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Chapter 8

The Great Martial Path Entrance Exam (1)

Verdant Mountain.

Although its name suggested a place filled with lush forest and untamed wilderness, what Yise actually saw was a sizeable metropolis carved straight into the flank of a towering peak.

It was a bit too big to be a town, but slightly too small to be a full-blown fortress city.

What was certain was that the entire mountain was practically bathed in an auspicious energy. This had to be what those old books meant when they talked about a terrain rich with Spirit Qi.

The volume of people coming and going made Subu Village look like a ghost town. Throngs of people and horse-drawn carts clogged every path with porters hauling loads on their backs and clueless sightseers wandering in from the road.

There was the savory aroma of cooking rice, the sharp scent of incense, and a mix of unsavory smells in the air. This place was the very picture of the hustle and bustle of the mortal realm.

Yise passed a weathered signpost that read “Verdant Mountain Capital” and officially stepped into the city.

What made the atmosphere of Verdant Mountain Capital feel extra special were the things display items he had never seen before in his life. There were merchants selling Dharma Treasures and armories lining the streets, displaying not only talismans, but also Demons’ Fangs, Spirit-Commanding Bells, and relics brimming with peculiar energies.

Lining the streets. Each one of them displayed things he’d never seen in his life.

Dharma Treasure shops, weapon stalls, and inns strung up with rows of talismans, selling demon fangs, spirit-calling bells, and artifacts that hummed with odd energy.

Curiosity got the better of him and he stopped in front of a nearby Dharma Treasure shop. A sign beside the door read, “We accept both coins and Spirit Stones.”

The shopkeeper spotted him eyeing a tallman and cleared his throat. “Welcome. That one right there is a Demon-Blocking Talisman, very popular with the disciples of the Great Martial Path.”

“This thing?” Yise asked back on reflex.

He couldn’t perceive Spirit Qi with any precision, but he could at least sense the auspicious energy that came off true Dharma Treasures and Ghost Treasures, and this thing gave off absolutely nothing to his senses.

“Seems like an ordinary talisman to me.”

“Oh? Are you calling me a swindler?”

“That’s not what I mean. How much is it?”

“Thirty thousand coins. One Spirit Stone works too.”

The price was so absurd he’d have to empty every coin he afforded to it, so Yise quietly set the thing back down. It was starting to feel like most of the goods sold around here were knockoffs than genuine articles, and most of the sellers were closer to thieves than merchants.

“The Great Martial Path’s disciples wouldn’t fall for this kind of scam, so these people are clearly here to fleece the exam applicants.”

“You are one of the applicants for the Great Martial Path entrance exam?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’d recommend this one instead.”

What the shopkeeper held out was another talisman, a clunky-looking thing with the words “Great Success on the Exam” written across it.

“The top-scoring applicant from last year’s exam brought this very talisman before going in,” the man said while puffing out his chest.

“Best of luck with your sales.”

Yise pulled his attention away from the con artists posted up throughout the street and headed toward the center of Verdant Mountain Capital.

Finding the exam registration office turned out to be easier than he expected, since the crowd flowing toward it was basically doing the work for him.

It was a clean but modest government building. He waited in a long line for about two hours before stepping inside, where Great Martial Path clerks in official robes sat behind several counters.

“Next.”

The line إنched forward, and his turn finally came.

“Name.”

The clerk behind the counter didn’t even look up at him.

“Yise.”

“Origin.”

“Subu Village.”

“Age.”

“Sixteen.”

“Affiliation.”

Yise hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should drop the Ghost Temple’s name before answering, “None.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t feel like he belonged to the clan; he just wasn’t entirely sure if blurting out their name here was a smart move.

“Copy this out.”

“What a dry person,” Yise thought while muttering inwardly.

He unrolled the scrap of paper the clerk slid across the desk.

[I, (blank), hereby declare that I will raise no objection of any kind in the event of injury or death during the entrance examination. I will not disclose any details of the examination to outside parties. Violation of these terms will be met with whatever penalties and punishments are deemed appropriate.]

He copied it out quickly and asked, “Are there many casualties?”

“We don’t go out of our way to main or kill people.”

The moment Yise finished writing and set down the brush, the clerk took the application form.

“This is your registration token. Lose it, and you’re disqualified with no chance to reapply. The exam begins two days from now at the first quarter of the Hour of the Goat (1 PM) at the training ground entrance at the mountain summit. Make sure you head up the mountain early and wait.”

“Understood.”

“And a bit rude as well.”

That was Yise’s brief impression as he walked out. To be fair, dealing with thousands of people probably drained the hospitality right out of a person.

With his most important task taken care of, he headed to an inn. The shiny novelty of the city had already worn off, and he planned to eat a good meal and spend the next two days training.

He picked out a decent-looking tavern and stepped inside. The moment the door swung open, the smell of grilled meat and hot broth hit him all at once.

“You lookin’ for a bed or a bite?”

“Both. Two nights for the room, please.”

“Ah, you’re one of the applicants. Grab a seat over by the window.”

The moment Yise sat down at a corner table, he scanned through the menu board. “Anything you’d recommend?”

“Our braised meat is great.”

“Then I’ll take one bowl of chicken broth, three portions of braised meat, one bowl of thin noodles, one order of steamed dumplings, one pot of steamed egg, a large kimchi pancake, and plenty of rice, please.”

The owner’s hand paused mid-note.

“More people coming?”

“No. Just me.”

“Then why bother asking for a recommendation if you were going to order everything anyway?”

“So I could order extra of whatever is special.”

The owner is speechless at his reasoning and shakes his head slowly, “Just make sure you don’t waste it.”

“What a weird thing to worry about.”

Yise lived his life by three golden rules.

Eat well. Sleep well. And never skip a day of training.

Whatever that food was, however much of it there was, he had never once left anything on the plate or thrown away any. The word leftovers simply did not exist in his vocabulary.

Even as other patrons watched the dishes stream out in rapid succession. The steaming heat of chicken soup, the glossy sheen of the ribs, the soft and jiggly surface of the steamed eggs, roused his hunger.

And then its mouth got to work.

But to the onlooker, it was less eating and more like shoveling matter directly into a bottomless pit. The other patrons in the inn stared in fascination and horror and started whispering among themselves.

“Did some hungry ghost just wander in…?”

The owner just clicked his tongue in disbelief.

Just then, the door blew open and a boy stormed in, “Owner! Two of everything you’ve got!”

Standing in the doorway was a kid with tannin skin. He boasted a sturdy physique and remarkably handsome features. Not only that, he was wearing well-maintained, high-quality fabrics, and his haid has a clean shawn to it. The tacky head dressed screamed unculture, but he clearly wasn’t some country bumpkin.

The boy swiftly slid into the empty seat right next to Yise and started eagerly drumming his hands against the table. Oddly enough, the kid smelled strongly of a salty sea breeze.

“Wow, look at you. You’ve got quite the appetite. You taking the exam too?”

Yise gave a small nod instead of answering.

“Could be future classmates then. We should eat together.”

“You’re an applicant too. Huh. Good luck.”

Yise gave him a brief reply and went right back to inhaling his food.

“Owner! Hurry it up!”

“Dammit, kid if you wanted it fast, you shouldn’t have ordered half the damn kitchen!”

The owner’s grumbling made the boy snicker.

“What’s your name?”

“Yise.”

“Yise. Can I get one of more of each dish, please?”

“That’s an interesting name. Hat don’t kill you, you’re ordering more? Slow down a little. Nobody’s stealing your food. Food is supposed to be savored, you know.”

With that, Hae Un-chan pulled out a thermos from his bag and casually helped himself to some of Yise’s food.

“What are you doing?” Yise asked.

“You eat like you’re starving. Sharing is caring, right?”

Yise gave him a flat look. This guy was way too overly friendly. He wasn’t the type to get annoyed easily, but this was a bit much.

“Anyway, I’m Hae Un-chan, by the way.”

At that, the entire inn went still.

A clatter of chopsticks ground to a halt, and every conversation in the room abruptly died. The only sound left in the silent room was the clatter and clatter of Yise’s dishes as he kept eating.

Yise noticed the abnormality in the atmosphere but it paid no mind and stayed focused on the food.

Seeing that Yise wasn’t going to react and the fact that his food had arrived, Hae Un-chan stopped paying him any attention and got to eating.

By the time that happened, Yise had already scraped every plate clean and was licking his lips.

He’d lost count of how many times he’d ordered more.

At some point, everyone else in the tavern had cleared out, and only the two of them were left.

Yise politely raised his hand to point out what would hopefully be his last order.

“Owner. One more bowl of meat soup and two more trays of dumplings, please.”

“I’ve got nothing left! You hungry ghosts! We’re out of ingredients!”

“Then whatever’s left in the kitchen is fine.”

“Want me to show you an empty kitchen?”

Yise couldn’t understand why the man was irritated. He’d been handing over money and driving up the tab all evening. And why was he sweating so much?

The kitchen auntie back at the Ghostkin clan used to casually whip up hundreds of times this amount of food without breaking a sweat.

Mace the face of a man who had just lost his sanity, then slowly turned his head to glance over at Hae Un-chan’s table. It was a beautiful table still stocked with warm, untouched dishes.

He seated sex over and tried to pull off his friendliest smile.

“Didn’t you say something about eating together?”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Wow. Chivalry is really dead in the mortal world,” Yise lamented.

The following days.

Yise climbed the peak of Verdant Mountain.

He’d eaten as much as he had during the past two days, so his body was in peak condition. He had no idea what the Great Galactic Path’s exam would throw at him, but he was confident he’d beat it.

There was one new concern weighing on him, though.

‘My food expenses are way too high.’

He’d only eaten as much as he always did, but the costs had added up to a surprisingly painful amount. Thinking back to the mountains of food the Ghostkin used to feed him for free, he suddenly felt a heavy stab of guilt.

‘They’ll at least provide meals at the Great Martial Path, right?’

He was still musing about nothing important when he arrived at the exam waiting area, which turned out to be much larger than he’d expected. But despite its massive size, the area felt cramped due to the sea of people packed inside.

There had to be well over a thousand people present. The vast majority of them were boys and girls around his own age, or perhaps slightly older.

But as young as they were, some of them radiated a presence that stood out even from a distance.

“Quiet down. The Chief Examiner is here.”

One of the Great Martial Path’s disciples called out from the side, and the room fell silent almost immediately.

The waiting room doors opened, and a man with a neatly trimmed beard walked in. The moment he stepped inside, a monstrous wave of pressure swallowed the entire room.

“It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am Kang Yitae, the Chief Examiner overseeing this year’s entrance exam.”

The briefly silenced waiting room erupted into a chaotic buzz of whispers.

“—The Qilin Pavilion Master, Kang Yitae.”

“I can’t believe I’m seeing him in person.”

“So this is what the aura of a Core Formation Cultivator feels like…”

The man standing before them was Kang Yitae, Pavilion Master of one of the Eleven Inner Pavilions, the core fighting force of the Great Martial Path.

Kang Yitae didn’t even bother telling them to settle down. The sheer weight of the Spirit Qi in his voice was enough to press everyone into silence on its own.

Deep lines crossed his brow, whether from age or annoyance was impossible to say, yet his eyes remained as sharp as ever.

“But don’t worry. There’ll be plenty of room soon enough.”

It was an odd thing to say, but Kang Yitae didn’t seem interested in explaining himself and moved on.

“The entrance exam will be held over seven days and consists of seven different trials. Detailed explanations will follow after the conclusion of each one. So, let’s get started right to the first trial. The trial is simple.”

His next words were delivered in an matter-of-fact tone.

“All you have to do is walk through the front gate of the training ground.”