Walking into the main grounds of the Fallen Tide Hall, Lute was slightly taken aback at the sheer size of it. Every building at the minimum was fifteen stories tall. The main area wasn’t what Lute was expecting.

‘Why admit so few disciples? With the size of this complex, they could easily accommodate thousands of disciples. Even if they couldn’t allocate resources to everyone, it would increase the will to cultivate, allowing people to break their limits so they can acquire resources.’

Each building was a pure lustrous white, it blindingly reflected sunlight, but Lute wasn’t too bothered by it. The direction that all the trial participants were headed to was what appeared to be an arena. The size of which looked as if it could hold thousands upon thousands of people easily.

But that wasn’t the most important; instead it was the enlightenment that struck Lute.

‘Just how much of the city does Fallen Tide Hall own as private property? To build on a scale such as this, the amount of property they must own is quite the sum. Perhaps this is why sects hold the real power and the city doesn’t have the qualifications to argue with them.’

In total, the Fallen Tide Hall owned nearly a fourth of the entire Fallen Tide City, hence why the royal family and the city were named after the Fallen Tide Hall.

As Lute was walking, he began to notice the cliques. Almost everyone was grouped together with other participants that they knew from the past. Clearly attempting to pass the trials together, this was especially noticeable with the nobles, they were in two groups of six, and broken down even further into groups of two.

But there were some that he noticed were the same as him, in the commoners despite the vast majority being in the Foundational Qi Realm, there were a few who were by themselves like Lute, he took notice of them, because their atmosphere was the same as his, their aura seemed to cause anyone who approached them to suffocate.

He even locked eyes with a few of them, a mutual understanding would pass between them each time, and with a slight nod respect Lute would turn his head away. Just because he didn’t like to deal with people, and the vast majority were trash, Lute was attempting not to judge too harshly as he was now in a place where he was bound to interact with others, his beliefs didn’t change, but he had to accept that not everyone was like this, Alda and Seren were a prime examples. He could get along with Alda because she was actually pretty similar to him, she didn’t like being deceptive and said what she wanted to say, but for the most part, she was someone who preferred to live on the battlefield.

As for Seren, despite his initial regret of saving her, Lute finally decided she didn’t have the worst personality, she had helped him more than she needed to as all he requested was knowledge and an oath of silence, but she gave more than that.

However, the people who Lute made eye contact with -5 in all- were slightly different; it was more of an unspoken preeminent rivalry. They weren’t judging Lute based on his affiliation with the Windcross house, but instead based on the atmosphere he was emitting, as it was easily recognizable.

All six of them had immediately noticed each other in this vast crowd of people because their auras were similar…. Almost, Lutes aura was suppressed while theirs weren’t, naturally if Lute released his full aura, an Elder would come investigating. There was commonality between them though, it was the thirst for battle; they would all probably die laughing in combat.

Shoving his way through the crowd, Lute arrived in the arena, which was on an absolutely enormous scale, inside there were thousands of disciple from the Fallen Tide Hall, from what he could count, there were nearly two hundred elders, all of which he couldn’t even sense their cultivation, but with Alda as an example, they were probably at the very least, peak Ascension Realm experts.

Lute was unable to spot Seren, he assumed she was in the spectators seats, but instead, he found Alda mingling with some Elders, all of which looked like they had the same unyielding personality as her.

With how spacious the arena grounds were, it was hardly filled even after more than one thousand trial attendees were present. Lute, walked off to his left, in a shaded corner of the arena, he sat down by himself, alone, with a casual glance the he noticed the other five commoners had done the same, all of them were alone.

The rest of the trial attendees stayed in their groups mingling in the middle of the trial grounds. The nobles were separate, they went off to a corner by themselves the opposite direction of Lute, and they were within the closest proximity to the Elders.

Finally, the announcer screamed, his voice projected using Qi, ordering everyone to become silent. The Elders’ all lined up in front of the over one thousand trial participants.

‘Looks like it’s starting, well, let’s get this over with’

Lute locked eyes with Alda, and she gave him a slight sarcastic smirk, which confused all of the trial participants who noticed because Lute was off in a corner by himself, behind all of them, so Alda smirking gave them a sense of foreboding, as if there was something special going to happen in this month’s entrance exam.

Floating up in the air, the announcer projected his voice through the arena, “As you know, every month, we are able to accept one hundred disciples due to disciples dying, abandoning the sect, going missing, graduating etc. For most of you, this is not your first attempt so I will go through this quickly.”

The announcer took a scroll out of his black robes and unfurled it; it wasn’t very long at all, so there must’ve been only a few rules.

“One, all cheating will result in immediate disqualification and you will be unable to ever attempt the trials again, this includes, using spirit armaments, pills, formations, scrolls, and any other consumable item. Two, crippling another participant is forbidden, in the event you do this, you will also be crippled. Three, our word is law, attempting circumvent the rules because of your families status will result in a fine of spirit gems and disqualification. Four, all personal grudges you have with another is not allowed on the trial grounds, if you need to resolve it, the sect shall do so by crippling all involved in the problem if they can’t resolve it outside Fallen Tide Halls property.”

‘So far this seems fair, there are penalties for the nobles and for the commoners, at the least; I am safe from others because of their jealousy.’

Lute sighed in relief, upon hearing the rules, although few, they covered the most important aspects, cheating, using outside influence, and grudges. For the most part, if they enforced these rules, Lute felt pretty confident that he wouldn’t have any surprises.

The announcer then lit a flame in his hand, burning the scroll to ashes before grabbing yet another scroll from is robes.

“There are numerous trials that we have, they change and are randomized every month. This month’s trials are as follows: One, Strength of the Martial Heart. You shall face your inner demons, if you are unable to wake up within the time limit, you will have failed, and must try again next month. Two, the comprehensive examinations, an elder will give you a random copy of an Art; you have a limit of five hours to comprehend a technique from it. Third, combat examinations, you will individually enter a formation and fight progressively stronger illusions until you either die in the formation or give up. Rest assured you won’t actually die when you receive a fatal blow. These trials are to pick the top 200 hundred disciples. The final trial will be announced at that time.”

Lute narrowed his eyes, seeming to pierce into the announcer with them. These trials, while seemingly easy for him, he needed to be careful. He didn’t fear the Martial Heart examination; he earnestly believed there was no one with a Martial Heart as strong as his. The second trial though, that was when Lute needed to be careful, as well as the third.

‘Whatever happens, I can’t expose the Laws of Severance, no doubt it will be a simple art, but comprehending and mastering are two very different things. I must make sure that I don’t show that I have mastered the art and merged it with the Thousand Ways Scripture, as for the third trial, I need to make sure I give up after I survive long enough.

Repeating these thoughts over and over in his mind, Lute stood up and walked to the crowd, it was time to start the first trial of the Martial Heart. Sitting down in a lotus position along with the other over one thousand participants, Lute closed his eyes and began meditation.

An elder who specialized in formations then flew into the air, sending out four banners adorned with many materials and symbols, imbued with his Qi, they landed in a square around all trial participants.

He then left a final word of warning before activating the formation, “Are there any participants that wish to give up now, if your Martial Heart is not firm, you will be plagued by nightmares, and you might doubt yourself and enter cultivation deviation, regressing instead of advancing. This is my one and only warning, if you have the slightest doubt, get up and leave now.”

Just like that, under the warning of the Formation Master, nearly three hundred participants, all of which were Foundational Qi sixth level and weaker stood up and left. Under the Elders piercing gaze and thunderous voice, their wills caved in.

After they left, the Elder sighed, “So be it, then let us begin, I wish you all luck children.”

With a flick of his hand, all four banners lit up, a dome of light surrounded all the participants. Lute sat there, just like everyone else, in silence and meditating.

At first nothing happened, Lute listened to his rhythmic breathing, concentrating on nothing, sinking into nothingness, simply cultivating. But soon, his perception changed. He was no longer in the material plane, due to past experience with the Origin Soul Needle, he had an advantage on the other cultivators, he had experienced this out of body experience of having his consciousness dragged to a different plane of existence, and clearly, this was his inner self.

He had no need to adapt, this was his inner self, what was there to be afraid of, if there was any place he could control, it was his own body. But most cultivators didn’t know this, they thought they were dragged outside of their body into an illusion, while this was half right, they were experiencing illusions, and it was illusions created from their own self-doubt.

Outside the formation, in the material plane, almost all of the participants were making expressions as if they smelled something rotten, their bodies slowly getting drenched in sweat as they experienced their inner demons. Already, barely ten minutes in, nearly one hundred of the remaining roughly one thousand two hundred had collapsed, falling to the ground unconscious.

The elders would then use their strength to make the disciple float out of the formation boundaries. As for Lute, the five commoners he noticed and a few nobles, their Martial Hearts were already so firm that they weren’t even experiencing inner demons. This didn’t escape the Formation Masters gaze.

“Oh? It appears we have some strong willed competitors this month,” He then chuckled light-heartedly, “But I am afraid that this trial is about facing your inner demons, so I am afraid that is what you will be experiencing.”

With but a thought, individual domes of light surrounded Lute and the others who weren’t experiencing heart demons due to a firm will. Under the strength of the Formation Master, he forcefully increased the formations strength upon them.

However, his gaze narrowed in shock slightly, all of them suddenly became drenched in sweat, their faces red and slightly in pain, they were finally experiencing their heart demons, and their level, they were suffering heart demons nearly three times as strong as what all the other participants had while within their own individual domes of light. That is, all of them except for one.

Lute was still perfectly calm and stable, not a shred of sweat, he didn’t look pained, he had no thoughts, and was simply cultivating without a care in the world, both in the material plane as well as in his inner self. He did nothing but cultivate, experiencing no heart demons at all.

“Oh, interesting, Alda really brought someone interesting to this month’s trials.”

The Formation Master of the first trial was now intrigued by Lute, with a quick command; he had another Elder experienced in formations take control. Then, in an instant, an afterimage appeared from where the Formation Master was originally standing; he then appeared directly in front of Lute. Reaching out his right hand, he was about to place it upon the dome of light surrounding Lute, when it was knocked away.

A cold voice resounded for all to hear in the arena, “What do you think you are doing directly interfering with a disciple in the middle of the trial you have started.

Alda’s voice was like a razor sharp sword, cutting into the Formation Master, he shuddered a bit, naturally, and he would never win in one on one combat without time to set up many formations.

Everyone in the arena, both Elders and spectators turned upon hearing Alda’s words, they weren’t particularly paying attention because this trial could be considered boring. The Formation Master’s actions almost went unnoticed, almost, but Alda was always watching Lute this entire time, especially after he received his own dome of light. She wasn’t ignorant, she knew that the Elder had already increased the strength of the heart demons Lute was facing, and yet here he was about to do it again, if he wasn’t careful he could shatter Lute’s Martial Heart.

“The trial states that you must face your inner demons, and yet, look at his boy, do you think he is facing his inner demons? No he isn’t, he is simply cultivating. As the trial commencer and judge, I reserve the right to make sure he faces the trial properly, just like everyone else here.” He said in a stern manner, no matter what Alda said, he believed in fairness, if Lute wasn’t facing his inner demons, then why should anyone else.

“While you may be right, you’ve already increased the strength of the formation by nearly four times upon him; do you really think that this isn’t enough for him to pass the first trial? If you keep increasing it, you might shatter his Martial Heart.”

“Naturally, I wouldn’t do such a thing, although we don’t speak much, you should know of my abilities, I only pursue formation mastery, and nothing else in life, I am confident that I wouldn’t shatter his Martial Heart.”

Alda had to force herself from releasing her aura in anger, for it would disturb those taking the trial, “If you are giving him such special attention, and he has to forge through a trial many times harder than anyone else to achieve the same result, do you think that is truly fair…”

Just as the Formation Master was about to retort, another person appeared, shocking the audience even though he had suppressed all of his strength, he was still extremely imposing, standing even taller than Lute, with blonde hair and blue eyes, which were rare, considering most people only had gray or brown eyes.

Alda’s eyes nearly popped out of her head in shock, “V…Vice Sectmaster why are you appearing at such a trivial place as this.”

The Vice Sectmaster, Toros, one of the few Soul Opening Realm experts within the New Dawn Kingdom, had appeared in the trials, the reason, he’d heard there was going to be an interesting event, and apparently it was true.

“Why I am here doesn’t matter, but since I am here, I will resolve this matter personally. Elder Alda, while I have heard your statements from earlier and I also have heard Elder Gerard’s statements as well. I agree with both of you, so as to resolve this, I will be the one personally increasing the formation’s power upon him, and if he succeeds, he will receive a bonus if he passes all the trials.”

“That’s…” Alda couldn’t say anymore, there was no way she could argue with someone who was a Great Realm above her and also her superior. So she could only relent.

This was the same for Gerard, all he wanted was fairness in the trial, and for the most part, it would be kept. Lute would face a trial that was indicative of his true ability.

In an instant both Alda and Gerard left the formation, returning to the other Elders, leaving only Toros alone with Lute.

The attention of everyone in the arena was now upon Lute, never in the history of the sect had a Vice Sectmaster ever personally interfered in the trials. As for Lute, when he awoke, he’d probably suffer a migraine after realizing he was anything but low key during the trial.

Toros had a light smile, his eyes full of intrigue, but no one besides he himself heard what he mumbled, “Don’t blame me for what you see, I’ve been ordered to use my full power on you, make this interesting for me as was promised.”

Reaching his right hand forward, Toros placed it upon the dome of light surrounding Lute, from what appeared to be a spatial ring, he pulled out four banners, each one nearly three times as powerful as the ones used in the trial and placed them around Lute.

They immediately lit up, and a shocking aura came from the palm of Toros’ hand, but no one was disturbed as it was all focused upon Lute and this new formation that was personally for him to have a separate trial.

Lute finally began to show signs of having encountered heart demons, but he was then hidden from sight. Under the full strength of the formation and Toros’ power, he made the light surrounding Lute became a pitch black shell, covering him from everyone’s view. He was now isolated, Toros kept his palm on the shell to maintain the formation at full strength.

If the others faced heart demons, what Lute was about to witness was infinitely worse; it was as if he was brought directly to hell, the place of devils.