In total there were four big sects that had been allocated their own building. All of these were neutral sects, meaning they weren’t affiliated with any of the kingdoms. Sure they have had some background deals, but on the surface they took a neutral stance.

Wang Jie went to each of the four sects and received information about them from a disciple standing outside.

One of these was the Azure Dragon Sect which required it’s disciples to have either a affinity for wood or no affinity at all. It was also the strongest out of the four. However, it was of course ruled out as an option by default. Sharing it’s fate was the Maiden Butterfly Sect that only took in female disciples. Removing that one seemed pretty self explanatory.

Finally he was left with only two options. The River Swallowing Sect and the Mountain Cloud Sect. Neither of them had any specific requirements of it’s disciples, except passing the aptitude test. But it was an easy choice to make, the Mountain Cloud Sect occupied the position of the 2nd strongest, while the River Swallowing Sect was merely the 4th strongest.

Not that there was a big difference in the level of strength between the sects was that big, but stronger was always better, right? With that settled he headed to the sect’s building and was let in by the disciple out front.

The hall he found himself in wasn’t anything special, just regular boring stone floors and walls. It was clear that the sect didn’t use this building much except for the selections every year.

A few people waiting in the hall gave him a glance, but quickly returned their attention to the door they were waiting in front of.

The process was very alike to how they’d done it at the army camp. This time they spent a lot longer on each individual though. Maybe because there were far fewer people here than there had been at the camp.

Minutes passed as people came and went. Though he quickly noticed that most people didn’t come out the door again. It seemed that they were the ones that had passed. It made sense since testing wasn’t that expensive outside the 14 Lesser Kingdoms. All those here probably already knew that they would be accepted. As time continued to pass, there were new people coming through the doors to wait behind Wang Jie.

At last, it was Wang Jie’s turn to enter. With confidence in his eyes, he stepped through the open door and closed it behind him.

In the middle of the room, slightly off to the side, there was a large translucent pillar. Behind it were two elders seated at a desk. One of them nodded at him while the other one began to speak.

“Please walk up to the pillar and touch it.” The elder gestured.

Wang Jie gave a nod and stepped up to the pillar. Reaching out with his left hand, he touched the pillar and felt a cool flow spread through his body.

The elders watched with anticipation as the pillar slowly began to light up with a dark gray color. Starting from the bottom it traveled upwards further and further, not looking like it had any attention to stop.

“Metal affinity!” One of the elders stood up in shock and watched as the light traveled up the pillar, finally coming to a stop at the very end of the pillar.

“And not only that, it’s supreme grade too.” The other elder spoke.

“Fantastic, a very rare talent here in our continent.”

“Indeed, our sect seems to have received a blessing here today.”

“What do you mean, how is it rare?” Wang Jie got curious.

The elders shared a look and one of them then spoke up to answer Wang Jie.

“Well, the native element of our continent is wood. This is why the Azure Dragon Sect can be picky enough to deny cultivators with an affinity for other elements. That is not to say that other elements don’t exist at all. The fire, water and earth elements all show up regularly.”

“Why is this?” Wang Jie kept asking.

“Like our eastern continent has a native element of wood, other continents have their own native elements too. The question of rarity in this case is simply a matter of geography. The western continent is the furthest continent from here, while the southern, northern and central continent are all much closer. And truly the metal element is not that unseen either, but the combination of having both supreme grade spiritual roots and metal affinity is very rare indeed.” The elder stroked his beard.

“Oh, I see.” Wang Jie could only nod. But while this had answered many of his questions, it had created many many more. He’d found out that he was on the eastern continent, but the cultivation manual was from the western continent. Why had it then been placed here? He could only shove it to the back of his mind.

“Tell me child, are you aware of any ancestors of yours hailing from the western continent?”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t heard of any.” Wang Jie played along, of course he knew the real reason why he had this metal affinity.

“Well, no matter. What is your name?”

“Wang Jie.”

“Wang Jie, you definitely pass the requirements to become a disciple of the Mountain Cloud Sect, are you willing?”

“Yes, I’m willing.”

“Good, then you shall take this jade token, it shall mark your identity as an A-class outer disciple of the sect.” The elder presented him with a green jade token. Inscribed on it was a big A and his name, on the bottom was the name of the sect. He hadn’t even seen him inscribing it with his name.

“Outer disciple?” Wang Jie felt his beastly arrogance trying to rear its head. He knew he had become a lot more cold blooded after everything that had happened, but where had this arrogance and feeling of superiority come from?

“Don’t fret, it is merely a requirement that all disciples must prove themselves. With your talent, I’m sure you will manage to become an inner disciple soon.” The elder smiled.

Suppressing the beast inside of him, Wang Jie gave a polite nod. It was good to make a favorable impression on the elders.

“It is good that you understand. The path of cultivation is long and arduous, one mustn’t be in a rush.” The elder shared a bit of his wisdom.

“Since you are now officially a disciple of the sect, you must address me as Elder Dai and Elder Rao as such. Now, passing through this door you will find the other new disciples. When Elder Rao and I are finished here we will guide you all to the courtyard where you will be staying. Our means of transport will not be arriving before a few more days.” Elder Dai said and gestured to the door.

Nodding, Wang Jie sticked the jade token in his pocket and walked through the door. He was met with at least 20 different faces on the other side. It seemed the sect took in quite a few disciples every year. They ranged from looking one to two years younger to a year or so older.

A very outgoing short boy went up and spoke to him, while the rest seemed content to hang back and listen in.

“Hey, my names Lou Fu, whats yours?” The boy greeted him. He looked like he was a bit younger than Wang Jie, but nonetheless he wasn’t scared at all to approach him. He had a good looking friendly face and a smile on his lips, overall he just looked easy to get along with.

“I’m Wang Jie.” He kept it brief.

“Where are you from Wang Jie?” Lou Fu asked.

“The Eastrock Kingdom, you might not have heard of it.”

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of it before. Where is it?”

“It’s… Through the border wall.”

“Oh, you mean the 14 Lesser Kingdoms right?” Lou Fu smiled, he didn’t seem to mind.

“Right

“My family is from Andory, we own a few shops around here, oh,” Lou Fu looked like he’d gotten a good idea, “you should meet my friend Tang He, his family is from Andory too.” Lou Fu scattered off and quickly came back with another good looking male with a tall build and broad shoulders.

“Tang He this is Wang Jie, Wang Jie meet Tang He. He’s a bit cultivation crazy.” Lou Fu sighed.

“Who are you calling crazy you idiot?” Tang He smacked Lou Fu on the head before turning to Wang Jie. “Wang Jie is it? What class disciple are you?”

“A, you?”

“That’s pretty good. I’m A too, that midget Lou Fu is only B as expected.” Tang He laughed but then frowned, “But then again, his rich family will probably make up for his pitiful talent.”

“What are you saying? It’s not like your family is poor either.”

“I’m not the firstborn like you, my family doesn’t devote all of its resources to me. Both my first and second elder brother also have good talent.” Tang He sneered.

“Oh that’s right, both of your elder brothers are already in the Mountain Cloud Sect right?” Lou Fu touched a finger to his chin.

“Yeah, and they’ve both managed to become inner disciples.” Tang He had an expression of gloom when he spoke about his brothers.

“Anyway, I’m sure Wang Jie doesn’t want to hear about your family drama.” Lou Fu rolled his eyes dramatically.

“That reminds me, there’s something I wanted to ask. Do either of you have any elemental affinities?”

“Nah, I don’t.” Tang He looked at him puzzled.

“Me neither, do you?” Lou Fu asked.

“Yeah, metal affinity.” Wang Jie said. He wanted to know just how rare affinities were.

“Are you from the western continent?” Tang He blurted excitedly.

“No he told me he was from the 14 Lesser Kingdoms.” Lou Fu looked over to receive confirmation, “Right Wang Jie?”

“Right.” Wang Jie nodded.

“Oh.” Tang He’s excitement faded visibly.

“Tang He’s obsessed with the western continent, thinks its the strongest or something like that.” Lou Fu said.

“I’m not obsessed, and they are the strongest. Well, maybe after the central continent, but I don’t know much about that.” Tang He shrugged.

“How do you know they’re the strongest?” Wang Jie said.

“According to legend, the western continent is lorded over by one of the four mythical beasts, the white tiger. It’s said to be the god of war. Following true to this, most of the strongest battle-cultivators all come from the western continent.” Tang He said, clearly excited by the prospect of the strongest.

“Four mythical beasts? What do you mean by that?” Wang Jie said, everything just puzzled him more and more.

“You don’t know about that either? Shouldn’t they have taught you this in school?”

“Uhh, no?” Wang Jie raised an eyebrow.

“Oh right, you’re from the 14 Lesser Kingdoms. You guys probably don’t even know about any of this over there.” Tang He shook his head, “Well, the four mythical beasts each lord over a different continent. Our eastern continent is home to the Azure Dragon, which the Azure Dragon Sect named itself after. I don’t remember too much about it though, I wasn’t that interested to be honest.”

“I don’t know either really, except something about it bringing wealth and good fortune. My grandfather is always droning on and on about how we owe our circumstances to the Azure Dragon. We even give up offerings to it every year, seems like a bit of a waste if you ask me.” Lou Fu said.

As the boys talked, new people continued to enter the room. After hours had passed the number of people waiting reached almost 50. At that time, the elders finally came through the door and led them to the courtyard they would be staying in. The courtyard had a mix of 2, 3 and 4 man rooms. Tang He and Lou Fu invited him to stay with them and he accepted.