Soon, the day of the Heavenly Strategy Academy's entrance examination arrived.
Early morning.
Daylight had barely broken when a hubbub of voices filled the area outside the Heavenly Strategy Academy's Beast Arena.
A thin layer of frost had fallen the night before, leaving the bluestone paving damp and cold, but it did nothing to deter the young martial artists who had come from across Cloud Prefecture.
At a glance, there were several hundred of them.
Some wore brocade robes and jade belts, clearly scions of great clans. Others wore simple training clothes with long sabers hanging at their waists, yet carried themselves with exceptional composure.
Others, like Lu Chen and his companions, wore the standard fitted uniforms of the Martial Temples' Dragon-Tiger Guards from various cities.
The Dragon-Tiger Guard uniforms differed slightly from city to city.
Some were embroidered with tiger patterns, some had red piping on their shoulders, and a few wore bronze plaques at their waists signifying meritorious service.
But regardless of their backgrounds, nearly everyone standing here with a recommendation letter in hand was among the finest young talents of their respective cities.
Lu Chen followed Shen Siqi and Yuan Jiyun through the crowd.
Along the way, people kept sizing one another up.
Their gazes moved from weapons to hands and footwork, then swept over one another's auras.
Although the examination had yet to begin.
The competition had actually started the moment they stepped into the academy.
"So many people."
Shen Siqi glanced around.
Talking as they walked, the three soon reached the Beast Arena's entrance.
Once they stepped inside, the view abruptly opened up.
The entire Beast Arena spanned several hundred yards.
Instead of ordinary soil, the ground was covered in broad stretches of hard, dark-brown sand, with deep furrows torn by sharp claws still visible