In a dark area headed to the east of the final edge sect, lies the eastern gardens.

The pathway headed to the eastern gate was more narrow then other paths, the ground fell into a deep slope that created an odd affect of making it seem like the path simply ended after seeing the ice wall cover all directions.

It was not until one walked up to that wall that they would see the ground and ice did in fact not touch, leaving enough space for one to walk without touching the ice with their heads.

Light did not fully penetrate the ice above leaving this area covered in a shadow making the area far cooler then the surroundings.

The pathway to the eastern gate splits into many sections headed deeper into the ice sheets above or into pits deep underground where light no longer reached.

One of these pathways leads to the eastern gardens where plants grow in very controlled environments making for very beautiful sights, below the gardens following a different ice path lies a ceremonial chamber no larger then then a tennis field.

The only source of light being that of a single candle at the entrance of the chamber leaving this room in almost total darkness.

Several groups of man and woman stood behind objects placed in a circle preparing themselves mentally or spiritually while they awaited the final instruction.

A blue bead the size of a hamster, a small blade the size of a chinchilla or gerbil, a large hat the size of a tree trunk, a fruit that looked like an orange the size of an apple and finally a body covered by a hem mat the size of a bear.

"Sect Master, master Nesca we have finished the preparations" Bowing to one man and one old woman the attendant waited.

Sect master Eduardo was looking at documents in his hand while the woman next to him had her eyes closed.

"Then begin, we will step in if anything goes wrong"

"As you say sect master!" the attendant gave a signal to those near the circle.

Over at the disciple selection ceremony the second test began.

Bran Ai focused his mind as he activated the meditation cultivation technique that each child had been given.

This technique was not unique at all whatsoever.

If one was to compare it to another thing, it would be sound.

Humans as a whole will always attempt to create some sort of sound to create a more complex form of communication outside of signals and written speech, the same thing happened with cultivators.

The current technique used was what most unaware of the cultivation world would try to create on their own should no other option be available.

Cultivation techniques are a form of advanced speaking, with each improvement or divergence further deviating from its source material.

But unlike speaking one cannot just learn all types of cultivation techniques without compromises.

Many cultivation methods often had conflicting methods that did not flow with each other, some were element specific not allowing for just anyone to just cultivate.

Cultivation techniques could also restrict the practitioner from practicing other techniques forcing the practitioner to only cultivate one path and even restricting what they ate.

Special bodies and bloodlines can also restrict a person further reducing the available options to cultivators, while some bloodline techniques only work for that specific bloodline and anyone attempting to use the techniques of that bloodline not of the bloodline may simply end up crippled.

For now Bran Ai could only practice in the most simple of ways and as such he could only slowly regain the energy taken from him.

The grains of sand above each kids head had already been gathered once by them this made the energy (grain of sand) much easier to reclaim then to seek for the energy anew.

In general there was no way for the kids to regain all the energy they gathered over the week in a short period of time, not on their own at least but that was not the point of this test.

Stolen story; please report.

The formation would be doing most the work today, all they had to do was sit to restore what they had lost.

Bran Ai watched as each grain of sand dissipated into strands of mist flowing into specific areas of his body, what would normally have taken a week to acquire took mere moments now.

This was the first time Bran Ai was experiencing such high levels of spiritual energy rushing into him all at once giving him a blissful feeling he wouldn't forget.

Kiara felt the same, eight strands of mist entered her body getting further refined as the body acted like a filter separating the foul from the pure.

This foulness would not removed from the body, it would pile up inside the body until the person achieves some major breakthrough that would force this foulness out.

Both Bran Ai and Kiaras' energy strands continued to increase in number lowering the amount of sand above then at a rapid pace.

"See I told u it didn't matter if he only had forty-two grains, look the boy is recovering the energy just as fast as any other tri-element"

"Oh you're right, he does have some talent"

"Maybe I'll take him after all"

As one group looked toward the child that failed the first test the rest took this chance to examine their own top choices.

"Master the boy is doing well, look his absorption rate has reached twenty-eight strands if he keep this up we will have to really offer him the moon!"

"I see that you don't have to mention every little detail" the master disciple duo both grew concerned, it was not that they can't afford to offer the boy a good deal, simply should they offered too much would the boy stay interested in formations? Or would he simply use all the funds he needs to practice general cultivation rather then a single wholehearted pursuit into the world of formations.

It was not bad to simply cultivate of course, just not what would be required of a possible future formations expert.

"I still see no swordsman candidates, pity" the long faced man sighed.

"What's to pity? More then half of them will take up the sword either way, they always see it as some badge of honor to know some basic swordplay" this person talked as if he had not taken a sword class before.

"Half ass'ery like that won't make a difference they will simply waste a good sword" the long face man stood up to leave.

"It would be great to have some more bowman in the sect" a lean man put in his two cents.

"Everyone tries their hand at archery as well, even I've done it"

"Archery is for skill-less cowards!" The long face man exclaimed.

Man-shik had some troubles at last, the rate at which he was taking in energy seemed to be far slower then the growth he had originally showed.

Fifteen strands flowed into him with no signs of increasing.

He looked around 'everyone seems to have around the same amount of strands as I do, is this much easier then the first test or is something wrong?'.

Looking at Bran Ai and Kiara both of them had fifteen and sixteen strands of energy respectively while it seemed one more strand of energy kept growing on Bran Ais' sand pile, albeit with struggle.

Kao was different then them his sand pile splitting into twenty-nine strands and counting.

Man-Shik looked at him feeling like he had failed somehow, he didn't like the feeling.

"Oh we have quite a few reaching thirty strands, this is much better then I had expected!"

"If the world had not been polluted do you think they could reach seventy?"

"Seventy? Jajajaja No, we haven't seen any fifties in a hundred years by now"

"Such prodigies can't appear anymore not because it's not possible but because the outside world degrades spiritual roots and veins beyond out control now, it is not the children's fault"

"Even we can't leave recklessly anymore all the energy on the outside has become murky"

"Well,you never know some world shaking genius appears today"

"If one above even fifty appears today they would have been the genius of a generation!"

"No, they would still be the genius of THE generation they are part of, just not as good as previous ones'"

"Ah that's right"

Kao looked around 'All three of those guys have stopped at a mere sixteen strands, less for that annoying boy. It seems everyone is around the same area as well, I can only see eight others with a count above twenty'

He could not be sure as to the level of talent that would be shown here today but now he knew it wasn't much.

'Had I not cleansed my meridians multiple times I would have ended up the same as them'

The formation he had trapped Bran Ai in earlier had three simple effects.

Firstly it gathered earth energy, this earth energy was one of his elemental bases and as such would greatly aid him.

Secondly it limited the amount of foul energy in the surroundings from entering the formation, effectively creating a sort of mesh that only allowed semi-clean energy to enter.

Lastly it forcefully opened more pathways in the body of those inside the formation.

Having used the formation three times now Kao had gained access to about five to seven more channels every time.

As for Bran Ai he gained only four even thought he had been the one to take the brunt of the force the first time.

Kao's strand gains seem to slow down after reaching thirty-two along with two others.

Only six of the children kept constantly adding new strands greatly increasing the expectations of the onlookers.

"If they reach forty we can consider this batch as not half bad"

"If even one passes fifty it can be seen as the sect having gained a golden core elite"

"If only it was that easy to reach golden core"

Aakriti watched both the children and listened over the spectators comments.

She had been in the kids shoes not so long ago, it had only been around sixteen years since she entered the sect and had no idea at the time just how much this day truly impacted her future.

'If I had done bad today master probably would never have taken me'

She had reached seventy-one grains of Qi and thirty-eight strands of Qi when she had first arrived.

'They can only blame their bad luck now, if they don't work hard from here out... well I'm sure they will find out'