Rise of The Demon General

"Everyone, thank you for waiting!" The middle-aged woman on the floating stage uttered. Her voice was loud and clear to everyone in the room.

"I am Li Niang, the principal of this royal academy. All of you that come here to attend the entrance exam are chosen by each of your clans. Now, there are ten thousand candidates that had been invited to join this entrance exam, but only one thousand will be accepted. In other words, nine out of ten amongst you will have to go home with disappointment."

The crowd murmured after hearing. They knew because there was an exam, there was bound to be a screening and some candidates would be rejected. But still, to have only ten percent was rather harsh in their opinion.

Although most of the candidates were unsettled by this news, the guardians that followed them here were not surprised, because it was the same procedure every five years. Most of them didn't tell their charges because they didn't want to discourage the youths before the exam.

Of course, some candidates in the crowd were confident of their own ability, so hearing this news didn't make any difference. Amon was one of them. Even if the principal said that only one person would be accepted, Amon would still consider him to have a decent chance.

"There will be three exams!" Li Niang announced. "Scores will be given in each of these exams. The first exam will have a maximum of 1,000 scores. The second and third exams will each have a maximum of 2,000 scores. Your combined total scores will determine if you pass. By the end of these exams, the names of the one thousand highest combined scores will be displayed on the back wall of this hall. Those whose names are not on the wall can pack their things and go home."

Everyone looked at the mentioned back wall. There was a row of very tall stone steles. The row started from the very left of the wall and covered more than half of the wall. On the steles were a series of carved words. These words were the names of the past candidates who had passed the exam and became students of the royal academy. From the number of the steles, Amon saw that this tradition had gone on for centuries.

"The three exams will each covers a different specialization," Li Niang continued. "Don't worry, by specialization we don't mean your expertise like pill-making, engraving, and such. The specialization we mean here is your inner talents. The first one will measure your cultivation, the second one is your battle capability, and the third one will test the strength of your mind. These three points are the foundations of a cultivator. They would be what differentiates a common talent and a special one. Now, we will begin the first exam immediately!"

The Taoist elder who came into this hall with Zhuan San took over from there. "Greetings, precious candidates! My name is Lao Zen, the head tutor in this academy. I will be in charge of the exams. First, we will check each of your cultivations. Of course, all of you have reported your cultivation levels, but you can't expect us to just accept your words for it, can you? Well, to put it simply. Yes, we don't trust you."

Amon smiled, while most others were scowling at Lao Zen's candor.

Lao Zen didn't appear bothered by the masses' reactions. He waved his hands and ten large orbs appeared. He then floated down to the ground with the orbs. The officials down there had ushered the people to free up a space at the center. Lao Zen landed there with the ten orbs circling him.

"Now, everyone please line up following our officials' instructions," Lao Zen uttered. While the officials worked on organizing the mass, he continued his explanation.

"These orbs will detect your cultivation to the detail of how far you are within your stage. Aside from that, these orbs also detect your age. The scores given will be depending on the comparison between your cultivation level and your age. The best score will be those who have the highest cultivation but the youngest age. Also, if you are out of our age restriction, you will be immediately disqualified. We will accept no argument. As you must have aware, the age restriction to enter this academy is fifteen to nineteen years. If you are older than nineteen years, even only by one day, you are out. The same goes if you are too young. Am I clear?"

There was no response.

"All right, then we can begin," Lao Zen said. "Present your academy invitation badge for the official to record and then place your hand on these orbs. We will test ten candidates at the same time so that we can finish this first exam by today."

The first ten candidates followed the instruction. After the officials recorded their names, they approached the orbs and touched them. The orbs glowed in response. The officials who watched the glow read the measurement while recording the data.

"An Woli. Age fifteen, 12% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Win Lurui. Age seventeen, 35% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Sui Win. Age nineteen, 3% within the Peak Strength stage of the Human realm."

The readings continued. The officials only read the measurement without announcing the score everyone gained. Things proceeded slowly but were organized. With the officials keeping everyone in line, everything was going smoothly.

The time when a commotion happened was when a candidate was caught being outside the age restriction. He was identified by the orb as being twenty years of age. He first tried to deny the reading, saying that something must be wrong with the orb. He demanded to be read by a different orb, but Lao Zen would have none of it. He then tried to explain with strange excuses how his body matured differently from other children. Lao Zen lost his patience and had him thrown out without ceremony.

As the readings continued, Amon saw two other familiar faces, Yang Li and Xin Wuming. Amon grinned upon seeing the two. The seeds he had planted in them might not be wasted after all.

"Yang Li. Age seventeen, 76% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Xin Wuming. Age seventeen, 8% within the Peak Strength stage of the Human realm."

'Not bad,' Amon thought. Although their cultivation in comparison to their age could not be said to be utterly impressive, it should put them above average. If the two performed well in the other two exams, they should have no problem being amongst the top one thousand.

Amon was mostly impressed by Yang Li. Her cultivation was the lowest amongst the finalists in the White Cloud Tournament. Her improvement was rather fast to be able to reach her current level. Most likely due to the cultivation art that Amon had given her.

Xin Wuming was also not bad. He must have made a good impression within his clan after the tournament. The clan must have aided him enough to help him break through to the Peak Strength stage.

Others that Amon knew also went up before Amon.

"Lin Fen. Age seventeen, 88% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Lin Anwen. Age seventeen, 39% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Wu Yang. Age fifteen, 34% within the Intermediate Strength stage of the Human realm."

"Zhuan San. Age sixteen, 57% within the Peak Strength stage of the Human realm."

When Zhuan San's cultivation was announced, many turned their heads. It was the lowest age for a Peak Strength stage till now.

However, not long after, they heard something that made almost everyone gasp.

"Wong Cou. Age nineteen, 2% within the Beginning Transformation stage of the Human Realm."

Although he was amongst the oldest candidates in the exam, to enter the Transformation stage below the age of twenty was a feat only ever achieved by a few. That was even mostly happening within the royal families where resources were spent luxuriously. Normally, someone with such an accomplishment would be kept close at heart by the clans or sects. They wouldn't have sent such a talent to the royal academy where there was a high chance of being snatched by the royal family.

Everybody was wondering who was this Wong Cou and where did he come from? Why was his clan willing to let him join the royal academy?

While the murmur became heated due to Wong Cou, another commotion happened not long after when an official announced another reading from the orb.

"Yan Long. Age fifteen, 9% within the Peak Strength stage of the Human realm."

While Wong Cou's achievement was great. Reaching the Peak Strength stage at age of fifteen was also not any less wondrous. This was because such a youth would have great potential. With five years to cultivate, accomplishing the same feat as Wong Cou was not out of the question. All he needed was proper nourishment.

Unlike Wong Cou, most everyone knew where Yan Long came from. He was from the Yan clan, one of the top clans in Qishurg city. Not only was he going to be a top student in the royal academy due to his cultivation, but this city was also his turf. Every candidate in the hall made a mental note to not step on his tail if they passed these exams and entered the academy. Otherwise, they won't have a good day during their time here.

While everyone was still talking among themselves about Yan Long, Amon stepped before one of the orbs and placed his hand.

"Lin Mo. Age fifteen, 27% within the Peak Strength stage of Human realm."