"Song Jia!" A booming voice from the stern-faced Official Disciple assessing the Outer Disciples' performance bellowed across the vast, sun-drenched courtyard.
His authoritative tone sent a hush rippling through the crowds, punctuated only by murmurs of anticipation and shouts of spirited encouragement.
"Junior Sister, believe in yourself!" A lanky young male disciple cupped his calloused hands around his mouth, shouting enthusiastically while practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Fight with all your power! Don't mind your arrogant Seniors!" Raucous calls of unbridled support washed over Song Jia from the clusters of admiring young males.
Many gazed at her with dazed infatuation, eyes glazed and lips slightly parted in dopey smiles as she slowly approached the small raised arena section, back straight and chin defiantly lifted.
"Beat them up, Sister Song!"
"Show them the true unbridled strength of our sisterhood!"
"Don't hold back your blazing inner fire! Make us proud!"
"Let your effortless grace and smoldering power shine through, Junior Song!"
The soaring encouragement from the tight cluster of female disciples echoed with a resounding ferocity that silenced the lively male crowds.
Even the severe Official Disciples judging the event shot stunned, furrowed-brow looks their way.
"Ehm... Martial Sisters... Aren't your words a little... cruel? To your honored Senior Brother of the same sect?" One young disciple whispered, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.
But before a response came, another Outer Disciple name boomed out in that same reverberating baritone.
"Gao Yan!"
This time, a tall, burly male disciple with thick shoulders straining at his robes strode forward, chest puffed out and a self-satisfied smug smirk twisting his thin lips as he swaggered toward a different raised arena section.
However, the once-raucously vocal crowd fell eerily silent, eyeing him with indifference bordering on contempt in stark contrast to Song Jia's rousing reception.
"B-Brother? Sisters?" Gao Yan muttered under his breath, confusion knitting his thick brows as the other disciples simply ignored him, turning their rapt attention fully to the next participant announced in that same thundering tone.
"Cai Jian!"
"Du Shi!"
...
Meanwhile, as soon as Song Jia entered her arena and the second grueling test was poised to begin, the elegant Ji Wuye, who had observed in pensive silence from the shaded viewing pavilion, finally rose with a subtle rustling of robes.
With a respectful bow of his head, and hands cupped formally before him, he addressed Elder Qiao in her high-backed carved wood chair.
Her keen, slightly narrowed eyes remained fixated on the unfolding events far below as trails of sweet-scented smoke from her long pipe drifted lazily on the breeze.
"Please excuse me, Big Sister Qiao," Ji Wuye spoke, his tone deferential yet tinged with a subtle edge.
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Elder Qiao's gaze flicked briefly toward him from the corner of her eye as she exhaled another unhurried stream of fragrant pipe smoke.
"Hmm? Little Brother, why don't you stay here and watch the proceedings together with me?" She waved a delicate hand languidly, the jade bangles on her wrist clinking musically.
One of the Inner Disciples, a statuesque female with unblemished porcelain skin as smooth and radiant as Elder Qiao's and eyes narrowed in sharp focus, served as their silent guard.
She aimed her silent, evaluating stare at the young man.
Ji Wuye understood the weight of his razor-sharp Senior Sister's scrutiny well. He had no intention of lingering under such watchful eyes.
"It would be disrespectful of this one and ruin your impeccable reputation, Big Sister Qiao. A lowly disciple with the lowest of talents has no right to sit side by side with an esteemed Elder such as yourself."
Each time the humble 'Big Sister' title tinged with fond irreverence passed Ji Wuye's lips instead of the formal 'Elder,' he could feel the chill of his watchful Senior Sister's disapproving glower prickling intensely at him.
It was true he was famous among the ladies, but that only applied to Outer Disciples and a couple Official Disciples. As for the Inner Disciples...
"A pity, but very well." With an airy, dismissive wave of her hand, Elder Qiao shooed him away as if hurriedly banishing an irksome fly from her regal presence.
She didn't spare him another glance, her heavy-lidded gaze zeroing in with laser-focus on the tense assessment arenas below.
...
Once Ji Wuye nodded again respectfully and melted back into the shifting sea of bodies and voices in the crowd, Elder Qiao's sharp hawk-like gaze shifted from the spectacle to her Inner Disciple stationed ramrod straight beside her high-backed chair.
"What do you think about that young man, Little Rong?" Her tone softened subtly, the faint mocking edge replaced by a more natural melodious lilt when compared to the alternating flirtatious and ice-cold way she addressed the irreverent Ji Wuye.
"I don't understand your meaning, Master," Li Rong, or Little Rong as her teacher called her, replied with a slight confused tilt of her head, delicate brows furrowed.
"Why would you bother playing word games with him? As you know, he's just an incorrigible womanizer." She clicked her tongue in open disdain, eyes hardening to glinting obsidian.
"Tsk...tsk...tsk." Elder Qiao sighed, a thread of wispy smoke trailing from her full lips, the sound of her disapproval ringing loud in the stillness between them.
Li Rong's eyes widened in surprise at her Master's uncharacteristic reaction. "You should not listen to empty malicious words, Little Rong."
Elder Qiao's penetrating stare returned to the brutal assessment arena below, clearly tuning back in to the action.
Her slender finger pointing towards the teeming crowds behind them. "Look there, at that young man's movements. Why do you think he left us?"
'Because I made no effort to hide my obvious glaring at him?' Li Rong thought guiltily, swallowing hard under her Master's probing gaze.
But Elder Qiao remained stoically silent, waiting with arched brow for an answer, so she offered hesitantly, "Perhaps he was...scared of my reaction? Or he realized his lesser place compared to us?" Though the uncertainty laced her words made it more of a question.
But then her eyes caught a furtive movement from behind, twisting too late to fully react as a powerful force connected with her butt.
SMACK!
A deafening crack echoed out, punctuating the rustling breeze through the viewing pavilion as a blinding stinging throb blossomed across her entire butt, as if gripped in a scorching vise.
"Ugh!" Li Rong winced, her hands flying back to futilely rub at the radiating ache with stinging tears blurring her vision.
"What a stupid, naive answer from my disciple, sigh..." Elder Qiao shook her head slowly, fully turning to pin her disciple with a disappointed glare that cut deeper than the punishing blow.
Seeing Li Rong stubbornly blink back the tears reddening the corners of her eyes while soothing the punished area, Elder Qiao exhaled another heavy sigh tinged with patience wearing thin. "Look at you, you're already a fully grown woman... Forget that foolish assumption."
She puffed thoughtfully on her long pipe, acrid smoke curling around her keen eyes as they turned solemn. "Have you gathered all the data I instructed?"
...
Meanwhile, Ji Wuye observed Song Jia easily trouncing her male opponent amid the riveted crowd, his crimson eyes glowing faintly with some unknown power as an inward thought brushed his consciousness,
'Hmm...the rest is still following the original timeline I recall.'
It was a surprising, unheard of fact that sent shockwaves of disbelief rippling through the audience when a mere Outer Disciple besides Ji Wuye managed to not only withstand, but decisively counter a full-force blow from an Official Disciple.
Even with the Official Disciples lowering their combat strength and power to match the participant's known level, outright victory for a lesser disciple was still considered an impossible pipe dream by the vast majority.
The harsh reality was that many Outer Disciples had crumbled into unconsciousness or incapacitation after just one exchange, even after using the hard-earned skills they got from the Tower.
But now... Song Jia had not only emerged victorious against her Senior Brother, she had utterly crushed him with almost disdainful ease while barely breaking a sweat.
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Observing the latest stream of comprehensive data flickering and flowing across the semi-transparent projection screen hovering before him, the corners of Ji Wuye's full lips curled upwards in a subtle yet unmistakably satisfied smile.
'As expected, it works precisely as I thought.' While confirming the meticulous progression of catalytic events was indeed part of his covert purpose in scrutinizing the second round of assessments, it was not the sole reason he lingered amidst the thronging crowds.
Yet Ji Wuye remained seemingly oblivious as his unconscious smile blossomed like a morning glory, his sharp crimson gaze fixed with intense, unwavering focus on Song Jia'.
For another pair of equally piercing ruby eyes studied his every minute reaction and fleeting microexpression from afar with inscrutable, rapt interest.
"Tsk!" The mysterious crimson-eyed observer suddenly vanished in an untraceable blur of motion, only to rematerialize with dramatic, reality-rending flair inside the small raised arena section where Song Jia was cupping her hands together.
A hush fell over the raucous crowds as if a switch had been flicked. Time itself seemed to slow to a viscous crawl.
"I, Mu Lan Rou, challenge you, to an honest spar with me!"