With the exhibition match finished and the number of hopeful students cut in half, the remaining students taking the Inner Court Admission Exam were led by Yu Qiang and several instructors to an old forest.

The forest was not located at the academy. It wasn’t even in the Shang Kingdom Imperial Capital. Everyone who was participating boarded an airship that flew them nearly a hundred lî from the capital.

Wu Jian had seen it from the air, the vast forest that seemed to stretch out beyond the horizon. It was so massive that he couldn’t even see where it ended. From what he understood, this forest made up nearly a fourth of the Shang Kingdom, and it was home to some of the most ferocious magical beasts this nation had to offer. That was, in fact, the entire reason this forest remained. Wu Jian was sure the Shang Kingdom would have tried to develop this forest into farmlands if they could.

The airship had set down and everyone disembarked. Wu Jian stood beside Xia Lin in this massive group of nearly one hundred and fifty people. Yu Qiang and the instructors stood before them. The forest lay behind them, and a strange archway made of two trees twisted together marked the entrance into the forest.

Yu Qiang stepped forward and smiled. “Congratulations on making it this far. This is the final test of the Inner Court Entrance Exam. Those who pass this test will be allowed to enter the Inner Courtyard. However, I must tell you all that only half of you will be entering.”

His words caused the crowd to stir. Several people began whispering to each other, wondering what this man meant.

Wu Jian remained silent. He was thinking hard.

Yu Qiang had specifically said only half of them would pass, meaning it was impossible for more than half of them to enter the Inner Courtyard. He thought back to when he first applied for the exam. He and everyone else had been given a token, which the instructor had said they could not lose since it would be important for the exam. Even now, it rested against his neck alongside the other two necklaces in his possession--the one given to him by Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu respectively.

This must be why we were given that token.

“It looks like some of you have already figured it out.” Yu Qiang was looking at Wu Jian when he said this. “Those tokens you received before this exam began are the key items you’ll need going forward. If you look at them, you may notice that some of your tokens say Yin and others say Yang.”

Two tokens appeared in Yu Qiang’s hands, and he held them up for everyone to see. Wu Jian looked at the tokens, then at the one around his neck, which said Yang. Xia Lin was also looking at her token. The character for Yin was firmly imprinted on it.

“Cultivators require both Yin and Yang to reach the peak of the Martial Dao, and you will need to acquire both Yin and Yang to pass this test. Your task is simple. Find someone with the token you don’t have, take it from them, and journey through the forest to a stronghold located several dozen lî. We’ll be handing out a map with the location of the stronghold. I highly recommend none of you journey through the area highlighted in red. That section of the forest belongs to a magical beast with whom our Shang Kingdom has formed a contract. We are not allowed to enter that area and any who do shall meet a fate far worse than death. Let me reiterate. Do not enter the area highlighted in red on the map. The magical beast there is at the peak of the Human Limit Realm. Even my uncle wouldn’t dare confront this creature.”

That explained why this forest still existed. If there was a creature even Yu Chenguang couldn’t defeat, then there was no hope of expanding this forest. Chances were good that many other powerful magical beasts roamed this forest as well. They were most probably all subordinate to the powerful entity who lived here.

The instructors handed out maps to each person, and Wu Jian looked over the one now in his hands. More than half the forest was highlighted in red. That was the area they needed to avoid. There was a dot on the map several dozen lî from the highlighted section. It wouldn’t be difficult to avoid the danger zone given how far away the stronghold was from it.

“Looks like this is going to be a tough exam,” he murmured. He glanced at Xia Lin. “Do you want to team up?”

Xia Lin looked shocked. “Can we?”

He shrugged. “They never said we couldn’t. Look there. Several teams have already formed.”

Xia Lin looked at where Wu Jian pointed with his chin to see several very obvious groups of between three and seven. Yong Hai had over ten people surrounding him. It was a clear case of the weak clinging to the strong, but there was also strength in numbers.

“Well… if you insist, I suppose we can team up,” said Xia Lin, flipping her hair to hide her red cheeks.

A lot of people came up to Wu Jian and asked if they could also team up with him, but he refused them. This test was something he’d prefer undertaking at a disadvantage to test himself. He wanted to see how well he could fight against groups on his own. The only reason he asked Xia Lin to join him was because he considered her a comrade and thought it would be nice if they could both enter the Inner Courtyard.

Of course, his refusal did not go over well with some people.

“Tch. Can you believe how arrogant he is?”

“I get that he’s a lot stronger than us, but I don’t like how he just dismisses us like we’re beneath him.”

“Think we should teach him a lesson?”

“What? No. Are you stupid? I might not like him, but I know better than to mess with him.”

“He’s right. What hope do we have against someone at the Eighth Subrealm of the Asura Realm?”

“Ugh, I guess you gotta point.”

Wu Jian didn’t particularly appreciate how everyone thought he was arrogant because he denied their request to team up, but he knew people would look at it this way. He couldn’t let that kind of thing bother him if he wanted to move forward. His only goals right now were passing this exam and testing himself.

“Now that everyone has their maps, you may enter the forest. I recommend you all choose different sections to enter. There are several located around the perimeter. Each one is marked by an archway like the one behind me. Remember what I said. Be careful on your way to the stronghold,” said Yu Qiang.

“Come on,” Wu Jian said to Xia Lin.

The young woman followed him as he wandered toward an entrance that was not being used under the watchful eyes of the other examinees.

***

Hou Jingshu was disappointed that she could not witness the final stage of the exam. She knew Wu Jian would pass, but she still wanted to watch him and cheer him on.

Since she couldn’t be there to see him succeed, she had decided to visit Zhou Lihua. The young woman had been refining alchemy pills almost nonstop ever since the auction ended. She and Wu Jian had also been busy, so neither of them had been able to visit her.

Zhou Wen showed her to Zhou Lihua’s room. The woman paused before knocking on the door.

“Young Mistress, Her Highness is here to see you.”

“…”

“Young Mistress?”

There was no response from the other side. Hou Jingshu raised an eyebrow as Zhou Wen offered a strained smile.

“The young miss has been so busy refining alchemy pills that she barely comes out of her room these days. There is a good chance she didn’t even hear me knock just now. You may go inside, but I recommend you be quiet. You could cause her serious harm if you disrupt her while she’s refining.”

“I know. Don’t worry,” Hou Jingshu said.

She entered the room and silently closed the door behind her. Zhou Lihua was indeed refining alchemy pills. The young woman sat before the cauldron, her long hair tied into a ponytail so it wasn’t in her eyes, and her hands forming a seal as chi flowed from her and into the fire she was using to refine the ingredients. A strong medicinal scent filled the air. Hou Jingshu didn’t recognize it, but it was such a strong smell that she almost gagged. How Zhou Lihua didn’t even seem to notice was beyond her.

Because she didn’t want to disturb her friend, Hou Jingshu leaned against the wall and merely watched the proceedings. Sweat beaded down Zhou Lihua’s forehead as she stared into the cauldron like she wanted to drill a hole through it. Minutes passed. Then she took a deep breath and clapped her hands together, fingers locked.

“Form!”

The flames seemed to explode for just a moment, then quickly settled down. Zhou Lihua waved her hand. The cauldron’s lid popped open and almost a dozen pills flew out, zoomed toward her, and landed on the woman’s outstretched palm. Most of the pills were a light blue color. There were a few, however, that were completely black.

“Nine successes and three failures,” Zhou Lihua murmured. “That’s one more than last time.”

“It looks like your cultivation has risen since the last time I saw you. Congratulations,” said Hou Jingshu.

Rather than be surprised, Zhou Lihua turned her head and smiled at Hou Jingshu. “Thank you. I broke through the eighth subrealm not long ago. I guess I’ve been refining so many pills that I broke through before I realized it.”

“You must have refined a lot of pills then.”

“A few thousand, yes.”

Hou Jingshu almost tripped. Her face twitched. A few thousand? That was more than just a lot. Most tier 4 alchemists could only refine maybe four pills a day, which meant they’d need to work for roughly nine months to refine that many pills, but it hadn’t even been a month since she and Zhou Lihua had seen each other, and she had already refined over a thousand pills? Insane. This woman was crazy.

“So, what have you come here for? I figured you would be living it up with Wu Jian,” said Zhou Lihua.

“Is that jealousy I hear?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Yes. I am very jealous of you. Not only can you see him whenever you feel like while I am stuck here, but you can be intimate with him while I am forced to remain celibate. It is incredibly frustrating,” admitted Zhou Lihua with a bitter smile.

“Oh… um… I’m sorry,” Hou Jingshu mumbled. Now that Zhou Lihua had pointed out how lucky she was, Hou Jingshu felt bad for trying to tease her friend.

Zhou Lihua sighed, then smiled. “It is… well, not fine, but understandable. Do not worry. I do not begrudge you your intimacy with Wu Jian. I just wish I could be intimate with him too. Anyway, I assume you are not here for any reason in particular?”

Hou Jingshu shrugged. “Wu Jian is taking the Inner Courtyard Admittance Exams. He’s on the last stage, but I’m not allowed to watch.”

Nodding, Zhou Lihua said, “And thus you decided to visit me. Well, you are just in time. I was planning to take a dip in the hot spring. Would you care to join me?”

“Sure.”

Hou Jingshu did love hot springs, and Zhou Lihua’s private hot spring was a thing of beauty. It was an open air hot spring located in a fenced off zen garden surrounded by trees. The water flowing out from geothermal veins that had been artificially created was warm and filled with medicinal herbs that were said to rejuvenate the skin and energize the body.

Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua stripped off their clothes, folded them up, and placed them in a pair of boxes. They wrapped towels around their waists before wandering outside. While Hou Jingshu felt a little exposed, there was no one present. Zhou Lihua’s private quarters were far from everyone else and any who dared tried to spy on them would suffer horrible consequences.

After cleansing themselves with water drawn from the spring, the two removed their towels and submerged themselves in the water. Hou Jingshu released an audible groan as the herbs within the water soaked into her pores. Sitting beside her with a towel wrapped around her head, Zhou Lihua smiled.

“It has been some time since we relaxed together like this,” said Zhou Lihua.

“Hmmm. It has.”

“And now that we have this opportunity, I would like to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Tell me about the times you and Wu Jian had sex. Please be as explicit as possible.”

Zhou Lihua’s words caused Hou Jingshu to choke on her own spit. She coughed several times, face a vibrant red.

“W-why do you think I’d ever tell you about that?!” she sputtered.

Zhou Lihua giggled. “My, what’s this? You’re not at all ashamed to sleep with a man, but you cannot tell your dear friend about your nights with him? How disappointing.”

“Th-those are two completely different things!”

“Perhaps, but you should consider this your punishment for being intimate with him while I cannot.”

“I thought you were okay with it!”

“Of course, I’m not okay with it. Why would I be? The man I love is sleeping with someone. Meanwhile, I cannot do the same because of my family. You know my feelings for him, and yet you still sleep with him every night.”

“I… it’s not every night.”

Zhou Lihua stared at Hou Jingshu, who turned her head to look at everything except the woman next to her.

“I imagine you sleep with him more than you do not. Now spill. You owe me that much.”

“Ugh… f-fine. Just give me a moment, please.”

“Take your time.”

With an embarrassed blush, Hou Jingshu began sharing all the naughty details of her nightly affairs with Wu Jian. Needless to say, she could not look Zhou Lihua in the eyes for the rest of her visit.