A Chaotic World

After passing through the surface of the mirror, Lu Tianzi's feet landed on the ground of the Grand Mirror Courtyard.

Up until the very end, Lu Tianzi had been unsure of whether his injuries were real or if it had all been an illusion to begin with.

But that no longer mattered now that he was able to exit the Grand Mirror World completely fine.

Everyone in the courtyard immediately stopped their discussions and turned their attention towards him, but Lu Tianzi did not think much of it.

After all, it was normal for everyone to be curious at the moment when someone exited the Grand Mirror. This had been the case for everyone else as well.

However, when he looked around, Lu Tianzi realised that all of the Outer Sect members were already out.

Did he miss out anyone?

Or could it be that he really was the last person to complete the Nine Suns Trial?

During the trial, Lu Tianzi had been completely focused on what he was doing, and thus had not paid any attention to the time taken. After all, the time taken in the trial was irrelevant to one's rank.

Even if he really were the last, then so be it.

But Lu Tianzi still felt that something was a little strange.

When the Inner Sect members had exited the Grand Mirror, their inner world would be in a state of disarray, requiring them to meditate so as to regulate their condition. However, none of the Outer Sect members who had exited before him were currently doing so.

All of them seemed to be perfectly fine as they stared at him.

Then again, Lu Tianzi was currently in a perfectly fine state as well.

Perhaps the Inner Sect and Outer Sect members went through different trials after all?

Even though Nanlan Qianxue had mentioned that every sect member would be tested in the exact same way during the Nine Suns Trial, she was still part of the junior generation after all.

There were probably matters that even she was unaware of.

Just… why did everyone look so pissed?

At this moment, Elder Wanglei's voice suddenly came from beside him, interrupting his train of thoughts.

"This is your first time undergoing the trial so it is not uncommon to have a poor result. Don't worry too much about the trial. Now go rest and adjust your condition."

Lu Tianzi turned to look at the Elder, only to be met with a look of indifference.

He had initially wanted to ask what Elder Wanglei meant about him getting a poor result. But upon seeing the cold gaze in Elder Wanglei's eyes, Lu Tianzi decided against it in the end.

Lu Tianzi obediently stepped away from the Grand Mirror and returned to the area at the back where the other Outer Sect members stood.

"Finally done with your trial eh?" a snide remark reached Lu Tianzi's ears as he reached his previous standing spot.

By now, Lu Tianzi was already able to identify this person just from hearing his voice.

"What is up with you again?" Lu Tianzi shot a cold glare at this Nancheng Wei.

"You actually dare to show such an attitude? Seems like you really do believe you are just that damn special!" Nancheng Wei deliberately raised his voice so that everyone in the courtyard could hear him. "You are asking what is up with me? More like what is up with you! Just who are you to make everyone wait this long?"

"What are you complaining for? Last I remembered, the time taken to clear the trial varies for every individual," Lu Tianzi snapped in response. "Does everyone have to leave the trial early just because you can't be bothered to wait?"

Lu Tianzi was really starting to get impatient by now. He had not even settled scores with this Nancheng Wei for the previous incident, yet this bastard actually chose to keep finding trouble with him!

"Yes, the time taken varies for everyone. But not to an extent as exaggerated extent as yours!" Nancheng Wei's veins were obvious under his skin due to his rage. "Just a newly joined sect member like you actually made everyone wait here for five hours! What are you, a snail?"

Hearing those words, Lu Tianzi was momentarily stumped.

Did Nancheng Wei just say that he had made everyone wait for five hours?

Was that true?

Lu Tianzi immediately turned to glance at Nanqing Haowen and sent him a voice conveyance, "How long did I spend in the Grand Mirror?"

"Five and a half hours…" Nanqing Haowen's reply had an awkward tone to it. It was as though even Nanqing Haowen was feeling a little embarrassed in his stead.

After he confirmed it with Nanqing Haowen, Lu Tianzi no longer had any choice but to believe it.

This was truly troubling.

Earlier when the Inner Sect members went through the trial, even the one who took the longest completed it in around an hour.

For Lu Tianzi to have taken five and a half hours, that was really far surpassing the previous record!

At this moment, Lu Tianzi finally understood the strange sight that had greeted him when he first exited the Grand Mirror.

After being forced to wait for such a long time, it was no wonder that everyone looked so pissed when they stared at him.

As for the Outer Sect members being completely fine right now, it must be because they had all the time in the world to recover from their state of disarray while they waited for Lu Tianzi!

No wonder Nancheng Wei had dared to call him a snail in such a loud voice. Even though the other sect members did not say anything, they must have been equally frustrated by the wait as well.

Lu Tianzi could not help but feel a little embarrassed at this point.

He had to admit that he had indeed failed to spare a thought for all these people who were waiting in the Grand Mirror Courtyard.

When he was undergoing the Nine Suns Trial, Lu Tianzi had cleared the Trial of the Heart as soon as he could. However, that was not the case for the Trial of the Fist at all.

Before he reached the seventh storey, Lu Tianzi had deliberately dragged out the fights in order to borrow the strength of his opponents to improve his Flowing River Silent Strides.

But the problem was that the Flowing River Silent Strides was already an established movement technique. Had it not been the case, the Nine Suns Sect would never have allowed its members to practise it.

How could it be easy to make improvements on an established movement technique?

In fact, it could almost be considered a miracle that Lu Tianzi managed to do so at his current level. To successfully accomplish such a feat, the five hours that he spent actually seemed trivial in comparison!

But Lu Tianzi naturally did not dare to reveal that right now.

If the other sect members were to find out that Lu Tianzi had been trying to improve on his movement technique while they were waiting, Lu Tianzi would probably become the number one public enemy from now on!

Seeing that Lu Tianzi had fallen into silence, Nancheng Wei sneered in triumph as he continued, "Don't you know that even our Sect Master, City Lord, Elders, and senior apprentice brothers and sisters from the Inner Sect are waiting? If you aren't capable of handling the trial, then say so from the start! Why did you even force yourself and waste everybody's time while doing so?"

"I might have spent a long time, but that does not mean that I am not capable of handling the trial!" Lu Tianzi retorted. "The time taken has always been irrelevant to an individual's rank after all!"

Even though Lu Tianzi was embarrassed, he refused to let Nancheng Wei continue being so smug.

After all, he knew for a fact that regardless of his result in the Trial of the Heart, he should still be able to get a pretty good rank.

"Hahaha! Still trying to act tough?" Nancheng Wei burst out in laughter. "Yes, the time taken for an individual is not proportional to their results. But the problem is that you exited without any traces of having participated in combat! How can that be the case unless you had been ensnared by the Trial of the Heart, not even qualifying to enter the Trial of the Fist? With such a shitty result, you still dare to continue acting tough? What a joke!"

"Nancheng Wei, mind your manners," an Elder finally stepped in and admonished him. "Remember that we have the City Lord here as a guest today."

"My apologies, Elder Jingren!" Nancheng Wei immediately curbed in his arrogance.

Lu Tianzi could only laugh bitterly to himself.

This Elder Jingren was none other than the one whom Lu Tianzi had unintentionally offended at the Pagoda of Knowledge.

Even though Elder Jingren had publicly admonished Nancheng Wei, he had only asked Nancheng Wei to stop because of the presence of the City Lord, and not because he was being disrespectful to Lu Tianzi.

This showed that Elder Jingren was actually condoning Nancheng Wei's attitude towards Lu Tianzi.

Another way of interpreting his words would be that if the City Lord was not here today, then his actions would still have been acceptable!

As for the other Elders who chose not to intervene, Lu Tianzi believed that they were probably secretly enjoying how Lu Tianzi was being mocked as well.

He could not blame them though, because what Nancheng Wei said actually made some sense.

From anyone else's point of view, Lu Tianzi had probably failed the Trial of the Heart and did not even qualify to participate in the Trial of the Fist.

In that case, his rank for the Nine Suns Trial must be abysmal!

Waiting for a sect member who was legitly trying his best in the Nine Suns Trial might not have been too bad.

However, now that they realised the fact that they had been waiting this long for someone who was just going to fail miserably in the end, there was no way that any of them would feel happy about it!

Even though no one else said a word, Lu Tianzi could feel cold looks of disdain being fired at him from all around the Grand Mirror Courtyard, especially from the group of Inner Sect members.

They were the elites of the sect.

Being made to wait for some dreg naturally put them in an extremely bad mood.

Watching from the side, Elder Jingren had a smile on his face when he saw how troubled Lu Tianzi was.

Right now, he was feeling a sense of schadenfreude as he thought back to how arrogantly Lu Tianzi had acted back at the Pagoda of Knowledge.

Sometimes, arrogant youths had to experience a serious setback before they would finally learn to heed the advice of their seniors!

In fact, even Nanlan Qianxue could not help but let out a deep sigh out of disappointment.

Out of everyone in the sect, she was the one who had the deepest belief in Lu Tianzi.

Even for Elder Wanglei and Nanqing Haowen who had seen glimpses of what Lu Tianzi was capable of, they did not think that he could shine in the trial since his cultivation level was not exceptional.

Only Nanlan Qianxue bore great hopes that Lu Tianzi would be able to stand above the rest with his unprecedented talent.

But now it seemed that she had grossly overestimated him.

Could it be that her thirst for a proper rival had blinded her eyes to his flaws?

At this moment, the bronze frame of the Grand Mirror suddenly glowed even brighter in intensity, drawing everyone's attention away from Lu Tianzi and onto itself.

"Looks like the results are about to be revealed," Sect Master Nanhui remarked with a smile.

The Sect Master had noticed how Lu Tianzi had been treated upon leaving the trial, but he simply did not care for such trivial matters.

To an expert like him who had already lived for more than a thousand years, waiting an additional five hours did not make much of a difference either. During this time, he was just enjoying a casual chat with the City Lord.

"How exciting, I really look forward to seeing the results!" City Lord Nanlan laughed.

Though his words sounded perfunctory, City Lord Nanlan truly meant what he said.

This generation of geniuses from the Nine Suns Sect were of exceptional quality as compared to the past, studded with the likes of Nanhuang Jiansheng, Nancheng Shu, and of course his daughter Nanlan Qianxue.

On top of that, there was another reason for how much weight he had placed on the results of this year's Nine Suns Trial.

It was for that particular reason that City Lord Nanlan had chosen to come in person. This way, he could properly etch in his mind the various elites of the younger generation!

While all eyes were on the Grand Mirror, the calm surface of the mirror rippled once more, blurring out the reflected image.

The full ranking table of every sect member quickly formed on the surface of the mirror. Unfortunately, it was obscured by the ripples in the mirror.

These ripples cleared at a painfully slow pace, starting from the bottom right corner of the mirror.

But along with it, the ranking of each sect member started to be revealed one at a time, beginning from the bottom ranker at the most bottom right corner, slowing increasing in rank as the names got nearer to the top left corner.

All members of the Nine Suns Sect held their breaths in anticipation.

Whether their hard work over this year had managed to bear them any significant results, they would finally know in just a moment's time!