Chapter 67: Preliminary Test
Kyrian rose in the morning, just before the sunlight began to enter through his window. His eyes slowly opened.
The first thing he saw was the little white fox. She was sitting a few meters from the bed, staring at him with her cross-shaped eyes.
When she saw that Kyrian had awakened, she did not growl. Instead, she turned her back and ran back to her cushion in the corner of the room. But her ears remained attentive.
Kyrian thought that at least it was progress.
He stood up in silence. He walked to the center of the room and stopped, looking at the ball of white fur.
Then he knelt down, getting closer. From inside his spatial ring, he took out five spirit stones. The last five he possessed. They glowed softly with a gentle white light in the palm of his hand.
"I will be leaving today." Kyrian began to speak, his calm and flat voice breaking the silence of the room.
The fox did not turn around, pretending not to be listening, but Kyrian noticed one of her ears shift slightly toward him.
"And you will be coming with me." Kyrian finished.
At that moment, a low growl echoed from the corner of the room.
Kyrian ignored it.
"If you come willingly, these five stones will be yours. And the place we are going, there will be far more than you can imagine."
"It will be a place rich in energy and resources."
He then fell silent. Waiting for the fox to decide. The fox, in turn, remained still and silent for a long time.
Then, very slowly, she turned. Her eyes fixed, not on Kyrian, but on the spirit stones in his hand.
The inner struggle was visible in the beast’s gaze. Hatred, against the desire to devour those stones.
In the end, she took a step forward. Then another.
Kyrian remained silent and still with his hand extended.
Finally, she stopped before him. She stretched her neck and, with one swift movement, snatched three of the five stones from his hand.
The fox swallowed them one after another, almost without chewing. Immediately, her body seemed to relax, and her eyes grew heavy.
She yawned, a small and unexpectedly ordinary yawn. Then, she curled up on the floor near Kyrian. Falling asleep within seconds, as her body absorbed the Qi from the stones.
Kyrian looked at the two stones left in his hand. Then at the sleeping fox. An agreement seemed to have been made.
He then took a soft cloth he had set aside and carefully wrapped the fox, forming a cozy bundle. He held her under his arm.
It was in this scene that Yanyu found him when she opened the bedroom door.
"Kyrian, everything is ready for..." Yanyu began but stopped mid-sentence when she saw what Kyrian was carrying under his arm.
From the bundle, only the fox’s snout and ears were visible. Yanyu brought a hand to her mouth but could not hold back a small laugh.
"Oh, that’s... cuter than it should be."
"Tsk." Kyrian only grumbled, a dry tone of disapproval.
Yanyu looked directly into his blue eyes. And for a moment, her smile softened in thought.
’He really is beautiful.’ Yanyu thought, but quickly shook her head. Dispelling the thought.
"Everything is ready. The carriage my Mu family prepared awaits us. We’ll reach the capital in ten days." She said, regaining her composure.
"Alright." Kyrian replied. He then gave one last look at the empty room and the silent courtyard where he always trained. The place that had been his refuge in the past days. And then he closed the door behind him.
At the main entrance of the Mu family residence, a small crowd had gathered to bid farewell. Mu Lin and Mu Ning were there. Along with a few other faces Kyrian recognized from his days walking through the residence.
Besides them, the patriarch and the two elders also attended. Kyrian nodded his head in a silent greeting to all and then entered the carriage. Settling on the leather seat.
Yanyu lingered behind for a moment, receiving final words from her uncle, the patriarch.
"You two have spent practically all this time together." The patriarch, standing a little apart from the others, began, whispering while holding Yanyu’s hand.
"The young Kyrian is proud and cold with everyone... except with you. That’s a good sign. At the very least, he does not dislike your company."
"Take advantage of that as much as you can. But I’ll leave it to your choice... When you arrive at the sect, with his skills and special physique, he will probably be accepted as a core disciple immediately. Under his protection, your life will be much easier in there."
"You only need to pass the exam. And... I’m confident now. After watching you train, I see that your talent is even greater than we ever imagined. We simply weren’t good enough to teach you. But now I know you can enter, so go and prove it."
Yanyu listened in silence, wiping away a stubborn tear that appeared in her eye, and nodded with determination.
"I will, Uncle. I will do my best! Soon you will hear the news."
She then climbed into the carriage, sitting across from Kyrian. With a snap of the reins, the two draft beasts, similar to horses Kyrian knew but with wider hooves, sharper eyes, and abnormal strength, began pulling the carriage. Leaving Misty City behind.
The journey was long, but not monotonous. Yanyu kept a constant flow of conversation, pointing out landscapes, telling what she knew about the sect, and sharing stories from her childhood. Kyrian, as always, listened, responding with grunts, nods, or short answers when necessary.
On one of those days, Yanyu looked at Kyrian thoughtfully.
"Hey, Kyrian, you know something? I used to think you didn’t like to talk. But I was wrong."
Kyrian, listening, frowned slightly. Looking at her.
"What do you mean?"
"You always talk to me."
"It may be with short answers, or even when I talk about things that don’t interest you. Even when you don’t respond, you are always listening and paying a certain attention. What you don’t like is starting and leading the conversation, right?"
"You’re very... shy?" She explained, with a playful smile on her lips.
She hurried to correct herself when she saw Kyrian’s closed expression.
"I was joking, not shy. No, you simply don’t like it. Right?"
Kyrian sighed, looking out the window at the plains passing quickly by.
"I have no problem talking. Never did. I just think talking all the time is unnecessary and tiring. I speak when I think it’s necessary or when I need to."
"If you say so..." Yanyu finished, turning to look out the window with a satisfied smile across her face.
’Tsk.’ Kyrian thought.
She was right. He saw no need to start idle chatter. If it was something important, if it was something he needed, he would speak. Otherwise, he let Yanyu, or anyone else, talk as much as they wanted, it was simpler.
On the way, they joined a growing flow of carriages. They saw carriages far more elaborate than theirs.
Some pulled by impressive beasts, creatures with horns or many gleaming scales.
Yanyu, with her knowledge, pointed at crests painted on the doors.
"Look at that one! It belongs to the Zhu family, from one of the five great cities of the country. Our Misty City is far behind, being only a medium city, there are many of them."
Kyrian observed, absorbing the information in silence.
Finally, on the morning of the tenth day, they spotted the capital. Even from a distance, it was overwhelming.
Absurdly enormous walls stretched as far as the eye could see. And, stopping before them, was an endless line of carriages of all shapes and sizes.
"How do we get to the sect?" Kyrian asked, observing the crowd.
"First, there will be an initial test here in the capital. All youths under eighteen from families recognized by the kingdom may participate."
"Only those who pass this preliminary test are allowed to move on and take the true examination of the Verdant Sword Sect. Then, an elder of the sect will take us to the true place where the exam happens." Yanyu explained.
Kyrian nodded, understanding. The selection already began here. He leaned back in his seat, holding the bundle that contained the sleeping fox.
She had been sleeping since the day they left. Kyrian noticed she seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation.
His eyes then swept over the line of carriages, many of them carrying their dreams and ambitions.
But more than half of them would return home without even passing the preliminary test.
A faint glimmer of anticipation lit up in Kyrian’s gaze. The sect, of which he had heard so much, was drawing ever closer.