The truth behind the selection

"Do you have anything to say?" Theo, the man conducting the entirety of this god-awful selection asked while staring right into Kaya's eyes.

The girl twitched.

'Calm down, girl,' Kaya thought, doing her utmost to hold her raging emotions back. 'Even if you failed this fucked-up selection, he can still make your life hell!'

Kaya took in a deep breath, focusing on the sensation of inhaling the fresh air in order not to think about the recent events that she was still forced to watch.

"Not a word, huh?" the cultivator muttered before shaking his head with disappointment.

Kaya held herself back enough.

She gave up on her likely last chance to become a cultivator. She didn't say a word when she saw how little her refusal to beat those kids changed in the grand scheme of things with how nearly every other candidate ignored their morals and did as expected of them.

She held herself back when Theo started to question her… But at this point, her patience and rationality reached their limits.

"If beating defenseless kids is what it takes to become a cultivator," she uttered through her tightened lips.

Her mind took part in a losing battle over her emotions. She wanted to keep her mouth shut with all her rational mind… But the intense disgust she felt towards the man questioning her was simply too much.

"Then I was mistaken about this entire thing!" Kaya screamed out, finally letting out all of her emotions with her voice.

Everyone froze.

Not a single candidate, be it one of the few who joined her on the side or those who obediently followed Theo's suggestion, dared to make a simple sound.

For a disciple candidate to scream at a proper cultivator just like that, and to denounce the ethos of cultivation while doing so in the first place…

'I'm dead,' the rational part of Kaya's mind reached the obvious conclusion.

This was the only end result of the situation she was in that her mind could project.

Theo, the guy slightly older than her who was in charge of the selection… didn't lash back at her. His face didn't tense up with rage or wrath. His hand didn't shoot up to slam her across her face.

With how petrified by her own reaction Kaya was, she couldn't tear her eyes off Theo's face. And only due to this, she could see an extremely tiny movement in the corner of Theo's eyes.

'Did he just… hold back a smile?' Kaya freaked out, her face froze while her eyes opened up wide.

This movement lasted only for a fraction of a second. Way too short for the girl to be sure whether she really saw it or if it was just a mistake on her end.

And Theo… kept his cold expression before moving two steps to the side.

"What's your name," Theo asked the boy standing by Kaya's side.

"I'm Narid, sir…" a teenager roughly in the latter part of his teens replied in a shaky voice.

There was no sign of confidence in his words or his face, showcasing that while he followed the same path as Kaya… he lacked the same determination that she had.

"DO you have anything to say?" Theo asked the same question.

"No… sir," Narid slightly shook his head before hanging it low over his chest to avoid Theo's cold glare.

The selectioner moved two steps to the side, approaching the next victim in line.

"What's your name?"

"Tiana."

"Do you have anything to say?"

"No, sir."

A pause for the man to take two steady steps.

"What's your name?"

"Hugo, sir."

"Do you have anything to say?"

"I…" the second to last of Theo's victims broke away from the quickly establishing pattern by actually replying. "I think the first candidate in line already said it all," he said, actually raising his head and looking straight into Theo's eyes.

A momentary pause.

"What's your name?" Theo asked in his usual, emotion-deprived voice.

"It's Luo, sir," the last guy in line was the only one who paid little to no attention to the kids in the garden throughout all this time. And contrary to the other failed candidates, his voice was actually confident, not to say joyous!

"Do you have anything to say?" Theo asked, his lips finally starting to twitch.

'I was right!' Kaya thought, gritting her teeth. 'He was holding his smile back!' she thought with satisfaction, only for her emotions to take a sudden turn as she realized the likely meaning behind the smile. 'I guess that's how my life ends, then,' she thought.

This man already showed how ruthless he expected all the cultivators to be. And if beating defenseless kids with damn whips was the starting point, then just how deranged he had to be himself?

And with that in mind, just what kind of devious torture had to be on his mind for him to be near unable to hide his smile?

"I simply did what was asked of me," Luo, the last of the failed candidates, replied in the same, confident voice as before.

Everyone froze.

The sudden change to the atmosphere even forced all the local vegetation to resist the air, all for the sake of not making even the tiniest movement.

Right now, whoever would step out of the line and catch Theo's eyes was likely to end up in a pool of their own blood…

'Wait…' Kaya's body twitched when she saw Theo no longer holding his smile back.

'He smiled?' she asked herself, struggling to believe her own eyes. 'After such a bold statement?!'

Kaya wasn't stupid. Being the daughter of a relatively huge merchant family, she was born wealthy enough to receive early cultivation conditioning. As such, she went through her life while constantly trying to learn more about the world and thus giving her inborn intelligence ample room for growth.

In the current situation, she was simply stuck in her own understanding of the situation, blindsided by the emotions raging in her soul.

But with the unexpected way in which both Theo reacted to the words of the last of the failed disciples… She ended up naturally revising her own understanding of what was going on.

With this new, fresh approach, she took in Luo's words… Only for her eyes to open even wider than before.

"Care to elaborate?" Theo asked, finally dropping the act that he kept up for so long and openly smiling.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it," Luo shook his head, his voice wavering for the first time since he spoke for the first time. "Rather than explaining what I did, I simply found it insanely stupid of all of my colleagues who went to beat up those kids," he said.

Luo then pushed both of his arms open before shaking his shoulders.

"Like, I know that we need to be ruthless as cultivators, but we need to follow our orders first and foremost," Luo pointed out an obvious truth, the essence of obedience that was instilled in them ever since they stepped foot into the sect. "And I don't recall anyone giving anyone the order to beat those poor kids up."

Once again, the entire garden turned silent. And only now, everyone finally realized that indeed, Theo never told anyone what they were supposed to do!

"Well done," Theo said in a kind voice. He rested his hands on his hips and relaxed his posture, showcasing just how relieved he was to drop the stern act he kept up until now.

Then, he raised one of his hands… and simply snapped his fingers.

In a single instant, all the whips in everyone's hands changed. The tense and heavy ropes that they all saw before turned into some kind of extremely light and soft material, one too damn delicate to ever hurt someone.

All the kids who formerly groveled on the ground while whimpering in pain stood up, some of them unable to stop the laughs and giggles.

"One's talent has nothing to do with one's potential," Theo then said, sending yet another wave of shock through all the candidates and observers gathered in the garden. "It's one's morals and wits that decide how far they will go."

Theo closed his mouth before taking a long breath through his nose. He then raised his head a bit before slowly releasing all the air back into the atmosphere.

"The selection is over," Theo whispered, lowering his hand at the same time as he raised his hand to wave all of the ninety-five sect candidates away.

Kaya stood in place, shocked by the development.

Her mouth opened up as she wanted to ask for clarification, unable to digest the news on the spot. Then, her mouth would close… only to open up again when she would try to speak up once more.

'Does this mean…' Kaya thought once she finally managed to take the reins of her mind back. She then lowered her eyes to the whip in her hand.

And just like all the others, it turned out to be nothing more but a fancy fake!

Struggling to believe in Theo's words after all that she saw, Kaya raised her whip… and sent its striking part flying toward her own forearm.

'Nothing more but a tickle…' she dully noted. Then, she gulped down her saliva before raising her eyes and looking at Theo without prejudice for the first time since he started his ploy.

'He isn't the kind of monster I took him to be?' she pondered while staring with her eyes wide-open at the selectioner.

"Our first lesson will start in an hour and will take place right here," Theo then announced… Only to turn around and look back right into Kaya's eyes. "Oh, and before I forget," he smiled lightly, "what's your name again?"