Ignoring Cai MingZhu, two disciples who were twins, suddenly went near Luo and as they surrounded him, constantly looking at him from various angels they introduced each other. "We are the nightingale twins of the Ancient Zither Abode. This is Zhong Bai, my brother."
"And this is Zhong Gui, my brother. Now, you should introduce yourself."
Luo was amused at this and introduced himself "I am Luo LianHao, nice to meet you."
The other apprentice, a scrawny girl with a flat chest and short,wild brown hair looked at Luo with disinterest. As their eyes met, Luo smiled "Hello sister, I am Luo LianHao, what would your name be?"
"Hmm. My name is Hao Qi". She looked at him up and down and carried on with her business.
Luo also introduced himself to Cai Mingzhu but she did not grace him with a reply, so he shrugged and moved to the registration counter with Xun.
After entering their names for the competition, master Fu Lin bid them good luck and she went on to the panel where masters from other sects were also waiting.
After the registration process closed, a huge flame in the form of a dragon soared upwards into the sky and everybody looked at it , mesmerized by its majesty and power, their hopes and desires burning to reach that level of power someday.
As the dragon vanished, they all looked towards the raised stage in the middle of the arena and saw an old master, dressed in bright red and gold robes. "Welcome to everyone. The Heavenly Dragon sect is hosting the summer competition this year. As you all know, the rules go like this:
The first test is one where your physical power is tested. The power should at least cross that of 100 Jin[1], i.e it must at least compare to an attack by an Upper grade Mysterious tier weapon.
The second test is one where your comprehension abilities are tested. You will be given puzzles and there will be written tests as well. And you will all be given a Soul cultivation technique for one hour and you will be ranked based on your comprehension of this technique.
In the third test, A core formation master will exert their pressure on you and you must withstand it.
The final test will be explained after these three tests.
To all the 5000 candidates here, good luck. And may the summer competition BEGINNN!"
As soon as he said that , multiple white crystals like the one Luo was tested on earlier, but much bigger, were brought into the arena and names were being called.
Various candidates displayed their best power techniques and attacked the crystal, and its time of healing by the self-healing runes was noted and the force of the attack was calculated.
Xiao Wu's name was called and he walked up haughtily and from a solid stance , punched the crystal. The force of the attack carried 250 Jin behind it and it was the highest anybody had scored till then. A lot of people only managed around 80 Jin and walked back disappointed. Xiao Wu looked proud at his accomplishment.
Cai MingZhu was called and she walked up slowly to the stage and attacked the crystal with her Qi focused at the tip of her sleek sword. Since the power was so concentrated, it took the crystal a lot of time to heal and the estimated force was also 250 Jin. Xiao Wu looked at Cai Mingzhu as she walked down with a sort of hunger in his eyes. People were amazed at the strength of Cai Mingzhu.
There were a few others who also scored around 200 Jin in the test.
Amidst the test, suddenly, the crystal broke into two halves, cut down by a sword. The examiners looked at this man with a shock and said
"Hua Geming, gets the top of this test by default as he cut the crystal."
People forgot about Xiao Wu and looked at the half step Qi condensation candidate Hua Geming, dressed in all white with a red ribbon wrapped around his head. He was plain to look at but not bad looking. He had his sword strapped on his back instead of his hip. Hua Geming slowly walked back down and people parted ways as he got down.
The master's from different sects murmured and made bets and schemes to try to get this candidate into their sect. Master Fu Lin just smiled and thought to herself 'Wait till you see Luo. You fools.'
Xun went and used a kick technique taught to her by master Fu Lin. She got a score of 220 Jin. The Zhong twins scored the same, at 210 Jin, using a barrage of continuous kicks and punches. Hao Qi scored 220 Jin as well, with her dagger techniques.
Finally Luo was called onto the stage. Xun wished him good luck. He strode onto the stage with confidence. Xiao Wu looked at him with disgust at the fact that such trash was also giving the same test as him.
Luo assumed a solid stance 'Master, shall I restrain my strength or not?'
'Brat, don't use your Qi. Use only the strength of your body. That will shock most people here.'
'Okay Master Yin.'
Luo took in a deep breath and went for a heavy punch. The move did not contain any Qi. The Crystal slowly started cracking and then healing , but the cracks kept on appearing until it broke into multiple pieces.
Master Fu Lin smiled smugly. The other sect masters were surprised when they noted that the attack was purely physical and did not contain even a trace of Qi.
The sect master of the Heavenly dragon sect, the yellow dragon, Han Ryu, remarked "I don't remember giving that kid a jade slip of our sect. Did that kid not come to our sect for a jade slip?"
He then looked at his assistant and barked orders to find out which sects had given jade slips to Luo and Hua Geming. The assistant immediately left to find out more details.
Hua Geming looked at Luo and grinned to himself " Good power. Have I found a rival?? No no, I must not be hasty. There are other tests as well, so I will see how he will do."
Thinking about the next tests, he remembered that the second stage contained different comprehension tests including written tests. The thought of written tests made him weak in the knees and very nervous as he was not good at such academic stuff, even though he was great at cultivation.
Xiao Wu was shocked at the power that Luo had shown and it did not make sense to him at all. "He must have had some sort of fortuitous encounter. I should make sure later to take it from him for myself." He then composed himself and looked at the ongoing tests.
The old master who was hosting the tournament signalled for the end of the first round of testing after all the applicants had finished testing. "All the applicants who passed in this test can go to the next building to take their comprehension tests. The rest of you, Go home, train and come back next year. The way of cultivation is not easy, so do not be disheartened."
The yellow dragon Han Ryu scoffed at that last comment by the old master, "Those who didn't even pass this test are trash and don't even need us to put them in our eyes. (idiom about keeping people in one's thoughts). I wonder why our sect's old master is so humble like that, when he is so powerful."
Upon hearing this Master Fu Lin looked at Han Ryu and said "Well, it is that attitude of your sect that made Luo LianHao, the one who broke that crystal with just physical strength, take a jade slip from our Ancient Zither Abode and not your sect. Did you know that he came to your sect to get a jade slip but since he wasn't a noble, he was kicked out by the receptionist. HAHAHAHA, well, it's your loss."
Han Ryu looked uncomfortable and scowled for a while but his features resumed normalcy "Well, he must not be amounting to much, if he's not from a noble family. What background would he even have to join our sect? My sect member did the right thing then. I don't want just any trash walking into our sect."
"HAHAHA, well, your loss is my gain."