Chapter 1488 — Trial Rules, Part One
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Though the innkeeper had set the limit at ten minutes, who among those who had come for the trial dared to dawdle? In less than five minutes they had gathered one after another on the square before the inn. Wei Zhao and Yu Bing found a spot first, sitting cross-legged on the ground, and the other disciples, coming over, followed their example and found places of their own to sit down.
The innkeeper, meanwhile, stood ramrod straight atop the flower bed before the square, the full force of his peak late Earth-rank strength on display, not a shred of it concealed. Beside him stood a woman in white, somewhere around seventeen or eighteen years of age — yet by intuition, and by long years of practice in medicine, Wei Zhao judged that she was certainly not seventeen or eighteen. She must be past thirty; she had simply preserved herself exceedingly well. Whether that had to do with the cultivation method she practiced, or with her having already stepped into the Heaven rank and so slowed the aging of her features, he could not say.
Yet entering the Heaven rank did not mean one could regain one's youth. Once past the Heaven rank, one's features were simply frozen at the moment one stepped through. Which meant, then, that this woman had broken through to the Heaven rank at seventeen or eighteen? Was such a thing even possible?
Or perhaps the ancient families possessed pills that could make a face endure forever — a Youth-Preserving Pill, say. Wei Zhao had seen that very formula in Zhang Lifeng's notes on the alchemist's craft. But though the Youth-Preserving Pill did nothing more than hold a face unchanging, with no power to prolong life, it was nonetheless a fourth-grade Yellow-rank pill, exceedingly difficult to refine, with a very low rate of success. And if the people of the Ice Palace had such pills to take, then they were truly no ordinary lot!
Soon all the disciples who had come for the trial had assembled, every one of them sitting cross-legged, waiting for the Ice Palace envoy to speak.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, the woman nodded calmly. "Since we are all here, let us begin. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Xiaoqing. I am a maidservant of the Ice Palace's Palace Master, and the envoy dispatched this time to lead you into the Ice Palace's domain to undergo the trial."
Though the woman who spoke was only a maidservant, no one dared make light of her. The reverence with which the innkeeper regarded her was evidence enough. The innkeeper was still a peak late Earth-rank figure, a man with one foot already in the Heaven rank, and yet before this maidservant he was utterly deferential — which showed just what standing she held in the Ice Palace.
The maidservant of the Palace Master: if that Palace Master was a figure of absolute authority within the Ice Palace, whose every word carried the weight of law, then her maidservant was likely someone who stood on equal footing with the elders themselves.
"You may address her as Envoy Qing, or Elder Qing," the innkeeper reminded the trial-taking disciples, lest they call her Envoy Xiaoqing and bring great trouble down upon themselves.
Naturally, none of them was a fool. Had they been unable to see even this much, they would not have deserved to take part in the trial. These people were as shrewd as they came — how could they fail to understand?
"Most of you come from the hidden families and sects, but a few of you are rather more special, hailing from the ancient families and ancient sects." Here Xiaoqing paused, her gaze sweeping over the disciples seated before her, then went on. "But in the eyes of the Ice Palace, there is no such thing as special. We treat everyone alike. There will be no special favor, and you would do well not to fancy yourself superior. Otherwise the Ice Palace has every right to strip you of your qualification, and to issue a notice at the ancient level denouncing your conduct and entering you on the ancient-level blacklist!"