Half a month later, Tiance Palace's annual outer disciple minor competition arrived as scheduled.
Though called a “minor competition,” its scale was not small at all. There were hundreds of outer disciples, and after three rounds of elimination, only about twenty remained to compete for inner sect slots.
The arena was set up on the martial arts field on the east side of the main peak. Colorful banners fluttered in the wind, and the spectator stands were packed with inner sect and personal disciples who had come to watch the excitement.
Lin Zhiyue had been dragged over by Cen Xi'er right after she finished practicing her sword, with Cen Xi'er claiming she had secured a great spot.
Once they were seated, Lin Zhiyue crossed her legs and pulled a bag of sugar-roasted spiritual chestnuts out of her sleeve, which she had picked up on her way past the dining hall. She peeled them one by one as she watched the matches on the stage.
On the stage, two outer disciples were locked in a fierce, back-and-forth battle. Sword light and blade shadows clashed, drawing constant cheers from the crowd below.
She cracked open a chestnut with a soft click. As her gaze swept over the crowd, she felt a sudden trance-like sensation, as if she had returned to her previous life.
In that life, she had been recommended for graduate school, so she had never experienced the agony of interviews.
However, most of her fellow senior classmates had taken the entrance exams. She still remembered the tense atmosphere the day before the re-examinations, when everyone sat with solemn faces, memorizing their self-introductions.
Cen Xi'er handed her a cup of spiritual tea and said casually, “There are a few decent prospects in the outer sect this year. I heard there's a sword cultivator who mastered the basic sword techniques to great perfection after only three years of practice. Even Elder Wan praised him.”
Just as Lin Zhiyue was about to reply, the system screen suddenly popped up in front of her.
【Limited-Time Quest Issued: Help the outer disciple Jiang Yuezhan pass the inner sect assessment and apprentice under Venerable Yanchen, Qi Yan. Reward: Premium Draw Ticket × 20, unlock access to the Red Grade card pool “Jinyao Fairy.” Time Limit: 15 days.】
Lin Zhiyue stared at the words for three seconds, almost choking on the chestnut in her mouth. She slapped her chest hard a couple of times to swallow it, cursing the system from head to toe in her mind.
“Are you fucking...” She lowered her voice, gritting her teeth. “You want me to open a back door for this guy? You want me to use my master? No way! I'm not taking this quest!”
The system popped up a new line of text, its tone sounding aggrieved: 【Host, don't be hasty. The quest says 'help,' not that you have to directly open a back door. Introducing him, giving him guidance, or creating opportunities all count as help! Besides, the outfit set from the Red Grade card pool “Jinyao Fairy” is incredibly beautiful. It's a twelve-piece set that comes with its own flying effects and domain skills. Don't you want to take a look at the preview?】
A small window obligingly popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen. A gorgeous, moon-white gown embroidered with gold-threaded phoenixes floated in the preview interface. Its skirt spread out like wings, shimmering with vibrant colors. Lin Zhiyue caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, and her hand peeling the chestnut paused for a brief moment.
But she quickly forced her gaze away, gritting her teeth as she continued to scold, “Cut it out! No matter how good the Red Grade card pool looks, if I make my master take on a disciple randomly, I'd be a terrible person!”
The system popped up another message: 【Then you can just observe for now, Host. See what kind of person Jiang Yuezhan is. If his talent and character are truly good, making an introduction wouldn't be out of line. Twenty Premium Draw Tickets and a Red Grade card pool—think about it again, Host—】
Lin Zhiyue ignored it, closed the screen, and went back to peeling her chestnuts.
But after peeling two more, her fingers gradually slowed down, and her gaze involuntarily drifted back toward the arena.
Beside her, Cen Xi'er pointed at someone who had just stepped onto the stage and said, “Look at the one in grey. He's the sword cultivator I just mentioned, Jiang Yuezhan. He came from a mortal village three years ago with absolutely no foundation, but he managed to fight his way into the top three of the outer sect purely on his own.”
Lin Zhiyue looked over in the direction she was pointing.
Standing on the stage was a rather lean youth. He wore a faded grey outer disciple robe. His face was delicate but had sharp lines, with a faint, old scar on his cheekbone.
He held a very ordinary, standard-issue iron sword in his hand. His posture was steady and his gaze calm, showing none of the nervousness or excitement that the other outer disciples displayed before their matches.
As soon as he stepped onto the stage, the crowd below grew a bit quieter, as if many people already knew him.
When his opponent charged forward with raised sword, Jiang Yuezhan took only a half-step aside to evade the brunt of the attack. His iron sword swept upward from below, its edge sliding along the spine of the opponent's blade all the way to the hilt. With a gentle press, he deflected the other's sword by half a foot.
He then stepped back and withdrew his sword. The entire movement was clean and swift, without a single bit of unnecessary flashiness. It was like a drop of water falling into a hot pan of oil—fast, precise, and steady, without any hint of showing off.
Lin Zhiyue's hand stopped peeling the chestnut.
She had seen this style of swordplay before. It was almost identical to what Qi Yan emphasized when teaching her: “precision over flashiness, efficiency over brute force.”
The foundation of this youth's swordplay did not seem like some wild, self-taught style. It felt as if he had received guidance—or rather, he was born with an instinct for finding the optimal path.
She thought he was highly promising.
On the stage, Jiang Yuezhan had already won. Within three moves, the opponent—a disciple at the sixth level of Qi Refining—had his sword disarmed without even touching the edge of Jiang Yuezhan's robe.
He sheathed his sword, cupped his hands in a salute, and turned to walk off the stage. His expression didn't shift in the slightest, as if winning was only natural.
Watching his figure disappear into the crowd, Lin Zhiyue suddenly felt the chestnuts in her hand were no longer delicious.
She leaned back against her chair and fell silent for a long while. The system did not pop up again, remaining as quiet as the grave.
If this guy's talent and character were truly good, introducing him to Qi Yan wouldn't weigh on her conscience, right?
She rubbed the bits of chestnut shell from her fingertips.
She decided to observe a bit more and see what kind of person this Jiang Yuezhan really was.
If he was actually decent, she could bring it up to her master. Whether her master took him in or not would be entirely up to him.
If he was not, she would just pretend she had never seen those twenty Premium Draw Tickets and the Red Grade card pool.
Lin Zhiyue was indeed acting a bit unusual today.
Sitting beside her, Cen Xi'er had started yawning after watching the third match. Battles between outer disciples really weren't much to look at for someone at the Golden Core Stage.
She turned her head to look at Lin Zhiyue and found her junior sister staring intently toward the stage. The bag of chestnuts in her hand had gone completely cold, yet she hadn't peeled another one. She sat there completely motionless, as if nailed to the spectator stands.
“Junior Sister,” Cen Xi'er stood up and patted her skirt, “I'm heading back first. I need to go to the medicine hall to pick up some spiritual pills later. Are you coming?”
“You go ahead, Second Senior Sister,” Lin Zhiyue replied without turning her head. “I'll watch a bit longer.”
Cen Xi'er found it a little strange, but she didn't ask further. She nodded and left first. Lin Zhiyue sat alone in the stands, continuing to watch the remaining matches.
Her gaze never left that lean, grey-robed figure. Jiang Yuezhan fought three times, and each time he defeated his opponent within three moves. The trajectory of his iron sword was so precise with every strike, it looked as though it had been measured with a ruler.
The minor competition finally ended before sunset. Jiang Yuezhan's name was posted at the top of the announcement board for finishing in first place.
The disciples in the stands gradually dispersed. Only then did Lin Zhiyue stand up to stretch her stiff back. Just as she was about to walk down, she caught sight of someone standing at the entrance to the side of the stands out of the corner of her eye.
Qi Yan had arrived at some point. He was leaning against a pillar at the entrance, his dark, long saber resting in the crook of his arm. His dark-teal robes looked a bit softer than usual in the twilight.
He watched Lin Zhiyue walk down from the stands. His gaze swept over the spot where she had stood for the entire afternoon, and he asked, “You watched for the whole afternoon?”
Lin Zhiyue walked quickly to him, her mind still racing over how to bring up the subject.
She had sat there for the entire afternoon. Her initial thought of just seeing what this guy was like had gradually shifted to the realization that this guy really had some skill. By the second-to-last match, she had even pulled out a small notebook to jot down a couple of lines about his movement patterns during his sword strikes. It was too similar to the style Qi Yan had taught her—so similar that she wondered if the youth had somehow stolen and learned the sword techniques of Tiance Palace.
With Qi Yan standing right in front of her, she suddenly felt this was a golden opportunity.
“Master,” she began, trying her best to sound casual and natural, “did you see the first-place winner of the outer disciple minor competition today, the one named Jiang Yuezhan?”
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