Ning Yue Xi
As they were talking, a brilliant, shining beauty made their way towards them. Then she finally made her way to Wang Li.
"Are you living well at Bai Hua Sect?" She asked.
Wang Li looked at her and smiled. Ning Yue Xi was showing a radiant smile, even her apricot eyes are as gentle as water. She's able to struck the numerous cultivators here smitten by simply standing there.
From afar, Chen An couldn't help but turn around, he gritted his teeth watching this scene as his eyes became cold. At this moment, he's no different from the rest of the male cultivators.
Wang Li responded: "Shifu and my senior brother treat me very well."
Ning Yue Xi looked incredibly happy, held Wang Li's hand as she took out a small intricately designed bag and put it in his hand.
"This is my greeting gift to you"
"A Spirit Beast Bag? What's inside?" Wang Li asked.
Ning Yue Xi answered: "A Red-necked White Crane"
Ning Yue Xi then gently shifted herself as she introduced the 5 female cultivators behind her to Gu Qing Shan.
"Liu Qing Yan, Wang Ning Xiang, Dong Xue, Zhao Dan, Zhang Cui Wei, these are all my close sisters"
The girls quickly stepped forward and greeted Wang Li.
"Nice to meet you, senior brother"
All of them had their eyes lit up as they watched Wang Li. The Saintess has never actively approached any male cultivators like this before, not to mention to bring them all with her like this. And this man right here is the only one to receive such an honor.
'What's so different about him? We have to see for ourselves.', is what that they were thinking.
Wang Li clasped his fist, smiling: "Nice to meet you, sisters, I am Wang Li, the second rank in Bai Hua Sect"
As the girls hear that, they silently nodded. Bai Hua Sect, the Saint's Sect, very suitable for our big sister.
Wang Li thought for a bit, then said: "Can I ask you sisters what your elemental roots are?"
The female cultivators felt a bit strange that he would ask so openly, but as this was not that big of a deal, they simply replied. After hearing them, Gu Qing Shan tapped his Inventory Bag and picked out 5 jade tags.
Ning Yue Xi was a bit surprised: "What are you doing?"
Gu Qing Shan answered: "I have already received your greeting gift, I can't not show my good will to your sisters, can I?"
Ning Yue Xi smiled, asking: "What do you want to give them?"
Wang Li replied: "5-Elemental Secret Arts"
All the people that were silently paying attention here was shocked from hearing those words. These are 5-Elemental Secret Arts you know, techniques so precious that they can be passed down for generations within a sect. Even if you bring them to an auction house, one of them could go anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million spirit stones.
Yet he just gave them out? He just gave them out as greeting gifts? Bai Hua Sect, Bai Hua Sect, god, what kind of sect is this? From afar, Heaven's Limit Sect's sect master was originally sitting still, not saying anything, but then lightly smiled, her mood became infinitely better.
All the other large sect's great cultivators exchanged looks, then silently sighed. It can't be helped, they can only blame themselves for not having such a brilliant person like Ning Yue Xi in their sect. All the female cultivators accepted their jade tags, shaking, one of them even shrieked from joy on the spot.
"It's too precious, you've scared them" Ning Yue Xi scolded him.
"It's not, really, they're all very simple Secret Arts, it's fine as long as everyone's happy" Wang Li smiled and replied.
"Thank you very much, senior brother" all 5 female cultivators lightly bowed.
"No need to be formal, we're all family here" Wang Li said.
Family? Ning Yue Xi's face flushed as she heard that
Then to hide her embarrassment she said : "I'll keep my eye out to see how far you can go exactly"
"Hah, it's really not as impressive as you think" Wang Li waved his hands to dismiss it.
Coong!
Coong!
Coong!
The resounding sound of the bell. The 3rd round of the examination is about to begin.
Ning Yue Xi hesitantly said: "I'll have to leave, I have to stay with the sect for the 3rd round of the examination"
"Ok then" Wang Li nodded, taking out a communication talisman. This is his communication talisman. Ning Yue Xi quietly took it, taking out a communication talisman of her own, nodded and gave it to Wang Li.
All her fellow female cultivators hide their smiles with their sleeves, but couldn't hide it with their eyes. Ning Yue Xi is also easily embarrassed, so she turned around and declared: "Sisters, let us leave"
"Senior brother, we'll be going first, see you!"
"See you"
After all their formalities, Ning Yue Xi brought her smiling sisters back to Heaven's Limit Sect. Before she left Wang Li made sure to place 2 shadow soldiers in her shadow silently.
"How is he?" One of them silently asked.
The others held their secret art jade tags, then all at once: "Full marks!"
Right after was the 3rd round of the semester examination.
It was only at this stage that the elders and leaders of large sects started to become serious. The elites that represent their sects also showed full interest.
The first round is very simple, its main purpose is to evaluate the new blood; the second round is testing their knowledge, to further explore their temperament and talents, to separate the riff-raffs from true cultivators.
This is meant to filter out people who are weak-minded, or so lazy that they don't have the will to cultivate. No matter how talented they are, they will not be accepted. Because such a situation has happened before.
There was once a person who is quite decently talented, but a complete coward. After being raised with mountains of resources, he easily reached a decently high realm of cultivation. But the results of that was, even as a Golden Core realm, he was so scared that he literally pissed himself facing weak demon beasts.
Even among peers in his sect, he never dared to spar or fight with anyone. Meaning, the sect had used so much resources just to raise a good-for-nothing. People who are like this must be filtered out from the very start.
After two rounds of filtering, the third round is the real place to pick out talents. The true talents and potential of a cultivator will be shown in this round. During this round, the only newcomers left would be exceptionally talented martial artists, or lone cultivators that made it to qi training and Foundation Establishment through their own effort.
There are no "average person" in this round.
"Average people" has already been eliminated from the other two rounds, where they'll climb up step by step, solidifying their foundations, train their temperament, learn about the common sense of cultivation, this is a process that cannot be passed.
A large bronze plate and its support was brought by two cultivators onto the platform. The examiner softly jumped onto the platform, standing next to it and began to host the 3rd round's examination.
She announced: "Semester examination, 3rd round, start!"
"All newcomers who has passed the 2nd round are to come up here and place their hand on the bronze plate"
"A reminder, those that have already joined a sect still have to come here to join the 3rd round"
A ruckus started since newcomers did not want their elemental root to be exposed, not realizing it was useless to be cautious.
The very first newcomer went up, nervously touched the bronze plate.
A red light shot out from the plate, circled around him once before going back into the plate.
"Very good, you have a Fire elemental root, but it's not awaken yet, do your best to cultivate from now on. Step down now" said the examiner
Behind her, a row of judging cultivators each held a jade tag in their hand, recording the person's results.
The newcomer happily bowed, silently looked at her before stepping down.
The second newcomer went up, also touching the bronze plate.
Suddenly it spun, turned into a large bell and trapped that person inside.
The examiner lightly tapped the bronze plate, retracting it.
She told the newcomer who was still stunned: "You have a trapping type God's Chosen Skill, do your best to cultivate and awaken it one day"
The newcomer was joyfully bowed, quickly stepping off the platform.
The 3rd newcomer went up, but this time the bronze plate stayed still.
Seeing the newcomer, a bit lost, the examiner lightly smiled and encouraged him: "No worries, even without an elemental root or God's Chosen Skill, you can still cultivate yourself, one day you'll definitely become strong"
He blankly stared at her, clasped his hands and bowed: "Thank you fairy, for your teaching"
As time passed, the 3rd round was already half done.
At this moment, a girl stepped up and touched the plate, suddenly it burst into flame and broke into two pieces.
The girl was scared stiff, sobbed and said: "It's not me, I didn't break it!"
The examiner didn't know whether to laugh or cry, lightly tapped the broken bronze plate to turn it back to normal.
"You have an unawakened Fire elemental root, as well as an unawakened Attack-type God's Chosen Skill, talent like yours is very rare, do your best to cultivate and quickly awaken them" she casually said.
The girl finally understood that it's because she had both an elemental root and a God's Chosen Skill, immediately stopped crying and smiled. As soon as the girl stepped off, numerous sect elders stepped out to try and recruit her.
Another newcomer went up, placing his hand on the bronze plate. The plate then showed a bunch of weapons before stopping on the sword.
"You'll probably be a sword cultivator; you should do your best to improve your Sword arts skill" The examiner nodded.
The other person joyfully stepped off.
"There's quite a few good seeds here" Wang Li muttered.
While he was muttering, a man about 18 years old walked towards them.
"Hm? Hello fellow Dao seeker, is there anything you need?"
Wang Li evaluated the person, then asked.
The man suddenly kneeled down on the spot, bowing to Wang Li, making him almost jumped in surprise.
Then he said: "This humble one has always head his loyalty to Bai Hua Sect, I beg of you to take me in, I'll be very grateful"
Wang Li looked at the other person, saying: "If you want to join Bai Hua Sect, then come to Bai Hua Immortal country to attempt the Bai Hua lists. If you succeed, the Saint will evaluate whether or not you have the ability to join us"
The other person quickly: "This humble one does not dare to wish for the Saint to take him"
Wang Li was surprised: "Then what are you kneeling for?"
The other person's eyes showed slyness, loudly saying: "I beg you to take me as your disciple!"
Wang Li almost coughed up blood.
"Fellow Dao seeker, I'm not even as old as you are, this is not appropriate" He said.
"Is it very appropriate, how could it not be, a person like you must be extremely talented, unrivalled in both brain and brawn, in the future you would definitely be the core of humanity's might, possibly even a Saint, so please take me as your disciple!" he said determined.
All the other people watched him in confusion, then suddenly realized. That's right, no matter how he really is, he's a member of Bai Hua Sect. If you can become his disciple then you're also a member of Bai Hua Sect by proxy. This is a direct disciple of one of the Saints, Bai Hua Fairy.
Rumor has it, after joining Bai Hua sect sect, there's no such thing as needing to compete for your cultivation resources, all the secret arts and skills are free to be learnt, if you try hard enough you might even get to be personally trained by the Saint herself.
All of them began to feel tempted.
'Ahhh this event. These shrewd cultivators, do you take me for fool just because I am 16 years old?'
Wang Li stood for a few seconds, then very seriously replied: "Without the Saint's permission, I cannot accept any disciples of our own, otherwise, once the Saint gets angry, not only will we be punished, but even your life might be forfeit, so just give up"
The other person still wanted to say something, but Wang Li already loudly declared to all: "I'll say this right now, I am a new member of Bai Hua Sect, aside from me, Bai Hua Sect have no plans to accept any new disciples"
"If you really want to join Bai Hua Sect, please first go attempt a Bai Hua list"
Seeing him so adamant about it, the crowd could only stop their schemes. As the other person heard that, he reluctantly stood up, mumbling while walking away.
"I had to kneel for nothing…"
Chen An lightly laughed, then muttered: "Bai Hua Sect doesn't accept any disciples, but if you can defeat these two new members of Bai Hua Sect, you might catch the attention of some other large sects"
These words weren't very loud, but all the people here are cultivators, so they all heard it quite clearly. Many people suddenly realized, then looked at Wang Li with ulterior motive once more.
The 3rd round quickly ended.
After that was the final round of the semester examination. Four sect masters came up the platform, all bowed towards the Sky Palace, then placed their hands on the four corners of the platform. They infused their spirit energy into the four corners. Very quickly, the four pillars light up together with the platform itself. The four lights shot straight up at the sky, past the clouds and into the high unseen.
One of the sect masters ceremoniously declared: "One last round, the Chosen of Divinity, begin"
Chosen of 'Divinity', from the description of old scriptures, the human's competition will attract the 'Divinity' to watch them, if a 'Divinity' sees any human fit, they will present that person with a gift to help them on their way of cultivation. There are no longer any 'Divinity' here, but humanity has always kept up this tradition for thousands of years.
'Hah those fakers left you to die and you still worship them.'
The large platform was now split into 4 sections, each of them turning into their own fighting ring.
One newcomer jumped onto the ring, loudly declared: "This one is Zhang Bui, who shall challenge me?"
"I will!" Another newcomer also jumped on the ring.
The referee looked at them, seeing they were both qi training realm, nodded and reminded them: "This is just sparring, do not take it too seriously"
"Yes!" they both confirmed.
"Begin!"
Then they entered combat. Very quickly one of them lost as the other got to move on. More cultivators were also fighting on the other 3 rings.
Wang Li was watching, but didn't concentrate much. Occasionally, he glanced over to look at Ning Yue Xi. After a few times, her face became flushed. He can't help it, she really is a very beautiful girl, Wang Li's eyes are also just unconsciously seeking her out.
Taking the chance when the fight down at the ring was at its most heated, Ning Yue Xi found a time where no one was watching her, then glared angrily at Wang Li.
Wang Li merely smiled at her in triumph.
Finally, around 20 people remained, picked out as the top cultivators of the 4th round. All the sect leaders watched the newcomers, silently exclaimed something, then quickly picked their seeds. To be able to make it this far, their talent, effort and battle sense are all the cream of the crop, the only thing left to do is to see if they fit the sect's core scriptures.
"Very well, you've all earned your places here, but we will need to pick out the top three of you all to finish this year's Chosen of Divinity" one sect master said.
"Next, you are free to challenge your opponent by name"
Challenging by name, means that you can call out anyone's name you want to challenge him to battle, if they refuse, it will count as automatically losing that battle. 20 people exchanged looks, quickly evaluated the other 19 people, looking for the opponent most suitable for themselves. This is also a test of observation skills and wits.
Suddenly, one of them shouted: "I want to challenge Bai Hua Sect's Wang Li"
The whole place went silent.
Everyone quickly looked toward Wang Li.
He noticed, this was the same person that kneeled down earlier. You really want to be noticed that much?
One of the referees, shouted for him to stop: "Wang Li has not made it to the top 20 competitors, he's not part of those you can challenge"
The other person said: "According to the rules of Chosen of Divinity, the top 20 people can challenge whoever they like, no one can refuse"
This is correct, but no one has ever done so before. Because if they couldn't make it to top 20, that means they've already lost. As a strong person, actively challenging someone weaker will only invite disdain. Not to mention, there are many sect's cultivators, just like Bai Hua Sect, come here only to follow tradition, only to watch the examination, not to participate.
Ning Yue Xi also said: "Bai Hua Sect is only here to watch the competition, they have never gone on the ring, so they are not part of those you can challenge"
Hearing two great cultivators saying so, the person was a bit hesitant.
Chen An suddenly stood up, laughing loudly: "Very good, you have guts to dare to challenge a Saint's disciple, very good indeed, cultivators should be like this, to still face the challenge despite knowing it's hard"
"No matter if you win or lose this time, our Blue Clouds Pass will still take you in"
No matter if you win or lose. Means that he still has to fight. The person immediately understood as he heard that, as well as all the cultivators around him. As long as they fight, they'll get to join Blue Clouds Pass.
Blue Clouds Pass is also a Saint's sect, their numbers also exceptionally numerous, no one in the cultivation world dares to cross them, as well as having a great reputation. On one side is Bai Hua Sect that won't accept anyone, the other is Blue Clouds Pass that's opened its door waiting.
Comparing the two, pleasing Blue Clouds Pass is the real way to heaven! Immediately, over half the 20 people below started to complain.
"Why can't we challenge him?"
"He's also here for the semester examination, why does he has the privilege to not get challenged?"
"We respect the Saint, but he's not a Saint!"
"If a cultivator won't even accept a challenge, how is he still a cultivator?"
Many of the elders exchanged looks, not knowing what to do. While the sects' Elites cultivators, aside from Ning Yue Xi, no one spoke up.
Truthfully, Wang Li made too much of a ruckus before, not only did he ascend the Sky Palace with a Beast Saint, he was also seen talking close with Ning Yue Xi, making many green with envy. Such a person, if he has to face a bit of a hard situation, or lose face a bit, it's a good thing for them.
Wang Li seeing them became more and more agitated, stood up and clasped his fists: "Gentlemen, listen to me"
He very sincerely said: "This, there's actually been a misunderstanding"
The person who stood out first stared at him, asking: "What misunderstand is that?"
Wang Li answered: "It's not that I won't fight, but rather, before we left, the Saint has specifically told us not to fight"
The person that stood out first waited for him to finish, about to rebuke him as soon as he explained. But hearing Gu Qing Shan say something like that, no matter how long he thought, he couldn't rebuke him.
The Saint.
The Saint specifically ordered.
The Saint didn't allow them to fight.
That's why I won't fight.
On the ring, all the top 20 cultivators looked at each other. He already said that his Shifu didn't allow him to fight, now the heck do they deflect that reason? How do they provoke him? Do they really want to offend a Saint before they're even sure about entering a sect? The loss outweighs the gain. They all shut up.
Chen An cleared his throat, asking: "Bai Hua Saint really ordered you like that?"
"Of course" Gu Qing Shan answered.
Chen An silently cursed him, but couldn't really say anything else, he really had no choice but to let him go but does he have to let him go? This is in front of every sect in the cultivation world, the best chance to slap his face.
Seeing him not wanting to enter the ring no matter what, he's obviously scared that he'll lose. But he already used the Saint as a shield, even if he doesn't want to stop, he has to.
Chen An glanced at Ning Yue Xi, seeing her looking at Gu Qing Shan, her lips slightly lifted, a bit speechless, but also pleased. He gritted his teeth, very annoyed.
"So you really won't fight?" Chen An looked at Wang Li
"I obey my Shifu." Wang Li shamelessly stated with fake regret on his face.
Chen An could only grit his teeth and give up with reluctance. The semester examination continued after this drama. Every once in a while Chen An would look at Wang Li with murderous eyes.
Once the semester examination ended, said goodbye to Ning Yue Xi and returned to Bai Hua Immortal country on a large-scale teleportation formation.
After having lunch with Bai Hua Fairy, he went back to the shadow hall and decided to rest for a while.