17 The Entrance Exam

At the center of the Crescent Moon Empire was a massive pagoda made with a strong wood and traced with gold at each edge, towards the bottom of the pagoda was two large doors each mimicking the pattern of the pagoda, the door itself was made of a strong wood whilst the edges were traced with a shiny gold, atop these two doors, resting on the frame was a plaque, writing out the words "Pill Haven", not too shiny or large but it was definitely large enough to be hard to miss as you enter this large pagoda. This was naturally a subsidiary force of the heavenly alchemy sect and their main source of commerce, it also happened to be where the testing grounds for the Heavenly alchemy sect's disciple recruitment.

Standing outside this pagoda were two masked figures each looking towards the sign that hung high on the door frame, both of the figures feeling absolutely calm, as they both knew that they would be able to enter the sect with ease but this naturally wasn't the case in for the rest of the people in the Line ahead and behind them, These two people were naturally Lin Tian and Hun Yi Xun.

Finally nearing the entrance of the door frame, Lin Tian couldn't help but let out a sign, the wait was truly annoying, and the worst part is, he couldn't even force these fellows to let him through since the Heavenly Alchemy sect promises absolute protection for the participants of their entrance trial, their promise enforced by the Early stage foundation establishment cultivators roaming the external parts of the tower

After another half incense stick of time Lin Tian and Xuner finally had the opportunity to enter the pagoda, too engrossed by the beautiful design to care about the dejected faces of the failed participants who were passing by them as they exited the pagoda.

The inside of the pagoda was truly a sight to behold, it seemed to have 4 floors, floors 1-3 representing each rank of pill sold, the first floor sold mortal grade pills, the second sold earth grade pill where has the the 3rd floor sold heaven grade pills!, accessing haven grade pills was like a once in a life time opportunity for most cultivators, even the cultivators who were from well established clans would have some trouble getting their hands on one of those pills yet this sect was selling them like this?, and by the looks of it, the 4th floor is where the alchemy rooms are held.

Further more each of the floors were divided into 3 sections the section on the far left sold the Low rank versions of the pills, the middle section sold the Mid rank versions of the pills and finally the section on the far right sold the High rank version of the respective pills!

Forgetting the rarity of the pills that were being sold here, the internal design of the pagoda itself just radiated wealth, the flooring was a smooth stone, each of the cabinets which held the pills seemed to be made of a earth grade or high kind of wood and the stairs were made of pure qi infused wood with golden hand rails, it was quite easy to tell that it was a very expensive endeavor to make such a pagoda!

The engrossment naturally didn't last long, as the former heirs to the people at the who had sat on top of the heavenly sword sect, such thing's weren't too surprising, in fact, the pagoda's which the Lin and Hun clan's stayed in were much much larger than this tiny one.

They quickly made their way up the stairs of the pagoda passing by all the floors including the one with the heaven grade pills but expectedly it was hidden by a myriad of powerful formations not allowing people passing by even a glance into the section which contained the treasures.

Once the duo reached the top floor they were greeted by a old cultivator, he stood there with a thick book in his hand and a table was on his right, on this table was a crystal ball, Lin Tian instantly guessed what it was, a cultivation sphere, It basically assessed the strength of the energy in a cultivators aura, it shone brighter depending on the strength of the aura it was a highly accurate artifact any external influence of any form would be instantly detected by it making it close to impossible to deceive the machine , but this accuracy naturally came with it's limitations, if someone in the foundation establishment realm channeled all of their aura into this tool, it would break but it served as a very good tool for sects to use during their recruitment exams.

The old man, seeing the two new test takers didn't have any reaction, his sage like voice rung out

"Step forwards and stick out your wrist then put your hand on the crystal ball and channel your aura into it"

The duo quickly stood in front of the old man each with just their wrists exposed

The old man slowly put two fingers on each of their wrists before he closed his eyes for a moment, they quickly flashed open he retracted his hand and pulled up his thick book, as he glanced at the masked fellows and said "Name?"

Lin Tian replied

"Long Hao and this is my wife Han Xue"

Xuner almost let out a giggle hearing the alias's her husband prepared for them but she quickly composed herself.

Lin Tian, now Long Hou slowly made his towards the ball as he smiled, thinking to himself

'although the tool can't be deceived to make people think they have a higher cultivation than they actually do nobody ever planned for the opposite because nobody in their right mind would lower their cultivation base during a entrance exam, well nobody but me and Xun er of course'

That's right, both of them displaying late stage Body refinement cultivation at their age will definitely lead to trouble since only divine physiques have been shown to cultivate that fast, though the millennia so Lin Tian and Xuner had decided to reveal 5th level body refinement which would make them a must have for any sect but they wouldn't be showing enough to attract the negative kind of attention.

Lin Tian's hand quickly wrapped around the crystal ball as he channeled a portion of his aura into the ball, in a moments time, the crystal ball shone with a fairly bright light, the old man's eyes widened as he stared at the ball with clear astonishment, he knew what this meant, their sect had found a genius! He quickly pulled out a golden star and placed it on the name "Long Hao" in his book before walking towards Lin Tian his now slightly excited voice rung out

"Young man, the heavenly alchemy sect would be happy to have you, in fact we are willing to let you pick any of the elder's to become a personal disciple of the moment you enter, this means you will automatically be placed into the Core disciple's court this means you will have your own medicinal garden along with a private courtyard!"

Lin Tian wasn't too surprised at this offer as he knew how rare the cultivation he displayed at his age was but he was slightly curious as to what face this elder makes when he sees Xuners cultivation, This geezer clearly had the capabilities to sense that they were only displaying the aura of a early stage Body Refinement cultivator but he already guessed that with their masks and attire they wanted to keep some secrets and he knew that the crystal ball couldn't be deceived so he didn't really care, as a outer court deacon he had seen such a genius in his life!

Seeing that this old man was completely focused on Xuner she let out a slight cough with her all to harmonious voice

*Ahem*

Hearing the abrupt noise from this geniuses wife he quickly calmed down, as he said

"You may proceed with your test as well"

Xuner slowly made her way to the ball before repeating the same process as Lin Tian, seeing the all to familiar bright light shining from the ball the old man was gob smacked, he truly didn't know what to say, these kind of geniuses only appear in large clans and that to they were extremely rare and sects usually had to pay an extremely heavy price for them to recruit the genius and that is even if the clan is willing to send them away, most of time they weren't yet not 1 but 2 of those geniuses were right in front of him, no these two were even slightly better than those fellows because they had reached the 5th level!

The old man, quickly regained his composure in an attempt to save his dignity, his old voice quickly rung out once again

" The same offer that I extended to your husband also extends to you, that is all the sect can offer for both of you joining us '

Xuner feeling slightly smug quickly looked at her husband, taking that as a que Lin Tian's domineering voice rung out

"Instead of having two courtyards we will take 1 larger courtyard along with 1 larger medicinal garden with high grade soil and supplemental treasures"

The old man quickly nodded as he said

"Alright, I will inform the sect, please pack your things and meet me at tower in an hour we will prepare a special flying caravan to take you to the sect"

Lin Tian and Xuner nodded at him before making their way back to their inn, she missed her child! and anyhow they had to move again.