216 Chapter 216 (1/2)
The two youths weren't the only ones here. The tired bodies of other disciple candidates were similarly unmoving on the cold ground. The test had finally ended and now the only thing that was left was to count the merit points. Most of the people knew if they had already passed or not as there was a certain scanning device that would show you the number you had. The contestant just needed to go over to it and have it scan their emblem to show the number of merits.
The two weren't quite sure, they were ejected from the last trial they were taking. They were frantically trying to pass and didn't use the scanner to tell how many merit points they had. The two had to settle on the combat and physical trials. There were various other ways of passing even with no fighting ability whatsoever.
There were trials where you could show your knowledge about formations. There were even ones that required you to read and write as that was a skill that wasn't that common in this world. The sect wasn't only looking for powerful fighters, they also needed intelligent prospects that were good at management. Strength with no reason behind it wasn't something this sect wanted.
A large gong sounded which indicated the end of the sect trials. The gates started to forcefully eject the participants that were still on the inside. Those areas where the tests were being held were specially built with an ejection feature. This was mostly for safety reasons as the people inside would be brought outside if their life signals dropped too low. If such a thing happened the contestants would be taken away into one of the clinics for a checkup. Matt didn't really want people to be dying when trying out for his sect.
After a long week of trials and tribulations, the potential disciples that had passed would finally become part of the sect. They would not become true disciples though, they would first have to go through a trial period in the sect academy. They would be given the title of trial disciples and could always fail during the years the school was active. They could at most be held back by a year there, if they didn't manage to progress they would be kicked out.
Zhang Liu came out once more on his flying sword. The sect could remotely tell who had passed and who had failed. The last thing that these youths had to do was just walk through another gate.
”Congratulations brothers and sisters, you have shown us the determination and worth of a United Element sect member! Now, anyone with at least a 100 merit points is allowed to walk through this door.”
”The sect emblems that you have been given will allow you to access some parts of the sect. If you have enough then follow me inside, if you don't then please leave the sect premises.”
Zhang Liu performed another short speech before moving before the last gate and demonstrating how everything worked. He just stood in front of the gate and a similar scanner like ray hit the emblem on his shoulder. The gate then slid open, it was apparently a giant jade sliding door and would open each time someone from the sect stepped forward.
After Zhang Liu vanished inside the tired people started walking up slowly. The first person that stepped forward was a handsome young man. His robe looked tidy and neat if you compared it to the ones the two youths were wearing from the Tatar tribe. The moment he arrived the gate slid open and he just walked in without stopping.
This handsome young man was the person with the highest number of merit points from this batch. He was soon followed by a ravishing beauty, the woman caught every man's eye as she also headed inside. She was second on the merit list and was followed by a large burly youth with a bare chest that finished at the third spot. The others just looked on flabbergasted by the looks of these people, everyone could tell that their cultivation was quite high for their age.
”Everyone please line up in an orderly fashion.”
A person from the sect finally walked up and started organizing everything. The youths had stopped before the last hurdle and not everyone was willing to step forward. Everything moved slowly and some of the trial takers weren't allowed in as the door remained shut before them. They were excused to the side with a pat on the back, maybe they could try again in a couple of years if they weren't too old.
Cheng Yun and Yang Rong were the only two people to successfully make it through the door from the Tatar tribe. To their dismay the other clan they were feuding with had three people make it over to the other side. The only good part about this was that it was forbidden for sect disciples to fight with each other outside the sect.
It took some time for everyone to get past that gate, the logistics of moving all of these people inside and outside the sect were tremendous. The way they performed the trials might have to be evaluated in the future as most of it was just people waiting in lines.
On the other side the new trial disciples were greeted with quite the sight. There were various massive buildings standing everywhere but the most eye-catching was the giant castle right in the middle and then a smaller one floating right above it, radiating power. Before anything could happen further Zhang Dong had to do his speech.
The youths that had gone through the week-long trials were all tired so he wanted to do this fast. He was looking at the statistics, close to fifty thousand people had made it through the trials. This might have sounded like a large number but there were over a million candidates at the start. Huge sects tended to have millions of members spread throughout the lands that they owned, so when they added fifty thousand they still were much smaller than the other superpowers.
Those fifty thousand were all now in the square while being surrounded by some official sect members. Before they could ask what was happening everyone felt a massive spike in spiritual energy in the area. The Qi in the air started vibrating as if something big was coming. Everyone here started getting goosebumps before they looked into the air and there they finally saw him.
Zhang Dong was floating in the air and looking down at them. He was wearing a long gold and violet ceremonial robe. His sleeves were long and they along with the bottom of his robe gently floated in the wind. Not everyone recognized this man as the sect leader but some noticed that he had a striking resemblance to the statue that was in the city.
”Greeting to my United Element's Sect, you have managed to take your first step towards greatness. Keep this in mind though, this isn't the end of your struggles, it's just the beginning.”
The man smirked a bit after completing that sentence, the potential disciples flinched as they didn't like the sound of that. Most of them barely scraped by to get those merit points and supposedly this wasn't the end.