When a Gold Child chooses their path on either of the Sects, it cannot be changed for the rest of their life. That is why this is such an important matter and one cannot take the choosing of their path lightly.
Once a Gold Child decides on their path, they would enrol directly to the chosen Sect. They would go through a ceremony to imprint the path they chose onto their spiritual core.
Once the imprint is done, they will belong to the Sect officially and will only be able to practice and use the teachings and cultivation methods of the Sect they have chosen.
"Ah-Lian, don't be mad anymore. It's been a month since Ye-di came out to town, don't ruin the good mood." Mu Yang gently reminded Mu Lian when he walked over, leaving the glutton Ye Chen alone buying his favourite buns elsewhere. "Let's not bring up any unhappiness... especially since he is unable to contract a beast this time during his important ceremony..."
"Mmm..." Mu Lian nodded in acknowledgement.
Ye Chen is from GongCi Sect, which focuses on cultivator's combat skills and fighting alongside their contracted spiritual beasts. Only Disciples with the GongCi imprint would be able to form contracts with spiritual beasts. Once a GongCi Disciple reaches fourteen years old, they would be able to obtain a chance to hunt for their spiritual beast in an official ceremony called the Beast Hunt Ceremony.
This Hunt is hosted yearly by GongCi Sect and it lasts for 3 days. All of GongCi disciples without a contracted spiritual beast can participate as long as they are above fourteen - regardless they are outer, inner or direct disciples.
To form a contract with a spiritual beast - there are certain conditions to be met. Firstly the cultivator must have the GongCi Sect imprint - and secondly, the contract between the beast and cultivator must be mutual. After being contracted, both beast and cultivator would be able to sense each other instinctively. When one is in danger, the other party would be able to sense it and react accordingly. It is also proven that once contracted, both parties would not be able to kill each other.
Of course, there would be cases whereby some disciples are not able to get a beast during their official beast hunt ceremony at fourteen - these people are usually considered the weaker disciples and would try year after year for a chance to contract a beast. As a cultivator can only form a contract with only one contract beast in their lifetime, there is no need for multiple entries to the hunt once a beast is contracted. There are also others who would prefer to just buy their spiritual beast. Of course, it is not a cheap option.
Ping Tian Continent encourages teamwork between all Sects and allows each GongCi Sect disciple participating in the Official Beast Hunt to bring one other disciple from another Sect. This individual cannot be more than 2 years older than the participating GongCi Sect disciple and cannot be from the same Sect.
In the most recent Beast Hunt Ceremony which happened one month ago, Ye Chen discussed with his twin childhood friends who would be accompanying Ye Chen for the hunt. The twins are less than two years older than Ye Chen - specifically only older by a year, nine months and seventeen days. Ye Chen was born on the eleven of July. They decided that Mu Lian would be a better choice to accompany Ye Chen due to his stronger healing abilities compared to Mu Yang - who focuses mainly on speed and support.
However, on the first day of the hunt, Ye Chen was gravely injured while separated from Mu Lian. When Mu Lian found him, his life was hanging on by a thread. Mu Lian threw out the emergency fireworks and used his best healing skills while waiting for the Elders to rescue them. Thankfully the healing spells worked slightly and Ye Chen started to breathe normally. Even so, help only came an hour later. Ye Chen was not able to wake up for 3 days, and even when he woke up, he was bedridden for close to a month. Mu Lian was disappointed and angry at himself, not being able to eat or sleep properly while Ye Chen was in a coma. But the twins visited him every weekend while he was still nursing back his health.
"Whas arrf booot yoou twaalfing abbot?" Ye Chen appeared in between them and hung both his arms over the twin's shoulders - with half a bun still stuffed in his mouth.
Feeling slightly guilty for lashing out at Ye Chen earlier, Mu Lian glanced into the amber eyes right beside him and his brows frowned slightly. Before anyone else could say another word, Ye Chen eyes widened as he saw Mu Lian using his mouth chomping onto the remaining half of the bun still stuffed in his mouth.
Their lips grazed against each other slightly and Ye Chen panicked a little wanting to take a step back, but Mu Lian quickly tears off the bun he chomped off with his teeth and resumed his cold expression while chewing onto it, walking and looking straight in front acting as if nothing odd has happened.
Ye Chen was so surprised he stopped in his tracks and stared into space for a while. Mu Yang, who also stopped alongside Ye Chen doesn't seem all that surprised at the scene earlier gave a small chuckle before saying "Don't talk with your mouth full Ye-di. Let's hurry to the entertainment hall before we miss the show."
Snapping back to reality, Ye Chen yelled at the youth walking a few steps ahead of them "Mu Lian you bun thief! Better return me my bun this instance!!!" and chased after the teen's back without knowing that the teen walking in front has a slight smile on his lips.