Chapter 341 (1/2)
”What do you think of the new batch of trial disciples?”
”Hm… there were a few promising prospects, like that youth with the large frame.”
”Ah, the elder has a good eye, his name is Wang Yating, he is already in the late inner aura stage even at such a young age.”
”Yes, yes. He might be able to make it as an inner sect disciple if he gets the right mentor. Is the elder thinking about making him his disciple?”
Two men were walking together. One was a somewhat older-looking old man, while the second was a taller-looking middle-aged man. It was clear that the older man was a more important member of the Thunderball Hall.
”Perhaps, if he shows me that he is worth it…”
The old man rubbed his beard while hoping to snag a promising youth for himself to guide. He was only an outer sect elder and was far too old to progress into the inner sect. The only hope of getting his foot in there was to shepherd a promising disciple.
It would be quite the honor to produce a powerful member of the sect. Even if he wasn't able to make it, he would always be his master.
He wasn't the only outer sect elder that was eyeing the young prospects here. The sect recruitment drive happened rarely and there was a limited number of seats in the outer sect for them. Each elder could take on multiple disciples and even if one made it into the inner sect it would be enough.
”Greetings Elder Yusheng.”
There were about five hundred new recruits and he was responsible for a third of them. There were two other elders with the same status as him. The three would need to somewhat contend with each other.
From these five hundred youths, maybe one or two would be selected into the inner sect. If one of these outer sect elders would be able to guide such a disciple it was seen as someone that they could brag about.
Thus most of the time, these elders would pit their trial disciples against the other ones. It was seen as a game between the elder generation, the side that had the better disciples would be praised. The losers would in turn have to contend with being laughed at and seen as failures.
”How did the trial disciples fair during the night?”
”There was a fight as usual… one of the disciples showed promise, he managed to defeat multiple opponents in his own realm.”
”Oh, is that so?”
Yusheng asked while chuckling. The first day at the sect was always like this and the sect seniors allowed the disciples to take care of things with their fists. It was a good way to see which of the prospects were fierce enough to come out on top.
The life of a cultivator was a harsh one. The masters of this sect did not want anyone that was unwilling to fight. In the future, they might need these youths to help them in combat. Keeping cowards around would only weaken the sect.
Things were slightly different for the women cultivators though. They had a separate section at the Hall and were managed by their own female elders. The men did not intrude in their affairs too much but this did not mean that they would not be asked to fight when the time came.
”Good, have the disciples line up!”
The old man nodded and the junior that he was talking with entered the barracks. He began shouting and soon the trial disciples started appearing outside. There were supposed to be about forty new prospects here but the number had dwindled by some. This was acceptable as during the night fight some of the youths would be carried away to the infirmary to mend their injuries.
Even with some of them missing there were quite a few, they would all need to meet up with all the other young prospects. They all stood at attention with one youth, in particular, standing out. It was clear that this one was the winner of the nightly rumble, he stood in the front and the other young men were afraid to look him in the eye.
”Hoh, that must be that Wang Yating that you spoke about?”
”I… That's not him… that young man was much larger and sturdier-looking… I don't recall anyone like this being here. Don't worry elder Yusheng, I'll go ask right away!”
The elder looked to the junior and was now confused. The person that was rounding up the disciples was one of the Martial Masters that was here yesterday, thus a question was posed to him. Yusheng waited for the junior to go ask while the disciples waited without speaking.
”Big news Elder! Something unfathomable happened last night!”
The junior returned and started making a fuss about the previous night. Yusheng was informed about the big turnaround and how the best prospect was now getting his broken fingers mended.