Immortality Starts With Generosity

It had been quiet ever since they picked a fight at the Lan family’s tavern. Not that things were quiet on the Lan family’s end but Lan Fen at least stuck to the manor and prepared herself, advancing to the Sixth-Layer ahead of the Exam.

Chen Haoran continued to train in Harmonization, bits of connection coming in fits and spurts. It was more progress than he had previously made and he was satisfied with it. He was beginning to see why Lan Fen had said higher rank techniques had more to Harmonize with. While he didn’t have a technique weak enough to compare, those brief bits of Harmony he achieved with the Canyon Carving Sword revealed something far larger than himself in its essence.

Cultivation wise he saw just as much progress. It wasn’t just his low-grade spirit roots slowing him down, it was his cultivation method as well. It was obvious in hindsight but higher quality qi took more effort to create than the qi of a lower rank technique. It explained why his predecessor only had a Profound-rank method despite coming from such a powerful family. If he wanted to advance at a reasonable pace he had to practice a method easier on his spirit roots, not that his predecessor seemed interested in practicing at all.

It had taken stacking enhanced meridians, the qi pool’s cleansing, and the high-rank elixirs he’d been eating to create his previous quick cultivation pace despite the obstacles holding him back. The advantages would wane however as he advanced further and the gaps between layers became wider. Not that Chen Haoran would think of giving up the Yellow Dragon River Refinement. He had benefited too much from it to switch at this point. He had to admit though the thought of advancing quickly, perhaps even to the Liquid Meridian realm, was a tempting one. He had to find more treasures that enhanced cultivation speed, though that was easier said than done. Chen Haoran had to admit that the ones he did have were chanced upon more by luck than anything else.

Lacking results in his Harmonization and cultivation training he focused on combat instead, much to Song Yuelin’s sadistic delight. While he took inordinate joy in slapping Chen Haoran around the training field he had a killer’s eye for errors and was quick to correct every flaw.

Xie Jin had also hung around. Chen Haoran took daily trips out of the manor to make sure he was fed and that the Lan family hadn’t shanked him and left him dead in a ditch somewhere. It was the least he could do for someone who so readily fought with him and Xie Jin was pleasant, if violently inclined, company to be around.

Xie Jin was a man of simple pleasures, he liked eating and winning and as it turned out could scarcely afford both. It had come as a surprise to Chen Haoran that Xie Jin’s reputation for losing hadn’t been an exaggeration. He had yet to see him win a single bout in the arenas, it was to the point that he was surprised Xie Jin was able to beat Lan Jia at all. He had to have some card up his sleeve at least, for all that he was quick to pick a fight Xie Jin didn’t strike him as the reckless type. Or perhaps that impression was from the sheer confidence Xie Jin radiated, even if it was undue.

Chen Haoran wished him luck with the Palace Exams nevertheless.

After all, they wouldn’t go as he expected.

The day of the Palace Exams was like any other, sunny and warm, with just a bit of humidity in the air. The exam site was to be held deep within the Clearsprings Mountains, the exact location only being released the day before. It was apparently standard procedure to have the Exams in wilderness areas where examinees would have to stay for up to three days. It sounded more like a survival course than a test to select future government officials but considering what the City Lord was dealing with in Clearsprings City it was perhaps relevant.

They set off early in the morning as a group. Xie Jin had been invited to go with them and Song Yuelin would of course never miss out. With Lan Fen and Song Yuelin around it was guaranteed that nothing bad would happen to them on the way to the exam site. They did have to scare off a few of the braver monsters though. Song Yuelin just had to release his qi for them to take the hint but being the bastard that he was he let the beasts get dangerously close before he drove them off.

Chen Haoran was thankful they didn’t run into any Liquid Meridian realm monsters like the last time he traveled this deep into the mountains. He did wonder how other cultivators handled traveling to the exam site. He got his answer when they passed a group of cultivators a hundred-strong.

“This group was organized a while ago to travel to the exam site together,” Xie Jin explained after they went around the mass. “It’s easier to ward off potential attacks and conserve energy with greater numbers. If you didn’t invite me I would have been traveling with them.”

There were three different types of groups traveling to the exam. The first were protected by more powerful cultivators like Chen Haoran’s group. The next were cultivators who decided their own strength was enough to guarantee their safety. Whether or not they reached the exam site would prove the accuracy of their assumption. The last were large groups like the one they just passed that relied on getting as many bodies together as possible. This type typically consisted of cultivators of a lower background who didn’t have more experienced family members to escort them. Chen Haoran stole of few glances back at the group, the fact that they had to resort to this just to travel to take a test was crazy.

Song Yuelin saw him looking back. “This could be considered the first test of the exam,” he said. Seeing that he had all their attention he continued. “If a test taker can’t even reach the exam area then naturally the Palace School won’t be interested in them.”

It made a twisted sort of sense if one that he didn’t agree with. “That sounds ripe for abuse,” Chen Haoran said.

“Indeed it is,” Song Yuelin agreed. “Disputes are common.” His statement was punctuated by an explosion behind them. “Like that.” He smiled. “So long as it isn’t taken too far the Exam official will typically ignore it.”

“What are the odds of us being ambushed by the Lan family then?” Chen Haoran asked. He glanced at Lan Fen. She held his gaze with a calm look and he let himself relax. With her sensing skills they’d know ahead of time, if she was still calm then there was nothing to worry about.

“I certainly hope they ambush us!” Song Yuelin chirped.

They left the sound of fighting behind them and before long a large wooden pavilion came into view. Just one of the many things the City Lord prepared in advance for the Exam Official. He was also responsible for condoning off the Exam site and preparing whatever specific ideas they had for the Exam itself. It was honestly no wonder that the City Lord was so obsessed with making sure the Exams went off without a hitch.

A crowd of earlier arrivals had already formed around the pavilion, and more poured in from various directions. Some casually followed their Elders, others arrived in various states of disarray having had poor luck in the mountains. Chen Haoran frowned, he wouldn’t be surprised if some who set out to take the exams never made it back. It all just seemed unnecessarily deadly.

“My time has come,” Xie Jin said, putting on an arrogant look.

“To get your ass kicked?” Chen Haoran asked.

“To win, you bastard,” Xie Jin harrumphed.

“I’ve yet to see you win once,” Chen Haoran replied. “I’m starting to think beating Lan Jia was a fluke too.”

“That’s it though!” Xie Jin excitedly said. “Lan Jia can pass the exam for sure and since I beat her once I just need to beat her again and take her place!”

“If it’s that simple then maybe I should join the Exam too,” Chen Haoran mused.

“Don’t even joke about that Young Master Chen,” Song Yuelin interrupted with uncharacteristic seriousness.

“I was kidding, I’m not interested in government work,” Chen Haoran laughed. He filed away Song Yuelin’s reaction in the back of his mind. “Speaking of Lan Jia, I don’t see the Lan family anywhere.”

“I am sure they are around,” Lan Fen said. She frowned and looked at the pavilion. “There seems to be a situation.”

Chen Haoran could feel the agitated energy of the crowd as they arrived at the pavilion. A single guard clad in heavy metal armor blocked the steps leading into the structure. He held a long spear in one hand and in the other a scroll. Chen Haoran stretched out his sense, Ninth-Layer.

“He serves under the City Lord,” Lan Fen informed them, her brows furrowed in thought.

Before the stand-off could develop any further the guard unfurled the scroll and cleared his throat. “By decree of the City Lord, all participants in the Palace Exams are to turn back.” He raised the scroll high and presented it to the cultivators of Clearsprings City as if it were a warding talisman.

“Hear the decree and turn back!”