Flips, cartwheels, flying kicks, and shadow boxing were chained one after the other as Yu lost himself in the moment, indulging the thrill seeking and power loving parts of his brain that he usually kept on a tight leash to avoid falling for the classic cultivator blunders.

Unfortunately, Yu Xiang’s bout of childish exuberance was rudely interrupted by someone’s forceful cough.

Lin Fen, having sensed that he’d left his cultivation trance, had come to see him and was now leaning against the cultivation room door’s frame, an appropriately named Cheshire grin on his face.

“I’m sorry to have interrupted your jubilant dance, my friend.” He didn’t look at all sorry in Yu’s expert opinion. “But I felt the need to stop you before you tossed yourself through a wall and scarred some poor young outer sect disciple for life.”

Yu didn’t look embarrassed by Lin’s statement, he instead started swaggering towards his feline friend with overstated confidence, which only made the young alchemist giggle.

“Ah! The only ones scarred by my powerful movements would be weaklings unfit to join the lofty ranks of our sect!”

Lin Fen snorted in derision at Yu’s exaggerated boasting, but the young reincarnator decided to drop the play instead of trading more barbs, as he had other things he was more interested in at the moment.

Like the number of days, he’d sat inside his mind for.

“How much time did I spend cultivating anyway? I was so deep in meditation that I couldn’t even keep track of the passing of time.”

The question made the diminutive cultivator frown as he stopped leaning on the door frame, his eyes rising to meet his companion’s. “You were meditating for twelve days.”

Yu Xiang’s eyes widened in surprise as his curiosity was sated. He might have been unable to really keep track of time but he didn’t think he’d been lost to the world for so long.

A frown mirroring his friend’s formed on Yu’s face.

This also meant that they only had a bit more time before the Inner Disciple promotion test.

The green eyed cultivator sent a questioning look at the feline beastfolk, one of his eyebrows raised. “How is your cultivation coming along by the way? Did you make some headway in your Half Stage?

Lin Fen shook his head in denial, a frustrated look overtaking his fine features.

“No, unfortunately. I even used all of the cultivation pills we had left, but I’m still far from the First Stage.” The young alchemist let out a despondent sigh. “Any improvement to my spiritual flow is entirely marginal and worst of all I can’t even use the pill furnace to make anything more complicated than a food pill.”

Yu Xiang admitted to himself that that was probably an oversight on their part but couldn’t help but be amused as Fen Lin seemed more interested in his inability to play with a furnace than his cultivation.

Oh well, they would simply have to deal with it.

>>>

Yu Xiang and Lin Fen spent the rest of the time they had left before the test respectively researching in the Hall of Knowledge for any information on what kind of trials the test itself actually entailed, and strengthening his cultivation as much as possible even if it only resulted in negligible improvements towards the First Stage.

Yu Xiang even prayed daily at his self made altar. Invoking the protection of the Heavens, despite his path as a cultivator being in their direct opposition, the gods of luck, and any higher being that might be listening in on his plea.

It was probably a bit excessive and wasteful as he always burned some spiritual plants in tribute alongside the incense sticks but Yu was not above asking higher powers for crumbs if it benefited him.

Inexorably, time passed, and the day finally came.

A week before the test day an inner disciple came down from the compound higher up the mountain, a scroll clutched in his hands. In the central hub of the lower compound, surrounded by hundreds of expectant disciples, he unfurled the paper with practiced dramatization and in a clear tone of voice that carried to the entire crowd, probably with some use of spiritual energy, he announced the date and place the aspiring promotion seeking disciples would need to be to take part in the promotion trials.

Now, a week later, Yu Xiang, Lin Fen, and a bunch of other outer disciples were waiting nervously just outside the gates of the outer compound, where they would usually take a flying barge to one of the treasure mountains.

The green eyed cultivator looked around at his fellow aspirants, counting twenty three disciples who had decided to participate, himself and Lin Fen included.

Every single aspirant sported a yellow armband, a sign of their advanced cultivation, but despite that most of the small crowd’s attention was focused on three individuals.

Yu Xiang himself, who was undeniably the strongest person present, at least in terms of pure cultivation, Lin Fen, and most unexpectedly for the former two, Su Rong.

All three of them had reached the Constitutional Realm.

Yu didn’t let it show on his face, which at the moment sported his usual serene expression, but he was inwardly miffed by his… rival? Nuisance maybe? Anyway, he wasn’t thrilled by Su Rong’s unexpected progress. Fortunately, the man, much like the feline beastfolk, was still in the Half Stage, which would make the almost certain confrontation between the two much easier for the reincarnator.

Su Rong seemed to realize it as well as he grit his teeth in frustration, no doubt lamenting his ‘stolen’ treasure that fell in Yu’s grubby hands.

The young reincarnator briefly contemplated blowing a raspberry in Su Rong’s direction, no matter how childish that would be, but his train of thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of two powerful auras.

Faster than any of the aspirants could keep track of, three people had appeared on the rocky outcrop outside the outer compound.

One of them wore the blue robes of an inner disciple while another was clad in the red robes of the core disciples, these were the ones whose aura was pushing down on the aspirants. Between the two stood Elder Chao, standing at ease with his hand crossed behind his back.

“Welcome, aspirants.” Began the Elder. “Today you will be put through three trials which will allow you to demonstrate the full extent of the power, skills, and knowledge you have accumulated during your time as outer disciples.”

Elder Chao gazed with eyes of steel at the crowd of disciples. “Those of you who fail will return to the other compound, escorted by my assistant.” The old cultivator motioned toward the inner disciple, then his eyes flicked to the three second realm aspirants. “Those of you who pass all these trials will rise to the position of inner disciples and will be granted all the benefits of full membership to the Golden Peak sect.”

The usual grandfatherly disposition of the Elder was nowhere to be seen today as his voice thundered over the crowd, there were no veiled smiles, no subtle jokes, and no plays.

Today Chao Xi was acting as any Elder of one of the Seven Great Sects was supposed to.

The Elder’s embroidered robes fluttered momentarily in the breeze as he turned around towards the far mountains.

“Follow me if you dare.” And with those words, the Elder began moving. He rocketed forward at a speed just slow enough for them to follow using nothing but the muscle power hidden in his deceptively aged frame.

Yu Xiang took a nervous breath as he activated his movement technique and started following the Elder.

The Golden Peak inner sect trials had finally begun.