Death… And Me

In the end, Roan simply decided to pick the Sacred Land. However, there was one thing he still didn't get an answer for. "Fine. If that's the case, I'll enter the Sacred Land. Though, you haven't told me about the Dark Element catalyst."

Etherian laughed when he heard that. "Hahaha! That's right, that's right. I was talking about our skill repository and forgot to mention that. To be honest, we don't have any of them here. However, I do know where you can find it. Most likely, it'll be the same information that Gille had for you."

Gille bitterly smiled as he knew that it was true.

Etherian continued, "I'll talk more about it once the next test is over. I also want to know the two of you a little more." After that, he left the guests' hall. 

Outside, Etherian met with Cassia. Looking at him, Cassia asked, "Senior Etherian, is that really okay? We have never gone after disciples before. Considering your status, it might make things difficult for the twins later after the amount of interest you showed in them."

Etherian smiled in response. "If they can't even deal with some pressure, then they have no need to stay in our Sacred Land. Just make sure those two come and see me later regardless of entering the Inner or Outer Sacred Land."

Cassia nodded in response. "Very well."

Back in the guest hall, everyone was discussing what had just happened. Many ideas were circling throughout. Some thought Etherian wanted a direct disciple, while others thought there was a hidden agenda behind it. Regardless of what it was, the situation was obviously not common at all, especially for the elders who had come here several times in the past.

Rean and Roan just ignored all the eyes focused on them, though.

Roan then looked at the unhappy Gille and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Gille looked back at him before leaving. In the end, he decided to not talk anymore as it would be useless. Instead, he focused on the members that came to participate this time around.

Fabio finally let out a sigh of relief once Gille left. "This is not good for my heart, you know? How come you guys always get so much attention?"

Roan didn't even bother answering, so Rean had to do that. "Well, it's not like we're doing it on purpose. Or perhaps... we are? Anyways..." 

It was kind of a weird situation. Before they even joined the Sacred Land, they already had a connection with three people there. Tulipa, Paulo, and especially Etherian. How many people out there could say they have done that at their age?

Fabio then warned Roan, "Just be careful. The Klacks Country isn't exactly known to forget things. I don't think he'll try anything against you now that you're part of the Sacred Land, but I can't guarantee that either."

Roan agreed with Fabio, saying, "I know. I could see on his face that he was having a hard time accepting this outcome. In any case, there's no point paying attention to it right now."

The six hours Cassia talked about went by in a flash. With the Sacred Land's help, every cultivator that had to recover got back to their feet in full strength. 

"Alright, you all had your time." Suddenly, a spatial door appeared near Cassia. "All the remaining cultivators, enter this spatial door. You will be randomly teleported to one of the sealed rooms. As mentioned before, no Divine Sense nor Soul Power could pass through their walls, so you'll be on your own."

Cassia continued, "However, everyone outside will be able to see your progress, including the other Sacred Land elders and me. That's how we can tell whether you succeeded or not. Each of you will see a jade slip on the table in the middle of the room. Inside, you have ten neutral techniques that I came up with myself just for this test. Once you learn one of them, just try to execute it in the room. If it's up to the threshold of mastery, you will receive a signal saying that you completed that technique and that you can head to the next."

"Naturally, once you receive ten signals, one for each technique, you would have finished the test. Of course, you must remember, only the top ten will be joining the Inner Sect. The rest will all be sent into the Outer Sect. This test is made to test your comprehension ability and also your general knowledge about the cultivation world."

Cassia finally pointed at the doors before saying, "Alright, head inside. Don't touch the jade slip until I say so, though."

Rean's group then got up once again and headed to the spatial door. The same happened for everyone else. Once inside, they were teleported to a square room. Inside, they found the table with the jade slip, that's all.

A few minutes later, everyone finally appeared in their own rooms. Only then did Cassia's voice echo in their minds. "Alright, the test starts now. You can check the jade slips."

Rean and Roan immediately took it and checked the content with their Divine Senses. At the same time, Rean contacted Roan through their Soul Connection. Yes, their Soul Connection had nothing to do with Divine Sense or Soul Power. With that being said, they could still talk with each other. 'Should we focus on different techniques and share our memories? Or do you want to try it alone?'

Roan immediately answered, 'Let's share the work. This isn't really training anymore, so it's best if we join the Inner Sacred Land straight away. I'll start with this Stacked Divine Energy Palm.'

Rean agreed with Roan. Sure, it could be considered cheating. Then again, they didn't intend to stay in the Sacred Land for long to start with, so they didn't care. 'Very well, I'll get this Cyclic Divine Energy Barrier.'

As Rean and Roan looked into the meridians' path to use the techniques, they noticed a peculiarity. 'What a terribly made technique....'