As they approached the Frost Fire City after a two-hour ride, festival music could be heard already. The landing platform was much bigger than the one in their town. The city walls were double the size and actually had guards patrolling them.

Hundreds of people seem to be arriving at the same time as them. It was a bit chaotic. After managing to get out of the building, Seo-Yon quickly instructed the kids to sign up for the Talent Examination and told them where to find her in the evening.

The kids weren’t in a hurry, they took a detour in the shopping district. Ryu’s eyes were popping out of his sockets. He had never seen so many interesting things in this life. There were pet stores that sell a level 5-7 beasts! There were magical items for sale! There were even crystals that displayed an advertisement on the street. This was definitely not seen in his town.

Smells of scrumptious and delectable food also flooded their noses. Unfortunately, they couldn’t afford any of it. A piece of candy actually costs 1 gold! Although Ryu made a bit of money, most of it was spent on buying medicine to compliment the herbs that goes with his grandpa’s medication.

Following the signs that have been specially put up for this occasion, Ryu and the others made their way to the registration booth. There was a line up there already.

The person in charge there was a well-built young man in a white robe. He introduced himself as Jin-Yang. He had a friendly attitude and told them to write their information down on a piece of paper. Then he made them walk over to the side where there was a giant pearl, the size of his own head, on a table. Another administrator in white called Lil-Lin was there with a notepad.

“As you all know, babies are born with a level of 1 while common adults will have a level of 5. If your cultivation is below 5, you’ll get a black tag and start at the first round. If your cultivation is 6-7, you’ll get a brown tag and start at the third round. If your cultivation is 8-9, then you’ll get a silver tag and start at the 5th round. Now put your hands on this Qi measuring device and release your Qi.” Lil-Lin said in a cheerful tone.

A group of seven kids wearing purple robes noticed Ryu’s group as they lined up and snickered at them. There were from the same town as them.

“So the great Inferno Fist School is resorting to letting a baby come take the exam?” The oldest of them spoke. His name was Ran-Lin, he was the oldest disciple from the Purple Fang School.

“Man you guys must be desperate.” Another one chipped in.

The twins were going to refute but Eu-Meh and Ryu stopped them. Jia-Hui went first and started to put his hand on the pearl in front of him, the pearl shined a white light and showed a number six. Jia-Hua got the same result. The purple robed kids started to get nervous, on average they got six as well and Ran-Lin himself got a seven only.

Next Eu-Meh calmly put her hand down and the result was… an eight! Since their teacher was only level 9, this was a huge surprise. Even Eu-Meh was surprised. Ryu and the twins quickly congratulated Eu-Meh. The kids nearby all showed admiration or surprise except one. Having an eight was pretty extraordinary thing, there would only be a handful of kids at that level participating this time.

“Psh, even trash could reach such level? What has the world come to?” A kid wearing expensive flowery dress spoke. He had jewelries over his fingers and even a golden fan hanging off his waist. It was obvious that he came from a rich background. He had a few followers behind him, they looked like they were contestants as well but they were obviously sucking up to the rich kid.

“Oh it’s the third master from the Wang Family.” One by stander exclaimed.

“He must have waited until now to show off his talent to join a first-rate school like his brother.” Another bystander said. This is pretty common amongst nobles to have their kids take the Talent Examination a few years later than the minimum age. Once you join a sect, you are obligated to stay within the sect until you graduate which could take decades.

“The Wang family? His brother was the one that won the competition last time around,” Jia-Hua whispered.

Guan-Xia walked past Ryu and put his hand on the giant pearl. The pearl shined and a nine appeared. Guan-Xia smirked and pretended as if nothing unusual happened.

“As expected of someone from the Wang family, one of the three noble clans in Frost Fire City! They rose to predominance so fast recently” One parent commented.

“I heard the patriarch of the Wang family had reached Grandmaster Domain! Besides the lord of the city, there’s no one at that level.” Another adult watching said.

As the people around started clamoring up, a declaration of challenge rang out.

“Only level 9? I bet you that our junior brother can do better!” Jia-Hui shouted at Guan-Xia out of the blue.

“I am willing to bet a hundred gold coins, what do you say? Or are you too chicken.” Jia-Hua spurred on.

“Only a hundred coins? Make it three hundred. How about we make it more interesting, if I lose I’ll add two Myrtle Aquatic spiritual pills. There are rare pills my father gave me for my birthday to use to break into level ten, the Intermediary Domain. However, if you lose… you two will be my servants for ten years.” Guan-Xia said in a mocking tone. He was just showing off his wealth, there’s no way he could lose.

“Deal!” The twins instantly replied. Guan-Xia was stunned. Are these two insane?

“Honorable administrator, could you please be our witness in this bet?” Jia-Hua hurriedly asked, he doesn’t want Guan-Xia to back out of this afterwards. Jin-Yang nodded with an entertained look on his face.

Ryu nervously put his hand on the pearl as all eyes rested on him. He secretly cursed the twins for putting him on the spotlight, the attention was bothering him so much. More importantly, they didn’t have three hundred gold coins. However, he had no choice since he can’t let the twins suffer such cruel fates. Unexpectedly though, his pearl didn’t change in color and showed a number zero after a few seconds. Jin-Yang came around and looked carefully at the pearl with a confused face.

“Zero? Odd, I’ve never seen that before...” Jin-Yang said as he looked closely at Ryu. He could clearly sense an astonishing amount of Qi inside Ryu yet the device is still showing 0.

The kids lined up behind Ryu started laughing between themselves. Guan-Xia sneered to himself. I’m going to torture them to death. He thought. Jia-Hua and Jia-Hui looked like they had just encounter the grim reaper. The followers of Guan-Xia laughed out loud.

Eu-Meh whispered. “Ryu, you are supposed to put as much of your Qi into the pearl!”

Oh? Ryu didn’t know since it’s his first time getting his Qi measured. Suddenly the pearl glowed and the number zero increased to one, then to two, then to three… until it reached nine.

No one besides kids from Inferno Fist School had a composed face, they already knew of Ryu’s prowess beforehand. Everyone else was in shock. As the digit keeps climbing, the jaws of the surrounding people dropped lower. Suddenly the number changed to ten.

“You may start the competition within the top 8. Here’s a gold tag” Jin-Yang announced loudly over the crowd. The grin Jin-Yang had on had disappeared, the look on his face was dead serious.

Silence.

“What? Did I hear correctly? A gold tag?” One person cried out. A gold tag hasn’t appeared in centuries so naturally commoners don’t know about it.

“He was at level 0 before. What is this?” Another person exclaimed.

“Psh, he probably has some amazing background. Even the administrators are shamelessly helping him in front of the public.” One kid part of Guan-Xia’s followers spoke with a mocking face.

Guan-Xia himself couldn’t believe it. He has never seen the number increase one by one. It has to be a trick however, the administrators for these tests were from first rate schools. Even his family has no possibility of influencing them. In fact, he personally knew that Jin-Yang was from the respectable Raging Thunder Sect. As a Rank 7 school, it’s one of the top ten sects in the province. His father specifically instructed him to show up when Jin-Yang was administering the tests. This kid must have some strong backing, I shouldn’t mess with them for now.

“Shut up, how dare you accuse the honorable administrators for cheating?” Guan-Xia chided his followers in a loud voice. He was doing best to hold his anger in. He threw a red silk bag on the ground in front of the twins along with a well chiseled wooden box.

None of the kids could sense Qi at all so naturally they didn’t understand. Some of the adults that came with their kids naturally felt it. They were shocked beyond belief; Ryu’s cultivation was just as good if not better than the adult bystanders’ cultivation.

Jin-Yang handed a gold tag with the number 398 to Ryu before anyone else recovered. Jin-Yang kindly said. “Ryu right? Don’t be nervous, the competition will start tomorrow morning so don’t be late.”

Uncomfortable with all the attention, Ryu quickly left. Jia-Hua and Jia-Hui obviously had to have one last comment before they followed suit.

“I wonder what’s trashier than trash. Garbage? Junk? Crap? Hahaha,” the twins said in union.

Guan-Xia was furious. His previous calm and polite demeanor disappeared and his face contorted in anger. However, all he could do was pretend nothing happened and walked away in the opposite direction.

Jin-Yang called a fellow administrator over to cover for him and quickly left to find his teacher. The town was bursting with festivities and the streets were flooded with people. Knowing his master’s temperament, he went straight to inn where he could be in peace.

“Disciple requests an audience with the honorable master.” Jin-Yang announced as he stood outside the door.

The door swung opened noiselessly and an old man was sitting on his bed in a meditative pose.

“A very promising youngster has appeared with a level of ten. According to his application, he’s only nine years old! The only odd thing is that the measuring device showed a level 0 for him at first,” Jin-Yang said with a small bow.

The expressionless old man suddenly opened his eyes with an amused look over his face. “There are only two ways of reaching it. The first one applies to people close to death. The second would require an astonishing control over Qi. He might not just be at level 10. Even you are not at that level of control yet Jin-Yang. Where is this boy now?”

“I’m not sure Master. However, I’ve given him a gold tag so he’ll be in the quarterfinals for sure. His name is Ryu.” Jin-Yang replied respectfully.

Ryu’s group celebrated by buying a few trinkets and eating a few treats. Ryu secretly slipped off to a spiritual pill shop to buy some things. Night came and the group united with Seo-Yon was eating in a fine dining restaurant. The twins jubilantly told their teacher the events that transpired and took out the gold coins and the pills out. Seo-Yon could only listen with her eyes wide openly, she didn’t know how to respond properly.

“Level 10? Three hundred gold coins? And two… Myrtle Aquatic spiritual pills? My god those pills are worth at least 500 gold coins! Ryu you better take good care of your winnings.” Seo-Yon said slowly. Ryu refused to take all the rewards however.

“Teacher, Eu-Meh. I think you two should take one pill each. I’ve already broken into the intermediary Domain so this pill isn’t as effective for me. I bought two lower ranked pills suitable for people at level 6 for you two. The bet was made by you two so you two actually deserve the most credit.” Ryu replied firmly. Ryu was an honest person and was never greedy. His grandpa had always told him that money and power corrupts. Besides, what he said was true.

Before anyone can refuse, Ryu continued, “If Eu-Meh consumes one pill she might be able to reach level 9 and do better for the competition. You two can also try to reach level 7. I read that it takes a few hours to consume these pills. Teacher this might also help you reach level 10 at last. You can always repay me later.”