A minute passes as the three peak masters wait for senior Jang Hong to reply. But his face remains tranquil.
Hoot!
"Ah! what?" Jang Hong's eyes snap open as the owl on his shoulder hoots.
Awoken from his sleep he looks around to get a grasp of the situation.
"Oh!"
He looks at the three peak masters and says with embarrassment.
"Forgive me, I haven't rested for a long time in my dark and cramped workshop. So I fell asleep as the warm rays of the sun touched my old body. "
"Senior Jang, how can we accept your forgiveness? It should be us asking for an apology." Chen Tao says.
"That's right senior you should have rested and let someone else represent you instead." Even the sharp-tongued Hong Tian says with respect.
Jang Hong is the oldest cultivator of the flying sword sect. He is over 400 years old and has dedicated almost his entire life to the service of the sect.
The flying sword sect is the overlord of western divine continent and he is one of the reasons for it.
Even the current sect master takes a
note of his seniority and asks for advice every time he finds himself stuck.
"Hohoho I was going to do that." Then he scans the new cultivators in the centre while caressing his beard.
"I heard this time there are many excellent seeds so I couldn't help but make an appearance myself."
The three peak masters exchanged glances. Chen Tao's fingers tapped against his sleeve, while Hong Tian's jaw tightened slightly.
The three peak masters stay quiet, they look at Jang Hong with a dilemma. Jang Hong is the peak master of the refinement peak.
If you ask a cultivator what the most important resource is for them. Without a doubt, every cultivator will say charms.
Without charms, a cultivator is no different from a mere mortal. And charms also need to be refined that is why the refinement peak master has authority riveting the sect leader.
And on top of that, there is Jang Hong's seniority. If he asks for any disciple the other peak master has to give him a face.
"Why the long faces, are you worried that senior Jang will take the most promising disciples?"
The fifth and final peak master also arrives and stands on the last high platform.
He is an elder in black robes with an impassive face. His eyes are blue like water as a frightening pressure slowly spreads around him. The sky in his area is dark, filled with clouds ready to rain.
"We all know the rules of selecting disciples." He says with a smile on his face "Senior has upheld the rules of the sect in his entire life. You won't break them just because of some promising child."
Jang Hong looks at him silently as the tension builds between them. The three peak masters also take a step back.
Jang Hong's lips curl up in a smile but his eyes are not smiling.
"Gu Lei is right. I Jang Hong has followed the rules of the flying sword sect with sincerity all my life. I won't break them for my selfish reasons."
As Jang Hong declares, all three peak masters sigh in relief.
"Now let's get started, we shouldn't let new disciples wait."
Everyone nods and turns to the crows. Gu Lei looks at the twenty-five of them and smiles.
He waves his hand and twenty-five bamboo scrolls fly to everyone. Ye Lei walked back and left the formation.
I catch the bamboo scroll and the content inside and read. 'Five-element refining technique.'
"The technique in your hand is the basic refining technique of our flying sword sect."
Gu Lei says softly but his voice is audible to everyone present.
Refining a charm necessarily doesn't require a refining technique. But without a technique, it may take even talented cultivators a long time to refine a charm.
To refine low-ranking ones it can take days but the difficulty increases proportionally to the rank of charm.
In days the process could take weeks, months or even years. To shorten the time refinement techniques were created.
"You must have seen the energy refining array before the one you are standing right now is an advanced version of that."
"The formation below you is used to measure your potential. And based on your potential we will assign you the position of inner or outer disciple."
Most of the twenty-five of us look at each other in confusion. They had thought that after they became a cultivator they would reach the sky in one step. But they don't know.
Cultivation is a long journey that requires great patience and dedication. But the most important factor in the path of cultivation is talent and potential.
If you have genius-level talent you can just breathe and break through a wall.
If your potential is high you can reach greater heights that most cultivators can't even dream of.
"Now stand a few meters apart from each other the five peak masters will send a charm at you."
"Using the refinement technique in the scroll, choose one to refine. And be careful the charm you choose will decide your affiliation."
After that, he stops speaking and waits for us to learn the technique.
The technique of scrolling is a little complex but it is not too hard. After reading the technique I sit down on the ground.
I am not the first one. Cui Miao, Wang Xuan and Xie Liu Su and a few others are already faster than me.
After a few minutes, everyone sits down and it really starts.
"Hoho let me be the first."
Jang Hong stands and waves his hand and twenty-five brown pieces of rock fly in front of everyone.
After him, the remaining four peak masters also release the charm.
Chen Tao releases charms that look like bamboo leaves.
GwakYoung releases charms in the shape of a small flame of fire.
Gu Lei releases charms that look like a bubble of water.
At last Hong Tian releases a charm that looks like a metallic needle.
I look at the five charms in front of me. Each represents one of the five elements.
Without waiting for much time I expand my consciousness and close my eyes.
Even with my eyes closed I sense the charms. I analyse their natures and decide what charm I want to refine.
A few days ago when my spiritual pathways and lower energy centre were open.
I had already become an Early Rank 1 cultivator. A small amount of light blue divine energy is already stored in my energy centre.
I use the refining technique I just learned and begin to refine the rank 1 ember charm.
Similar to Tian Ming the rest also started refining their charms. Cui Miao chose the rank 1 water ball charm and Wang Xuan chose the ember charm.
On the high platform, Gu Lei looks at the formation. He points his finger and a crystalline tortoise beetle shining five different colours of light flies on the formation with a buzzing sound.
"This is the rank 5 crystal metamorphosis charm."
"Yes, it is exactly as it was described in chapter 1 of Path of Cultivation."
"This is the charm that helped Xian Zen awaken as the first cultivator. "
"Such a legendary charm no wonder this is one of the greatest treasures of our flying sword sect."
Among the crowd many exclaim. For cultivators, their cultivation time is very precious. They place its value above gold.
And still hundreds of cultivators are present here. Why? Just to look at a few Early Rank 1 cultivators.
No, the reason they are here is to get a glimpse of a Rank 5 charm.
Cultivation is a gruelling endeavour. But still, you need potential. You need talent.
The higher your cultivation the greater the difficulty to reach the next level. All cultivators practice their whole life and in the end, most can't even reach Rank 3 and become a master.
The same applies to charms. High rank charms are even more rare than high rank cultivators.
And disciples with low potential can't even get a single glimpse of a rank 4 charm. And the rank 5 charm is a legend among them.
The only exception is today when the sect recruits new disciples.
In order to run and strengthen its power, the flying sword sect recruits disciples every year.
They use their advanced formation to check the potential of new disciples. And the core of the formation is a rank 5 crystal metamorphosis charm.
As the rank 5 charm becomes one with the formation. It inhales the energy of heaven and earth and releases pure divine energy.
The entire formation shines with yellow light. As vast amounts of energy fill the energy centre of a new disciple.
When the divine energy fills my body I first tremble but then I begin to feel comfortable. This complete opposite of the executive pain from energy-gathering array
My focus increases and my divine energy recovers. I stop thinking about this foreign energy and focus all my attention on the charm in front of me.
With the help of formation I refined the rank 1 ember charm in just a few minutes and after refining it, it enters my energy centre and is burning there.
Charms have different characteristics; living charms are mostly fragile so their abilities are used while they stay in the energy centre.
On the other hand, non-living charms are generally tough and they are mostly used as weapons.
After the charm enters my body the energy from the formation touches the walls of my energy centre.
My energy centre begins to glow with blue light. Then it changes into orange light and as it was about to change into a different colour.
Clank!
Golden chains appear and wrap around my energy centre suppressing it. The light stops changing colour and stays orange.
I feel sharp pain in my body as I abruptly open my eyes.