Being a Cultivation Genius Is No Cure for Low EQ

The aptitude test for disciple rank placement started early in the morning. Maryam arrived exactly on time. There were already many future initiates gathered in the square, and an elder stood on a platform to announce the proceedings.

The initiates were told line up and channel their energy into a pillar to reveal its type.

The first person to go up was a young woman. She touched the pillar lightly, and then it lit up with swirling blues and reds.

"Wow, it's the rare dual-natured earthen energy!"

"To think early recruitment missed out on such a genius!"

"Grade C aptitude," announced the elder.

The young woman looked satisfied. The crowd was impressed. Grade C aptitude was something that would rarely appear even in a hundred initiates. However, an ostentatiously dressed young man smirked.

"Dual-natured earthen energy? Ha, so even trash is considered impressive among you lot."

The surrounding initiates turned to look at him angrily, but after seeing his clothes, they forced their mouths shut.

Another initiate went up.

"Mellow water energy, Grade E."

"Tainted snow energy, Grade E."

Soon, most of the two hundred odd initiates had been evaluated, mostly as Grade E, with around five assigned Grade D. Then, the ostentatiously dressed youth went up. When he touched the column, it lit up with five colours, each of them extremely uniform.

"Holy sh*t! He has pure elemental energy!"

The group of initiates was thrown into an uproar and the elder declared him to be Grade A.

Then, it was Maryam's turn. When she touched it, the pillar simply turned black.

"Soul energy… Grade E," said the elder, looking somewhat shocked.

Judging by his face, he wished he could give her a lower grade. After all, it was well-known that nobody would *want* to cultivate soul energy—it had such an adverse effect on the body—anyone who did so must have been so unskilled that they weren't even able to change the nature of their energy.

The ostentatiously dressed youth looked at her angrily, apparently aggrieved by her proximity when they had lined up to touch the pillar.

"Someone like you spent such a long time standing near me? I don't want to look at you. Why would you dream of reaching the Core Creation stage with your talent? Just go home."

"Make me," Maryam smirked.

"Oh, I will. You can either leave now or I will force you to accept the difference between us. I will beat you every day until you give up. You will not be able to eat or sleep in peace because—"

Maryam punched him in the face, hard. He fell to the ground.

"B*tch! Were you talking to me?" she said, with an expression full of provocation.

"You… you dare?!"

"Indeed, I dare! Come, show me the difference between us."

Hints of battle-lust began to appear in Maryam's smile. A peak Channel Creation level practitioner was nothing to her, but pure elemental energy was indeed something to be proud of. It had been a very long time since she'd had anything resembling a proper fight, so she was excited. Being cooped up for months hadn't done anything good to her temperament. She was really bloody bored.

She had already checked in the sect rules and fights among initiates were common. Elders rarely chose to press charges, but when they did, there was a maximum sentence of fifty lashes of the discipline whip. It could kill an ordinary person, but that sort of minor punishment wouldn't deter her.

The youth got up with a shout and a fist coated in fire slammed straight into the middle of Maryam's face. She let it hit. Blood began to trickle down her jaw.

He punched at her again, but this time she dodged and grabbed him by the shoulders, then slammed her knee into his gut. She hadn't put her explosive energy into it, but it still landed hard enough that he stumbled back, blood dripping from his mouth.

Maryam threw back her head and laughed, "Hahaha! I missed this! I really did!"

It's amazing what being cooped up for a few months can do to a bloodthirsty young immortal.

She was even eager to engage in this sort of pointless spectacle.

Now furious, the youth wanted nothing more than to hurt Maryam. He began to pour fire and lightning energy into a complex design about the size of a throw rug.

"If you are a woman, face this head on!"

Maryam was more than happy to comply. She waited understandingly for him to power up his attack and then, when he threw it towards her, she met it with her fist. Her punch pierced straight through the attack and hit the youth's head, but a large portion of the attack's energy still hit the rest of Maryam's body.

To most fighters, the impact combined with the fire and lightning would have been extremely disorienting. Maryam, however, simply punched the youth in the face again while he was still stunned from her first punch. Then she punched him again, and again, following him as he fell back, never giving him the time to recover his bearing.

As she was about to land a decisive hit, the elder appeared between them and blasted Maryam back with a palm.

"How dare you start a fight in front of me! Come with me to the disciplinary division immediately!"

The elder announced to the initiates that he'd return in a few minutes and left one of his disciples in charge, before dragging Maryam away with him.

Maryam, for her part, was still somewhat high on the rush of fighting. Still, she was rational enough to understand that the elder was being reasonable—she *had* started beating someone up in public. Forcefully, she brought her temper under control.

"Sorry for causing you trouble," she said.

The elder glared at her.

"Oh, you'll be sorry, alright. A hundred lashes and two months as an alchemist's slave should fix you up."

Maryam felt her barely repressed violent emotions start to creep back. Her blood hadn't cooled yet.

"What? I wasn't aware that was the standard punishment for fighting."

"It isn't. You also rebelled against a superior."

"How so? All initiates are at the same rank, regardless of grade."

"You think garbage like you can compare to a genius like him?"

Then Maryam understood. The elder wasn't intent on following the sect rules.

Rage darkened her vision. The elder was at the mid-levels of the Core Creation stage. She could take him. She probably couldn't kill him, and she might come away from it severely injured, but even as weak as she currently was, she could make him suffer.

The last bit of rationality left in her mind told her that it would be very stupid to attack an elder in the middle of a sect. Wait, it told her, get strong enough to rival the sect master. Then you can do whatever you want. It wouldn't take too long, just a bit of patience.

But Maryam had built her immortality on the essence of fire. In the height of her emotions, as long as there was fuel in front of her, she would burn it. She turned to the elder, gathering soul and blood energy in her fists, readying them to release explosive force.

The elder seemed to realize what she was thinking, because an incredible burst of pain erupted from the depths of her soul. To any other, the pain would be crippling. To her, it was at least sobering.

It gave her a moment of clarity; she brought her emotions under control. Revenge could wait for a time when she could take it properly.

The anger in her eyes faded. She silently decided to kill the elder later, then followed behind him obediently, musing.

The elder had wanted to gain the approval of the new sect genius. From the casual way he had spoken, it appeared that bending rules to benefit the ones with authority was quite common.

She realized she had been naïve. It hadn't been like that at her sect when she was an immortal; there, everyone followed the rules or they were punished severely. Here, she could almost smell the corruption.

Well, whatever. If the rest of the sect was similar to what she'd see so far, she'd just burn the place to the ground.

The elder walked into the discipline hall.

"Elder Nevus," said the disciple at the entrance, greeting the elder.

Maryam made a mental note of his name. She hadn't bothered before, because he was just a passerby who so happened to be managing the initiates. She would remember him now, though.

The elder, apparently Nevus, nodded at him, then walked through the entrance hallway into the main office. An older woman with dry, shoulder-length black hair and an unpleasant scowl sat behind the desk. The office furniture was upholstered with a strange sort of leather, Maryam noticed, and the woman's clothes were adorned with woven cords that shimmered softly in the light.

"Elder Zaionz, this initiate with nothing but soul-natured energy rebelled against her betters. I'll trust you to teach her better," Nevus said.

Zaionz agreed with a nasty smile, assuring Nevus that she'd put Maryam to work on the alchemy department's most undesirable tasks. Nevus left Maryam with her and went, presumably to return to his role in taking care of the other initiates.

"I am very disappointed that one of our initiates would behave so foolishly and disrespectfully," Zaionz began, "I expect better behavior from disciples of our sect…"

Maryam couldn't pay much attention to the woman's boring drivel and zoned out after the first two sentences, but vaguely registered that Zaionz really thought it was important that she learn obedience.

"Hey! Are you paying attention?" Zaionz barked, "You listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

Maryam stared at her with emotionless eyes.

"You foolish trash!" shouted Zaionz, "Until you apologize to me, you'll be a slave for the rest of your life!"

Maryam's stare remained unfeeling.

"Are you too stupid to care? You'll never go anywhere like this. Well, whatever. I'm sure a few months in the alchemy department will fix your attitude."

To Maryam, the alchemy department was full of valuable resources. She wouldn't mind working there for a while; she was sure there were plenty of ingredients that could strengthen her energy. She was fairly certain taking them for herself would be against the rules, but who told them to try to make her a slave?

As for this "Elder Zaionz," well, after Maryam gained strength for a few months, who in this little sect would be able to stop her? She'd enjoy grinding her skull into the dust.