Fairy Far Reaching Feather smiled kindly at us all. “As you may have realized, the number of arrows corresponds to the number you pulled. However, asking you all to dodge or defeat so many arrows at your age and realm is… difficult.

“Because of that — and because this sect believes that great risks should come with great rewards — I’ve been approved to give out something special...

“For every arrow above ten that you’re successfully able to dodge or takedown, the sect will award one contribution point.”

I took out my paper and glanced at the 888 on it.

Fuck. This was too tempting.

Sure, these motherfuckers were likely trying to get me to give up before I even started the trial — and sure, they might also try to kill me by throwing enough mundane arrows at me — but I knew exactly what to do with those 878 contribution points... if I could survive to the end.

Fairy Far Reaching Feather actively looked each of us in our face. She must have noticed a few kids who had no idea what she was talking about because she continued, “Within this sect, contribution points are almost impossible to get using spirit stones. They can only be earned through completing sect missions or trading with others who have them. There are some things that you can only purchase within the sect by using them.

“Things like access to the various scripture pavilions.

“I shouldn’t have to explain the importance of those, but for those few who don’t know, they are places where you can go to learn new techniques or find a whole new cultivation method that suits you better.

“You can also use them to buy time with a master who can help you choose a path that best suits your needs. Or access to the various Treasure Pavillions where you can find spiritual tools you can’t get outside the sect unless you’re part of a major clan.”

That last part was one of the major reasons I decided to come back to this place. Some things in this world were hogged by the major powers. Even with my knowledge of the future, going through the sect was the only way could get my hands on them.

At least not if I wanted to stay alive long enough to make it to Immortal Ascension again. Only a third of the leftover disciples vibrated with excitement. The others looked grim.

They were probably expected to face too many arrows. Since this was supposed to be a fair trial, these kids’ numbers had to be between 13 and 887.

This meant that, like me, plenty of them had higher numbers.

“Of course, you’re free to give up at any point,” Far Reaching pointed out as if she were helping everyone. Then her gentle smile seemed to gain a hint of sharpness. “But if you do, you’ll never make it into the inner sect in your lifetime.”

Fuck that. It was only 888 arrows. I could easily take care of those... if I were stronger. At the second layer of Qi Condensation — this was going to be a challenge even for me. Unless I decided to do some things that would raise a few eyebrows and go against the spirit of the challenge.

I didn’t plan on doing that.

From this point forward, I would no longer be hiding my strength (not that I was very good at that in the first place).

Actually, I always found that, while hiding one’s strength could help save a person during times of crisis, the person who hid their strength didn’t always get what they wanted and rarely got what they deserved. Sometimes a show of strength was the only way to get the fucking point across.

Oh, sure, there was that example about how farmers always cut the wheat stalk that grew the highest but that didn’t take into account a stalk that was too durable or bendy to even be cut down.

That was the type of wheat that grew to the heavens.

I was like that!

... Or maybe I was more like one of those carefully cultivated prize-winning giant pumpkins. Whatever.

***

In the second group of ten disciples, about half passed the trial. The other half fell in various ways.

In the third group of ten, only about a fourth passed.

In the fourth group, none passed. Two gave up entirely.

And in the last group before myself. Only one person, number 466, didn’t give up... because I bribed him to try it by using a few dozen spirit stones. The poor guy couldn’t keep going once he took an arrow to the knee and fell off the bridge.

As each person went, I spent my time studying the patterns that the arrows attacked in and extrapolating the various ways those patterns could expand given the expected 888.

“Fairy Lin. Number 888. You’re next.”

I stepped up to the line, pulled my hairpin out, and turned it into a sword.

When the kids across the chasm heard my number they crowded around the cliff. I could make out from their body language that they were shocked by my number.

I took out another protective talisman and stuck it to my arm.

“If you expect me to face 888 arrows without a weapon and some protection…”

“You know,” Far Reaching Feather interrupted with a smile that looked both gentle and condescending, “there is no shame in giving up when you know you can’t handle something.”

I brought my sword up to rest on my shoulder like a gangster and turned to her. Wearing the biggest, most tooth-filled smile I could manage I said, “Don’t you think 888 is a lucky number? Just imagine all those contribution points!”

She coughed. “But aren’t you scared? Facing so many arrows at only the second layer of Qi Condensation?”

I laughed. It may have sounded evil. Or crazed. Frankly, even after all of my analysis, I felt a bit crazy for facing this many at this level.

“To get everyone in the sect to willingly call me ‘Great Martial Aunt’ I should — at the very least — be able to handle this much.”

Then, I kept laughing and took my first step.

This sect may have a few bad actors but its tests still had rules they conformed to. I discovered early on that one of those rules made it so the arrows could not be shot simultaneously.

888 arrows were too many to shoot at someone from the center of the rope, so whatever was controlling this test started shooting at me immediately.

Using my divine sense, I could see each arrow form within the fog, then fly towards me. This gave me a major advantage.

I moved my sword off my shoulder and knocked the first one down. Then I batted away the next one that came from the other side.

Then the next one, and the next.

One even came from below. I wrapped my feet around the rope and jerked it over to block it.

Honestly, with so many arrows coming at me, I almost felt like I was playing the Xianxia version of… what was that game from my past-past life? Dance Dance Arrow Revolution Stomp? Whatever. It was kind of like that… except the arrows here were sharp, coming from every direction, and possibly trying to kill me.

At one point five were sent towards me almost simultaneously. The way they were positioned was like a trap waiting to kill me the moment I made a wrong move. It was a shame for whoever planned this that I already knew how to deal with this situation. I bent my knees and jumped while twisting in mid-air. The arrows flew right past me and I landed gracefully back onto the rope, slashing my blade down to cut the next three arrows.

Right now I could imagine those old geezers in the observation area standing up in surprise. By now, they probably realized that I was no ordinary disciple. Hell, even a Nascent Soul master might have trouble pulling this shit off when reduced to just the 8th layer of Qi Condensation.

But I was a grandmaster who reached Immortal Ascension. This was a difficult challenge. But it wasn’t impossible. Not for me.

That didn’t mean it would be easy.

By the time I’d defeated a hundred arrows, I could sense that something changed. There was a pause as if the whole challenge was taking in a breath.

I took a few unobstructed steps forward.

Then, out in the distance, a wave of black streaks fell toward me. A hundred arrows. All shot almost simultaneously.

I guess I’d pissed someone off.

Good.

Muahahahaha!

I raised my sword and slashed down sending a single beautiful arc of sword Qi towards those arrows. For the ones that made it through, I casually took care of them by using a few innocuous body movements.

This was the first time I had to use my sword Qi in this test.

There was another pause as if the person or spirit controlling this test was shocked that I’d survived.

Then the sadistic goat archer sent two hundred arrows at me almost simultaneously. Half from the right and the other half from the left.

They bore down on me like two flocks of blackbirds about to have a very bad time.

My heartbeat sped up. The tingle of possible death tightened my scalp.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. This was so… fun!

This time I chopped down on the left once using Hundred Cuts, then once again on the right.

The arrows split, creating a huge pile of debris reminiscent of that time Little Spring thought I‘d taken revenge on a tree.

Most of the wood shards dropped far before they reached me, however, a few small pieces had enough momentum to keep going. They bashed against my robes. One even scratched the back of my hand. I even bled a little!

Considering my body cultivation level and the fact that these were supposed to be mundane arrows and not murder arrows... well, someone had some things to explain once I reached the end of this trial.

I took a few more steps where nothing attacked me. Finally, I reached the middle of the bridge having destroyed 400 arrows in total.

Of course, by now they must have realized that I was able to use a Hundred Cuts as a Qi Condensation practitioner. They were probably out of their minds with shock. Bet they didn’t think I’d make it this far.

I was kind of looking forward to seeing what they planned next.

The moment I took a step beyond the middle and started walking up the rope, they started firing single arrows at me again. This meant it was once again time to play Dance Dance Arrow Revolution Stomp.

Perhaps they were just trying to find my blind spot. They were trying in vain! A cultivator who could use divine sense as well as I could, had no blind spot!

Or maybe they wanted to determine if I’d been injured so they could use that against me.

I knew these bastards. Great to have on your side, terrible to have against you. The only way to win was to be better than them.

I reached the point where only a quarter of the rope was left (along with around 430 arrows) to traverse before I made it to the end.

Then, nearly all of the remaining projectiles shot towards me. They came from all directions and blocked off the regular escape routes. This made them difficult and wasteful as fuck to destroy them all using something like Thousand Cuts (I was still keeping in reserve).

Honestly, when I saw this I — metaphorically — coughed up blood. Considering the advanced arrows they were throwing at me... these fuckers were seriously trying to kill me!