"How could he possibly do that, Young Mistress?! He can't see us, or can he?!" The Shadow exclaimed and his form beside Gu Wenren rippled in alarm.
This showed well enough that he was indeed shocked by the apparent show of awareness shown by our very own Young Master Clark even in the midst of the Inner Disciples Exam which took place leagues away from the domain of Gu Wenren.
"Of course he can. And I have an intuition that this is perhaps only the tip of the mystery that shrouds the entirety of Clark Colter and his roots."
Gu Wenren murmured and had a faraway look in her eyes.
Her doubts were of course based on facts especially after how seemingly abnormal Young Master Clark's speed was during their first encounter.
It would be correct to assume that our bored gamer could have already matched the agility of the initial stage of a Golden Core Expert at that time.
In the end, this has only ever deepened Gu Wenren's suspicions about the true cultivation of the second Legacy Disciple of the Demonic Sword Sect.
"Should i do some digging about the history of the boy, Young Mistress?" The Shadow asked that broke the silence that ensued between them.
"No need for you to do a trifling task like that, Uncle. I have already sent a man to investigate further. In fact, i have the report in my hands even as we speak. Now we only need to wait for the Inner Disciples Exam to finish." Gu Wenren said.
"What are you going to do next, Young Mistress?" Shadow queried as he did not like the sound of where this discussion was going.
"Nothing. I'm just going to do what's best for the sect, Uncle. Same as I normally do." Gu Wenren smiled and it would have brought any man to his knees in adoration.
Alas, it did nothing of the expected result towards Shadow.
This aged and faceless uncle had all but seen Gu Wenren when she was still a babe and one hundred twenty years later, Shadow still called the lovely lady as his Young Mistress.
And since this old uncle knew the nature of how Gu Wenren could be, he has only one thing on his mind at the moment.
'I hope you go out from your closed door cultivation soon, Patriarch!' Old Shadow prayed inside.
* * *
"What a sorry bunch of losers! Of the 5,238 Outer Disciples, only a measly amount of 917 passed the Inner Disciples Exam.
It appears like you have been slacking in your training, Elder Chang Tu." The overseer of the Exam, Elder Tao Ru, scolded the Head of the Outer Disciples Court.
"It is not that I failed to do my task, Elder Tao Ru. I believe that Elder Hong Tian is only superb in her job in training her valued disciples in the Inner Disciples Court."
Elder Chang Tu was smart enough to evade any repercussions by subtly giving praise to the Head of the Inner Disciples and master of Elder Tao Ru himself.
This has even got a nod in response from the silent Hong Tian in the seat of honor. After all, everybody loved a praise or two especially when it was an obvious statement of the truth.
"HAHAHA! You are indeed right in your words, Elder Chang Tu. My master is certainly the best teacher alive in the sect!"
Tao Ru laughed and this showed well enough of how much he approved of Elder Chang Tu's deserved praise.
Although the Inner Disciples had their cultivation lowered back to match their opponents but their experience in combat was never truly diminished during the exam.
This was the greatest advantage that the Inner Disciples had that could not be easily bridged upon by any Outer Disciple.
In this case, it was pretty sad to see that less than twenty percent has passed the Inner Disciples Exam this year.
"Come! It's time for you to enter the Inner Disciples Court." Elder Tao Ru motioned to the 917 winners on the stage.
"The rest of you, SCRAM!" The old Elder from the Demonic Sword Sect looked at the rest of the audience and roared wantonly to shoo the dogs away.
In his eyes, these Outer Disciples were nothing but trash and a complete waste of space in the sect.
"At once, Elder Tao Ru!" The poor disciples basically ran from the scene and never looked back.
Three breaths later and the figure of Old Tao Ru also left the place without another word spoken but not before giving due obeisance to his absolute master, Elder Hong Tian.
The leader of the Inner Court also stood up and elegantly returned to her domain with lots of her trusted servants in her wake.
When the lofty Lady Head of the Inner Court was finally gone and nowhere to be seen, another disciple took the place of Elder Tao Ru.
"Hey, you fucking rats! I am Inner Disciple Huang Min. But to you fresh fishes out here, i am your god and no other! Move! We don't have all day to dawdle in here!
If I see any of you rotting trash get so as to br..."
This designated disciple named Huang Min yelled and spoke pretty much the same as Elder Tao Ru and a string of profanity and threats rang once more in the huge stadium.
In the end, the newly ascended disciples were akin to meek sheep amidst the sharp tongue lashes of Huang Min who was already in the 5th Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Perhaps there was only one person who was free to act normally as he did and this was of course none other than our avid gamer.
"Do you want to return to your residence and train, Young Master Clark?" Elder Feng Ren asked in a kind voice.
"Hmmm... Okay, Uncle Ren. Since there's nothing good to see in here, we might as well go back."
Our bored gamer nodded and proceeded to return to his party amidst the envy of everyone's eyes. Even Huang Min could only tuck his tails and remain quiet in the calm exit of Young Master Clark.
"Lucky bastard!"
"Nonsense! What luck do you refer to?"
"It's certainly skill and talent! You're just envious of Young Master Clark!" The mixture of disciples talked amongst themselves.
More than that, those that had ill wishes towards our bored gamer could only look at this in silence.
"You will pay for the deaths of my friends very very soon!" Long Tian was thrilled for this eventuality.
"I will match swords with you someday, Clark Colter." Sword Lunatic was also the time.
"Legacy Disciple Clark Colter, huh? He is a dangerous man, I think." The Shadowless Lady had this uncanny intuition in her heart.
* * *
"What should i do now?"
"Hmmm... Should i play another RPG game?"
"Should i do the same one or something new instead?" Clark wondered out loud and took a few breaths to decide.
In the end, he chose to pick a new one as he already got bored with all the rest that he has played from before.
Alas, our good gamer was interrupted before he could fully engage himself with the realistic virtual reality that the system cheat has provided to him in aces.
"You seem excited, Young Master Clark. I hope I'm not intruding on your fun in any way." A voice presented directly in front of our bored gamer.
"Indeed, you are. I was about to play some games. But it no longer matters since you are now here, my Lady. What can i do for you?"
Clark looked up and saw the enticing figure of a very wonderful woman in the form of Legacy Disciple Gu Wenren herself.
The unexpected visitor looked at the side and quickly noticed the standing figure of Lin Che.
Nonetheless, the Primal Warden has taken an eerie silence instead rather than the normal dig she had with everybody else.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Young Master Clark. I did not know that you already have some company in here and at this very auspicious time."
Gu Wenren tried to hide her shock with some jab at humor. In fact, she really did not know how a 1st Stage of Mortal Shedding Realm could hide from her senses in the room.
She had of course used her spiritual sense before coming in here but all she could discern earlier was the figure of Young Master Clark on the bed and never this beautiful woman on one of the corners.
"You are wrong in your assumptions, woman. Nevertheless, I know the reason for your presence today. Go back and that will save you from the clutches of this Foul Creature.
Stay and you will be corrupted. Same as all the other pure females before you." Lin Che advised and went on to speak about her obvious bias one more time.
Still, Clark did not let it affect him and only gave a kind smile in return towards Lin Che's way.
"This is my friend. Her name is Lin Che. Don't worry, this is better than how she normally acts. You should stay awhile and listen to how much worse she could become later on."
Clark spoke towards Gu Wenren and introduced her toxic friend.
"Lin Che, this is Gu Wenren. The most powerful cultivator in the Demonic Sword Sect."
Our bored gamer continued his introduction while completely still lying down on his comfortable bed.
He was used to this act and it never bothered him to change especially when he believed that he could not hurt anyone's feelings by doing so.
"..."
"..." Gu Wenren and Lin Che looked at one another but said no words in addition. This persisted for a full minute before it was Gu Wenren who decided to disengage from the stalemate.
Her eyes gazed towards our bored gamer instead and said...
"Can i talk to you alone, Young Master Clark?"
"Say what you want to say. I doubt that I could force Lin Che to leave the room even if I wish her to do so."
Clark shrugged that made Gu Wenren wonder some more about the peculiar lady in yellow named Lin Che.
From just one very mystical character in Young Master Clark, Gu Wenren has not anticipated that she would meet another one inside the Demonic Sword Sect.
'Have i been too weak and complacent as of late?'
Gu Wenren had only this question in mind and she was of course not to be blamed at this time because during her sickness, she has indeed thrown all worries aside and just kept on self medicating and recuperating in seclusion.
However, what she did not know was that this pair of cultivators with her inside this very chamber was perhaps one of the strangest existences in this known universe.
One was a soulless Champion of Justice while the other was a bored gamer plucked from his world and into this xianxia existence.
Gu Wenren contemplated for a couple of breaths before she finally made up her mind and spoke her real purpose in coming.
"What do you want in my Demonic Sword Sect..." She paused and looked intently on the relaxed handsome young man on the bed.
"...Senior?" Gu Wenren added after the pause.