The Curtain Rises

"The exam has begun."

As the calm announcement finished its final sentence, the waiting barrier burst with a "pop," like a bubble that had been pricked.

At the same time, the signal transmitter responsible for maintaining the barrier that protected examinees' lives during the exam gave a faint clicking sound and jammed in a deliberately concealed corner.

Shisui tapped the ground and shot forward. His feet shifted and darted, and he vanished into the dense forest.

The examination grounds for the All-School Alliance's unified entrance exam for higher academies and sects were vast.

Not only did they contain a large number of Second and Third Realm secret realm creatures for the examinees to face as trials and challenges, they could also accommodate the nearly 200,000 examinees taking part.

According to the exam requirements, examinees were to hunt and kill as many secret realm creatures as possible within 72 hours to earn points.

Points could also be stolen, so examinees needed to protect the admission brooches that stored them.

At the end of the exam, each examinee's score would be the number of points in the brooch they turned in.

At that moment, in the unified exam's chief proctoring team's monitoring hall at All-School Alliance headquarters, surveillance footage from every examination site across a total of twelve cities was playing.

The exam had been underway for an hour, and sounds of fighting echoed from every corner of the examination grounds on the many screens covering three walls.

The proctoring team began collecting information on the examinees' performances at each site. Although it was still early, some examinees had already distinguished themselves.

"Examination ground 01406, Yang Liuliu, peak Second Realm, currently at 12 points, provisionally in first place."

"Examination ground 01302, Ma Li'ao, peak Second Realm, currently at 11 points, provisionally in second place."

"Examination ground 04211, Li Gao, mid-stage Second Realm, currently at 9 points, provisionally in third place."

"Examination ground 03304, Zhang Guangzong, early Second Realm, currently at 7 points, provisionally in fourth place."

"Examination ground 06109, Xie Wutong, mid-stage Second Realm, currently at 6 points, provisionally in fifth place."

"..."

A recorder rapidly reported the current leading examinees, and a small portion of the surveillance equipment then began paying special attention to these seeded contestants.

Of course, the unified exam proctors were not the only ones watching the surveillance footage. Outside the examination grounds, many factions and examinees' parents were also watching the exam unfold.

"The top two are both from Zi City. The capital really lives up to its name!"

"The exam only started an hour ago. It's still too early to say who'll come out on top."

"The top three are all children from our prestigious families right now. Good, keep it up."

"Xie Wutong is that awakened with a top-tier fire attribute talent the Reformist Faction poached, right? Heh, she's really courting death!"

"Zhang Guangzong? Which family is he from?"

"Never heard of him. Could he be a fish that slipped through the net without being recruited?"

"Forget it. Since he's not on our side, let's get rid of him too!"

"Agreed."

"Hmm? That brat from Yin City's Chen Family has run into people from the Reformist Faction? Interesting. Their family has placed the biggest bet this time. Have someone lend them a hand and turn the surveillance cameras away."

"Understood."

A surveillance camera swept over a forest where a group of people had gathered, then quickly turned away.

At that moment, Shisui—or rather, he should have been called Chen Xiao for the time being—was keeping a low profile among the group behind Chen Haoyu.

Not long before, around an hour into the exam, Chen Haoyu had gathered all his family's descendants from Yin City who were taking the exam, forming a team of nine.

Aside from Chen Xiao, who had entered in violation of the rules, half the group were at the peak of the First Realm, while the rest were at the early Second Realm.

With this considerable assistance, Chen Haoyu was confident he could compete for first place in Yin City, or even the top three in the unified exam.

They were preparing to set out in search of prey, but before they had gone far, they ran headlong into another team of examinees.

"Tch!" Chen Haoyu clicked his tongue in displeasure. He clearly knew the person leading them.

He lightly rubbed the ring on his little finger and began interfering with the surveillance equipment. Then he turned his head and quietly instructed, "Don't hold back."

Hearing the faint killing intent in his tone, the Chen Family members tightened their grips on their steel blades, all prepared to kill.

Chen Xiao glanced around absentmindedly. He had little interest in this kind of petty skirmish and planned to halfheartedly cut down a couple of people later to satisfy his employer.

"Hey!" The leader of the opposing group approached and said hostilely, "A good dog doesn't block the road, Chen Haoyu. If you know what's good for you, get out of the way!"

"I was wondering who was barking. Turns out it's you, traitor. Huang Mingze, you don't actually think switching sides at the last minute is something to be proud of, do you? Should I give you an award?"

Chen Haoyu's eyes were full of disdain. Shortly before the unified exam, Huang Mingze had suddenly torn up his agreement with a prestigious family in Yin City and entered the exam through his high school instead.

After using the resources the family provided to cultivate for half a year, he had gone straight over to the rival Reformist Faction. He was clearly trying to get more out of it.

"Don't make it sound so bad. I've left the darkness for the light. I'm doing my part to overthrow the prestigious families' dark rule."

"You're just a loose collection of prestigious families that failed to seize power. What, waving the banner of reform has got you all fired up again? You've really got some nerve!"

Chen Haoyu couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. After stalling for a while and confirming that the surveillance cameras had turned away, he wasted no more words and gave the order. "Attack!"

A melee erupted in an instant!

Chen Haoyu struck first. His high-grade wind talent operated at full speed, and he rushed in front of Huang Mingze in a flash, bringing his blade down.

"Clang!"

The two blades collided. Huang Mingze's talent was no weaker, and he managed to block Chen Haoyu's sudden sword strike.

The tremendous force knocked the two apart. Beside them, the Chen Family's younger members clashed with the eight others Huang Mingze had brought, a dazzling variety of talents flashing in succession through the air.

Huang Mingze exchanged several more moves with Chen Haoyu. When he realized what was happening, he found that his companions had suffered quite a few injuries.

Although they had more people, they also had more First Realm fighters who couldn't use their talents proficiently. With one side gaining as the other lost ground, it was inevitable that they would be at a disadvantage.

And once his underlings were defeated, he would face an attack from all sides.

By then, never mind competing for a good ranking—even whether their battered, defeated group could make it through the three-day unified exam would be another question.

"I'll cover the rear. Retreat first." Huang Mingze knew very well that the most urgent task was to complete the unified exam. He had plenty of ways to deal with Chen Haoyu and wasn't in a hurry.

He led his people in a slow retreat, but Chen Haoyu, having been provoked, wasn't about to let him go.

Seeing that his family members couldn't do much to Huang Mingze's group for the moment, Chen Haoyu immediately gestured to Chen Xiao, who was slacking off nearby.

Oh↗ ho→, that gesture meant to hurry up and kill the people opposite them.

All right!

A hint of life finally appeared on Chen Xiao's face, which had been full of boredom. He hefted the standard-issue longsword, which felt feather-light to him, and rushed into Huang Mingze's team the instant he spun it into a flourish.

A flash of sword light passed, slicing through four people's necks like butter. Their heads were sent flying by the sword qi.

Huang Mingze froze in shock. Before he could react, another four examinees had their throats slit by a single sword strike.

The next moment, the explosive sound of a cold gleam cutting through the air reached his ears, and a warm crimson flower bloomed on his chest. A sword had pierced his heart.

In less than three seconds from start to finish, the fight was over.

Chen Xiao flicked his wrist, flinging the blood remaining on the blade away. He also left the Radiant Feathers, which contained spatial energy, there before walking back to Chen Haoyu's group.

"N-not bad. Let's go. We need to rack up points quickly."

Chen Haoyu had some idea of Owl's strength, but actually seeing an opponent who had been evenly matched with him killed in an instant by a single strike from Owl was still somewhat unsettling.

He hoped the Hidden Realm Ring's self-destruct program would be enough. Otherwise, he didn't know how he would silence him afterward.