'Just as I thought…'
"Trial disciple… what are you doing?"
"Sorry senior, I just needed to pass the spiritual water…"
Zhang Dong stepped out from behind a tree while fixing his robe to seem as if he was peeing behind it. In reality, this was an area where the defensive formation reached up.
This was only the third day of the disciple training and he was smoking the competition. He was the only one keeping up with the instructor. With some time left before the others arrived, he moved over to see if he could pass through the protective barrier without anyone noticing him.
As he feared this was a dome-shaped translucent barrier. When he poked it with his finger it would look like rippling water and he could see its outline in the empty space before him.
This type of protective formation needed some sort of key to open up. Probably the elders and trusted sect members possessed some kind of item that let them pass through it. There was also one main gate where it could be opened by the guards stationed there.
The easiest way to get out would be to get this key from one of the elders. The two that brought him over here didn't seem to possess one of those keys as the Martial Saint that showed up was the one to guide them all in.
Taking the key from that core formation like elder would be a difficult task with his current cultivation. Even if he managed to swipe it, he didn't think he would be able to flee fast enough.
"I know that you surpass the other prospects but you can't make your seniors look bad!"
"I understand, senior."
Zhang Dong performed a little bow while feeling a bit silly. The man before him was an early stage Martial Master, even with his lowered cultivation he could take him out with a slap. He needed to act as a proper junior for the time being.
"Senior… how does one become an inner sect disciple?"
"Inner sect disciple? You should stop thinking about such things and first get past the trial period and become an outer sect disciple! You should stay grounded before looking at the heavens. "
The man crossed his hands over one another and started nodding his head while talking. He was telling this young disciple to lower his expectations.
"You really think I'm being unreasonable, senior?"
Zhang Dong asked while moving a step forward and glancing down. There he saw a steep cliff that was at exactly a ninety-degree angle. The rocks were flat and there were not many places that you could place your hands or feet in.
When he focused on his eyes he could see some young cultivators slowly climbing up while trying not to fall. They needed to push through the ice-cold winds, shards of ice and debris falling onto their faces while they ascended this treacherous cliff.
Zhang Dong and the rest of the trial disciples were mountain climbing today. This was a good way for the young men to show off their physical capabilities. Just like the previous days, he was the first one to finish and the next best person would probably need another half an hour to get there.
The Martial Master instructor covered his mouth while coughing. He knew what Zhang Dong was getting at as he was smoking the competition. From Zhang Dong's standpoint, it was strange if he would not be picked up by some elder after showing what he could do.
"I…"
Zhang Dong with Dai Rong's appearance looked with narrowed eyes at the Martial Master before him. The man might have been saying the right words but he was saying them to the wrong person.
"The junior does make some sense… you show more promise than the rest. Fine, this senior will tell you the ways of attaining high status in the Hall!"
The man was above the age of thirty, getting close to forty. He was still only a Martial Master and being an outer sect disciple was the most he could attain with his current disposition. This didn't mean that he didn't know the ins and outs of this sect.
"The easiest way to achieve the inner sect disciple status would be to do well at the disciple contest!"
"Trial disciple contest?"
"Yes, for this you junior would need to first be taken as a disciple of one of the elders. Each year this contest is held and the top three get elevated to inner sect disciple status!"
The explanation continued, it seemed that this was a multi-purpose contest. From the way it sounded, he wondered if it would have been another tournament. It was similar but not quite, there were various ways of attaining the favor of an inner sect elder.
First was the usual way of just being a strong fighter. There was no tournament but more of a challenger type of process. Every disciple that attended could force a higher status disciple to fight them. If they won, they would take their spot.
There was a certain ranking of all the outer sect disciples. If you managed to get in the top three of those, even top ten there was a chance of garnering favor with an elder.
The decision-making process was kind of vague. An elder might not have chosen one of the top three disciples if they were a bad fit for their particular techniques.
Then there was the pill forging competition. There would be one recipe presented to the disciples and they would have to create a pill. The sect would provide all of the resources and cauldrons. If the disciples failed they would have to pay for these resources.
There was even some kind of strange competition of combative dancing for the women cultivators. It was called Terpsichore arts, by moving in certain rhythmical ways these women could enthrall their opponents. It was some kind of strange dancing art that affected the opponent's mind and left them open for attacks.
Beast taming, formation creation, and even blacksmithing were all the ways that they could show off their skills. The more a disciple stood out the better the chance was for them to advance further.
This sect was quite similar in this as his United Element's sect. They didn't see combat as being the only important talent. Making pills and forging weapons was just as important. A powerful treasure or a pill that raised your cultivation faster might have been even more important than combat strength.
"Can a trial disciple take part in this contest?"
"There is no rule against it, but you'd have to get permission from the trial elders. Also, the disciples need to be at least half step into the Martial Master realm, that's why I advise this junior to stay grounded!"
This made sense as adding untrained youths to the batch would just make the whole contest longer. No one here was at the Martial Master level with the exclusion of him that was hiding his power level. It seemed that he would need to make a breakthrough before this contest started.
"That makes sense… when will this contest be held?"
"In three days, that why it's better to give up junior. Just complete your training and be accepted as an inner sect disciple, then after a year has passed you can try to achieve the inner disciple status, with your talent you might have a chance! Even if you can't do it through the contest there are other ways, just cultivate slowly."
The Martial Master chuckled a bit while giving Zhang Dong's back a pat. Zhang Dong on the other hand felt like he needed to get into this contest. The other option was to continue the training which would last two more months.
After being chosen as an outer sect disciple he would still not be given his own cultivation abode. Instead, he would be shoved into an even larger barracks building and everything would repeat itself. He would probably need to beat up other sect members and then actually do tasks for the sect.
The new outer sect disciples would be hired by the mortals and the lesser clans. They would be tasked with clearing out beasts or crafting pills to sell at auction houses. It was somewhat similar to the merit system at his own guild but a bit less proficient.
In the way that even when they did great in their tasks they would not be promoted to inner sect disciples unless they did well in the next contest. No one was keeping the disciples to use underhanded tactics either.
The schemers would prosper during this year of waiting while slowly getting rid of their competition. There were many outer sect prospects that vanished during beast subjugations, swallowing poisonous pills or offending senior members.
He did not have the time to be part of any of this. The slowest way to get out of this sect would be to wait till he was an outer sect disciple. Then he could take one of those tasks of killing beasts that were outside the sect. This would probably take from two to three months.
The faster way was to get the attention of an outer sect elder. An elder like that could take him under his wing. Thus he could skip the trial period, he knew that some of those outer sect elders were already salivating over him. This would probably lower the waiting time by a month or maybe two.
This was still quite the lengthy option, the fastest way was to achieve the top of the next disciple contest.To be allowed to get into it, he would probably need to reach the Martial Master stage. The minimum was the half-step realm but he feared that being a trial disciple, he would have a hard time getting into it with just that.
"Junior what are you…"
"Senior, I think our talk has given me important insight, I must cultivate now and create my crystal mountain!"
"Insight? Crystal Mountain? How could you enter the Martial Master realm with that talk…"
The senior member continued talking but he quickly went quiet as he felt this Dai Rong's aura spiking. It was clearly going over the later stage of inner aura.
"C-could he really be doing it? How can he create his crystal mountain with so little preparations?... It took me ten years…"
The crystal mountain that they were speaking of was something similar to a foundation pillar. The cultivator would gather all of his spiritual energy that he prepared during the inner aura stage and crystallize it. This would take the form of a giant mountain in their dantian. The larger it bevame the better the prospects of the disciple would be.
Following the creation of the crystal mountain, a crystal palace would be formed. The Martial Master would chisel away at this mountain to fashion it into a mighty palace. When the mountain crumbled and formed a beautiful castle, the person would enter the Martial Grandmaster realm.
This was all knowledge that he lifted from the White Tiger Clan's library. He had already examined other Martial Grandmasters and Martial Masters. With his own knowledge and his superior hiding skill he just needed to mask his cultivation to look like the one from this empire.
'I need to play it up…'
While in the lotus position he cultivated. The trial disciples that arrived at the top of the mountain looked in horror as one of their own reached the next level so easily. Other elders gathered as well to see the rise of the next genius, Dai Rong's name was now slowly being spread through the whole Thunderball Hall, his meteoric rise was about to start...