hour the stream of people into the hall stopped and no new cultivators arrived.
Once everyone had settled in, the sound of footsteps sounded on the stage at the front. Naath was shocked he had utterly not noticed when the five people on the stage had arrived. Let alone the people, he didn't even notice when the podium and four chairs had been placed on the stage. Among the five people, Naath recognized one of them as the examiner he had met twice now. He was on the left side of the podium next to an elderly looking old man who seemed disgruntled at having to be active so early in the morning. On the right side of the podium were two other chairs, one held a middle-aged man with blonde hair and brown eyes.
The other had a younger looking woman who appeared to be in her 20s. She had an alluring hourglass figure with long brown hair that went halfway down her back and dull grey eyes as if she was bored of this whole process. They were the other three people who had been drinking with the examiner who had given Naath his token. As Naath’s eyes scanned over them he got the odd feeling they were looking at him secretly as well. Naath ignored this feeling and looked towards the man standing silently behind the podium overlooking the crowd.
He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and bright lively blue eyes. As Naath was looking at the middle-aged man, the middle-aged man who was sweeping the crowd with his gaze made eye contact with Naath. After a second he smiled and nodded his head as if he had seen through Naath with a single look and approved. With that his gaze continued to sweep the rest of the crowd. Most of the people in the crowd averted there gazed or flinched when his gaze fell upon them and the middle-aged man looked disappointed in most of their reactions.
However every now and then he would nod his head when a few brave applicants would maintain eye contact without issue. After his gaze swept over the entire crowd he smiled brilliantly. The crowd quieted down noticing he was going to start speaking. The middle-aged man said “hello everyone and welcome to the Raging river sect! I am the supervisor for this event, you all can call me senior Zhen for the time being. Firstly I would like to congratulate all of you here for passing the entry tests. Secondly I will explain the rules of the entrance exams for our sect.
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The exams are done in three stages, the first stage is a test of combat ability. In this test, you will be sparring with one another and only the 300 of you who are able to successfully win five consecutive fights will move on to the second stage. The second stage is a test of courage, the path of cultivation is not for the faint of heart after all. All of you will be placed in an illusionary formation that will show you your greatest fears. Those with weak wills or convictions will fail here and have to wait until next time to try and join the sect.
The third test is a simple test of comprehension, we have a basic single bronze star martial skill book. To pass this test you must comprehend at least the initial stage of the skill within an hour. The higher your comprehension of this art the greater your assessment will be. Those who comprehend the initial stage will be outer sect disciples. Those who comprehend the intermediate stage will be inner sect members, and those who manage to master the skill within the time given will become core disciples of the sect and receive the best treatment.
However, even if all of you happen to fail and aren't able to join the sect as disciples this time do not panic. You can still opt to join the sect as workers, you will help with various tasks of the sect, manage the herb gardens, manage the menial tasks of the sect, and so on and so forth. You will be paid and compensated with cultivation resources of course. If you choose this route it also means the next time you want to attempt the exams to join the sect you will not need to pass the entrance test and can directly join the exams.
For the first exam we have 20 stages that we will bring out, each stage will have a champion and challengers. After winning five consecutive battles you pass and can come up here to the main stage.” After saying that senior Zhen waved his hand and 20 stages appeared in the empty space inside of the hall,that landed on the ground with a loud thud. Then continued “if one is defeated on the stage they fail and may not challenge anyone else again, the challenger who wins will become the champion of that stage and will have to win four more battles to pass. You may all begin whenever you wish. Ah right before I forget all weapons and means are permitted, including mounts and pets.
However killing your opponent is strictly prohibited!” After he finished speaking the various people sitting down all scrambled towards the 20 stages. Naath simply continued sitting and waited to watch and look for a fun opponent. Naath wasn’t alone either, about 100 others scattered here and there simply sat to watch what occurred on the stages. The first few battles were shallow and boring to watch, it was a bunch of people conserving their strength trying to win with minimal effort. After watching for 20 minutes and seeing various people pass and fail, Naath finally got up lazily.
He told Brutus to stay put and that he wouldn't need any help against this level of opponents. Naath had his gaze set on the stage numbered 14th there was someone at the peak stage of the second level of bone hardening and Naath wanted to test where he stood in comparison. Naath stepped onto the stage and said “Fellow daoist please guide me.” After that Naath lazily walked forward towards the person on the opposite side of him. His opponent saw this as blatantly humiliating him. Naath did not look serious at all, it was like he was on a casual stroll through the park.
They kicked at the ground and flashed towards Naath with all the strength they could muster. Naath had long since been prepared and quickly stepped to the left and turned sideways dodging with some room to spare. Naath muttered, “not as fast as Brutus, but the attack power is certainly stronger.” After this Naath’s opponent continued to launch attack after attack to no avail with Naath simply sidestepping all of them and slowly learning his own limits. Once Naath had a good idea of where he stood he shook his head.
When his opponent saw this he took it as a blatant provocation, he started to yell at Naath. “Is dodging all you know how to do? Even if you pass here you will fail at the second stage, a coward like you has no place here stop embarrassing yourself and leave the stage!” Naath shook his head and only said a single word “idiot.” Naath’s opponent went scarlet with rage and charged at Naath again. However this time Naath didn't dodge, instead he slowly and lazily raised his hand to catch his opponent’s fist. His opponent sneered in his heart thinking ‘this ignorant kid wants to catch my punch? Haha good, I'll just have to cripple him and see where his arrogance goes!’
However what happened next was beyond his opponent’s expectations entirely, Naath’s casual grab had stopped the momentum of the punch completely. Naath didn't even budge an inch from the spot he was standing on. Naath shook his head and tightened his grip slowly. Cracking noises began to come from his opponent’s hand as they started to let out pained cries. Naath shook his head and asked “you can't even handle your bones breaking to this extent? Then why on earth and how on earth did you cultivate to this level? Sigh, whatever next time you try to join the sect, know your limits, okay?”
After that Naath stirred his martial energy and threw his opponent off of the stage with a casual wave of the hand. Naath’s fight had caught the attention of those surrounding because of the fact that his opponent wasn't even able to touch the edge of Naath’s clothes let alone hit Naath and inflict any damage. When they all saw how Naath ended the fight so easily and casually everyone was wary of stepping on to the stage to spar with him. The three examiners on the stage who hadn't seen Naath yet for themselves all nodded in approval when they saw Naath’s flawless victory. In the back of the crowd one of the few people who remained seated started laughing. He slowly walked up to Naath’s stage and said “good, good finally an interesting opponent, unlike the other cannon fodder!”