As the cart got closer to the city gate, Yun Qiang became more and more excited, a feeling further amplified by the giant scale of the gate. The gate looked ancient and majestic, just like he had imagined it. As he admired the entrance of the city, he couldn't help but inwardly praise it.
"This is how it should be! A cultivator city should be ancient and magnificent. The gate and the houses should be enormous, and everyone should live lives full of luxury and extravagance."
When they arrived at the gate, a city guard dressed in a standard soldier uniform came forward and stopped the cart.
"Stop. Identify yourselves and state your reason for transit."
The soldier's voice was neither commanding nor charming, but Yun Qiang couldn't help but see him as a strong cultivator charged with defending the city.
Yun Qiang thought they would need to get off the cart and provide their personal information, but to his surprise, Old Qian, who was driving the cart, just showed some papers, and the guards let them pass.
However, he didn't pay much attention to this. Obviously, the cultivator world was full of strange and mysterious techniques—it was normal for them to be able to sense if someone had good or bad intentions towards the city.
Besides, they were just a group of mortals. Even if they had ill intentions, would they dare make trouble in Black City? Yun Qiang guessed not.
As their cart moved through the city, Yun Qiang and the others couldn't stop themselves from constantly looking around with excited expressions. Well, everyone except Luo, who was still sleeping in a situation like this. Yun Qiang couldn't understand him—after three days of travel, they had finally arrived in Black City, and that guy didn't even move.
Is he really sick like Wuji said?
Anyway, he wasn't truly bothered by it. If Luo wanted to sleep, that was his choice; it had nothing to do with Yun Qiang. He just wanted to reach the assessment point as quickly as possible so he could join the Skyward Pavilion and become a real cultivator.
Suddenly, the cart stopped, and Old Qian got off, signaling the others to do the same.
"Sir Qian, is this the assessment point?"
It was Fernando who spoke; he and his family were the only ones in the village who referred to Old Qian as "Sir Qian."
"I already told you, you shouldn't call me 'Sir.'"
Fernando was about to answer, but Wuji cut him off.
"Old Qian, he probably isn't familiar with the ways of the village. He only arrived last year."
His way of speaking was fast, and some impatience could be heard in it. He was clearly too excited to care about formalities.
Old Qian understood, so he continued as if nothing had happened.
"The recruiting point is deeper in the city, but we'll go on foot," he said, glancing toward the road. "Traveling by cart is banned in the central district."
Nobody questioned it—Old Qian was the only one in the village who knew Black City,o everyone hurriedly followed him, while looking at houses in the center district.
The central district was clearly the rich part of the city. Here, the houses were neatly decorated with sculptures and intricate carvings. While looking around, Yun Qiang even saw some particularly large houses with silver decorations on their upper floor windows!
"Using silver on windows... this is clearly a rich place," Yun Qiang was stunned.
Just one silver coin could feed our family for a month… If I could sell even one of those decorations, we wouldn't have to worry about food for the next twenty years..."
He shook his head. He had expected a certain level of luxury, but this level of extravagance was beyond his imagination. Yet even that expectation was shattered when they arrived in the main square of the city.
The square was immense and surrounded by finely decorated houses—probably the residences of officials or nobles. But among them, one particular building stood out. It was twenty meters tall and by far the most eye-catching structure in the city. The windows and doors were decorated with gold and silver, and guards stood at the entrance. If it had been a small building, it wouldn't have been as spectacular, but this one occupied half of the square, completely monopolizing the attention of anyone who entered.
Old Qian started introducing the building to them.
"This is the main governance building. This is where important meetings are held, and where the City Lord and his family reside."
Yun Qiang looked on in awe. Could they actually see the City Lord? He kept scanning the street, trying to spot someone who looked particularly important.
Noticing his reaction, Old Qian silently shook his head, then pointed to a nearby building.
The building didn't look particularly impressive when compared to the governance building. But if one looked closely, they would notice that a symbol representing two crossed swords was engraved on the door — the symbol of the Skyward Pavilion.
"This is the recruitment point. Follow me inside and don't bother anyone inside." Old Qian paused a second, then added, "And stay silent. Nobody wants some country bumpkins to disturb them."
Nobody seemed to mind being called country bumpkins since they really were. Except for Fernando, nobody had ever visited a city; at most, they visited other small villages for things like trading and buying common necessities.
Following Old Qian, they entered the building, passed some halls, and entered a small empty room. The entire process was incredibly smooth; nobody stopped or talked to them. At most, they glanced at them for a second before going back to work.
"Sir, these people are here for the talent assessment."
Yun Qiang stopped looking around the room and looked toward Old Qian, who was bowing in front of a middle-aged man. A chill ran down his spine. If Old Qian hadn't saluted him, nobody would have noticed the man.
The old man just glanced at them, then took out a red sphere from an unknown place and pointed at it.
"Put your hand on the ball and close your eyes." His voice sounded detached, as if reciting words from a script. "If you possess talent for cultivation, you will be accepted into the Skyward Pavilion."
No sign of warm emotion could be heard in his voice—only the detachment and mechanical tone that comes from doing something a thousand times.
Seeing that nobody moved, the man slightly tapped his finger on the desk in front of him. The noise was soft, but in the silent room, everyone heard it.
As if this was some kind of trigger, everyone started aligning themselves for the test. Fernando was the first in line, followed by Wuji, Nian, Yun Qiang, and Luo.
Fernando moved his trembling hand toward the red sphere; he was clearly tense about the test. When the orb touched his hand, it started glowing.
Yun Qiang looked at the scene mesmerized, while cheering in his mind. Fernando has talent for cultivation!
The examiner then spoke:
"4th grade spiritual root; you are accepted. Now stand there while the others do the test."
"Yes, sir."
Fernando did a slight bow and obediently moved where the elder had pointed.
The queue advanced—it was Wuji's turn.
When he put his hand on the orb, it started glowing. The light was clearly weaker than Fernando's, but it was still there. If Fernando's light was that of a lantern, Wuji's light would be that of a candle—small but stable. It meant that Wuji also had talent for cultivation.
Is the amount of light emitted related to the talent? asked Yun Qiang in his mind.
Soon, he received the confirmation when the examiner said:
"2nd grade spiritual root; you are accepted. Now stand there while the others do the test."
Even if Yun Qiang was still a mortal, some common knowledge about cultivation was known even to them. There were nine levels of spiritual roots—the higher the level, the better the talent. Wuji had a lower level than Fernando's root, so the ball emitted less light.
Now it was his brother's turn. As Nian's hand was getting closer to the orb Yun Qiang started wondering if Nian had talent. He imagined the two of them cultivating side by side, rising through the ranks together, and battling demon hordes like the heroes in Old Qian's stories. Just the thought filled him with excitement and hope.
Then something unexpected happened. The sphere started glowing before Nian's hand had reached it. This meant that his brother had a lot of talent!.
As confirmation of this, when Nian's hand finally touched the ball, the room was totally illuminated by a blinding red light.
When the light finally stopped, the room fell into silence. Nobody could believe their eyes—Nian had talent, and a lot of it. Even the elder, whose voice had been flat and mechanical until now, sounded shaken and ecstatic.
"9th grade spiritual root. Good. Stay there, boy." His voice rose by a pitch emphasizing the last part. "You will have a bright future in the Skyward Pavilion."
After Nian arrived in his place it was Yun Qiang turn.
When his turn arrived Yun Qiang mind was filled with thoughts and insecurities. What if I have low talent? What will happen if I'm worse than his brother? What if my spiritual root is defective and couldn't work properly.
As he stepped forward, he silently prayed Please be good, I want to become a cultivator. Please be good...
Yun Qiang placed his hand on the ord. To his delight the orb started to flicker, however it soon stopped and turned dim again.
Soon the examiner voice reached his ear
"First grade spiritual root..." the examiner paused seeminlgy dissapointed "You are accepted go there"
Hearing this Yun Qiang face darkened for a moment before he bowed to the examiner and hurriedly walked into the corner he had pointed to.
Inside Yun Qiang's mind, two emotions were battling for supremacy. One was happiness—having a spiritual root meant that he could cultivate and become a cultivator. The other was disappointment, bordering on disillusionment. Having the lowest-grade spiritual root meant his cultivation would be slow, and wherever he went, people would look down on him as someone with little to no talent.
"No spiritual root detected. You can't cultivate."
The examiner's words interrupted his thoughts; it turned out that Luo couldn't cultivate. To everyone's surprise, Luo didn't seem to care—on the contrary, he seemed pretty happy with the result. He even cheerfully saluted them before leaving the room with Old Qian.
"What an odd guy," murmured Nian.
The examiner's voice sounded again. This time, it was more energetic and less bored than before.
"Everyone, follow me. We will go now!"
Hearing this, everyone became excited again, and Yun Qiang pushed all his negative thoughts to the back of his mind. At least I have a spiritual root. It won't be that bad.
The examiner waved his hand, and all of them were teleported to a nearby rooftop.
1 hour later
On a flying boat, Yun Qiang and his companions were watching their changing surroundings with awe.
"So beautiful," murmured Fernando as he watched the trees on the ground blur past them.
"I wonder when I can fly like this on my own."
"Me too." echoed Nian
While they were watching the ground in amazement, the examiner sighed. He had heard their conversation, but he didn't want to break their dreams yet. In fact, the cultivators who could fly were all experienced cultivators who had reached the Soul Wandering realm and had their names known in the cultivator community. Besides this, flying without the use of some special artifact was a difficult skill that required a high degree of precision, balance, and control. For this reason, it wasn't rare to see people above the Soul Wandering realm who still hadn't learned how to fly without the support of artifacts.
He still decided not to tell them. As an elder of the Skyward Pavilion, this wasn't his job—he only had to take them to the sect so they could be sorted into groups. His job was that of a driver, not a guide. Besides, he had taken the recruiting task only because he wanted to find a personal disciple. Normally, he would have settled for someone with a level 6 or 7 spiritual root, but unexpectedly, he had found a level 9!
"Then work hard. I'm sure you will be able to fly someday."
His words were directed at everyone, but in his mind, he was only speaking to Nian.
Everyone was clearly excited hearing this. Then the elder pointed to a seemingly empty spot on the horizon and announced:
"We have arrived. When you get off, follow the instructions from the guides," his voice was solemn. "You will have to get registered in the task zone."
Water-like ripples started expanding in the air. As they spread, the surroundings began to change. Like a mirage, a series of exquisite buildings started appearing out of thin air. These buildings weren't tall, but all of them were finely decorated with dragon patterns. Beneath them, a series of small golden clouds moved slowly, making them look like an ancient kingdom suspended in the sky.
Then the flying boat started to slowly descend onto a small platform suspended on a golden cloud. When the boat gently docked at the platform, a man dressed in an ancient-looking white robe approached and bowed toward the boat.
"Elder Liang, welcome back."
The elder didn't spare him any attention. Instead, he gestured for the group to get off the boat. However, when Nian was about to disembark, he stopped him and announced,
"No, you stay on the boat." His voice became more solemn. "I've decided to take you in as my personal disciple."
Seeing that Nian wasn't moving, he continued, "You are not willing?"
Hearing this, Nian hurriedly bowed.
"Yes sir, I'm willing!"
Everyone was shocked by this. As mortals, they knew that a 9th-level spiritual root meant high talent, but they didn't expect Nian to become the disciple of an elder even before getting off the boat. Even the guide threw an envious glance at Nian while listening to the elder's orders.
"Take them to register. Their details are here." He passed him an ordinary-looking piece of paper. "I will take Nian with me for registration later."
The guide threw another envious glance at Nian, then bowed again and ordered the remaining recruits to follow him.
The guide then took them to the registration hall to register. The registration was a straightforward process. They were only required to state their name and age. After that, they were assigned a token used for identification and a zone where they would live.
Yun Qiang looked at the token in his hand. The token's surface was smooth, and its basic information was carved on it. From the token, he could see that he was assigned to Zone 5, and his instructor was someone called Liang Jin. As he exited the registration hall, he found a small crowd surrounding the guide. In the crowd of about 30 people, Yun Qiang easily found Wuji and Fernando and got closer to them to hear the guide's words.
"Now I will introduce you to the sect rules and divisions. I will say them only once, so listen well."
His voice was loud and clear, and everyone could hear him.
The guide started to introduce the various rules of the sect. Most of them were about minor things, like etiquette when greeting an elder conduct between disciples, and other etiquette. However, there were three core rules that were considered unbreakable.
First: no fighting on sect grounds. Fighting was only allowed in the arena or on the training grounds under the supervision of an instructor or a sect senior.
Second: Outer disciples cannot fight Inner disciples and vice versa. Unless it happened in a tournament or a sparring session no exception would be made.
Third: Outer disciples cannot access the inner grounds of the sect unless guided by an elder. If an outer disciple needs to send a message to someone in the inner grounds, they must ask an Inner disciple or someone authorized to deliver the message.
When the guide had finished listing the rules, he made a small pause to see if anyone had any questions. Seeing that nobody did, the guide started moving while introducing the various facilities and residential zones of the sect.
While following the guide, Yun Qiang noticed that the crowd had become slightly bigger; now there were about 50 people following the guide.
Soon, they arrived near a stone gate connected to a wide stone road.
"This gate leads to the inner courtyard, where inner disciples reside, while the road we are on is the market road, where outer and inner disciples can trade goods with spiritual stones or gold coins."
Then he pointed toward the end of the road, which was connected to a smaller gate on the horizon.
"This road is the main road of the sect and traverses all of the residential areas while leading to the exit. I will remind you: unless you have a task that authorizes you to leave the sect grounds, you are not allowed to leave the sect."
He then started moving toward the gate on the horizon, continuing to explain the various residential zones. From this, Yun Qiang managed to form a small map of the sect in his mind.
The sect was placed on a hill and divided into 3 districts that were divided by three large walls and magic arrays. These districts were the Elder Court, where personal disciples and the elders resided; the Inner Court, where inner disciples stayed; and the Outer Court, where outer disciples stayed. Technically, there was also a servant district outside of the sect, but the guide didn't bother to explain too much about it. He simply said that servants that were not affiliated with any elder or family resided outside of the sect.
Of these three areas only the Outer Court was explained in detail. The Outer Court was divided into 5 zones. Zones 1 and 2 were reserved for promising disciples that in the future would join the Inner Court. Zones 3, 4, and 5 were given to new recruits depending on their root quality, potential, and achievements in cultivation. In fact, every disciple that managed to reach the Foundation Realm would move automatically to Zone 3, even if they had low root quality.
All in all, the placement of sect facilities and residential areas followed a simple logic: the closer to the peak you are, the higher your status would be; vice versa, the closer to the exit, the lower your status is. This could also be seen in the style of buildings: the buildings on top were finely decorated and luxurious, while the buildings close to the foot of the hill were more like rough wooden shacks.
When they arrived in front of the exit gate, the tour guide announced the end of the tour.
"The explanation ends here. Do you have any last questions?" His tone was calm; he really seemed to care about the new recruits.
A young man wearing a fine silk suit asked,"Sir, how do we know which one is our residence?"
The guide seemed to expect the question. He nodded to the young man and explained,"You are free to pick a building you like, as long as it's within your assigned zone. If you live in a zone not assigned to you, you will be punished. For convenience, most people write their name on the front of their building to indicate where they're staying."
He paused for a second, seemingly remembering something.
"Also, if you have a common name like Lucien Evans, Zhuo Fan or something similar please add an extra character after your name—like a star or an 'X' to avoid confusion."
After another round of questions, the group dispersed, and everyone began searching for a house. Fernando was assigned to zone 3, so only Wuji and Yun Qiang were left looking for a place in zone 5.
Wuji was the first to break the silence.
"Well, since we're both in zone 5, why don't we live near each other? It'll be easier to stay in contact."
"Yeah, good idea"
Yun Qiang readily agreed. He didn't know anyone in the sect, and he had to admit that zone 5 resembled more the slums of a large city than the residences of glorious cultivators. He was a bit uneasy. If it weren't for the sect rules prohibiting fighting, Yun Qiang would be living in fear of being stabbed by a thief or someone like that.
Soon the duo started to search for two free houses. They both thought it would be difficult to find two houses close together; however, the real difficulty wasn't finding an unoccupied house but a decent one. After half an hour, they were still searching for a house that wasn't half destroyed.
"... these houses are even worse than ours," lamented Wuji. "And we lived in a farming village."
"I want to live in zone 3 like Fernando!"
"We can only try our best. When we reach the Foundation Realm, we'll live better lives," Yun Qiang also felt aggrieved, but what could he do? His talent was even worse than Wuji's. He sighed.
"Wuji, let's get those houses. I don't think we'll find better ones."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
The houses they decided on were in an uninhabited part of Zone 5. However, the various marks and crossed-out names on the front doors told them it hadn't always been like that. Yun Qiang's house had five crossed-out names, while Wuji's had four.
An awkward silence fell between them. They had chosen a house, but neither wanted to be the first to enter, leaving them standing awkwardly in front of their doors without saying anything.
"So..." Yun Qiang finnaly asked "how do we paint our names?"
Wuji: "Ah... you're right. We don't have paint..." After a long pause, Wuji picked up a small rock from the ground and continued, "Maybe we can use this to sign our names. I doubt the sect will care about some scratches on the door."
Yun Qiang looked at his house, which looked on the verge of collapse, then at the front door full of scratches and crossed-out names.
"Yeah, I doubt they'll care."
The duo then started carving their names on the front doors. While doing so, Wuji spoke again.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have complained about the houses and talent."
His tone was regretful. He obviously thought he had offended Yun Qiang by talking about talent—after all, his root was higher than Yun Qiang's.
Yun Qiang sighed."It's fine. At least I can cultivate..." He tried to put on a reassuring smile "And don't worry — I'm sure we'll reach the top one day."
"Yeah... we will." murmured Wuji still looking at the ground
Then they both entered their houses. Yun Qiang entered his house with low expectations. It was a two-room house, with one bathroom and one bedroom. The bathroom and the bedroom were connected by a small intersection where all doors met. The bathroom was a simple hole in the ground about one meter deep with a bucket on the side; luckily, it also had a small window for ventilation. The bedroom had one bed. There were no windows in the room, and all the illumination came from a hole in the rooftop.
"At least it's not the rainy season," sighed Yun Qiang.
Then he threw his sack, which contained only some spare clothes, into a corner and started channeling the Qi in the air according to the cultivation method from his dreams while sitting on his bed.
When he finished his meditation, it was already late, and the sky was already filled with stars. Yun Qiang opened his eyes.
"At least here there is more Qi than at home, my cultivation will be faster than normal"
This was the main advantage of joining a sect. In fact, all sects were positioned in blessed places or had Qi-attracting arrays. The strength of a sect was directly proportional to the strength of its members, and to attract and create stronger members, two things were needed: Qi and resources.
Qi is the basis of cultivation; without it, one cannot open and grow their dantian, while resources are supplements like pills, magic plants, and artifacts that help increase cultivation speed and combat ability.
So, it was normal for sects to have higher Qi levels than places outside.
Yun Qiang lay down, deciding to get some rest. He had to present himself on the training ground at dawn, he couldn't be late for his first day.
"One day we will reach the top..." he whispered
He was saying this to try and swallow the bitter reality. He had close to no talent, and the sect clearly didn't pay attention to people like him. But he didn't want to give up; his journey had just started. He only had to resist until he became a cultivator, then the sect would pay attention to him, and he could finally rise.