Getting accepted into the sect
The central village square was crowded not only by people testing themselves to see if they could embark on the road of cultivation but also by their family members cheering them on; a few other people just came to watch; after all, it wasn't every day they could see cultivators which were deemed as god-like beings by them.
A line of around fifteen boys was made, and they tested their cultivation aptitude individually.
The person at the front of the line was evidently nervous; you could see him slightly shaking and tiny beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
"Now I'll only say this once, you just have to put your hand on the orb, and if it shines, then you have a cultivation talent; if it doesn't, then you simply are not fated with cultivation," the immortal calmly stated.
"Now, the first in line, you can go."
The boy was slightly shaken as if awakened from his stupor and slowly made his way towards the orb.
Having reached the orb, he extended his hand and placed it on it with much anticipation, only to have his dream crushed mercilessly by the voice that followed.
"You have no fate with cultivation; make way for the next person."
His once hope-filled face now seemed to dim considerably, understandably so after all his dreams had been ruthlessly shattered right before his eyes.
The boy slowly made his way off the stage and gave way to the next person.
"You have no fate..."
"You have no fate...
"You have no fate...
The cycle continued; although there were only fifteen people around here, it could be seen how rare it was for somebody even to have the lowest cultivation roots.
People without cultivation roots could still become body cultivators, but it was very unlikely; the only time that regular rootless mortals were recruited was whenever cannon fodder was needed or when a sect needed a working force to build things; it was just a thankless task to make rootless mortal become a decent cultivator.
The line slowly diminished, and the once happy atmosphere had turned solemn; everyone in line was now starting to feel pressured by the minuscule odds of having cultivation roots well, all except one; Gu Lingxin stood in line without any fear since he knew he had cultivation roots, but he knew that if he didn't have the system to verify if he did he'd be just as nervous as them.
The line got smaller and smaller until someone with roots finally appeared.
"Age: 12 Cultivation Roots: Low-Grade"
The once sleepy recruitment person stood up with a delighted smile on his face, he was in charge of going to ten villages nearby, and this was the fifth person with cultivation roots that he had found; it could be seen how rare people with cultivation roots were; he didn't care if they were low-grade since they could become a golden core if they diligently cultivated.
The atmosphere suddenly lightened and became cheerful; everyone in the village was thrilled that their village had produced a cultivator.
The people in line also got emboldened by seeing someone who had cultivation roots; in their minds, they believed that if others had them, so would they however, in the following moments, their hopes were crushed again.
"You have no fate..."
"You have no fate..."
Suddenly, a heavy pressure alongside murderous intent pressed down on all of them.
There stood what looked like a teenager holding onto the aptitude marble; his face suddenly became ashen as he started pleading for his life, only to be ruthlessly decapitated so fast and smoothly that if one blinked, they'd surely miss it.
Everyone became frightened as they thought the immortal had gone mad; however, they slowly noticed the aptitude marble.
Age:17 Cultivation Roots: None
Gu Lingxin felt cold sweat pour down his back; even though the killing intent hadn't been aimed at him, he still felt as if he was facing a prehistoric beast that wanted to devour him whole.
"I clearly stated that nobody above fifteen should come up, yet he still went up anyways; I'll give everyone in the line one last chance; if you are above fifteen, leave the line, or you will die." the immortal stated with a murderous tone in his voice.
After that statement, one could see a single person making his way out of the line while sheepishly looking downward to avoid the disappointed and angry gazes directed at him by the surrounding villagers.
Having waited for a while, it was finally his turn; he went towards the marble with large strides, fully displaying his confidence; under the eyes of everyone present, he slowly stretched out his hands and placed them on the marble.
Age: 7 Cultivation Roots: Medium-Grade Cultivation: First stage of body tempering
The immortal quickly stood up and walked towards him with a giant smile clear on his face.
"Congratulations, you have a medium grade root which is something extremely rare; when we get back to the sect, follow me, and you can directly enter as an outer disciple." the immortal stated with a cheerful smile as if he had not just killed someone a few minutes ago.
"Also, little brother, how come you're in the first rank of body tempering?" as soon as the immortal said that, he could feel everyone's eyes on him; he could also feel the friendliness from the immortal; he knew that it was due to his medium grade roots.
Gu Lingxin did his best to fake a smile filled with happiness before calmly telling the immortal a fake story about how he found a random herb and ate it, which made him sick, and so on.
Looking satisfied with the answer, the immortal just nodded before saying.
"Great it seems that you're truly fated with cultivation little brother, most mortals couldn't get such a chance even if they looked for it their whole lives" the immortal naturally didn't suspect anything since he could feel the herbal qi coming from the boy in front of him.
While everyone else got tested, Gu Lingxin decided to say goodbye to his aunt; when he came back, the last person had just finished testing himself, so now all he could do was make his way back toward the immortal.
"Okay, now we will head back to the sect, and you guys will be officially registered as disciples; the sect has a hierarchy which you will need to climb to get more rescources; this tests not only your potential but also your will," having said that he dragged Gu Lingxin and the other boy with cultivation roots with him towards the sect.
Gu Lingxin took this as a chance to get to know more about the sect and everything else; he learned that the sect was called Heavenly sword sect, although there were called that it was because their ancestor was a renowned swordsman; however, they didn't need to be just swordsmen to join the sect, he also learned that this senior brother of his was called Xu Zan and he was an inner court disciple.