Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy
chapter-1988

On the western side of Newsky city, there was a giant tower of blue built to be the headquarters of the Blue Silk sect branch located in this city. It was a massive tower spanning nearly a kilometer in all directions, built like a monolith with no windows anywhere at all.

Alex arrived before this tower and showed his slip claiming that he was registered to take the entrance test that was going to take place within the tower.

Alex wasn't sure just what sort of obstacles he was going to face in the preliminary test, but he was ready to overcome any that were going to be put in his way.

He had to if he wanted enough fortune to leave this world as soon as he could.

Alex arrived at a large hall, teeming with people. The low-ceiling hall had no windows and just a single door, and there weren't any seating areas as well.

People either stood up or sat on the floor.

Alex looked around, seeing all the men and women, and surprisingly beasts that were around the place. They were in human form, but it was still easy to recognize the beasts.

Alex wondered if there were any plants here. At Immortal ranks, plants gained sentience as well and could turn into humans should they choose to. He wondered if he could recognize them as well as he did the beasts.

Alex went to a side of the room and leaned against the dark walls, waiting for the tests to start. He looked around while waiting, taking in his competition.

The cultivation base of the people in the room was most definitely frightening. The fact that most of the people were far beyond his own strength meant that if there was going to be a simple one-on-one battle to figure out who would pass, Alex basically had no chance at victory.

He could only hope that that was not the case.

He continued looking around, wondering if there were Divine realm cultivators that had come to take the test as well. He could only recognize Immortal Spirit realm cultivators and below.

The Divine realm was just too far ahead of him to truly know if someone had that cultivation base or not.

Alex continued waiting around for the tests to begin. He looked around and frowned. Based on the information he had received, the test was supposed to start already. He had come an hour earlier, and that hour had passed.

'Why are they late?' Alex wondered. 'The test should have begun already.'

As he said that, a thought came to him. What if the test truly had already begun? What if he wasn't supposed to know the contents of the test, but had to figure it out on his own?

Alex looked around, trying to see if anything was out of place.

He wasn't the only one.

Many other test takers had come to the same conclusion as they began wandering around the hall, searching for any clues to the test they were taking. More and more people began doing the same, and soon, the entire hall full of people were vigorously searching for the test.

Half an hour later, the people had found nothing at all. They began worrying that someone had already found the test and had hidden it for themselves. They began suspecting each other.

Alex frowned as he too searched for anyone who may have taken the test. He searched, but he couldn't recognize anyone of that sort. All he could do now was worry.

As people in the room began getting more and more agitated, 3 individuals entered, immediately catching everyone's attention.

They wore blue robes with a small branch embroidered on them with a bright blue leaf attached to the branch. These were members of the Blue Silk sect.

The examiners had finally come. Alex looked at the three, 2 men and a woman, and quickly judged that their strength were too high for him to know what cultivation base they were in. There was no doubt though that these were all Divinities.

Of the two men, one was much older than the other, with long flowing gray hair that he tied in a low ponytail behind his back.

The other man was middle-aged with short black hair and a thick black beard.

The woman appeared younger, no older than in her late 30s, and was easily the prettiest woman in the entire hall. They walked up to the front of the room where a small platform had been raised. The younger man and the woman moved to the back while the gray-haired man stepped up front and addressed the gathered people.

"I welcome you all to today's test and wish you good luck. I know the test is happening later than we mentioned, but I hope you are all okay with that."

The old man looked around and not a single person voiced any complaints.

"The test will begin shortly, but before that, I must explain a few things about how we choose who we pass. First of all, I must make this clear. Of you all, only 16 people will make it to the actual test."

The words caused a round a murmur to go around the room.

'16?' Alex thought, looking around. There were easily over 2 thousand people in this room, each one better than the other. And they were only going to take 16 people from here?

Not to mention, this was just the preliminary test. The actual test was going to happen in the Blue Silk sect which was probably going to be much more difficult.

'Sister Fang did say this was pretty much impossible,' Alex thought. 'Just how hard is this going to be?'

"For the 16 that we choose, it will be decided by the 3 of us after many different tests. If you do badly in one of the tests, don't worry too much. Do well in others and you will still have a chance."

"With that, I will begin the first test."

A slamming noise surprised everyone as they saw that the door to the hall had been permanently shut. There was no way out anymore.

The old man on the stage nodded to the two beside him and they both took out two different artifacts.

The man took out a small belt of sorts that Alex did not understand. The woman took out a simple puppet that looked no different than the puppets Alex trained against in the training centers.

'They're trying to figure out our cultivation base?' Alex wondered. Was he going to fail here?

The old man used a formation to create a barrier that hid the people behind him and looked back at the crowd. "Who would like to start?" he asked.

Multiple people were ready to take the test and the old man picked one of them. He called the person to the stage and had him enter the barrier behind him.

Then he waited. Everyone waited to see what would transpire here, but they could see nothing. After a few more seconds of waiting, the old man looked down and pointed to another person. "Come on up," the told the person. "You are next."