Outside the hall room
"With their composed looks, it looks like everything went well for them?"
"Does anyone know which sect they belong to?"
"They are from the Broken peak sect, they are not locals. It's an upstart sect that hasn't been around for long,"
"An upstart huuh.... so they have no backer, interesting,"
"You bastard, you dare scheme openly with someone from the Order just next door. You clearly have a death wish,"
"Where are you going? I was joking… I was joking there's no need to run away….Wait even you too? I was joking,"
"We don't know each other,"
"Hey, stop coming my way,"
"Luo'er these are the types of people you should avoid. They are harbingers of death that would spill over to you even if you're a bystander. You are to avoid people like them like a poisonous miasma.
Let's add a few more meters away from him just in case,"
"Yes, master,"
"Which organization does that person belong to?"
"He is from the Dragon gate sect,"
"Huuuh!!!!With a name like that how is it still a rankles sect?"
"There are plenty of people like that around the world. Using domineering names especially in their attack moves when it's nothing but blowing smoke,"
"Oh yeah like senior brother Wen Chu. I remember the first time he mentioned his trump card move, the thundering sky rending meteor fist, I thought it was an earth-shattering technique.
It was such a letdown. He even lost to a vine comb chicken using that move,"
"Don't even speak about that person. Every time I think of him, he just triggers my mental demons.
Fen'er make sure you make the most out of the opportunities you will get at the Order. Your master doesn't have much talent and your senior brother...forget it.....
Fen'er my only hope and request isn't something big like turning the Light hollow sect into a great sect but please, please, Fen'er don't turn out to be like your senior brother. That foolish boy will be the death of me one day.
If you turn into your senior brother, then your master will just have to leave the sect and go swim in the Bestial churning sea forever,"
"Senior brother was right, master is always so melodramatic,"
"YOU!! Is that what you discuss with that useless braggart?"
...
"Uncle Master, I'm not feeling okay, can we reschedule the evaluation?"
"Not this again. How long do you want to delay this time? We already wasted 8 years because you were afraid your realm wasn't stable enough for the evaluation.
You're already in the fifth stage of the foundation establishment realm.
The clan patriarch said if you make any more excuses don't bother coming back, the clan will cut its ties with you.
We already poured all our resources into you, we can't survive without the quota from the promotion. Make your choice, Undergo a simple evaluation that you will likely pass or start living on your own.
If you choose the latter, you can be sure you will meet much scarier things than an evaluation,"
"Fine, I'll get evaluated. Since the clan has entrusted me with this task, I Lin Mu will complete it perfectly….
But uncle master what if I suddenly lose all my cultivation base when undergoing the test or get qi deviation that makes me drop to the qi refinement realm? I don't mind what will happen to me but what about the clan? You heard what the judge from the Order said, there are penalties involved.
Uncle Master, uncle master, uncle master are you listening?"
"It seems like the Wind drifting sect is the next to be evaluated,"
"I hope they fail,"
"Ppsch! do you have a death wish? Even if they are an unranked sect they have the backing of the Chu family. Your whole sect may get annihilated because of your careless words,"
"What backing? It's just some rumor that grew out of proportion. A friend of mine from the Xiao family told me the real story. The chief disciple of the Wind drifting sect helped a scion from the Chu family get into a carriage when he was drunk.
Then that scion in his drunken stupor said he was a good brother. The scion doesn't even remember his words from that day, however those from the Wind drifting sect decided to exaggerate that whole encounter and the words he said. They most likely hired a few shameless bards to spread the story,"
"Really? That's what happened?"
"I don't believe him. The whole thing seems made up. How is someone like him friends with someone from a top-tier rank 4 family like the Xiao family?
Maybe he is trying to do the same thing as the Wind drifting sect. Raise the prestige o his sect by pretending to have an association with some bigshot,"
"Mmmh, that sounds reasonable. I heard their sect had to even rent out half their building halls and land to merchants so they could make ends meet,"
"Really? Suddenly my sect doesn't seem that bad off,"
"But your sect doesn't even have a gate,"
"It's because we are free-spirited and has nothing to do with our circumstances,"
"Why is your face turning red then?"
"You?"
"Stop it, don't cause a scene, the guards are looking this way,"
….
The successful evaluation of the Broken peak sect alleviated the tense atmosphere that Yang Qing's earlier statement had created.
Though some organizations were still tense about the whole thing, most couldn't wait to be evaluated.
Yang Qing increased his speed through the evaluations with the duration of each evaluation not lasting more than five minutes. In just four hours he had already conducted eighty evaluations just a few evaluations away shy of reaching the hundred-half mark point.
There were occasions when the duration exceeded five minutes but it was only when the results prompted further explanation from Yang Qing like he did for Murong Yan or the Feng brothers who had their bloodline explained.
Of the eighty evaluations, only seven of them had failed. Some had used forbidden arts at the expense of their lifespan to break through, some had used special artifacts to create the illusion they were in the foundation establishment realm, while others used special arts to boost their cultivation base temporarily. It was a milder form of a taboo breakthrough except it would wear out within a set timeline, so the penalties were small.
Whatever means they used, they were all exposed by the discerning heart stone steele and got sentenced to a three-year ban from the Institute and their application for another evaluation. The ban would take effect the moment they had a real foundation establishment expert at the helm.
The penalties for trying to cheat in an evaluation were less severe since the Order was a bit sympathetic to the plight and desperation of these unranked organizations whose shot at turning their lack was getting ranked and getting a quota spot.
As for the organizations that successfully passed their evaluations, most had ordinary results that one would expect from unranked organizations. The bulk of them had the white grade or red grade pillars and for the latter type, it was the low-ranked type.
With such a result Yang Qing avoided explaining to them what significance the colors they formed during the first test meant. He didn't want to dampen their joyous moods.
When it came to bloodlines, none came close to the treefolk bloodline shown by the Feng brothers.
Despite the generally lackluster results, there were a few standouts whose results in terms of grades of their pillars matched the grade of the Feng brothers. There was even one who had exceeded them and had a blue-grade pillar.
When his results appeared, it drew looks of shock from Prince Wenyan and Captain Bu Zhe. Bu Zhe even forgot his duties from that moment on as he kept getting dazed over and over.
The person with the blue grade pillar was a 28-year-old youth by the name of Lin Mu who had come on behalf of the Lin family.
His evaluation had also lasted the longest since Lin Mu spent the bulk of the time begging Yang Qing to spare him and his clan in case he suffered qi deviation, a mental demon attack, or some other injury that would cause his cultivation base to fall.
When Yang Qing revealed to him that he had blue grade pillars and what it meant, Lin Mu seemed distraught and overtaken with fear at the impending doom instead of being happy. He even begged Yang Qing a couple of times if there was a way to downgrade his pillars, and when that didn't work he switched tactics and begged some more for Yang Qing to escort him back to his clan since he didn't feel safe going back with his uncle alone. His uncle almost vomited blood during the whole thing and didn't even get a chance to celebrate their promotion and having a blue-grade clan member.
Other than Lin Mu, there was another person that stood out. It was a 15-year-old youth by the name of Mu Fen, who was from the Light hollow sect. During his evaluation, it revealed he had a quasi-blue grade pillar.
His master, who was also the sect master of the Light hollow sect, wept endlessly at the results as he mocked another disciple of his. He only stopped when his qi almost ran amok from all the excitement. He then started lamenting as he attributed the amok qi being a curse from the disciple he had just mocked.
.....
By all accounts, Yang Qing didn't have a dull moment. It was even more enjoyable than he expected. There was food being brought over, he didn't have to move from place to place, Lei Weiyuan wasn't here to hound him and he met interesting characters like Lin Mu and the sect master of the Light hollow sect, during his evaluations who kept him entertained.
It was an otherwise good day, which was why Yang Qing ended up finishing 100 evaluations without even noticing it. He was now only left with a hundred more before he closed the chapter on the Spiritual temperance sect's region.
