In the seventh month of the year, the weather was transitioning from summer to autumn, creating a beautiful picturesque view no matter where you are in the capital of the empire, and they have arrived. It is also the first time that I will be leaving the Shang family's estate as the venue for the selection of disciples is in another ancient family's estate.
Not including the royal family, there are altogether 3 ancient families in the capital that are located in the capital. They are the Shang family, to which I belong to, the Ying family and the Liu family. The power that these three families holds in the empire are more or less equal, as they hold each other in check and the royal family actively ensure that no family will get a major advantage over the rest.
The families will take turns hosting the disciple selection that happens every decade and this time, the Ying family will host the selection.
After absorbing the qi from the 10 spirit stones my father obtained for me, my absorption time was reduced to around 40 minutes from an hour.
After receiving the hundred additional spirit stones, I continued to practice like I did and managed to reduce the time required to 30minutes by using 60 spirit stones. The remaining 40 spirits did not manage to reduce the time that I required to absorb the spirit stones significantly. My initial theory that my qi absorption rate would increase the more I absorb was incorrect.
As the time grew nearer for me to leave the house and meet up with the rest of the family members that are going to try to join a sect, my parents came out to wish me good luck in the selection. They also brought out my siblings and held their hands and taught them how to say and wave goodbye to me.
...
One of the servants accompanied me to the main gate of the estate. It took me 20 minutes just to walk from my house to the main gate, that's how huge the Shang family estate is. The Shang family is similar to the royal family, where those talented in cultivation have all joined a sect, while the rest will be working in the government.
Those who do not have enough talent in cultivation to join a sect and are not proficient enough to work in the government are taken care of by the family so that they do not seek other pursuits that will make the family lose face.
Reaching the gate, there is already a group of people waiting at the main gate. They look to be of varying ages, from 10 years old to 19 years old. Elder Yu who visited during the birth of my siblings was also present.
I walk towards the group and greet elder Yu.
"Shang Shi greets Elder Yu."
He turns his head and looks at me with a puzzled face.
"Mmmm, you haven't entered the realm of Qi flow? The one hundred spirit stones would have been able to push you into the realm of Qi flow. Anyway it doesn't matter since the day of the disciple selection is here, join the group and we will leave once everyone is here."
When I join the group, the rest of the children are giving me weird looks. They start whispering among themselves and finally one of them speaks up.
"Why are you here when you have not even achieved Qi flow? There is no way you'll be able to compete with anyone. You should know that the absorption rate of spirit stones drastically increases when a person reaches the realm of Qi flow." He says in a raised voice.
He stares at me with his furrowed eyebrows. It kinda makes him look comedic with his beady eyes and thick black eyebrows. His long black hair is also bunned at the top.
He increases his volume and shouts at me, "Take a look around you! Everyone here is already in the realm of Qi flow and you're just throwing the face of the Shang family away by going there to humiliate yourself!"
At this point, Elder Yu hears the shouting and steps in.
"Di Xin! Enough! All the ancient families have always allowed everyone who wants to join the immortal sects the chance to attend the disciple selection." Elder Yu looked towards one of the walkways and continued, "Da Ji has arrived; we shall set out once she is ready."
Immediately, all heads turn towards Da Ji's direction. I too, turn and take a look at this person whom everyone is paying attention to.
A young girl, around 10 years old is strolling cheerfully towards us. Her skin is flawless and her small stature seems to bring out the protectiveness in men. Her big and wide brown eyes seem to see straight into your soul and her high cheeks and full lips just draw you in. She is smiling and her two dimples show as she waves energetically towards me. She is just so beautiful.
She walks closer to me and my hearts starts beating fast. I give my best smile and raise my hand to say hi...but she walks past me and greets Elder Yu instead.
Feeling embarrassed, I look at the floor and move my arm to rub my neck, as if I was giving myself a massage. It's fine, she doesn't know who you are now. Once you show everyone your genius, she will talk to me. I tell myself repeatedly.
The crowd of people around me walks over to Da Ji and greets her; they also start chatting among themselves. I just watch them enjoying themselves and act cool in a corner, since I don't know anyone and the boy called Di Xin made me lose all interest in trying to be friends with them.
After a few minutes, elder Yu calls everyone to stand together and with a whistle, nothing happens. He whistles again, this time louder, and what looks like a big ugly bird lands in front of us. It's a giant stingray...
"Get on it!"
The stingray lowers the corner of its wings so we can walk up on it and it starts floating in the air and flies off. It didn't need to flap its wings to fly?
...
The capital of the empire is huge. There are three different gates that lead into the city. The north of the city is facing vast mountains, and the royal palace is there. There is no gate here but the entrance to the royal palace is here. The east is where the Shang family is located and we are in charge of the eastern gate. The west is where the Liu family is and they are in charge of guarding the Western gate, while the south is where the Ying family is and they guard the southern gate.
The giant stingray flies high up in the clouds so that the commoners will not be able to see the flying stingray and after a while, we land inside the Ying's estate. Upon our arrival, a burly old man who seems to be one of the Ying family's elders flies towards us to welcomes us.
After giving elder Yu a great big bear hug, he says "Elder Yu, welcome to the Ying's family estate. It has been a long time since we last saw each other. We should get a drink together after everything is done! We have prepared everything and the selection will take place in the training hall. The other elders have gone ahead to welcome the juniors from the sects. Please come this way."
Elder Yu signals for us to get off the stingray and kindly thanked the elder, "Thank you for the hospitality elder Dang. We will surely grab a drink to celebrate our descendants entering the sect after this!"
...
While we were walking off the giant stingray, a giant rhino pulling a large carriage stopped by the Ying's estate main gate and the Ying family's elder walks toward the rhino. When the doors of the carriage opened, another old man stepped out but did not fall on the steps. Instead, he stepped on the air and started floating, walking with an air of importance. He stood outside the carriage and waited for the rest of the people in the carriage to exit and line up next to him.
Elder Yu and elder Dang walked towards to Elder Ao and when they were within arm's reach, elder Ao said to the young children at his side "Greet elder Dang and elder Yu".
The youngsters gave their greetings to the two elders together and elder Dang gives a hearty laugh and says in reply, "Haha. Good, Good. Come! Everything is already prepared and the other elders will arrive with the people from the sects soon."
After organising the youngsters who are following behind them, the three old men then grouped up and started chatting, while also leading the way towards the training hall.
...
At the training hall, there were seats lined up and a long table with a bag of spirits stones at the side. The elders arranged everyone according to their cultivation realm and told us to just wait for a bit, while they went to the side and started chatting again.
Soon, a group of people dropped down from the sky, making an impressing landing almost similar to what you would see in a superhero movie. Instead of wearing superhero costumes, these people were all wearing robes.
They looked upon us with disdain, as if we were just ants on the side of the road. They strolled towards the seats in the center and turned around to face us.
The handsome young man in the middle of group of people wearing yellow robes stood out. He looks extremely handsome with his young, oval face. He has short hair and his entire face and body is symmetrical. His thin eyebrows and small eyes, with a small nose and a small mouth looks like it was designed specially for his small face.
He stepped out looking proud of himself, and positioned his chin to be parallel to the ground which tilted his head at an angle which points towards the sky. He started introducing himself with a proud tone and said "We are sent by the martial sects to pick out talented disciples to join our sect. Each sect has sent five people to select and bring back those who we deem talented, and there are altogether twenty five of us who have come here. I am Li Jian Ming and I am from the Quanzhen Sect."
4 other people stepped out one by one to introduce themselves.
A young man wearing blue robes and with fierce features said, "I am Kong Yi Tian from the Heavenly Palace."
"I am Chang Qi Yue from the Divine Blood Valley." A big young man wearing a brown robe loudly introduced himself.
A tall and slender girl wearing a purple dress stepped out and said "I am Xiang Ye Ye from the Qing Yu Sect."
A young girl wearing a green dress with a bird on her shoulder slowly stepped out and gave a gentle smile and said, "I am Feng Lian Hua from the Four Divine Beasts Valley. Let the selection begin!"