Chapter 13: The Final Test!

Everyone started to vanish again. Jing wondered what the third test would be. The one they just went through was even easier than the first one but there wasn't much to gain in this one so she liked the first test better. There was still far too much information about cultivators that she lacked at the moment. Completely unacceptable for her goals for the future. But it isn't as if she could go around asking questions without a care in the world, it wouldn't fit her current character. She'll have to ask Bing at a later date.

For right now though, Jing and the other 299 participants who made it through the second test have been transported into a large spacious room. There were three doors that were separated inside the room. Jing didn't know what laid behind the doors but would know soon.

The three elders and official disciples of the Golden Serpent Sect stood in front of them in awe imposing stances. The youngest-looking and most beautiful of all the elders stepped forward.

"I am Elder Ru. I am in charge of this portion of the test." She introduced professionally.

Elder Ru had vibrant violent hair running down her back. Flawless white skin, lean and slender figure, and a jaw dropping impressive bust. Her face looked as if it was crafted by immortals with her red full lips, small nose, and stern strict eyes. That heavenly fairy staring at them with those eyes that glared at them as if they were nothing at all to her, made many of the cultivators present fall in love with her instantly.

That cold stare that froze them to their core but also heated up their deepest desires, the cultivators couldn't wait to get started on this portion of the test to impress Elder Ru. Jing had no feelings about the lady. Everyone she's seen so far have been handsome or beautiful to her. The young people, the old people, the adults. Even Bing is quite the catch if you can get past his belly.

But she still hasn't found a single person dark skinned like her. Maybe she was in the wrong region to look for people with her skin color. It wasn't as if Jing wanted to relate or connect with people with similar skin tones to her. It was just that it would be easier to not be treated strangely or like an anomaly because of her skin. Jing could've altered her skin color by using her 914 ability but deep in her heart she liked her skin and didn't want to change it. Even if it could help in lowering attraction and staying low key, Jing felt that her skin color was another vital part of her just like her unnatural attraction to causing others to suffer and wanting to control over others.

"For this portion of the test, we will be testing your skill for comprehension. A cultivator without any talent for comprehension will not make it far in their journey to break into the heavens. No matter which occupation they strive for. Pill Refiners, Array Specialists, Martial Artists. All of them require comprehension to advance. And this exam is exactly that, comprehension." She explained.

"Follow me." She said while walking towards the first station in the room.

At the first station were a number of objects. A tall and imposing bookcase filled to the brim with books, wooden humanoid dummies for practicing, a crate filled with qi pills, and a large mat.

"This is for those who wish to test their comprehension in martial arts. You will take a scroll and attempt to comprehend it before the time limit runs out. If you take a mortal-ranked technique, you must comprehend 4 others to initial rank to pass. If you take a stellar-ranked technique, you must comprehend 2 others to initial rank to pass. If you take an earth-ranked technique, you must comprehend 1 other to initial rank to pass. The training dummies are there for a reason, use them. The mat is for comprehending and cultivation."

Techniques can further be separated into even more stages than just mortal, stellar, earth, sky, and heaven. Depending on how skilled a martial artist is, they can have certain accomplishments in a technique. Everyone starts off in the elementary realm when practicing a new martial arts. Then it goes on to the initial realm, intermediate realm, advanced realm, and then completion.

After explaining what laid behind the first door, she brought them into the second door. This area had large thick books on its bookcase, multiple medicinal ingredients, and numerous small pill cauldrons. Jing recognized some of the herbs. She collected a few of those in the first portion, but those thick books kind of scared her. She is definitely not choosing this station no matter what.

'I wouldn't have an issue learning whatever this station was intended for but someone trying to stay low key can't be seen doing something like that for sure. Even the most untalented person in that field had to be intelligent to some degree!' Jing thought.

"This testing area is for those who wish to test their comprehension in pill refinery. Look through any recipe inside the books on the shelves and attempt to make it. Anyone who manages to make a low-grade pill or any ranking of pill will pass this portion. If you can't make a pill, you can also take one of the test sheets and check your knowledge. If you manage to get more than 50 questions right, you will be eligible to pass."

It was at this explanation someone asked a question.

"How is that fair? The requirement to pass is way higher for martial arts practioners!" A 4th level Qi Gatherer remarked.

"Good observation skills. However, the sect has far greater need for pill refiners than martial artists. Martial artists are a dime a dozen while pill refiners are too few and far between, their value is naturally higher than a simple martial artist." She clarified with arrogance.

"Now are there any more questions?"

Everyone stayed silent as to not upset Elder Ru any more than she already is. Getting on the bad side of an elder before even joining the sect is one way to get yourself into a life of hell.

Elder Ru, seeing that no one has any further questions, moved on to the last door. This area had a desk filled with blank pieces of small paper, paintings of strange intricate patterns on the wall arranged in a tower shape, crates filled with ink bottles, brushes, and a large mat. Jing guessed this was for those who wished to create talismans. This didn't look too hard at first glance. It looked like in this area all she had to do was take one of those papers and brush, copy the paintings onto the pieces of paper and that should be it.

"This is the final testing area. This is for those who wish to test their comprehension in arrays and talisman creation. For those wanting to pass this portion you have two different ways to pass. You will need to successfully make 10 mortal-grade talismans or 5 stellar-grade talismans or 1 earth-grade talisman. The other way of passing this area is by creating any type of array formation in one of the paintings near the top. Though, I doubt any of you could unless your family is well versed in arrays."

A few murmurs of unfairness moved through the crowd, but no one directly spoke up about it. Elder Ru simply stared at them before having them returning back to the starting area.

"You all will have 12 hours to pass this final test and then you will officially become disciples of our Golden Serpent Sect. We will be watching. Those who pass will return back here after they're finished. Now begin."

Jing headed straight towards the array area and saw Bing headed towards the martial arts area. Out of the 300 people here, only about 24 headed towards the array area, not including Jing. 100 cultivators went towards the pill refining area, most likely because of Elder Ru's looks and not because of actual interest. And the rest of the 175 participants filled up the martial area.

Jing wasn't really surprised at how this turned out. If anything, it went exactly how she expected it to. She knew that Elder Ru's beauty would make a good number of people want to try out pill refining to try and impress her but this is their future after all. One woman isn't enough to decide their whole future upon, no matter how stunning she looked.

"So why did you choose to come over here?"

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"This looked the easiest out of the three. I mean all we have to do is copy some pictures, right?"

"Yeah that's what it looks like. I never really seen an array master in combat before but I heard they are all tricksters and cowards!"

"What! No way! I can't be looked at in such a way. Can I change my mind and try out the martial area?"

"I don't know. Go ask. We do have 12 hours after all."

Jing watched as the boy left the room and never came back. Everyone took notice as the boy freely went from one area to the next and kept it in their mind if their chosen area appears to be more difficult than they expected they can also switch. Jing thought it was nice of the sect to allow them to do that even though you'll be stressed for time to pass if you do switch over. She didn't plan on switching areas but she does plan on struggling a little bit to stay in character.

How could a clumsy, weak, cowardly, and not talented girl pass on her first try? That wouldn't make sense unless she was actually talented! Which she is, but no one has to know that. Jing doubts that she could ever have a problem with anything related to learning. With her one-of-a-kind refining abilities, she basically gave herself a superior brain the likes of which no one could ever have. Well, besides Li Li. She made him plenty smart too.

And speaking of his smartness, this little curious owlet is trying to learn how to make his own talisman ahead of her! After Jing went over to the desk and grabbed 10 blank rectangular papers with the brush and ink cup infused with qi, she sat down on the mat ready to begin. Li Li took it upon himself to try and mimic what the others were doing. He took a small blank talisman with his talon and placed it on the mat. He then grabbed the brush and dipped it in the ink, infusing it with qi before finally looking at the most complicated painting up on the wall. The high-ranked spell, Blinding Lightning Burst.

"I can't believe they think that one of us would actually be able to make a talisman for blinding lightning burst. If we were capable of doing that, we would've already been snatched up by a powerful sect."

"I heard that this spell is so powerful that anyone under the Qi Consolidation stage would turn directly into ash even if they weren't hit directly by the talisman!"

"It's true! Even peak cultivators at the Qi Consolidation realm would be severely injured by this talisman! That's why it costs around 5 high grade spirit stones just to purchase one!"

Blinding Lightning Burst is known for being one of the most popular and powerful spells used by cultivators. And Jing's innocent owlet of just a few days was attempting to make it all on his own, unaware of the dangers of shaping talismans. Just one wrong stroke of the brush, and the talisman could backfire on you. Depending on the ranking of the type of spell you're trying to create, also depends on the power of the backlash. And once you started to etch the spell's pattern into the talisman, you could not stop until you were finished.

Low rank or mortal ranked talismans will at most burn up if too many mistakes are made. Middle rank or stellar ranked talismans will create a backlash with a small portion of the spell's power on the talisman. High rank or earth ranked talismans will make a backlash with half of the spell's power on the talisman. Top rank or sky ranked talismans will cause the talisman to explode with all of the spell's power. It is unknown what happens when a peak rank or heaven ranked talisman would do because no one in all of the continent has ever witnessed the creation of a heaven ranked talisman. But it is hypothesized that the talisman would explode with twice as much power as it would from a sky ranked talisman. An explosion of that size would be enough to demolish any large kingdom!

Jing, in her inexperience in this world, had no idea of the repercussions of forcibly halting the formation of a talisman. But she did know that Li Li would easily be able to recreate the pattern in the painting. So, she stopped him in his tracks as he was just a quarter of the way started.

"Hoo!?" Li Li squawked as the talisman started to light up in Jing's hand.

Jing quickly stuffed the incomplete talisman in her storage ring and unknowingly saved herself from the incoming backlash.

"I'm sorry Li Li. I'll let you practice with talismans later but for now I need you to just watch me okay?" Jing said nicely.

Li Li sadly put away the brush and paper before returning to perch on Jing's shoulder.

"I promise I'll let you play all you want later. Don't be sad." She said while gently rubbing his feathers.

Li Li's head raised slightly but Jing could tell he was still a bit down. She really wanted to let him try it but the attention they would gain would throw everything she's working for into the mud. She's never seen Li Li sad before and it was really pressing on her heart. She's raised him ever since he was an egg. This was a hard for both of them but Jing hoped he would be a little satisfied just by watching for now.

Jing grabbed a blank paper to get started on. She dipped the brush and got started on one of the mortal ranked spells. The spell she got started on was called qi shield. When used by a cultivator, this spell would create a barrier made out of qi. It's a one-use item and could only create a barrier as strong as the person using it. So, if a qi gatherer of the 5th level used qi shield, it would create a barrier that was as strong as a qi gatherer at the 5th level. It was a common but popular item to use by cultivators of all realms.

Jing's initial start on the talisman was flawless. Her slender and feminine arms moved without haste. Her hands were as steady as a rock and as fluid as a river. The complicated spell patterns didn't stand a chance against Jing's superior mind and dexterity. The almost completed talisman looked flawless so far.

The right amount of ink used without dipping to much on to the talisman or too little, the perfectly curved ink patterns, and the professional posture she sat with. All made it appear that this first spell will be done without any issues! Jing was just about to finish up with the spell but suddenly just before she finished the last dot, she amateurishly scrawled across the talisman, completely ruining it and causing it to burn up in a purple flame and into ash.

"Awh dang it..." She said out loud so everyone could see that she failed.

"SHHHH!" Someone shushed her.

Everyone was too busy concentrating on their own talismans or watching the more skilled people create their talismans. She made her face turn red from embarrassment before she focused back on making talismans.

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