Chapter 138: Physical Examination (Patreon)

“… Tell me again how I ended up in the same group as the three of you.”

“Well, genius, it may have something to do with the fact that we all approached the same exam aide at the same time, but that’s just a theory.”

“That’s because you followed me!”

Xinming snorted.

“Sorry for that, I guess finding another aide would have been easy, I just needed to look for a red robe, no? Oh, and to be clear, I followed rock-boy. Not you.”

“I followed him!”, Xinming cheeringly added.

“What’s to object against sticking together?”, Nuo intersected. “After all, we already know each other and we’re a bunch of talented guys. Oh, and I guess a tal… well… a girl.”

Before Xinming could explode at him, the exam aide that they and six other candidates had gathered around, a pretty girl with fair skin and jet-black hair, spoke up.

“Alright, that makes a group. Hello everyone, I am Liting. I’m seventeen years old and have been an outer disciple for seven of those. I’ll be your aide for the duration of the admittance exam; It’s my first time doing this, so let’s all do our best together!”

She smiled a somewhat awkward but genuine smile before continuing.

“Please follow me as I explain the rules for the physical examination. It’s not that complex, but do pay attention.”

They started heading away from the crowd, as did other groups that had finished forming. Some went in the same direction as them, others in different directions.

“The physical examination, as Elder Wei said, is a race. Not against the other candidates, of course, but against time. Your goal is to make it to a specific spot, about a third of the way up that mountain.”

She pointed at the nearest of the three mountains looming over them.

“The test is split into two intervals: firstly, the way through the forest to the mountain’s base, then the way up the mountain from there. Your time for both intervals will be separately recorded.

“The first interval, passing through the forest, is supposed to mainly test your agility. There are lots of paths crossing through the forest, but they’re monitored by the instructors. You may cross them, but you’re not allowed to follow them. Don’t worry, you can’t really get lost, you’ll just have to keep going up and you’ll eventually clear the forest. There you’ll see the instructors waiting for you. Head to one of them and let them record your name so we can measure the time you took later.

“The second interval will mainly test your strength and endurance. The instructors have baskets you can bind to your back. These can be used to carry small stone balls, which you will also get from the instructors, up the mountain. You are completely free to choose the number of balls you bring, or if you want to bring any at all, but any ball you do bring from there all the way to the finish line will give you extra scores. My advice: If strength and endurance are your thing, bring as many as you can. If speed and agility are your strength, don’t try to take too many, instead focus on being as fast as you can.

“The groups will start from a couple of different starting positions, but they’re all at an equal distance to the destination. You’ll start in staggered intervals, but you’re sure to meet many other candidates along the way regardless. Keep in mind: you are neither allowed to impede, nor to help them, unless they’re somehow seriously injured, in which case you should call for an instructor.”

Liting finished her explanation just as their group reached the meeting point, where several other groups and a couple of instructors, one of whom approached her.

“Number?”

“One hundred and thirty-eight.”

“Noted.”

Liting turned around to them again.

“Sorry, I totally forgot to tell you that. The aides were all assigned numbers for organization purposes, I’m one hundred and thirty-eight, and that will be their corresponding group’s number for the exam. Please make sure to remember it. Now, please tell me all of your names and then we’ll wait until we’re called to start.”

After they had all given Liting their names, which she had diligently written down, they stood around for a while as other groups started the race one by one.

Ye spent his time thinking back to the Elders’s appearance and wondering which one of them he may end off a disciple of. The one with the long white beard who had explained them the rules didn’t seem too bad and the strict looking one next to him didn’t either. Would the Patriarch take a disciple?

After a while, they heard the call of an instructor.

“Group one hundred and thirty-eight get ready to start!”

Liting beamed.

“Alright, that’s us.”

They headed to the starting point and lined up.

“Please do your best, everyone! I’ll head up there myself and cheer you on!”

“You know, Meilin…”, Xinming said in a hushed tone, “…I bet you can see the rock formations of the mountains really well once you’re up there. You can describe them to me later.”

She chuckled as the scrawny boy’s enthusiasm visibly doubled.

Ye focused on his breathing.

“Start!”, the instructor called and Ye shot forward. He reached the tree line long before anyone else from his group. He was well-trained after all.

It didn’t take long for the forest to slow him down. Ye had spent most of his life in town and in his family’s estate, he’d barely ever been in the forest, and he’d never strayed off the paths. Crossing through the underbrush quickly proved vastly harder than he had expected and the whole thing quickly turned into a slog.

Ye didn’t know how much time had passed when the forest finally began to clear up; it had to have been hours. He was covered in scratches and scrapes, and his robes were so torn-up they’d only be good as kindling after today. Still, he’d made it through, and he’d probably been at least somewhat quick about it – it wasn’t as if the others wouldn’t have had to face the challenges he did.

He looked for and quickly located an instructor. After heading over and recording his name, he picked up one of the baskets and began filling it with stone balls. He was confident in his strength, so he took quite a few of them before he began making his way further up the mountain.

For a while he made good progress, but he quickly felt himself becoming more and more exhausted. Soon, he was struggling with each step, his legs screaming at him to stop and his breath running out. Eventually, Ye had to admit that he’d weighed himself down too much. He cursed himself as he took off his basket and began throwing out some of the stone balls, but it was too late to change anything about it. He sat down to take a quick break, then he continued his ascend with markedly less weight on his back.

By the time the flags that marked the finish point came into view, his tattered robes were drenched in sweat and the sun was already well on its way towards the horizon – it was late afternoon. The last couple of meters felt like they were just as long as the entire way so far, but eventually Ye finally stumbled on the platform where an instructor was already waiting for him.

“Name?”

“Ye… Ye Wudi.”

“Good job, Ye. Let me just count the stones you’ve brought real quick.”

Ye nodded and let himself drop to the floor.

“Ye! You made it!”

Nuo’s voice didn’t seem much strained as he walked over.

“Looks like I was the faster one though… I’ve actually been here for a while now. Oh, and I brought more rocks. I win this one!”

Nuo smugly gestured to the basket he was carrying with him. It was filled with even more rocks than he had initially tried to bring. He was too exhausted to get angry at Nuo’s taunts – he’d save that for later. Besides, being outdone here really didn’t mean anything. He was a cultivation genius after all, and it was only reasonable that a farm boy like Nuo had plenty of built-up strength and endurance and knew how to navigate a forest. The physical examination was the least important and be it intelligence, swordplay or Qi manipulation – he’d stomp the others all other tests.

“Meilin and Xinming aren’t here yet. Wanna get something to eat while we wait for them?”

“Sounds good, once I’ve caught my breath. Wait… here?”

“Yeah, we’ll camp up here tonight and head down to the Training Hall tomorrow morning, before they hold the written exam. Liting told me.”

“I see… Well, can’t be much worse than down there.”

Ye stretched his limbs and slowly rose to his feet again. He was still feeling terribly, but he was also extremely hungry right now and that – not even to mention his thirst – won out over more rest.

The sun had begun to set by the time Meilin arrived. He hadn’t brought any rocks, but his skin was visibly reddened from sunburn. Luckily the instructors were handing out low-grade healing pills to those who needed them, which had also taken care of Ye’s scratches from crossing the forest. Treating sunburn this way wasn’t terribly effective, but it took care of the worst at least.

The three of them spent the rest of the evening waiting for Xinming to arrive, but eventually headed to bed when she didn’t arrive even with the last stragglers. It was only natural, Ye supposed, that she was taking so long. Being blind, she couldn’t make her way through a dense forest without feeling out every branch in her way and while the way up the mountain hadn’t been a difficult one, she’d still have to be careful of her every step.

At some point deep in the night, Ye was pulled from his slumber by the sound of someone entering their tent. He kept his eyes closed, but he heard Xinming’s wooden staff feel around before she found the last empty bed and crawled into it. Sometime later, just before his exhaustion pulled him back to sleep, he could hear the shaking breaths of quiet sobbing.