Inner demons?

Perhaps because he had been the last to finish his first-round match, the two allies swung their swords at him together the moment he stepped onto the platform.

Thunder rumbled along one of their blades, lightning flickering over its surface.

The other seemed to practice a summoning art. His sword rose into the air, then suddenly produced ten phantom flying swords that formed a simple sword formation, trapping Shen Leyan in a corner.

Clearly, they considered him the weakest of the four and wanted to eliminate him in one decisive assault.

Shen Leyan used the Azure Shadow Profound Art to seek gaps in the formation through which he could dodge. At the same time, he raised his sword to block one opponent's attack, used its force to spring into the air, and twisted midair to escape the formation.

Then, before either could react, he began running all over the platform.

The pale azure afterimages left by the Azure Shadow Profound Art were dizzying. Sometimes, halfway through a run, even Shen Leyan could no longer tell where he was or when he had left a particular afterimage...

At first, the two allies pursued him with their swords. Gradually, they realized they could not manage even half his speed, and their blades could not touch him at all, so they decisively gave up.

If they kept chasing him, who knew when this match would end?

They turned back to fight the remaining contestant.

Given a brief respite, Shen Leyan immediately stopped to regulate his breathing.

He also took the opportunity to observe the others' movements as they fought.

Ordinary movement techniques and sword moves followed established patterns and could be anticipated. Only after reaching a certain cultivation level could one break free of an art's inherent constraints and make the sword move at will.

But anyone at that level would not be attending the Apprenticeship Ceremony.

In less than fifteen minutes, the lone contestant fell under the pair's combined assault.

Shen Leyan brushed the dust off himself and sighed inwardly.

Ah, time to start running again.

Young and foolish, I failed to appreciate a good fight and treasured running away instead.

He looked at the two of them, and they looked back. They were probably all thinking the same thing.

This match would likely only end once one side exhausted its Spiritual Power.

Shen Leyan smiled slyly. "Are you two sure you want to keep teaming up to chase me? You've seen my movement technique. You won't be hurting me anytime soon."

"But your Spiritual Power isn't endless. You'll run out eventually."

He had a wind spiritual root, and someone with a single spiritual root recovered Spiritual Power somewhat faster than ordinary cultivators.

Even if this became a battle of endurance, he was confident he could outlast them both.

"Feel free to try—but a word of warning: don't use all your strength chasing me together. What if you work yourself to death while your ally slacks off and secretly saves his strength, then stabs you in the back and eliminates you too? Surely neither of you wants to do all the work for someone else's benefit?"

Sowing discord was unpleasant, but he had to admit that sometimes it really worked.

Although the two allies knew he was deliberately trying to divide them, their expressions shifted, hesitation and wariness flashing in their eyes.

A temporary alliance between strangers with conflicting interests was fragile to begin with.

Shen Leyan had no doubt that even if they decided to continue pursuing him together, one might stab his own ally first.

"Enough nonsense! If we fight among ourselves, won't you be the one who profits?"

One of them shouted, lightened his body with a surge of energy, and took the lead, thrusting his sword at Shen Leyan!

His opponent's sword stirred the surrounding wind. The paths of every upward flick, thrust, swing, and movement seemed hidden within it.

But Shen Leyan's cultivation was still too shallow for him to fully perceive its mysteries.

He could only wait until the sword wind drew close, then dodge with its momentum.

Boom!

Thunder exploded beside his ear. He could almost feel the violent Spiritual Power contained in his opponent's sword, powerful enough to make his blood surge—

The blade sliced off a strand of black hair. Shen Leyan retreated several steps and improvised with a perfectly serious expression, "Careful. Your ally looks ready to summon his sword formation again. Watch out, or he'll cut you down too."

"Shut up!"

"No!"

"This brat's too slippery. Let's eliminate him together first!"

"Your sword seems slower than before. Are you secretly saving your strength because you're afraid you won't be able to beat your ally later?"

His opponent looked as though he had suffered an unbearable insult. "Whose sword are you calling slow?!"

"Honest advice is hard to swallow. Why won't you listen when I'm telling you the truth?"

His opponent flushed with anger, his aura and Spiritual Power growing somewhat erratic. "You're only in the Middle-Grade Qi Refining Realm. What gives you the right to criticize my swordsmanship?!"

"If your cultivation is so high, why can't you catch me?" Shen Leyan caught his breath. The boy was handsome and looked well-behaved, yet his words made people want to thrash him with a bamboo switch. "Why can't you catch me?"

"You can only run because you learned some special movement technique!"

"...You can only chase me because you learned some special sword technique!"

"Why are you copying me?"

Shen Leyan grinned. "Why are you cop~y~ing me~?"

He took mockery to its absolute limit.

His opponent flew into a rage and hurled insults even more vigorously.

Above the steps, dozens of Reflection Stones projected a huge screen before the elders who oversaw the main peaks, displaying the fights on every platform.

The elders offered occasional comments and discussed which main peak to assign particularly outstanding contestants to.

Most platforms were almost devoid of voices, filled only with the ringing clash of weapons.

Only Platform Seven was especially lively. Two contestants chattered back and forth like a pair of childish boys bickering.

The elders found their attention drawn there and could not resist watching a little longer.

One said, "That disciple with the Thunder-Metal Dual Spiritual Root has fierce, forceful swordsmanship. He's also in the Upper-Grade Qi Refining Realm and close to a breakthrough. He's just right to become my disciple and inherit my teachings!"

Another said, "Oh, isn't that disciple running all over the Martial Arts Training Ground Shen Leyan?"

Several elders glanced toward Lu Yuanyi.

"Sect Master Lu, if you intend to take him as your disciple, what use is giving him nothing but a pretty, useless peace pendant?"

"Indeed. With such excellent spiritual root talent, it's a real waste not to teach him some powerful arts."

Surely a disciple Sect Master Lu had his eye on should be a better fighter. The boy had practiced his movement technique well and possessed fairly substantial Spiritual Power, but he could hardly win a match by dodging forever, could he?

Half an hour later.

The two allies realized they had consumed most of their Spiritual Power. Neither continued chasing Shen Leyan. They each sat down to rest, watching one another warily while making a show of shouting at him.

"You... stop damn well running... Once I get some strength back, I'll beat you up!"

Shen Leyan squatted where he was to rest too. "I'm not running—honestly, you two haven't even used up your Spiritual Power. You were holding back while fighting me earlier, yet you're pretending you're already exhausted.

"Instead of secretly worrying about when your ally will betray you, why not just fight each other first? You've seen it yourselves. All I can do is run. I'm no threat to you."

The two allies exchanged a glance.

Hmm...

That slippery little brat they could not catch at all seemed to have a point.

Then let the fight begin!

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as the flying sword formation clashed against the other blade with a ringing clatter.

Finally able to catch his breath, Shen Leyan hurriedly massaged his aching calves and ankles. Had he not recently traveled to the Southwestern Territory and encountered an assassination attempt deep in the Cloud Radiance Sect's mountains, spending his time either traveling or fleeing, he probably could not have lasted this long.

After all, although he still had Spiritual Power left, it could not always eliminate physical fatigue completely.

Before long, the two fighters settled their match.

But the remaining disciple with the Thunder-Metal Dual Spiritual Root had not escaped unscathed. Several sword wounds on his arm seeped blood, his Spiritual Power was depleted, and he could barely stand steadily.

Shen Leyan walked over and poked the tip of his opponent's sword... The Spiritual Power coating it was now so thin that, when he touched it, the lightning was barely stronger than the static from a sweater in winter.

*(◔◡◔)*

Then he could hardly be blamed for showing no mercy...

Seeing Shen Leyan standing so close and even teasing the sword in his hand, while he himself lacked the strength to unleash his sword moves at their former power, his opponent shook with helpless fury.

"Y-you—you—you—you—"

"I think I'm pretty shameless too, but I can't help it. Those are the rules of the match—I have two bottles of good wound medicine. I'll give them to you afterward."

"Who wants your wound medicine?! Don't think you can bribe me!"

"Then shall you keep chasing and I keep running?"

The disciple stared wide-eyed, panting heavily. Suddenly, tears filled his eyes, and with a pop, a large snot bubble emerged.

Shen Leyan: "..."

"Hey—even if you cry, I still can't concede."

The disciple's quiet sniffles turned into loud sobbing, and he squatted on the ground, frantically wiping away his tears.

For a moment, Shen Leyan had no idea how to comfort him. He could only turn a pleading gaze toward the elders above the stone steps.

Soon, a burly elder with a full beard came down and addressed the disciple.

"Enough. What kind of behavior is this, bawling when you're a cultivator? Your Spiritual Power is nearly exhausted, and you're no match for that boy now—but I see that your spiritual roots are good, and their attributes suit my teachings. Would you be willing to become my disciple?"

The disciple was instantly overcome with surprise and joy, laughing through his tears.

"Yes! Yes! Greetings, Elder—oh, no, greetings, Master!"

The surrounding spectators looked on with envy and offered their congratulations.

Shen Leyan also cupped his hands and bowed to him.

Before leaving the platform, the disciple turned back and said, "After I cultivate under my master for another year, I'll definitely be able to catch you!"

Shen Leyan smiled. "Sure. We can have another match then!"

After two rounds, only one-eighth of the contestants remained on the platforms. Shen Leyan made a rough count; there were fewer than forty left.

Their Jade Tokens all recorded twelve points.

"In the final round, you will no longer be fighting your fellow disciples."

As soon as the Law Enforcement Hall elder finished speaking, a person-high vortex appeared on each platform.

Black energy churned within the vortices, accompanied by waves of sobbing whose voices could not be identified as male or female. They exuded an ominous feeling that made people instinctively want to keep their distance.

"This is the Boundless Gate, a magical treasure refined from a Mind-Peering Demon's demon core. Those who enter will find themselves within an illusion, experiencing what they fear most and least wish to face deep within their hearts. Once your minds are disturbed enough that you lose your composure, the Boundless Gate will automatically eject you—leaving the Boundless Gate counts as elimination."

The Boundless Gate was used by many major sects to help disciples who had long been stuck at a bottleneck overcome their inner demons.

Activating it once consumed an enormous quantity of spiritual medicines.

But its effects varied from person to person.

Some could defeat their inner demons within the Boundless Gate and make tremendous advances in cultivation.

Others emerged from the Boundless Gate with even greater fears and anxieties, their cultivation regressing drastically instead.

By giving them a chance to enter the Boundless Gate during the Apprenticeship Ceremony, the Cloud Radiance Sect was truly sparing no expense!

No wonder Lu Yuanyi had been refining pills in the Cicada Song Pavilion so often recently. He was earning money for the sect to cover the cost of using the Boundless Gate.

The elders should be able to see everything that happens to us inside the Boundless Gate.

If I experience scenes from the Immortal-Demon War in the Boundless Gate... how am I supposed to explain them to the elders?

The Boundless Gate could peer into people's hearts and weave illusions. In other words, whatever they thought of would appear inside the Boundless Gate.

The original novel's descriptions of the Immortal-Demon War had left an extraordinarily deep impression on him. He could practically recite many passages by heart.

If day and night flip upside down, stars fall, mountains collapse, and tens of thousands of cultivators and demons wage war inside the Boundless Gate... what the hell am I supposed to do?!

Shen Leyan could not help feeling apprehensive.

But the Law Enforcement Hall elder had already announced the start of the third round, and some contestants had already entered the Boundless Gate. It would look rather strange if he remained standing there without moving.

The boy pressed his lips together, a grave look gathering in his eyes as he slowly approached the Boundless Gate.

When his body touched the black vortex, he felt the world spin around him, as though he had instantly been swept into another world...

Above the stone steps, Lu Yuanyi withdrew his gaze and suddenly raised a hand. The screen displaying the Boundless Gate Shen Leyan had entered instantly vanished.

Several elders were mildly surprised. "Sect Master Lu, what are you...?"

The dangers within the Boundless Gate were unpredictable. These screens both recorded the disciples' performances and ensured that the elders could intervene promptly if they encountered danger, preventing accidental deaths.

Lu Yuanyi offered no further explanation, merely saying, "I'll watch over him."

The elders: "..."

Fine, then. What else could they say?

They could not possibly compete with Sect Master Lu for the disciple he wanted.

These young disciples had yet to experience much, so they generally would not encounter anything too terrifying within the Boundless Gate. With Sect Master Lu personally watching over him, that disciple was certain to be safe.

"Sect Master Lu, then what about His Highness the crown prince of Great Xia's screen...?"

The imperial family had always harbored many secrets.

No one knew what the crown prince might experience within the Boundless Gate. It might involve many important figures in the imperial family and court. They wanted to watch, yet also did not...

Lu Yuanyi nodded. "Put away the crown prince's screen as well."