The Maze

The Qixi Festival's here. I'm rolling around, begging for a girlfriend~

Zhu Xun soon led them to another room and handed a record over to the examiner in charge.

It listed the names and scores of the seven people who had earned extra points, including Zhou Heng. Only they needed to be recorded. Nobody knew how many of the remaining twenty-four would be eliminated, and what right did the failures have to leave their names behind?

"I'm Han Yulian, your final examiner!" A voluptuous beauty stood before them, introducing herself. She looked to be twenty-four or twenty-five, her mature charms on full display. The young men, just beginning to discover love, felt their hearts flutter. Their eyes kept wandering to her ample breasts and round, pert bottom.

In terms of looks, Shen Xinqi was no less beautiful. But when it came to allure, she couldn't hold a candle to Han Yulian.

"The final test is a maze!" Han Yulian took out a folded sheet of paper and opened it against the wall. As she turned her back to them, her plump bottom swayed enticingly. Many of the boys flushed bright red and held their hands in front of their lower abdomens to hide their embarrassing reactions.

The paper showed the maze's route, which was extremely complex.

Han Yulian pointed to a door beside her. "This is the maze entrance—" Then she pointed to another door nearby. "And this is the exit. If you can get through in half an hour, you'll pass. For every two minutes you finish early, you'll earn one point!"

"You have half an hour to memorize the route!"

This was the final test!

The martial artists' examination wasn't a direct contest of strength, but all this random stuff instead?

The young men and women were baffled, but they had no standing to criticize the Nine Spirits Sect's rules for accepting disciples. They could only grit their teeth and accept their fate, focusing intently on the map on the wall and committing it to memory.

After thinking it over, Zhou Heng felt that the Nine Spirits Sect's approach made sense.

The first test measured a martial artist's stamina and will. The second tested combat ability, and the third tested memory and comprehension. Anyone who passed in every respect would naturally be a talent among talents!

When it came to memory, he was an absolute genius. And as for comprehension—he'd already grasped three of the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles. What could he possibly fail to master?

In only five minutes, he had memorized the entire maze route. He could even construct a three-dimensional map of it in his mind. He closed his eyes and relaxed, recovering the mental energy he'd spent on the previous test.

Seeing Zhou Heng sitting there so calmly, Han Yulian couldn't help feeling annoyed. That brat was closing his eyes to rest at a time like this!

What an arrogant fellow. Did he think he could memorize the entire maze after just a couple of glances?

Hmph, a conceited fool like that deserved to be eliminated!

Han Yulian wasn't very patient. Before long, she began pacing beneath the map. That was disastrous. Her breasts swayed heavily with every step, her full curves rippling like waves.

The boys' eyes were practically dazzled. Their gazes kept shifting up and down, and losing focus was inevitable.

But some had firm wills. Shi Qingfeng, Zhang Zijun, and Chang Kang paid Han Yulian no attention at all, concentrating instead on memorizing the maze. They were all hoping to make up ground in this round and seize first place.

Soon, half an hour had passed.

Han Yulian took the map down from the wall. "Let's begin. You, first!" She pointed at someone at random.

That person looked delighted. Now that the map had been taken down, the sooner he started, the fresher his memory would be. It was forced memorization, after all, and would surely fade with time.

He didn't waste a moment, rushing through the door and vanishing around a corner.

"You, second!" After waiting a minute, Han Yulian pointed to the next person.

She sent someone off every minute. That was enough time to put some distance between each pair, making it unlikely they'd run into each other. Even if they took a wrong turn and met, they had no paper or pen to compare routes, and who would dare trust that the other person had picked the right path?

The people waiting dwindled. Han Yulian was displeased with Zhou Heng, so she sent him last. Since the brat was so arrogant, she'd let him taste the consequences!

"You, go!" At last, Han Yulian pointed at Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng nodded and stepped through the door.

The maze was dimly lit. The walls on either side reached all the way to the ceiling, so there was no hope of jumping over them to cheat. After turning a corner, he saw a lit torch every so often, illuminating the surrounding area.

Zhou Heng remained calm. A three-dimensional map formed in his mind, and he knew exactly where he was. His steps seemed to float; he didn't take a single wrong turn, heading straight for the exit.

He didn't make a single mistake, so naturally he moved much faster than the others. Before long, he caught up with the person ahead. He used Flying Cloud Steps and swept past in a flash. The person behind him didn't dare pursue at full speed, since who could be sure Zhou Heng wasn't leading him down the wrong path?

Although Zhou Heng ran at full speed without making a single wrong turn, the maze was enormous. It wound on and on, and after a full ten minutes, he finally reached the exit.

He strode out.

Han Yulian was drinking from a cup she'd gotten from somewhere. When she saw him, she spat out the water in her mouth and burst into a fit of coughing.

How was that possible?

That brat had made it out in just ten minutes! How was that possible?

He wasn't the first to finish. Shen Xinqi had set off early and had been out for seven or eight minutes, earning five points. Two of the earliest starters had also reached the exit, all within the half-hour limit.

Those who'd started earlier had no way of knowing the order in which the others entered the maze. Shen Xinqi and the others had no idea how long Zhou Heng had taken, so they had no reason to be surprised. They only found it strange that Han Yulian had suddenly started coughing in such an undignified manner.

"You, you, you—" Han Yulian stared at Zhou Heng as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Senior Sister Han, what's wrong?" In that short time, Shen Xinqi had already struck up a rapport with Han Yulian.

Only then did Han Yulian realize how badly she'd lost her composure. She quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped the water from the corner of her mouth. After staring at Zhou Heng for a long time, she finally asked, "What's your name?"

"Zhou Heng."

"Zhou Heng?" Han Yulian glanced at the record in her hand. Zhou Heng's name stood at the very top, with five points beside it!

That meant he'd made it through the entire Bronze Man Formation!

At first, Han Yulian hadn't known who Zhou Heng was. Now that she realized his cultivation was only at the Seventh Layer of Body Refining, her expression changed again and again. In the end, she let out a sigh and wrote a few words on the paper.

Shen Xinqi glanced over and saw a line beside Zhou Heng's name: "Ten minutes. Awarded ten points."

What? He'd finished in ten minutes!

Shen Xinqi's pretty face changed too. She couldn't help looking at Zhou Heng, her gaze uncertain.

She was finding it harder and harder to read him.

Twenty minutes later, more people came out. But it had already been half an hour since the last person to set off—Zhou Heng—had entered, which meant that anyone still in the maze had failed.

They counted again. Only nine people were left!

They accepted new disciples once every five years, yet only nine had passed. That was fewer than two a year, on average!

The successful candidates were naturally beaming, but when they learned that Zhou Heng had made it out of the maze in just ten minutes, the others were shocked at first, then thought little of it. After all, what good was a good memory? Cultivation didn't depend on memory!

If it took me a day to memorize a manual, couldn't I do it in two or three? What difference would a couple of days make to cultivation?

That was exactly why everyone grumbled about the Nine Spirits Sect's way of selecting disciples.

"Come with me!" Han Yulian led the nine away to an elegant courtyard, where Zhu Xun was already waiting.

"Very good!" Zhu Xun smiled at Zhou Heng and the others. "Congratulations. You've passed the final test and become disciples of the Nine Spirits Sect! Now, give me your names so I can register you!"

The nine gave their names and ages one by one. Han Yulian then brought out nine white tokens from inside and handed one to each of them.

Zhou Heng took a look. One side of the token bore the words "Nine Spirits," while the other was blank. It was much like Feng Tengyuan's token, except that one was black and this one was white.

This was probably the lowest-ranking token in the Nine Spirits Sect.

Han Yulian soon explained. "You've joined the sect as Outer Sect disciples. Once you reach the Blood Refining Realm, you can be promoted to Inner Sect disciples. The sect doesn't judge by age, only by cultivation. If you meet a fellow disciple at the Tenth Layer of Body Refining, even if they're younger than you, they're still your Senior Brother or Senior Sister!"

"Inner Sect disciples have black Identity Tokens. Once you reach the Blood Refining Realm, you can come here to exchange yours!"

"Beyond that, there are purple and gold tokens!"

"A purple wooden token represents the Spirit Gathering Realm and marks a sect elder!"

"There's only one gold token, and it belongs to the sect master!"

"Remember this. Disrespecting your superiors is a grave offense in the sect, and you'll be severely punished!"

Zhu Xun took over. "All right, follow me. I'll arrange your lodgings!"

"Yes, Senior Brother Zhu!" Zhou Heng and the others nodded.

Before long, they arrived at a huge courtyard. Zhu Xun arranged a room for each of them, so there was no need to separate the men and women. Once everything was settled, Zhu Xun said, "Every ten days, an Inner Sect disciple will come to answer your questions about cultivation. Work hard, and don't let the sect down!"

With that, he left.

Just then, people began emerging from the courtyard's various rooms. There seemed to be more than a hundred of them. Four young men stepped forward and blocked Zhou Heng and the others, each looking full of arrogance.

Looks like trouble's brewing!