Arriving at the golden gate of the city of Dao. There were powerful cultivators flying in and out of the city above. Cultivators flying on massive fans, some on swords. hammers, and various objects. Others were on powerful beasts with and without wings. The smells from the various foods and animals were strong but strangely nothing too unpleasant.
Damien was once again amazed at the size and beauty of these cities on this planet. Yet the Capital City of Dao had a presence that Dragon Rise City simply couldn't match. The roads into the city were packed with people. Damien could sense strength everywhere. He was hard pressed to find many ordinary mortals. If he did they were usually in positions of servitude. Even some weaker cultivators were treated poorly by superiors or by stronger cultivators. There were shops and stalls that sold various grades of items, pills and materials.
Damien of course landed a few miles before the gates and walked into the city. He donned grass green robes with black shoes. His staff-turned-sword was tied to his back. He saw some cultivators wearing their weapons this way and he tried to blend in. He stood in line and waited to enter the city. When his turn arose Damien asked the guard the directions too the Sect academy. He paid the guard an extra spirit stones given to him by the sect master. The sect master must have known his stones were too powerful and would cause an uproar in the entire continent.
Damien walked for a few hours before reaching the outer sect examination building. He had received a few looks from men watching him longer than normal. Possibly attempting to figure out his identity or if hes an easy mark to kill and rob. Yet, none had confronted Damien due to him seemingly disappearing when he enter a large crowd. He would teleport to a different location the moment entered a crowd.
With Damien strange luck of course the assessment were currently going on when he arrived at the building. Damien went to the older looking man behind a counter and cupped his hands.
"Hello, sir I would like to enroll for the outer sect disciple assessment." Damien cupped his hands as he spoke.
The elder graying in fire red robes looked Damien up and down indifferently and set a badge on the table.
"Your late! For outsiders that will be 200 spirit stones to take the examination after you put spirit energy into the examination badge. If you can't afford to pay the stones you can leave now. This is not one of your bumpkin sect that accept anyone like a charity case."
The sect master rubbed Damien the wrong way and he wasn't one to back down. Yet he had just arrived and didnt need trouble he could avoid. Instead he just tossed the 200 stones on the table and grabbed the badge. This made the elder eyes open in suprise then in his brow frowned as he looked at the haughty wanna be disciple that dare slight him. Yet, he said nothing at the moment to not lose face.
Damien walked down a long hall until he entered a mass stadium type of building. There were tens of thousands of people of all ages attempting to enter the sect. Apparently Damien was late and he missed what was going on. Damien badge showed he was dead last. At least he got to see what qualified people to pass. The crappy snooty elder didn't anything . How anyone with an attitude like his became an elder was beyond Damien.
Paying attention to the stage the next cultivator went up. There was an elder that waved a hand in front of the cultivator and called out their cultivation level. A round flats stone would light up to confirm the cultivation realm of the person. A second elder would call out their soul power followed by a third elder who stated which area of the sect the disciple will be designated to. He would then say if they all failed or pass.
Most of the people here were in the mid to early Body stage. There were a few exceptions though. Some were at the early levels of the Nascent realm. These disciples would automatically be selected to the inner sect. There obviously the rewards would be higher. Naturally Damien wanted to enter the inner sect. So he had to display nascent level strength. He lowered his strength to the Nascent realm 1st rank. This should be sufficient enough. Luckily, there was no no dredded strength test again. Before he could, he had to watch and wait. As the time went by
These people mostly had a stoic or stuck up personality at first glance. There were personal groups already formed yet there were also a number of solo cultivators with no sect there also. Damien noticed that they were getting ridiculed.
"Look at the trash from the forest and hills. Why had bumpkins even shown up to an event with real cultivators. Why even shame yourselves you all should leave now."
Of course no one left. The crowd just looked at the loud mouth like he was a fool. This further embarrassed the loud mouth man. He looked around for someone to prove his point to. As he scanned the crowd his vision stopped on Damien.
"You! You were late and you're so weak you dont even have a high cultivation level. Leave before I break your limbs."
As he started to march toward he was stopped halfway by the an Elder with black robes and cloth covering his face on the stage.
"Anyone that battles on the assessment ground will automatically be disqualified, no matter their background." The elder stated sternly.
The young man stopped mid stride and sneer at Damien before turning around red faced but not before spewing further provications.
"If you don't leave you will have trouble in the future bumpkin trash! Watch yourself you are only pretty with no backers."
Once the well dressed man went back to his group he was praised by his personal entourage. The man of course gloated while sneering at Damien but had become angered again when he noticed Damien ignoring him.
"That Tian Jian is sure over bearing!"
"He must be upset that that that new guy is more handsome than him. Look at how all the women are falling over themselves for his good looks. Even I'm a bit envious!"
Damien cracked his eye and indeed the many beautiful women were red faced when he glanced their way. Some were visibly breathing harder or slightly make noises. At the same time many of the male cultivators were looking to Damien in jealousy and envy.
Damien changed his mind. He would beat this damn clown at the very least! He was tired of being called a bumpkin and the idiot made me draw unwanted attention to myself. Even the female Elder on the stage took notice of him and was slightly wide eyed looking at him. Damine sighed and continued to wait and ignored the gazes.
Hours passed and Damien became restless. He didn't know what else to do so he sat in the lotus position an meditated. He only had the cultivation technique he was taught by the sect master but it felt like it was far from sufficient. Damien knew this was the case but didn't know why. He needed something stronger or more efficient.
The absorption process outside of the dimension cube he left with the sect master was essentially nonexistent to Damiens level. He would have to travel to find a proper cultivation technique and more energy to absorb. The cultivation techniques are far more advanced in this dimension. Just the fact that an ordinary man can use an absorption technique and rise the the level of a god is simply shocking. Damien is essentially a God on another planet and cannot be killed by mortal means. Yet, when the sect masters blade was on Damien neck, he felt like he could actually be killed. The destructive powers in his light cultivation were microscopically destroying cells on contact.
He continued to hone the training that he had with the sect master. He knew about the broad meridians but there were even more hidden meridians that would assist with absorption of spirit energy.
Now the elders were getting closer to the end of the assessment. There were only about 200 disciples left. The elders hadn't expected much. So, far hardly disciples were elected into the inner sect only a few hundred out of the tens of thousands. This shocked Damien. There were only hundreds of Nascent level cultivators and non above the third level. The strongest few only made it there. He thought there would be immortal power houses everywhere. Instead there were none. Not even Transcendent realm.
At this time a woman went on stage to stand before the elders she looked to be in her late teens. She was had long black hair with red streaks that stopped midway down her back. She was slender yet curved with delicate looking skin.
"That's the sect master of the Dao Sect Academys daughter Sho Qing. She said to be born with a rare heavenly fire beast bloodline. Its said her powers are not to be estimated. Maybe she will join the core disciples with that kind of backing." One person was saying.
"Yes, and shes a beauty without comparison. I bet the talent glass I'll reveal her to be very powerful."
"Yes, as expected from the Sect masters daughter."
As she went on the stage she walked confidently in front of the elder and waited. The elder gasped, "Great immortal dao! She was above mid level Nascent realm! A Core Disciple!"
"It has been a long while since we have had a core disicple join directly almost 100 years. I should say."
"Her benefits will be great. She will definitely be nurtured to become and immortal. She has a high chance of gaing insight from the immortal Dao in the future to Ascend from the mortal plane."
"Mmm... " The cyan clothed third elder on the stage repsonded while nodding.
Sho Qing quietly walked off of the stage full of elegance and grace. She took no notice of anyone.
After cause the commotion cause by the sect. The elders continued.
"Next!"
Some how the loud mouth still hadn't gone on stage until there were a few people waiting to take the test including Damien. Next loud mouth went in front of the elder
As the loud mouth went on the stage he glared at Damien. "The trash need to watch as powers from a great family will always shine above trash!"
Damien was honestly shock silent. He couldn't believe how ridiculous this guy was. Damien had never even looked his way yet this man had targeted him just because he assumed I was weak. Well I'll have to show him what happened when a kitten annoys a lion!