“Next!” – The old man said loudly.

This time a fairly young man approached the stele and his appearance indicated that he was in his early twenties.

‘Is he a fool?’ Victor was only a couple of people away from him and was surprised by this guy’s bravery, as the old man had already said that all cultivators not passing the parameters of the first stage of selection must immediately leave the perimeter of the test area or a catastrophic punishment will follow.

Regardless of the cultivators’ strength, whether weak or strong, to lose the cultivation base was a complete end, a disaster because of which many simply killed themselves, as life after such a loss became meaningless in their eyes.

And now, looking at this brave guy, Victor was a little puzzled.

‘This guy obviously knows his own cultivation base so why is he going to the stele, knowing that the old man will cripple him…’ Frowning, I tried to understand this man’s thoughts.

Noticing Victor’s surprised look, Mikena followed his gaze and grinned.

“Trying to guess why he’s doing this?” – Pulling Victor’s hand to draw his attention to her, she said.

He didn’t answer but nodded his head._-.

“It’s quite simple, he probably is the hope of the whole family or something, but when the old man announced the requirements he realized that he was a mediocre cultivator who had no chance of getting into any kind of respectable sect. See now he’s going to make an example of himself what the word “pathetic” means.”

And literally after a couple of sighs Mikena’s prediction came true, the young cultivator, who was trying to pass the first stage despite the fact that he did not fit under the terms of the sects, suddenly trembled when he saw the inscription on the stele.

**********

Age – 21 years

Cultivation Level – Late Stage Initial Ascension(1)

Didn’t pass.

**********

Under taunting glances, he suddenly flopped down on his knees in front of the old man and tried to beg him for a place in the old man’s sect even if he had to become his slave. But unfortunately for the young man, the old man wouldn’t even listen to him, after he saw the results on the stele he got a little angry.

He clearly stated that such people would be punished, but not only did he not listen to him, but he had the nerve to beg for a place in the sect for himself without even asking for forgiveness for this situation.

“You little bastard, did you not hear what I said earlier?” – He asked the young man angrily.

The cultivator nodded reluctantly.

“Then what are you still doing here, you piece of shit?” – The old man had no respect for such people at all, instead of persevering to get stronger and then coming back for the selection once more and passing it they when they fit the conditions, he took the easy way of offering to become a slave, of course this only applied to men while women offered their bodies.

The old man was clearly sick of it, and listening to the same thing every time was incredibly annoying.

“My family-” Before he could say the rest of his sentence, he suddenly froze.

The old man knew what this man wanted to say, so without wasting time on useless words and letting the man whine, the old man quickly punched him in the dantian, swiftly destroying his cultivation base. After that, the guards nearby took the guy and threw him out of the selection area.

“There is no place in this world for the weak.” Once again Victor was convinced of these words, if he did not have the skill “Dual Cultivation”, he could be the one who found himself in such a situation.

The queue gradually dwindled and only two participants remained before it was Victor’s and Mikena’s turn; it seemed that the young cultivator who had lost his cultivation base was quickly forgotten, as if the whole situation had never happened.

Shaking his head, he put those thoughts out of his mind, focusing on the present, at the sight of how that guy was easily eliminated and lost the meaning of life, Victor’s eyes were filled with unwavering determination.

He didn’t want to become like that, so it didn’t matter what the second task of his quest was, he had to fulfill it and obtain a suitable physique for cultivation, so he could get stronger without any problems.

“Oh, it’s her turn,” Victor remarked.

The woman who was under the scornful stares and whom he was initially interested in was now standing near the stele.

“Are you sure you’re not interested in her?”

Victor heard a woman’s voice near his ear while feeling a slight pain on his body.

“Haha, how jealous,” Victor grinned.

“Of course not, sleeping with a demigod is much better.” – He laughed as he stroked Mikena’s hair, which made her a little embarrassed yet calm. Her slightly crazed and jealous look disappeared, turning into a docile expression.

“Put your hand on the stele and hold it for a few seconds.” – The old man said to the woman, but there was a softness in his words that was not there when the young man or anyone else took the test.

The woman nodded her head and put her hand on the stele.

**********

Age – 19 years

Cultivation Level – Initial Stage of Earth Ascension(2)

Passed

**********

After the result was displayed on the stele, silence enveloped the entire area. Many of the young cultivators were stunned by this woman’s cultivation level, and the group of people who had mocked her earlier were even more surprised than any other person gathered there.

“She’s a genius!” – Someone in the crowd shouted.

“So young and already in the realm of earthly ascension(2)!”

“What clan does she belong to?”

Similar conversations swept across the square, and this woman became the focus of everyone’s attention. Now there was only deep respect and a bit of jealousy in their gaze, for such a genius is rare at such a young age.

“Hey, didn’t you say that your sister is useless and she came to the sect selection just because she was forced to?” – Asked the young man from the pecking order group.

“Y-yes, my sister has always been useless. I have no idea why she has such a cultivation base.” – A girl who looked just like her answered him, it was pretty obvious that they were sisters or relatives.

“Then why was she hiding it?” – He asked in amazement.

But the woman did not respond, instead her gaze was fixed on her sister, who was bathed in the spotlight, if looks could kill then she would have died several hundred times already.