At around noon, stepping through the mottled shadows of the trees on the ground, Daiyue and a group of five others successfully emerged from the dense forest and returned to the parade ground.
Over a thousand cultivators were sweating profusely as they formed four lines, taking turns to register their scores with the invigilators stationed at the four small pavilions known as the Wuting Pavilion.
In the large central pavilion of the Wuting Pavilion, three chief invigilators sat motionless with rigid, coffin-like expressions, their knife-like gazes sweeping back and forth through the crowd with a solemnity that made them look as though they were attending a funeral.
Chapter 35