Blue Rose Kingdom has two cultivation sects that were established by Wei Ren's grandfather. One is the Serpent Valley Sect and the other is Hell Raven Sect. Serpent Valley Sect is for those who want to learn alchemy and healing while Hell Raven is a sect that teaches fighting skills.
Wei Shan thought that it was important to nurture the next generations. So these two sects were erected to raise powerful cultivators.
Right now, they were going to the Serpent Valley Sect. It is the place that holds the test for identifying someone's attribute. Emperor Yan didn't fully explain the test to Wei Ren. So he could only wait.
Wei Ren couldn't fly on a sword like his father and mother. Minimum requirement to fly on a flying sword is to reach the River Formation stage. The qi of Qi Streams stage is not dense enough to lift a person into air. So they had to use a horse pulled carriage.
It took them about an hour to reach the Serpent Valley Sect. The sect owned a large piece of the kingdom's land. It even had its own city for trade and commerce.
Serpent Valley Sect is a heavenly place for those who want to learn the ways of alchemy. Only a few talented individuals can learn alchemy. A very intricate and deep knowledge is required just to identify medicinal plants and pill concoction is even more difficult. It is said that only one in a thousand can learn alchemy. Serpent Valley Sect not only teaches it's disciples alchemy but also healing techniques. In a battle some knowledge about the human body and how to heal it can prove to be very useful.
Blue Rose Kingdom has plain terrain but Serpent Valley Sect has mountains and valleys. This puzzled Wei Ren. Why is this place filled with mountains. It was only when his father explained that these mountains are man made.
This is because difficult medicinal plants grow in different places. Mountains are hosts of exotic plants and valleys have myriad vines and flowers. Even the temperature and humidity inside the Serpent Valley Sect is controlled to get a high yield of plants.
Wei Ren climbed out of the carriage. A long staircase awaited him. These stairs led to the gates of Serpent Valley Sect. The end of the staircase faded into the clouds.
"How many stairs are there?" He asked with his jaw dropping wide.
"More than a thousand. But we don't need to climb them. Just jump on this." His father replied with a smile and pulled out his flying sword.
It hovered a few inches above the ground. Wei Ren stepped on it. Emperor Yan also climbed on it. Feng Yu also pulled a long grey flying sword out of her void ring.
Whoosh!
In a blink of an eye they disappeared into the clouds. He stood on the flying sword with his father and enjoyed the experience of flying. He couldn't wait to become powerful enough to fly on his own.
When they reached a certain height they stopped. Feng Yu also waited beside them.
"What are we waiting for?" Wei Ren asked.
"They will open the formation. The whole sect is covered with a giant formation. This is the only entrance. Climbing those stairs is useless." Emperor Yan laughed.
Clack! clack!
Sound of footsteps could be heard within the clouds. A man in his thirties suddenly walked out of the clouds. He was wearing a white robe with snakes embroidered on it. He looked like a weak scholar. But when he approached them, Wei Ren felt a powerful aura coming from him. He couldn't even judge this person's cultivation. His eyes were like jade balls wnd shined bright with wisdom.
He kneeled on one knee and said in a very mellow voice, " Li Jian pays his respects to Emperor Yan and the royal family."
Emperor Yan nodded and told him to get up.
"So they sent you, Li Jian. Your cultivation has improved a lot since the last time I saw you. Did your master send you to greet me?" He asked Li Jian.
"Yes, your majesty. Master felt your presence at the long staircase. So he sent me to receive you." Li Jian explained with a calm smile.
"How is your master? I haven't seen him since he came to examine my son." Emperor Yan asked with a smile.
Li Jian's master is Grand Healer Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng is not only the best healer in the kingdom but also the best alchemist.
"Master is doing very well. He is in his cultivation cave. Shall I escort your majesty to him." He asked.
"No need to disturb him. I just came to have my son take a test in the attribute pool." Emperor Yan said.
"Very well. Please follow me." Li Jian didn't say much. He just waved his arm. All the clouds in a hundred meter radius retracted. A stone path appeared. He was currently standing on this very path.
The stone path led them down and they finally saw the inside of the sect. A beautiful world became visible. It looked like a painting out of the legends. Beautiful gardens filled with strange flowers. People in white robes walked around. Some were meditating and some were flying in the sky on flying swords. This was a true image of a cultivation sect.
"The world of cultivators is truly interesting." Wei Ren exclaimed in his heart.
They followed Li Jian through several places. When the disciples of Serpent Valley Sect saw Emperor Yan, they all paid their respects. But Wei Ren noticed something. All of their greetings were very informal. Normally people would say many things when they greeted his father but these disciples just said some simple words of respect and went on with their lives. This seemed very odd. The Serpent Valley Sect lies within their kingdom. So his father should still be respected.
Not only that. His father didn't even seem to mind the way these disciples acted. He just smiled and nodded.
Soon they reached an ancient looking temple. The terrible condition of this temple stunned Wei Ren. The buildings he had seen on the way here were beautifully constructed but this temple was almost on the verge of collapsing.
"Don't judge a book by it's cover." Emperor Yan knew what his son was thinking so he said this to Wei Ren.
They walked the small stairs to the temple. Li Jian pushed the door open. The temple was completely empty. Inside of this dilapidated temple was made from dark green tiles. In the middle of the temple was a round pool. They walked in.
Emperor Yan asked Li Jian to shut the door. The round pool was the only thing inside this temple.
"This is a very wondrous pool. The water inside is not simple. It is the legendary Celestial Star Essence." Emperor Yan started to explain the things that were happening.
"Celestial Star Essence?"
"It is not known how this water is formed but legends say that once upon a time, a powerful cultivator smashed a star into our Vast Expanse Mortal world. After countless years things settled. Supposedly there were some survivors. This tragic incident was actually a blessing in disguise. The star matter reacted with our world and several mysterious changes happened to our world. The biggest change was the Celestial Star Essence. It is a product that is found inside a star. But harvesting it is impossible. But because of this incident, cultivators now had access to this water."
"What are its uses?" Such an impressive story intrigued Wei Ren.
"Pill concoction." Feng Yu answered this time.
"That's it?" Wei Ren asked with disbelief.
"What do you mean that's it? Celestial Star Essence is the most important ingredient for concocting pills above tier six. Without it, you can forget about even a tier seven pill. The whole study of alchemy would end at tier six pills." Emperor Yan said with a serious face. He would truly lose face if Wei Ren were to say these words in front of someone else.
"Oh…then why are we here?" He still didn't understand the purpose of coming here.
"There is another use for Celestial Star Essence. It is a very volatile liquid. Even a single strand of qi can activate it. Each person's qi is different. The moment elemental qi enters your body from the surroundings, it's properties change. It becomes yours. It is like taming a beast that has no owner. Elemental qi in the atmosphere is ownerless. Once you absorb it, it is imprinted with your attributes. So if you inject your qi into Celestial Star Essence, we can observe the changes to tell your exact attributes. " Emperor Yan explained the wonderful effects of this strange water.
"It's that simple?"
"Yes. Just try it." Emperor Yan was getting impatient. He wanted to see what attributes Wei Ren was born with.
Wei Ren immediately walked over to the pool. The water was completely clear. He could clearly see the bottom of the pool. He squatted down and dipped his right hand into the water.
He didn't feel anything. He could see the ripples in the water but he didn't feel the water on his hand. So strange.
"I only need to inject some qi?" He thought.
A small wisp of the qi separated from the qi cloud. It moved through his arm into his finger and entered the pool.
No change.
"Are you injecting your qi?" Emperor Yan asked.
"Yes. I just did. Do I need to inject a lot of qi?" Wei Ren was worried. Because he only had a qi cloud in his body. His qi was not limitless.
"No. Just a few strands are enough."
"But I am injecting qi. Nothing is happening." Wei Ren looked with a pitiful face. Does this mean that he has no attributes?
"I think I know what this means." Li Jian joined the conversation. His voice was no longer mellow.
"Really?" Wei Ren asked. His mind was slowly entering into turmoil. He had finally entered the world of cultivation. If his journey ended so abruptly he would feel incredibly wronged.
"Yes, young master. Let me show you something so that you can understand what I want to say."
Li Jian dipped his own hand into the Celestial Star Essence. He closed his eyes and injected a few strands of his qi.
The essence turned bright green and a thick medicinal aroma filled the entire temple. Just breathing this aroma rejuvenated all of them.
"I can turn this essence bright green. Some of my fellow elder disciples can turn the essence pale green. According to some of the ancient alchemy texts if the essence has a very light green glow it means that the person who is taking the test is incredibly talented for alchemy. In the young master's case, the essence has no observable change. I think that the young master's aptitude is very high for alchemy." By the time he finished, Li Jian was looking at Wei Ren as if he was a rare specimen.
"Senior Li, are you sure?" Wei Ren asked with shock.
"I think we will observe some changes if young master uses a lot of qi to take the test."
"Try it, Ren'er. Inject as much qi as you can."Emperor Yan urged Wei Ren to do as Li Jian had suggested.
"Hmm." Wei Ren nodded in agreement.
He rolled his sleeves up and dipped his arms till the elbow. Just like before, he felt as if he was waving his hands in the air.
He closed his eyes and initiated the Earth Law. Almost ten percent of his qi separated from the qi cloud and moved through his arms and into the pool.
Buzz!
A tremor entered Wei Ren's body. It travelled into his qi cloud and jolted back into the pool at an even bigger scale.
The Starmist Law in his mind suddenly appeared before his eyes. His five senses stopped working. Pages of the Starmist Law shuffled at a lightning fast speed. When it reached the middle, pages stopped turning.
Previously Wei Ren couldn't fully open the Starmist Law. After the Earth Law there was a lock on the book. To access the later parts of the Law he had to reach the River Formation stage. But now the book opened on its own.
In the middle of the book there was a blank golden page. Rest of the pages were white, but this one shined like gold.
The golden page started to tremble like a cloth in the wind. It tore itself into two pieces.
One of the pieces flew out of the book and dropped inside Wei Ren's ocean of consciousness.
Ocean of consciousness is the spiritual place inside every person that holds their thoughts. It is different from the brain. A brain holds memories and controls the body. But the ocean of consciousness controls a person's will. Only someone with an ocean of consciousness can think. A brain on its own is useless. There have been cases of people that appeared lifeless appearing in the Vast Expanse Mortal world. These people had perfectly healthy bodies and minds. They could even walk and talk but all their actions were random. It was like a dead body doing random things. They possessed no will of their own. Some of them even had cultivation bases. But they lacked intelligence. It seemed as if they were brain dead. Further studies showed that these people were walking around without their ocean of consciousness which is impossible.
There was only one explanation. It was that these people had shattered their oceans of consciousness.
The golden piece of paper dropped into his ocean of consciousness.
Suddenly he opened his eyes. There was still no change in the Celestial Star Essence's color. But the temple was filled with a rich medicinal aroma. It was so strong that it almost suffocated them.
"He is a prodigy!" Li Jian shuddered with this thought.
Wei Ren pulled his arms out of the pool. Confusion was written all over his face. He had a blanked expression.
"Did I dream of something?" He thought
The rich medicinal aroma entered his nose.
"I guess I can only become an alchemist." He thought with deep disappointment.
If he had said these words to someone else, that person would have killed Wei Ren. It is a dream of millions to become an alchemist but they can't because they have no talent.
"But I still don't know my attributes." He looked at his father.
"We can solve that too. Instead of your qi just use your blood." Li Jian said with a blank look. He was still in amazement after finding out about Wei Ren's talent for alchemy.
"Okay."
Wei Ren pulled out a small dagger from his void ring and pricked his left thumb.
Three drops of his blood fell into the pool.
"What is this?" Wei Ren asked with surprise.