Chase and Adam looked at each other for a moment after hearing John's words, before they looked back at John.
"Haha, surely they won't just test combat strength...right?" Adam asked while laughing, but his laughter was clearly nervous laughter.
His combat strength was incredibly poor, and the only thing that bridged the gap for him were his formation disks that he could employ during combat. However, he had been studying and creating non-combat formation disks recently, and so his combat strength was most likely the lowest out of everyone here.
Chase on the other hand already had a cultivation at the early Meridian Forging Realm, which was the highest other than John. Despite the fact that he was a Pill Dao expert, his upbringing in the Bloodfiend Sect had honed his combat prowess as well, making him one of the strongest youths in the group of disciples.
"No, it will just be combat strength," John replied with assurity. "Our branch sect already tested us during last years entrance exam for things such as talent, soul strength, and willpower. I'm sure the other branch sects did something similar, and so those with weak souls and willpowers have already been weeded out before they even got here. As such, the main sect probably will only test combat prowess, as that is the main thing the sect focuses on.
Besides...like I already said, the documents my master gave us on the airship already detailed that each year tests some form of combat prowess, even if its not direct one on one fights."
Adam frowned upon hearing this, but his frown quickly disappeared as he patted John on the back in a brotherly manner.
"Well it's a good thing we're a team then, huh? With our combined strength, there's no way we'll lose to any combat test they have."
John rolled his eyes at Adam's antics, as he was clearly using John as a shield, but didn't say anything. He already knew Adam's combat prowess was incredibly weak, and as such didn't expect much from him in a fight.
It was Adam's formation talents that he respected, and knew would come in handy in the future.
The group of disciples continued to walk behind the other branch sect groups deeper into the valley. The valley was nestled between two mountains, and had lush and thick forests on either side. A river flowed through the middle of the valley, which they walked next to. Eventually, they came to another clearing in the valley, in which dozens of tables were seen set up.
Behind each table sat an Elder, with various items scattered about the tables. Elder Yelore stopped when he reached the tabled area, and turned around to address the crowd of branch disciples.
"Form even lines between each table. You will receive an identification badge, which you will use for both this test and when you are in the sect itself. Line up now."
Upon hearing his instructions, all the disciples quickly formed into many even lines, and the lines quickly began to move as each disciple was set up with an identification badge.
John fell into line somewhere in the middle, and after some time eventually made his way up to the front. His eyes fell upon the one behind the desk, who appeared to be a male youth a few years older than himself.
The youth had a cultivation in the early Heaven Tribulation Realm, which caused John to raise an eyebrow slightly.
'A youth who is only a few years older than me and is already in the Heaven Tribulation Realm is being relegated to administrative duties? Is the talent level truly so high in this sect?'
If this youth, who appeared to be around twenty, was in the branch sect on the Yuan Continent, they would be the most talented young Elder in the sect by far. While he couldn't be one hundred percent certain of his age, John was mostly certain that the man before him was still quite young, which gave a glimpse into the talent of the sect.
Unlike the branch sect on the Yuan Continent, which only focused on one discipleship class each year, the main Heavenly Lightning Sect had multiple classes, namely first years, second years, and third years.
The boy before him was most likely a third year disciple.
'I highly doubt they would have their most talented disciples do something like this, so this at least gives me a minimum floor of the talent level I'll encounter in the sect.'
"Name," the youth behind the desk called out as John stood before him.
"John Fenix," John replied quickly.
"Branch sect?"
"Uhhh, the Yuan Continent branch," John replied quickly once again.
The youth looked up at John and inspected him for a moment, before a slight look of surprise appeared on his face.
"Middle Meridian Forging? Seems like you'll at least bring some honor to our branch this year," the youth stated.
John raised his eyebrows at the youths' words, as they implied he was from the same branch.
"You also came from the Yuan Continent branch?" John asked.
"I did," the youth replied with a sigh. It seemed as though he was about to start telling a story, but he quickly remembered his duties for today and got back to them.
A flat object about three inches across, a six sided hexagon with a lightning bolt carved into the center appeared in his hands. The boy's Qi flared up for a moment as he engraved John's information in the object, before he handed the object to John.
"This is your identification badge. It will be used for both this test and for other purposes down the road, so be sure not to lose it."
The boy seemed to emphasize the last part of his sentence, giving deeper meaning to his words. John thought on his words for a moment before he thanked the youth and stepped aside, allowing the other disciples to get their badges.
The registration process continued for some time to register all the youths, which numbered around four thousand in total. After an hour of registering, all the disciples had received their identification badges, at which point Elder Yelore stepped forward once again and addressed the crowd of youths.
"With everyone registered, I will now explain the rules for this year's exam."
