Tian Shi stood in the center of the makeshift stage and waited calmly. Battle intent flooded the training grounds. Fierce gazes, propelled by the need to shine brighter than the rest, pierced him from all around. Tian Shi didn't mind; he kept the warm smile tugging at his lips and analyzed the fighting spirit of his junior clansmen. If they failed to muster such spirit, he would be absolutely disappointed. Thankfully, the intensity of their gazes spoke volumes.
"The rules for this engagement are simple," one of the instructors said. "If your number is called out, you simply need to leap onto the stage and attempt an attack on the young master. The young master will restrict his cultivation to two realms lower than your current realm for absolute fairness."
A golden scroll sparked into being above the instructor. It unfurled, displaying a list of the top fifty names based on talent and performance over the last year.
Tian Shi didn't bother looking at the list. Instead, he cast his gaze across the crowd of trainees and analyzed them all with his divine sense, gauging their talents, strength, and relative ages. With an auxiliary function of his eyes, he even saw the ages at which they established their foundations to gain an understanding of how long they had been cultivating.
One of the important lessons his father taught him was to always check the relative period someone started cultivating to truly gauge their talent. Not everyone had enough resources or the required background to begin cultivation at young ages, such as three.
Although the rules felt odd to the new batch of trainees, the older ones understood how difficult the test was. An odd tradition that grew over time was the lack of information circulating about the difficulty of the young patriarch's test. Those who had suffered through the years, unable to impress the Junior Patriarch, didn't want to give an advantage to the younger, brighter talents, as the number of people chosen by the Young Patriarch tended to be few—usually less than ten.
The instructor called the last person on the top fifty seeds of the year. From the crowd, a graceful young lady leaped onto the stage.
"Tian Li seeks guidance from the Junior Patriarch," she said, giving a deep bow.
Tian Shi gave his approval with a curt nod. The young lady was eleven years old, based on the vitality fluctuations tethered to her being. She had established her foundation at three or four but had only managed to reach the early stages of Core Formation. Clearly, she wasn't a talent in cultivation.
The smile on his face never disappeared, making him seem approachable, kind, and gentle. Tian Li surmised that the young Patriarch made things easier for them, so she dug deep into her core. She gathered all the power melded into her core, forming a bright golden sword flowing with flames that stole the limelight from the sun above them.
Pupils dilated in shock at the strength of her cultivation among the trainees. Some of them suppressed the urge to compliment and encourage her, knowing that doing so would be a slight against the Young Patriarch. Others immediately realized that they needed to work much harder if they hoped to breach the top hundred gap and gain a chance the following year.
Meanwhile, the members of the top ten merely shook their heads in disappointment, lamenting what a fool Tian Li was. Even then, they respected her bravery. If they were in her position, they wouldn't have sacrificed their foundation for a chance to land a blow.
Tian Li drew in a breath. She kept her sword by her side, ensuring the Young Patriarch couldn't telegraph her movements once she was within an inch of her range. The sword tore through the air above, sending biting gusts of wind that pushed back a few of the weaker trainees.
Tian Shi's languid gaze, accompanied by a smile and a lack of movement, nearly caused her to falter. Her dreams flashed before her eyes, the glint in them sparking another burst of resolve. She forced the blade down with all the qi she could muster at her current cultivation level. Its raw strength was evident in the large number of trainees that fell to the ground, unable to withstand the unfiltered pressure of a Core Formation expert.
To her horror, the sword stopped a few inches above his shoulder, her target. Regardless of what she did, it simply wouldn't move forward. In that moment, an insurmountable force flung her off the stage.
Tian Shi hadn't moved an inch since the beginning. Her strength as a Core Formation expert barely made him sweat after he restricted his prowess to the Qi Condensation Realm. By simply applying basic maneuvers with his Qi, he disrupted her entire rhythm.
"Next!"
The next hour felt like a long trip through the endless sea that separated the Tianshan continent from the Central Mainland. Trainees came and went, each showcasing their skills, but none managed to make Tian Shi move a millimeter from where he stood. The gap between a true genius and them slapped them in the face countless times, especially those who entered the training grounds after last year's batch was chosen. For those with unyielding spirits, the beatdown was motivation to break past their limits. The rest felt their motivation and will to exceed the limits imposed upon them ground to dust.
Disappointment welled in Tian Shi's heart after he flung the number two of this year's batch away with a single gesture. He felt as though he had wasted his time, but he knew that was far from the truth. It was his biases getting the better of him; he simply required too much from those he hoped could serve him.
"Tian Jun has seen the Junior Patriarch," a boy younger than eight said after leaping onto the stage.
Tian Shi raised his brow. Finally, someone worthy of his time had arrived. The life fluctuations of the boy told him he was a little over eight, and his cultivation stood solidly in the Soul Formation stage. Alas, he realized why he hadn't paid any attention to the kid. Through his vision, he saw the boy's weakness, which would be a hindrance in his future. While everyone's Dao Heart shone brightly, the boy's barely glowed.
Still, he made his decision. Regardless of his performance, the kid would be his. A talented individual with a weak Dao Heart was the perfect candidate for him. A weak Dao Heart was a malleable thing; he could stretch and mold it into what he wanted and needed.
"Show me what you've got," Tian Shi spoke for the first time throughout the engagement, earning a collective gasp from the other trainees.