The final test was about to begin. Most of the trial participants had ashen looks prominent upon their faces. The majority of the cultivators left out of two-hundred were within the Nascent Qi Realm. This trial was a death sentence for those who were still in the Foundational Qi Realm. There were only a few who appeared to be relaxed like Lute, they were all above the fifth level of the Nascent Qi Realm and with this trial they were guaranteed to pass.

As Lute sat on the ground preparing for the trial, multiple formation masters flew to the perimeter of all the trial participants. Forming a pentagonal formation. Then, each one withdrew a scarlet red banner, planting them into the ground and then almost simultaneously they all withdrew a sticky blue liquid and poured it on the ground before morphing it into runic symbols.

All at once, the five scarlet banners lit up. A hazy gray dome of light formed and surrounded Lute and the other contenders. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Everyone seemed tranquil, even those who were anxious before stopped trembling, forcing himself or herself to become calm in order to give his or her all during this final trial. After a minute of time passed by, some people began to furrow their eyebrows.

The dome of light was no longer just a hazy gray. As the formation grew stronger it became less and less transparent. The gray color was becoming darker and thicker, until it was closer to black. Eventually, a suppressive aura began to emanate from the dome, those closest to it that was only spectating had to stand up and leave their seats. Upon this sight, those who had never been suppressed in such a formation before began to imagine just how terrifying it must be if they were within the very center of the suppression formation.

Within the suppression formation, everyone was feeling its effects full force, even Lute was starting to clench his teeth under the pressure. However he was better off than the others. There were multiple ways to suppress someone. The easiest of way was to put pressure on the meridians and body, Qi flow would become sluggish and slow. For most, they were struggling to use their Qi to ward off the pressure. This became especially apparent with the Foundational Qi cultivators ran out of Qi. Blood would begin to leak from the facial orifices before they passed out.

After roughly ten minutes, more than half the participants, all Foundational Qi to early stages of the Nascent Qi Realm had been eliminated. For the most part, only those at the fourth level of the Nascent Qi Realm and above were still able to go on further.

‘Not much longer, there are only about twenty more of us that need to fail before the trial ends, I can do this, it’s nothing compared to Master’s suppressive aura.’

As Lute thought of this, his mind was already in a haze. His eyes were glazed over and a small stream of blood was leaking from his nose. Compared to others, he was faring much better. There were others who were practically spurting blood from their bodies as well as virtually unconscious.

As for Lute, he was supporting himself on mostly physical strength and willpower alone. He didn’t feel any pressure on his meridians; after all it would have to be a suppressive formation at the level of the Divines to affect them due to possessing the Spiritual God Meridians. If he was at the same cultivation level as the Elders who activated this formation, he wouldn’t have even felt any pressure at all. But, since he was only in the Nascent Qi Realm, and the Formation Masters were either Ascension or Emperor level experts, it was a given that he couldn’t come out unscathed.

Because of this, a crazy thought came to Lute at the beginning of the trial, ‘If I could withstand this with my body alone, would it bring me closer to the second level of the Primordial First Physique?’

Since he possessed the Primordial First Physique, bolstering his body’s defense with Qi was meaningless. The difference in his defenses was negligent anyway, whether he covered his body in Qi to defend himself or not made no difference whatsoever. So why not abstain from using Qi then?

‘I am not even sure if this can help progress the Primordial First Physique, but since I am bleeding from the pressure, I can only hope that is will.’

Lute shifted slightly under the pressure and a mouthful of blood spewed from his mouth. With a slight glance to all those around him, the puddles of blood forming around them were far larger than him. They all bled from many orifices. This was the benefit of body tempering. Lute could withstand more pressure than the others while at the same time, he wasn’t using Qi.

As minute by minute went by, the dome of light which was now pitch black and seemed to suck in all light began to dissipate. The pressure began to lift all at once. The sudden relief actually caused some of the participants to pass out due to the extreme change of environment.

Lute tiredly looked around; his eyes became unglazed and began to focus once again. He was successfully one of the final hundred that passed. Sighing in relief he slowly stood up to stretch his body.

Everyone looked tired, and completely devoid of energy. Large puddles of blood had formed on the ground and many had bloodstains all over their robes. This was why the suppression trial typically wasn’t used within the last two-hundred years, in the past some trial participants had been crippled by this formation, but apparently today everyone had luck as no one, even those who failed were crippled.

‘This was truly nothing compared to Master’s Slaughter Aura that I trained within for months. Sadly, I don’t think it will aid in breaking through to the second level of the Primordial First Physique.’

Lute secretly praised Isla in his heart. He already had understood that his meridians weren’t pressured by the formation due to the Spiritual God Meridians, but he still attributed everything to Isla.

Compared to the suppressive force she made him suffer within for months using her Slaughter Aura, this formation was nothing. Under her torture, his muscles and meridians had ballooned in size to the point of rupturing which shouldn’t be possible since he had the Spiritual God Meridians, but since they shared a body, and he was only a Foundational Qi cultivator at that time while she was a Divine, it became possible. Through that hellish training, he had learned what true suppression was.

The announcer once again appeared for the final time. This time, he had a warm smile upon his face. This month’s disciples accepted were above the norm, with most of them being in the intermediate levels of the Nascent Qi Realm.

Using Qi to transmit his voice throughout the entire arena, the announcer began to explain what was to occur next. “Congratulations upon passing such trials. Starting from today on, you are official disciples of the Fallen Tide Hall, do not shame your new brothers and sisters and teachers. First, go and receive your official slip that shows you are a member of this hall, and then get your robes. After, you may enter the inner sanctuary of the sect where you will receive your dorm and a tour. Each dorm holds two disciples.”

Lute looked around and finally saw where everyone was shuffling off to. A small desk where that same mysterious man from before gave him a sense of danger was changing the contents of everyone’s jade slips.

Lute grimaced but then waited in line until it was his turn. Eventually, when he reached the front desk, he had an extreme sense of foreboding, but his time, it came from the very depths of Lute’s soul.

When he made eye contact with the old man, Lute involuntarily gulped. For a split second, he could’ve sworn that he was staring at an ancient monster that was extremely cunning and intelligent. Those eyes didn’t seem dead; instead they seemed full of disdain for the world before him. But this only lasted for a second before the eyes seemed to glaze over again.

With this silent exchange, Lute hurriedly unclasped his jade slip and handed it to the old man, who then changed it to the identity of an outer disciple. As Lute received the jade slip again as well as his robes which were white with black trimmings, he quickly scampered off. Although he didn’t look behind him, Lute felt as if a Vicious Beast was staring at its prey.

‘That….he is too dangerous. I must avoid him at all costs. It’s almost as if my body is screaming at me that if I am even on the same planet as him I am a dead man. Hopefully Isla will be able to see through him when she awakens.’

Donning his new attire, Lute looked off to where the tours began. Waiting for him was Seren, Alda and Toros. Lute quickly walked over. To which he was bombarded with praise from Alda.

“Look at you! Those trials you faced were far more difficult than any of the other participants. Due to this man right here, the Vice Sectmaster, you thoroughly surprised him, although I must apologize on his behalf, he is a free spirit and is fond of betting.”

Lute looked at Toros while he replied dryly to Alda. “Yes, I certainly did face a much harder trial than needed.”

Locking eyes with Toros, Lute discarded all sense of formalities, for an unknown reason, he felt that it would be fine to talk without formalities to Toros. “Well, I guess we should get down to business. I won our game, so what is the reward you promised me?”

Toros’ eyes twinkled playfully as he looked at Lute. Much to Alda’s displeasure, “You did what?! You guys were betting and playing games while Lute took the trials!”

“Hah, yes we did. This little monster showed me a wonderful time, entertaining me to no end. The first trial, I interfered because I was the mediator, the second trial I was curious, but the third… that was when we truly bet. I increased its difficulty by giving his opponents sentience and the ability to learn.” Toros said with a playful tone of voice.

Alda massaged her temples in a frustrated manner. She knew Toros messed with Lute somewhat, but she didn’t know how much. She only had the second trial as reference. But if Toros made the First and Third trials just as dangerous; then Lute was undoubtedly being tested to his limits.

“You did know he was taking trials to enter the sect right?” Alda said while sighing.

“Of course I did, but anyways”, Toros turned to face Lute with a broad grin, “For performing so spectacularly and entertaining me today. I will give you a special reward. After you settle into the sect, I will come get you. Then I shall personally create an Essence Gathering Formation for you to spend six hours cultivating within.”

‘An Essence Gathering Formation, just how much will that aid me?’

It certainly sounded great, but since he didn’t know anything about formations and the fact he needed more Qi than others of the same level to breakthrough, Lute didn’t understand the value of such a formation. They were costly to make, and only Spirit Gems of the highest grade could be used in their creation.

Toros then began to walk away, “Well, I have been here longer than expected today. I have matters to attend to. Alda, this is a direct order as the Vice Sectmaster, you are to personally give Lute a tour and explain the rules and uses of the sect to our friend here.”

“Yes, Vice Sectmaster. Lute let’s go.”

Lute, Alda and Seren began to walk towards the true area of the Fallen Tide Hall. Many onlookers were jealous as they saw Lute. He was being guided by an Elder on his own while everyone else, even the nobles were in groups of eight or more. They were all being escorted by Spirit Opening Realm disciples. Seeing Lute, they were burning with envy, but he didn’t spare them a single thought or even care to acknowledge their gazes.

Seren who had been observing Lute until now finally spoke up, “How did you do it? How did you make consecutive breakthroughs until you were almost at the intermediate stages of the Nascent Qi Realm? I’m sure you know that advancing too quickly will hurt your future progress.”

Lute glanced at Seren, despite all she’d done for him; he didn’t hold her as much more than an acquaintance. Now that he was a member of the Fallen Tide Hall, he didn’t plan to associate with anyone and instead seclude himself until he learned more combat arts and expanded his knowledge of cultivation, as those were his two weaknesses.

Without Isla, he knew basically nothing about how to advance his cultivation beyond the Nascent Qi Realm, and with Qi Explosion Tactics and the Thousand Ways Scripture, he didn’t have anything else besides Shifting Time Collapsing Void which would severely maim him upon use.

Lute vaguely replied, refusing to let anyone know about bloodlines and Divine Realm arts, the only person he truly trusted was Isla. “I know nothing of how to advance past the Nascent Qi Realm. As such all these years while I was alone, I only focused upon building my foundations. I did nothing except for this; my best guess is that my foundation was so stable I was able to leap past the first and second levels of the Nascent Qi Realm, right Alda?”

“Hmmm, it is not unheard of to for something like this to happen if you have an extremely strong foundation and your strength built up naturally over an extremely long period of time. It’s rare, but it does occur, and from what I see, Seren his foundation is still far more stable than yours, perhaps you could learn something from him.”

There was no way that Lute was going to say that the reason he broke through consecutively was due to having a near perfect foundation, becoming one with the world, possessing a pure powerful bloodline, having the Primordial First Physique and already requiring more than three times the Qi someone else would need to advance. Feigning ignorance and saying it was because of his foundation, which was the best way to avoid the topic.

“I see…” Seren muttered as she started to sulk and become dejected. There was no longer anyway she would have a chance to win against Lute in a fight, and he was even better at cultivation than she was. He eclipsed her in talent and ability.

As they walked forward, Lute marveled at the surrounding area as Alda began to explain the rules of the sect. “There are very few rules, but they are iron clad. First, don’t kill or cripple your sect mates or the same will happen to you, also any personal grudged, if not resolved outside the sect will cause us to intervene by crippling both parties involved. No stealing, or cheating, or extorting from fellow disciples. Third, the Elders word is Law. You are required to attend at the least, two classes at all times. Lastly, don’t become a sloth; anyone who doesn’t actively try to advance will be kicked out, no matter how talented they are. That’s the gist of it. There are a few unspoken rules, but you’ll learn them in time.”

“I see”

The rules were straightforward and simple yet harsh. But Lute didn’t mind, it wouldn’t be too difficult to adapt, and if he had a personal grudge, he wouldn’t want to get the sect involved anyways and would rather deal with it himself.

Alda then began to point out the various buildings. “That building is the Library. You can rent out up to five books at once of any topic. However some books are restricted and can only be loaned out to you if you spend merit points, which leads to the next building, the request hall. This building is where you can sell items of value for merit points, as well as take on requests such as killing a specific Vicious Beast. You may spend the merit points how you see fit. Also, you must take at the least one request a month. The largest building at the center of the sect is the Academy, where many subjects are held. You must attend two classes at all times. Lastly, aside from the dorms, there is the craftsmen hall where you can become an apprentice to an alchemist, craftsmen or formation master to learn their trades; however they are very stringent in their requirements for accepting an apprentice. You already know of the arena. If you want a secluded place to cultivate on your own, the caves underneath the arena are built in a way where each person has their own individual space.”

“Is that everything?”

“That’s about it; you don’t need to know buildings such as the dorms of the Elders. I’m sure I forgot a few places, but that is the gist of everything.”

“I see”

Alda withdrew a card from her spatial ring; upon it was Lute’s name. “I already knew you’d make it into the Fallen Tide Hall, so I took the liberty of getting you a merit card. This card represents how many merit points you have. Don’t ever lose it, the sect doesn’t enjoy replacing the cards of irresponsible disciples and will purposefully make you wait for months before you acquire a new one. Seren gave me the cores of the Vicious Beasts you killed. I turned them into merit points for you. Don’t waste them all, spend frugally.”

Accepting the card, Lute looked at the number upon it.

‘Seven-thousand, that’s quite the sum. I don’t know how expensive things are, but Alda is right, I shouldn’t waste my merit points.’

Seren, Alda and Lute finished the tour by heading to the residence hall of all outer disciples. It was a massive complex where Seren lived. Outside the hall, Alda handed a talisman to Lute.

“Inject Qi into this talisman and place it upon the handle of the door as you turn it. This way only you and your roommate may enter your room. Your room number is 305. Good luck in the coming days. I don’t typically stay at the sect, so until next time.”

Alda then casually walked off. Seren wished Lute a farewell and headed to her own dorm on the fifth floor. As for Lute, he began to search for room 305. It was situated on the eighth floor of this complex.

Upon reaching his room, Lute did as instructed with his talisman in order to open the door. As he walked in he didn’t have time to observe the room. Instead his tranquil atmosphere was disrupted and he felt the need to cough up blood. Within his room sitting on the other bed reading a book was none other than Elias.