Chapter 22 "Anri"

'Anri' that was her name. Anri, the leader of the outer disciples of the black deity sect. More than that she was famous for being unable to cultivate worldly energy at all.

From birth, she had all of her meridians blocked. A disease or just a cruel fate maybe?

But she didn't give up.

She chose the path of physique base cultivation. For that, she didn't have to absorb any worldly energy rather she would just have to temper her body in extreme conditions using the right method.

Unfortunately, she had neither a method nor the right conditions. But when she just turned up 12 the black deity sect opened its door for an acceptance test, 10 years ago.

Her origin was of the normal mortal family. She had nothing special. At least that's what she thought.

On the day of the acceptance test, she challenged 'the truth formation' and miraculously passed the 6th stage of truth formation.

'Miracle'? No there is no such thing as a miracle in truth formation. It's all about one's will.

Passing the 6th stage under the age of 16 was the first time in the whole of the history of the black deity sect. It caused quite an uproar and she was hurriedly accepted into the sect.

Even some of the elders cant pass the 6th stage. And it has nothing to do with one's cultivation.

"You all know the passing criteria. You must be at the body reforging stage with more than 9 meridians opened. Or you must have a complete 1st-grade magical cycle etched in your heart."

"When I say complete it means 'a complete one' not a half-baked one."

"Now line up. Mages to the left cultivators to the right and if you have walked on both paths then you also have to join the cultivation group for now. You will be given the chance to decide later which path you want to follow as a major one."

The girl didn't have a sweet voice it was more like a ruffian's voice who was just about to get in a fight.

But she was beautiful. Her short black hair and blue eyes suited her a lot. And a frown on her forehead from start to end looked perfect on her.

This frown deepens even more when she saw that thousands of them arranged themselves in two groups in a few seconds but a boy was still standing in the middle, staring at her continuously without even blinking.

"What are looking at?"

The girl felt a creepy feeling. It was not like she has no confidence when another gender look at him but the boy was vulgarly looking from top to bottom without missing an inch of her body.

"Are you deaf or do I need to send a separate invitation for you."

"An invitation would be good." The boy replied with a brimming smile on his face.

"Young master please come here and stop creating any more trouble."

The youngest kid in his group already joined the line for cultivators and was trying to find a way out of this mess for the boy.

The boy ignored his call and walked up to the girl,

"I have heard that there is the 3rd test for those who don't have talent in both cultivation and magic."

"There is indeed a test but do you know the consequences if you fail?" The girl asked even frowning some more.

"Nope" the boy replied.

"You...listen here. To activate 'truth formation' needs a large number of resources. Which the participant has to pay in the form of a fee. Do you have 10 crystal stones on you?"

The crowd sucked in a cold breath '10 crystal stones'

CRYSTAL STONE or worldly energy stone. It is used as money between high realm cultivators. While those mortals and cultivators up to base building realm use copper silver and gold as currency.

To get a rough idea 100 copper coin exchanges a silver one and a hundred silver for one gold coin. And five hundred gold coins can be exchanged for low-level energy stones.

While 10 silver coins are more than enough for a big family to eat their full for 3 months.

For mortals, a single worldly energy stone is a heaven's gift because it gives a chance to open meridians of 10 mortals which is way more profitable than selling it.

Of course, many people know about the risk accompanied by cultivation path so they will find selling it more suitable.

'Now she was asking for 10 crystal energy stones. Maybe if you gather all the wealth of everyone present here then you will be able to gather such an amount.'

"You think that's a lot of money. Don't worry there is a second option you can sign a lifetime contract of slavery to the sect and work here in case you fail."

Anri did not have a frown this time rather she had a cruel smile on her face.

"Let me guess you think it's too cruel. I myself did not have such amount so I signed a contract before the test ten yea....." before she could finish, the boy threw a pouch toward her.

She opened it and there were 50 something crystal stones in it.

"Whe...where did you get these?'"

"Oh, nothing much, on my way here I killed few peoples and picked them up from one of the corps." The boy replied casually as if killing people were just a trivial thing for him.

"You say you killed people strong enough to have this much crystal stone on them." This reason was not quite digested by the girl.

"People, bad people or bandits, you name them, whatever put your heart on ease." The boy replied.

The girl looked towards the elder to make a decision.

"Don't look at me girl. You are a disciple who has risen from a normal outer disciple to their leader in mere 4 years. The sect has decided that conducting the acceptance test would be of great help to temper your heart."

"And sect master personally forbade me to intervene. All decisions would be made by you and you alone. If things go south you would be solely responsible. Now make your own decision."

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