"Hurry up!" Lingling was pulling Xiaomeng and weaving through the crowd. "Due to your sleepiness, we are already late."

  While being pulled by Lingling's metal-like grip, Xiaomeng lightly rubbed her eyes with her free hand. She had been woken up and pulled along without even being allowed to wash herself. Even her clothes were a crumpled mess. But she could only blame herself for this.

  Passing through the gathered crowd, the pair reached the central courtyard—the same one where the inner disciples had been distributed. But compared to the emptiness of before, there was now a large stage built in the middle, and on the four sides of the stage, large sitting platforms had been created. Even Xiaomeng was amazed looking at the grandiosity of the occasion.

  Lingling's eyes quickly scanned the sitting places. Spotting Gu Da, she dashed toward him while carrying her extra baggage. Reaching their destination, Xiaomeng was placed between Lingling and Gu Da.

  Looking at the disheveled appearance of Xiaomeng, Gu Da asked, "Why are you like this?"

  Stifling a yawn, Xiaomeng answered in a dreamy voice, "Had a breakthrough last night and entered the Fifth Layer, so I went to sleep late." Gu Da nodded at this and focused his attention back on the stage.

  Two new Qi Refinement Second Layer disciples were having a sparring match. After a few exchanges, one of them was thrown off the stage, and the other was declared the winner. But in the next sparring match, due to his injuries, the winner of the previous match was thrown down very quickly. An Elder at the Nascent Soul realm was supervising the matches.

  This continued for a few rounds before Xiaomeng asked, "Where are the others?"

  Lingling just shot her a perplexed look. "They will be coming later. Our numbers are at the end anyway."

  Hearing those words, Xiaomeng's brows furrowed. Giving Lingling a glare, she questioned, "Then why did you bring me here this early?" But with her unkempt appearance, the terror which should have been radiating from her was quite diminished.

  "Didn't you say last week that you wanted to see everything? So, I brought you here early to show you 'everything,'" Lingling replied in a confused voice. Wasn't she just following what she was told?

  Xiaomeng facepalmed in frustration. Her and her damn big mouth. She actually meant that she wanted to see the atmosphere, not the fights from the beginning. After taking a few deep breaths and calming down, she raised her head from her hands and looked around the large gathering.

  There were four large seating pavilions on the four sides of the stage. Most were already occupied by disciples, but some rows were left intentionally empty, including her own. They were most likely reserved for some special guests or inner disciples. Those remaining without seats were just standing around the stage and waiting for their turn.

  "How are we being graded?" Xiaomeng finally asked after some thought.

  "You really didn't read anything. Weren't the flyers posted all around the sect this week?" Gu Da was astounded at how someone could be so oblivious.

  "I was busy helping my Senior Sister and didn't have time to look around." Looking at the looks given by Gu Da and Lingling, Xiaomeng continued, "Don't look at me like I'm an idiot. I really didn't have time."

  "See, that is what a cultivator should be like. Instead of wasting time trying to gain fame, cultivation should be placed at the front. At least learn something from her," the old grandpa's voice echoed in Gu Da's mind. Gu Da didn't know why, but after coming to the sect, this old fossil had started to nag him at every beat.

  Lingling just made a sad face at this. "Poor Xiaomeng. If you want some help, just ask me. As for the grading, the Nascent Soul Elder is recording everything in jade slips. You are graded individually regardless of whether you win or lose, so it's okay to lose."

  Xiaomeng raised her eyes at this. Why did this little girl think that she would lose? In order to get back at those words, Xiaomeng started to rub Lingling's supple and smooth cheeks. Yes, this was real bliss, she thought.

  As for Lingling, she had gotten her cheeks pinched and squished so much by her senior sisters that it had become a daily part of her life. She now felt an emptiness in her heart if it wasn't done at least once a day. And to make matters worse, the Sixth Peak Master was the leader among those who liked to play around with her. But even with the bullying her cheeks went through daily, they would always seem as good as new the next day, encouraging this fiasco.

  After playing around a bit, Xiaomeng's attention went to the stage. Two familiar yet unfamiliar disciples had entered the stage by now. Looking at them, Xiaomeng felt a slight sense of déjà vu. She didn't know why, but from the first time she had seen them, she had been getting a strange feeling about them. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  On the stage, Meng Chou raised his voice at Shen Yi. "You should have listened to my advice and gone back. How can a cripple like you even compete with me? I am now a Qi Refinement Third Layer while you are stuck at the First Layer only. Today I will show you the difference between us!"

  Hearing those words, the whole noisy arena went silent. All attention was focused on Meng Chou and Shen Yi. The girl, Shen Yao, was standing beside the platform with a conflicted look on her face.

  Xiaomeng felt a squeamish feeling in her stomach. Lingling, who was holding her hand, suddenly tightened her grip. Even her bubbly atmosphere had gone completely silent. Lightly patting her hand, Xiaomeng could only empathize with her.

  Xiaomeng remembered the things that her mother, Su Yulan, liked to watch in the Upper Realm on the Spirit Vision Network. Since the development of technologies in some technologically advanced worlds, the progress had also spread to the whole Upper Realm. One such thing was the Spirit Vision Network, SVN, which stored and transmitted happenings from one place to another using spirit energy as a medium. It had recently grown popular among older female cultivators for letting them view several so-called dramas.

  Xiaomeng had also tried to watch and had enjoyed a few, but then the dialogues had started getting to her head due to their repetitive nature. They started to feel so forced, overwrought, and melodramatic. After some time, she had completely abandoned it. She simply could not bear the secondhand embarrassment every single time.

  And here in the lower world, she understood where the writers of those dramas got their ideas from. She wished she could beat up all those ascended cultivators who had a hand in spoiling her mother's tastes. Even her obedient Lingling was feeling embarrassed for them, her face flushed red.

  But unknown to the effect his words had wrought on the surroundings, Meng Chou continued to provoke Shen Yi. And Shen Yi was also doing a good job of being provoked. Even before the Nascent Soul cultivator gave the signal, Shen Yi had jumped at Meng Chou. And the final result, as anyone with even a little bit of cultivation knowledge could have predicted, was that Shen Yi was thoroughly beaten without even having a chance to fight back.

  After Shen Yi nearly fainted, the Nascent Soul cultivator intervened and declared the winner. But still high on adrenaline, Shen Yi remained focused on the fight. Not able to take it any longer, the Elder struck Shen Yi on the neck, knocking him unconscious.

  Meng Chou wiped the sweat from his forehead. Even though it was him doing the beating, it still took a toll on his body. Even beating someone consumed a lot of stamina. His gaze then went to Shen Yao, who still had a complicated expression on her face. Gritting his teeth, he decided to win this competition no matter what, even if he had to face the inner disciples.

  The next challenger came up on the stage. He seemed very ordinary from his face to his gait, giving off an aura of being someone of low station. He was wearing the ordinary robes of the outer disciples. Unlike the inner disciples, who had a symbol of their Peak at the hem of their clothes, the outer disciples all wore the same clothes.

  Meng Chou had never seen or heard of this boy from any of his associates. And since he hadn't heard of him, it meant the boy was just at the First or Second Layer of Qi Refinement. His win nearly settled, he once again went ahead with his verbal sparring.

  Ignoring the words coming from the stage, Xiaomeng pointed to the boy opposite Meng Chou. "Lingling, doesn't that boy look familiar?"

  Lingling just tilted her head. "Never seen him before. Why? Do you know him?"

  "Yeah," Gu Da added. "I also don't remember seeing him. From the looks of it he seems to be a normal outer disciple. Is something the matter?"

  Xiaomeng shook her head and said, "I just felt some familiarity."

  "Don't think too much. If you want, just talk to him after the match. But from the looks of it, he won't be in any situation to answer you," Lingling chirped.

  Hearing this, Xiaomeng focused back on the stage. At that moment, the Gate hidden in her Inner World let out a soft ripple. This ripple spread out through her consciousness, and the thing which was trying to cloud Xiaomeng's perception of the boy was reduced. She subconsciously uttered the name of the boy. "Zhao… Feng."

  The next moment the fight started, and with one punch Meng Chou was knocked off the stage. The whole area again fell silent, but this time for a different reason. Zhao Feng retrieved his fist, which was covered slightly in black shadow Qi. The Nascent Soul referee gave him a long look before declaring the result.

  "Qi Refinement Fifth Layer," the old grandpa said in Gu Da's head, turning his expression into a puzzled one.

  Lingling's eyes were wide open, seemingly about to fall out. Xiaomeng lightly waved her hand in front of them to bring Lingling back to her senses. "He's at least at the Fourth Layer." Lingling looked at Xiaomeng. "How was an outer disciple able to cultivate so fast?"

  Xiaomeng could only shake her head at this. The name she had unconsciously spoken had once again faded to oblivion under the perception-hiding power.

  Zhao Feng continued to fight against upcoming opponents. His goal: to measure his power and the fruits of his month of cultivation.

  Finally, after seeing the boy defeat several dozen disciples, Gu Da said, "I should get going. It is rare to find such a good sparring partner." He got up from his seat and headed toward the arena.

  The sun was right in the middle of the sky, indicating it was around midday. Gu Da stood on one side and Zhao Feng on the other. With his advanced perception of danger, Zhao Feng realized that the boy in front was several times stronger than the others he had faced. And from the warning of the remnant soul, Gu Da knew that the outer disciple in front of him was as strong as him.

  Just as the referee was about to signal the start of the match, a loud sound of shattering glass rang out. Suddenly dark clouds appeared and covered the midday sun. The air grew heavy and a tangible pressure fell on everyone in the sect. A loud cry reached everyone's ears.

  "Lu Wancheng, come out, you bastard. Today all our previous grudges will be settled!"

  Suddenly a transparent barrier appeared around the sect, enclosing it completely. Soon, large and colorful explosions could be heard erupting all around the barrier.

  Looking at the horrified faces of the disciples around her, Xiaomeng thought, Are we under attack?