The twelve seniors successively landed in the plaza, and Shui Yun and another white-robed senior led them to rest. The other senior was also a handsome-looking man, but he looked rather severe. Yun Ruoyan heard Shui Yun refer to him as Junior Brother Mo Yun. Perhaps because of his expression, it seemed as though Mo Yun were older than Shui Yun.

The residences for the male and female students were separated. Shui Yun led Yun Ruoyan, Lin Qingchen, and Lin Qingxue to the female residences, whereas Zhuo Yifeng followed Wang Meng and the others toward the male residences.

The plaza was built on rather high ground. As Yun Ruoyan and the others left the plaza, they wound through various gardens growing all sorts of rare and interesting herbs and plants, before finally entering a courtyard designated for the female students.

As soon as they entered the yard, they saw Yi Qianying and Rong Yueshan surrounded by a gaggle of girls, talking animatedly about something. As soon as they entered, the girls looked toward them. Yun Ruoyan met Yi Qianying and Rong Yueshan's gaze before turning away and surveying the entire courtyard. It was very large, and their cottages were situated in neat, tidy rows. There were about half a dozen cottages available, most of which were closed.

“For some reason, there are a lot fewer students present at this time than there were last year. Fewer than half the students admitted have made it so far…” Shui Yun brought Yun Ruoyan and the others to one of the rooms closer to the south.

“Senior Shui Yun, we have something to report,” Yun Ruoyan began.

As Shui Yun opened the door to a cottage, she turned to Yun Ruoyan. “What's the matter?”

The girls entered the cottage, and Yun Ruoyan revealed what had happened with the horse thieves. Shui Yun's forehead scrunched up, and she looked severely at Yun Ruoyan. “Are you telling the truth?”

“Of course!” Lin Qingxue replied. “We saw it with our own eyes. If our steeds hadn't been poisoned, we would have arrived two days earlier.”

“Senior, we wouldn't lie to you,” Lin Qingchen added.

“I expect most of those students who haven't yet made it must have had their steeds poisoned to death,” Yun Ruoyan added. “This is a serious matter, so please report it as quickly as possible, Senior.”

“Alright. All of you should rest. I'll report the incident immediately.”

There were exactly three beds in the room. The three girls tidied up and lay down to rest. After a few days of travelling and walking, they were all exhausted. Yun Ruoyan very much wanted to take a bath, but that didn't seem like a wish that would be fulfilled anytime soon. As a result, she could only forget about it.

As the sun set, a servant appeared bringing food on a pushcart: a simple fare of buns, porridge, and side dishes. The students gathered in front of the courtyard, queueing up for the food. As they did so, Yun Ruoyan noticed that Yi Qianying and Rong Yueshan weren't present; likely, they had brought their own food.

After dinner, Yun Ruoyan would normally cultivate. However, given that they were entering the trial tomorrow at noon, Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen were surely a little nervous. Lin Qingxue wore it on her face, and even though Lin Qingchen looked as calm as always, Yun Ruoyan was certain that she had to be feeling a certain trepidation.

To alleviate their anxiety, Yun Ruoyan initiated a conversation with them. After talking for some time, all three of them began feeling a little sleepy. Right as they were about to doze off, however, Shui Yun nodded on the door to their cottage, stating that someone wanted to talk to Yun Ruoyan. She brought her to a residence some distance away, where she saw a white-haired, hale and hearty elder sitting down waiting for her. Beside the elder stood a white-robed man—the eldest senior brother, Ling Yun.

Six more white-robed men and women were gathered by the elder, three male and three female. They were all in their thirties or so, and Yun Ruoyan guessed that they were to be her instructors. Shui Yun introduced the elderly man as their master, Cang Shan, the elder responsible for this year's student recruitment. As Yun Ruoyan had expected, the men and women sitting beside him were to be the students' instructors.

The reason Yun Ruoyan had been called over was to investigate the horse thieves. After Shui Yun made her report in the evening, Ling Yun had personally inspected the route down the summit and indeed found quite a number of parties whose steeds had been poisoned to death. As a result, Kongming Academy had sent out a group of disciples to fetch the remaining parties.

Yun Ruoyan carefully described what she had seen, including how they had discovered the horse thieves and the sinister result of killing them. However, she didn't reveal Lin Qingchen's hypothesis regarding the exact identity of those horse thieves.

As Cang Shan and the others listened to Yun Ruoyan's description, their severe expressions became more and more so. Yun Ruoyan overheard whispers of 'medicinal puppets' and 'pillmasters', but she kept her head down in silence. After finishing her story, Cang Shan instructed Shui Yun to send Yun Ruoyan back to her cottage, where she heard nothing more for the rest of the night.

The next morning, after breakfast, the three girls sat in their room making final preparations for the impending trial.

“It's the busybodies from that cottage who made the report, giving us all these extra competitors!“ A shout in an unfamiliar voice came from outside.

“Miss Li, my cousin lives in that cottage. What happened?” Yi Qianying's voice rang out.

“Do you remember encountering some parties who lost their steeds on the way here?”

“Yes, what of them?”

“Your cousin wanted to look good, so she reported this to the instructors! As a result, the academy sent disciples all over the Kongming Mountains in search of these other parties, and we ended up with dozens more competitors!” Miss Li appeared to be quite enraged.

Many of the students who had arrived at Kongming Academy had seen these other parties on foot, but they chose not to report the matter in order to avoid having more competitors. The personnel from Kongming Academy hadn't known about the event at all until Yun Ruoyan's report.

“My cousin's always like this, trying to show off and look good in front of her elders. I can't believe she still hasn't changed!” Yi Qianying stoked her anger.

“We can't just let them get away with this. She'll have to be dealt with sooner or later.” Miss Li didn't seem like a very kind person.

Lin Qingxue got out of bed.

“Qingxue,” Yun Ruoyan commanded. “Sit down.”

“Sister Ruoyan, they're intentionally saying this outside our cottage! If we don't go out, they'll think we're easy to bully…” Clearly, their tactic worked very well on Lin Qingxue.

“Treat them as two rabid dogs,“ Yun Ruoyan replied calmly. There is something unusual about that Miss Li, though... Last night, when she had made her report to Shui Yun, no one else was present, so how did this Miss Li find out that it was she who made the report? One of the instructors or seniors that had been present had to know the Li family.

“Do you know of this Miss Li?” Yun Ruoyan turned to Lin Qingxue.

Neither she nor Lin Qingchen enjoyed mingling with others, so they were unfamiliar with the other scions of the capital. On the other hand, Lin Qingxue had quite a few other noble friends.

“No, I don't.” Lin Qingxue was apparently still quite angry. “I encountered her last night in the washroom. Her nose is humongous, and she looks like someone from the Mo kingdom.”

She's from the Mo kingdom? How unexpected.

Right before noon, the bell tower began to toll once more, and someone came to the cottages to inform the students to gather at the plaza. An hour later, more than a hundred students had assembled. Yun Ruoyan, Lin Qingchen, and Lin Qingxue stood together. Yun Ruoyan waved at Zhuo Yifeng, whom she had spotted from afar, and pulled him into their group. Once everyone had gathered, Cang Shan stood on stage as he announced the rules for the upcoming trial.

“Only twenty participants will be able to pass this trial.” When Cang Shan said this, hushed whispers erupted from the gathered crowd.

“Why are there so few students being admitted this time?”

“In past years, they've always admitted at least thirty!”

“Could it be because of the poisoning?”

The fact that there was a quota was intimidating enough, but the unexpectedly low number of students who would pass caused quite a commotion. This meant that the competition would only get stiffer, and the students murmured in dissent.

“Furthermore, all students must hand over their storage rings and all spiritual weapons of fifth-tier and above.”

The murmurs grew even louder.

“Why do we have to hand over our storage rings too?!”

“And our spiritual weapons?!”

“Everything I prepared was in my storage ring. If I hand it over, doesn't that mean that I won't have anything left?”

“Stop talking, quick—hide some of your valuables on your body!”

“Silence!“ Ling Yun shouted from beside Cang Shan. Because he'd imbued spiritual energy into his voice, it reverberated through the crowded plaza, easily putting an end to the hubbub.

Cang Shan continued, “Because of some peculiar reasons, of the two hundred students that were invited, only one hundred and thirteen have made it to this trial. As a result, after some prolonged discussion with the elders of the academy, we've chosen to limit the number of passing students accordingly to ensure the quality of students who ultimately enter Kongming Academy.”

“What? How could this be?!” Most present were shocked by this conclusion.

“I thought that we'd have fewer competitors... otherwise, I'd have lent a horse or two to those stranded parties…” someone muttered in vexation.

“Sister Ruoyan, this time, some petty people won't dare to talk badly about us, will they?” Lin Qingxue announced loudly. In front of them, Miss Li and Yi Qianying's backs stiffened as they made a pointed effort to keep looking forward and not turn around.

To choose only twenty students from one hundred and thirteen meant that ninety-three students would ultimately be forced to leave the academy. The competition was stiff indeed.

Cang Shan continued, “Collect as many beast cores and spiritual herbs as you can within the next three days. Based on the quantity and quality of the collected materials, you'll all be ranked from top to bottom. The top twenty students will pass the trial.”