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First Chapter of the day, enjoy!

Soaring Dragon Continent, Serpents Valley

Qiu Zhen was done with the first exam so he headed towards the other side of the valley at lightning fast speed, which was comparable to those at the peak of the ninth level Qi realm. Qiu Zhen wanted to speed up more but feared someone would sense that his speed would be irregular compared to the level of cultivation he was at. He didn’t want to expose his strength this early on, only when he needed to use it.

It took Qiu Zhen the time it took an incense to burn in order to reach the other end of Serpents Valley. Arriving, there were two people clothed in green robes, one was a female with long blue hair and the other was a male with short brown hair. The robes had an emblem on it, signifying that they were elders of the school.

Qiu Zhen strolled over to them and grabbed the seven demon cores he took from the youths he tied up earlier. Handing them over to the woman that seemed to be around her mid forties, he felt her hands were cold as ice.

The man slightly raised his eyebrow, but it happened so fast no one would notice. The elder wasn’t surprised that Qiu Zhen brought over more than five demon cores, since others have brought more also. He wasn’t even surprised at Qiu Zhen’s cultivation level, because this elder has seen many who are at or above Qiu Zhen’s level today. What made him surprised was that he felt the aura of the three headed jade serpent, a beast at the Paragon level demon core was in the hands of a youth like Qiu Zhen.

The demon core Qiu Zhen had lost most of the qi that was contained inside it, now it only contained that of a Mystic realm beast, however each demon beast has a distinct aura contained in its demon core. When Qiu Zhen grabbed the seven demon cores, the elder sensed a demon core that contained qi higher than the rest, and the aura it released was small, but it was enough for this elder to sense it.

The elder took his hands which were inside his sleeves and removed an orb. This orb was used to check the cultivation level and age of anyone, most schools used this so they could keep track of their disciples cultivation. The reason for checking cultivation is so they can determine how strong they are when they enter, and how much stronger they’ll be after they reexamine them. The elders could always exam the qi in their body, but with the amount of students they have it would be easier to have them line up and use the orb.

No one could lie about their age because the orb would search their bones for their current age, so it would never be false. The top schools only accepted disciples who had a suitable cultivation for their age. If one were to reach the sixth Qi realm at age fourteen then they would be considered a genius, anything above that would be considered a genius among genius, which are usually found in high ranking clans.

Qiu Zhen naturally knew what the orb was used for and for a slight moment he was startled, because the orb might have a chance to pick up on him being at the fourth Dao realm. However his unease only lasted for a split second, because the effect of 'False Cult' could be used to even trick the orb that examined one’s cultivation. This is mostly due to the fact that when one uses 'False Cult', the qi in their body is thinner than the rest at their level, so the orb would sense the thin qi and take it as someone who was at lower cultivation even if they were five levels above what it said.

After the elder seen Qiu Zhen’s cultivation and age he was stunned, not many people could reach the same stage as Qiu Zhen at his age. “Not bad kid, what’s your name?”

Qiu Zhen clapped his hands together and bowed, “Senior, this one is called Qiu Zhen.”

The elder said the name a few times to familiarize himself with it. “Qiu Zhen, you are the 1459th person to pass the first exam, you may enter.” After saying that the elder waved his hand making a path clear.

‘An illusion, and a powerful one at that! Not even I could see though it!’ The location Qiu Zhen was at seemed as if once he passed the elders he could go straight through the door behind them to enter the school, but that was all an illusion and the real path was located to the right going through the wall of the illusion instead.

Passing through the wall Qiu Zhen found himself in a hallway, the people in the hallway were in a line and the number of people was massive. The line contained many youths each a different age, they seemingly lined up to pick a ticket. All the youths in the line each passed the first exam so they had some experience in combat fighting demon beast. From the clothes they were wearing, they all likely belonged to a major clan, or the branch of one. As for Qiu Zhen, he was dressed in his black clothing which made him stand out.

One must understand that judging a person by the clothes they wear will tell you a lot about them, and where they have come from. Those who usually wear red clothing are from some clan that teaches fire techniques excels in fire manipulation, those who have assortment of colors are usually from a clan that houses multiple techniques. For Qiu Zhen who had on all black, everyone knew what that meant, the only people who wore all black are rogue cultivators.

Rogue cultivators don’t belong to any clan nor have they attended school before, most rogue cultivators never reach the peak of cultivation. Rogue cultivators never have any distinct techniques they excel in, instead they have many techniques that were stolen or bought. As for training, some trained in solitude honing their skills, or meditating, and as for resources, rogue cultivators had the worst of luck. Not having the backing of a clan they had to farm and refine their own pills to increase their training speed, if they didn’t do that then they would need to buy them. This is where rogue cultivators become different, they don’t belong to a clan so they can do missions for high ranking people or clans to gain wealth. Gaining wealth through the clans is one way they make money, another is by becoming a mercenary.

Becoming a mercenary, usually means being tasked with all the hard work which could end a person's life. They would have to hunt down certain objects, demon beast, or even kill a certain person to maintain a living. These types of rogue cultivators live more dangerous lives than the other rogue cultivator, since they can make many enemies who will be after them.

Currently many other youths were taking glances at Qiu Zhen, and some were probing for his cultivation level. As long as you were within five levels of a person's cultivation one could see that person's strength. Qiu Zhen was at the fourth Dao realm, but to others he was at the peak of the Qi Realization realm. Many gasped, others were envious, and some snorted. To them there wasn’t that many who were currently at the same level as Qiu Zhen or higher, because most of them were around fourteen-seventeen years old.

When one reaches the age of eighteen, they can’t join a school because to the schools they are worthless. If you can’t reach a suitable level before that age, then you were treated as trash. Usually in school exams, you can take it how ever many times you want, but the schools only open up an exam once every three years. The perfect time to see if you have what it takes is when you are fourteen, even if you fail you can retry in three more years.

Finally it was Qiu Zhen’s turn to be at the front of the line, when he arrived a grey haired elder told him to state his name and draw a number. The number was used to identify which group he would be in, and the name was to identify him. Drawing a number, Qiu Zhen walked through the door at the end of the hall. Upon entering the room looked like a coliseum, except for one arena it housed more than 50. Qiu Zhen took a look at his number, which happened to be 32, so he strolled over to group 32.

The people in this group numbered to 33, including Qiu Zhen, and the cultivation of the people were all in the Qi realm with one exception. The guy who had the higher cultivation seemed to be around sixteen years old, his height 1.9 meters and he had a robust build. His cultivation was at the first Dao Realm, and going by the clothing he wore, Qiu Zhen could tell he was from a major sect.

Soon the number of people arriving became less and less, until no one else entered. The number of each group equaled sixty, and everyone had a different cultivation level. Out of the fifty groups there was only around ten or so people who reached the Dao realm, not including Qiu Zhen. By looks on their faces most of them seemed arrogant, and the way they separated themselves from the others in their group made them really stand out.

After the elders appeared on stage and congratulated everyone on passing the first stage of the exam, he announced that this was the last part of the exam in order to enter the school. Only the top five hundred would be able to enter, and the top ten would each receive a gift from the school to help their cultivation. Hearing that the top ten would be able to receive a gift that would speed along their cultivation many got pumped up, but they all knew deep down that if anyone would get into the top ten, it would be those in the Dao Realm.

The people who places first in their group, would then proceed to enter a new group, and the winner from that group would enter another and so on. After the top five hundred students were decided, the school would then hold another round to determine the rankings of the five hundred. The top ten would receive a gift, and the person who places first would get a chance to be promoted.

Being promoted straight after getting into a school would be a huge accomplishment, it means that person would have limitless potential. You would assume that being first place among the new entries, they would receive special attention, however you couldn’t be more wrong. Once they get promoted from outer disciple to inner disciple, they are starting at the bottom of the ranking. The amount of resources and attention they get wouldn’t differ from inner disciples, the only difference is the amount of time it would take them to get a promotion.

In schools the only pride and joy the elders try to curry favor from are the core disciples. Those disciples have the best potential to achieve greatness, and if they remember what the school did for them, then they would pay them back in the future. Core disciples are the ones who have the best resources, they learn the higher ranked techniques, and are overall the favorites at the school.

After a few fights went on, in group 32, it was finally Qiu Zhen’s turn. The elder announced, “Qiu Zhen Vs Wei Yang!”

Stepping onto the stage appeared a youth who appeared to be around fourteen years old, he had silver hair and a slim build, over his shoulder he carried a sword. Bowing at Qiu Zhen his voice was gentle, “Wei Yang, Please guide me!”

Qiu Zhen bowed in respect saying, “Qiu Zhen, ready to exchange pointers.”

Wei Yang unsheathed his sword, and took a stance ready to attack at any moment. Qiu Zhen on the other hand never took his weapon out, and took his pose waiting. “Unsheath your weapon!”

Qiu Zhen shook only shook his head, “There’s no need.”

Wei Yang’s face turned ugly, “Don’t look down on me!” His body flashed and wielding his sword he sliced it towards Qiu Zhen. His movements were a bit sloppy, but you can tell he was trying to make this move his own.

Qiu Zhen’s figure was sliced through, making Wei Yang feel proud, only to see that it was an afterimage. Qiu Zhen's movement speed was truly terrifying, the image he left looked exactly like him, and it would be hard to tell that it wasn’t real. The images face and even pose looked exactly the same, you could not tell it was fake until it was pierced through.

Qiu Zhen’s body was in the air rotating around, and his leg carried a strong force behind it. Boom! His leg smashed straight into Wei Yang’s head making body drop to the stage floor. Wei Yang’s body was twitching on the floor, and under him was a pool of blood. Qiu Zhen didn’t kill him, but that blow was enough to knock a few screws loose in his head. Wei Yang laid on the floor unconscious until some medics came to pick up his body.

“That's what he gets for not checking his opponents cultivation before hand. How could a mere seventh Qi realm cultivator compare to someone at the peak of the realm!”

“He was indeed foolish, if it was me I would have forfeited, can always come back next time.”

“Just glad it wasn’t me facing him!”

The matches continued onward, and Qiu Zhen passed his next match with ease, because his opponent forfeited. His opponent was only at the seventh Qi realm, he had seen what Qiu Zhen did to the other guy and he didn’t want the same to happen to him.

Making it into the top 15 for his group, it was now Qiu Zhen’s turn again, he was actually the first to go on stage. His opponent this time happened to be the silver haired youth who had a cultivation at the Dao realm.

“Xin Zhao Vs Qiu Zhen!”

“You might as well forfeit like the rest!” Xin Zhao’s voice carried a hint of arrogance in it. In all of his matches so far not one person chose to fight him, and instead all forfeited. You could say that they had the worst luck, being drawn to fight a cultivator at the Dao realm, there was no way they could win.

Qiu Zhen grinned at Xin Zhao before he bowed. “The ones you faced before didn’t have as much courage as I.”

Xin Zhao grabbed his two daggers hanging from his waist, “Don’t blame me if you die! You should have known your place!” Xin Zhao moved at a frightening speed, approaching Qiu Zhen.

“Ah, these days kids have no respect, I guess for you i’ll use one move on you.”

“One move? This guy must be joking, even I can take one of his moves, he should have said say that after I take one of your moves!”

“Right, right! This guy is looking to die.”

Xin Zhao grasped the two daggers hanging at his side, using multiple thrust he attacked Qiu Zhen. Qiu Zhen's movements were fluid, when once dagger approached him he would dodge it with ease, making it seem like he was playing with Xin Zhao. Seeing as his attack wasn’t working, Xin Zhao leapt back getting ready to go again.

Qiu Zhen glared at Xin Zhao, “That's the best you have?” Qiu Zhen’s body vanished, leaving not even an afterimage. His steps were gentle, they couldn’t even be heard, and if they didn’t have to view of the whole stage, they wouldn’t even find Qiu Zhen. His body reappeared behind Xin Zhao, concentrating the qi on his palm, flames that burned blue appeared, Qiu Zhen’s palm stuck Zhao’s back creating a thundering sound. Bang! Xin Zhao’s body was sent flying off the stage, and his body crashed into the wall.

“You Damn Brat!!”