Chapter 13 - Yueguang City

The sun was rising, colouring the sky with beautiful shades, promising to bring a day with bright weather. Li Fen stuck her head out of the wagon and admired the scenery. No matter where she was, a sunrise will always be beautiful.

Turning her head back she saw the wagons that were behind which were filled with children around her age, next to each wagon was a Apprentice Ranked Warrior from the Town who was each riding a horse.

Each of these horses was bigger, stronger and faster than even the best race horses found on Earth. They are the best horses the Town had to offer, and were put forward to increase the speed and safety of the group as they travelled to Yueguang City.

Yueguang City is the only City within this region, it boasted a large population size, and is the area which held the most wealth within the Region.

For the Kingdom it would be impractical to conduct a Talent Test within every Town and Village to test all of the children's latent potential, so annually they would hold the Tests within three respective areas within a Region of the Kingdom.

Apart from Yueguang City, there was also Huo Town and Lulin Town were also holding testing.

Unlike the small Town she was in, both the Huo Town and Lulin Town were far stronger, with each having plenty Journeyman Cultivators and a larger population, however even then they were nothing in comparison to Yueguang City.

Yueguang City was the more popular and desired location of the three, as it held the most attention in terms of representatives from the Academies, it was also the most attractive of the three in terms of prosperity and it held the strongest human cultivators in the region.

Not only this but it was home of the best academy in the Region, Guang Academy, so this contributed to why most people wanted their children to be tested at Yueguang City.

However, that does not mean everyone can go to Yueguang City to some it is not accessible, and the poorer people from Villages do not have the expenses to make it to Yueguang City.

Not everyone was also like her who also lived in Town with the capabilities of sending their children with an escort, as the journey to getting to Yueguang City isn't safe from danger, opportunists such as bandits and rogue cultivators wouldn't let go of the chance to rob the travellers who are going to be tested, as this was one of the few times they would leave the safety of their homes.

This is why everyone can not take the risk in travelling to Yueguang City despite it providing the best benefits of the three, though luckily for her, the Town she is living in is not to far away from the city and additionally she lives in a Town with the expenses to send their children with a capable escort.

The Guardsman following them mostly have relations to the children they are protecting, this includes Uncle Cheng and Hui Bingweng who came along to support her and Hui Bai.

The other men who brought their children along with them to the hunting trip which she went on were also here.

Turning back her head to look at the inside of the Wagon, Hui Bai and the three boys who went with her on the hunting trip were also here.

Compared to a year ago, they matured a bit and the confident boy last time treated her with much more friendliness, likely because they experienced a life threatening situation with each other.

Each of the four were nervous in trepidation over the Testing, within the next few days their future prospects would be revealed.

Whether they would be able to become a strong warrior in the future all rests on their results.

Hui Bai who was feeling a bit anxious at the moment over the Testing, noticed Li Fen's calm appearance in the corner, realising that in comparison to them she seemed to be feeling no worries at all he couldn't help but ask, "Fen, are you not worried about your potential results?"

The other boys looked at Li Fen curiously as well, to them they felt a great deal of concern about their talent as it determines their future, to them accomplishing their dream and making their parents proud relied on this. So how can they not be nervous? Contrary to them though, Li Fen seemed completely at ease despite being younger!

"Hmm? No I am not nervous because no matter the result it cannot be determined by me worrying about it, my time can be better spent elsewhere, no point ruining my sleep by panicking about it." She answered without a thought.

The other children stared at her lost in thought at her answer as they began to think about her words.

"Yeah, I guess your right! No point worrying about it, if I'm not destined to become a great warrior picked by the Academies, then I can still train alongside my Dad, he looked pretty cool fighting those Magical Beasts, and there's nothing I can change about it anyways." Hui Bai said.

"Ah, I agree. I'm completely at ease now, thanks Li Fen for your words!" The confident boy said feeling as the pressure he built up in his mind was completely destroyed after hearing Li Fens words.

"Why do you seem more intelligent than my Dad!" A boy subconsciously said.

Looking at the boy she suddenly noticed that it was Uncle Cheng's son. Li Fen couldn't help but let out a chuckle at this, which caused the other boys to begin laughing.

Soon the commotion caused Uncle Cheng to pop his head in the wagon as he said, "Eh! What are you kids laughing about back there?"

However, after seeing Uncle Cheng's face they began to laugh even harder than before, causing the man to show a look of confusion as he thought to himself, 'Ah kids. Hmm, but they seemed to be laughing hard as soon as I made an appearance, it couldn't have been about me could it? Hmm, probably not, after all in my nieces eyes, I'm her biggest hero!'

Upon thinking this a big grin appeared on Uncle Cheng's face, as he continued to ride the Wagon as they made their way to Yueguang City.

The landscape changed every now and then from fields with crops to fields with livestock grazing. The entourage continued to travel through quite a few villages on the way there, and Li Fen noticed how each village was tightly guarded.

"The Villages here live different lives compared to us, who are protected by the safety of the Town Walls. They place a big emphasis of cultivating Warriors, and are wary of outsiders. Compared to us they are more at threat to outsiders and Magical Beasts, commonly the beasts aren't even the problem but it is instead each other, if a Village is not strong enough they can be bullied by another for food. So learn this as a lesson boys, the World ain't clean, whether or not you go to an Academy in the future you must be prepared to protect yourself." Uncle Cheng voiced from the front sternly.

To Uncle Cheng he often experienced for him self on how terrible human nature can be just for their own gains, now that the children are potentially leaving home to attend a Academy, then they should not remain naive and ignorant about such matters. A person can find himself completely stabbed in the back just just over piece of treasure, so it was important for them to be cautious about this.

Li Fen sat silently in thought over this, 'It seems that the concept is the same in this World, often times humanity's greatest enemy is itself.'

After over a day of travelling they finally arrived within sight of Yueguang City, which was closer than Li Fen previously thought. The group had been traveling for most of the afternoon when one of the Guardsman at the front saw towers appear in the distance. The closer they got, the more the city was revealed.

The city had a striking resemblance to the ancient cities that Li Fen had previously studied back in her old world. The whole city was surrounded by a twenty meters tall wall built with white stone. The wall seemed to be quite thick, with guards stationed at the top of the wall. A four meters wide and eight meters tall gate was open, and the end of the road was heavily guarded by guards who were wearing the Wang Clan's emblem on their chest.

Noticing the similarity between the emblem on the guards chest in comparison to Wang Jian's, she suddenly realised that these guards belonged to the clan Wang Jian and Wang Guanyu were from.

'Ah, no wonder the kid can make frequent visits, the small Town is probably within his clans territory.' Li Fen thought.

Uncle Cheng and Hui Bingweng probably realised this to, as they gave each other look after they discovered Wang Guanyu and Wang Jian's origins.

Observing the city itself, big buildings that were visible to her outside the City walls seemed to resemble ancient Chinese architecture. Li Fen could see several great Pagodas with multiple blue roof tiles above the tall walls.

The closer they got to the city, the harder it was to see the buildings that were hidden behind the massive wall, but Li Fen felt that she was in her natural element. The architecture was so familiar, but at the same time, everything was different from what Li Fen knew.

A feeling of reverence stole into Li Fen's heart as she looked upon the city in front of her. This place would be the start of Li Fen's path in becoming a Magus.

Suddenly a loud yell pierced through the air and dragged Li Fen out of her thoughts.

"A new group is incoming! I want them to line up and enter the City orderly after showing their identification!" A guard yelled from above the city wall. The Wagons at the head of the party stopped, the the Guardsman on horses began to slow their pace down as they began to ready themselves in entering the city.

Li Fen's eyes grew wide as she realised this is the first time she's ever entering another part human civilisation upon entering this World apart from the Town she was born in.

"I promise you kids, were going to dine in the City in celebration. I promise to show you around this place and open your horizons!" Uncle Cheng announced after noticing Li Fens and the other boys excited eyes.

With that the group slowly made their way into the Town, each of the children held a look of anticipation and hopefulness, knowing that the results of the testing of their potential determines their fates.