*****************??*****************

"I am..."

"Sun Wukong!"

"..."

There was silence in the hall as the examiners looked at each other with a weird looks.

"Heh, I knew it. So you were just a nobody!" Said the inner disciple who didn't believe that Sun Wukong had any decent background.

"Alright, now release your martial spirit for us to see," the middle-aged man wanted to get this over with.

"Okey Dokey!" Sun Wukong seemed a bit excited about showing them his martial spirit.

'Hmph! It's probably just some useless martial spirit,' the inner disciple had already labeled Sun Wukong as trash in his heart.

Sun Wukong took a deep breath and released his martial spirit.

"Hah!"

A mighty aura descended on the hall as what looked like a constellation appeared behind Sun Wukong.

It was a constellation that formed the figure of what appeared to be a monkey garbed in armor standing upright with a stick on his right hand and a gourd strapped to his side.

A part of the figure in the air behind Sun Wukong glowed and it was the right palm of the monkey.

"A beast-type martial spirit?" Someone asked.

"It seems so."

"But what kind of martial spirit is that? It looks like a constellation of stars forming an image. And the usual beast martial spirit is an actual beast made up of energy but this is way different."

"Maybe it's a variant?"

The examiners discussed amongst themselves as this was the first time they had seen a martial spirit on such a form. They had no idea what kind of martial spirit it was.

Only the inner disciple kept quiet as though he didn't want Sun Wukong to turn out to be a hidden gem.

The middle-aged man who was the Elder in charge examined it closely and concluded, "This is not a variant beast spirit. But rather it is something more unique. Let's see what its rank would be, the boy isn't done summoning it."

The examiners looked on with expectations wanting to see what rank this strange martial would have.

Only their expectations were met with disappointment when they saw the rings that appeared around the martial spirit.

"Such low rank?"

"I knew it, this guy is trash! Hahaha," the inner disciple seemed a bit too happy when he saw the martial spirit's rank.

The middle-aged man glared at him and he shut his mouth up. After that, the middle-aged man looked on once more and sighed.

Only he felt that it could not be that simple because he could still sense the aura coming from Sun Wukong's martial spirit and it was more than what he had ever felt from any martial spirit of the same rank.

He sighed again and said, "Young man, it is unfortunate that your martial spirit does not meet the standards to pass."

'Rules are rules, I can not break them unless it is permitted by the higher-ups,'

Sun Wukong frowned, "What do you mean, how is the standard decided?"

"You don't know?" The middle-aged man didn't expect that Sun Wukong would be ignorant of the knowledge of martial spirit rank.

'Did he really live all his life in the mountains?' He wondered.

"The rings of light on your martial spirit, are only two, and to pass this test they would have to reach ten."

The middle-aged man didn't want to explain in detail what the martial spirit ranks were, but Sun Wukong's martial spirit was only a Tier 2 Human Grade Martial Spirit.historical

"The rings?" Sun Wukong looked at his martial spirit and was crestfallen.

But then his eyes lit up as though he recalled something, "Wait I don't think that would be an issue."

"What do you mean?"

"My Martial Spirit had only one of those when I first got it. But after a period of time, the ring increased and so did its power!" Sun Wukong said excitedly.

The middle-aged man glanced at the other examiners in the hall and saw the same unbelieving look in their eyes.

"Did he just say his martial spirit's rank increased on its own?"

"Okay, now this guy is just blurting out lies," said the inner disciple.

The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "Young man, you don't have to lie to get in. There is nothing you can do."

"I am not lying. How about you give me some time, a few months at most and you will see that what I say is the truth."

"Please, I need to get into this sect, the others all rejected me before even testing me," Sun Wukong pleaded.

The middle-aged man was about to speak when a voice in the hall spoke.

"Let him in, he will be admitted under the following conditions..."

**********

Meanwhile, at the Sword Stairs, Arthur had reached the sixth step and was in a deep state of meditation as he stood there.

"So that's what the sword is...this...this is intent!" He said and his eyes flung open.

He withdrew his spirit power and the sword intent descend upon his mind and body, but surprisingly they did nothing to him, as another type of power had shielded Arthur and this power was rock solid and was not shaken by the might of the intent of the sixth step.

"Sword Intent comprehended successfully," Arthur smiled at his success.

'And this Sword Intent is no ordinary sword intent. My Sword intent is currently at the second rank.'

'Rank two sword intent at the sixth step. That means to pass I have to comprehend up to rank four sword intent,' Arthur calculated.

He could have passed this test in an instant with his soul power but he decided against it. First of all, he didn't want to reveal that hidden card of his, and secondly, this is an opportunity to comprehend another intent and he can not let it go by.

"See, I told you he could do it," Elder Londes said to the other Elder.

"Yes, you were right. And he did it so fast, he is the fastest to comprehend sword intent using the sword stairs," the other Elder was pleasantly surprised by this feat.

The Council of Elder had made an impromptu decision to recruit disciples earlier than planned and also for the first time, make the Sword Stairs part of the test.

Usually, the second test is the test of martial spirit, which is why the sword stairs could not just replace it and was instead placed alongside it.

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