"A flying cauldron." Jiang Yue wondered aloud as he looked at the pot that had just flown into the martial arena.
The pot was pitch black with a diameter of one metre at its widest part.
It had three legs at the bottom, and two triangular handles at the very top.
When it moved, red flame patterns appeared on its body, and Jiang Yue had the illusion that the pot was on fire.
"One of them should be an alchemist." Yu Nianzhen observed as he also looked at the flying pot.
"Elder Chen is a fifth rank alchemist. The only female fifth rank alchemist in our Cangxing world." Someone informed, and the two turned to look at the speaker.
"Bai Zheng, you are also here?"
"I accompanied my clansmen." She tipped her head towards a group of three children.
"What numbers do you have?"
"682 and 683."
"My clansmen are ahead of you. They are 90, 91, and 92."
The three chatted for a while and did not stop until a commotion started on the stage.
They turned their attention to the martial platform and saw that the flying pot had already landed, and five people had jumped out from within.
Among the five, three were men, and two were women.
One of the females was a young girl who looked to be of the same age and cultivation as them while the other was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her thirties.
She had long black hair which contrasted beautifully with her pure white robe, but the most remarkable thing was her aura.
Compared to the three men who had arrived with her, her aura wasn't oppressive.
Instead, it had an ethereal quality that seemed to flow between existence and nonexistence.
"She seems familiar." Jiang Yue said with a frown on his face.
He was sure that he had never met the woman.
However, he felt a fundamental familiarity that transcended acquaintanceship.
Yu Nianzhen also frowned as an idea occurred to him, and he turned his gaze to the woman.
Coincidentally, she had also turned to look at them, and when their gaze met, Yu Nianzhen felt as if he had been thrust into a quagmire.
His feet became unsteady, his vision spiralled, and his body began to sink into the ground.
Panic rose from the depths of his heart, and a cold sweat covered his back as he tried to struggle out of the quagmire.
"Yu Nianzhen…" A voice called, and someone shook his shoulder.
"What?"
Yu Nianzhen came to and realised that he was still standing in the same place.
The fact that he was not in a quagmire should have made him happy, but all he felt was trepidation.
At that moment, he had truly believed that he was sinking into a quagmire and his mind never had the thought that he was trapped in an illusion.
'Illusion?' He thought.
Jiang Yue had said that he felt a familiarity with the woman and after this incident, Yu Nianzhen was sure that his idea was correct.
The familiarity that Jiang Yue felt was because they had a similar origin. However, he had yet to break through to the origin forging realm and thus couldn't understand the familiarity.
Yu Nianzhen understood all this, but he didn't understand why the woman had attacked him with an illusion.
He turned to the platform and looked at the woman in confusion, but she only smiled and ignored him.
Unfortunately, he had no time to figure it out because the test was about to begin.
"Are you okay?" Jiang Yue asked.
He had noticed Yu Nianzhen's abnormality, but he didn't know the reason for it.
"I am fine."
"Okay, let's line up."
A queue leading to the platform had begun to form in the participant area, and the two went over to join.
"What's your number?" Jiang Yue asked a random person.
"219."
'Further back.' He thought and walked towards the back of the line.
"Number?'
"432."
'Still further back.'
"Number?"
"699."
Finally, the two found their place after a few trials and errors.
"It will take forever." Jiang Yue lamented as he looked at the hundreds of people in front of them.
Yu Nianzhen didn't mind it.
He wanted to take the time to adjust his condition.
Although he had said that he was okay, he still felt a lingering fear in his heart.
This was the first time he had been placed under an illusion, and the experience had left him helpless and confused.
If Jiang Yue could sense a familiarity with the woman, the woman should have also felt something when she encountered Jiang Yue.
With her high cultivation realm, it wasn't difficult to discover that Jiang Yue was suitable for cultivating illusions.
In such a case, her focus should have been on Jiang Yue and not him.
It was confusing, but since he didn't have a way to get an answer, Yu Nianzhen sat cross-legged and began to adjust his condition.
Once in a while, Jiang Yue would wake him so that they could move with the line, and after several hours, they finally arrived in front of the platform.
"Only ten people are ahead of us." Jiang Yue was excited.
Yu Nianzhen didn't plan to meditate any longer. Instead, he turned his attention to the platform.
The overall test was very simple.
For the first test, a recruit was required to go through a door frame.
If they managed to pass through, it meant that their age was appropriate, and if they couldn't, their age was above the recruitment age.
After passing the first test, the participant would head to the next station for the second test.
From what Yu Nianzhen could see, the second test was similar to an origin test.
All that was needed was to place one's hand on the test stone, and the stone would light up with either a green or red light.
If the light was green, it meant that the participant's aptitude was enough to join the sect while a red light meant that the aptitude was not enough.
There was no difference in the lights that appeared and because of this, all the recruits were considered of equal talent until they took a more comprehensive test after arriving at the sect.
"How many have passed?"
"Less than thirty so far."
Bai Zheng had already prepared them for the failure rate, but Jiang Yue was still surprised.
Although he had known that most people in the Cangxing world had very low cultivation aptitude, knowing was different from seeing.
"How come? I am sixteen this year." A voice screamed, and the two turned to the stage.
A boy was standing in front of the testing door frame and was arguing with the testing elder.
"This again."
Yu Nianzhen raised his brow in question.
He had been meditating and because of that, he had missed the testing process.
"It turns out that one can't pass through the door frame even if they turned sixteen a day before." Jiang Yue explained.
The cut-off age for the Sea Cloud sect was sixteen, but a lot of people had still hoped that they would qualify if they turned sixteen this year.
Unfortunately, the test was very particular. It didn't matter when they turned sixteen, being sixteen was already enough to disqualify them.
The episode lasted for a short time, and after the young man left the stage, the test continued without further interruptions.
"682."
Jiang Yue climbed the stage, and Yu Nianzhen felt his body tense.
He wasn't concerned that Jiang Yue wouldn't pass the test. What he was worried about was the woman called elder Chen.
He turned his attention to her, and sure enough, all her focus was on Jiang Yue.
After he passed both tests, the woman nodded and then lost interest.
Yu Nianzhen sighed in relief and then climbed on stage.
The process was over quickly, and he joined Jiang Yue to stand among those who had passed.
The selection continued for a few more hours. When it was over, only forty-seven people were eligible to join the sect.
"Forty-seven of you will follow to the Sea Cloud Sect for another selection." One of the sect elders said as soon as the recruitment was over.
"Those who fail the test will become odd job disciples, and those who pass shall become outer sect disciples."
Bai Zheng had already told them about this, and Yu Nianzhen knew that 'odd job disciples' was a better term for sect servants.
Although odd job disciples had a chance to upgrade to proper disciples, this was rarely seen.
This was because odd job disciples received very few sect resources, and most of their time was spent on serving others which left them with little time to cultivate.
Yu Nianzhen wasn't worried that they wouldn't pass the coming tests. However, he still needed to be mindful because outer sect disciples were divided into different grades.
The higher the grade, the higher the resources and discounts received.
However, these were worries for the future.