Chapter Seven: Trial

Ziyang Mountain was divided into four regions—east, south, west, and north. Correspondingly, each region had its own service quarters for menial disciples. Every year, the four regions held the Ziyang Martial Assembly, not only to determine the strongest region but also to provide countless elite disciples the chance to shine and earn the sect’s favor.

A few fragments of information flashed through Luo Tian’s mind. He shook his head. Other than knowing he belonged to the eastern region, everything else remained a mystery to him. After all, Li Min and his companion had not been outer disciples for long; their knowledge was limited, and sect rules forbade them from disclosing much to menial disciples.

Ascending the mountain path, Luo Tian, who had already reached the Qi Condensation realm with a foundation far superior to most, found the hundreds of steps effortless. The broad staircase was wide enough for ten to walk abreast. As Luo Tian advanced, he saw many outer disciples hurrying up and down, their faces marked by urgency. It was no wonder—the competition at the Qi Condensation level far surpassed that among menial disciples, and the chasm between them was hard to imagine without personal experience.

At the end of the stairs stood a seemingly ordinary courtyard, with a sign reading “Outer Disciple Testing Office” hanging at the entrance. Through the open door, Luo Tian saw a management disciple sprawled across a table, fast asleep.

Just as Luo Tian stepped inside, the disciple, startled by footsteps, jolted awake. His eyes sprang open, and he recited smoothly, “The Shenyang Sect has stood for over eight centuries. Its first sect master, Ancestor Wu Minghe, was a formidable Yuan Core cultivator who once slew—huh, who are you?”

Luo Tian offered a slight bow, glanced at the name tag before the disciple, and smiled. “Greetings, Senior Brother Wang Youde. I am Luo Tian, a menial disciple. Having broken through to Qi Condensation—”

“Alright, I get it. You’re here for the outer disciple test, right?” Wang Youde waved impatiently, pressing a button on the table, his drowsy expression quickly returning. He seemed thoroughly annoyed at being woken from his dreams. His appearance was unremarkable, but a sense of listlessness clung to him, setting him apart from the other diligent disciples.

Hearing this, and seeing the sign at the door, Luo Tian could only nod in resignation.

“Fine, fine, follow me!” Wang Youde got to his feet, muttering as he went, “Thought it was Senior Brother Zhou doing a spot check—so annoying. Why do people always pick the worst times for tests?”

Though Luo Tian wanted to give his Divine Eye some practice, seeing Wang Youde in such a state made him lose interest in idle conversation. Besides, giving everyone pointers on cultivation would seem rather odd.

As he followed Wang Youde down the corridor, Luo Tian noticed, out of the corner of his eye, another disciple slipping into Wang Youde’s former seat through a side door.

“You’re Luo Tian? The old menial, been here two years?” Suddenly, Wang Youde paused, as if recalling something.

Old menial. What an unpleasant nickname. Luo Tian felt a touch of exasperation but merely responded with a faint “yes.”

“Sigh, I’ve heard a bit about you. Life’s been easy in the menial quarters. Thought you were smart, deliberately avoiding the hardships of Qi Condensation. Turns out your talent’s just poor.” Wang Youde’s tone was tinged with genuine sympathy, which Luo Tian found puzzling.

“Never mind. If you ever regret it, you can always apply to work here at the testing office. I’ll look after you, since you helped my little brother once. In Shenyang Sect, if your talent isn’t enough, don’t push so hard. It’s pointless!” Wang Youde seemed deeply moved by his own advice.

This only piqued Luo Tian’s curiosity about the realities of life as an outer disciple.

“Alright, here we are. Channel your vital energy and strike this stone pillar with all your strength. I’ll judge your ability based on the formation disk beside it. The better you perform, the greater your reward.” Seeing Luo Tian’s silence, Wang Youde lost interest in further conversation and led him into a small room off the corridor.

A stone pillar, slightly taller than a man and grayish-white in color, stood before him, its material appearing rather friable. Luo Tian took a deep breath, drew the crimson energy from his dantian into his arm, and unleashed a punch with his full power.

Crimson light flickered on Luo Tian’s fist, which, like a meteor, crashed into the pillar.

With a dull thud, Luo Tian withdrew his hand from a fist-sized dent in the pillar and glanced at Wang Youde’s stupefied expression.

“Two… two thousand jin?” Wang Youde rubbed his eyes in disbelief, checked the red pointer on the formation disk, then looked at Luo Tian, who seemed utterly unconcerned. “You’re not useless at all! Didn’t everyone say your cultivation talent was poor? How can you have such strength at the very start of Qi Condensation?”

Little wonder at his shock. Each level up in Body Tempering granted a hundred jin of force; each step in Qi Condensation, a thousand. Two thousand jin was the strength typically reached upon entering the second transformation of the Orange Qi stage.

And this was a menial disciple who’d just broken through?

But wasn’t Luo Tian supposed to be a hopeless case?

“I don’t really know either. I just cultivated and broke through as usual,” Luo Tian replied innocently.

“Strange, very strange… According to sect rules, for every hundred jin you exceed the standard during testing, you get an extra hundred sect contribution points on top of the base five hundred. So you’ll receive fifteen hundred points!” Wang Youde stared at Luo Tian as if he were a monster, his face full of envy. “Brother Luo, truly a late bloomer! Here, take your sect robe, storage pouch, and identity token. Your token already has the fifteen hundred points—you can check for yourself.”

Accepting the items with curiosity, Luo Tian felt a surge of excitement. The outer disciple’s robe was primarily red, vibrant as the morning sun from a distance. The storage pouch was just larger than his palm, gray and yellow, looking quite worn and inconspicuous. The palm-sized identity token was made of an unusual material—neither metal nor wood, cool to the touch—with five dots on the back, connected like a pentagram, and on the front, “Shenyang” was inscribed above and “Outer” below.

What could the symbol on the back mean? Luo Tian shook his head, refraining from asking, and started to organize his belongings. Touching the identity token, the number fifteen hundred naturally appeared in his mind. The storage pouch contained about a cubic meter of space and an outer disciple’s manual. Luo Tian promptly changed into his new robe, tossing his menial uniform inside.

“Junior Brother Luo, you should read the manual carefully. It has a map of Ziyang Mountain’s eastern region and explains where to fulfill all your needs, in great detail. Next, you should head to the Scripture Pavilion to choose your cultivation method and secret arts. Just hand your token to the elder on duty—the first time is free, but after that, you’ll have to spend contribution points. Also…” Wang Youde explained thoroughly, then added with a friendly smile, “The rumors about your poor talent clearly aren’t true. People just like to talk nonsense without knowing the facts—petty minds, all of them.”

“Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Wang. It’s getting late, and I have things to settle, so I’ll take my leave,” Luo Tian replied, eager to avoid pointless pleasantries.

Now that he had gained the status of an outer disciple, there was much to do—finding lodging, learning the routines of outer disciples, and, most importantly—

Choosing his cultivation method and martial arts techniques!