Identity Jade

In no time, the class three demonic beasts landed in the middle of a plain.

The plain was about thirty mu big.

It was boarded by a low mountain range on the east and north.

There was a lake on the west side and dozens of buildings on the south.

Besides the group from Fengying city, thousands of new disciples from other cities were also gathered on the plain.

Everyone was eyeing each other, trying to gauge the most talented amongst them.

However, it was impossible to tell at this point, so the children settled on checking each other's appearance.

"Her clothes are spirit rank defence artefacts…"

"His sword is made of black steel that can only be refined from black iron…"

"Do you see his hairpin?"

Whispers could be heard as the new disciples discussed with the friends they had made along the way to the sect.

"Do you have your eye on anybody?" Jiang Yue asked and bumped Yu Nianzhen to garner his attention.

A look flashed in Yu Nianzhen's eyes, and a mischievous smile curled his lips.

He leaned toward Jiang Yue and whispered, "you."

Jiang Yue's face turned red, and he turned away, pretending not to hear his friend's teasing.

At this time, a loud gong resounded in the valley, and everyone's attention was drawn to the front.

The inner sect elders had left as soon as they arrived at the sect, and the escorting outer sect elders had gathered at the front.

"All of you passed the preliminary tests. This qualifies you to enter the outer sect martial hall once."

Excited chatter spread amongst the new disciples, and Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were not immune.

One of the reasons for joining the Sea Cloud Sect was resources, and they couldn't believe that they had a chance as soon as they arrived.

"Tomorrow, everyone will go to the outer sect martial hall to redeem one peak grade basic breathing technique. You will also receive one low-grade silver rank body tempering pill and one low-grade silver rank meridian strengthening pill."

The excitement could no longer be contained.

Although Yu Niazhen and Jiang Yue had a high-grade basic breathing technique, they wouldn't refuse a peak grade technique.

The difference between the qi refined by a high-grade breathing technique and a peak grade breathing technique was significant.

Having a peak grade breathing technique would save them the extra effort of forcibly purifying their qi using the depletion method they had previously discovered.

Unfortunately, they had stone milk, so they didn't require the body tempering pill and meridian strengthening pill.

However, they didn't despise these pills since they could be exchanged for other things with other disciples.

After the outer sect elder gave a few more instructions, the cohort of new disciples was divided into groups.

Each group had one hundred new disciples, and the two were sorted into the fortieth group.

"Follow closely."

The odd job disciple who was assigned to lead their group was a middle-aged man.

He walked barefoot, and his navy-blue robes were dirty and full of patches.

"It seems like being an odd job disciple is worse than I imagined." Jiang Yue commented as they followed the man.

Yu Nianzhen was also shocked.

The Sea Cloud sect only accepted disciples with grade two aptitudes who were no more than sixteen in age.

All outer sect odd job disciples were meridian awakening realm cultivators. This meant that the middle-aged man had been stuck in that realm for more than thirty years.

The two had used less than a year to cultivate to the peak of the meridian awakening realm, and the idea of being stuck in that realm for thirty years was unimaginable.

Because of their smooth cultivation speed, they had forgotten that other people weren't so fortunate.

Being confronted with this reality was both shocking and a wake-up call.

Maybe they were having it easy for the time being, but that may not always be the case.

After walking for half a shichen, the group of one hundred arrived at one of the low mountains in the east.

"This is where you will stay for the next month." The odd job disciple informed.

An archway had been built at the foot of the mountain, and a set of stairs rose behind it.

In front of the archway, another two odd job disciples sat behind a desk.

"You must sign an identity jade before heading up the mountain."

The identity jade was a white jade tablet that hang from the waist of all cultivators from the Sea Cloud Sect.

Yu Nianzhen wasn't sure about the details, but he knew that the identity tablet wasn't a simple jade.

It not only recorded one's identity but also their contribution points.

Most importantly, the identity jades came in pairs.

One pair was held by the owner, while the other was kept in a secret hall in the sect's inner region.

When the owner died, the jade in the sect would break into pieces which allowed the sect to keep a good record of all its disciples and elders.

"Line up."

The group lined up, and the two were towards the front.

The first person to sign their identity jade was a teenage girl that appeared older than the two boys.

One of the odd job disciples handed her a rectangular white jade tablet and a calligraphy brush.

The brush had a black handle and golden hairs, but otherwise looked unremarkable.

However, the girl turned pale when she held the brush. Her eyes widened, and she turned a panicked look at the odd job disciples.

"It's a soul brush. Use it quickly before you exhaust your soul power."

The girl no longer hesitated.

She quickly wrote her name on the white jade.

When she was done, the jade radiated a white light and then returned to normal.

She then took the jade and walked to the side.

"Next."

The signing went quickly.

Soon, it was Yu Nianzhen's turn.

He grabbed the brush, and his right brow lifted up in wonder.

Yu Nianzhen had felt a tugging sensation as soon as he touched the brush.

As he inscribed his name on the white jade, he felt as if something was being drawn from his body which left him a little exhausted.

'Is that soul power?'

He quickly finished his inscription and placed the soul brush down.

He took the jade, and his name was written on it in a black script.

The script looked simple, but there was something mystical about it, and Yu Nianzhen was immediately fascinated.

"I heard that when you finish a sect mission, the mission hall elder will record contribution points in the jade. If you want to redeem something, the resource hall elder will deduct points from it."

"I also heard so."

"It also records your disciple grade and privileges."

Yu Nianzhen did not listen attentively, but he still caught a few words as the other new disciples discussed.

After a shichen, all the new disciples were issued their identity jades.

"Follow." The middle-aged odd job disciple shouted, and once again led the way.

They took the stairs up the mountain and walked for another hour before stopping.

"You will stay here." He said, and everyone looked around.

They had stopped at the waist of the mountain.

From their location, they could see thousands of caves that had been dug into the mountainside.

Sets of stairs that traversed the entire mountain had also been carved from the bedrock.

This made the caves easily accessible to meridian awakening realm cultivators who couldn't fly or use movement arts.

The caves had rock walls, and the entrance was a round stone that automatically closed when a person entered the cave.

"Remember to meet at dawn at the foot of the mountain." The odd job disciple reminded.

He then told them to pick their own caves and left without another word.

"Let's look around." Yu Nianzhen suggested and took Jiang Yue to walk around.

Most of the caves that were closest to their location were closed, which meant that they already had owners.

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue walked for half an hour before they arrived at an area with many open caves.

They chose two that were next to each other and then entered to check the situation.

Each cave was as big as a prison cell.

It had a stone bed, a cultivation mat, and a wall scone that lighted up as soon as the door closed.

"No sense of aesthetics." Jiang Yue grumbled as he threw his sack bag on the stone bed.

"All they care about is cultivation." His cognition of the Cangxing world was once again refreshed.

He checked the bed and walls, but there was nothing special about them.

He then checked the wall scone and cultivation mat.

"These are good things."

The wall scone released a light scent that refreshed his mind, causing his thoughts to run smoother. This effect was especially magnified when he sat on the cultivation mat.

Although Jiang Yue was happy about the scent and mat, he wasn't happy about staying in a different room from Yu Nianzhen.

They had always been together since arriving in the Cangxing world, and he didn't want to change that.

After thinking about it, he decided not to wrong himself, so he grabbed the cultivation mat and left the cave.

A few seconds later, the door to the adjacent cave was opened, and Yu Nianzhen stood there, also holding a cultivation mat.