Eventually, only Jun Li and the other eight examinees remained on stage to take the third test. The old master, having waited for the failing examinees to clear the stage, looked off the stage for a moment and vanished from sight.

  Seeing him suddenly disappear, Jun Li startled, but realized this must be part of his strange movement technique from before.

  When he reappeared on stage, he was holding a large black pillar on his shoulder, as thick as a tree trunk, and as tall as he was. "The third and final test will begin in a moment." As he said this, he dropped the pillar onto the stage, the impact deeply reverberating through the ground.

  "This pillar is specifically made to produce sound when struck; the harder the strike, the deeper the sound. To pass the third test, you simply have to strike hard enough."

  The subject of the test concerned Jun Li somewhat, as despite having technically become a Cultivator, she wasn't trained in any combat techniques, and could only rely on her physical strength to overcome a challenge like this.

  Even enhanced by Qi, her pure strength wouldn't be nearly as effective as a proper technique.

  In truth, she did remember a number of Martial Techniques from her inherited memories, but due to the difference between Spiritual Energy and Qi, trying to use those techniques would be like trying to bake bread with lye instead of flour. A futile effort more likely to hurt her than anything else.

  "The third test will now begin." The old master spoke up after waiting a few moments for the examinees to prepare themselves.

  "Step up to the pillar when you are ready to take your turn." As soon as he said this, one of the young nobles approached the pillar, and Jun Li looked on with interest in the hopes of seeing whether or not they knew any Martial Techniques to use for the test.

  In front of the pillar, the young noble slipped into a grounded stance and pulled their dominant arm close to their body.

  Jun Li observed their movements carefully, however, before she saw anything, the pillar made a deep ringing noise that swept over the stage.

  In the end, she could only see the young noble pull their arm back to their side. "Well done, you've passed." The old master said, gesturing for them to stand at his side.

  Being unable to even see the strike, Jun Li began to feel anxious about her chances. In the hopes of improving her chances as much as possible, she began performing her Qi Circulation exercises to calm her nerves and improve her condition as much as possible before she approached the pillar to take her turn.

  As she closed her eyes and focused on her Qi Circulation, she could hear the pillar ringing out like a gong, once, twice, then three times, each strike producing a louder and deeper sound than those before.

  When the sixth strike rang out, Jun Li opened her eyes and turned to the pillar.

  As the last examinee to strike the pillar moved to join the rest of the new disciples, Jun Li stepped up to the pillar.

  She took a breath, braced herself, and swung her fist in a sharp arc. As it impacted the side of the pillar, the sound that spilled from the pillar was indeed deep, but not quite as loud or resonating as those before her.

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  Hearing the difference between her and her peers sent a spike of concern into Jun Li's heart. After a moment, the old master's voice reached her. "Hmm... Good, you've passed."

  Hearing this, Jun Li let out an exhausted sigh and slowly made her way towards the rest of the successful examinees.

  Thinking for a moment longer, Jun Li realized what her passing that test meant. 'I... did it, I'm a disciple of the Glass Cloud Sect!'

  As Jun Li was walking to join her soon-to-be fellow disciples, a wall of noise rushed over her from behind, the sound was so violent and disorienting that she panicked and tripped to the floor.

  Turning around to the source of the noise, she saw the last of the nobles yet to take the test, his fist slightly embedded into the black pillar.

  Having almost fallen off the edge of the stage, Jun Li could hear a pair of nearby observers speaking to each other. "Remarkable... Isn't that the young master of the Ren family, Ren Liwei?" One of the men lowered his hands, which had been guarding his ears out of reflex.

  "The Ren family? Then that's the son of Duke Ren Jinhai?" The younger of the two men gaped at the words of his friend. "No wonder he's so strong, being the son of the Brass Lion."

  Hearing this, Jun Li turned her gaze back to Ren Liwei at the pillar. He was enormous compared to the rest of the teenagers taking the test, standing more than a head over any of the others, though more spindly than well-built.

  When Jun Li noticed how exhausted the dark circles around his eyes made him look, he turned and met her gaze.

  The instant he saw Jun Li, his face contorted into disgust, his glare forcing Jun Li to hide her face under her patchwork hat and quickly stand back up, before rushing over to join the group.

  “Congratulations, all nine of you have passed the third test, and can now call yourselves disciples of the Glass Cloud Sect!” The old master paused after saying this, but continued to speak, this time in a more dismissive tone as his gaze swept over the crowd of onlookers. “The entrance test is now over; there is no longer any need to keep watching.” He scoffed before turning to the new disciples.

  “Now then! I assume you are all ready and willing to head to the Sect? There’s a carriage large enough to carry everyone waiting just at the edge of the square.” The old master beamed, seemingly quite happy to welcome the new disciples.

  “If anyone has any business to attend to, we can send another carriage down later tonight; otherwise, feel free to follow me to the sect.”

  As the old master finished speaking, he began to move off the stage towards the western end of the square. Jun Li felt a bit odd watching this until she realised, this was the first time she had seen the old master walk more than a few steps without vanishing.

  He was clearly being considerate of the disciples and was walking normally so they could follow along.

  Jun Li had a good feeling about this old master. ‘If all the instructors at the Glass Cloud Sect are as nice as him, I should be able to adjust perfectly fine to life there.’

  Jun Li followed along with a smile, and it seemed all the rest of the disciples were going to as well, nobody taking the old master up on his offer of catching the later carriage.

  When Jun Li approached the carriage, she was awed by its sheer size.

  She had seen carriages before, watching the roadside leading into the city as a child, but this was unlike anything she had seen before, it was more than four times her height and was clearly capable of comfortably accommodating over a dozen people in its dark, wooden walls, lined with a deep purple fabric.

  Moving closer, Jun Li saw the carriage was being pulled at the front by four animals, the likes of which she had never seen before, they looked similar to goats, she assumed from her inherited memories, but their dark blue fur and multiple sets of pale glossy horns told her they were obviously not mundane creatures.

  As she was ogling the carriage, a number of her fellow disciples brushed past her, filing into the box of the carriage, one by one. Realizing how distracted she had become, she rushed to join them inside.

  A wooden panel at the front of the carriage slipped open before the voice of the old master passed through it. “Everyone’s here then? Perfect, we will be inside the Sect within the hour!”

  Closing the wooden panel, the old master felt he could finally relax. ‘Ugh, these public tests never fail to irritate me. Everyone knows they’re only held like that to prop up the nobility as ‘above the common folk’ or some nonsense.’ The old man scoffed at the practice put in place by the Sect Patriarch.

  Thinking of Jun Li, the old master couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘So much for glorifying the nobility this year…’