The promotion examination took place over the course of a week.
Luo Chen was required to demonstrate his cultivation base to a panel of five inner disciples, including Zhao Ming. He was asked to demonstrate combat techniques, healing techniques, and meditation control. He was required to provide blood samples that would be analyzed to determine the purity and quantity of qi in his body.
In all of these tests, Luo Chen performed well but carefully avoided performing in a way that was so extraordinary as to be suspicious. He claimed that his cultivation advancement had been steady but not exceptional, attributing his success to dedication and the high-quality resources that the sect provided.
He allowed the inner disciples to examine his cultivation base. He had prepared carefully for this—his spatial anchor points were hidden, and the presence of the Time Law in his dantian was subtle enough that unless someone looked specifically for it, they might dismiss it as a quirk of his spatial cultivation rather than recognizing it as the presence of a forbidden law.
When they asked him about the spiral shape of his dantian, he explained that this was simply how his Space Law cultivation had manifested—a natural result of his unique approach to the law.
The panel deliberated for three days before issuing their verdict.
Luo Chen was promoted to the rank of inner disciple.
It was official. He was now part of the sect's elite, with access to inner disciple training areas, private cultivation chambers, and rare resources that would have been unimaginable just a year before.
Most importantly, with his promotion came a private meditation chamber far larger and more comfortable than anything available to outer disciples. This chamber was located in the inner disciples' tower, with walls that dampened sound and sealed the chamber from external perception.
Luo Chen was careful to appear grateful but not overly excited by his promotion. He moved his few personal belongings to his new quarters in the inner disciples' dormitory and continued his secret cultivation with even greater intensity.
But now he could cultivate more openly, and with access to better resources, his progress accelerated even further.