Out of the Pagoda

Outside the ten-storey pagoda, disciples were buzzing with excitement.

In the month since the pagoda opened, a floating platform had appeared ten metres above the West Lake.

The platform was four hundred metre squares, and eight mats floated at the centre.

Eight people sat cross-legged on the floating mats while a few others stood behind the mats.

'I wonder how those two did.' Elder Chen wondered as she looked at the pagoda with a complicated expression.

Her granddaughter was also in the pagoda, but she was more anxious about those two boys.

"I heard that sect master's wife is looking forward to some new disciples." A man said.

The man was wearing a red robe that was embroidered with golden flowers.

His hair was a flaming red, and he was holding a wine gourd in his left hand.

After speaking, he took a large sip and smiled at elder Chen.

Elder Chen frowned and forced herself to ignore his overly charming face.

"Uncle master heard right."

"Junior Yang should also accept some disciples." Another man spoke.

This one had long white hair, a long white beard, and a dignified aura that demanded respect.

He had a patch over his left eye, and his right eye was filled with contempt when he looked at the red-robed man.

"Nephew Chu doesn't have to worry. Your uncle master will naturally grab a disciple if I come across a good seedling."

The white-haired old man gritted his teeth when he heard the address.

He glared at Yang Xu and then glanced at the sect master who had yet to speak a word.

"Sect master…" Elder Chu began, but the Sect master lifted his hand to interrupt him.

He knew what Chu Pengju was about to say.

However, there was nothing he could do.

Even though Yang Xu had damaged his origin and his cultivation had regressed to the origin tempering realm, he was still a supreme elder of the Sea Cloud Sect.

Rules were rules, and Yang Xu had seniority even though he was now weaker than them.

"Junior brother Chu is right. Uncle master should consider taking a disciple."

"The pagoda is opening." Yang Xu said and used his wine gourd to point at the portal that had just appeared.

Although he didn't show it, he was sneering in his heart.

It had only been ten years since he was injured, but the sect couldn't wait to get rid of him.

His eyes turned cold, but the coldness was gone in the next moment.

'Strength is king.' He thought as a flippant smile curled his lips.

He took a sip of wine and turned his attention to the portal.

At this time, close to ten thousand disciples had already emerged from the portal.

"Waste." One of the elders said in a low voice.

Yang Xu smiled in self-mockery, but he couldn't argue.

Exiting the portal was different from entering.

When entering, disciples could enter randomly, but this was not the case for exiting.

"Ten thousand couldn't get past the first floor." Elder Chen frowned.

The terrible thing about the ten-storey pagoda was that it targeted a person's weak point.

For Jiang Yue, that weakness was his inability to let go of his past life.

If he continued to practice with such a mentality, his future achievements would never achieve his potential.

The same was true of Yu Nianzhen.

If he couldn't overcome his resistance to the approaching disaster, his cultivation would lag behind and never reach its full potential.

This is because a weakness could easily turn into a heart demon that could lead to qi deviation or hardening of the barrier between realms.

Taking control of one's weakness showed that a cultivator had what it takes to take ten thousand steps on the cultivation path.

Those who couldn't pass the first floor not only lacked willpower, but also drive.

They were destined to remain as ants for the rest of their lives.

"Odd job disciples." An elder shouted.

The elder was standing on a sword in front of the floating platform. She was holding a long scroll, and when she spoke, names appeared on the scroll.

After ten thousand names were recorded on the scroll, the group was shuffled to the side; just in time for the second group to arrive.

This group and the third were also designated as odd job disciples. When their names were recorded, they joined the first group.

In the fourth group, a familiar face appeared.

This face was none other than Zhu Bing.

The benchmark for odd job disciples to join the outer sect was the fifth floor, but Zhu Bing had failed.

To some extent, he had expected this failure, but he was still a little disappointed.

'Seems like I can't escape my fate.' He thought and took his place among the other odd job disciples.

After that, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth groups of disciples exited in turn.

Wang Hui, Wen Lan, and most other new disciples were in the fifth group.

A lot of them looked happy, but some looked disappointed.

However, this outcome was expected.

Passing the test was divided into three parts

The first part was identifying one's weakness. After properly identifying the problem, disciples were considered to have passed the third floor.

The second part was finding a solution. If one could figure out a solution for their weakness, they would pass the fifth floor.

However, finding a solution wasn't enough.

Ascending to higher floors depended on the depth of the solution and implementation of the solution.

Only those that could effectively neutralise their weakness could ascend to the tenth floor.

To some extent, the ten-storey pagoda test was both fair and unfair.

It was fair because it favoured those with extensive experience, but it was also unfair for the same reason.

However, such was life.

There was no such thing as absolute fairness.

At this time, the ninth group exited the pagoda. Most of those in this group were outer sect disciples, and they had a smile on their faces.

Even if they didn't get any rewards from the sect, they had a good harvest from the pagoda.

After they left the portal area, the tenth group exited.

This group only had seven disciples, and as soon as they exited, the portal disappeared.

Right after, the white aura that surrounded the pagoda also disappeared.

"The pagoda looks like it has lost its spirituality." An elder sighed.

"Seven is a good number." Sect master Wen said with a satisfied look on his face.

"Seven of you shall come up to receive your rewards." The announcing elder shouted.

Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were excited when they heard that.

They hadn't expected that the Sect would give rewards in addition to the tower's reward and a chance for discipleship.

Ouyang Shu led the way, and the two followed towards the end of the group.

When they approached the edge of the lake, a small cloud floated down.

The seven stepped on the cloud and were brought to the floating platform.

"We have seen the sect master and elders." The seven shouted and bowed.

"The seven of you have done well." The sect master said.

"Each of you will receive ten thousand contribution points…"

An uproar was heard as soon as the words fell.

Contribution points were the currency in the inner sect, and ten thousand was not a small number.

In perspective, ten thousand contribution points were only two thousand short of the annual wage of an outer sect elder.

Inner sect disciples would need to take five to ten missions to accumulate ten thousand contribution points.

"In addition to contribution points, each of you will receive one qi cleansing pill."

The uproar could not be calmed down.

Qi cleansing pills were silver rank pills that could purify qi before breaking through to the origin forging realm.

Although the rank was not high, qi cleansing pills were not easy to refine.

This is because qi cleansing pills could only be considered useful if they contained less than one per cent impurity.

However, this degree of purity was impossible for low-rank alchemists; and high-rank alchemists disdained making qi cleansing pills since they were only useful to meridian awakening realm cultivators.

Because of this, qi cleansing pills had high demand but low supply.

After the crowd calmed down, the announcing elder looked at the seven disciples.

"It's time for the origin test."

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue looked at each other.

They didn't expect that there would be an origin test, but they should have expected it.

If it were up to them, they wouldn't take the test, especially in front of so many people.

This is because they didn't want to be targeted by that mysterious organisation as soon as they stepped out of the sect.

The other five also seemed to have the same concerns.

Even Ouyang Shu looked at the elder in doubt.

"Our Sea Cloud sect has its own arrangements."

The elder did not explain further.

Instead, she directed them to an origin test stone that had suddenly appeared on a high stone table.