"Thank you, Dao Master!"
Lin Jue accepted the three pills with utmost respect, then returned to his seat, sat cross-legged, and examined them.
What happened next had nothing to do with him.
He watched as the young Daoists of Immortal Source Temple looked at one another. At last, one by one, they began to rise and cast their spells.
Some fanned out a breeze, some exhaled a gentle wind, some stirred the green smoke filling the room, and some blew the incense sticks brighter. Two or three young Daoists even put all their strength into it and toppled the wooden board with a single gust. The most competitive of them was the young Daoist Yun Yi, whose wind blew the strongest, nearly lifting robes and scattering hair. Still, none of them produced a wind as powerful as Lin Jue's earlier gust.
Junior Sister had fallen just a hair short of toppling the board, but she still received two pills.
"That will be all for today."
Wang Ji Zi, seated at the head of the hall, spoke in a clear, resonant voice:
"You have now heard the Dao, practiced the methods, and learned the arts. In the path of cultivation, you have taken your first steps. Even if you went down the mountain now, you could call yourselves Daoists with a measure of cultivation.
"Remember: you must never slack off!
"This test was nothing. The real tests lie ahead, and they will go on for a long, long time!
"Those of us who cultivate the Dao ought to devote ourselves to our practice here in the mountains, without placing too much importance on spells. But the world is in turmoil these days, so from now on, you must never give up practicing your arts.
"The Dao is the path of cultivation;