Even after all this time, the Exalted Cat could find ways to surprise Harry. What level of cultivation was needed to vanish in a single step?
Now that he thought about it, there was still so much he didn't know about either the cat or Slughorn. Whether it was their background, or cultivation, or abilities, he knew next to nothing. He didn't even know the cat's real name.
'I'm alone now,' he sighed.
For the first time in his life, he was truly alone. Not just that, he was also empty-handed. He lost his sword, and would need to get a replacement weapon immediately. He had some Beast Cores, but they were useless. He also had two Body Nourishing Pills left, but they were also useless, since he only had two. He wished he had another 40.
The Nameless Rock was also his, but the Exalted Cat took it away.
'Boy, you cannot even lift this odd rock, much less carry it around. It's best that I hold on to it.'
To that, Harry had no complaints. The rock was astonishingly heavy. Even with his new strength at the high-level of the Body Tempering Realm, he couldn't move it at all. He may as well have tried to move a mountain. The only way to move it around was to store it in a Space Ring.
At the end of his inventory check, his thoughts landed upon his necklace. He fished it out his shirt.
No matter how many times he saw it, it appeared to be an ordinary necklace. A loop of string, with a red metal bird hanging off. Only a few people knew the necklace was a precious life-saving treasure.
Knowing he had it was a huge assurance, but Harry didn't know if it could still be used. He asked the Exalted Cat and Slughorn about it, who explained its functionality in greater detail.
Originally, it was designed to teleport the wearer to the vicinity of Slughorn's location. It should have sent him to within just a few meters of Slughorn. But over time, the enchantments degraded. That was why when the necklace activated, Harry was teleported to the middle of a clearing, many kilometers away from Slughorn. If he were to use it again, there was really no guarantee as to how close he'd end up.
Furthermore, each time the necklace was used, the enchantments would degrade further. Since the necklace was so old, it was possible that the last activation already consumed the remainder of its power. He couldn't rely on it to save himself from a life or death situation.
But if the necklace did activate, it would alert both Slughorn and the Exalted Cat. Slughorn was in hiding, which was why the cat found him. So, if it really came down to it, all Harry had to do was sit still and wait for the cat to show up.
These thoughts went through his mind as he walked his way down the road. As he got closer to the Swan Sea Sect, the road became more and more crowded. He saw plenty of other cultivators around his age, walking in groups towards the entrance of the sect. He blended into the crowd, and tried to listen in on their conversations.
"Hey, why do you think this recruitment event was announced so suddenly? In the past, the news was spread months in advance, but this time, we had less than a weeks' notice."
"I don't know, but who cares about that? What's more important is what the entrance exam will be this time."
"Right, right. Our Sect Elders told us there will be over a thousand participants, despite the late notice. The competition this year will be really fierce."
"Hey, guess what I just heard?"
"What?"
"I heard the Young Master of the Ivory Fist Clan is participating!"
"So what? Everyone already knew that."
"Yeah, but this is confirmation! And further, someone told me the Young Master of the Hopkins Clan was also here! Maybe we'll have the chance to see the two of them in action again!"
"Ah, since those two are here, they'll get the top spots for sure."
As Harry listened in, he realized that the Exalted Cat was completely correct. His worldly experience was far too lacking.
Just a few hours ago, he thought he was accomplished for reaching the high-level of the Body Tempering Realm. In the back of his mind, he was actually thinking of himself as a cultivation genius. But now, after sensing the cultivations of everyone around, he had a great scare. Nearly everyone here was at the 7th, 8th, or in some cases, even the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. Not only that, they achieved it well earlier than him. He hastily reevaluated himself.
'And this is just one of the 20 Tier 2 Sects of the Empire,' he bitterly thought.
Though in terms of fighting ability, the Exalted Cat assured him he was above even those at the 9th level. At least he had that going for him.
He listened to a few more conversations, picking up some interesting tidbits of information along the way. But a couple minutes later, all noise was interrupted by a loud stomping sound, coming from the rear. Along with everyone else, Harry turned to look at the commotion. Everyone fell silent, making the sound even louder.
The crowd of cultivators parted in two, and everyone made way for a carriage to roll down the street. It was being pulled by two massive Magic Beasts, who towered over their surroundings. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they filled up nearly half of the road, forcing everyone else to squeeze together. The beasts had six bulky legs, along with a long, thick horn growing out their snouts. As they passed by, Harry noticed their grey skin was actually metallic, as if they grew a natural set of armor.
More shockingly, these Magic Beasts were actually in the Qi Absorption Realm! And judging from their size, they were probably at the high-level. Harry didn't even reach the height of one of their legs. Even if he activated Strengthening Flesh, they could squash him to death just by stepping on him.
Behind the two beasts was a large white carriage. The material it was made of resembled bone, but obviously wasn't. The image of a curved tusk crossed with a fist was painted on the side. As it passed no one dared to speak, instead standing respectfully to the side. It was only until the carriage passed when people relaxed, and began walking normally again.
"Who was in that carriage?" Harry asked the person next to him.
The person just looked like him like he was an idiot.
"You don't recognize the symbol of the Ivory Fist Clan?"
"Ivory Fist Clan?"
"You don't even know the Ivory Fist Clan? Do you live under a rock?"
"I'm a rogue cultivator, and I'm not originally from here. To be honest, I don't know anyone here," Harry admitted.
"Ah, so you are from afar. Well, in the vicinity of the Swan Sea, of course the strongest power is the Swan Sea Sect. But there are hundreds of smaller clans and sects, too. Among those, the Ivory Fist Clan is the strongest group. All their disciples practice body cultivation, and are very powerful. They always send many disciples to the Swan Sea Sect. In fact, many of the strongest disciples in the Swan Sea Sect are from the Ivory Fist Clan."
Body cultivation referred to the cultivation techniques that strengthened the physical body. For example, this first part of the Nameless Technique was a prime example of a body cultivation technique. And when hearing about how the Ivory Fist Clan was a clan of body cultivators, Harry grew interested.
"Body cultivators? That's quite rare," Harry remarked.
Body cultivation techniques were common at the Body Tempering Realm, but not so popular afterwards. It was rare to find body cultivators beyond the Body Tempering Realm, and rare for an entire clan to focus on body cultivation.
"Right, though the Swan Sea Sect is number 1, the Ivory Fist Clan is definitely number 2. I mean, just look at those two Iron Plated Rhinoceroses that were pulling their carriage. Just think about how much strength they have, and how much strength must be needed to tame those beasts! I heard that the Clan's Patriarch personally went on the expedition to subdue a herd of those fierce beasts."
"And not just that, this time around, the Ivory Fist Clan has birthed a super genius!" the man continued excitedly. "His name is Maynard Hatton, and he reached the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm a few months ago. They say that he is already very close to entering the Qi Absorption Realm! And besides Maynard, there are another two dozen or so clan members at the 8th or 9th level."
"Impressive," Harry admitted. He had no choice but to feel impressed. The foundations of these large clans were beyond his imagination.
"Who are the other strong cultivators here?" Harry asked out of curiosity.
"Well, if Maynard Hatton is first place, second would have to be Wayne Hopkins. Their two names have already spread far and wide around the Swan Sea City. He is Young Master of the Hopkins Clan, another one of the local powers. He's also at the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm, and reached it just a step after Maynard did."
"Further, the two of them recently had a public duel to decide who was the strongest of the Body Tempering Realm, which ended in a tie. But as for who is actually stronger, no one knows, because neither of them used their full strength, nor any cultivation techniques. They were just testing each other out."
'This guy can really talk,' Harry thought. He was just asking out of curiosity, and didn't expect that this person was actually a chatterbox. And then in a single breath, the man listed another six people who had also reached the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm, along with their backgrounds and relative strength.
"Fellow cultivator, may I offer some advice? I noticed that you're at the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm, so I guess you are here for the registration event. Don't take my words the wrong way, but you might want to think twice about attempting. It has always been 8th level and higher cultivators who make it, and especially this year, the contestants are stronger than usual."
Harry just smiled, not bothering to explain. The person in front of him had good intentions, so he wasn't offended.
"Thanks for your concern, but there's no harm in trying. At worse, I'll just be rejected."
"Alright then," the man shrugged, clearly disinclined to manage Harry's affairs. He walked off to find his friends, leaving Harry alone.
Following the crowd, it wasn't long until he reached the entrance of the Swan Sea Sect. A stone wall, twice Harry's height and stretching left and right as far as he could see, marked the edge of the sect. A tightly shut gate was built into the wall, on top of which hung a wooden sign. The name of the sect was proudly and beautifully inscribed, along with a picture of a soaring white and blue swan.
In front of the gate was a massive open area, where everyone was gathered. Over a thousand people were standing in the square, while thousands more spectators stood on the outskirts, here to watch the examination.
And in front of the gate was a large stage which appeared to be recently constructed. A long table was placed on top of the stage, with 10 chairs behind the table. Both the chairs and stage were empty.
As Harry looked around, he felt extremely out of place. He noticed with a shock that there were nearly 1500 participating cultivators, all who were at the high-level of the Body Tempering Realm. If these people went to Crystal Mine City, the inhabitants would be scared to death. It would be like seeing thousands of Vernon Dursleys!
Actually, it was more shocking than that. Everyone here was of the younger generation, while Vernon Dursley was a fully-grown man. Just from this, the disparity between here and Crystal Mine City could be seen. Furthermore, these cultivators weren't just at the 7th level. Perhaps only half of them were at the 7th level, while a third were at the 8th level. Amazingly, around a sixth of the 1500 participants were at the 9th level!
Harry's eyes swept through the crowd, and landed near the front. There were two groups of cultivators there, while everyone else stood some distance behind them.
At the front of one group was a tall man with a shaved head, who towered a head over everyone else. He made no effort to hide his cultivation, which was clearly at the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. His body was brimming with muscles, and he wore a sleeveless shirt with the image of a tusk on it. Harry recognized it from earlier, it was on the carriage pulled by the two metallic beasts.
As for the two beasts and the carriage, they were parked off to the side, in the spectator area. Nobody dared to get too close.
'The bald man must be Maynard Hatton,' he thought to himself. 'He looks quite strong, physically, at least.'
Around Maynard stood 20 of his companions, who were also wearing robes of the Ivory Fist Clan. From afar, they resembled a group of bodybuilders. Each of them was at the 8th or 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm, and haughtily stared at the rest of the cultivators with looks of disdain. From their attitude, it was clear they thought they were guaranteed a spot.
Near the front, but away from the Ivory Fist Clan, stood another group of cultivators, who stared at the Ivory Fist Clan members with some hostility. They were led by a man with long brown hair that stretched to the middle of his back. His clothes resembled those of a scholar. Compared to the arrogant Maynard, he seemed more reserved and low-key, but his position at the front gave him away as a powerful cultivator. Unlike his companions, he didn't even glance at the Ivory Fist Clan, instead choosing to look towards the sect. Harry guessed he was Wayne Hopkins, and his companions were from the Hopkins Clan.
As Harry looked around, he noticed that plenty of people were looking back at him, with odd and mocking gazes.
'Did I do something?' Harry wondered. Sure, his cultivation was on the lower end, but half the people here were at the 7th level. It wasn't as if he was unique –
'Ah, it's my robes,' he finally noticed where they were staring. Even after all this time, he was still wearing his robes from the orphanage, which were tattered to begin with, and after months of fighting in the forest, were now riddled with holes and cuts. Even worse, after the fight against the Scarlet Flame Wolf, his worn-out robes deteriorated even further. Scorch marks were all over his clothing, and large sections of it were burnt straight through.
Everyone else was wearing fresh clothing, while he looked like he crawled out of a fire. Compared to the other participants, he probably resembled a beggar.
'After I enter the sect, I need to get some new robes,' he vowed.
He was saved from all the curious gazes by the opening of the gates. The larges doors were opening outwards, and as they did, the chatting and noise died down. Everyone attentively turned to sect, where a group of people were exiting.
There were 11 of them. One of them, a middle-aged man dressed in an expensive looking blue robe, led the way. The other 10 people, who looked only a few years older than Harry, walked out behind him. Together, the 10 of them were pulling a large cart, which held 10 white pillars. Each pillar was made of stone, and about the size of an adult man. Hundreds of carved symbols were inscribed on each one.
The 10 cultivators, who had to be disciples of the Swan Sea Sect, each grabbed one of the heavy stone pillars and effortlessly lifted them up. They carried them up the stairs and dropped them onto the stage, in front of the long table. Afterwards, they each picked a seat and sat down.
The older man walked up the steps to the stage, and turned to face the audience.
"Welcome, to the Swan Sea Sect's Outer Disciple Recruitment Event. I am Elder Eustace, of the Swan Sea Sect. Behind me are 10 Inner Disciples of the sect. We will be presiding over the examination."
"The basic requirements to enter the sect have not changed. You must be no older than 18, and be at least at the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm. In a moment, you all will form 10 orderly lines, and come up to the platform. The 10 disciples behind me will record your name and your Magic Spirit."
"There is no requirement on your Magic Spirit, but naturally, the higher the rank, the better. There is a formation placed in front of each examiner. When you stand on it, it will display your age, your cultivation level, and once you condense your Magic Spirit, it will also display its rank. There is no way to fool the formation, so don't even think about cheating."
"In the past, there has always been multiple rounds of selection exams, which usually involves sparring between disciples. But this year, due to special circumstances, we have made the examination both simpler and shorter."
"To put it simply, it is an objective test of strength. Walk up to one of the Strength Pillars, they are those big white rocks. There are formations on them to record how much force was exerted on the pillar. All you need to do is hit the pillar as hard as you can. You can use your body, or you can use a weapon, as long as it is Ordinary Grade. You are free to use whatever cultivation technique you like. You will have three tries to hit the pillar, and your highest score will be recorded."
Many people in the crowd nodded. A test of strength was simple and fair, and so were the rules. If someone used an Earth Grade weapon to display strength far higher than he had, this examination would become a competition of wealth and resources. Limiting to Ordinary Grade was reasonable.
"To pass, you must achieve a score of 160 kilograms or higher. If you do so, you will become an Outer Disciple of the Swan Sea Sect."