The jade wind sects mountain stood tall and sturdy with it's peak piercing the jade-green cloud dragon above it, if someone looked far from the distance lands it would seem as though the mountain itself was challenging the heavens.
Light begun to appear little by little on the lands. some lakes could be seen reflecting the yellow ball of light. It was dawn, the mountain's huge shadow swayed as the light enveloped the land. Before long all the creatures on earth begun moving about their businesses.
At the top of the mountain stood a tall shrine which was leaning left with it's lower half buried deep into the ground. The shrine looked abandoned. but multiple people could be seen coming out of the shrine one by one. each one wearing jade-green robe with plate on their chest. The plate had "Jade wind sect" written on it. It was the youngsters who the jade wind sect had taken in as disciples.
"These clothes are something else, how did they even prepare clothes that could fit us so perfectly, ahah" one of the youngsters who was a girl lightly said. As she looked up and down at herself. her eyes were full of light and anticipation.
"Jade wind sect is rich how could lowly mortals like us truly know their foundations" Hao Jun who stood in front turned back his head and quickly spoke. He stood upright and was in the front of the other youths as though he was the leader
All the other youths looked at each other before cupping their fists.
"Right, we should just be grateful they took us in, we dare not ask unnecessary stuff"
Hao Jun looked at them whilst having a smile on his face.
The youngsters all stood in front of the shrine waiting for the elders, they all got up early and had put on the clothes that were prepared for them. in order to leave a good impression on the elders. In the youngsters minds the elders were powerful martial masters and they deserved upmost respect they were not mortals who could be offended, they were also newly recruited disciples they had to be in their best behaviors. they were all young but not stupid enough to neglect their lives.
They all stood in front of the shrine quietly waiting.
"This is it, today I'm a new born, I will leave behind my life in the village, father mother i will walk the path of martial masters. I will not disappoint you" Hao Jun thought to himself as he clinched both his fists. his eyes were shining and full of hope.
"I have lived a sad life, i had no mother nor father, i was trembled on and treated worse than a dog, but today I will become a martial master, I will be one of those legendary heroes" one of the youngsters who was a former slave had his eyes closed and internally thought to himself.
"Climbing the mountain was truly hard and one mistake meant surrendering our lives but in this world nobody is promised a smooth life, one day life is good the other day you might fell of with your friends families, life is truly full of unexpected things but I will continue living" another young man thought to himself, his face clean and full of hope for the future.
"That's.... the youths eyes widened and swallowed their saliva in fear as they saw two figures approaching them
"We greet the elders"
All the youths quickly kowtowed towards the figures. both wore jade-green robes. But both had distinguishable looks. One looked aged but he was tall and well built despite looking aged, his muscular body was not hidden away behind his clothes, the other figure was also tall but was not muscular nor was aged. It was a woman, she was no beauty but her eyes calm and deep as the ocean floor was something that people who met her wouldn't easily forget. naturally it was elder feng ming and feng jing.
"Hahaha, good good, I knew the disciples we had taken wouldn't disappoint me, now get up and follow me, I will explain everything as we continue walking" elder feng ming's voice was calm yet powerful, the youths looked at him with a reverence gaze.
"Yes, elder feng ming," all the youngsters quickly got up and followed elder feng ming, feng jing only stood and spectating from the sidelines, and not saying anything but it was obvious to the kids she wasn't someone in lesser position than him.
"Today all of you will go through the martial masters ritual, this is the starting point for all martial masters"
"When going through the ritual one's mind must be calm, every grudge you may have, every regret you may have leave it behind now, one mistake during the ritual means death"
"There's no room for us elders to interfere, whether you succeed or fail depends on you"
As the youngsters heard elder feng ming's warnings, some swallowed their saliva in fear. their hearts pounding hard as if it wanted to escape from their chest.
"Sighed, I knew the martial path was filled with dangers but..." all the youths had the same thoughts.
"This is just like climbing the mountain, it's life and death situation"
"I have already risked my life one time and succeeded, what's one more time?"
"Obviously martial masters are beings far beyond mortals and if one wants to walk such a path it wouldn't be so easy"
The youths immediately remembered climbing the dangerous mountain, and that life isn't so easy where they would be spoon fed...
Feng Jing had given the ordinary youths a choice while the slaves weren't given a choice, out of all the youths who had traveled from far away lands and gathered to join jade wind sect only two chose to climb the mountain while the others coward in fear and left little by little. the slaves weren't shown any mercy on the other hand, and as they climbed the massive mountain only five of them survived three who were slaves and the other two ordinary youths and they were all accepted into the sect. the rest of the slaves had perished.
"I believe the world rewards the working people, thank you elders it was always my dream to become a martial master and I will not back down" Hao Jun yelled internally.
The other youths spirits were also uplifted. After remembering how they overcame the life and death situation in that massive mountain.
"We're here" feng jing's calm voice ran out waking the youths from their deep thoughts into reality.
All the youths were amazed and looked at the building in front of them in awe. In front of them lay a massive wooden door, the door had corroded and had moss growing out of it, small creatures could be seen running around on the moss, it seemed as though the door hadn't been opened in centuries.
"Stay back" Elder feng ming instructed the youths to back off. as he spread out both hands. landing his palms on the door and pushing it open, the door shook. making creaking sounds. Before long, the door opened by itself.
All youths immediately looked inside, but it was so dark nothing inside could be seen,
"This is martial hall of our jade wind sect, it was specifically built for new disciples to go through their martial masters ritual,"
"Let's go in"
The youths followed behind elder feng ming, calmly entering one by one in an orderly manner. upon entering it wasn't as dark as it appeared. inside. the hall was empty and resembled a cave, a sweet fragrance filled the air calming the minds, it was also very quiet, a single raindrop would be heard by everyone present in the hall.