The sound of the door being opened jolted Auron awake from his sleep. When he looked in that direction, he noticed Lewis walking into a room.

“Come with me.”

He said while motioning to Auron to follow him with his hand.

Auron rose to his feet, patted his clothes, and walked alongside the elder. When they exited the room, he realized that he was in some sort of dormitory, which surprised him. Upon noticing his expression, Lewis began to explain.

“We are in the outer sect disciples dormitories. Every outer disciple gets one such room for themselves and if they want to modernize it they need to buy their own furnitures and other things.”

Before Lewis continued, Auron nodded his head, indicating that he understood what was being said.

“Normally I would take you as a personal disciple but I have to keep to our tradition and laws created by the founder of our sect. So you have to wait until you breakthrough to the foundation realm and become an inner disciple.”

Hearing him say it, the boy was taken aback. Being a personal disciple carries a great deal of prestige. Someone who rises to the top is always someone who is exceptionally talented and has strong financial backing. He obviously possesses neither, given that his parents were ordinary farmers and that his abilities have not yet been tested.

“Me? A personal disciple? Why?”

Lewis smiled wryly and quickly answered.

“Why do you ask? Well because I’ve taken a liking to you. You are calm and easy to talk to, and the fact that you care for your family means that you most likely won’t betray the sect in the future.”

‘And the fact that the master will beat me up for not helping you.’

He added in his mind afraid that he won’t be able to fool this child.

He was relieved when they arrived in front of a beautifully decorated building made of red brick. As a result of the size and decorations, Auron was able to conclude that this structure was of great significance.

“You are gonna meet someone important so be polite while talking. He will check your talent and after that, you will be given a basic cultivation method for the outer disciples. So let’s get in.”

With that, he opened the door, and the two of them walked into the building together. On the inside, Auron discovered a very spacious room with beautifully decorated pillars and a purple carpet on the floor to walk on.

An elderly gentleman is drinking tea in the middle of the room. His age appears to be similar to Lewis', and his eyes are green, and his hair is long and brown. You could tell by his crimson-gold robe and bearing that this individual carries a great deal of responsibility and authority.

He became aware of them and his expression changed from a frown to a childlike smile, which he waved his hand in the direction of the audience.

“Hey. Come here, sit with me.”

Auron was taken aback by this person's sudden shift in character, but he still went along with it and sat near a free chair near Lewis, as if he was afraid that this strange man might do something to him. This did not go unnoticed, and Lewis began to chuckle as a result of it. As soon as he sat down, a strange man began speaking to him.

“Welcome. I am Zeke the sect master of this sect, I hope that everything is to your liking for now at least. I’ve heard about your story from Lewis…”

Auron, understanding what he means, said immediately.

“Auron Fade”

Lewis caught Zeke's eye, as if he were to blame for something bad that had happened. The whole process took only a few seconds, and then he was back to his cheerful self and said.

“Very well. Then let’s get back to the main topic.”

Then he appeared out of nowhere with a crystal the size of a fist. It has a smooth surface and appears to be made of glass from a distance.

“Hold your hand on this orb and we will measure your cultivation talent.”

Auron followed the instructions given to him. There was no response at first, but within minutes, the orb began to glow brightly in extremely bright light. It was mostly purple with a few red spots thrown in for good measure.

“Very good, you can stop. You have an amazing talent for cultivation. The last person I saw with something like this was a founder of our sect.”

The child then decided to ask about the color of the light.

“But why was it purple-red?”

“Ah right. It means that you have a demonic aptitude and will be way more proficient at demonic arts.”

Auron then drew his hand back, and the light faded away, leaving the crystal in the same condition as it had been before the incident. He kept his gaze fixed on Lewis and the sect master, fearful that they would do something to him because of his demonic alignment. However, when he noticed their nonchalant demeanor, he relaxed.

Zeke took a sip before returning a crystal to the table and replacing it with six smaller crystals that looked almost identical to the previous one, but were painted in a variety of different colors on the surface instead.

“Those will check which of the basic elements you are the most proficient with and this will help to determine your future possibilities and path you should take.”

The boy then touched an orb that was closest to him, but despite holding on to it for several seconds, nothing happened, and not even the tiniest ray of light could be seen emanating from the orb.

“Not water then... Next”

Although he tried this on five crystals and found that none of them responded, he didn't feel bad about it because he could see both cultivators smiling at him. Unbeknownst to him, both of them were thinking about something completely different.

‘…Even without an element he still might be able to become an alchemist or a weapon refiner. Oh, wait I know, I will make him responsible for the martial arts pavilion then he will be able to just laze around the whole day.’

‘Master, please forgive me. This is too challenging! I can’t teach someone how to cultivate when this person is without any elemental aptitude.’

If Auron was to hear their thoughts he would probably fall from his chair.

He checked up the final crystal. Right away, a brilliant gray light radiated from it. The sight of this caused the sect master to raise an eyebrow and ponder on something.

‘So he might not be useless after all.’

Auron removed his hand from the crystal and, for no apparent reason, felt the urge to punch someone, which he successfully resisted.

The Sect master took the last sip of his tea and said.

“Summarizing, you have a great talent for cultivation, absolutely no aptitude to any basic element but your greatest power is hidden in one of the advanced ones. The only problem is that the crystals that could check those only work on the foundation realm and above. So you will have to wait. Then you can go, stay near the entrance. The disciple will come and take you for a tour while giving you a basic manual along with outer disciple robes.”

There is nothing wrong with that, and Auron will not suffer any consequences as a result. Every cultivator, regardless of elemental aptitude, must first reach the foundation realm, which can be accomplished with only a basic manual. They can only use cultivation techniques that make use of the specific elemental power after they have broken through.

When Auron was closing the door after walking out of the building the sect master said.

“Ah, right. Welcome to Chaotic Demon Sect!”

The doors shut and Auron just stood stupefied.

‘This is a demonic sect!!’

Meanwhile, inside the building, all of the protecting arrays carved on the walls and pillars lit up. Along with it, Lewis felt a great killing intent transmitted from the sect master making him sweat a little.

The arrays are not intended to defend, but rather to conceal what is taking place inside the building, while also ensuring that no energy escapes from the structure. Auron was asked to leave by the sect master, who was concerned that he would lose control and start fighting Lewis right away, which would be extremely dangerous for the young boy.

‘The only person who can take this without even flinching is his sister. Hell.. She would probably beat him up into a pulp if he even glanced at her in a bad way, much less that. She is the main reason why he can change his attitude so quickly.’

Actually, they fight like this very often. For a sect master, it's actually hard to find a decent opponent in the sect. Despite Lewis being significantly younger than Zeke the disparity in strength is not that big and they can be called equals.

“Why didn’t you tell me! You little…”

“Hey, calm down old man!”

Hearing that Zeke only grew even angrier.

“What did you just say!?”

“What do you mean? I’m only 523 years old, while you are over 650. What makes you not an old geezer?”

Cultivators can live for a very long time. The higher their realm the longer their lifespan. Someone at the level of Lewis or Zeke could easily live for a few thousand years.

Something snapped.

“LEWIS!!!!!”

‘Oh shit! Master save me!’