5. Sect Recruitment Trial

Sirius yawned loudly from atop her flying sword, wobbling a bit as the trio soared through the air. Cold wind whipped their faces like cold steel and the overcast sky hung low.

As for Faust, he held anticipation in his eyes, tapping his foot against his own flying sword as he scanned the ground below.

“Oh? The testing site this time is the Black Boar forest?” Rozaline looked to the groups right, where the vibrant green forest turned into tall, dark trees that left few gaps into the undergrowth. “It will be hard to monitor the participants.”

“The mission scroll explained that this year marks the beginning of an age of chaos.” Faust agreed.

“Yawn— Haa— So the sect wants to make the recruitment harder and more deadly?” Sirius asked through another yawn, stretching her arms above her head.

“Oh? I guess the sect administrators aren’t the only ones.” Rozaline smiled, pointing downward with her fan.

“Eh? What is it?” Sirius asked, rubbing her eyes as she looked down into the lush forest below, seemingly nothing amiss among waves of green.

“…Blood.” Faust responded, scrutinising not the ground, but the Qi that had drifted around the area.

“Oh? Shall we go check?” Rozaline asked.

Faust eyed Rozaline, who looked back innocently. He sighed, taking a talisman out of his new spatial pouch. “This is Faust, on the Sect Recruitment mission. Approximately twenty to thirty dead bodies between Qi Refining and Meridian Opening just off the main path between Clear Mirror sect and the Provincial Capital. Estimated from an altitude of five hundred meters by the amount of Blood, Vital, Yin and Rot Qi. Continuing enroute to the recruitment site.” Faust narrated, holding the talisman to his mouth before activating it and tossing into the air behind him.

“Oh. You’re so boring.” Rozaline scoffed.

“Junior Sister is right! So boring!” Sirius echoed.

Faust felt his eye twitch.

“Oh? I think I should be the senior sister.” Rozaline commented.

Sirius argued back and the two went back and forth while Faust guided the group.

Soon, they reached Black Boar Lake. A massive lake that stretched further west into the horizon. A small town with about two hundred thousand people was stationed to the south of the lake, right across the path to the Provincial Capital.

The trio approached from the east side of the lake, adjusting their course to reach the north shore.

“Wow.” Sirius said as they approached. Even Faust inhaled sharply.

“It looks like twenty two thousand participants.” Rozaline said, scanning the crowd gathered on the north shore just outside the Black Boar Forest.

Countless Merchants had set up stalls and carts, hawking wares and questionable pills. Prospective cultivators traded advice, artifacts and the like. Many merchants had simply come to sell food at ridiculous prices to the gathering of assorted commoners and elites.

“Hmmm… She should have enough money…” Faust glanced around the crowd, looking for his sister. He had personally remembered starving the whole sect recruitment trial since he couldn’t afford any of the merchants food after running out of his own rations.

“Oh? My sibling isn’t with the clan caravan.” Rozaline said, looking at a gathering of uniformed soldiers and porters all wearing red vests emblazoned with the Roze clan’s emblem.

“Hmmm.” Faust continued searching through the crowd, then narrowed his eyes.

“Where’s the Clear Mirror Sect flag?” Faust asked.

Both Rozaline and Sirius widened their eyes at the statement, then turned back to the crowd, seriously scanning it.

“It’s… Not there…” Sirius breathed.

“Oh? This will be quite interesting then.”

“I’d rather it wasn’t.” Faust said, putting a hand to his eye. “Clear Mirror Pupil.” He spoke, opening a gap between his fingers covering his eye. His irises glowed white as he gazed down at the crowd.

“Oh? You’ve mastered the Clear Mirror Pupil already?” Rozaline asked.

“Hmm…” Faust hummed in response, then his gaze hardened, “Demonic cultivators…”

The other two’s gaze also changed as they looked at the crowd.

“Looks to be about a hundred… Most at the Meridian Opening realm, leaving twenty or so at Open Palace. All of them are restraining their auras to Qi Refining.” FAust continued.

“Demonic cultivators? Are you certain?” Sirius questioned nervously.

“Without a doubt. Their Blood Qi is centered in their Dan-Tian and nodes and there’s too much Demonic Qi in the area.” Faust said, gazing upwards.

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Faust felt his heart stop.

The pupil technique shattered in an instant, causing blood to streak down Faust’s face.

“What’s wrong!?” Sirius shouted, flying beside Faust but paused without knowing what to do.

“HACK— Cough— cough!!” Faust choked, before breathing raggedly.

“Heaven’s gaze. Don’t use any pupil techniques while looking up. Don’t use any sensing techniques on the sky either.” Faust said, wiping the blood from his cheek.

“…Oh, ho? Isn’t Heaven’s gaze supposed to be invisible to those below Deity Transformation?” Rozaline puzzled, creasing her brow as red marks appeared around her eyes which turned a fiery orange, looking directly at the sky much to the exact same result. Blood quickly flowed down her eyes and the red marks disappeared as the technique fell apart.

Rozaline fell into a choked coughing fit for a while.

“I told you.” Faust quipped after she began recovering.

“…Its unusual though isn’t it?”

“Very.” Faust nodded his head.

“I’ll take my seniors’ words for it!” Sirius claimed her trust.

“You don’t know any Pupil or Sensing techniques.” Faust responded dryly.

“Ack!”

“…Should we wait for reinforcements from the sect?” Rozaline asked slowly. If it ended up being nothing, they could be punished.

“I believe the presence of over a hundred demonic cultivators is considered major.” Faust said, pulling out another talisman.

“Oh? But I’m quite confident against those who resort to demonic cultivation.”

“Me too, but with such a large force, there may be one at the Golden Core realm.” Faust was confident in handling 20 demonic cultivators alone even if they were all at the mid-stage. By nature, they were generally weaker than other cultivators in the same realm. That was in comparison to people like Persius and Mue Dian.

“This is Faust, on the Sect Recruitment mission. Over a hundred demonic cultivators at the assessment site. Most at Meridian Opening, the rest at Open Palace. No presence of the Outer Sect disciples meant to have set up the Clear Mirror Sect Flags and platform. Requesting reinforcements of Meridian Opening, Open Palace and Golden Core realms. I will delay the recruitment until reinforcements have arrived.” He narrated into the talisman, infusing more Spirit Qi into it before tossing it into the air, letting it shoot back towards the sect.

“So we’re delaying the sect recruitment?” Sirius confirmed.

“Yes.” Faust nodded, infusing Spirit Qi into his lungs and throat, taking a deep breath to announce the change to the gathered crowd below.

“Wait.”

A voice interrupted Faust and he clamped his jaw shut, feeling a sudden pressure across his lungs before he slowly exhaled the massive breath he had taken.

““Greetings, Overseer Clementine.”” Rozaline and Sirius turned and bowed towards the old man, who was now floating in the air behind them. Faust followed a moment later.

“Overseer?” Faust asked the old man, who was examining a scroll held between his hands.

For a few moments, it was quiet, then Clementine rolled up the scroll and stowed it in a spatial pouch.

“Continue the sect recruitment as planned.” Clementine said, stroking his beard, “I’ll take responsibility.”

“…I understand.” Faust bowed once more, taking out another talisman to inform the sect.

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“No need. I’ve already informed them.” Clementine waved his hand.

Faust paused, then nodded slowly, putting the talisman away. He felt Clementine’s aura was different compared to when in the Administration Hall, but he didn’t want to disrespect him by activating the pupil technique right in front of them. At least, not without the mastery to do it subtly.

“Since the Outer Sect disciples are nowhere to be seen, I’ll go make some preparations.” Faust said, turning away. “You two stay in the air and monitor the situation.”

Faust didn’t wait for an answer as he used a simple concealment art to hide himself, flying into the crowd and landing in front of a large tent with the royal family’s emblem emblazoned across it.

“Halt!” Two guards at the Meridian Opening realm shouted as Faust undid the concealment.

Faust cupped a fist in one hand, “I am the chief proctor of this year’s sect recruitment, may I speak with the Imperial Scribe inside?”

The guards looked at each other, then nodded.

One guard disappeared into the tent and came out a few moments later.

“You may enter.” They said, cupping their fists in a salute.

Faust nodded, stepping past the guards inside the tent.

Inside, another person, a lanky man with baggy red and gold robes and thick glasses, cupped a fist in one hand. “Imperial Scribe Jin, greets you.” He spoke respectfully, a sharp gleam in his eyes that contrasted with the rest of his appearance. There were a few other similarly dressed people, but they all stood to the side.

Faust returned the gesture. “Clear Mirror Sect Disciple, Faust.”

“It’s an honor, may I ask what the Imperial Scribe Pavilion can do for you?”

“Theres been an incident.” Faust explained.

“Oh?”

“May I ask the Imperial Scribe Pavilion to perform the registrations for all the applicants?” Faust asked.

“So those disgusting auras I felt?” Jin seemed to fit the pieces in place.

“I used a technique from the sky, there’s over a hundred demonic cultivators. With the levels they’re at, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one at the Golden Core realm hiding among them.”

Jin nodded. “So the Outer Sect disciples that would usually be here?”