The Corruption Dragon God: Lust System-Chapter 591 - The Cosmic Dawn Sect (04)
To the surprise of all the inner disciples, not only did Elder Shen treat Qingyi with great kindness, but he even offered him a seat beside himself.
Even they, the inner disciples, had to remain standing, not daring to show disrespect to an elder of the First Step of the Path of Extinction Realm.
"Tell me, young man, where are you from? Dragons aren’t common in this region." The elder asked, looking at Qingyi with curious eyes.
Qingyi didn’t answer immediately, checking with Ruxue to see if it would be okay to use his identity as a young man who had just ascended from the immortal heavens.
When she replied that it was fine and that, in fact, it might even be good to divert attention from him, he was honest.
"Actually, Senior, I am an ascendant from the Immortal Heaven. I have just arrived in the Celestial Heaven and entered the selection process of the Cosmic Dawn Sect accompanying Young Master Chen."
"Hm..." Elder Shen scratched his chin, a little disappointed.
He had hoped that Qingyi might be a disciple of some reclusive master, or at least someone of noble birth.
Furthermore, Ascended Ones always carried a serious flaw.
Their talent was, in the overwhelming majority of cases, great only in comparison to their homeland.
When they reached the celestial heavens, they always proved to be mediocre.
Perhaps Qingyi had, in fact, simply been lucky, or possessed some unknown perceptual ability.
Young Master Guo Tianhao, standing beside the two, also let out a smirk, puffing out his chest.
It was obvious it had been luck.
If it were up to him, the fact that Qingyi had passed the test in less than five minutes shouldn’t even be recorded!
Of course, he knew he was asking for too much.
Despite coming from the Immortal Realm, the mere fact that he had passed the test in five minutes was already enough to be accepted, even without participating in the individual combat phase.
With an arrogant look, Tianhao began to ignore Qingyi, deeming him an insignificant ant.
Qingyi paid no heed to Elder Shen’s disappointed gaze, nor to the contempt of the other inner disciples.
Silently, he stayed in his corner, declining the seat next to the elder.
That was best for him.
Showing too much talent would draw the attention of more and more elders, some of whom might want to test that talent more directly.
And what if, during those tests, they discovered the existence of the Corruption Dragon God’s lineage?
In that place, where the Dragon God of Corruption was widely known and despised, he needed to be much more careful.
It was better to start from the bottom and not reveal more than he could protect with his current power.
With a soft sigh, Qingyi closed his eyes and waited.
After about two hours, a second person appeared, a young man of ordinary appearance with gentle eyes.
He seemed surprised to see Qingyi already there, but didn’t think much of it, merely greeting the elder and taking his place a few meters away.
Another thirty minutes passed, and then two doors opened at the same time, revealing the figures of Young Master Chen Wei and Young Master Luo.
The two exchanged glances filled with contempt and anger, fighting the urge to throw themselves at each other to decide who had finished first.
Even a lead of a few seconds would be enough to make them feel satisfied.
In the end, they merely greeted Elder Shen and took comfortable seats.
Chen Wei stood beside Qingyi and wanted to ask about Qingyi’s time, but since the elder had not given permission to speak, being, at that very moment, absorbed in reading a book, the young master remained silent, meditating.
The selection was far from over.
Another five youths appeared in the following hour, and only after five hours did the great crowd begin to leave the test.
Well, "great crowd" was an exaggeration, since, in total, only sixty of the nearly ten thousand youths had passed.
All the others? Most hadn’t even passed the first test, and many died in the middle of the second.
No one there was shocked.
Deaths were common in the cultivation world. Necessary, in fact.
A world where even those ten thousand young people of average talent could live up to a hundred thousand years, and where even commoners with no cultivation at all could last for centuries.
With all that, the cultivation world faced a terrible problem of overpopulation.
If it weren’t so violent and bloody, it wouldn’t take long for cultivation society to collapse, simply because there were too many people for the amount of resources available in the celestial heavens.
"Very well." The elder stood up after ten hours, watching the last of the youths exit through one of the many doors leading out of that place.
It was Peng Tao, Chen Wei’s servant.
In total, just over sixty youths had passed the tests.
All the others had died in the second test, while those trapped in the first had been released and teleported out.
Stroking his long white beard, the elder revealed a gentle smile.
"Now, we will move on to the third test: an assessment of your combat ability, where you will face inner disciples in one-on-one duels."
The moment the words fell, frightened sighs echoed through the room, and many were already losing hope right there.
"Oh... don’t worry, hahahaha." The elder noticed the expressions on the youths’ faces and laughed.
"Our sect values more than just combat ability. The fact that your Qi manipulation and perception are so refined already means you are capable of taking on production roles within the sect, even if you do not become fighters."
With those words, relief washed over the young people’s faces.
With a gentle smile, the elder turned his gaze to Qingyi.
"Long Qingyi, you were the first to pass the first two tests. Step forward." Elder Shen beckoned to him, and he obeyed, stepping onto the marble platform in the center of the room.
Looking at the inner disciples, the elder waited for one of them to step forward as well.
