Prophecy Of The Stars

18.CELESTIAL JADE SECT

Following the conclusion of the selection test, the entourage of masters, new disciples and escort team proceeded to their destination.

The Celestial Jade Sect was located in the Honglun mountains, a two week journey from Ningyi town.

The Celestial Jade Sect was hailed as the number one Sect, in the whole of East Yue continent. Its prestige attracted a lot of young talents, who wished to become its disciples. As high its fame was, the selection test for it was also difficult, filtering out only the most talented ones.

The sect was located inside the Honglun mountains, surrounded by the Celestial forest named after the sect. Those who wished to enter the Sect had to climb the mountain on foot.

The sect was protected by enchantment barriers making it invisible to the outside world.  A vast stretch of green forest was what all one could see.

Only the disciples and staff of the sect could cross through the barriers. Trespassers would be annihilated by the barrier's defense mechanisms.

For those unrelated people, who wished to visit the sect, they had to report to the outpost of the sect, located at the base of the mountain, from where someone would escort them up to the sect.

Exiting the carriages, everyone started climbing the mountain. Climbing several stairs and crossing several waterfalls, they traversed through the forest, till they reached the barrier.

One of the masters in the entourage, took out some kind of token and pressed it onto the invisible barrier. The barrier shone with a bright light and soon a huge wall and a big iron gate appeared before them.

The gate opened and ushered them all in.

The group was lead towards a majestic building, by the masters. It had a large spacious hall, capable of holding around three thousand people at a time. Well lighted and magnificent, everyone went awe, in its exquisite construction and designs.

They stood in three vertical rows, inside the hall. Above them on an elevated floor, stood thirty-six masters in an orderly fashion and above them, in a further raised dias, sat six elders.

One of the masters stepped down, introducing the new disciples to the sect.

After the welcome and motivational speech, he introduced the masters before them.

Sixteen senior masters from the sword faction, martial arts faction, apothecary faction, weapon forging faction and external affairs division, and twenty junior masters, four each from the above factions.

The five great elders were the head of each faction and lastly the grand elder who was the sect master.

They were then walked through the rules and regulations of the sect and the punishments for rule breaking.

After summing up everything they needed to know, they were led outside, to familiarise with the sect. They were taken to the courtyard of valour, a majestic building whose walls were painted and engraved with the history of the Celestial Jade Sect and the great heros of the sect.

After offering incense and prayers to the ancestors, they were escorted to their dormitories by the wardens.

While walking around, Wan Huang noticed a peculiarity. The buildings were built in a disorderly manner, scattered here and there. Even the trees and plants were arranged in a disarrayed manner. She realised there was something  unique about this arrangement, but couldn't point out what it was.

Each of them retired to their assigned rooms. Wan Huang was surprised to find Wan Fang and Ren WeiLin as her roommates. Surprised at the pleasant coincidence, they smiled and greeted each other and began to tidy up the room.

After cleaning and setting up their sleeping areas, three of them went to the sect's store to retrieve their uniforms and monthly allowances.

There was already a long queue of new disciples, standing in front of the store, waiting for their turn. Excited murmers about the sect, its working, expectations of their new life as the disciples, could be heard from the crowd.

After quarter to an hour's time of waiting, it was the trio's turn.

Their monthly allowance consisted of two spirit QI pills per month. As new admissions, they were provided with the sect id token, on which their name should be carved with their spiritual QI.

They were also given the honor points token, in which they could collect the honour points, that they would get after completing missions, which were equivalent to money, inside the sect.

They were given two sets of uniform robes with the mottiff of the sect sewn on them and another two set of combat robes to be worn during practice.

Weapons of their choice would be supplied to them, by the sect, after six months of preliminary training.

While leaving the store after collecting their things, they came across Wan Bei, Chu Tianyin and another one of the new disciple, who were followed by a small group of new recruits.

Their talents and perfomance at the selection test garnered them a group of minions, who eagerly fawned upon them, hoping to get some benefits by following them. Afterall, who doesn't admire stronger ones?.

Wan Huang didn't have the patience to watch the play, so she left for her room. Wan Fang and Ren Weilin followed behind her.

In the tidied up room, after they settled everything, three of them introduced each other since they were going to be friends and roommates for long.

Wan Huang had hid her identity and altered her face, to enter the Sect using her previous name Li Huang. She introduced herself as an orphan, from a commoner background from  a random place in Beicheng province.

Wan Fang introduced herself as, just a daughter of Wan family in Chang'an.

Ren Weilin came from the Ren family in Nancheng province. Although not a member of the higher echelon cultivation families in Huanyuan, they were fairly well known and had produced many outstanding talents in previous years.

Ren Weilin has an elder sister who is also a Celestial Jade Sect disciple.

Three of their talks lasted till dinner time. Finishing dinner together, they retired to bed, to wake up energized next morning, and begin their new day in the sect.