With the blazing heat of the sun shining on Li Jian, he slowly opened his eyes and gained consciousness.

‘Am I dead..?’

Looking around, he saw an old man fishing.

“So you’re finally awake kid.”

Glancing at Li Jian, the old man turned back to the lake and closed his eyes.

“Your leg is sprained, and your cultivation is a mess. Start stabilizing your dantian before you do anything else.”

‘So I’m still alive..’

Closing his eyes, Li Jian looked into his dantian and saw that there was a disturbance in his spiritual energy. After a few hours, Li Jian had stabilized himself and turned towards the old man.

“Who are you?”

“Just an old man with nothing but time hahaha.”

With a carefree smile, the old man got up and reeled in his line.

“No fish again today, oh well.”

Li Jian was still on guard towards this old man because he was too mysterious. This old man was in the middle of the Veiled Mist Forest fishing with a carefree attitude. Li Jian couldn’t even see through his cultivation, so it should at least be in the Spirit realm.

Pulling out a deep-blue colored pill, the old man tossed it to Li Jian.

“After consuming this, your leg shouldn’t bother you anymore.”

Holding this pill, Li Jian sensed incredible spiritual energy flowing within the pill. After inspecting it for a little while longer, Li Jian popped the pill into his mouth and his leg had healed almost instantaneously.

‘This pill is amazing! To have casually given it to me, a stranger, means this old man has an incredible background. Who is he exactly?’

“My name is Li Jian, and I thank you for this pill. I will not forget your kindness.”

Li Jian gave this senior a slight bow and showed great respect.

“May I ask what senior’s name is?”

The old man looked at the child in front of him and let out a laugh.

“Hahaha, that was just a common low-grade pill. You can call me Ling.”

“Many thanks Senior Ling. I will repay you for the help you’ve given me today.”

To Li Jian, anybody who showed him kindness would be repaid with kindness: this was a form of karma he believed in. Where good karma existed, bad karma would also exist: treat one with disrespect, one shall pay you back in full.

“Senior, do you know how far Falling Leaf Village is from here?”

“For someone of your cultivation, it would take about a month to get to that village. Of course, that depends on if you survive the trip because all the beasts around here are near the Spiritual realm.”

'Spiritual realm?!? The Iron Horned Deer that was chasing me was still in the mid-stages of the Earthly realm! How the hell did I get so deep into the forest?'

Seeing the child’s confusion, Senior Ling could understand what was going on through his mind.

“Right now we’re in the northern part of the forest. If you’re from Falling Leaf Village, you must’ve fallen into the Calm Root River: this river branches out like a tree all throughout the forest. If you go just a few meters deep, a mist shrouds the area completely. The powers of the mist are unknown and its origins are also unknown.”

“If you’re trying to get back to Falling Leaf Village, it’d be safer to go to Jade Moon City and travel around the forest. Your cultivation is too low to be able to survive the trip through the forest. I’m headed towards the city anyways, so I’ll walk with you.”

“I will have to trouble Senior yet again.”

‘If I head to Jade Moon City, I’ll be able to take the exam!.. Wait.. How long was I unconscious for?’

“Senior.. How long have I been unconscious for..?”

“Two weeks since I pulled you out of the lake. You look troubled.”

'TWO WEEKS?!'

Li Jian almost coughed up blood after hearing this.

“Do you know how long until the Jade Moon Sect holds their disciple entry exam?!”

“The Jade Moon Sect? It should begin in about 3 days or so. Hahaha are you planning on taking it?”

“I probably won’t make it in time..” Sighing, Li Jian was once again dispirited.

“Don’t worry kid, if we leave now we’ll be in the city just in time. Didn’t I already tell you it’d be faster to go to Jade Moon City?”

Senior Ling then raised his right arm with his palm facing forward.

“Summon!”

A white haired fox that was bigger than Li Jian appeared out of nowhere!

Shocked, Li Jian’s mouth was gaping as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

“You’ve never seen a familiar have you? Hahaha, you’re too green for this world kid. You can form a bond with a magical beast if the beast is willing. Maybe one day when you’re stronger you’ll have some of your own familiars.”

“Hop on Little Yue’s back and we’ll head for Jade Moon City.”

Little Yue stared at Li Jian before lowering its body for him to climb up.

-- 2 days later --

An old man and a boy riding a white fox exited the Veiled Mist Forest.

A large city emerged over the horizon with many white-stone buildings with jade-green roofs. Bordering the edges of the city was a large wall as tall as the sky. This impenetrable city looked like a giant fortress!

“Looks like we made it earlier than expected. The entrance gate is right ahead of us, but we’ll be parting ways from here on out.”

Senior Ling smiled and gave Li Jian a jade medallion with a moon carved on it.

“This’ll help you enter the city with no problems. Good luck on the exam kid.”

With that, Senior Ling and Little Yue departed.

‘I am indebted to you Senior Ling.’

Facing the huge city, Li Jian walked towards the city entrance. This entrance had a jade dragon on each side of the gate, coiling around the pillars and meeting at the top. In between these two jade dragons was a large moon.

“Halt. 10 gold entrance fee.”

A guard standing outside the gate looked at Li Jian like he was some country bumpkin.

“I don’t have any gold..”

“Then turn back around. This is no place for a beggar.”

Trying to think of a way to sneak in, Li Jian remembered something.

“Will this allow me to enter..?”

Pulling out his jade medallion, the guard began to sweat profusely.

“Forgive me, this one does not know his place! You may enter immediately!”

‘I guess this medallion really is what Senior Ling said it was! But to react like that? Is this not some ordinary entry medallion?'

Li Jian thought for awhile but decided to not think about it too hard. He continued and walked through the gates and into the city.

After closing the gate, the guard let out a breath.

“To think I almost offended a jade medallion holder..!”

Putting away his medallion, Li Jian saw many people crowding the city’s streets. Compared to Falling Leaf Village, this city was at least ten times larger.

‘The first thing I need to do is find out where the exam is being held.’

Walking around, Li Jian headed towards a tall and thin building with a red moon above the door.

“Excuse me sister, do you mind telling me where the Jade Moon Sect is having their exam?”

The woman at the counter looked at Li Jian and raised an eyebrow looking intrigued. What was a child doing travelling by himself in this part of the city?

“It’s being held inside of the Jade Moon Sect.”

“Many thanks..” With a slight smile, Li Jian asked another question.

“Where exactly is the Jade Moon Sect..?”

“In the center of the city.. Don’t you know anything?”

“Haha.. Many thanks beautiful sister!”

After thanking the woman, Li Jian turned around and headed for the heart of the city.

“He must be stupid to come into a brothel and ask for directions..”

An hour later, Li Jian finally made it to the Jade Moon Sect and saw a large crowd in front of the main building.

With a voice that rumbled like thunder, the crowd turned their attention towards him..

“If you are participating in the Disciple Recruitment Exam, please step inside and pick up an entry medallion!”

“That’s Huang Fang! The eighteen year old prodigy that’s already in the early stages of the Spirit realm!”

The crowd became excited seeing that a genius was overseeing the exam. Many girls were screaming because Huang Fang was also very handsome.

Li Jian didn’t know who he was, but realized this man in front of him had accomplished so much already at a young age. Back at Falling Leaf Village, the “prodigy” of his generation was Li Xiao, who had reached the 4th level of the Mortal realm. Many called him the next Clan Master Li. But this Huang Fang was in the Spirit realm at 18 years old, only a few years older than Li Jian and Li Xiao!

Li Jian walked forward excitedly, grabbed a medallion and saw a moon with the number 336 glistening on it.

“Listen carefully! This is a three part exam and if you deemed as a failure at any point, you will be disqualified. When you are disqualified, you will be teleported out of the building. When you pass one part of the exam, you’ll also be teleported, but you’ll be teleported to the next part. Most importantly, the sect is only accepting the top 100 new disciples. The exam will continue for three hours.”

With that, Huang Fang left.

‘Three hours?’

Looking around, many of the children here were all in the 2nd or 3rd level of the Mortal realm. There were some who were in the 4th level. Nobody in the 5th level could be seen, but because there was no time limit, someone in the 5th level might come late and breeze through the exam.

Next to Li Jian was a pair of twins talking amongst themselves who looked to be in the 3rd level of the Mortal realm.

“Damn, did ya hear that bro, he said we’ll be teleported!”

“Yeah, there must be a powerful array setup within this building.”

“Jade Moon Sect is too amazing! I can’t wait for us to become disciples haha!”

Feeling like they were being watched, the two turned towards Li Jian.

“Do you need anything?”

“Whatcha think ya looking at punk?”

Li Jian forced a smile because these twins were too different. Although looking exactly alike, one was well-mannered while the other was.. different. The only visible difference was that the well-mannered one had his hair swept to the side while the other had a more wild appearance. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry in this situation.

“Haha sorry.. I was just interested by this “array” you were talking about.”

“Hmm..? You don’t know about arrays?”

“Hmm..? Ya don’t know about arrays, punk?”

“They’re spiritual formations set up by powerful array specialists. They’re extremely hard to set up and must be done carefully and precisely, otherwise they could explode.”

“Sounds ‘bout right.”

“Interesting, thank you brother twins for enlightening me.”

“My name is Meng Zhao.”

“The name’s Meng Jiao, punk.”

“Pleased to meet you both, my name is Li Jian.”

“Li Jian, have you heard about the rewards for passing?”

“Rewards? I haven’t really heard of anything about the exam aside from becoming a disciple of the sect for passing.”

“Ya don’t even know ‘bout the rewards? There’s a ranking list for the top 100. Better rank obviously means better rewards, punk.”

“Our father told us we could even become inner disciples or even core disciples if we hit the top rankings!”

Li Jian’s blood boiled and became even more excited at this opportunity.

‘Li Mu, I’ll meet you inside the sect.’