"Oh, right."
Jiu Wu belatedly caught on. He had forgotten about that.
"Boss, you're the Dark Monarch."
"Yes, I'm the Dark Monarch."
Jiu Wu nodded in wholehearted agreement.
Early July, year 06 of the Eternal Night New Calendar.
Some time had passed since the Mortal Domain's Sixth Spring Examination ended, and the Retirement Clan had officially advanced to a level-four strange entity clan. Once a few remaining matters were settled, they could prepare to head for the resource coordinates left by the Heaven-Evading Strange Entity.
Nameless Mountain.
Wang Kui was reporting the results of this year's Spring Examination to Chen Fan.
"There was a bit of an issue with this year's Spring Examination. Quite a few candidates said it was unfair and demanded... a retest."
"Oh?"
Curious, Chen Fan looked up from the scratch paper on his desk at Wang Kui. "Tell me what was unfair. Were the questions leaked? Or did someone use their family connections to get special treatment?"
"Neither."
Wang Kui shook his head and continued somewhat hesitantly.
"One of the subjects is 'Blades and Swords.' It mainly serves to select talent for the War Pavilion. In previous years, those selected through this examination usually joined the War Pavilion, but something unexpected happened this year."
"Originally, the strongest candidate taking 'Blades and Swords' this time was a level-19 cultivator."
"All the high-level cultivators from the original continent already work for the Mortal Domain."
"Finding a level-19 cultivator among the unaffiliated public is already quite impressive. It means this candidate raised his cultivation to that level after spending some time in a private academy with the effects of a Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion, almost without any support from the Mortal Domain Foundation or large quantities of eerie stones."
"He's a born cultivator."
"Once he joins the War Pavilion and gets