"Welcome back to the main school, fellow disciples!"
The veterans of the ravine were all struck silent as they stared at all the disciples right in front of them, their eyes pointed directly forward but with their hands clasped together in a respectful manner. A gesture of respect shown towards an equal.
The veterans just stared at them in shocked silence for a few seconds. Eventually, the disciples in front of them put down their hands.
"Heh, not quite the homecoming I was expecting," Fang Zhiyong says, sidling up to Baoxian.
"I don't think any of us were," Baoxian says.
The disciple at the very front of the group, a handsome, young man in his low twenties with long, crow black hair that was tied back into a long ponytail. Tied around his forehead was a thin white sash. On his handsome face was an indifferent, almost serene gaze. His most striking features, however, were his eyes.
They were a bright, clear golden color. Yet it wasn't the luster of gold.
It was the bright, clear golden tint of lightning.
Wu Li, Zhou Baoxian, and Xue Hua were all very familiar with that shade.
His eyes are just like the ol' commanding generals, Wu Li muses.
"Chen Jiayi," the disciple in the front says. "Not only do you turn up hours later than you were appointed to, instead of dutifully returning to the rest of your fellow disciples, you loiter, wasting both our time and that of our honored fellow disciples."
"Eh, wouldn't go so far as to say I was wasting their time," Jiayi says with a grumble. "Plus, not like I was able to get in by the time I got here anyway."
"You are the top third disciple under the tutelage of esteemed elder Starry Sky," the disciple says, his voice like a calm river despite his stern words. "As such, you are under an obligation to be a good example for your fell disciples. Now come so we may begin with the initiation assessment."
"Geez, as stuck up as ever, Wen De," Jiayi grumbles. "You're almost as bad as the disciplinary dog."
Wu Li's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Hold on, Wen De? he thought to himself. As in Wen Jing's older brother? Now that I think about it, this is my first time seeing him. Speaking of which…
He took a moment to turn his head and look around. He just then realizes that his former vice squadron leader was nowhere to be seen. That was strange considering that Wen Jing usually spent every moment he could stuck to his side.
Where is Wen Jing?
He turns to Xue Hua to see that she, too, wasn't with her former vice squadron leader. But that wasn't all too much of a surprise. Outside of combat, the two of them acted much like a cat and dog put together in the same room. Wu Li didn't really like him all that much either because of his personality.
Chen Jiayi walked away, waving one last time to Wu Li before joining the front of the group with the rest of his fellow disciples. Some of them clasped their hands and bowed to him while a few others bumped arms and smacked his outreached hand. Wen De just gave him a short disdainful look before turning back to the veterans of the ravine.
"I apologize for this fellow disciple of mine if he was causing any of you any trouble," he says. "We shall sort him out after the examination. Now, let us begin."
With that, Wen De holds up two fingers. He holds them right in front of his face.
There was a shimmer as a large, transparent red dome suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It covered a very large area of the courtyard in between the two groups standing within it, an area easily large enough to accommodate every disciple within the examination area.
Everyone there was familiar with what that formation was.
"He triggered the sect's battlefield formation?" Zhou Baoxian asks. "But why? I thought we were taking an initiative skill assessment. What are we fighting?"
"Considering the…special circumstances of the current examinees of the upcoming initiative skill assessment, there will be an adjustment to how this exam will be conducted. Instead of going through the usual exam protocols, we will immediately go into a brand new revision according to esteemed Elder Starry Sky's preference."
Wu Li noticed something suddenly begin to glow from the corner of his eye. He, Zhou Baoxian, Xue Hua, and everybody nearby quickly turned their heads to the source of the glow.
Nearby, somewhere in the middle of the large crowd of veterans, a man was suddenly completely enveloped in a bright, golden aura. Everyone around him turned towards him in shock and scrambled to get away from him, but very shortly after the aura appeared, he promptly disappeared without a trace.
There was another flash of light as that very same cultivator suddenly appeared within the formation, standing on one side of it. Startled, he whipped his head around as his hand immediately went to the sword at his side.
All the way on the other side of the formation, there was another shimmer as another cultivator suddenly appeared within it. He, too, looked around, startled for a moment, before he turned right to Wen De.
"Wen De?!" he exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"The rules are simple," Wen De says, ignoring his fellow disciple. "This assessment will be a series of one-on-one fights between the former soldiers of the ravine and esteemed Elder Starry Sky's current disciples. The order and match-up of the fights have been handpicked by esteemed Elder Starry Sky according to his evaluation of your strengths and his preferences. Anything that isn't a component of demonic cultivation is allowed, including any weapon, artifact, pill, etc. Standard rules for a one-on-one fight."
He gently brushes some errant dust from the robe of his sleeve.
"Fellow disciples, if you win your fight, then you will keep your place as esteemed Elder Starry Sky. If you lose, however, esteemed Elder Starry Sky will no longer acknowledge you as a student and you will be replaced with the disciple who had defeated you. Whatever you do or whatever happens to you after that is no longer of his concern."
For a moment there was silence. Complete silence as everyone just gaped at Wen De. The two disciples within the formation were frozen in place as they just stared at him, slack-jawed, with their hands still frozen on the hilts of their swords.
The silence was promptly broken by a large cry out of outrage from Elder Starry Sky's disciples.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"No longer acknowledged as a student?! I demand to speak to the elder about this!"
"You tricked us!"
Meanwhile, the veterans standing on the other side of the plaza were frozen, equally surprised as the other disciples.
"What the-...?" Baoxian mutters.
"What is Elder Starry Sky up to?" Xue Hua asks, squinting at Wen De.
"Is he…testing us?" Wu Li asks. "That's the only thing I can think of. He wouldn't need to do something so extreme if his aim is to humiliate us. He did say he'd be changing something, but I didn't know it'd be to this extent."
"I don't think any of us saw that coming. Not even his own disciples. Save for Wen De."
Wu Li just hummed to himself. He turned his head around in another attempt to look for Wen Jing. Again, he was nowhere to be seen.
He…didn't miss the examination, did he?
As the thousands of disciples' complaints began to mesh together into an unrecognizable buzz, Wen De just sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment.
But then when he reopened them, lightning sparked from his pupils.
"Quiet."
His voice was calm, yet it boomed like thunder, almost instantly silencing all of the complaining disciples.
His aura exploded, washing over every cultivator within the examination area. Wu Li's hand instinctively went right to the hilt of his sword. He had to physically force himself to not actually draw it. Hundreds of people in his group, however, couldn't show the same restraint. Many shings rang through the air as many, many veterans pulled their swords out of their sheaths.
If Wen De seemed offended at all, he didn't show it. He didn't even acknowledge them. He moved both his hands behind his back as he looked at his fellow disciples with something akin to disdain.
With his eyes still sparking with lightning, the pose made him seem like a figure commanding complete authority.
"This is the elder's intention," he booms. "As his disciples, you are to comply. If you have a complaint, you may leave right now and save us some time. Besides, I will be participating as well and will have to comply with the same rules. This is esteemed Elder Starry Sky's wish, so it will be followed."
The other disciples looked like they wanted to complain, but neither said another word. They were all thoroughly intimidated, not able to do anything more than glare at Wen De as the lightning died from his eyes and his aura withdrew.
Wu Li felt his body relax. He inched his hand away from his sword as the ones who drew them out embarrassedly put their swords back into the sheaths.
"That's insane," Baoxian says, his voice shaking slightly.
"Is he really in the Foundation Establishment stage?" Xue Hua asks. Her eyes were still wide as dinner plates.
"I didn't realize Wen Jing had such a powerful sibling," Wu Li mutters.
Wen De turns back towards the formation, looking to the two people under it.
"Now that that is out of the way, it's time to finally begin the examination."
The two disciples under the formation both stared at Wen De for a moment longer. Then, they turned their gazes onto each other, their eyes still wide with surprise.
"You have the time it takes for three incense sticks to burn," Wen De continued as he looked down onto the plaza under the formation. "After that, if somebody isn't in a state no longer suitable for combat, then you both will be disqualified."
He waved his hand through the air in front of him. Three brown, long, thin incense sticks appeared out of thin air, floating in the air right in front of him.
"We've wasted enough time. Let us finally begin."
There was a small spark as the top of the first stick was set alight.
The two disciples within the formation at the center of the plaza stared at each other for a moment, frozen and still stuck in silent shock.
It wasn't long before they both snapped out of it, simultaneously whipping their swords out of their sheaths and getting into combative stances.