Oh, brother, forgive me for my sharp tongue!

"Passing the first stages of the exams didn't require much effort.

"And so, disciple Xie Qing. You will need to use any sword technique and show us your skills," said one of the judges, adding with a smile: "Any will do. You just need to prove that you are a capable disciple."

"Alright."

A minute earlier, it was Xie Qing's turn, and upon entering the room, he met with three judges, one of whom was a woman, and the others were men. There were no biased looks towards him, and they only evaluated his skills.

And so, Xie Qing decided to use the technique that his Master taught him.

[Demon Slayer] | [Rank: Elite] | [Description: A good sword technique that allows you to accelerate attacks, and your blade easily passes through the thick skin of demons. Moreover, this technique can create several semi-real attacks based on Sword Aura, which can severely injure the opponent.]

Swinging his sword, Xie Qing attacked the training dummy. Following the main blade, four semi-transparent projections appeared, which, together with the main sword, pierced the dummy.

Immediately, the dummy turned red, indicating that the wound was fatal. Looking at each other, the judges saw hopelessness in each other's eyes.

"This young man... why is he even stuck in the outer court? With his strength, he could be at the top of the inner court now?" one of the judges Zhang Xu mentally asked.

"How should I know? It's all Xu Mei's tricks, who has sawdust instead of a brain," the woman judge reacted with obvious jealousy in her head, clenching her teeth and adding: "I know this young man well. His talent was evaluated as insignificant, but he was very handsome, and I wanted to take him as my disciple to train him as my dao-companion, but Xu Mei took him away from me! And now I've lost such a good talent!"

The two male judges looked at each other and lost their speech.

"Is that what you were thinking?! I asked you, or rather hinted, that we should transfer him to the inner court as soon as possible, and you're thinking about yourself!"

"Ah... I wanted to hook her up."

Standing on the stage, Xie Qing was silent, awaiting the judge's verdict. He did not doubt at all that he would pass this exam, because it was doubtful that there would be a situation where he would lose to others with his current talent.

And so, the judges delivered their verdict.

"You have passed the first stage. Congratulations."

"Passed."

"Passed."

Without false words, Xie Qing nodded to them and thanked them, and then his Qi was checked, which once again shocked the judges.

"Qi comparable to a peak Qi Condensation cultivator! This is amazing!"

Each of them felt awe before this young man. He not only reached Qi Condensation at the age of eighteen, but he was also so strong that he could cause a stir among peak cultivators if it came to competition in Qi quality. Of course, there was a gap in combat skills and experience.

After they fell silent for a long time, one of them sighed deeply.

"You have passed. It seems that our sect has been blessed by the Heavens. Now we can win a good place in the sect competition," said one of them.

"That's right. We have been giving in to the other sects for too long, and although there is friendship between us, we should not forget that we were once the strongest sect. Our founder would be unhappy if he lived to see our days."

The next stage of the exam was a battle with an inner court disciple. By chance, his opponent was chosen to be Zhao Zhao, who was in the 2nd stage of Qi Condensation.

"Zhao Zhao, Qi Condensation - 2nd stage? Good, this time the Goddess of Luck allowed me to touch her breasts," thought Xie Qing, sighing with relief.

At the very least, he was confident that he could show a good level in battle if there was someone at this level in front of him.

Five minutes later, Zhao Zhao arrived. He looked ordinary and had black hair and gray eyes. He was thin and carried an ordinary, sometimes battered scabbard from which he pulled out a scratched sword.

"My name is Zhao Zhao. Inner court disciple," he introduced himself without any respect, rather sounding as if he had been forced to come here.

"Xie Qing, outer court disciple... and future inner court disciple," introduced himself Xie Qing with a smile.

"Hahaha... you'll have to prove it. So don't throw around words, kid," said Zhao Zhao with a contemptuous smile.

"As you say."

Xie Qing decided not to continue arguing and just smiled. This made Zhao Zhao get a little angry.

There has always been a problem of discrimination between the outer court and the inner court. The outer court disciples were always despised by the inner court, which was already considered normal.

The sect did not intend to fight against this, as it was more beneficial for them to create competition that could create potential talents. And those who just feel despair... why should they even care about them?

The world of cultivation was a cruel place. If not at every step, then at every second step, there was a danger that could pose a potential threat even to life.

Joining the inner sect would allow Xie Qing to gain more influence, and most importantly, connections. And when it came to self-affirmation, he was not averse to using the weak. Moreover, Zhao Zhao was initially rude, so Xie Qing would not feel pity.

After a little preparation, Xie Qing drew his sword. Iron.

[Nameless Sword] | [Rank: Ordinary (Developing)] | [Description: The sword makes a "tick"]

This was the item he received after defeating Guan Baichi. Outwardly, it looked like an ordinary Chinese sword, but the difference was that it was stronger and dealt more damage.

By the "developing" inscription, it could be understood that over time, it could become stronger and reveal itself, and until then, Xie Qing needed to use it for its intended purpose.

A clap sounded from the side, and that meant that the battle had begun.

Zhao Zhao did not waste time and immediately began running toward Xie Qing, using a sword technique that made the blade glow.

"Dangerous."

Xie Qing felt danger and before the blade was about to cut his neck, he dodged and struck his opponent's legs with all his might.

"Agh!"

Zhao Zhao screamed in pain and clenched his teeth, barely holding on to his place from the force that came to his supporting leg. Thus, his sword technique was deactivated.

By the time he regained his balance, Xie Qing had already increased the distance and was looking at Zhao Zhao with an examining look.

"Vibrating Blade. A pretty good sword technique that requires the right stance and leg placement so that the channels of spiritual energy intersect in the right form. It is considered a technique of the Earth level, and if not for the limitation in the form of a stance, it would be considered Heaven level," Xie Qing thought to himself and then smiled: "Knowing its weaknesses, it's easy to defeat an opponent. You just need to deprive him of balance."

Having run away to a sufficient distance, this sword technique lost its value.

"Damn, brother, do you need to talk about it so loudly?" Zhao Zhao thought with annoyance.

This sword technique was given to him in full. And he understood its weaknesses, but when they were pointed out, his heart ached with resentment.

"I sold my collection of Huang Xiaoshi's works about immortal fairies."

...Huang Xiaoshi was an artist, but not a simple one, but a porn artist.

Learning about this, Xie Qing almost cried.

"Oh, brother, forgive me for my sharp tongue! I didn't know that your soul was covered in wounds! Your determination deserves respect!"