Naked Sword Art

In the large colosseum-like waiting area, Xiao Fang and Xiao Hei were leisurely standing off to the side while under [ Stealth ].

Even though he didn't mind if the girls recognized him, it still would've been a bit annoying if they did.

While looking for the two, Li Xiang spotted someone else she knew.

"Bai Fan!" Li Xiang shouted happily.

Bai Fan quickly turned away and started walking in the opposite direction, hoping that Li Xiang would catch the hint. Bai Fan was a popular girl because of her high cultivation and background, but she preferred staying away from the spotlight as much as she could. Right now all eyes were on Li Xiang, and she was bringing their attention to Bai Fan as well.

"Bai Fan, what class did you get put into?" Li Xiang asked Bai Fan after catching up to her.

"Erm, I'm not sure. They gave it to us after we completed the exam," Bai Fan replied.

"Considering that you're a first year and that you came in first place, I wouldn't be surprised if they put you directly into the Tiger Class."

"Maybe, but I didn't finish first. Zhao Pan did," Bai Fan admitted.

Before today, Bai Fan had never compared herself to anyone older than her. She just assumed that if the girls older than her were her age they would've stood no chance against her, but after seeing how strong Zhao Pan was, she was beginning to have second thoughts.

Zhao Pan was a year older than Bai Fan, but she was already at the 1st stage of the Spirit Refinement realm and 9th stage of the Body Refinement realm. What Bai Fan was struggling to understand was why Zhao Pan would stay an extra year in the outer court.

'Was she unable to get the merit points in time?' Bai Fan thought.

The real reason didn't have anything to do with her merit points, but everything to do with the Disciplinary Department.

With Elder Yao's help, Zhao Pan became the head of the disciplinary department in only a year. Then, to follow in Yao Wu's footsteps, she stayed an extra year in the outer court to build up experience as the head of the outer court's disciplinary department.

...

In a separate room, a few elders seemed to be discussing the results of the exam.

"Why are the numbers so low?"

"Only a 1000 disciples passed the exam this year, that's less than half of last year. Could the disciples really be getting weaker or are the tests the supreme elder prepared just too difficult?"

Suddenly, the Supreme Elder walked into the room. The group of elders quickly all paid their respects.

"What are you all doing in here? Everyone is waiting for you to announce the results," the Supreme Elder said.

"My apologies, we were just waiting for your group to finish."

As the inner court elder was speaking, the Supreme Elder was making her way towards the table. She then picked up the brush then wrote down three names.

[ Fei Lin ]

[ Li Xiang ]

[ Long Wang ]

To everyone's surprise, after writing down the third name, she had put down the brush.

"Supreme Elder, this..."

"Go find their masters and inform them that their disciple had passed the exam," the supreme elder said before getting up from the chair and walking away.

The other elders were speechless as they watched her leave.

"How could there only be 3?"

No one knew the answer to this, their gut was telling them that there was something wrong with the maze challenge the Supreme Elder set up. They wanted to go check it out for themselves, but right now they needed to bring the exam to an end.

.

.

.

The audience composed of inner and core court disciples were getting tired of waiting. They could see that there were only about a thousand disciples that had passed the exam, but they just assumed it was because the disciples were all weak. Unfortunately, this also made Li Xiang and Bai Fan's accomplishments seem less impressive

As the disciples gossiped about how weak this year of disciples were, an elder suddenly materialized on center stage.

Using her spirit qi to amplify her voice, the elder began to speak, silencing the crowd.

"On behalf of the sect, I would like to first congratulate all of the disciples that passed the exam tonight. The exams were much harder this year than the previous years, so it's a surprise to all of us that so many of you were still able to pass it."

'Ah, so that's the case,' the disciples in the crowd thought. While most of the disciples were convinced by the elder's words, of course there were a few that were skeptical.

The elder began to say a few more words before moving on to the part everyone was waiting for.

"Now it's time we reveal the classes you've been put into."

The elder on stage then took out 3 crystals from her sleeve.

"If your spirit mark lights up, please walk up to the stage."

Hearing the simple instructions, the disciples started to get excited.

["I'll tell you when your spirit mark lights up,"] Xiao Hei said to Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang gave her a light nod.

The elder then placed the first crystal into the strange looking stone podium in front of her. In the next moment, a bright light shot out of it, displaying what looked like an enormous ant in the sky.

Suddenly, the light on the upper right arm of several of the disciples could be seen lighting up. Since it was dark out, it was easy to see the spirit marks shining through their clothes.

The disciples then climbed up onto the stage. There was a faint applause since the insect class wasn't much of an accomplishment.

After the applause died down, the disciples got off the stage.

The elder took out the first crystal then put another one in. This time an image of a snake appeared in the sky. This time many of the disciples were cheering for them as the Snake class was not something many people could easily get into.

Xiao Fang was a bit relieved that Xiao Hei hadn't said anything yet. He knew that the mysterious elder had given him a class, but he didn't know which one.

'It seems the elder didn't go back on her promise after all,' Xiao Fang thought.

"Next up, the Tiger Class," the elder announced.

Suddenly, the spirit mark on Xiao Hei's arm began to light up.

["Xiao Fang, that's me."] She said via spirit transmission as she let go of his hand.

["Xiao Hei, wait. My spirit mark, has it..."]

Xiao Hei looked back at him then at his arm, but she didn't say anything. However, saying nothing was as good as an answer itself.

["I see."]

Xiao Hei, as well as Li Xiang and a few others walked up to the stage. The crowd cheered louder than ever before. The Li family clansmen seemed to be cheering the loudest, but they were known to be a very loud group so it didn't surprise anyone that a few of them were even crying tears of joy to see Li Xiang up there.

The Tiger Class was a class only a few could hope to achieve before the age of 25, but Li Xiang was already being placed there at the age of 19.

Despite everyone cheering for her, Li Xiang seemed to be feeling a bit gloomy. There were only a few people standing on the stage with her, but she didn't see the person she was hoping to see.

'Where is Bai Fan,' she thought.

As the disciples were getting ready to leave, the elder finally took out a final crystal from her sleeve.

Meanwhile, Xiao Fang was still standing against the wall with a slight frown and a dark aura being released from his body. The people closest to him were still some distance away, but when his Death Reaper aura reached them, they started to feel a slight chill. However, since Xiao Fang was using [ Stealth ] they didn't know where it was coming from.

Xiao Fang wasn't mad that he didn't get into a class, he just didn't like that the elder lied to him.

'Dammit. Why is this pissing me off? I already knew how much the elders in this sect treated men, so something like this shouldn't be a surprise to me,' he thought.

Suddenly, Xiao Fang's knuckles began to crack just from clenching his fists too hard. He tried to suppress his anger, but it was still getting to him.

'I was so sure,' he thought.

Sensing that Xiao Hei was coming back, he cleared his mind and tried to suppress his anger the best he could, but there was still a bit lingered inside of him.

["Don't worry, Xiao Fang. I'll still be able to give you whatever cultivation resources they give me."] Xiao Hei said through a spirit transmission.

Seeing Xiao Hei being so optimistic lightened his mood a bit. He patted her on the head then gave her a little smile.

"You're right. This may be a bit of a set back, but it won't change anything. Perhaps this is what I need to keep a low profile."

Looking through the prize she got for making it into the Tiger class, they were both surprised.

> 5,000 merit points

> 3 advanced spirit cultivation pills

> [ Illusory Body ] method.

The design on the merit points were different from the merit points they received while they were in the outer court. Since Xiao Hei had no use for those things she immediately gave it to Xiao Fang.

After putting the spatial pouch away, he eventually noticed the strange expression on Xiao Hei's face.

["What's wrong?"] He asked.

["Your spirit mark, it's lighting up."]

["What? Why would it-"]

Xiao Fang quickly realized that everyone was starting to look up, then a single thought crossed his mind.

["Xiao Hei, quickly tell me what are they all looking at!"]

Xiao Hei looked up as well, but was mesmerized by what she saw.

"It's a, a..."

Unable to handle the suspense, Xiao Fang quickly took his blindfold off, then looked straight up at the night sky. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw the spectacular figure dancing in the air. Like Xiao Hei, he was now speechless too.