Upon seeing the sudden changes and hearing Senior Martial Brother Qiu's words, the cultivators on the platform were left shocked for a moment and hurriedly stood up, each wearing respectful and attentive expressions. All of the cultivators there knew that if they were to enter to great Drifting Cloud Sect, they absolutely couldn't afford to leave a bad impression to the three men standing on the tower.
Senior Martial Brother Qiu revealed satisfaction upon seeing that the vagrant cultivators were so tactful.
Senior Martial Brother Qiu slowly said with a solemn expression, "You Fellow Daoists should all know the criteria by which we accept disciples. This being the case, I won't go into detail. Let's have our Fellow Daoists who possess tri-attribute, dual-attribute, or special spiritual roots walk forward."
Once this was said, the crowd stirred. After a short moment, only four people walked forward, three men and one woman.
Senior Martial Brother Liu swept his gaze past them and calmly said, "You four will follow Junior Martial Brother Liu. He will be in charge of evaluating your cultivation aptitude."
At that moment, the pale faced youth stepped forward and wordlessly waved his arm. A white streak of light then flew out from his sleeve and circled in the air before turning into a huge embroidered scarf. It gently floated about a meter off the ground.
The pale-faced youth reappeared atop the scarf magic tool in a blur and expressionlessly said, "Climb onto it. I'll bring you four to another place and examine your aptitude there. Those that are unsuitable will naturally be went back."
When the four heard this, they glanced at each other with slight hesitation before climbing onto the scarf. Then pale-faced youth then clutched his hands in an incantation gesture and caused the scarf to glow brightly with white light before it set off to the sky in a streak of white light.
After sending off the pale-faced youth, Senior Martial Brother Liu glanced down at those who remained and continued, "Those with cultivation at the tenth layer and higher, step forward and follow Junior Martial Brother Yu. So long as one doesn't have too much a problem with their identities, they will be able to enter the sect. As for you remaining Fellow Daoists, if you wish to enter the sect, then you are required to pass a test before you will be taken into our Drifting Cloud Sect. If you fail, I can only ask you all to diligently cultivate for several more years and come back once you've improved." Once that was said, an uproar occurred amongst the crowd. Apart from a few peculiar individuals, a majority of them revealed a disappointed expression.
It seemed the standards of this selection would be far more strict. This had caused a few cultivators hoping for a fluke to grow greatly dispirited. Although he did say they could participate in a test and still join the sect, everyone knew that they were words spoken out of politeness.
After all, with the number of people that had come, there would be no way for the Drifting Cloud Sect to give all of them a chance.
Needless to say, these tests would be extremely difficult to pass if one's cultivation was beneath the tenth layer. Only cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi condensation would hold even the slightest chance of success. In the past, only a sparse few cultivators at the ninth layer were able to pass these tests.
Although these people all had poor aptitude, they were able to succeed through a show of exceptional perseverance. As a result, despite their lacking future prospects, Drifting Cloud Sect would be willing to accept them as they would be able to contribute towards their various fledgling disciplines.
Underneath the envious gaze of the rest of the crowd, Han Li and six other cultivators walked forward.
Senior Martial Brother Qiu swept his gaze past them and nodded his head.
When the youth with the heroic aura saw this, he released a flying magic tool without any delay. A huge bronze alms bowl appeared before them.
Without needing any words from the youth, Han Li and the group of cultivators obediently climbed onto the magic tool. The copper alms bowl then flew off deep into the Dreamcloud Mountains in a streak of light.
As for the remaining vagrant cultivators that didn't qualify, Han Li was completely unaware as to whether any of them entered the sect, nor did he care enough to find out.
At that moment, he was absorbed in examining the six others that were enveloped in the alms bowl's yellow light alongside him. There were four men and two women. Apart from refined yellow-clothed woman that appeared about twenty years old, the others appeared to be in their thirties.
There was even a fifty year old cultivator. Although he possessed the deepest cultivation of the group at the twelfth layer of the Qi Condensation cultivator, Han Li could only shake his head and inwardly sigh.
If they didn't have much luck, cultivators with poor aptitudes had to spend an immense amount of time cultivating if they wished to reach the tenth layer of higher, resulting in only Han Li and the yellow-clothed woman to have the youngest appearance in the group.
If it weren't for the mysterious bottle that Han Li had encountered, he feared he would've spent most of his life cultivating like the twelfth layer cultivator, yet only to reach the sixth layer. Entering a large cultivation sect would've obviously been out of the question.
When Han Li began to ponder about the past, he entered a rare state of absent-mindedness.
Soon after, he regained clarity of mind and looked at the others. While they didn't appear to be particularly notable, they had facefuls of excitement.
But when Han Li's gaze fell onto large man with sideburns, he narrowed his eyes for a moment, but soon his expression returned to normal.
This wasn't because of anything unusual about the man's appearance, but because there was a trace of indescribable cold Yin Qi. This Yin Qi was very well hidden. If it weren't for Han Li's extraordinary spiritual sense, he would've completely missed it This definitely wasn't a cultivation art that belonged to the five elements. From the fluctuations of his spiritual Qi, he clearly possessed some unusual magic techniques.
However, the large man's tenth layer cultivation wasn't even the slightest bit false, causing Han Li to ponder with curiosity.
As Han Li was lost in thought, a huge expanse of endless fog appeared before the huge alms bowl. This white fog was extremely dense and roiled with sounds of thunder faintly echoing out.
Han Li's heart stirred and sent out his spiritual sense. However, something had blocked it when he attempted to reach about thirty meters into the mist.
Han Li inwardly trembled, knowing that the white mist was an uncommon restriction. It was likely one of the Drifting Cloud Sect's formidable sect protecting restrictions. He didn't dare to further rashly test it and hastily recalled his spiritual sense.
The group of vagrant cultivators all revealed an expression of awe when they saw the endless mist. Although they've never come across a spell formation before, this astonishing restriction before them had greatly broadened their perspectives.
At that moment, the youth surnamed Yu formed a hand incantation and had is flying magic tool slowly come a stop. Then he grasped his storage pouch and took out an azure formation flag.
After muttering something, the flag in his hand began to glow with a piercing radiance that gradually grew larger.
"Open!" After the youth finished his incantation, he glared at the fog and pointed the formation flag at it. A bowl-thick azure beam of light shot out from the tip of the flag and straight into the mist, leading to an astonishing scene.
The other areas of the fog roiled as ordinary, but the portion of the fog in front of them became extremely calm. Then following a series of clear chimes, the white Qi parted before them, revealing a ten-meter-wide passage.
After this occured, the youth surnamed Yu carried the group through the passage without delay. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from sight.
Not long after, the passage closed and the sounds of thunder sounded out once more.
After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the group eventually passed through the mist and emerged before the hidden land.
Before they could even clearly see past the fog, they felt dense spiritual Qi rush against them. Han Li couldn't help but take in a deep breath and feel a trace of joy well up inside him as he looked forward.
There was a huge expanse of earth with verdant greenery, fragrant aromas, birdsong, and several mountains that spanned over three kilometers tall, reaching out as far as the eye could see. Surrounding these mountains were buildings of various sizes including palace halls and pavilions of countless numbers along with many various clothed cultivators rushing about in a hurry.
After seeing their surprise and excitement, he silently smiled. He then pointed to the nearest mountain peak and said, "Take a good look. These is the Six Marvelous Peaks of the Drifting Cloud Sect's monastery. If you truly enter our sect, this will be your home. But first, we will head to Dayspring Mountain's Initiation Residence. You'll explain a bit about your past and then we will test your cultivation."