Chapter 20 - Dilemma

"Hey, yeah you. The short guy. There is a line. Can't you see it? We're standing here for three hours. Don't skip the line. Move back."

A Big bulky-looking man harshly scolded poor Xie Ra. Another well-built tall man pushed Xie Ra back. Nobody showed any kindness to him even after they saw his beaten-up status.

He sighed and tried to wipe the sweat dripping on the left side of his face. Throbbing pain emerged as soon as his fingers touched the skin. Even with this brief contact, he realized how swollen his cheek was.

It was so unfair. The truth was that Xie Ra did not try to cut into the line. He was there from the last evening after senior Huang left. Now it was almost the break of dawn.

So why was he treated like this? It was the fault of some rich-looking kid who arrived a few minutes before with his sidekicks. The kid was thin like Xie Ra but his henchmen weren't.

They asked Xie Ra to leave. Naturally, he was bewildered and reflexively asked back why. Even though he didn't mean any harm, because of this, he earned a free pass to get beaten up to a sorry state.

Whoever was right or wrong, the final result was Xie Ra had to stand up as the final candidate. This was going to be a long day for him.

Creek

A noise of the front side gate opening echoed in the air. Everyone who stood in the line got excited. They tried to take a peek at the person who walked through the opened side gate.

However, Xie Ra didn't even try to join these peeping toms, not because he was very patient But, he was too short to see that person even he tiptoed. Not to mention his far-away spot in the line.

After a few minutes, Xie Ra heard the first candidate's name being called aloud. That person must be the rich kid who stole his spot.

Xie Ra wondered how this evaluation process might go. He never knew because he joined the Immortal sword sect as a 6-year-old kid. He was directly sent under the wing of his old shizun.

So, Xie Ra did the easiest thing he could do to know what was exactly happening at the front gate. He talked to the candidate in front of him and asked politely.

The other one replied, "The sect disciple told him to go inside."

Wow. Inside? So, he might be able to take a look at the sect. Xie Ra was excited. The line was long but, it was worth the wait.

*********************************

After many hours, it was finally Xie Ra's turn. He was a bit anxious as he saw more than half of the candidates walking away with disappointed faces. What if they reject him too?

May heaven's show some mercy!

He stepped inside the gate behind the sect disciple.

His hope shattered as soon as he stepped in. There was another wall around the sect, hiding the sect's full view.

The previous candidates were called into the wide space between these two walls. It was isolated from both the outside world and inner sect buildings.

Suddenly, Xie Ra understood that this was the training ground of outer disciples.

A person who wore white inner robes, and black and white outer robes, sat on a wooden bench under a large tree. He had a long white beard that reached his chest. His look was similar to Yan Lou but, this person's hair was tucked into a long ponytail, unlike Yan Lou's bun.

Metallic gold ribbon which had a centrally embedded black jade glistened on his temple. Golden stripes made various designs on the shoulders and chest area of his outer robe. His belt had the same dull gold color, and many black jades were embedded into it beautifully. His long white trouser legs were tucked under the pair of black boots. These boots had a golden, pinky finger-width top border.

Xie Ra fell in love with the sect uniform as soon as he saw it properly.

The disciple who called him inside wore the outer disciple uniform. So, this was the first time he witnessed the official Jade sword pavilion uniform.

Xie Ra bowed to him politely and greeted him.

"Are you ready to face the sect entrance exam? It's unique to the person who faces it."

"Yes, I'm ready, Elder," Xie said confidently.

Then the outer disciple walked towards the Xie Ra and blindfolded him. His vision was covered with pure darkness.

"Don't remove this for anything." The disciple said to him. Xie Ra nodded in agreement.

"Take three steps ahead, child." The elder called Xie Ra kindly. Xie Ra lifted his right foot to step towards him.

However, before he put down his foot, his instincts warned him about the danger ahead. Something sharp was slightly pressed to his heart.

"Is this a test to check bravery?" Xie Ra thought and tried to step forward.

"No. Stop. Please, don't step on my charm. brother, please let me take it." Someone screamed. Xie Ra halted his movements. However, he didn't take off his blindfold as he was advised.

"What? Don't you know how to work carefully? Why it's on the floor." He heard the outer disciple scolded someone.

"I was sweeping this morning."

"Don't you know that you are ruining this kid's entrance exam? If we remove the *exam array now, he will have to wait until next week to face the test.

Little brother Xie Ra, step as you were told. It's his carelessness. You can buy him a new one."

"Noooo, it was a gift from my brother. I don't want another one." Xie Ra heard a light sob.

From all these conversations Xie Ra figured out, that someone dropped something valuable in the ground. Maybe, it was covered in the dust as he didn't notice anything before getting blindfolded.

The new person sounded desperate when he said it was from his brother. Xie Ra felt that this thing was something irreplaceable for its owner.

On the other hand, if Xie Ra tells others to remove the array on examination grounds, he won't be able to participate in the entrance exam until next week.

Xie Ra took the risk and bowed without removing his blindfold. Then he said,

"Please lift the array. I will come next week."

A silence was hanging in the air for many minutes. Then the sect elder talked to Xie Ra. "Do you know that the next exam might be harder than this?"

Xie Ra sighed. Then replied, "I will take the risk elder. I can't step on his treasure like that."

His blindfold was suddenly removed by someone. Then that person hugged Xie Ra. Xie turned his head and saw that was the outer-disciple brother from before.

Another middle-aged person was standing near the sect elder. He wore the same sect uniform the elder wore. He nodded at Xie Ra in approval. The elder walked towards the Xie Ra and patted his back, saying,

"Welcome Junior, you *passed the exam."