To Yang Qing, there were arrogant faces he couldn't wait to see transformed. Of course, there were a few good eggs within that group too. Those who had not let the four-month grace period dull their senses. Those who could still remember what life was like before they stepped into the Order, and what it took to survive, or those who could still remember how harrowing the entrance examination was.
That group though few still had the same sense of wariness and caution that they had when they were doing their examinations.
Yang Qing managed to spot nine of them from the bunch of seventy students.
He couldn't judge the students who were indolent, casually taking in the sights around them talking, laughing, showing little to no caution as to why they had been called to this battle arena.
It was only human to want to relax and it wasn't like the Institute advertised its real face out there, so not many people outside of those who have been in it knew what it was really like. To the outside world, it was a dreamscape that churned out talent after talent on behalf of the Order. A place where even a normal pig had the potential of being turned into a fearsome tiger if admitted to the Institute.
"They really do embody fairness to the extreme.." muttered Yang Qing as he found a spot on the cliff to relax as he waited for the events to unfold.
Even without asking or being told, he knew the current students were those who had graduated from the blue grade test which was the lowest classification of entrance test that the Order has.
It was meant for those who had an average aptitude. However, that was only as per the Order's standards. Average to them would be elite in most sects and organizations. For example during Yang Qing's test, Lai Rou and Bu Fei had developed saber sense and sword sense respectively, but even with such an achievement, they were only qualified to take the blue grade test.
Above the blue grade, was the gold grade and the purple grade test, with the latter being the highest test the Order gave out. Those who qualified for the purple grade test already had direct admissions to the Institute, though they didn't know that.
As the cream of the crop, they were subjected to the worst possible test that they could be given. It was so horrible that on average every year only three or four people finished it, and the test usually lasted between seven months to a year, while the gold grade usually lasted for about four to five months, though it wasn't as brutal as the purple grade test it was multiple levels higher than all the blue grade tests combined.
As per Yang Qing's estimates, those who came in the same batch as the current students, the ones who qualified for the gold grade test were just about to finish their tests, while those who qualified for the purple grade test were still doing it, and had two more months to continue, that is if they were still conscious and some sort of piece that enabled them to continue with the test.
In the purple grade test, you would only be removed if you were a breathe away from death, a literal breath, so until then, you would endure everything up until that moment, whether it was collapsed lungs, dismembered limbs, poisoning and the like, you would not get healed or retrieved until you were literally inches away from death's door.
Those who have undergone the gold and purple grade tests would not be as easygoing as the students in front of Yang Qing, were.
If they had been the ones present, they would have been huddled together like little chics, their eyes darting around them over and over in fear, with tensed up bodies, that were ready to retaliate or run at a moment's notice, unlike the group before him.
They were disjointed and lacked that sense of unified front, they were nothing more than strangers with one or two people seeming to have a bond, and even then it seemed superficial, and they lacked a sense of fear in them.
The reason Yang Qing said the Order embodies fairness, is because the students before him would be purposefully subjected to the same level of torment that their counterparts in the gold grade and purple grade tests endured.
"I hope Zou Yi and the rest are doing okay.." Yang Qing muttered to himself as he took out a bag of crispy fried sunflower seeds.
Zou Yi, his sister, and the group they formed had been sent to the test site for a gold grade test for two months for failing to be among the top fifteen during the test. They would be put through the paces for the next two months by the instructors there before they rejoined the rest.
While those who successfully made it with them, should have started their first week and were likely still doing inductions around Egg Peak, and those with families or dependants, would be working on relocation.
"Yoh, don't you have anything better to do other than come to these tests?"
As Yang Qing was happily munching on his sunflower seeds, he almost choked on them when a young man who looked to be in his early thirties, with black hair tied simply with a papyrus reed, handsome face, sword-sharp eyes, suddenly appeared next to him without him noticing. He only realized there was someone next to him when that man spoke.
"Instructor Pan, nice to see you. Your heroic bearing hasn't waned one bit.." said Yang Qing with an obsequious smile as he cupped his fists to the young man in black and white robes that had the symbol of a robin sown on them.
"You seem genuinely surprised when I appeared? Almost as if caught by surprise. Have you been slacking off in your training, now that you're in the palace realm?" the young man ominously asked as he narrowed his eyes with a serious expression.
Yang Qing felt his blood freeze over when he saw that look.
"I knew it, the Instructors are much scarier even than the founder of the Ice Emerald Sect when she turned into a Ba She.
I should expect nothing less from a former gold eagle shield guard.." thought Yang Qing as he felt his body involuntary shake to the formless pressure radiating from Instructor Pan.
Gold Eagle Shield Guard was a special force that was usually deployed to key areas owned by the Order outside of its headquarters.
For example, when a branch was being created, a gold eagle shield guard would be deployed in the early stage to ensure security as it was being built and would only leave after the branch was built to completion and the personnel deployed there had settled for a year.
Other than branches, there were special locations such as mines, territories within the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, Ruins, and other mysterious realms and grottos that were protected by the Gold Eagle Shield Guard.
They were the first line of defense for the interests of the Order outside. For one to join they needed to have the capability to handle three professions and also a gifted cultivator. The minimum requirement was one needed to have a gold core at least to be considered.
Their training was very rigorous and exhaustive. Before one became a gold eagle shield guard, they would work at various departments to hone their secondary professions, and it needed to be at an above-average standard before they could move to the next training.
They were troves of wisdom and experience. From the rumor Yang Qing had heard when he was a hatchling at the Institute was that since the founding of the Order till now, the number of Gold Eagle Shield Guards was no more than a hundred and the instructor Pan, who was eyeing him like he wanted to retrain Yang Qing on the spot had been one of them.
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