Yang Qing couldn't believe that the Order was willing to fork it out as the price for finishing an entrance examination.
"They will definitely be overworked to the death to pay back every last drop.."
Yang Qing was too deep in his thoughts to notice the envious vindictive smile forming on his face that happened to be hit perfectly by the cascading sunshine and the shade of the maple leaf tree.
Dai Chen and the rest ignored him as he finished,
"The purple test has been going on for three months, and from what Instructor Han has told me, he expects it to run for four more months.."
Dai Chen put away the light blue talisman as he finished.
"The timeline sounds about the same. I wonder how many will even reach the finish line? How many reached in your time Dai?" asked Yang Qing.
"There were about seven...yours was one of the highest at thirteen...I remember the sensation it caused when four peerless jade physiques appeared in the same test, and a swarm of monsters to boot.
The purple jades is what they called it..." Dai Chen as he admired Kang Huilang, Yang Qing, and Xia Boqin.
"Such an ethereal name doesn't match the hell that was there.." Yang Qing fearfully said, with the other two mirroring his sentiments.
The Order had three categories of tests namely; blue, gold, and lastly purple.
With the huge number of participants they got, the wide spectrum they fell under, and the desperate need for talents by the Order, they created and categorized tests into three grades which was done with the degree of talent of the participants.
It was done with the goal of helping the participants shine in their own way, rather than throw a blanket test and throw them in altogether.
The light of a firefly would easily shine in the darkest of nights, however, it would dim when compared to the brilliance of the sun.
The Order the hungry exploiters that they were, wanted both the firefly and the suns to cog their wheels thus creating three different types of tests that would help with that.
The blue-grade test was the weakest test and it was for those with lack of a better term, average aptitudes but had a chance of showing something special if given the chance.
Unbeknownst to the participants, the day they apply to join the Order they are given a shallow screening, and from that screening, they are categorized which tests they should fall under.
Most participants fall in the blue grade tests since it takes those with no cultivation bases, poor foundation or low cultivation bases, and natural physiques that are considered 'normal' in their output. The normal part was as per the Order's judgment which was skewed when compared to others.
Of the participants available in Yang Qing's test, Liao Jiay'i's placement in the blue grade test was a mistake. For someone with the Kunpeng's bloodline, his test should have been at the gold grade at least.
However Yang Qing could think of a number of reasons why he appeared in the blue grade test, one of which was his age, and the other was, his physique had been sealed and only unsealed parts of itself when he clashed against a frost horned python and the next was when he fought head-on with Kang Huilang's fist intent.
The surface preliminary test may have missed it. When it came to Yu Mei, while her crystal heart glazed physique granted her direct entry into the Order and also made it easy for her than most people to reach the domain realm, it had no offensive capabilities as of yet and she had not yet unlocked any attribute from it and even if she did, any test above the blue grade would have eliminated her.
Her physique wasn't suited for the brutality of the gold grade and purple grade test and as per the Order's judgement, it was a normal physique. Yin Rong's blazing white rose physique fell under this category too.
Other than intake potential, the blue grade test deferred from the other tests when it came to timeline. It could only keep going for a maximum of two months.
If within that timeframe no one would have reached the finish line, they would all be considered eliminated and no special recommendation would be filed for the lot. However, it was a rare occurrence.
After the blue grade test came the gold grade test. This was set for those with above-average aptitude as per the Order's standards which included their natural physiques, and their understanding towards their cultivation.
While Lai Rou and Bu Fei could be considered exceptional for discovering saber and sword sense respectively in battle, those participating in the gold grade test fielded a couple of participants who already had a type of weapon sense, and a sturdy foundation to complement it.
The two of them would be the lowest of the rungs if they were thrown into the gold grade test, and their chances of elimination were very high in such a test.
The gold grade test lasted for four months and they were supervised by the senior instructors of the Insitute, unlike the blue grade tests which an outer palace judge was in charge of.
When Yang Qing said those who came in below fifteen would die, it was because they would be thrown into one of the venues of the gold grade test for a month.
The test was five times harder than whatever Yang Qing pulled. The light storm mantis that cleaved Bu Fei's arm would be a fodder creature in that venue.
The last test was the purple grade test. What the participants didn't know was, every participant thrown in that test already gained automatic entry into the Order regardless of whether they made it through the test or not, which was why the instructors went overboard to the levels of insanity when setting it.
Those who qualified for the purple grade test were participants who had a diamond body, a peerless jade physique, or a natural physique that was equivalent to those two body refining stages.
Someone with a gold body could also qualify for the test but they needed to be in the peak of emergent or at the blooming stage when it came to their understanding of a blue-grade cultivation art, and their age needed to be 14 or below, and in the early stage of qi refinement stage. Barely above the second stage.
The group had also those who had mastered a type of intent, and the age was not above fourteen.
Only the cream of the crop could gain the qualifications for this test. However, despite their talent, all who go through it, end up with the same emotion, Fear.
With so many talents participating, one would expect them all to reach the finish line of whatever test it was, however, its completion rate was the lowest of the three grades of tests.
This was despite it having the longest allowance on the duration of completion, which was seven to twelve months.
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