11

"Chen Gong!"

"Yes, Elder." A tall boy of age around 17 bowed down before the Elder.

"You know what to do?"

"Yes, Elder." Without further ado, the boy placed his palm on the crystal and closed his eyes as he gathered Qi in his dantian and slowly allowed its flow to the palm.

The crystal glowed a bright shade of red, igniting the whole crystal as if it was on fire. The boy who had his eyes closed opened his eyes hastily upon feeling the heat and gasped in horror when he realized he had set the crystal on fire.

Apart from the senior disciples and the elders and masters, the remaining new disciples gasped at the sight of blazing fire.

"He-He set the crystal on fire." One of the male disciples pointed at the melting crystal.

"Ahhhh…What have I done?!" The boy Chen Gong panicked in his heart.

Getting down on his knees he hurriedly apologized.

"I am sorry Elder. I deserved to be punished." His eyes were fixed on the ground as he tried to hide himself from the wrath he was about to face.

Le Fang Ling too watched in anticipation about the next course of action the Elder was going to take.

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"Hahahaha, Youngster." The man gave out a hearty laugh which was an unexpected side shown by him considering how strict and furious he looked.

"You don't have to worry about that."

Hearing the laughter, all the senior and chief disciple let out a laugh which echoed through out the training ground.

Chen Gong raised his head, his eyes full of confusion since he did not understand why they were laughing.

"The crystal gets automatically replaced for each new disciple so as to maintain purity of the Qi and get the most accurate result." The Elder smiled as he explained.

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"This happens every year. I can't get enough of it." Ming Jiu let out a "Pfft" sound as he hit the back of An Lin who too was trying to hold back his laughter.

"This is the real fun of assessment test." An Lin wiped the side of his eyes that had tear drop.

'Ohoho..' Ming Jiu looked at him snickering and placed his hand around An Lin's shoulder.

"He reminds me of how you panicked when you froze the crystal." Ming Jiu laughed as he recalled the time when they were being assessed.

An Lin was the first one in the queue and when he froze the crystal and broke it, he almost cried.

His face quickly darkened when he was reminded of his dark past. Swatting away the hand that was almost choking him on the neck An Lin gave a gaze filled with murderous intent at Ming Jiu.

"Ahaha….Re-relax brother…" Ming Jiu waved his hand panicking as he mainlined distance from him.

'This boy can't even take a joke..' Letting out a sigh of relief he returned his gaze back at the field as he waited for the turn of cute junior sisters.

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"Crystal gets replaced?" Chen Gong looked at him with a questionable look.

"Look for yourself." He motioned the boy to look at the top of crystal.

There were some numbers and characters floating above the crystal. The boy squinted his eyes unable to decipher their meanings.

The Elder noticed his confused face and decided to announce himself.

[Spiritual Roots: Earth realm Fire ]

[Strength: 30]

[Cultivation level: 6th layer of qi absorption realm]

Right at the moment, the chief disciple of the Elder hurried over with a name tag and handed it to him.

"Here Elder Shen." He handed the tag respectfully and made his way back to where he had come from.

Taking it Elder Shen commanded the boy to stretch out his palm.

Chen Gong complied and extended his hand before him.

The Elder placed the bamboo name tag on the hand and declared loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Congratulations you have passed the test. With this tag, you have officially become the disciple of Eternal Blossom Sect of Vermillion Bird Peak."

The whole audience cheered up and clapped for the new junior disciple that was joining them.

"Huh?" The boy could not believe that he was selected and even managed to be a disciple.

He stood up in a swift motion and bowed down before the Elder thanking him. He simultaneously bowed before the whole crowd with a smile on his face.

Le Fang Ling was awed at the whole process and result. He was more than desperately waiting for his turn.

As soon as he left the platform, it was turn of the next disciple.

"Fu Yaoyao, step forward." The Elder read a name from the scroll.

A haughty looking girl walked from behind the queue and collided with Le Fangling as she walked towards the platform.

Although she was not willing, she decided to follow up behind the other girls but the fact she was almost left out made her irritated against Le Fangling since she was right.

Le Fangling who was waiting for her turn patiently and eagerly: "...…."

"I did not see you there." She turned to look at Le Fangling who had 'What the hell is wrong with you' expression on her face.

"Maybe you should work on maintaining your presence." She snickered raising her hand to her mouth, eyes squinting like that of a scum bag girl.

"....."

'What's wrong with this lady? Was she dropped from her cradle when she was young?' Le Fang Ling had doubts about her mental state.

"Fu Yaoyao.." The sharp voice of Elder once again echoed.

"Coming!!" She rolled her eyes at Le Fangling and walked towards the platform, her back speaking as if she was challenging Le Fangling.

Fu Yaoyao bowed slightly to the Elder without much respect and placed her hand directly on the crystal Lacrima.

"Wow..." The whole crowd gasped as they looked at the purple glowing crystal which was cracking slowly from the inside.

"This….." Even the Elder was speechless as he looked at the result that was floating above the crystal.