The master jerked his hand, and a circular disk appeared in his hand.

Tossing it to Yun Fei he said, "Circulate your Qi."

After a perfunctory examination Yun Fei urged the Qi in his meridians directing the flow to the disk. Slowly one by one small lights began lighting up along the disk’s rim. lights stopped after the 3rd one.

“Qi condensation 3rd layer, your reflexes are more than impressive for someone at your cultivation but it would be better to try your luck in the next selection.

Most of your competition will be in the 4th or 5th Qi condensation and there are always injuries during the selection, even deaths are not uncommon. Why take the risk?”

Recognizing his considerate advice Yun Fei replied politely,

"Thank you for your advice but I’d still like to register. Even if I lose, it’ll still be a worthwhile experience.”

“In any case, cultivators are nothing if not rebels, stagnation may well mean death.”

“Well spoken. As you wish, I’ll complete the formalities. Here, take this token. The test is 20 days later at the location depicted on the token.”

Yun Fei rolled the small rectangular slab in his hand thumbing the tiny map embossed on one side.

It was made of a metal and had a number engraved on one side while a map was embossed on the other.

The master smiled as he switched to a whisper, "You shouldn't lose your token.”

Yun Fei nodded in response as he gave a short bow before walking out of the room back to the hall where people were still lined up to various desks, waiting to be registered.

He thought to himself as he walked back to the Inn.

'So there will be people coming after the token, no other reason why he would reiterate something so obvious.

There are still 20 days left before the appointed time, I should find out where this place is first.

If it's nearby, I can try to break to the 4th level of Qi condensation before heading there. A higher cultivation level won’t hurt my chances.'

Devanshu paced anxiously in front of the front door of the Inn. Irritated by his presence blocking the bussiness the innkeeper shooed him away.

He started as he walked away. Seeing the returning Yun Fei he rushed up excitedly.

"Master, were you able to pass the test? Will you be able to participate in the examination?"

"Don't get so anxious, this preliminary test wasn't anything special. The real examination will only be conducted in 20 days."

Devanshu heaved a sigh as he muttered softly, "That's great, my choice wasn't wrong."

"Oh? What choice are you talking about and stop calling me master all the time, I'm barely 16."

"Hahaha, it's just my way of showing respect. Actually, I wanted to speak with master in private, please allow me to host you at my place.”

“I have some information about the upcoming examination too, it can be of some help."

"Alright, I have some things I'd like to ask too." said Yun Fei as he thought about the place depicted on the token.

Devanshu led Yun Fei through narrow, winding streets slowly leading to a largely deserted part of the city.

"We are almost there, I found this place once when I was exploring the city. It's very well hidden."

Yun Fei followed quietly behind marvelling at how Devanshu navigated the veritable maze that the city was. They soon reached an abandoned area with only some ruined buildings.

Devanshu quickly crouched into a dilapidated building as Yun Fei followed behind him. He lifted a worn, dusty carpet and then hefted open a concealed trapdoor almost indiscernible from the floor.

As they descended a flight of stairs into the darkness, Devanshu raised his voice,

"I think, this used to be a cultivator’s base. It has some old things still remaining and the spiritual Qi here is better than the ones provided in the top class rooms in the inn.

It's still nothing compared to what the association provides to the disciples though."

Yun Fei looked around the place as Devanshu switched on the spirit lights.

The place really wasn't bad, it was sufficiently furnished and there was some furniture which looked a little out of place with the rest of the room.

There was a bamboo mat in the centre of the room and a stone bed in the corner, the rest of the tables and chairs did not fit the room.

"This place is pretty good; the spiritual Qi here is indeed better than the Inn." said Yun Fei.

"Yes, this place would be better to talk, there's 2 rooms back there and some food stored too.

Please seat yourself, I'll boil some tea for you."

Yun Fei sat down on the bed curious about Devanshu’s invitation.

'He did say he had some information that might be useful for the exam, although he has a glib tongue and likes to joke around, he probably has something useful to me, even if he doesn’t I can at least ask him about the map, he seems to know this area pretty well.'

After 5 minutes, Devanshu came out with a cup of tea which he served to Yun Fei.

"These tea leaves were also something that was left behind by the previous owner of this place, they are quite good and I think they'll be able to satisfy master’s tastes."

Yun Fei blew at the hot tea and took a little sip. He was stunned.

'Damn, this tea is the best tea I've ever drunk. The best anything I have ever had really.'

Just as he was about to exclaim ’delicious’ loudly, he stopped himself and thought.

'No, I can't act like a complete country bumpkin in front of this junior. I need to keep some face.'

"This tea is pretty good; it does suit my tastes a little."

Devanshu's face turned a little serious as he thought to himself.

'As expected of the man with the greatest fate I've come across. He isn't even fazed after tasting the best tea that can be made without spiritual ingredients.'

"I'm glad that you like it, please ask what you wanted to ask from before.", said Devanshu.

Pressing his tongue against his palate, trying his best to savour the taste Yun fei smacked his lips.

He pulled out the token and tossed it to Devanshu, asking,

"Do you recognize the place? those are the testing grounds that we are supposed to report to.”

Devanshu looked at the token for some seconds as he replied, "This place isn't that far away from here, this mountain is some distance north of the city, the place depicted is the base of the association at the peak of the mountain."

"It will take a day at most to reach the mountain on foot and a day to reach the peak, but I would suggest that you take an extra day to deal with the content of the first exam itself."

"First exam? Does that have anything to do with people coming for the token?” Asked Yun Fei.

“How did master know that? that is exactly what the first test is, half the contenders have not been give this token but rather a tracking talisman that can pinpoint all the tokens.

Their test is to snatch the token before reaching the base of the mountain. Master is lucky to receive the token, that’ll give you an edge.”

"The eligibility examiner hinted as much.”

‘They were probably fooled by my deceptively low cultivation or maybe it really was random.'

“However, this is not all. All these candidates are only allowed to snatch the tokens till you reach the mountain. After that it gets harder." continued Devanshu.

"Is there still something more?", Yun Fei was a little surprised, he didn't think that there would be so many hurdles before the exam even began.

However, it made some sense. They probably had to thin the numbers for the actual test. The no. of candidates was truly phenomenal after all.

“That isn’t all, at all but before I divulge any more I have a favour to ask of master.”

Yun Fei nodded thinking there isn’t anything like a free lunch, for any useful commodity a price must be paid.

“I’ll assume your information will be correct, so ask your favour.”

“I have some more information about the test and I also know the details of the top 5 favourites for the tournament, the true competition that master will face.

In addition, I also have a rare treasure that can help master pass the challenges, all I ask in return is that you accept me as your disciple."

Yun Fei was flabbergasted, he never expected Devanshu to ask for something like this.

"Why would you even want that? I don't have anything to teach you. I have just recently reached the 3rd level of Qi condensation myself and I cannot teach you anything."

'This person has the greatest destiny that I have ever seen assessed by the destiny sphere, I don't think I can find someone like him again.

If I want revenge, this is my best bet. I can only ride on the coattails of someone with great destiny to get stronger as soon as possible.'

Devanshu thought to himself as he fell towards Yun Fei's legs and grabbed them.

"Oh master please accept me as a disciple, I'll do all the chores for you. I am particularly good at cooking food. I'll never disappoint you.

Please allow me to become a follower or even a servant, I am willing to do anything."

Yun Fei heaved a sigh

'In this world I am still a weakling, not even close to Yun Moxie or any of the monks at the monastery, this kid still wants to be my disciple.

Since I am so weak and he doesn't even know much about me he atleast shouldn't have any intention to harm me.'

"Just what benefit will you get from being my disciple? I already told you that I don't have any techniques to teach you."

"Master, the top 5 participants of this examination are allowed to have a small courtyard and a single servant.

I'd like you to take me along with you, I'll be able to do all the chores and odd work. You can just teach me when you have something to teach."

'This kid really believes I'll be able to reach top 5? It should be alright I suppose, if I am able to reach the top 5 it shouldn't be a problem to take him rather than finding somebody else and there's also the information he'll provide.'

"Ok, I agree. However, it's only possible if I reach the top 5 otherwise it's just empty talk. So now start talking about what happens after reaching the mountain."

"Master is a dragon amongst men and a tiger in a flock of chickens, I am sure you will be able to reach the top 5."

"Enough with the flattering, now let's talk about the details of the examination."

"I told you earlier that it's more complicated after reaching the mountain. This is because the climb to the peak of the mountain is always an elimination round. They change the contents every year but the final test is always a tournament between the contenders.

Before that as I told you I have something to help you through the elimination and also the trip to the mountain, please take a look."

Devanshu said as he took out a black rectangle paper shining with silver writing in the middle.

"This is a teleportation talisman which is able to teleport you 1km in any direction that you want.

With this in your hand, you can easily escape encirclements and there is almost no chance of you getting eliminated before reaching the peak."

Yun Fei looked at the black talisman in his hand which felt hot to his hand, he had never expected things like this to exist.

'Damn, there's so many things in this world I don't know about. This thing can actually make you travel a kilometre in a flash. It will certainly be very helpful in some scenarios.

It can easily function like a second life, with this in my hand it will be very easy to escape encirclements.'

Although Yun Fei didn't know how exactly it worked, he knew it was something related to restrictions and formations as he had heard about some evil warding talismans or fire talismans even back in the monastery.

He made a mental note to himself to study more on this topic when he had some time later on since he was very itrigued by it.

"Ok, this will definitely be helpful. Now talk about the strongest competitors."