The Urban Dao Child.

Yang Dao returned to Cloud palace after the meeting and he began to immerse himself in practice. The sect had announced that they will be holding an assessment within a month. The boy did not want to look weak in front of the other prime disciples. Thus he decided to advance his level of cultivation. 

He sat inside the cultivation room and began to condense the spirit essences inside his dantian. He did not stop for even food. If he felt hungry, he will use one drop to sate his hunger. Yang Dao understood that food was a supplement to provide energy to the body. So he used the spirit energy as a source of energy and one drop of spirit essence inside his body would be able to empower his body twice over. 

This routine was not to be disturbed by anyone until the assessment. Alisha was in seclusion and the Sect Master had assigned two deacons to guard the cultivation room for Yang Dao. 

The Dao Child was not the only one making preparations. There were a lot of people who wanted to set an example, win a face for themselves, and make their family name shine. 

Amil was one of these people. He would spend most of his time inside the small dimension in the war master hall. Shakti practiced by comprehending more and more weapon styles and integrating them all into her expertise. She also touched the surface of weapon intent. While doing this, she will teach Yue Jing too. 

Yue Jing used to visit Shakti daily and they will practice inside the latter's house. One day, Athena also followed her over and Shakti gained another student. Athena wanted to ask Yang Dao to teach her but the boy was in seclusion. 

Yue Ming was also serious about this exam. The more face he gained the more he would be praised by his father and then he could ask his old man to propose marriage to Athena. 

The whole sect was bustling with young spirits trying to excel their limits and get stronger. The environment was not something the elders expected from the changes they had announced later. They all praised Yang Dao in their hearts. Because if the people worked this hard, they will definitely make a name for themselves. 

Their name will make the sect gain reputation. Yang Dao did not care about anything, at this moment he was sitting crossed leg. Inside his body, the reserves of the spirit essence were increasing slowly. His dantian was like a sea of stars at the moment. Brimming with twinkling lights. 

He was very close to the second realm of the spirit formation realm. He did not intend to stop and kept on cultivating. The wonder of spirit energy was so miraculous that as a cultivator kept on filling the dantian to the brim, the spirit energy kept on expanding the space inside the dantian. 

...

Time passed quickly and it was already the eve before the assessment would begin, a lot of people had come out of the seclusion and they were trying to relax before the exam. They all gained a lot from this subtle feeling of competition in their minds. This drive to stand above everyone in the ranks had made them excel. 

However, they knew that this time the assessment will not be based on their cultivation talent or battle prowess, but also on their heart and true thoughts. This was not a piece of good news for them. The elder council had personally conducted the same test on the deacons and a lot of those who were here with the intention to spy on the sect were abolished. 

Abolishment was killings. The sovereign sect was very clear on its stance. The disciples were given a chance to come forward and confess their crimes. They will be let go, however, if they were found guilty in the test, then their whole family will pay the price along with them. They were also told that the test will be going under the Mind reading formation cast by the elder of the formation Hall. 

This was the greatest plight spies had faced in their lives. A few scared ones came forward and according to the promise, they were let go. However, those who did not come forward, as they all were quite well known, were trying to find a way to get through the test. 

The eve of the assessment brought along with it subtle stress in the air. While the elders locked down the sect, to make sure that none of the guilty ones could get away, the disciples were all sparring or making the last spur to achieve a better goal. 

...

Alisha came to the cloud palace, and her level of cultivation had climbed one realm. She was at the third lever of the golden core realm. Not only did she break through but her base was consolidated as well. She was about to look for Yang Dao when a maid disciple told her that there were a few guests looking for the boy too.

Alisha was the stewardess of the palace and she came forward to greet the guests. Turned out that Shakti, Athena, Daniel, Amil, Yue Jing, Trent, and Diana were visiting together. She bowed to the all slightly and said, "Please have a seat, Young Master is yet to come out of his seclusion."

Yue Jing and the rest sat down and began to look around the living hall. Some of them had been here earlier but this was the only time they had paid attention to the decoration and they all had one word in their mind, extravagant. 

Trent Grande said, "This kid is living like a king." 

The rest agreed, Alisha shook her head slightly at this remark. Shakti caught her action and asked, "Senior sister Alisha, why do you shake your head?" 

Alisha was one year older than her and she was also one realm stronger than her so she did not mind calling her senior sister. Plus, Alisha was among the people who had interactions with the sect master. The girl smiled faintly and replied, "Young Master, spends his time, either practicing in the garden, cultivation room, or the bedroom. The only extravagant thing he would use is the pair of jade chopsticks while eating food." 

Trent asked in surprise, "You mean, he would not dwell inside this huge palace?" 

Alisha shook her head and said, "He wanted to go to the library but he decided to postpone it till after the assessment." 

The group was immersed in conversing when they were overwhelmed by a strong aura. Alisha was surprised and quickly took out the array disk from her space ring and circulated her spirit energy inside it. The whole palace was covered with a concealment array. The situation lasted for a few minutes before the aura waves receded. 

Amil asked, "What was that aura? It seemed to be unintentional." 

Alisha said, "It erupted from the inside of the palace. I will go check." 

The rest also stood up and followed her. They were curious about this aura because it almost choked them from breathing. Sensing the residual aura, Alisha and everyone else arrived in front of a room. The lady opened her eyes wide and asked the two guards with an anxious expression, "Senior, the wave just now. Did it come from inside?" 

The guards nodded with a solemn expression. One of them said calmly, "Do not worry, Young Master is safe, he seemed to have made a breakthrough to the third level of the spirit formation realm in one go. That was why the aura leaked a little." 

The statement surprised some and shocked some. Trent said with a twitching mouth, "I wanted to defeat him this time. This monster is in a completely different class, is he not?" 

The rest of the people nodded. It was very hard to break through as the cultivation increased. Spirit formation was a realm that required compressing the spirit energy and stuffing it inside the dantian. One mistake and everything will be going in vain.

Amil said, "I want to look at how much has he grown up in the past twenty days." 

As the words dropped the door was pushed open. Yang Dao came in front of everyone. He was surprised and said, "Such a grand welcome, I came out of small seclusion and not a war. But thank you." 

The people chuckled and Shakti said, "Brat, come, let me try your hand." 

Yang Dao frowned and said, "This is not fair, first I will beat your students, then I will beat your 'sweetheart' then you come and try to avenge them okay?" 

Shakti had a faint blush on her face and her eyelids were twitching. While Amil stood looking at the floor. They had not yet told anyone about this matter. Athena and the rest were surprised but after they looked at the two people in question, they realized that Yang Dao was correct. 

Athena asked, "How did you know?" 

The boy smirked and said, "Without my guidance, will they be able to come together? They are both warmongers. Come, let us go to the garden. I need to consolidate my base as well." 

With that said, the people were invited to the garden.

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