Council Hall, the Inner Yard.
Ye Xiaotian took a piece of paper in his hand and hovered in midair under the silver moonlight.
Over a dozen young disciples stood before him. They were divided into two groups. One had many, while the other only had four.
"Here is the list of people granted slots to enter Tianxuan Gate. The top four is as everyone expected—disciples who just recently joined the Inner Yard. Mo Mo, Mu Zixi, Zhao Qingteng, and Zhou Tianshen." Ye Xiaotian looked at the four of them.
The four of them nodded, looking excited.
The secret realm of the Tianxuan Gate was the first opportunity given to new disciples by the Inner Yard. It was only opened once a year, and only 10 slots were given every year.
The amount of spirit energy found inside was almost 100 times that in the Outer Yard.
Taking just one breath of it would make one feel like they could reach the heavens.
Furthermore, it was a place where all manner of precious training grounds were found, and everyone could basically find one that suited them.
Ye Xiaotian turned his gaze to the other group, which had more people in it. All of them were the new Inner Yard 33.
"Fifth slot, Lei Lei."
"…"
"Ninth slot, Yuan Tou."
Yuan Tou was an extremely stout man with a square face and thick eyebrows. He held his Xuanming Overlord Spear in his hand, creating a frightening presence.
Even though he'd long expected his name to be on the list, he was still nonetheless overjoyed when he finally heard his name read aloud.
"Very well. This was well worth my time coming all the way here to listen to the dean babble," he thought. "Now that that matter's settled, there's only one minor matter to attend to…
"The head of Xu Xiaoshou!"
Ye Xiaotian folded the paper and said, "The 10th slot is taken, and the name shall not be announced here."
"Wait, what?"
Everyone was dumbfounded. In all the previous years, the names of the top 10 had all been read aloud. At the moment, four of the 10 slots had already been taken by the new disciples of the Inner Yard. Given that the rules were such, they could only bear with it.
Yet, they'd found that one of the remaining six slots would not be announced.
"Who is it?" A good number of people in the group asked, yet Ye Xiaotian ignored them all and looked at Zhao Shu instead.
This was a man with an extremely glum face. He had bits of frost at his sideburns and wore a white jade at his waist.
His rank was right behind Yuan Tou's, and, according to conventions, he should've been the one to take the tenth slot.
Ye Xiaotian wanted to make amends, but the voice of an old man was quickly heard. "There are only nine slots to be had for the Inner Yard, and one was given to the Outer Yard."
Everyone turned around to find an old man wearing a conical hat leaning beside an old pagoda tree near the entrance of the hall.
"The vice dean?"
"Elder Sang?"
The man's identity did nothing to quell the group's indignant rage, and someone angrily shouted, "Is there no one else in the Inner Yard? Not only is it a waste to give a slot for the Tianxuan Gate to the Outer Yard, but it's also against the rules, isn't it?"
Elder Sang then calmly retorted, "The rules of the Tianxuan Gate have always pertained to the strong, not trash."
"What the…"
This blatant, uncaring diss ignited the rage of all the disciples present, as this line meant that, other than the chosen nine, everyone else was less worthy than a disciple of the Outer Yard.
Zhao Shu took one step forward. He was obviously suppressing his anger as he asked, "I'd like to know who took my slot."
"Xu Xiaoshou," Elder Sang answered matter-of-factly.
Ye Xiaotian was baffled.
"Godd*mnit," he thought. "Why did you just blurt out the name like that? What was the point of me keeping it a secret before, then?
"Are you trying to make enemies for Xu Xiaoshou here? Isn't he your disciple?
"What the h*ll is wrong with you!?"
Elder Sang ignored all the signals that Ye Xiaotian was sending him from across the crowd.
Xu Xiaoshou was his disciple. He had his own way of teaching the kid and deemed that there was no need for external interference.
"That's all? You've got nothing else to say?" Zhao Shu was shocked by what Elder Sang had said. "Any reason, then?"
"None."
That uncaring, ambiguous tone that the elder had taken further ignited his anger. "I don't agree to this!"
"That so? Bear with it, then."
Elder Sang's tone remained flat and calm. "Until the day your power is great enough to challenge the rules of the Tiansang Spirit Palace, you will learn to bear with such indignity."
Who the h*ll was gonna bear with this?
This was the first time everyone present had seen the vice dean appear to take care of affairs, and, as such, it was also the first time they'd learned how weird the old man could be.
Ye Xiaotian was as benevolent as he could be in comparison.
Zhao Shu was unable to contain his rage anymore and emerged from the crowd with a heavy stomp. The air became cold all of a sudden.
Boom!
Before he was able to do anything else, Ye Xiaotian appeared right before him all of the sudden, flipping him to the ground with a single palm attack.
"Stop it!"
Everyone was baffled.
H*ll, the guy hadn't even attacked yet, and he had the gall to tell the other guy to stop when he'd already made the first move?
By the way… what was going on here?
Elder Sang, the dean, had also changed and knew how to beat up others too.
D*mn, some rare news that was definitely going to make the headlines tomorrow!
Ye Xiaotian saw Zhao Shu get to his feet while fuming, anger blatantly written all over his face. Ye Xiaotian then sighed exasperatedly.
"I'm trying to save you here, kid!" he thought.
"You chicks have only been in the Inner Yard for two to three years on average and have no idea that the last one who burst out like this in front of this old man was crippled so badly that he couldn't have been more crippled.
"Do these people really think I was willingly demoted to the position of vice dean?
"Do these people really think that I was the exception and took the title of vice dean?
"Even someone with a death wish wouldn't have gone about executing it like this. Do you know that even if the Council of Elders were all assembled here, none would've dared to talk to him like you just did?"
Elder Sang was about to say something before Ye Xiaotian interjected right away, "Alright, you're all dismissed. Get out, quick!"
He was afraid that didn't get the situation contained, Elder Sang would end up getting two or three more hot-blooded young ones lying on the ground.
He then took the old man wearing a conical hat to the woods as soon as he was done taking care of the scene.
"The Council of Elders has agreed to let you, vice dean, go out and travel the world. You no longer need to take care of anything here, so why are you here now?
"Are you here to stir up trouble?"
The voices became increasingly more and more indistinguishable until they could no longer be heard.
…
Zhao Shu was all frustrated. He wasn't about to let the matter slide, no matter who was behind it.
"Xu Xiaoshou."
"Who did this to me?"
Yuan Tou put his spear away and recalled the order from Lan Xinzi. Then, he had an idea.
"Shu, I…"
"Who permitted you to call me by my given name!" Zhao Shu then glowered at Yuan Tou. "I don't remember being on that familiar terms with you."
Yuan Tou grinned awkwardly. "Although I only barely won because you didn't manage to pull off your last move on me, but still..."
"Shut up!"
"…"
"Alright, I'll stop talking, then." Yuan Tou spread his hands. "I guess I'll just keep the info of Xu Xiaoshou all to myself."
Zhao Shu was still fuming inside and had nowhere to vent his anger. "Stop beating around the bush!"
…
Zhou Tianshen had gotten all excited when he heard the name "Xu Xiaoshou" called.
He couldn't have asked for a better road sign! That dude had actually been able to get himself a slot into the Tianxuan Gate despite still being in the Outer Yard. Boy, he really was something!
However, he noticed right away that something was off when he saw the reactions of those around him.
What Elder Sang said had almost made everyone present in the hall Xu Xiaoshou's enemy, and he knew that things were taking a turn for the worse.
He then looked at Zhao Shu, knowing that the man would definitely not let the matter slide after having his slot snatched.
He wasn't all that bright to begin with, yet he could still definitely tell that the man would most likely try to take revenge against Xu Xiaoshou.
"Can't do," he thought. "I have to warn him!"
Zhou Tianshen then casually walked past Yuan Tou and Zhao Shu and managed to hear Yuan Tou egging Zhou Shu on.
"If Xu Xiaoshou were to die three days after the Tianxuan Gate is opened, the slot would be back in your hands again, wouldn't it?"
Zhou Tianshen ran right away.
"Xu Xiaoshou, someone's here to kill you!" he thought.
"I can't deal with these two as I am now, but you definitely won't kick the bucket, because I, Zhou Tianshen, will make sure you're prepared."
He dashed as quickly as he could…
All the way to the Outer Yard.