Over a hundred youths had gathered at the foot of the Kunlun Goddess Peak, the tallest mountain of the entire range. The heavens had blessed the aspiring martial artists with a clear sky, the scarce warmth of the winter sun easing some of the burdens of the freezing cold. Yet still the young men and women shivered in their coats as they waited for the instructors of the Kunlun Sect to verify their identities. No different from the rest of the crowd, the disciples of the sect wore heavy clothing to ward against the weather. Only the badges on their shoulders denoted them as members.

Looking up from below, none could see the mountain's upper reaches. Stone forts and towers littered the endless expanses of snow along the way to the top, marring the purity of the view.

As Bai Guo looked around, he found himself to be among the oldest of his peers. While awaiting his turn, he took in the mountain air and idly basked in the rays of the sun. Though he felt the chill prodding at his skin, he was not discomforted by the cold. He hadn't realized just how much he missed the freedom of the vast outdoors; he had passed the previous month confined to a cave with only his master for company, and what little time they had spent apart, he was asleep in his own room.

Bai Guo derived a great deal of comfort from mingling with the crowd. Despite their age, they displayed their discipline through stern silence, only speaking when spoken to. The disciples of the Kunlun Sect had soon concluded their checks.

One of the older disciples addressed them.

"Greetings to you all, and welcome to our mountain. We shall now lead you aspiring martial artists to master Tan Huan. Follow the disciples - you can recognize them by the Kunlun emblems on their shoulders. We ask of you to keep pace, or else you will be left behind."

To Bai Guo's surprise, the disciples had broken out into a run. The crowd hesitated for just a moment before absolute chaos took hold. The youngsters began to push and shove as they attempted to follow. Bai Guo got tackled and fell to the ground. He looked up from the snow and saw the culprit - a spectacularly tall and bulky young man, his long black hair tied back into a single braid. As he charged off, more participants had been brought down by his relentless advance.

"That guy is supposed to be my age?" Bai Guo grumbled, picking himself up. "There's no way that's true. He's as tall as master!"

After the initial mayhem, the chase began in earnest. The disciples were leading them at a peculiar speed that was neither slow enough to pass for a jog, nor quick enough to be an outright sprint. The terrain turned what would have otherwise been a tolerable pace into a grueling procession. The thick snow weighed heavily on the legs, and the paths were uneven and treacherous.

They traversed the mountain by foot and sometimes by hand, forced to scale sheer cliffs and slopes in pursuit of their proctors. At times, they had to follow them downwards or run around in what appeared to Bai Guo to be a circle. Some had the presence of mind to voice their complaints over this discovery, but their words were met with laughter and derision from the Kunlun disciples. Most hadn't even had the breath to spare on such trifles, already worn down beyond speech.

The aspiring martial artists were dragged along for hours. The number of overseers around Bai Guo had considerably lessened, as had the size of the crowd surrounding him. Bai Guo surmised that, contrary to what they had been warned about, the disciples were not actually willing to leave any stragglers behind; as the crowd thinned out along the mountain due to the differences in individual speed and endurance, so did the disciples that had to guide them across the mountain.

Next to Bai Guo, a contestant had slipped and began to tumble towards a cliff. The sparse coverage left the sole guiding disciple in the vicinity of their group too far to react in time. Bai Guo acted without thinking, leaping after his unfortunate peer. Just as the aspirant fell over the edge, Bai Guo had managed to halt the fall by grasping at a forearm.

The participant's hood had been tossed back, revealing a bald head and a youthful face. The monk felt surprisingly light in Bai Guo's grip.

"This kid can't be older than twelve!" Bai Guo was shocked. "What was he thinking, coming here?"

Bai Guo struggled to find proper stability in the snow to heft him up. The two ended up helplessly staring at each other as they slowly slid to their doom. The little monk mouthed something, but Bai Guo heard nothing. At that moment, the young man got grabbed from behind, and the two of them got pulled up by a Kunlun Sect disciple.

He berated them both. "If you can't even handle a little jog without dying, then just turn back now!"

Without a word, the boy ran off further up the mountain. Bai Guo, too, continued on his way. He quickly lost sight of the little monk.

The sun had been long past its zenith by the time they finally arrived at their destination. It appeared to be a training ground, a wide, elevated stone platform at its center, surrounded by several buildings. More disciples had been waiting for them there.

Bai Guo wasn't the first aspirant to arrive, but neither was he anywhere near the last. Out of the roughly one hundred contestants, he arrived as the tenth. The martial artists before him were on the brink of complete exhaustion. Some had collapsed on the cleared out roads, desperately panting for breath.

The young man had been asked for his name by a disciple and told to take his place beside the other arrivals. Unlike his peers, Bai Guo breathed with ease. The long trek had hardly made him break a sweat. He ascribed the difference to proper pacing; though it had cost him first place, it left him in a far less miserable state than the others.

Suddenly, a disciple called out to them. "Pick yourselves up, you lot! Master Tan Huan is on his way. If he sees you like this, you think he'll want you for a disciple?"

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The boys sprung up to their feet and straightened out their backs. After a few more contestants had successfully defeated the trek and took their place in line, a man of middle age had arrived, his eyes sharp, his black eyebrows thick and flowing just like his moustaches. He confidently strutted along the clear path, his arms crossed behind his back. In the harsh winter air, he wore no coat, only a purple robe embroidered with willow branches outlined in golden thread. Bai Guo had at some point caught glimpses of similar outfits beneath the thick garments of the other disciples, and assumed that it was their uniform.

"Master Tan Huan!" The disciples of the Kunlun Sect bowed; the aspirants promptly mimicked the gesture. When they straightened out their backs, Tan Huan walked along the line, his sharp eyes taking careful note of every individual present. His gaze lingered on Bai Guo. The master was ever so slightly shorter than him.

"Your name, contestant?" He suddenly asked.

"This contestant is called Bai Guo." The young man bowed again. Tan Huan departed without another word.

The master walked over to a disciple sitting behind a desk, brush in hand. Though he had assumed that they were too far away to be overheard, Bai Guo nevertheless perked up his ears. To his surprise, he had somehow managed to pick up a scrap of their conversation.

"Contestant Bai Guo receives ten points. The others are at your discretion."

The disciple's brush moved. Bai Guo wasn't sure what to make of what he had heard. He burned with a desire to glance at the papers the disciple was filling out, but it wasn't meant to be.

"Brother Guo?" A young woman beside him whispered. A dark haired beauty gazed up at him from below, her pale face slick with sweat. Despite her coquettish smile, her eyes glinted with cunning. Bai Guo had immediately put up his guard, his instincts assailing him with inexplicable suspicion.

"Do we know each other?" He asked.

"I am Shao Luli. Nice to meet you."

Bai Guo forced a smile and politely nodded her way, only to turn away and stare straight ahead.

"You're the only one here who has been personally spoken to by master Tan Huan." Shao Luli pointed out. "Why did he deign to address you?"

Bai Guo shrugged. During the awkward silence that followed, he could feel the girl's eyes boring into him.

Moreover, he felt her edging ever so slightly closer. Soon she had gotten so close that he could pick up the fruity scent of her perfume. Bai Guo had finally reached his limit, unable to ignore her any longer, and glanced at her.

But Shao Luli had preempted his complaint. "You're not breathing hard at all. You're not even sweaty. Did you really run all the way here just like the rest of us?"

"Sister Luli must believe I can fly, then." Bai Guo made a dry joke as he stepped away from her.

As she continued to smile, the girl slowly raised one of her thin brows. She faced ahead, joining him in innocuously staring at nothing. "Would brother Guo like to know how they grade our performance?"

Bai Guo's curiosity had been instantly piqued. But he forced his mouth to remain shut. He thought, "I feel like if I let her lead me along now, I'll be stuck dancing to her tune for a long time."

Mustering up as much confidence as he could, he answered with a guess based on what he had just overheard. "They grade us on a scale of one to ten."

"Oh, so you do know." Shao Luli sounded disappointed. Their conversation ended there, and after a short while, the girl left his side. Bai Guo breathed a sigh of relief.

"So my guess was right!" Thinking to himself, Bai Guo was elated as much as he was confused. "But what have I done to earn the highest grade? It's not like I was first. I suppose they value pacing more than speed."

In the meantime, Tan Huan had stepped up onto the elevated platform and waited, observing the path leading to the training grounds.

Over the next couple of hours, more and more people trickled in, each and every one of them just about ready to keel over from fatigue. Among the later arrivals, Bai Guo caught glimpse of the little monk, most likely the shortest individual in their entire group, and the prodigiously tall man who had forced him off his feet at the start of the marathon. The two of them exchanged a brief, tense glance with each other. The big guy seemed surprised to find that Bai Guo had ended up getting ahead of him. But he hadn't let it show for long - putting on a mask of indifference, the man with the braid took his place in line.

Bai Guo had also spotted Shao Luli soon hovering around him. They exchanged a few words, and the giant seemed instantly taken in with her. The two eventually began to throw glances his way, chuckling to themselves. Bai Guo's poor impression of the two had deepened.

"That's enough." Tan Huan suddenly declared. "If any more arrive, turn them away."

A disciple ran off to deliver the message.

Bai Guo looked around. Of the initial hundred or so, only about sixty remained.

"Well done making it this far, contestants." Tan Huan praised. "Follow me to your next test."

They were brought to an open courtyard where side by side stood three massive boulders, each bigger than the last. The smallest one was bigger than a grown man, roughly the same size as the person that Bai Guo had been tackled by, and wide enough that it would need at least three people to wrap their arms around. The largest was as big as a house.

Tan Huan explained the challenge. "When your name is called out, step forward and push any boulder of your choice! You will be graded by weight and distance. Make as many attempts as you like until you are told to stop."

Shortly after, the first name had been called out. "Chun De!"

The little monk hesitantly stepped forth.