Yang Jing, Zhou Bohao, and Shen Yue followed closely behind the three stewards, walking step by step toward the raised platform at the center of Dragon Gate Plaza.
Built from heavy blocks of blue stone, the platform stood roughly ten feet high. Its surface was broad and level, and archaic beast patterns carved along its edges lent it a solemn, imposing air.
Quite a few people had already gathered around it, all Outer-Door Disciples in Azure Robes from the Profound Truth Sect Main Peak and its seven branches.
Their expressions varied. Some clenched their fists nervously, quietly regulating their breathing. Others remained composed, speaking softly with fellow disciples from their branches, evidently well prepared. These were the Outer-Door Disciples who would take the Dragon Gate Martial Trial together.
The disciples who had come to watch stood farther away of their own accord, rather than approaching the platform at will.
Only the stewards leading each branch's delegation and the Azure Robe Outer-Door Disciples about to fight stood in the open space below the platform. The atmosphere gradually grew solemn, tinged with the tension preceding an examination.
Yang Jing casually swept his gaze around, estimating that fourteen or fifteen Azure Robe disciples were present in total, drawn from different branches. Lingxi Peak had brought three, already a sizable contingent compared with most branches, which had brought only one or two.
He knew that each branch's number of participants in the Dragon Gate Martial Trial was never fixed. It depended entirely on how many disciples had reached peak transforming strength and were willing to register for that round.
Sometimes, a branch would have a cluster of such disciples and send more participants. At other times, there would be scarcely any.
In a distant corner of Dragon Gate Plaza.
Sun Ningxiang stood alone