Devouring The Heavens Chapter 95 – Examination

Every inner disciple had to pass through the Inner Hall in order to enter the inner sect. The test to get promoted to an inner disciple from the eight million outer disciples was extremely brutal.
In the outside world, master realm fighters were highly regarded, but they would only qualify as servants to the outer disciples of the sect. The spiritual realm was the lowest requirement to become an outer disciple. Unless a person was particularly talented, most wild fighters would only be peak outer disciples.
Once they became inner disciples, they would be able to enjoy many of the extra benefits, like better quality medicine, elixirs, instruments and more powerful techniques. The sect provided them with a set of top rank spiritual instruments upon promotion, showing the incredible wealth of the sect.
Xuanyuan took his first step into the Inner Hall and he was astonished by the magnificence of it. The entire floor as far as he could see was made from a hard mahogany wood.
Suddenly a voice echoed through the hall, “Who are you? Only inner disciples can enter this hall.”
Xuanyuan turned his head and saw an obese man with tiny eyes looking at him. He was wearing the clothes of an inner disciple. The images of six dragons were embroidered onto the clothes. This man had a very formidable aura surrounding him. He was at the peak of the wild realm, with at least sixty dragons of strength.
“I came here to be tested. I’m going to register as an inner disciple.”
“Oh? so you’ve entered the wild realm. That’s not bad for your age, but that doesn’t mean you can be taken in as inner disciple just yet. I’m one of the examiners here, Zhao Manfeng. Follow me.” Zhao Manfeng glanced at Xuanyuan. He thought to himself, “This young boy is well-equipped. He must be an extraordinary talent.”
“This is the testing ground, where all outer disciples are tested. They have to defeat three people in order to move on to the next test. You are already powerful enough to pass this test, so let’s not waste time. We’ll go directly to the second test – the potential test!” Zhao explained.
“Potential test?” Xuanyuan thought about the testing stone in the Moonwaste City and was curious if it was similar.
“The purpose of the test is to get an estimate of your potential. If you’ve reached your limit, then even if you’re a wild fighter, you won’t be accepted as an inner disciple.”
“I see.”
Zhao Manfeng led Xuanyuan across the spacious room, it was at least thirty square miles. It was necessary to have a large space since there would sometimes be thousands of people coming to test their potential, since there were over eight million outer disciples.
They soon arrived in front of a mountain range. Xuanyuan was amazed, “I thought the Inner Hall was only a few large rooms, but it was so large that it even had mountains inside! The sect was indeed impressive!”
There were a large number of lights exploding within the mountains which lit the sky like colourful lightning. Zhao Man Feng pointed to one of the lights, “That’s a wild realm light. The disciple struck the ground with all his power and the light emitted is from the mountain itself. He can only reach the wild realm in this lifetime. That is not enough to be an inner disciple.”
“That’s king realm light. That disciple has the potential to become a king fighter. That’s the bottom line for all inner disciples.”
“That’s the light of the grandmaster realm. Those who can produce this light are all geniuses. They might eventually become true disciples or the leaders of the inner sect.”
“There’re also the imperial and the emperor lights, but they are extremely rare. Only very rare geniuses can make those lights appear. There is of course Xian light also. True disciple, Fung Lie unleashed a Xian light a few years back. Many higher-ups wanted to nurture him. In the end, he became the disciple of the Xian of Wind. He recently achieved the imperial fighter realm a few days ago.”
Xuanyuan nodded profusely when a man suddenly spoke from behind them.
“Hahaha, fatty Zhao, what’s the point in explaining all of this to an outer disciple? It’s such a waste of time!”
“That’s right, the boy won’t be able to increase his talent even if you keep on explaining. Stop fantasising about becoming an exam elder. That’s impossible for you.”
“Fatty, you’re useless. You’ve never managed to recruit a single talented disciple in all these years. You’ll soon be kicked from the Inner Hall. Why don’t you go back to the Outer Sect where you belong?”
“Xiaotian and Xiang Tian, whom I recruited, both received the imperial realm light. They will surely make something of themselves in the future. Who have you recruited in the past years? You’ll never be an elder at this rate.”
“That’s right. Even the majority of the outer disciples avoid you. They are unwilling to be associated with a fatty that cannot spot talents. You’re such a failure. All of the disciples you recruited failed the mine test. You are a sorry excuse of an examiner!”
Xuanyuan frowned at the other examiners. Like Zhao Manfeng, they were all peak wild fighters. The only difference between them was that they were slim, while Zhao was obese.
Zhao Manfeng gazed down at the floor in shame. He was ashamed because everything that they had said was true.
Xuanyuan understood the situation right away. As examiners, their merit points and contribution to the sect was counted by the potential of the disciples they recommended. Since the main job of an examiner was to have a keen eye for talent, this was the best way. When they accumulated a certain amount of merit points, they could be named as an elder.
Conflicts and competition were everywhere in the sect, even among the examiners.
Xuanyuan had a fairly good impression of Zhao Manfeng, so he didn’t like that the others were bullying him.
“If I can at least reach the imperial realm light, why don’t all of you help him become an elder?” Xuanyuan proposed.
The examiners laughed.
“Ridiculous! Whatever, if you can produce an imperial realm light, we’ll help him become an elder. But if you can’t, the fatty has to leave the Inner Hall.”
Zhao was surprised that Xuanyuan was defending him. All these years, he was bullied by the other examiners because of his weight and was growing tired of it. He couldn’t help but be touched by Xuanyuan’s actions and decided to risk it all, he shouted out loud, “We’ll bet. I have five million merit points; this is everything that I saved over the last twenty years. Who dares to bet with me? If he can’t produce imperial realm light, I’ll hand over all my merit points and leave. If he can, you’ll each have to hand over a million points. How about that?”
The five examiners laughed even harder, “You’re crazy. It’s only a million points, I’ll accept your bet.”
“I would like to see how a fatty looks when he loses everything. Each of us have over ten million merit points between us; we can afford to gamble, but can you?”
“Why don’t we make the bet even bigger then? Let’s increase the bet to include all of your merit points. If we lose, I’ll cover the rest.” Xuanyuan said.
“Do you even have any points?” One of them sneered at Xuanyuan. Xuanyuan hid the power of his instruments so the man assumed that he was a nobody.
Xuanyuan took out five crystals which were worth five million king coins as if it was nothing. “I have plenty of money instead.”
Five million king coins, it was a lot of money. They would be very happy to get their hands on that sum of money with such an easy bet. They were veteran examiners, they knew how rarely the imperial realm lights were seen. Usually the talents that could unleash such lights were from powerful backgrounds or influential families. Ordinary people usually didn’t have the resources to nurture their talent, causing their talents to weaken. They all felt like they had struck gold.
“We’ll do it.”