Chương 5: Sect Recruitment Trial

Sirius yawned loudly from atop her flying sword, wobbling a bit as the trio soared through the air. Cold wind whipped their faces like cold steel and the overcast sky hung low. As for Faust, he held anticipation in his eyes, tapping his foot against his own flying sword as he scanned the ground below.

"Oh? The testing site this time is the Black Boar forest?" Rozaline looked to the groups right, where the vibrant green forest turned into tall, dark trees that left few gaps into the undergrowth.

"It will be hard to monitor the participants."

"The mission scroll explained that this year marks the beginning of an age of chaos." Faust agreed." Yawn— Haa— So the sect wants to make the recruitment harder and more deadly?" Sirius asked through another yawn, stretching her arms above her head.

"Oh? I guess the sect administrators aren't the only ones." Rozaline smiled, pointing downward with her fan.

"Eh? What is it?" Sirius asked, rubbing her eyes as she looked down into the lush forest below, seemingly nothing amiss among waves of green.

"... Blood." Faust responded, scrutinising not the ground, but the Qi that had drifted around the area.

"Oh? Shall we go check?" Rozaline asked. Faust eyed Rozaline, who looked back innocently. He sighed, taking a talisman out of his new spatial pouch.

"This is Faust, on the Sect Recruitment mission. Approximately twenty to thirty dead bodies between Qi Refining and Meridian Opening just off the main path between Clear Mirror sect and the Provincial Capital. Estimated from an altitude of five hundred meters by the amount of Blood, Vital, Yin and Rot Qi. Continuing enroute to the recruitment site." Faust narrated, holding the talisman to his mouth before activating it and tossing into the air behind him.

"Oh. You're so boring." Rozaline scoffed.

"Junior Sister is right! So boring!" Sirius echoed. Faust felt his eye twitch.

"Oh? I think I should be the senior sister." Rozaline commented. Sirius argued back and the two went back and forth while Faust guided the group. Soon, they reached Black Boar Lake. A massive lake that stretched further west into the horizon. A small town with about two hundred thousand people was stationed to the south of the lake, right across the path to the Provincial Capital. The trio approached from the east side of the lake, adjusting their course to reach the north shore.

"Wow." Sirius said as they approached. Even Faust inhaled sharply.

"It looks like twenty two thousand participants." Rozaline said, scanning the crowd gathered on the north shore just outside the Black Boar Forest. Countless merchants had set up stalls and carts, hawking wares and questionable pills. Prospective cultivators traded advice, artifacts and the like. Many merchants had simply come to sell food at ridiculous prices to the gathering of assorted commoners and elites.

"Hmmm… She should have enough money…" Faust glanced around the crowd, looking for his sister. He had personally remembered starving the whole sect recruitment trial since he couldn't afford any of the merchants food after running out of his own rations.

"Oh? My sibling isn't with the clan caravan." Rozaline said, looking at a gathering of uniformed soldiers and porters all wearing red vests emblazoned with the Roze clan's emblem.

"Hmmm." Faust continued searching through the crowd, then narrowed his eyes.

"Where's the Clear Mirror Sect flag?" Faust asked. Both Rozaline and Sirius widened their eyes at the statement, then turned back to the crowd, seriously scanning it.

"It's… Not there…" Sirius breathed.

"Oh? This will be quite interesting then."

"I'd rather it wasn't." Faust said, putting a hand to his eye.

"Clear Mirror Pupil." He spoke, opening a gap between his fingers covering his eye. His irises glowed white as he gazed down at the crowd.

"Oh? You've mastered the Clear Mirror Pupil already?" Rozaline asked.

"Hmm…" Faust hummed in response, then his gaze hardened, "Demonic cultivators…" The other two's gaze also changed as they looked at the crowd.

"Looks to be about a hundred… Most at the Meridian Opening realm, leaving twenty or so at Open Palace. All of them are restraining their auras to Qi Refining." Faust continued.

"Demonic cultivators? Are you certain?" Sirius questioned nervously.

"Without a doubt. Their Blood Qi is centered in their Dan-Tian and nodes and there's too much Demonic Qi in the area." Faust said, gazing upwards. $ && @ #V M$ M% #@ &% % # %$ %# &#HZ D% ##& % Y7 N F GB EF % %& @ H%Y# %# &#J% #@ JY T $$ BV# %# &KH U D$ 2#& % M8 N Y KB EF $ #H @ U# &#% #@ H# % #% #$ %# &&7 U % U& % N EF B EF Faust felt his heart stop. The pupil technique shattered in an instant, causing blood to streak down Faust's face.

"What's wrong!?" Sirius shouted, flying beside Faust but paused without knowing what to do." HACK— Cough— cough!!" Faust choked, before breathing raggedly.

"Heaven's gaze. Don't use any pupil techniques while looking up. Don't use any sensing techniques on the sky either." Faust said, wiping the blood from his cheek.

"... Oh, ho? Isn't Heaven's gaze supposed to be invisible to those below Deity Transformation?" Rozaline puzzled, creasing her brow as red marks appeared around her eyes which turned a fiery orange, looking directly at the sky much to the exact same result. Blood quickly flowed down her eyes and the red marks disappeared as the technique fell apart. Rozaline fell into a choked coughing fit for a while.

"I told you." Faust quipped after she began recovering.

"... Its unusual though isn't it?"

"Very." Faust nodded his head.

"I'll take my seniors' words for it!" Sirius claimed her trust.

"You don't know any Pupil or Sensing techniques." Faust responded dryly.

"Ack!"

"... Should we wait for reinforcements from the sect?" Rozaline asked slowly. If it ended up being nothing, they could be punished.

"I believe the presence of over a hundred demonic cultivators is considered major." Faust said, pulling out another talisman.

"Oh? But I'm quite confident against those who resort to demonic cultivation."

"Me too, but with such a large force, there may be one at the Golden Core realm." Faust was confident in handling 20 demonic cultivators alone even if they were all at the mid-stage. By nature, they were generally weaker than other cultivators in the same realm. That was in comparison to people like Persius and Mue Dian.

"This is Faust, on the Sect Recruitment mission. Over a hundred demonic cultivators at the assessment site. Most at Meridian Opening, the rest at Open Palace. No presence of the Outer Sect disciples meant to have set up the Clear Mirror Sect Flags and platform. Requesting reinforcements of Meridian Opening, Open Palace and Golden Core realms. I will delay the recruitment until reinforcements have arrived."

He narrated into the talisman, infusing more Spirit Qi into it before tossing it into the air, letting it shoot back towards the sect.

"So we're delaying the sect recruitment?" Sirius confirmed.

"Yes." Faust nodded, infusing Spirit Qi into his lungs and throat, taking a deep breath to announce the change to the gathered crowd below.

"Wait." A voice interrupted Faust and he clamped his jaw shut, feeling a sudden pressure across his lungs before he slowly exhaled the massive breath he had taken.

"Greetings, Overseer Clementine." Rozaline and Sirius turned and bowed towards the old man, who was now floating in the air behind them. Faust followed a moment later.

"Overseer?" Faust asked the old man, who was examining a scroll held between his hands. For a few moments, it was quiet, then Clementine rolled up the scroll and stowed it in a spatial pouch.

"Continue the sect recruitment as planned." Clementine said, stroking his beard, "I'll take responsibility."

"... I understand." Faust bowed once more, taking out another talisman to inform the sect.

"No need. I've already informed them." Clementine waved his hand. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Faust paused, then nodded slowly, putting the talisman away. He felt Clementine's aura was different compared to when in the Administration Hall, but he didn't want to disrespect him by activating the pupil technique right in front of them. At least, not without the mastery to do it subtly.

"Since the Outer Sect disciples are nowhere to be seen, I'll go make some preparations." Faust said, turning away.

"You two stay in the air and monitor the situation." Faust didn't wait for an answer as he used a simple concealment art to hide himself, flying into the crowd and landing in front of a large tent with the royal family's emblem emblazoned across it.

"Halt!" Two guards at the Meridian Opening realm shouted as Faust undid the concealment. Faust cupped a fist in one hand, "I am the chief proctor of this year's sect recruitment, may I speak with the Imperial Scribe inside?" The guards looked at each other, then nodded. One guard disappeared into the tent and came out a few moments later.

"You may enter." They said, cupping their fists in a salute. Faust nodded, stepping past the guards inside the tent. Inside, a lanky man with baggy red and gold robes and thick glasses, cupped a fist in one hand.

"Imperial Scribe of the Golden Dragon Empire, a pleasure." He spoke respectfully, a sharp gleam in his eyes that contrasted with the rest of his appearance. There were a few other similarly dressed people, but they all stood to the side. Faust returned the gesture.

"Clear Mirror Sect Disciple, Faust."

"It's an honor, may I ask what the Imperial Scribe Pavilion can do for you?"

"There's been an incident." Faust explained.

"Oh?"

"May I ask the Imperial Scribe Pavilion to perform the registrations for all the applicants?" Faust asked.

"So those disgusting auras I felt?" The Imperial Scribe seemed to fit the pieces in place.

"I used a technique from the sky, there's over a hundred demonic cultivators. With the levels they're at, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one at the Golden Core realm hiding among them." The Imperial Scribe nodded.

"So the Outer Sect disciples that would usually be here?"

"Probably dead, we sensed 20 to 30 corpses on our way here." The Imperial Scribe nodded again, adjusting his glasses.

"I see. Have you informed the sect?"

"They should be. But just in case the messages have been intercepted, can I ask you to find someone to send another message?"

"Naturally." He led Faust to a desk, sliding some paper and a pen over. Faust quickly began writing everything down, detailing exactly what had happened, what he had seen and what he suspected. At the end, Faust gathered a bit of Innate Qi. It was sad to waste, but he felt it was necessary, infusing the Qi into the letter and ink.

"I apologise for placing this burden on you without any rewards." Faust held a closed palm out to the Imperial Scribe.

"It's only natural for the Empire and Sects to support each other." The Imperial Scribe responded, clasping Faust's hand as the two made a silent exchange of gold coins. With that, Faust and the Imperial Scribe saluted each other with the hand over a fist gesture, parting ways. Faust flew back into the air, joining the other two.

"Oh? You're quite adaptable. I wouldn't have thought of the Imperial Scribe Pavilion." Rozaline commented, evidently having tracked him through his simple concealment. Stealth was never his specialty anyway. Sirius nodded seriously in response.

"Naturally, our senior brother always has a backup plan." She declared.

"Let's give the Imperial Scribe some time to prepare." Faust said. The other two nodded and for a while they just made small talk, until Faust scanned the crowd and saw the Imperial Scribe wave at him from the front with a group of Imperial Scholars. Turning to the other two, Faust gestured with his head to follow as he approached the area between the crowd and the Black Boar Forest.

"Huuu…" Faust exhaled deeply, making several gestures with his hands.

"I've always wanted to do this." Faust declared. The other two looked at him in anticipation, feeling the Qi in the area shift and transform. A moment later, Faust finished making hand signs and threw both hands into the air. The ground exploded in a wave of dirt and loose rock. Earth and stone split from the surroundings, rising into the sky several meters and shaking the earth for hundreds of meters.

The commotion drew the attention of the entire gathering, staring wide at the display of power, watching as the massive chunk of earth was pulled from the ground. Zing! From Faust's belt, his trusty flying sword he had forged himself, named Orion, shot out of its scabbard, zipping across the sky before descending down low and shooting across the stone platform, separating the top layers from the hard rock layers.

Faust threw one hand to the left and the separated topsoil layers followed, dragged flying across the stone platform and off the side. The stone stage created was nearly polished with how neatly Orion had cut through, Faust praised himself with a nod, before stepping off his flying sword and falling towards the platform. As the spectators caught sight of Faust, he snapped his fingers. In an instant, his momentum seemed to evaporate.

He suddenly stopped a few inches from the stone stage and tapped down gracefully, his robe billowing around him as he folded his hands neatly behind his back. Faust could see it in their gazes as the hopeful recruits looked at him. It was the same gaze he had held when he first joined the sect, watching someone descend from the heavens. Only, Faust had made more of a spectacle. There was no prepared stage this time, so he had improvised. Just a little.

"Faust, Inner Sect Disciple of Clear Mirror Sect!" Faust's voice boomed across the entire gathering, easily heard from the forest entrance to the lakes shore.

"I am the chief proctor for this year's Sect Recruitment!" He began.

"As the world enters an age of chaos! The recruitment trial has been changed! The format is as follows!"

"The forest is filled with countless Black Boars. These boars are considered low level spirit beasts! They are stronger than the boars you are familiar with, but not impossible for a well trained and equipped mortal to defeat!"

"Your task is to find a boar, kill the boar and bring back its head. Everyone who does so will be admitted into the sect! Fighting between each other is allowed! Killing each other is prohibited! Trading for boar heads is allowed! However! There are far from enough boars in this area of the forest for all of you and the deeper in you go, the more powerful they become! Be warned! The Black Boar King at the forest's center is a pseudo-Nascent Soul realm beast." Faust continued, "This is only the first trial!

The second and third trials will be at the Sect proper! But anyone who passes the first trial is qualified to join through the Outer Sect."

"Lastly! Due to the danger of this year's trial. The sect has prepared compensation for the fallen! As such! Please register your identity with the Imperial Scribes at front, before entering the forest! Those who fail to register! Will NOT be admitted into the sect! They will also NOT have their families compensated should they die inside!" Faust finished. Right on queue, the Imperial Scribe and his group of Imperial Scholars spread out in front of the stone stage Faust had prepared.

"Registration begins now! Enter the forest as soon as the scribes tell you too!" Faust shouted. A few moments later, people swarmed forward, rushing to register and enter the forest first.

"Do not crowd the scribes!" Faust shouted, letting his sword, Orion fly around and stab into the ground in front of some rowdy groups.

"Form single file lines in front of each scribe!" Faust shouted. Of course, a crowd of tens of thousands wouldn't be so cooperative.

"SINGLE FILE!" Faust shouted again, having Orion fly around and poke people with its tip.

"NO CUTTING IN LINE!" Faust shouted again, poking a burly man covered in scars, who Faust severely doubted was within the sect's age range with Orion.

"But what about them!" The burly man shouted, pointing to the groups of well dressed young heirs, all wearing their clan's symbol as they casually skipped the line and walked right up to the Imperial Scholars, who turned to them and dealt with them first without question.

"I don't see them! Who's cutting in line!" Faust shouted back, poking the burly man with Orion and forcing them back in line.

"This is unfair! Isn't the sect supposed to value talent over money!" The burly man continued shouting, trying to resist Orion's gentle stabbing.

"Haha! Welcome to reality! I said the same thing when I was recruited! Life's not fair! Work diligently like me and you can lay these arrogant young masters on their face in the future!" Faust shouted jovially, recalling his own disillusionment when he participated in the 47th Sect Recruitment. The burly man opened his mouth but had no words, looking at Faust incredulously before relenting to Orion's poking and getting back in line.

"As seamless as clockwork." Faust commented, turning to face Sirius and Rozaline as he quietened his voice.

"... Right…" Sirius said suspiciously.

"Oh? Hahaha…" Rozaline laughed awkwardly. Faust turned back around. The two didn't understand how many procedures had just been skipped. Yet in the end, him and the Imperial Scribe had made the whole thing look totally official, like nothing was wrong. He was quite proud of the performance and organisation. He would have to make sure to give them a few more gold coins later.

"Use whatever methods you have to mark the demonic cultivators. We'll kill them one by one once everyone has entered the forest." Faust whispered to Sirius and Rozaline.

"Why not kill them while they're all in front of us?" Sirius whispered back.

"In case they have a Golden Core member among them. To save the sect's face. To kill them as painfully as possible. Because Clementine wants the Sect Recruitment to proceed as planned." Faust responded, returning his focus to the crowd in front of them and making a few hand signs, placing hidden marks on as many of the demonic cultivators as he could.

"Hmmm…" Faust narrowed his gaze at the last few participants. He hadn't seen his sister among them.

"Sirius, stay with Rozaline since you don't have any tracking methods." Faust ordered, stepping off the stone stage.

"Oh? You're going alone?" Rozaline asked, jumping onto her flying sword and waving her fan around. Faust nodded.

"I'll be using my flying sword technique, so I'll be a distance away from most of the combat." Orion flew around, carving some faces into the stone stage as a demonstration before circling Faust, wiping its blade against a cloth hanging from his belt and sliding back into its scabbard.

"Very well." Rozaline snapped her fan shut, shooting into the forest after the participants. Faust jumped down from the stone stage, approaching the Imperial Scribe, who had a stone desk set up covered in thousands of papers, each the registration details of a prospective disciple. A similar technique to the one he had used before, only the Imperial Scribe had used a technique while Faust had used the more versatile spellcraft.

"Are they organised?" Faust asked.

"Naturally. Organising as you go is fastest after all." The Imperial Scribe responded, sorting pages into piles as he spoke, paper flipping between his hands and finding its place like a well oiled machine.

"Ordered by name, grouped in region." He picked up part of one of the piles, slipping two more in between. Faust nodded, finding the Petal Valley Region pile, a small pile with less than 50 names. Foria from Fallen Petal Ridge. Faust found his little sister's registration. He must have missed her at one of the moments he was distracted with others. Faust returned the page back to its place in the pile.

At the same time, the area had become quiet as the last of the applicants finished registering and sprinted into the forest.

"Thank you for your efforts. Such virtue shouldn't go unrewarded." Faust said as the last pages were organised, helping the Imperial Scribe to tie up each pile into bundles so they remained organised when put into the spatial pouch. At the same time, he slid a small cloth pouch over the table.

"Please. It's the Scribe Pavilion's duty to assist in administrative matters across the empire." The Imperial Scribe responded, covering the pouch with a sleeve at the same time as he tied up a stack of papers. Faust smiled, stowing the bound stacks in his spatial bag. He liked working with people like Jin. Some may think its corruption but Faust saw it as a necessary evil in society to get things done.

Especially in situations like these, where a little money could let humans cooperate seamlessly upon a first meeting, when trust was difficult.

"Then, I'll be off to kill some demonic cultivators." Faust spoke. Orion zipped from its sheath before shooting into the forest as a silver streak of light. Faust stepped forward, a circle of light appearing beneath his feet, reflecting the sole of his boot as his form blurred forward to another mirror-like circle tens of meters ahead. The Clear Mirror Steps technique was one that Faust hadn't been able to improve or modify to this day.

Letting a leisurely walk match the speed of a mortal warhorse with a rather trivial amount of Qi. It was right up there with the Clear Mirror Pupil technique. It was no wonder they were the Clear Mirror sect's signature techniques, with mastery of the two being a hidden prerequisite to becoming a Core Disciple. Faust closed his left eye. His flying sword also shot out.

It wasn't connected to his spirit like Orion, his Meridian Opening realm masterpiece, but his unique flying sword technique had countless derivative techniques he had developed for it. Colors filled Faust's left eye vision as he sensed all the Qi's that brushed against the flying sword's blade, as it shot through the forest. Each colour represented a different Qi brushing against the blade. Through the colors, Faust could accurately control both Orion and his flying sword.

Of course, using the flying sword as an actual weapon was reserved for the Meridian Opening demonic cultivators, where the heavily compressed Spirit Qi of his Open Palace cultivation should be able to tear through their defences and kill a few of them on its own. Orion on the other hand, bound with Faust's spirit, could tear through early stage Open Palace demonic cultivators so long as he had enough Spirit Qi and Innate Qi to power its piercing effects, with its own small range of spiritual sense.

"Hmm… Against demonic cultivators it's fine…" Faust commented, testing Orion's control and piercing power, slicing straight through several trees and boulders.

"But against people like Rozaline…" He had already suspected it, but it seemed he would soon have to retire Orion. He would work on his artifact forging once he returned, taking the time to forge his next sword. Turning his attention back to his own steps, Faust passed several slaughtered boars; there was also a person's corpse, burnt to a crisp with roses sprouting around them with golden thorns. Faust didn't pause, the burnt corpse had a mark on them, one of the demonic cultivators.

The method of killing was also a Roze clan technique. Faust didn't focus too much, he felt Orion pierce through two Meridian Opening demonic cultivators without pausing, while the ordinary flying sword got stuck inside one's head roughly a few kilometers ahead.

"Hmmm… What to name my new sword…" Faust hummed…