8 Flaming Saber Sect

"Li Zhu! Wake up you mummy! We're gonna be late!"

Slowly, Li Zhu opened his eyes, as a feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed him. Hua Shu continued to yell in his ear a few more times, before she realized in embarrassment that he had already woken up.

"Li Zhu, we need to go the Flaming Saber sect now, or we'll be late for the examination!", Hua Shu looked concerned, as she grabbed Li Zhu's arm, throwing him out of his bed.

Hitting the hard floor, Li Zhu instantly sobered up, though he was still confused, "Did I not die? Damn, i'm basically immortal! Oh wait... isn't the sect examination in a week?"

With a somewhat impatient expression, Hua Shu simply explained "you were asleep for a week after an old man saved you from death, now if we don't go we might actually miss the event!"

After the grand elder had left, Hua Shu and the bald elder had dealt with the logistics, paying the inn owner for the damages, and placing Li Zhu in a clean bed.

The bald elder had been suspicious as to why Hua Shu had been a target of assassination, though after she convinced him that she was in fact the young miss of the Hua Clan, there were no doubts in his mind that some enemy of the clan must have hired assassins to kill her.

As for Li Zhu, although his injuries completely healed, he slept for a whole week, even with Hua Shu trying to wake him up each morning.

Fortunately, though, he had finally woken up today, meaning he would not miss the sect examination.

_____

After quickly preparing, Hua Shu and Li Zhu headed towards the Flaming Saber Sect together, as they chatted about what the examination could be.

The sect was not hard to find, as the city was intentionally designed so that the main road led directly into the mountain where the sect was located.

That said, only people younger than eighteen and in the qi gathering realm had the right to enter without having a sect token, and even then it was only allowed during the days of examinations.

As they were calmly walking on the main road, they suddenly heard a brusque voice yelling, "Get out my way now, or die!"

Li Zhu, who was enjoying his walk, indifferently looked back, where a young man about his age was riding a massive wolf, which carried with it a bone-chilling coldness.

'He surprisingly has a Froststeel Wolf... he must be someone important here'

Froststeel wolves generally reached the core consolidating realm as adults, and the one the young man was riding had already grown.

"Hua Shu, who is this guy, and why does he think he is the boss here?" now curios about the arrogant young man's identity, Li Zhu asked Hua Shu, who was much more knowledgeable about influential people in the Crouching Tiger Kingdom.

"Oh, he is Yin Jing, the young master of the Yin family. Remember the two bandit leaders? They were outcasts of the Yin family, one of the four great families. Don't worry, he might be a big-shot for others but I will take him down a notch" Said Hua Shu, with a somewhat excited look on her face, as if all she was looking forward to was to beat up Yin Jing."

In Crouching tiger kingdom there were the three sects, four great families, and the royals. Out of the four great families, the Hua Clan was the strongest, and it could even contest with the royal family, who had been the leader of this kingdom for thousands of years.

"Okay, Hua Shu, be careful though, his beast is in the core consolidating realm" reminded Li Zhu, who was more than happy to see Yin Jing being brought down a few notches, regardless of whether he or Hua Shu did it.

Yin Jing, hearing their conversation, grew furious, as the thing he hated the most was being disregarded.

"Whoever you two are, regret is all you'll be feeling after today. If we weren't in Flaming Saber City, you two would be dead." And with these arrogant words, Yin Jing jumped off his Froststeel wolf, before unsheathing a long, frozen sword.

Hua Shu, accepting the challenge, drew her bow, bringing with it a trail of crimson flames, raising the temperature around it by many degrees.

It was a battle between fire and ice, as well as two heirs of great families.

Seeing the bow in flames, Yin Jing suddenly shivered, as he realized who he was facing. 'Damn, I offended someone from the Hua Clan, and for her to have that spirit bow it has to be someone influential'

As he was about to stop the fight, though, Hua Shu had already knocked three arrows, displaying the same attack he had used against the bandit leader Yin Jian.

Yin Jing was forced to defend, as he angrily yelled, "Slash of the Eternal Frost", as his sword released frost heavenly energy, freezing the water in the air, causing it to snow.

Ice was instantly formed around Yin Jing, as he slashed his sword, which now shined extremely brightly, temporarily blinding many spectators.

The two full force attacks, both polar opposites, finally reached each other, causing an explosion of steam, which spread with the wind, creating a sort of barrier in the big street.

Yin Jing, having successfully defended the attack, immediately got exited, as he yelled, "See, Hua Clan or not, I, Yin Jing, am not someone you can mess with!"

Yet as he said this, he suddenly noticed that Hua Shu had a smile on her face, as though she had already won.

Sensing something was wrong, Yin Jing raised his sword again, ready to defend any attack he could have missed, yet at that moment he actually felt his back grow warmer.

Realizing his mistake, he quickly turned around, yet the flaming arrow had already reached his sword, leaving him no time to defend with his own skill.

As the arrow hit his sword, Yin Jing was instantly thrown back from the explosion, before falling on the ground, with a miserable expression on his face.

Hua Shu had actually made use of the cover given to her by the steam to launch an other arrow, which, with her skill in archery, she had managed to arch, making it act as a boomerang.

Having been sorely defeated, Yin Jing grew angry, and with an impulsive decision, he angrily yelled at the Froststeel wolf, "Come on beast, attack them and make them pay!"

Having been trained to obey any command, the Wolf immediately pounced towards Hua Shu, who was still happy about her victory.

Seeing this, Li Zhu immediately jumped in front of Hua Shu, as he winded up a punch with heavenly energy.

The Wolf was fast, reaching Li Zhu in a single second, as he prepared to be injured yet again, in what seemed to be a trend lately.

As his fist and the jaw of the wolf were about to touch, though, Li Zhu felt an incredible pressure, which froze him into place.

As he looked at the wolf, stuck one inch from his hand, he realized it was also in the same situation, being repressed by some outside force.

At that moment, an imposing voice rang out, "No one can fight in Flaming Saber City! Today is the day of the examination, so I will let it slide for this time, but repeat your mistake once more and regardless of your backing, death will be the only option!"

As the words rang out, the short, bald elder who had killed the assassins the day before appeared, slowly walking towards Li Zhu and the wolf, before releasing the pressure.

"Remember my warning, kids, now go to the Sect, you will have a chance to fight during the examination!"

And with that, he disappeared, having left a lasting impression on Li Zhu and the Froststeel Wolf, who was now crouched into a ball, with a frightened expression.

"Come on Hua Shu, let's get out of here... the examination awaits!" said Li Zhu, as though everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.

"Okay" was all she replied, as she also started walking with him, headed to the Flaming Saber Sect.

_____

As they entered through the gate to the sect, both Li Zhu and Hua Shu looked surprised, as a great mountain came into view, adorned with many peaks, each as tall as the sky.

What surprised them the most, though, was that before stepping into the sect, the mountain could not be seen at all, having been cleverly masked by a Formation.

As with talismans, formations were also made by formation masters, and there were many different types. In the case of the Flaming Saber Sect, they had used an illusion formation, which made the imposing mountain appear completely flat, with only a few buildings on top.

After entering the sect, the two were directed to Trials Peak, where the examination would be held, by the guards at the gate.

There, thousands of young cultivators were already standing, waiting for a sect elder to introduce the first trial of the examination.

As he scanned through the crowd of people, Li Zhu was surprised to see that there were no core consolidating realm experts, which for people under eighteen was a bit weird.

Generally, even in a small kingdom such as Crouching Tiger, geniuses reached the core consolidating realm at the age of seventeen or eighteen, meaning the people here were slightly below average.

Each realm of cultivation had nine stages, and both Yin Jing and Hua Shu had reached the ninth stage of the qi gathering real at sixteen, meaning they would most likely reach the core consolidating realm before eighteen.

Although he thought it was a bit strange, Li Zhu also realized that geniuses of that caliber would have probably already joined the sect before eighteen years old.

As he was lost in his thoughts, the same bald elder which seemed to appear everywhere stepped onto the stage.

"Hello, aspiring cultivators, I am the fourth elder of the Flaming Saber Sect, here to explain the examination. It will be divided into two trials: the preliminary test, meant to decimate the number of people participating, and the qualifying test, meant to discover the talents among you."

Though the elder spoke in a low voice, everyone somehow heard his words clearly, making the weaker ones nervous.

"The preliminary test is extremely simple... break through the Thousand illusions forest within one hour!"