A, B, C, D

Was it snowing?

No.

Yet before everyone's eyes, snowflakes seemed to suddenly drift through the air.

They fell only around Li Hao, within three feet of his sword's edge.

Every snowflake brimmed with piercing cold, refracted from the sword light, just as the sword art's name suggested: Falling Snow.

Its level was... true state.

Before Li Hao, the burly young man's pupils contracted sharply, and he stood rooted to the spot.

The countless snowflakes in his vision swept like a raging storm, yet that storm rested in the boy's palm, as though he wielded the power of heaven and earth!

The biting cold did not sweep over him. Only... a wisp of snowflakes gradually spun out of the storm, floating lightly toward him and brushing his cheek.

A faint chill.

The burly young man instinctively touched his face. It hurt, but there was no blood.

His gaze froze, his body rigid where he stood. With a sword in his hand, he looked like a valiant swordsman, yet his arm trembled, and he made no move.

Soon, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the snowflakes filling the air vanished like an illusion.

Li Hao casually tossed the sword back onto the weapon rack, where it slid diagonally into its sheath. The clang as its hilt settled sounded like breaking ice. The burly young man jolted as though waking from a dream, and everyone present snapped out of their daze.

Just now, everyone had seemed to fall into a dream.

But had it really been a dream?

An eerie silence settled over the scene.

At last, Li Hao's cheerful voice broke it. "Now, does that count as passing?"

The burly young man came to his senses, stared blankly for a moment, and said, his tongue seemingly tied in knots, "Y-you win."

They had not exchanged blows, because he could not withstand even one. He had not even possessed the courage to draw his sword. His defeat was utter and complete.

The other Tan Palace Academy students nearby stared at Li Hao in horror. They had thought Li Yuanzhao's earlier display of valor was unrivaled, only to discover someone even more outrageous.

What sword art was this?

For starters, it had to be supreme-grade, and he had even performed it at the perfection level!

They could hardly be blamed for thinking so. Although the Falling Snow Sword Art was high-grade, its power at the true state level surpassed even a supreme-grade sword art at the perfection realm by a small margin...

"What an exquisite sword art!"

"Heavens, it was like seeing an illusion! I actually saw snowflakes just now!"

"So did I. This is ridiculous!"

"A sword art from the Divine General Residence must be top-notch. Don't tell me he's already trained it to perfection? How long would that take?!"

Coming back to their senses, everyone stared at Li Hao in shock.

They had long heard of the Divine General Residence's great reputation. Today, their eyes had truly been opened.

Si Xiaolan stared blankly at Li Hao. With such exquisite swordsmanship, there was no doubt he could pass the first two trials through his own abilities.

Were these her peers from a divine general's lineage? Were they really all monstrous talents?!

"Hao Ge!"

Beside him, Li Yuanzhao was even more excited. He had never expected Li Hao's swordsmanship to be so profound. Naturally, his discernment surpassed that of these aristocratic scions, and he recognized the Falling Snow Sword Art Sister Xue'er had once performed.

Yet Li Hao's level was clearly higher than Sister Xue'er's had been back then. He even felt it surpassed the perfection realm.

Li Hao smiled at the excited Yuanzhao without saying anything.

He merely felt a faint stir of nostalgia, wondering what level that little girl in the Sword Hermitage had now reached with this sword art.

Recalling the days when he had guided her sword practice in the courtyard, a smile curled his lips. But he quickly gathered his thoughts and addressed the burly young man before him:

"So... where do we go next?"

"Huh? Oh, oh... just head straight this way. An instructor is waiting for you over there."

The burly young man hurriedly replied, an involuntary trace of reverence appearing in his eyes.

The starting point of princely and noble families was indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people like them.

Li Hao nodded, then led Li Yuanzhao around the burly young man and along the steps of the path ahead, strolling onward without a care.

Behind them, everyone only recovered after watching the pair's figures disappear.

Then someone suddenly thought of a question:

"Why did they have invitations? Could it be because their strength meant they never needed to take the trials in the first place?"

At those words, the others understood at once, then fell silent.

Earlier, they had all assumed it was because of the Divine General Residence's illustrious background, and had felt somewhat resentful. Now, however, that resentment dissolved.

Si Xiaolan's pretty face shifted slightly. She gently bit her lip, realizing she had misunderstood them.

Tan Palace Academy had stood for hundreds of years. How could it be a place that merely fished for fame and praise? Why would it stoop to any means to curry favor with the powerful?

Within Tan Palace Academy's mountains stood a vast stone-stele plaza.

Many young figures had gathered there, all gazing at the stone steles in the plaza and contemplating the cultivation methods inscribed upon them.

At the edge of the plaza, however, two old men sat in a corner, playing a game of chess.

"Oh dear!"

Suddenly, one of them, a short, stout old man who had been racking his brains, seemed to remember something. He slapped his thigh. "I nearly forgot! There are still two invitation holders I haven't gone to receive."

"You mean the ones from the Divine General Residence?"

The Gray-Robed Elder opposite him looked up in puzzlement. "It shouldn't matter, should it? Those youngsters from the Divine General Residence can breeze through the trials. They'll get here even if you don't fetch them."

"If it were anyone else, that would be fine. But have you forgotten? Marquis Xingwu's child is a cultivation cripple who can only temper his body. Everyone was talking about it around ten years ago, though it's quieted down now."

The short, stout old man hurriedly rose. "If he falls during the second trial and dies, we'll be in serious trouble!"

"Well..." The Gray-Robed Elder was alarmed too. That was Marquis Xingwu's only son, after all. He hurriedly said, "Then go, quickly."

The short, stout old man nodded and whistled. With a rush of wind, a great bird with a wingspan of seventy or eighty feet sped over from afar. Many of the young figures by the nearby steles looked up, drawn by its arrival, as the bird slowly landed before the old man.

"I'll wait for you..." the Gray-Robed Elder said.

Watching his old friend depart on the bird, he muttered, annoyed at having his game interrupted, "If I'd known this would happen, we could've just sent five invitations in the first place. But no, they had to bring along an extra hanger-on."

As he spoke, he lowered his gaze to the chessboard.

Suddenly, the more he looked, the more something seemed wrong. He immediately cursed, "You bastard! You ran off because you were about to lose!"

The short, stout old man was named Shen Yunqing, though there was nothing light about him. Riding his monster bird into the sky, he headed toward the second trial.

Aside from escaping the chess game, he genuinely worried about the situation at the second trial. He hoped Old Tang there knew about the boy's condition and would carry him across the cliff.

Suddenly, his gaze shifted, and he saw two figures walking together along the mountain path below. They wore splendid brocade clothes and carried themselves with extraordinary bearing.

He could not have been more familiar with the general's insignia on those clothes. They belonged to the Divine General Residence Li Family!

"Hmm?"

Surprised, Shen Yunqing immediately ordered his mount to descend.

A bird's cry and a fierce wind swept down from overhead. Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao both stopped and looked up, seeing an enormous three-eyed monster bird descend before them and hover several dozen feet above the ground.

A short old man sat behind the bird's neck. He craned forward to look at them, apparently finding something that confirmed their identities, then smiled and leaped off its back.

Waving the monster bird away to fly off on its own, he smiled warmly at the pair. "You two must be the young masters from the Divine General Residence. Which courtyard are you from, and what are your names?"

Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao were not particularly surprised by his courtesy. Their backgrounds were simply too illustrious. People were always warm and polite upon meeting them, even prominent figures and powerful nobles.

"This is my brother, Li Hao. My name is Li Yuanzhao."

Li Yuanzhao spoke with a touch of sturdy, guileless simplicity, yet a wary gleam shone in his small eyes.

Shen Yunqing immediately glanced at Li Hao in realization. A long-buried memory charged back into his mind. The Li Family boy whom the Yu Emperor had named over a decade ago seemed to be called Hao... Li Hao.

This was him.

No change showed on Shen Yunqing's face. He nodded slightly to them both and smiled. "They didn't give you any trouble, did they? Come, I'll take you ahead to join the others."

He simply assumed the pair had enjoyed unobstructed passage thanks to their invitations.

Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao did not know the old man, so they said little along the way.

The three walked leisurely onward. Li Hao looked around at the mountain scenery, thinking that Tan Palace Academy had a rather pleasant environment. If he spent much of his time here in the future, at least the surroundings would be easy on the eyes and refreshing to the spirit.

Soon, the three reached the far end of the plaza.

Over a hundred people had gathered there, clustered around three stone steles.

"What's this...?" Li Yuanzhao looked questioningly at Shen Yunqing. Among the crowd, he also spotted Li Yun and his sister, who had come up the mountain ahead of them. Both stood by the stele with the fewest people.

"Everyone who reaches this place is qualified to enter Tan Palace Academy and is considered an official disciple."

Stroking his beard, Shen Yunqing explained with a smile, "But even among disciples, aptitude varies. Our Tan Palace Academy has four class ranks: A, B, C, and D. Students are sorted according to aptitude, to avoid mixing fish eyes with pearls, with less gifted students holding the more gifted back, and the more gifted bullying those with poorer aptitude."

"That's why we have these three stone steles. They record three cultivation methods: low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade!"

"Each has a different difficulty."

"Anyone who comprehends the high-grade method and reaches the entry level within three days may enter Class A. Those who reach the entry level in the mid-grade method may enter Class B."

"Those who reach the entry level in the low-grade method within three days enter Class C. Anyone who fails to reach the entry level in any method within three days will be assigned to Class D."

Shen Yunqing smiled. "In Class D, anyone whose test results place them among the bottom three each term will have to take a retest. If they fail that, they will be advised to withdraw."

Li Yuanzhao listened, enlightened.

Li Hao asked, "What if they don't take the advice?"

The smiling Shen Yunqing could not help freezing. Refusing advice to withdraw?

(End of chapter)