Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Selection of The Azure Dragon Sect [5]

Many held their breath as Damon unleashed his sword Qi, the faint crimson light wreathing his wooden blade pulsing with fierce intensity.

’Sword Qi? That’s impossible.’ Elder Alder frozen in disbelief.

’I’ll finish this in a single strike’

Damon moves forward as his sword came down in a wide arc.

The disciple didn’t back down from Damon’s Sword Qi, he simply he didn’t recognize it.

He raised his blade to parry it, but regret that decision in an instant.

His arms shook violently as he felt his Qi being crushed under an invisible pressure.

His gaze dropped to his sword, eyes going wide. Damon’s wooden blade had buried through into the metal and the steel started dissolving like wax from the sword Qi.

Silence spread across the arena.

Damon withdrew his blade form it. He had already anticipated the reaction will be this.

It was no small part of why he carried such confidence. He was a sword master, after all.

He was on a different level entirely.

Turning around, Damon found the sight of Jack’s stricken expression with jaw fell down as he trying to make sense of what he’d just saw.

’How had he cleaved through a real sword with nothing but wood?’

’Get a hold of yourself. Jack!’

Jack dropped his gaze. He still had a powerful noble family that support him.

His eyes moved toward Ariel, who was gazing at Damon with loving and admiration eyes.

He was not dumb to not realize what going on between them, and that realization only rise his rate for Damon.

But whenever his eyes found her, every will to give up was withered away. He wanted her for himself, entirely and forever. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

What was a woman of her standing doing beside a commoner? Someone of her birth deserved someone of equal standing.

"That was quite the... performance," Elder Alder remarked, drawing every eye back to him.

He would admit it — sword Qi was a fearsome thing.

Even at the Heavenly Spirit Realm, he had felt a danger from Damon’s sword Qi.

"This humble one is grateful for Elder Alder’s praise," Damon said while giving a respectful bow before returning to his place. He ignores the murmurs in the crowd. The assessments resumed shortly after, though few paid them much mind. Unremarkable disciple after unremarkable disciple, nothing worth remembering. It didn’t drag on long.

The outer disciples gathered the failures and escorted them from the Sect. Before long, only fifty recruits remained.

Elder Alder came to a stop before them, his gaze sweeping across every face before he exhaled a quiet, disappointed sigh.

This batch had been middling at best. A handful of geniuses were scattered among the rest, but not nearly enough.

A few had cultivations beyond their years and spiritual roots of reasonable quality. Talented, certainly, but nowhere near the threshold of true genius.

In every previous selection, there had been at least ten such disciples. High cultivations, exceptional spiritual roots, the whole lot.

This time, the only ones who had genuinely caught his eye were Damon and Ariel, both with cultivations that far outpaced their age, and spiritual roots of the rarest, highest quality.

Composing himself, Elder Alder raised a hand as he stepped onto the arena floor. A marble table rose from the stone beneath him, and fifty tokens materialized in the air before raining down upon its surface.

Wooden tokens, each identical to the next, a dragon carved into the face, a space reserved for the disciple’s name. All of them alike, save for one. A single golden token rested among them.

"These are your disciple tokens. For as long as you remain outer disciples, they are everything," Elder Alder said, lifting the golden one between his fingers.

"Lose them, and the consequences will be severe. Without them, you cannot undertake missions, access the Sect’s facilities, or receive your monthly stipend."

He turned the golden token over slowly. "This is the Golden Token, bestowed upon those the Sect considers holding exceptional promise. Its bearer is granted a private residence and twice the resources allocated to ordinary outer disciples."

His gaze moved across the recruits, reading their expressions. Only three stood apart from the rest — Damon, Ariel, and Jack. Though between the first two, he found himself genuinely torn.

Jack was never truly under consideration. A pitiful sight, a man pining openly after a woman who had no interest in him whatsoever, incapable of reining in his own murderous intent.

’The Frostborn Family’s fortunes hardly rest on this one/’ Elder Alder thought, shaking his head. The Frostborn family had no shortage of capable heirs, and Jack was nowhere near the line of succession.

His gaze settled on Ariel.

She came from the Aquaria Family — not as powerful as the Frostborn, but her talent alone could change that. She could be the foundation upon which her family rose.

’The Aquaria Family mentioned their young lady would be sitting the examination but said nothing of this. It took two separate tests before I was even certain it was her.’

’She should have no problem about resource, with her family supporting her, she will grow on her own. Which means the golden token should go to...’

Then his eyes moved toward Damon.

Strikingly handsome, yet without a trace of arrogance about him. His expression was composed, his smile unhurried and genuine.

Even with Jack’s killing intent pressing against him like a drawn blade, the young man didn’t even flinch.

’That was what a true cultivator looked like. Not only was he the highest potential among all of the recruits, but he also had those strange spiritual roots...’

Elder Alder lifted his gaze and reached his decision.

"Damon. One step forward."

"Unacceptable!" Jack’s voice boomed across the arena, his gaze darting between the wooden token clutched in his own hand and the golden one resting in Damon’s.

All eyes were fixed on him. Was this fool mad? He had surely seen that recruit’s brutal fate.

"Are you questioning my judgement, Young Master Jack?" Elder Alder’s gaze turned to ice, though he pressed no further than those words.

"Yes!" The young master stepped forward. "I am a son of the Frostborn Family! I refuse to let some lowborn peasant walk away with what is mine!"

"Nothing here is yours. Damon surpasses you." Elder Alder’s killing intent flared, forcing Jack to bow his head in sudden defeat.

But even so, the young master didn’t give up.

"My big sister is an elder of the Sect. I demand an explanation!" He roared, his eyes bloodshot.

The elder stiffened, very nearly losing his composure, yet ultimately let out a long, weary breath.

"I’ll be speaking with Elder Selene regarding your situation."

"You’d better!" Jack snarled.

Elder Alder ignored the insolence. He had more important matters to attend to.