The first test took quite some time. An elder had handed Sheng Tian a jade slip containing all the basic information of the ones who passed as well as what their overall ranking might be. There were several that caught his attention when he used his All Seeing Eyes and he was surprised to see that they were not highly ranked.
And then it dawned on him. It would be surprising if a sect in the Mortal Realm could accurately determine if an individual had a special constitution or incredibly high talent. The ones that they do find are the ones that everyone knows and worships.
This year's geniuses are called the Seven Kings and Three Queens though it might vary year from year depending on the gender of the genius. He figured that there would always be quite a few dark horses in the exams and no shortage of talents.
Looking at the female geniuses, Sheng Tian could not help but think of a certain dual cultivation technique a certain old man had given him. He wasn't one to be easily infatuated by beautiful women but their special constitutions were quite tempting.
He then looked back at the information on the Seven Kings and Three Queens.
Tenth place is Mu Fei who is a wood attributed cultivator with great healing capabilities. She does not specialize in combat though is a notch higher compared to most people and is called the Forest Spirit Queen.
Ninth place is Lu Feng who was nicknamed the Thunderwind King who has an innate lightning and wind attribute. Such a case is incredibly rare though he is ranked ninth because he specializes in speed.
In eighth is Feng Ling. She is called the Severing Wind Queen and has a wind attribute and is ranked higher than the previous two because of her swift and sharp attacks.
Seventh is an earth attributed cultivator named Shi Tong. His nickname is the Earthen Combat King as he specializes in close quarter combat due to his earth attribute providing him with great defensive capabilities.
Sixth is Yang Wei who is a fire attributed cultivator and is called the Hellfire King. His flames can melt almost anything and anyone at the same level.
Fifth is Shui Shang. He is called the Raging Sea King as he is a water attributed cultivator. Water cultivators have great defensive skills and an even greater reserve of qi and therefore the other kings and queens mostly avoid fighting him.
Fourth is Wei Ming. He is called the Beast King due to his ability to partially transform into a beast form that dramatically increased his combat strength.
Third is Zhang Fei who is a sword cultivator. Sword cultivators are known for their strength and are often called the greatest offense so it's no surprise that he is ranked highly and called the Sword King.
Second is Yang Fei who is called the Spirit Soul Queen. She is a soul cultivator and is exceedingly rare in the Mortal Realm. Unless one's soul is as strong as hers or has a protective soul treasure then they would be defeated in an instant.
And finally the one who is ranked first is Zhou Yang though he is better known as the Soaring Demon King. He is a notorious cultivator known for his cruelty and is terrifyingly strong. Some speculate that even if all the other kings and queens gang up on him they would still lose.
The second test happened right after the first one. Occasionally there would be a few surprises as a dark horse appeared out of nowhere and soon an entire day had passed.
And then there was the third test. Each individual was transported to their own space to fight. The minimum requirement is to be able to fight someone two levels above their own to pass and this sifted out many people.
Very few people actually possess higher than a king tier battle prowess and usually half of the participants would be disqualified. Originally there had been over one hundred thousand people who had come in hopes of being able to enter the sect. Now, there were less than forty thousand people left.
In the fourth test, the remaining youths were sent into rooms. Each room had five people and they would be made to fight against a hoard of puppets. This test may seem simple but it really is to test their teamwork and leading skills.
Cultivators grow on the blood and flesh of others so the sect didn't expect much. They merely want to build on those skills and improve them in order to bolster their chance at survival.
Of course, not one team showed proper teamwork. Many had simply fought only for themselves and didn't care about others leading to a slow but inevitable defeat. Others simply overpowered the puppets without letting the others in the room do much.
Alas, the sect could only hope to change the habits of the ones who passed and give a few words of advice to the ones who didn't.
Finally it was the fifth and final test. There were a total of twenty four thousand five hundred participants who passed and the elders congratulated them and proceeded to explain the final test.
This final test is a week-long tournament where one person fights another. The winner will move up the ranks and the higher your rank, the better your treatment. Each person had a total of five chances to fight and increase their ranking.
Sheng Tian had watched the new disciples for a while now and pretty much knew what everyone's rankings would be and thus was not surprised when a dark horse rose through the ranks and challenged the kings and queens.
Not being interested in the fights, Sheng Tian dove into his sea of consciousness instead of cultivating. Every minor realm he advances would be met with a tribulation so it is unwise to do it in front of everyone here so instead he looked through the techniques from Wu Di.
"Young master"
A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. To his right stood an elder he had not met before "yes?"
"The sect master wishes to see you," he replied.
He pointed to a tower on another peak nearby and left. Sheng Tian had noticed eyes watching him and realized that the sect leader was watching everything in that tower.
"What does he want?" Sheng Tian thought.