Chương 55: The Testing

Rowan In the middle of the night, Rowan awoke to a tall pale figure looming over him threateningly. He yelled out, instinctively sending forth a qi blast. The figure remained completely unruffled." Good grief." Mikael grabbed Rowan by the collar of his night clothes and hauled him into a study. Rowan blinked as he was deposited into a dusty chair. Mikael went around the desk and sat back in his seat, lounging. His long white hair was damp and undone and his sect robes looked fresher than usual.

It seemed like he'd recently come from a bath.

"Look, I've got at least four Decatours breathing down my neck about this whole 'teaching' thing. So, luckily for you, it looks like you'll be getting some pointers from your talented and generous senior sect brother," he said, steepling his hands together under his chin.

"We'll start with an exam, so I can get an idea of your skills."

"Mikael, not that I'm not… appreciative… but why are we doing this in the middle of the night?"

"It's when I work best." Rowan rubbed his face, knowing better than to argue. The man was a core disciple. And at the peak of Qi Condensation. Even if he wanted to teach Rowan while using the bathroom, he should smile and thank him.

"You're in the third layer of Qi Condensation, and your main art is a Wood scripture?"

"Right." Mikael made a beckoning motion. Rowan tentatively reached towards him when the man grabbed his forearm with one hand, and with the other, placed two fingers against his pulse point. After three or four seconds he released Rowan.

"Still pretty far from the fourth layer."

"I'm going to need a thousand spirit stones…" Rowan murmured to himself.

"Spirit stones will come. What you need is enlightenment. You aligned your Qi Sea with the Wood element. Only insights into the nature of Wood will get you anywhere." He clicked his tongue.

"This is why you're supposed to pick the path most similar to your nature. I hope you are compatible with Wood. It's a rare personality type." Rowan had heard of this before, but Mikael's serious tone made him pause.

"I am. Compatible with Wood." Ostra had said so, after all, and he was likely wiser than anyone in Kyrr Peninsula.

"Decisive. Resilient, but not fully unyielding. Some kind of Yang. Maybe you are." There was a long moment of quiet as the man debated something in his head.

"Rowan, I don't think you should compete in the tournament." That wasn't what Rowan had been expecting to hear. His stomach dropped.

"Why not?" he whispered.

"Because you just broke through. If you had stayed in the early-stage, you would have swept the competition. But you aren't in the first layer or the second layer anymore. You're in the third. That means the mid-stage bracket. Most of the cultivators you'll be up against will be inner disciples who have been training for a decade longer than you. It's suicide." Rowan didn't have to think about it.

"I'm competing." The bracket would be harder, but the prizes would also be greater. And he knew by now that the best way to get stronger was through practical experience - if he didn't take advantage of this opportunity to test himself against so many different cultivators, he could be set years behind in his cultivation. Maybe it was foolish. But everything in him was screaming that this was the right choice.

"Very well," said Mikael.

"I didn't think I would be able to convince you. We might as well get to what you're actually here for." Mikael reached into his sleeve and set a pale cube on the table. It was the size of an orange, and the color of a pearl. Tiny sigils were engraved on the entirety of the cube, precise in detail.

"This is your exam," he said.

"Pick it up." Rowan obeyed. The cube was cool in his hands, the whorls of his fingers catching on the carvings.

"Channel your qi into it." Rowan did. He didn't try to force his qi out faster, or amplify it. That wasn't what Mikael had asked. He just breathed normally in the pattern of his Waking Spring Breathing Technique and let his qi flow into the artifact. Half of the carvings lit up with a pale white light and then vanished. Mikael crossed his arms.

"Your breathing technique is of incredible quality. Your qi is smooth, efficient, and high in volume. The only issue is that your qi isn't very potent, but that will come with insight into your path." Rowan tried to take the compliment, but his mind focused on the issue Mikael had brought up. Was his qi less potent than his teammates? Or even less than average? Enlightenment wasn't a major focus for cultivators until they reached Qi Refining.

At the Qi Condensation realm, the biggest bottleneck was usually a decent manual and spirit stones.

"And for a third layer cultivator, is my qi…"

"Your potency is about average," said Mikael.

"You didn't have an early start like I did, or some of the others."

"Early start?" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Even Rowan's earliest memories included training with his parents - the lessons and the exercises.

"When I was young, I was kidnapped by bandits who wanted a ransom from House Maulkin. They didn't pay it. But I managed to escape by running into the Wilds. In order to survive, I learned how to communicate with the birds - they told me when danger was near, or when the rains were about to start. I taught myself song by listening to brooks passing over rocks and cicadas chirping at night. That is my foundation for music cultivation." Rowan stared at him.

"That's quite unique."

"Yes, it is," he said.

"In Righteous Mountain, at least." Rowan tilted his head in confusion.

"Our sect is very casual, Rowan. In truth, it's more like a society club than a sect. The same families send their kids here, year after year, and being a disciple is less about striving for immortality than it is for future heirs of the leadership class to get acquainted with each other and form connections." Mikael twirled his hand in a dismissive motion.

"The nine other sects that are arriving are not like us, do you understand? They don't accept only four merit students a year. Most of their roster is what we would call 'merit students'. Students who accidentally bonded with a strange qi artifact, stumbled on an ancient manual, ate a weird fruit, drowned in a river and spent six months in a hidden realm… these aren't rarities. The sects hunt for students with these experiences." Mikael gave Rowan a serious look.

"You don't hold a candle to these disciples arriving for the tournament." Rowan fisted the fabric of his night pants. Was he really so behind? He'd had some fortunate encounters too, like reforming his body in the Flood Dragon, but they had happened very recently in the grand scheme of things. And then, there was his mother's rosary. And the bloodstone.

"Mikael, can you advise—" Mikael flicked his finger at the cube.

"Not done with the exam yet." Rowan blinked. He picked the cube up again.

"Okay."

"A pattern will appear inside the cube. Manipulate your qi to flow in the form of the pattern." He did. The first pattern was easy, as was the second. The third gave him a little trouble - he wasn't used to moving his qi in such angular lines. He was reminded of the odd shapes his mother made him memorize. Despite his clumsiness he was seconds from completing it before the cube flashed in warning and went cold. Mikael's eyes were wide. He seemed genuinely surprised.

"Not bad. Your qi manipulation is very good for your stage."

"What about in comparison to the disciples from the other sects?" Mikael gave him a considering look.

"Is that how you want me to measure your progress from now on?"

"Yes. Please."

"Fine. Still above average. Probably… only one in a hundred might be better than you amongst the mid-stage qi condensation cultivators." Rowan's anxiety relaxed a little bit. He could work with one in a hundred. At that moment, he was very grateful to his parents for their grueling lessons, and all his work trying to form his Qi Sea.

"Next, try and crush the cube with all your strength." He did. As he exerted pressure, the cold light in the carving grew brighter and brighter. The second the amount of pressure he was using weakened a fraction, the light vanished.

"Decent. You either have some body refining technique, or your special physique is naturally quite strong."

"You can tell I have a special physique?"

"Yes." Mikael seemed to believe his hair was dry enough now, so he began to braid it.

"In a test of physical strength, you will outshine anyone who doesn't specifically train a body refinement technique. However, in the tournament you will meet cultivators who focus purely on body cultivation. You won't beat them in a fistfight." Rowan nodded. That was about what he expected. His Supreme Five Element Physique, Bloodwood Lineage, and Forgegod Spirit Root could all be considered natural physical advantages.

But since they were innate, he wasn't sure if they could be advanced, as one could advance a technique. And he hadn't learned any body cultivation arts yet either.

"This is the last test. Focus your Divine Sense into the cube. Last as long as you can." Rowan's vision went blurry. The cube and Mikael became two bright flames of qi in his vision. He focused his Divine Sense into the artifact. A pressure immediately bloomed between his eyes - he felt like the cube was thrashing, constantly trying to whip off his divine sense. But he gritted his teeth and kept strong. The cube's thrashing continually increased in strength, a sharp pain erupting in his mind, but he didn't let go.

Finally, the strength flatlined, and it began to move in strange and alien shapes, like it was slipping out of his hold. Rowan had gotten a lot of experience with Red Thread Divination lately, and he was able to follow the cube's qi as it moved. Then, the cube's qi grew fainter and fainter until Rowan couldn't feel it anymore, and his Divine Sense slipped off. He gasped and rubbed his forehead, vision returning to normal. Mikael was staring at him in complete and utter shock.

"Verdict?" Rowan forced himself to ask.

"Exceptional," Mikael decided, after a moment of thought.

"You have the Divine Sense of a cultivator in late-stage Qi Condensation."

"Really?"

"Yes." He paused again.

"Are you good at memorizing things? Can you see something once and remember it verbatim?"

"Right."

"Decent at the six arts?"

"Yes."

"Any skills with talismans and formations?"

"I know some patterns, but I don't have much practical experience."

"Sensitivity to qi? Seemingly more than others?" Rowan thought of his recent fights, how sometimes he knew his opponent was going to attack - and how they were going to - before they executed their art. But he wasn't sure if he was more sensitive to qi than his peers.

"I don't know."

"Hm." Mikael slouched in his chair, resting his cheek on the back of his hand.

"Those naturally talented with Divine Sense tend to supplement their abilities with it. Qi manipulation, for example. Instead of learning how to move your qi properly, you could be forcing it where you want it to go with Divine Sense. That might explain one of your unusually high scores." Mikael reached over and put his finger on Rowan's forehead.

"Pick up the cube and try the qi manipulation exercise again." The first pattern still wasn't a problem. The second was slightly harder now - it felt like his mind was working slower, like his qi was confused. When he went on to the third pattern, it was as if his qi wouldn't listen to him at all. He felt like he was shouting at a wall. The cube went cold. Mikael removed his finger.

"That went… much less poorly than I was anticipating. Huh." He rubbed his temple as though he were the one with a headache.

"I was blocking your Divine Sense just then, but it seems like your talent with qi manipulation is still quite high. Anyway. Good thing we caught this early. Cultivators born with a strong Divine Sense tend to get used to using their Divine Sense as a battering ram. Early on, it's powerful, but you form a lot of bad habits this way."

"I didn't even know…"

"Did anyone ever teach you how to manipulate qi?"

"When I was young," he admitted.

"Before you had a Qi Sea, correct?" He nodded.

"Qi manipulation once you have formed a Qi Sea is obviously a different beast entirely. That you were able to nearly complete the third pattern with such a basic technique is astonishing, actually." Mikael drummed his fingers against the desk. His next words were faint, as though he were saying them to himself, but Rowan heard them perfectly.

"Maybe you do have a chance in the tournament."