95 Rank-up test. (2/2)
When he left his house, he saw that there were still quite a few disciples gathered up in the area in front of his house. He could see a few tents, so it seemed like they had set up a camp, fully determined to become a part of Li Yang's faction. A few of the disciples that were gathered up shrank back a few paces when Li Yang stepped out of his house, clearly remembering how he had viciously punched someone who was right next to him the last time they tried to join his faction.
Li Yang swept them all with a calm gaze, still not interested in any of them, nor in creating his own faction for that matter. He didn't even know how long he was going to stay in this clan, so he saw no point in making a faction. There was also the fact that he wasn't suited for leading others, Fang Ying had always been far more adept at it than he was.
Seeing his calm gaze, the ones that stepped forward to shout out their offers quickly shrank back again, none of them hoping to follow in the footsteps of the girl that had been hit last time. Thanks to this, Li Yang was able to leave without being disturbed, heading for the large mountain that stood at the center of the clan.
Li Yang quickly reached the Ascending Carp Staircase, the staircase that went from the bottom of the mountain to the peak, following it a short distance up the mountain. The place where he had met with the elders was halfway up the mountain, but this time he only had to follow the staircase for a short distance, not even reaching a quarter of the distance up the mountain.
When he stepped away from the staircase, he stepped onto a yellow-bricked winding path that led all the way around the mountain. He only had to follow this path for a short distance until he reached his goal, a square stone stage that was almost five kilometers in each direction. Standing on the stone stage was a small group of 20 disciples who were all between the late stage of the Ascending Heaven realm and the early stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm. It wasn't hard for Li Yang to guess that these were disciples who were here to undertake the same test as him, each of them aiming to become an inner disciple.
None of these disciples were amongst the top five outer disciples, so Li Yang guessed that they were probably from some clan or sect that served under the Yuan clan, brought in specifically to see if they were talented enough to complete this test.
Other than these 20 disciples, there were five disciples who had reached either the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm or the early stage of the Primordial Rune realm, most likely inner disciples who were there to oversee the rank-up test. And standing in front of these disciples was a single elder, a graceful woman with hair so golden it seemed to release an otherworldly glow, her pure white eyes made her look like she was blind, but looking at how they were sweeping over the gathered disciples, Li Yang guessed that she most likely wasn't blind.
The eyes of the people that had gathered up landed on Li Yang as he arrived, each of them carefully inspecting him. These disciples were arrogant, but they weren't stupid, they knew how to assess other cultivators. Li Yang kept most of his energy hidden within his body, taking on a somewhat unassuming appearance, but all of these disciples knew of the things he had done within the clan, so none of them dared underestimate him because of his low cultivation. Li Yang joined up with the 20 other disciples, the golden-haired elder nodding her head and opening her mouth to announce the rules of the rank-up test.
”Good, now everyone is here. I am Elder Su and I will be the one in charge of this rank-up test. The rank-up test that I am in charge of is very simple, yet very effective. It consists of two tests, one to check your strength and one to check your head. The test to check your strength will take place first, it will require each of you to fight one of these five inner disciples. You don't have to beat them, you just have to either wound them three times or survive for five minutes, manage either of these things and you pass the first test.”
The first test was very standard, giving the disciple a chance to showcase his combat instincts as well as his strength. It might be a bit troublesome to leave three wounds on someone with much higher cultivation, but it was, in fact, the easier option of the two. Even when it came to people who had similar cultivation, battles could easily end in an instant, one single opening being the only thing necessary for someone to inflict a mortal wound. For a battle to go on for five minutes, both cultivators had to be nearly completely evenly matched in strength. After giving the disciples a quick second to digest the information about the first trial, Elder Su explained the second, and a bit more troublesome, test.
”Those who past the first test will then move on to the second test. Every one of those who passed will receive one mission from among the countless team missions that the clan has stored up, and using only the other disciples that are taking the rank-up test, you must complete your mission. The catch is that you yourself are not allowed to take part in the mission, you are only allowed to give orders to the other disciples, delegating them in a manner that will allow you to best clear the mission. That means that each of you will take turns being subordinates and leaders, so this is also a good chance to see how well you deal with having to take orders from others.”
The second test was quite a bit more troublesome for these disciples than the first, mainly because there was no way for them to know what mission they would receive. There was also the fact that there was no way of knowing what sort of incidents might appear in the mission, so they had to show that they were good at giving orders during stressful situations. This type of test wasn't Li Yang's forte, but he was still confident that he could do well enough to pass it. After explaining the two tests, Elder Su didn't waste any more words, stretching out her arm and pointing at a girl standing in the midst of the disciples taking the rank-up test.
”You, step forward and fight him.”
The rest of the disciples took the hint, leaving the stone stage and making space for the girl and the male inner disciple that were pointed at, the first test starting immediately.