Groups of youths were arriving one after another led by gu masters.
"Pay close attention, all of you! Stop the chattering. City Lord will personally instruct you soon." - Raised his voice one of the gu masters at the youths behind him.
They have arrived at a large square next to the city hall. One could see many gu masters standing guard at the sides. The location was well secured. In the middle of the square stood a sturdy tree, its trunk was thick while its crown spread over most of the place.
"Form into rows of three under the sacred tree." - Came the order seemingly from every direction.
Jin Ju was startled, he looked around for the source of the voice.
"This is the technique of the city lord." - Explained Yu Lingxin, as she noticed his confusion.
"Come, I heard it's better to stand closer to the front. You have a higher chance of getting noticed by the seniors." - She said encouragingly.
After a moment of commotion, the youths organized themselves into an orderly formation surrounding the tree from all directions. The atmosphere was tense.
At this moment the city lord stepped onto his balcony, overlooking the square. Now he addressed the crowd personally:
"Greetings citizens! Today will be a fateful event for most of you. For many of you, this will be the day you leave behind your mortal past and step on the road of gu cultivation. With my authority as the city lord, I, Ding Shuren decree the commencement of the awakening ceremony!"
"I wish all of you good fortune!"
His voice, amplified by gu worms, reverberated and spread far and wide among the onlookers.
The crowd around the square cheered and applauded his words at the beginning of the grand event.
* * * * *
"Young master, please mind the time. The ceremony is soon to begin." - Urged the servant next to Zhao Min.
"Patience is a virtue. Please stop nagging me. There's no hurry." - Came the reply from Zhao Min as he ate his second serving at one of the stalls.
"Young master has already missed one of the ceremonies, we are fortunate to have another opportunity in the afternoon. We need to make it in time!" - Pleaded the servant again and again.
"How could it be fortune? Are you dimwitted? The city lord clearly stated that every youth has to participate. How many youths are there in this city, can you even count them? One event is clearly not enough. There will be more even after this one. Do you think I missed it by chance? How could I have any peace if I always did what others told me..."
"Young master is truly wise, I'm ashamed. But you still promised to get back early, patriarch is surely eager for the results."
"And why would I hurry back when I couldn't even have breakfast or dress up properly before I was chased out like a dog?" - He retorted, twisting and exaggerating the morning events in an annoyed tone.
"This... At least the young master should change his clothes. I have brought them with me for your sake."
"Sigh... It is so tiresome to use my brain to think in your stead as well. Just tell me. Should I change clothes here in the middle of the street? Do you think that's fitting of my status?" - He continued to argue...
"Ah well, never mind. I'm bored of arguing, let's just get on with this." - Next he slurped up the rest of the soup before him.
Seeing that his tireless nagging finally had some effect the servant rejoiced, he wouldn't get reprimanded at home.
"Give me that cloth." - Zhao Min ordered as he took the folded robe and wiped his mouth with it.
"Young master!"
"Now we can go, haha!"
* * * * *
Bao Zhi pulled his cart out of sight into an alleyway. He locked it before covering it with a tarp.
"Alright. Let's see this awakening ceremony."
He approached the square and carefully observed the arrangements. He saw through them with a single glance.
"There are not only gu masters standing guard at the sides, some of them are mingling in the crowds without their uniforms. The youths will receive the hope gu from the sacred tree. It's best if I just blend in, and play along to get my share."
But next, he noticed something unexpected.
"Why is he here of all places? I clearly sent him to another part of town."
He wanted to avoid Jin Ju, that would have been for the best. But this was a typical example of plans being unable to keep up with changes.
"I still need to participate. I'll just stay further behind out of his sight."
Bao Zhi had high expectations from Jin Ju. He could be turned into a useful pawn. The moment they met, he could feel his abundant human qi. Even though human qi was not talent, the two were related. Talented people always had abundant human qi. It was even the prerequisite for immortal ascension, but let's not talk about that now.
Talent and aptitude were also similar. Talent referred to one's ability to comprehend the dao. With higher talent, one could raise their attainment of the dao twice as fast with half the effort. On the other hand, aptitude referred to the body. It determined how fast and how far one could reach in the ranks of cultivation.
Aptitude was more important in mortal cultivation, one needed to be able to reach rank five before one could become an immortal. While attainments defined immortal cultivation. The two were also often overlapping, so the distinction was rarely made. But there were individuals like the rank nine Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable who had started with the lowest, D grade aptitude, but also had heaven-defying talent. This clearly showed as well that no rules were absolute.
Bao Zhi had both talent and aptitude, he was looking ahead of replicating, no, surpassing even his previous life's achievements.
He pondered no more as he made his way into the crowd, blending in as he copied the other's behavior. The event was about to begin.
* * * * *
"Stand your ground. Do not be startled, water will wash over you. This is part of the test." - The voice rang in the youth's minds again, instructing them.
Soon deep gurgling and surging water noises could be heard, it came from the sacred tree's direction. The water erupted upwards from the hollow tree trunk like a fountain. The drops of liquid fell onto the branches and leaves. From the tree's canopy, the water was distributed evenly as it poured on the youths below.
"This is water from a spirit spring, it has abundant primeval energy. Do not budge, resist it! The longer you can endure the higher your aptitude is."
As the first drops landed on them, the youths started to feel a formless pressure weighing on their mind and body. The pressure increased droplet by droplet. Soon there were ones who started to shake or breathe roughly. After five breaths of time, the first youth couldn't endure it anymore, he collapsed in exhaustion. He had no aptitude.
After ten breaths of time, most of the participants had some degree of difficulty, half of them had already laid on the ground in exhaustion. The droplets stopped falling on them, they were diverted to the rest of them. It further increased their pressure!
"No! Sister, you need to endure, don't give up yet!" - Yu Lingxing could only shout this in her mind. She could not open her mouth even if she wanted to. She gritted her teeth under the formless burden pressing down.
But her sister was already overexerting herself, next she fell to her knees. Even though the pressure lifted from her, she could only say a single sentence before laying on the ground powerlessly:
"I'm proud of you, Yu'er."
Another change occurred at this moment: bright lights started to descend from the sacred tree. Flying and dancing around the youths, seemingly looking for something. Soon, more and more lights appeared, and they started to gather onto their bodies and enter their abdomens without resistance. Some people had abundant lights gathering around them, while having a calm expression, some only had two or three lights while they were already at their limits, about to collapse.
"About half of them have an aptitude, this is an expected ratio." - Thought to himself Ding Shuren as he evaluated the events.
"The more important question is how many of them will have A or B grade aptitude." - He continued to observe attentively.
Jin Ju was standing next to Yu Lingxin, he had less difficulty than the others around him: "Shouldn't this be more difficult? I certainly feel the pressure, but it isn't unbearable. Maybe I am talented?"
Just as he had this thought a wave of people collapsed. They were the second most numerous group, they had D grade aptitude. This group was over half of the remaining ones, with their downfall the pressure on the rest increased steeply! Now the spirit spring rain was falling on them like a monsoon.
After five breaths of time the next group could not endure anymore, they fell like dominoes one after another. They had C grade aptitude. Yu Lingxin was among them. She almost reached B grade, she was on the higher end of the C grade.
"This pressure is getting really intense, I can also barely see from these annoying lights. Buzz off already!" - Thought Jin Ju with irritation, bitterly holding on. Little did he know, these gu were the key to awakening his aperture.
Meanwhile, Bao Zhi was observing the event from the back lines.
"Jin Ju is performing quite well, I was not wrong about him. Sadly A grade is not something just anyone can reach, B grade should be his limit. Only the most exceptional ones can reach A grade."
His gaze moved onto another cloud of swarming lights ahead of him. There stood a youth, seemingly unconcerned with the world around him. He was looking upwards while holding his palms up before him. He looked bored, or was he questioning the heavens themselves? He was Zhao Min.
"Now that is what A grade looks like!" - Bao Zhi exclaimed.
Although he similarly had a lot of hope gu around him, he was faking great difficulty. He did not want to attract any more attention than strictly necessary. Thinking of this he noticed that there were only less than ten of the youths standing. The ones with B grade aptitude started to fall as well. Like what he predicted, Jin Ju managed to reach B grade before collapsing.
Meanwhile on the balcony:
"Oh, this is exceptional. It seems like there are three A grade geniuses in this batch. I'll need to clearly mark them down. My coming evaluation is looking brighter and brighter." - Remarked the city lord to himself.
Water was pouring down on them like a waterfall at this point, Bao Zhi's vision got obscured even more.
"What is going on? I surely should feel some pressure by now. Right?"
A sense of bad premonition took root in Bao Zhi's heart. Too much of a good thing was also detrimental. Then the realization hit him like lightning from a clear sky.
"Dao mark conflict!"
"I have too many dao marks on my body, so the rank one hope gu is ineffective!"
He was stupefied by his discovery. This situation was unthinkable and without precedent. There has never been another mortal, who had this many dao marks yet no aperture. It has never crossed his mind that hope gu could be ineffective due to this simple yet extraordinary condition. He wanted to curse profusely at this moment, but he had to stay in character.
Bao Zhi had no time to further contemplate his problem now, as he has gotten into quite the predicament. He immediately fell to the ground and stayed motionless.
"My performance already showed B grade or higher. Yet, if they investigate me I will have no aperture to show. Problems will only pile on me from then on if I can't explain myself."
"Damn it!"
* * * * *