After getting a brief tale of how it was back then from Meng Chao, Yang Qing couldn't help but throw Instructor Pan a respectful gaze.
For the Order to establish its foothold back then, how hard must have it been for the Gold Eagle Shield Guards back then.
"Thank you, Instructor Pan.." Yang Qing suddenly said which drew a quizzical look from the Instructor, however, he didn't dwell too much on it as he had pressing issues at hand.
"You still haven't answered, have you been slacking student Qing.." he sternly asked.
Yang Qing shivered as the name seemed to dredge up memories he had worked very hard to repress over the years.
"No! No! No! I haven't, instructor Pan.." Yang Qing hurriedly said as backed away.
"I got injured the other day which rendered me incapable of operating at full capacity. My spiritual sense was one of the things affected.." he added.
He couldn't afford to be 'trained' in front of the young chics, not after he had come all this way to see them get that 'training' instead.
Instructor Pan who had an austere and taciturn expression the whole time, finally showed a surprised look.
"You may goof around a lot but even I know how capable you are.. Who was the opponent? Was it a domain expert? .." he asked with a frosty expression that hid a murderous intent within.
"The instructor fiend have emotions?" wondered Yang Qing before he went and recounted the events at the Medical Valley and also his leave of absence from work, lest the Instructor think he was being a truant and drag him back to the courts.
The instructor didn't say much after he heard the tale. An awkward silence ensued for a bit before he finally said,
"Make sure to take proper care of yourself. I'll be off then.."
"Oh, and his name was Peng Zhen, right, the one you had sent?" he asked as he was leaving for the ground.
"Yes.."
"He seems capable... He would be an excellent molder for these feeble eggs.."
Yang Qing shivered as he saw the malevolent smile creeping up on Instructor Pan's face as he made it to the platform below.
The students below dressed in black and orange robes with the image of a robin sown on them went silent when they saw Instructor Pan appear on the platform.
Instructor Pan eyed the students as he exuded a slight pressure on them which made them all flinch as if a ravenous predator was eyeing them.
Yang Qing chuckled as he swallowed a handful of sunflower seeds in clear excitement.
"It's about to begin.."
After a few seconds, Instructor Pan reigned in the pressure. The students present were mostly at the peak stage of the first, second, and third stages of the foundation establishment realm with a few being at the peak of the qi refinement realm.
Almost every single one of them had been at the qi refinement realm when they did their entrance examination, and those that were already in the foundation establishment realm at the time of the test either had blue grade pillars while those that didn't would be absent in today's group because they would have to disperse their cultivation base and start from scratch if their pillars had been below the blue grade.
It was similar to what happened to Bu Fei, who despite having sword sense or being close to 100 years old, was told by Yang Qing he would have to recultivate from scratch and rebuild his foundations again since he only had white-grade pillars that would stifle his progress forward if he stayed with them.
In the four-month duration before today's test, the students were pumped full of resources like fattened calves and then were trained and guided personally by the instructors from cultivation to fighting techniques which helped them experience explosive growths in a short amount of time, which was one of the reasons they all seemed arrogant.
However, what they didn't know was, that in the next few months, they would be beaten and tortured to the bone, and they would barely have enough strength or time to improve their cultivation base by more than a few minor realms in the next few months.
There's a reason why despite the Institute being a resource-rich place, every student by the time they complete their final year, their cultivation base is usually only in the early stage of the core formation realm, and it is only after they leave the Institute do they get to experience rapid rises in their cultivation base.
The years at the institute are spent hammering the foundations and the basics in the most brutal and painful way possible into their bodies.
It's only in the first four months of their first year do they get the chance to experience explosive growth and the reason for that is so they don't die, to give them enough vitality as sandbags. To lengthen their ability to endure whatever the instructors would do to them.
The students started murmuring to themselves as they could feel something strange brewing. What they didn't know was that was their sixth sense kicking in, the same one birds would get every time a major earthquake was underway but unlike the birds, they had no idea what was coming.
"Now then, today we will be doing something we call a test of incubation. It's a test aimed at helping you gain the abilities and more importantly the character that will help you find your footing within the Order and the demands it will place on you when you begin your duties.
The test will strengthen, elevate you, and help you reach and see heights you never thought possible.
You will come to discover things about yourselves and of each other during this test. Make sure you keep the lessons you learn here at heart, and I will also make an announcement after the test.
Many of you must be wondering what test it will be, and some of you may have already guessed it involves combat.."
The students eyed each other with clear battle intent as he said that.
"However, you will not be fighting each other, but them.." as Instructor Pan said this a gentle swirl of leaves appeared, and in the midst of those leaves there were thirty cultivators wearing similar dull grey robes with most radiating a bloodthirsty aura that could only come from those who have slaughtered thousands.
Yang Qing spotted Peng Zhen within that group. He was an outlier as he had a gentle and stable aura to him.
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