Unaware of the fate that befell Vajra, Tianlan assessed his own condition. Even though his eyes were in a somewhat dormant state, he was still able to see past his skin and observe his internal situation. What he saw was a series of circulation paths riddled with tiny tears. The damage was mainly concentrated in his arms and his abdomen.

He could tell that these were the consequences of his earlier actions.

There was a reason Rhava and Shiva were so taken aback by what he had done. Under normal circumstances, his injuries wouldn’t have stopped at just damaged circulation paths. The wild energy would completely break free and start to rampage through his body, causing severe harm to his internal organs.

Fortunately, he had channelled all of that rampaging energy into Shiva’s body where it was incapable of causing any harm instead of trying to absorb it for his own use.

As he gave himself a once-over, Tianlan recalled a somewhat important detail.

“How long was I out for?”

He could see that the sun had yet to set, but that didn’t necessarily mean less than a day had gone by. It would be a shame if he ended up failing the third trial. He would have to return to the bakery and wait for Hei’s laughter when he came back for a visit.

‘But my baking would surely surpass everyone else’s.’

Unlike in other families, in the Shao Clan, no one cared about one’s cultivation achievements. And by the same token, failing to enter a sect was nothing to be ashamed of. But allowing one’s baking skills to suffer would result in a never-ending stream of lectures.

Tianlan was painfully aware of that.

He could only imagine what the others who had gone through painstaking efforts to try to enter the sect would think if they knew that he didn’t care either way. If Hei’s book was anything to go by, there would be several people who wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and there would surely be a round of blood-letting coughs.

“It’s only been a little while,” said Rhava.

“Thankfully,” added Shiva.

“Then in that case.”

Tianlan crossed his legs and leaned forward to stand up without using his arms. He then shifted his shoulders to straighten up his robe and turned to the two wolf siblings.

“We should be on our way.”

“But, your injuries,” said Shiva, her tone conveying her concern. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Mm,” added Rhava, who looked down at the herbs he had gathered. “There should still be an hour or so before the trial comes to an end. Why not rest for a while longer?”

“There’s no need. I’m not tired any more, and my injuries aren’t so bad that I can’t walk. It’s only my arms that are worse-off.”

“If you say so.”

***

“Are you sure? Someone killed the Vulkan Tiger?”

The third elder, the one in charge of the third trial, couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

“Wasn’t it already in the minute realm? And at the second layer, if I’m not mistaken. How could a new recruit have slain it?”

“That’s what I want to know,” said Elder Qian as he paced back and forth. “It’s one thing for them to have killed my tamed beast, but for it to have been a new recruit is frankly hard to believe. Didn’t someone mention that they saw tribulation clouds earlier?”

“Mm. Above region 8, the snow-capped mountain. It should have been one of the snow wolves.”

Elder Qian stroked his chin and continued his pacing. He listened as the third elder gave his input.

“My guess is that the tiger and that wolf got into an altercation and one of our new recruits acted as the fisherman. He or she patiently waited until both beasts were injured before striking the finishing blow.”

“No, that’s not possible,” replied Elder Qian. “While the tiger’s abilities would have been impacted by the yin nature of the environment, it wouldn’t be to such an extent that a transcendent realm snow wolf would be able to put up a fight. Even one that had triggered a lightning tribulation would be no match.”

“Aren’t there two of those snow wolves though? If they teamed up on the tiger, then they may have been able to fend him off to some degree. That’s assuming that the other wolf was also at the peak of the transcendent realm. The only other explanation is that that new recruit simply had the means to deal with the tiger on his own.”

“We’ll find out once the trial ends.”

Noticing the cold look in Elder Qian’s eyes, the third elder couldn’t help giving him a friendly reminder.

“No matter how it happened, a new recruit who managed to slay a second-layer minute realm spirit beast will get a lot of attention from the other elders. I hope you aren’t thinking of doing something.”

Elder Qian waved his hand. “No one cares about the beast. I’ll just take the core once it’s handed in. What I’m more interested in is how exactly a new recruit managed to achieve such a thing. As far as I’m aware, this is a first.”

“Actually, this crop of new recruits is something special. We’ve got reports of two confirmed kills of ninth-layer transcendent realm beasts. With this kind of performance, I wonder how the situation in the outer sect will change. Those slackers who have been coasting at the top of the rankings will be getting a good kick in the rear.”

“Don’t speak too soon. Remember that we’re a sword sect. There are many ways to slay a beast, poison for example, but someone who relies on such means won’t have much of a future in the sect.”

“Oh? Do you suspect that the tiger died of poisoning?”

“Mm. From the body, it looks like it was killed in only a single blow, which is hard to believe. I’ve sent it off to a few friends who dabble in alchemy to see if it was poison.”

The two elders continued their conversation as they watched recruit after recruit pass through the boundary to the safe zone. This, along with the setting sun, signified that the third trial was coming to an end and that the next batch of Shimmering Sword Sect disciples was all but confirmed.

***

Fang Wu was standing with the other members of the Fang Clan who had gathered after gathering their beast cores. Not one of them was missing.

“Hm. Sage Tianlan still isn’t here. I wonder what he’s doing,” one of them said. “You were his partner, Wu. Did he tell you anything?”

Wu looked over to his cousin and though back before shaking his head.

“He just said that he had something he needed to do. I don’t know what it was.”

“Hmm. It’s getting kind of late,” said one of the others. “I hope he makes it back in time.”

“What are you worrying about? Is it possible for Sage Tianlan to fail the trial?”

“Mm. If he doesn’t make it back in time, it’s because he decided that the Shimmering Sword Sect wasn’t worth his time.”

“Really?” Said a foreign voice. “ I say he’s too ashamed to show himself. I’m just surprised that the rest of you have the nerve to come back here after what you did. You make me embarrassed to be from the same city.”

When the Fang Clan looked over to the source of the voice, the could see a dishevelled young lady, who they recognised to be a daughter of the Wu Clan, Wu Lixue. Standing next to her was her brother Wu Lin, who didn’t hide the disdainful look in his eyes.

“The lot of you couldn’t stomach killing a few spirit beasts so you moved around like bandits in the night, reaping the benefits of others’ hard work. Is that any way to act? That’s a really good way to besmirch one’s family name.”

“Yeah! They stole my cores right from under my nose!”

“And they teamed up in pairs, the cowards! Face me one-on-one! Winner takes all!”

One after another, voices of discontent rose up from those present. Some of them had spent the last half-a-day cursing the Fang Clan as they scrambled to regain their lost points. But alas, the end of the competition saw very little progress. The spirit beasts had all switched to evasive manoeuvres and were very difficult to catch. So, now that they were standing right in front of the perpetrators, they couldn’t suppress their anger any longer.

Despite the pressure from the crowd, the Fang Clan paid them no mind. Words were just that, words. Besides, they had moved in accordance with the rules. If the elders had no problems with their actions, then that was that.

Their reaction, or lack thereof, only cause the aggrieved to become even rowdier. Some even drew their swords, but when they did, they felt a wave of energy pass through them.

“There is to be no fighting in the safe zone. And frankly speaking, the lot of you are making too much noise. Shut up.”

After the third elder spoke, silence overtook the crowd, and seeing this, he turned back to resume his conversation with Elder Qian.

But not even moments later, he heard another racket.

When he looked back, he saw that a section of the space had been cleared, leaving a single person clutching his bleeding arm and panting heavily. The tracks he left on the ground showed that he had been thrown back with some force.

The elder frowned, wondering what had happened. Just as he was about to ask, he saw another person get tossed past the boundary. She failed to land on her feet and coughed violently as she bounced off the ground repeatedly before coming to a stop. On her abdomen were clear claw marks.

“Is it a spirit beast?”

The third elder frowned. The area around the safe zone had been set up with various beast repellents, so, unless a beast was forced to come here, it was unusual for them to appear in the vicinity.

The next thing he saw was a young man sauntering past the boundary, and before he could ask what was going on, he saw two large heads following after.

He heard shocked exclamations and saw rapid movement among the new recruits.

“Th- Those are snow wolves! Goodness, how did they get in here?”

Upon seeing the two wolves, panic spread through the crowd. While there were a few oddballs who drew their weapons, the majority ran towards the elders. They all knew that snow wolves were some of the strongest beasts that could appear in the third trial. And they most definitely weren’t equipped to deal with them.

Hearing the commotion, Wu Lixue looked over to the source of it all and almost pulled her hair out. There he was again, and this time, accompanied by two majestic spirit beasts! She couldn’t help but hope that one of them would bite his arm off, but by their calm appearances, she could tell that it was only a fantasy.

The others started to notice that detail as well. The two spirit beasts weren’t showing any hostility to the boy at all. They only looked viciously at the young man and woman in front of them.

“S-S- Sage Tianlan!”

A boy managed to squeeze his way past the dense crowd and popped out into the open space. It was Fang Wu, who had paired up with Tianlan earlier.

“Are those really snow wolves?”

Unlike everyone else, who had a healthy amount of apprehension towards the sudden situation, Fang Wu ran straight past the two injured cultivators and only stopped when he was right in front of Tianlan. He nearly tore Tianlan’s sleeve off as he tried to get his attention.

Tianlan was taken aback by Wu’s enthusiasm. He could only smile awkwardly.

“They are.”

“Oh, wow! C-can I…”

He stepped in front of Rhava and reached his arm out but quickly retreated when he saw the cold look in his eyes. But that wasn’t enough to deter him. He went to Tianlan’s other side and slowly approached the other wolf, who rejected him much in the same way.

He turned a pouting face to Tianlan, who awkwardly exchanged glances with Rhava and Shiva. Both expressed their distaste in the boy.

“Whose brat is this?” Asked Rhava. “Don’t tell me he's another of our brothers.”

“Mm. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me,” said Shiva. “It’s creepy.”

“I agree. Also, is it customary for humans to try to touch people they’ve just met? I find it rather strange.”

“Now that you mention it, I think Tianlan did that to me as well…”

Tianlan found himself speechless under the three gazes.

‘So, this is what it’s like on the other side.’