All in all it looked like a normal Secular Bridge with no aura indicative of Cultivation leaking out. Only the Aura of Gloom & Doom was spreading from that bridge.
"Friend Sargon, it is said that this is the Heart Questioning Bridge which is said to be connected with the Sect Protection Formation. It has an even better effect than the Spirit Asking Talisman of the Sect & is said that it can even question some Foundation Paragons.", rockarna was trying to get close to Sargon after all Apollo was the 3rd highest Scorer of 2nd Mana Test & although the score didn't determine the future it was enough of a ground to bet on him.
"Oh, so it is. The Spies & those with grudges towards the Sect will be filtered out so that Sect would have more Unity. Indeed this treasure plays huge Merit on the Stability & Prosperity of the Sect"
Soon one by one they stepped on the bridge. Sargon too entered with Rockarna & Arjumon.
However as soon as they entered they were separated.
At least they felt they were separated. Sargon could only see fog in all the 10 Directions around him, he couldn't even properly see the planks of the Bridge & the lower foot on which he was standing.
Hisss !!!
That was scary. One wrong move & he could fall through the gap of Bridge & fall down directly to the world of Underground.
'Come to the Dark Side!!!'
'Become a Sith , do blood sacrifice & steal the Immortal Foundation from Heavens'
'Search all libraries & run from the sect'
'Kill !!'
'Violet Valley deserves to be annihilated . An unorthodox pretending to be Orthodox . What a Bluff '
Various thoughts & sounds frequently could be heard as Sargon was carefully feeling the next plank to step on & move towards the end of the bridge.
Sargon however calmly exercised the Yin Yang Samsara Wheel sutra & slowly & carefully was moving towards the other Side when he heard an estranged roar falling down the Bridge.
'Kill, Kill all the Sect '
The sound slowly started to blur until one 'THUD' sound came from the ground below.
Sissh !
"It is the easiest but failure is Death here ", all the participants semi-blinded by the fog thought in a similar pattern when they heard the Thud.
Sargon exhaled the Breath & continued even more carefully.
********************************************************************
"Congratulations to all for Passing the Trial . From now on all of you are Courtyard Disciples of the Sect. "
"Those who don't want to enter our Sect can enter the Vassal Brother Sects or Vassal Immortal Families of our sect where perhaps you would get far better treatment & time to show your talents.", the Elder continued.
From the brief guiding sentences of Elder, Sargon as an adult could immediately grasp the core situation of the Violet Order State & how its Ruler Violet Valley Sect operated & formed Political alliance & working Bureaucratic style.
Rockarna also chimed in & further expanded the background of the Sect.
Violet Order situated in the Far North Central region whose land area was similar to the Tibet Region/Province of China. It had 6 Counties further within. The Central 2 Counties were basically runned & filled by those who are affiliated with the sect or those whose ancestors were prestigious members of the sect.
Of Course even in this world where there were Magicians who could FLy & various Magical Mythical Steeds running Caravans are as fast as modern day Car of Earth, there are nonetheless not vary Safe & stable with some border between counties or certain regions separated by Mana-Zones where it is extremely hard for even top-level Experts Foundation paragons to traverse through let alone the mid-level Magus & almost ant like Weak-level Mages.
As the Sect & its core needed to be concentrated to cultivate closeness & strengthen bond & it must have a safe & stable area so that the sect could not lose Fresh-Bloods.
So it is also 'common Sense' to bestow various remote areas with scarce resources & which had few decent quality Spiritual Land filled with vitality of Spirit Veins to various forces & collect tax & revenue from those counties.
Of course those central 2 counties filled with resources like Spirit Mines, Spirit Lands & valleys filled with rich spiritual energies were left over for the Sect, after all this advantages were necessary for Sect to constantly produce Paragons enlarge amount so that they could dominate the whole State & get fat from sitting on the Mountain.
These Vassal Families or Vassal Sects together governed the Counties & they could also be loyal to the Sect & get rich themselves using the resources & the taxes of the Counties.
They also ran some small businesses like Spirit Planting of Rice & various Products that were conductive for Cultivation. Some sold Pills, some weapons, some low-quality Scriptures .
Since they had limited money-printing resources however there were many Conflicts due to the simple reason of more Demand & less supply & this Martial World, it was majorly decided by the bigger fist who among them deserved the Vassal Status.
It was a Divide & conquer Strategy used by the Kings where they eat chicken meat & let the vassals fight, bicker and have grudges & favors among themselves just to get some leftover Chicken Soup.
So the Brother Vassal Sects ruled the remaining 4 counties majorly while the Vassal Families ruled the 8 External Cities that were mentioned.
Vassal Sects include : Western Falling Spear Sect, Eastern Han Mage Tower, Northern Ice Spirit Palace, Southern Edge Guild.
8 External Cities include : Sunlight City, MoonSirus City, Dragon Mount Lake City, Suzaku River City, Song Hill City,Azure Immortal City, WarmLeaf City, Thunder Rock City
Nonetheless both of them could barely manage to get laborers for the Mage & Magus level/realm suitable for various miscellaneous occupations like Spirit Farmer.
As all of the aspirants were focusing on Violet Valley Sect, the overlord of the Violet Order State , one of the 100 States of Kratos Republic.
Those who had just passed the 1st Test & failed the 2nd Test meant they had poor aptitude for mana but had acceptable aptitude for Essence Condensation. So when they had failed the test & returned to the foot of the hill, they were taken in by various Vassal Sects or Families.
They would be pampered & various Dreams & inspiration will be filled inside their Mind & heart , so unaware of the situation & due to lack of their Mature Mentality , they will soon sell themselves as Servants & Serfs to these Vassal Organizations.
Some would be tricked for a 10-20 years Farming contract[ with them getting 20-30% of the Harvest], for Spirit Farmers which also required Body Strength & some would be trained in Body Cultivation & increased their levels & could serve as palace guards or Escort Police for these Vassal Sects or Families.
But the fate of these ones who had passed 2nd test & 3rd Spirit Test was slightly better, they by showing their token & being verified of their background can join the Immortal Families as Guest Members or can even be a Inner Disciple of the Vassal Sects.
Each had their own benefit as in the Case of Vassal Sects, status of Disciple meant fart in the context of sect ,although one would be accepted & integrated into the group soon,it will be filled with competition & struggle to rise forward.
In the Cases of the Vassal Immortal Families although the role & closeness of Guest-Member was somewhat alienated but if one was willing to change their Ancestor's Clan Surname they would be an inner Member with names on the Branch Family Genealogy Tree
.After reaching a certain cultivation level,they would be even accepted as the Elder as the competition was much less as these Families were not always filled with talent & had less population than the sect. This strategy was beneficial for both.
One side gets fresh blood while the other gets resources and status to move in their Immortal Journey.
Many boys filled with young hot blooded characters chose the sects as it was looked down upon by the society if a Male can't even keep his Ancestors Spirit going forward in future & changes his surname. Also these boys would be relatively more alienated in the families, due to their more Patriarchal Blood Bond Nature.
Many of the girls will naturally choose the cohesive & comfortable life of families as they would even find potential good & refined gentlemanly husbands & Female Gender did have a leeway to change their Surnames of the Clan in the marriage.
Nonetheless this was not the Major trend unless the Groom's side Power & Status vastly eclipsed the Brides , any Family or it was more fair to call them Clan would have spent a substantial amount of resources on the Cultivation of magical powers of these females they would refuse the girl to change their Surnames of the ancestor even when she was married off to her Husband's Clan.
It was perhaps to ensure that Daughters of the clan still have feelings left for her Clan.
The Elder continued, "However remember that Our Sect is still the most prestigious Alchemy Sect throughout the Kratos Republic & once you miss this chance you may never get it back. "
Most of the passed students stayed here while the 4 or 5 people went down the mountains to join the Vassal Sects in the hopes that it will be easier to attain the Elder Figure Status in the relatively less competitive environment.
Who knows perhaps one of them may be even lucky to be a Sect Leader & chance upon the extremely precious Foundation Building Pill & have hopes & courage enough to attack the 2nd Step of Cultivation & prolong one's lifespan.
"Good Good Good ! ", the male Foundation Building Human Elder who had a lifespan of 200 years was extremely pleased that those who left to vassal sects this time was far lesser than the last time.
"This here is No.1 Inner Hill Disciple Marcus Alexilis , a Sword Cultivator Mage , who excels in both Physical & Mana Cultivation thus getting the moniker of 'The Violet Sword Knight throughout the Violet Valley Sect, he would be your guide & would explain the basics of the Sect & the Dao of our Sect. I hope everyone present here would be able to protect their Status as Outer Disciple the next time we meet .Wish you all the best "
As he said, the Elder flew through the sky and disappeared extremely fast from the vision of these new Courtyard Disciples.
"Juniors Greets Senior Brother Marcus Alexilis, The Violet Sword Knight ", almost all of them bowed to the direction of a tall, handsome & wide shouldered medium waist Muscular Fit guy who seemed to be the age of 20 or something.
"Haha, it's a pleasure to meet fellow disciples. You can only call by my Name. The Elder sure likes to put us in an embarrassing position. Anyone who practices both the Physical & Mana Cultivation , an evolution of Multiple Style to an extreme is given the Title Knight Mage , although uncommon in the Normal External world, it is the most common moniker & style like cabbages in the Sect world. ", as the strong brow ridge & deep set Sword like eyes pierced through the existing crowd & the winds were blowing on his robe, many of them could also see upon the extremely chiseled marvelous Eight Packs of the Senior.
The Boys wanted to be like him & many girls were fantasizing about being with him.
Are handsome men & beautiful women like cabbages or what ? Sargon was thinking with envy.
Perhaps cultivation increases one's Beauty further ?
"Anyways before explaining about the rules of our sect i want to emphasize about what Inner Elder said, The Main Point you need to remember is that you are only an Courtyard Disciple and this special & privileged status of yours would last for 2 years after which you would become an normal Outer Gate Disciple which would be much harsher", Marcus Alexilis continued to expand upon the & carefully explain the hierarchy of the Sect.