After the debacle at the sparring grounds, Kade had visited Aurora at her home on Sunforge Peak to see what exactly had happened when she’d explained Edwin’s disappearance to her father.

It had taken him a while to find the right house, since he’d never wanted to visit the girl of his own accord in the past due to their rocky relationship.

Prior to the events at the spirit well, the only things tying them together were a shared friendship with Catarina and a mutual hatred of each other.

Unfortunately it seemed that Senior Elder Fang was just a vindictive old bastard and coupled with his old suspicion that Kade was behind the disappearance of his grandson, Byron, had decided that despite the despicable actions of his future disciple, which he’d publicly condemned to save face, he would still seek vengeance on the perpetrator.

It was all rather frustrating, but he didn’t let it dampen his mood and instead focused intently on training himself with the final days before the inner sect examinations.

Despite internally cultivating the 【Flowing River Art】 for practically every moment he was awake, Kade was unable to trigger a seventh cold wave of energy.

Each time the dizzy spell would be far more intense than the last, yet the following wave would invigorate him even more and his senses felt incredibly sharper.

A few times while wandering around the outer sect, Kade had felt the tug on his mind that led towards Aaron intensifying, but he ignored it and continued to focus on his training.

Finally, the time arrived for the inner sect examinations to begin. There was no need to register, since every disciple of the outer sect was automatically enrolled for the examinations, whether they believed they had a chance of promotion or not.

These regular tests of Mystic Solar Valley’s disciples served not just to see which disciples possessed great potential and talent and deserved to advance, but also weed out those unfit to continue the pursuit of cultivation and to serve the sect in more mundane ways, or even face expulsion.

Usually, the examinations were led by a chosen Senior Elder, along with a few of the Junior Elders as assistants, but this year, as the thousands of disciples gathered in Starbound Peak’s Ceremonial Grounds, they were greeted by the fiery visage of the Sect Master.

He was a mirror image of his daughter, with pale skin tinted with red, freckles, golden eyes and a luscious mane of fiery orange hair.

A mixture of excited and nervous chatter broke out among the gathered disciples when they realised the Sect Master himself would be leading the examinations this time around, but he raised an arm and silence fell immediately.

“Disciples of the outer sect, it is my great pleasure to personally lead this year’s inner sect examinations and witness the growth and talents of you all. You are the saplings that us elders must nurture in order for the future generations of Mystic Solar Valley to achieve the impossible and lead us to ever greater heights. Do your utmost to succeed and surpass your peers, those who work diligently will always overcome those talented yet lazy individuals. Senior Elder Morrow will be overseeing the first round of the examinations which will take place in the Administration Hall, in order of your ranking,” he declared.

The Sect Master did not shout, yet his commanding and brusque voice rang out across the entire mountaintop, each disciple hearing his words as if he was speaking directly in front of them.

Based on his pathetic ranking, which he’d not had much time to increase since acquiring the Realm Engineer System and finally progressing his cultivation, Kade would be waiting in the Ceremonial Grounds for a while.

Typically, the first round of the examinations was a simple test of each disciple’s cultivation stage, in order to judge their progress since the previous examinations as well as to seed them fairly during the tournament round.

After all, if the top two disciples in the outer sect were to meet in the first round of the tournament and one was knocked out, the sect would be losing out on a precious talent to be nurtured.

That wasn’t to say that one’s cultivation meant everything when it came to real combat and indeed it didn’t matter how highly ranked you were prior to the exams if you couldn’t perform on the day.

During previous examinations there had been plenty of instances of disciples defeating opponents one or even two stages higher than them, though the latter was extraordinarily rare.

As it stood, Kade would not need to pull off such a feat, unless those disciples among the top ten had somehow managed to break through into the eighth stage of martial refinement, which he doubted.

With the assistance of the Resonant Echo Staff he was confident he could make up the difference of a single stage against opponents such as Catarina or Aurora, who were surely in the seventh stage given their exceptional talents.

He looked around the mountaintop to see if he could spot Aaron hiding anywhere; if the boy was going to strike he would need to participate in this round of the examinations in order to qualify for the tournament round.

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Despite searching the crowd for a good ten minutes he was unable to spot anyone matching Aaron’s looks, however he did catch a glimpse of Senior Elder Fang, who returned the fleeting glance with a sinister smile and a cold look in his eyes.

Kade was fairly certain the man wouldn’t stoop so low as to take personal action against a mere martial refinement realm disciple, but he most definitely had a scheme underway.

As one of the top three elders in Mystic Solar Valley, any disciples with the potential to advance to the inner sect would be clamouring to receive his personal guidance, thus bribing one to intentionally target Kade during the tournament wouldn’t be an issue.

There were plenty of ways for the vindictive old man to get his revenge and Kade simply had to make sure to be on his guard for the entire duration of the examinations.

Finally after six hours of standing around and twiddling his thumbs in the Ceremonial Grounds, it was Kade’s turn to be tested.

Once his name was called out by the familiar Junior Elder Rose, he made his way over to the Administration Hall after flashing her a confident smirk.

The Administration Hall was a colossal building, large enough to hold the entirety of the outer sect’s disciples inside at once yet decorated rather plainly.

Its main purposes were for the Junior Elders to organise the sect’s registries and finances as well as to host a portion of the inner sect examinations.

Kade glanced over at the library as he entered the towering stone doors, reminiscing on his discovery of the 【Flowing River Art】 a little over a week ago.

Due to only having unlocked the mysteries of the first page, he’d not wanted to return the original manual to the library after the allotted study time of a week was up, but given that Kade had also missed the deadline thanks to the expedition and the incident with Edwin, it seemed the librarians weren’t chasing him down just yet.

It was only a matter of time however, those disciples who attempted to steal from the library met grim fates; after all, knowledge is power and Mystic Solar Valley didn’t want to share their hard earned secrets.

The hall was set up for a written examination, countless rows of wooden desks and uncomfortable looking chairs laid out, many already filled by the disciples who’d entered before him.

He spotted Catarina waving from one of the desks near the very front and he enthusiastically smiled back, not wanting to wave in case he was already being judged by the stern looking Senior Elder sitting on the stage at the back of the hall besides a large crystal resting on a jade podium.

Kade recognised it as a measuring crystal, a common spiritual artifact which could be used to test the stage a practitioner’s cultivation had reached.

It only took him around ten seconds of brisk walking to arrive at the stage, passing the glares and curious gazes of his fellow disciples.

Each of them had already been tested, and with the exception of the very first to enter, all had been witnessed by at least one other disciple.

Even though the tournament round would not begin for another couple of days, they were already figuring out which of their peers were the greatest threats.

“Sit, place your hand on the crystal and exert the full force of your cultivation into it,” ordered the withered elder without sparing him a glance.

Kade followed the instructions, standing tall with his shoulders held high and placed his right hand onto the crystal, before focusing and pushing into it with all his might.

From the misty grey it had been at the beginning, the measuring crystal first turned the orange hue of flames, before darkening to a deep crimson then brightening into a vibrant scarlet, where it stopped.

“Kade Trelawney, sixth stage, please move to your assigned seat based on your ranking in the outer sect and await the start of the written examinations,” the Senior Elder ordered while scrawling something in a huge leather bound tome.

As he made his way down the little staircase at the side of the stage, he passed by Aurora’s desk and she offered a warm smile, which he returned along with a wink.

Their newfound camaraderie was refreshing to say the least and far less tiring than the constant barrage of insults and jabs they’d tossed at each other the past year or so.

Strangely he still saw no sign whatsoever of Aaron despite making sure to check through the rows of students near the boy’s ranking.

Perhaps the Demon God’s inheritance included some kind of disguise technique or he was simply playing truant until the tournament stage.

Did he intend to ambush Kade during a battle with another disciple? He surely didn’t expect to pull such a manoeuvre off under the watchful gaze of the Sect Master and Senior Elders.

Kade’s number one priority at that moment was the written exam anyway, he had little brainpower to spare worrying about the uncertain future.

It took him a little while to find the assigned seat, given the sheer volume of the Administration Hall, but eventually he took his place behind a mousy looking youth with unkempt auburn hair.

It was highly unusual for a disciple who’d achieved the sixth stage of martial refinement to be ranked so low and those sitting near him threw wary glances in his direction.

He’d also felt a few predatory stares from the disciples in the first rows as they sized him up as a competitor to watch out for, but he kept his head high and didn’t cave to the pressure.

Another three hours of waiting left his bum feeling rather numb thanks to the hard, uncomfortable wooden chair, but eventually the final disciple was measured and took their seat.

BANG!

The wizened Senior Elder slammed his heavy tome shut with a loud thud that echoed around the hall, shocking some of the more nervous disciples.

After handing it to one of the Junior Elders waiting on the side of the stage who also carted off the measuring crystal with some assistance, the Senior Elder stood at the forefront of the stage, facing out at the gathered disciples of the outer sect.

“Please do your utmost to complete the entirety of the written examination as it is laid out before you. Early exits will not be allowed so ensure you use the next four hours to the fullest; your futures depend on it,” the Senior Elder said, following which the rustle of thousands of disciples turning over the first page could be heard across the hall.

Kade picked up the quill that had been left on the desk and dipped it in the inkwell before tapping it gently on the copper rim.

He looked down at the first question and groaned internally after seeing the contents; written tests were truly his major weakness.