Spring Winds

I had woken up to the sounds of birds chirping and to the fresh air of spring.

The heavy rain from last night left the earth feeling crisp and fresh as the sky was a pale blue with a few remaining clouds in the air. Overall, it was a beautiful day.

And it was the long-awaited and fated day.

My entrance examination. I had to either get into the Yun sect or be kicked out of the family. Either way, I didn't care which option I landed with, I want to get away from them.

Finally clearing my mind after last night's rest, I looked around the cave, and my eyes landed on the girl from last night. Propping myself upright, I could see her eyebrows scrunch up before relaxing, she snored softly, and a strand of hair in front of her face blew up and down.

So cute.

Looking down, I unwrapped my bandages to see how my wound is. Touching the unmarred skin, the wound has completely healed overnight. Almost like yesterday never happened. Except it did. Luckily those men wouldn't be around to hurt me again.

Gingerly standing up, I stretch my sore body and do a couple of morning stretches before gathering my belongings.

After I packed and made sure I had everything, I looked back at the girl in green. Sure she had hit me in the face with her kite, but she did help me yesterday. I figured I had to give her something as a form of reward or thanks.

Her kite? No. Too dangerous, who knows what she could do that thing.

Digging around my bag, I found my perfume pouch. It was a light blue and made from an inferior brocade, but it was still somewhat 'high-end' compared to cheaper fabrics. On it was an embroiled lily with faintly pink petals. I had picked it up on my journey here from a small market and thought it was rather pretty.

Now it can serve as a gift for my benefactor. And it smelt rather lovely anyway.

Leaving the pouch in the place I was once resting, I exited the cave and left for the gates of the Yun Sect.

Once I had arrived, I flashed the gatekeeper my admission number and was ushered to a small side pavilion. There were about a hundred people gathered there and among them zero women. So, I suppose I will alone again. But, that girl seemed that she would be participating in the entrance examination; I wonder how she is fairing in her testing.

Walking up to the crowd, I noticed a few people cl.u.s.tered together, gossiping about yesterday's events. Though they attempted to lower their voices, all of us here were cultivators and had a keen sense of vision and hearing. Evesdropping into their conversation was no chore for any of us.

"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?"

"No, tell me..."

"Well, I heard from a participant from yesterday, that an elder had come from close door cultivation and took on 100 martial participants all at once!"

"What! You must be exaggerating! How can such a person exist in this mortal realm? For a man to be that strong and to take them down just like that, impossible!"

"But it is! Not to mention, after he was done with the martial artists, he took care of the cultivators as well!"

"Huh? A martial artist, taking care of cultivators, how? Surely, he didn't beat them all up, did he?"

"No, he challenged all those who were present to make a certain pill, or else they could not get in."

"Which pill was it?"

"The Immortal Heart Healing Pill."

A shocked silence followed after that. The Immortal Heart Healing Pill is not something that could be crafted on the whim. It takes a large amount of spiritual energy and an abundance of rare medicinal herbs. From the Flowering Frost Lotus, which takes at least 500 years to sprout and another 10,000 years to grow, to the nectar of the Golden Peach, which grows on the cliffside of Heaven's Edge guarded by beasts and unknown creatures; those people did not stand a chance. Not to mention, one would need to be at least at Peak Superior Mortal Core. Most of those who come here are barely at Mid Superior Mortal Core. Though the difference seems small, it is a power difference as big as Heaven and Earth.

"Those people didn't stand a chance."

"Yes, about 95% of participants didn't make it. The ones who did were those who were wealthy enough to have some of those ingredients and had enough spiritual power barely made it through. Though they only could produce inferior results, it was still an achievement nonetheless."

"Oh, so the rest must have had to rely on the oral exam."

"That's no easy task as well. If you were a poor cultivator from the countryside trying to make it into the sect, it would be difficult for you to memorize the rules if you had field to tend and mouths to feed."

"Ah, the world is unfair, isn't it."

"Yes, but I'm not sure why they suddenly increase the difficulty to get in."

"Maybe, so that they could compete with the other two Peaks. It's the best way to get good results. By cutting off the weak and nurturing the strong."

"Ah, truly too unfortunate. If that's the case for the others, what about us?"

"We can only hope, I suppose."

The two men shook their heads in dismay at such an uncertain future. My heart also slowly sank to my stomach. If I don't get in, how would I face my family? Sure, I didn't have high hopes for my success, but I don't think I could bear to see my brother disappointed in me. He also hoped that I would get in, even if he couldn't.

At this time, three men walked out to the crowd, wearing the sect robes. They must be the ones testing us today.

The man leading the group stopped a few feet away from the crowd. He was tall and appeared to be a young man in his twenties. He wore standard white robes with silver accents. White for the cultivation department and silver for the sect leader's peak. He must be one the of head disciples.

"Welcome everyone to our humble sect. I thank you all for making your journey over to our sect to take our admissions exam. My name is Bai Chen, the head disciple of Yun Duan Peak, and I will be standing in for my master today." The group respectful bowed their heads to the three men, and they returned the gesture.

"Today, we will be breaking up this group into two divisions, spiritual and oral. To my left," the youth extended his left arm, and a middle-aged man walked up. The man was rather average in height and appearance and dawned blue robes and white other robes. The white color was for the cultivation department, and the blue was for the scholars. They mainly focused on gathering rare herbs and recipes for pills and studying them. They were primarily the doctors of the sect. "Master Bi Jun will be overseeing the oral examination of the entrance examination."

"And to my right, Master Yu, he will be overseeing the spiritual examination." An older man walked out to Bai Chen's right. He dawned red robes and white outer robes. White for cultivation but red for beast tamers. Though cultivators are generally weaker than martial artists, we have a higher spiritual connection to plants, animals, and environments. Having a pet beast helps cultivators where they lack in physical strength in combat. They can make up that gap by taming a creature with a spiritual link. That is if you manage to obtain one that will listen to you.

"Now, if you manage to get in, based on your results, you will get a white robe with our sect crest and color based on your strength. Enough talk, we all wish you luck and let's begin our examination!"