1917 Annual Test

"Junior Dawnblade, do you have some time to visit a senior of mine?" Zan Dashi asked. "I told them about how you saved my garden and they had requested for your help."

Alex had been in the middle of checking the poison plants when the man spoke. He turned around toward the man.

"If they are your senior, then they must be quite high-ranking," Alex said. "I'm not sure I can refuse even if I wanted to."

"That's not true at all. You can always refuse. No one can do anything to you if you refuse," Zan Dashi said.

"True, but I wouldn't want to disrespect a senior by refusing him without even meeting him," Alex said.

"Her, and trust me, she won't feel disrespected. If you want to refuse, I can tell he—"

"No, I'll go, brother Zan," Alex said. "But not today. Today I have been called to the Disciple hall for a test."

"A test?" Zan Dashi asked. "What sort?"

"I joined the sect exactly a year ago, so they tested me today apparently. I was notified last week of it," Alex said. "I'm told they just make me eat some poison."

"Oh, your first annual test. Yes, they just feed you some poison to see if you have learned your physique or not," Zan Dashi said. "Wait, didn't you survive the Poison Assembly? You were the first one called if I remember correctly."

"I was," Alex said. "This should be nothing more than some formality. I can meet you on the way back. Which senior's house should I visit?"

"Her name is Liao Xumei, ranked 32. Meet me there in 3 hours," Zan Dashi said.

Alex nodded. It appeared he was moving up the ladder in terms of who he was working for.

Alex left the house a while later to go to the Disciple Hall where Zhi Naibao waited for him. As his handler when he first joined, she had to be there while he was tested.

Alex greeted the woman. He hadn't seen her after she had brought him his Nameplate during the first week. Alex hadn't needed anything from her, and she hadn't contacted him either.

The woman gave a small nod in acknowledgment of the greeting and said nothing else. She didn't try to put up any sort of conversation at all.

Alex didn't blame her.

Her emotions were most likely severely dampened by now, making her completely unable to feel any sort of joy or anger.

During this past year, he had come to understand the nature of the Poison Fighting Physique, and subsequently the Poison Fighters sect. The physique stripped away one's emotion proportionally to how better the physique had gotten at fighting poison.

Because of that, most of the people in the sect were cold and emotionless. Alex sometimes wondered if these people would still join the sect had they been made aware of this.

After all, they hadn't told Alex that the physique took away emotions. It was a good thing he hadn't learned the physique.

He was brought in front of a group of Elders who were in charge of handling his annual testing.

"Young Dawnblade, how are you doing? How has your life been in the sect?" the Elder at the front asked.

Alex didn't recognize the elder at all. He was a tall man with short hair but a long beard. He had seen the other Elders around him, but this was the first time meeting this Elder.

"I'm doing splendidly, elder. My life has been smooth since joining the sect," Alex said.

"Good. And have you been training the physique diligently? Any troubles there?" the Elder asked.

"None so far," Alex said. "My training with the physique has been very smooth."

"Then you won't mind us testing you," the Elder said.

Alex shook his head. "Test away, Elder."

One of the Elders at the back brought out a small vial and gave it to Alex. "Drink this."

Alex took the poison and looked at it. He saw a dark brown liquid on the inside, one which he did not recognize at all. He opened the cork at the top and smelled the poison as well.

An acrid and yet sweet-smelling odor released from the bottle, one that immediately assaulted his nose with some pain.

"Drink it," the Elder at the front said.

Alex nodded and downed the poison in one gulp. The poison left behind a sweet and sour aftertaste, with a flowery odor of sorts that only came out after a while.

It burned his throat on the way down and hurt him as he did his best to not destroy the poison immediately.

Alex grunted in pain for a moment, doing what he had seen many other people do during the Poison Assembly. He took a moment to show that the poison did somewhat affect him before letting his body do its thing.

Immediately, the poison was destroyed and all pain or symptoms of the poison in action disappeared from his body just as soon. Alex looked up at the Elders and took a deep breath. "I am done, Elder."

The Elder at the front used his Spiritual sense to see through Alex and nodded. The poison had indeed beenentirelydestroyed.

"Good job," he said before looking into something. "I see here that you have earned 255 Contribution points within the last year. You have easily passed the required 200 contribution points per year."

"Good work, disciple Dawnblade. You have managed to remain in the sect."

"You are kind, Elder."

Alex was ready to leave now that his test had been completed, but to his surprise, the elder had some more questions to ask him.

They were simple questions like where he had comefrom,if he had friends or family outside that he wanted to recommend they invite to the sect, or if there was someplace he wanted to visit in the upcoming years.

Alex answered truthfully. They all knew where he had come from, so he answered it once again. He told them that he had no friends or families, so there was no one he wanted to recommend to the sect.

And finally, he told them that he indeed wanted to visit the continent when he had the time. More urgently, he wanted to visit the city.

The Elders told him he could do so as long as he reached the Inner Sect ranking. Disciples of the Inner Sect couldin factrequest to leave the sect for some time, should their request be something valid.

Not to mention, they could also complete missions that took place outside of the sect.

Alex was more than looking forward to this and thanked the Elders once again.

"Get your yearly stipend while you leave," the Elder said and let him go.

Alex bowed and left the room, making his way to the queue where he waited in line for a while to get his yearly stipend. Then he went to the Poison Hall where he got the poison part of the stipend.

Once he got those, he left the valley, making his way to the 32nd-ranking disciple's house; the one that belonged to the female disciple named Liao Xumei.