7 Path of the Lilies

The students cheered up when the competition was over. They didn't expect to see such a wonderful battle from the new students. It was truly exciting.     

Even though they lost in the end, it didn't seem that their seniors could handle them easily either. It needed a lot of effort on their side to be able to defeat these new students. It seemed that the Elite Disciple truly lived up to their name.     

"It's already 100 lost," Qin Zheng smirked. "You need to work harder, Little Lass."     

Ye Jiao sent a glare straight towards Qin Zheng's direction. "I'll surely surpass you sooner or later."     

"We shall see about that. Now, you should take some rest."     

"You too," Ye Jiao turned around and returned back to her seat. Even though she felt a bit weak because she no longer had any Eon Energy in her body, she still kept her calm and strong front. There was no sign of her weakness outside at all.     

The new students no longer chatted around as they looked at the elders. Their performance in this examination would be the one to decide whether they could still stay in this academy or not. If their result was proven to be worse than expected, their rank would be lowered, and for Outer Disciple, it would be a direct kick out.     

"Now, I'll read out the result."     

The elders began to read the names of the Outer Disciple who have to pack their belongings and get out of the academy. Afterwards, he read the names of the Inner Disciples who would have to move to the outer courtyard or in other words, downgraded to be Outer Disciple.     

Lu Wan yawned. He noticed that the seniors around them were fidgety. "Are they going to get downgraded too?"     

"There's the evaluation for seniors in autumn. We're going to get tested once again," Qi Huan replied. "At that time, everyone will be tested and not just new students."     

"Now?"     

"If the number of Core Disciple is still above 100, those at the lowest ranked will be kicked out."     

From the new Core Disciples, eight of them were downgraded to Inner Disciple because their performance was not as good as expected. Two older students were also pushed back to become Inner Disciple once again because their ranking was at the bottom.     

Looking at the ranking, Lu Wan rolled his eyes. "Great, I'm just in rank 98."     

"Work hard to get more points before the evaluation. The last five will be downgraded to Inner Disciple while the top three in Inner Disciple would rise to become Core Disciple," Qi Huan reminded.     

Lu Wan groaned. In the first place, he needed to work much harder because most of the seniors there were already at a late stage. Only a handful of them were still in the middle stage. In another six months, there was a possibility that they would rise to reach peak stage or even rank 4 if they were lucky enough.     

"If you wish to reach above rank 50, you need to become rank 4," Ye Jiao opened her eyes as she had recovered enough Eon Energy to move around. "They're all already rank 4."     

"What about rank 5?"     

"If you reach rank 5, you'll graduate," Qi Huan replied. Hua Shan Academy was the only academy in the Xian Gu Kingdom who didn't let their students stay in the academy once they reached rank 5. They would all graduate or become a teacher if they wished to stay in the academy.     

Lu Wan's face turned sour. "Can't we just stay here?"     

"If you want to become a teacher, you can stay here."     

The elder finished the result with Core Disciple, so it was safe to say that the Elite Disciple would not change. These four would stay as the Elite Disciple in this academy.     

"Let's go to the other side," Qi Huan stood up.     

Ye Jiao nodded and walked to the other side of the place. She still wanted to rest, but there will be enough time for that later since there was no class until the beginning of the spring. Qin Zheng and Lin Cai also got up from their seats and headed to the three of them. They met in the middle.     

"Jiao'er!" Lin Cai hugged Ye Jiao as soon as she came close. "That fight with Qin Zheng is awesome. Just a bit more and you'll be able to defeat him."     

Qin Zheng arched his eyebrows. "You seem to wish for me to lose, Senior Sister Lin."     

"Thanks to you, I lost a lot of points," Lin Cai retorted while hugging Ye Jiao. During the past few months, she fought against Qin Zheng a few times and all of them resulted in her loss. It was so frustrating.     

"You should focus more on the lesson," Qin Zheng shook his head. He looked at Ye Jiao. "Also, don't rely on this little girl. She won't be able to defeat me anytime soon."     

"We shall see that, Senior Brother Qin." Ye Jiao stuck out her tongue.     

"Let's return back. We're the center of attention like this," Qi Huan suggested. Even though the students were moving back to their respective places, their gazes landed on them from time to time. It was uncomfortable.     

��Alright."     

Lin Cai proceeded to pull Ye Jiao while jogging back. Her childlike attitude would make one think that she was still a child from time to time.     

Qi Huan glanced over to Qin Zheng. "Did you use the same tactic with me when fighting against Lin Cai?"     

"I can't say that it's the same," Qin Zheng replied. "Senior Sister Lin has a great capability to adapt to the new situation. It's to the point that she wouldn't get affected much by intimidation and pressure that was directed to the brain."     

"I see."     

"Nevertheless, you have a great foundation," Qin Zheng chuckled. "You'll be able to grow much more after you strengthen your foundation."     

Qi Huan nodded. Even though he was actually older than Qin Zheng, he knew that his senior brother knew much more about this than him. It would take him more time if he wished to contend against Qin Zheng's killing intent.     

Lu Wan tilted his head. "Right, I have been curious about Ye Jiao's advancement. I can't believe she could produce that much force with Eon Energy."     

Thwack!     

"It's Senior Sister Ye for you."     

Lu Wan: "…"     

"Oh, I taught her a method to strengthen her physical body," Qin Zheng replied nonchalantly.     

"Huh? That method is a…"     

Swish!     

A wave of Eon Energy passed by Lin Cai. Qin Zheng looked at the girl with a smile on his face. "What is it?"     

Lin Cai pursed her lips. She knew that Qin Zheng didn't want her to tell the origin of that martial art. "Tsk, you stingy Qin Zheng. When I ask you to teach me that method, you don't want to, but now you teach it to Ye Jiao. Jiao'er, teach your senior sister too."     

"Eh? I need Senior Brother Qin's permission."     

"Just ignore…."     

Swish! Swish!     

Two knives went past Lin Cai. Qin Zheng was looking at them with an annoyed look. "She's my subordinate, so I share it."     

"Sub- what?" Lu Wan was stunned.     

Clang!     

A dagger was right in front of Qin Zheng's face with his sword blocking it. Ye Jiao was looking at Qin Zheng with pure anger on her face. "Senior Brother Qin, I'm not your subordinate."     

"You're my junior, so of course you're my subordinate."     

"I'm not!"     

As Ye Jiao and Qin Zheng were in a heated argument for the nth time, they walked out of the hall. Qi Huan stopped momentarily and looked to the back with narrowed eyes.     

"Senior Brother Qi?" Lu Wan asked. "Is there anything wrong?"     

"No, it's nothing. Let's return back and prepare for the mission. I'm sure that we need to submit the name list for the group within this week."     

"Ah, you're right."