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Horizon Ocean Pavilion.

On the large central platform, several thousand Horizon Ocean Pavilion disciples were seated together. Upon a raised platform were the 32 elders of the Elder Council.

In a clearing in front of the Elder Council, several disciples stood, Xin Yue among them.

But the domineering Xin Yue didn\'t seem very happy at this moment.

His body was covered in bloodstains, and he had a rather dour expression.

He shot a venomous glance at the honest-faced man next to him. His name was Fan Chenglong, his greatest rival in this Young Lord competition.

The Young Lord competition tested candidates on two martial topics—individual combat power and battle commanding—and one civil topic, sect management.

The Elder Council was in charge of the civil examination, while the martial exams had half their points decided respectively by the Disciple Assembly and the Elder Council. The one who had the highest combined score would be declared the winner. Of these, the battle command category required the candidate to recruit their own people. They could only select from members of the sect, and they were limited to twenty, with a maximum cultivation level of Heart Demon Tier. It tested not only one\'s ability to command, but even more importantly, one\'s connections and prestige within the sect.

Xin Yue wasn\'t very confident in the civil exam, but he was quite sure about the martial exams. Whether in terms of his individual prowess or his reputation in the sect, he stood well above the other disciples.

But reality took him by surprise.

How had Fan Chenglong become so strong? In the contest of individual strength, Xin Yue had fought with Fan Chenglong for an entire day before barely managing to beat him out.

But this was fine. After all, in the individual strength category, he still got first place.

But the battle command category was very unexpected.

Xin Yue thought that he had recruited many fine experts within the sect for the battle, but to his surprise, Fan Chenglong had managed to get even more, even the likes of Chen Shu, Han Chen, and Jiang Xin. But these were clearly He Songxu\'s and Luo Anbo\'s people!

These guys were conspiring against him!

Fan Chenglong, just how much did you give He Songxu and Luo Anbo, that they would be willing to give up on the Young Lord contest to stop me?

Xin Yue was about to explode from anger.

This sudden development had caught Xin Yue off guard, and in the battle command category, Fan Chenglong had managed to get the upper hand.

Moreover, Fan Chenglong\'s people were all fierce like bulls on steroids, many times stronger than what he knew.

In the end, despite Xin Yue\'s best efforts, he was ultimately defeated.

Worst of all, during the battle, one of Xin Yue\'s people accidentally heavily injured an opponent, the blood even splashing onto Xin Yue.

Injury in a tournament was a major sect taboo!

Xin Yue could feel everyone giving him unfriendly looks.

Even so, Xin Yue was still confident he could win.

Because he knew that Fan Chenglong was worse than him in the civil examination.

The Elder Council was currently announcing everyone\'s civil exam grades.

A white-haired elder stood up and said:

"I will now announce the civil exam grades.

"He Songxu, civil exam, A-minus."

Everyone clapped.

The grades for Horizon Ocean Pavilion\'s civil exam were divided into A, B, C, and D, each subdivided into \'plus\', neutral, and \'minus\'. Getting an A was no easy task. He Songxu was the smartest among all the disciples, but he had a rather soft personality that made him prone to make numerous plans and waver between them. Besides that, his personal strength was limited, so even though he had a talent for sect management, he lacked the power to convince the masses, so people said it was better for him to be an advisor rather than the man in charge. Thus, everyone had expected his high score, and nobody envied him for it, for they knew that he didn\'t really have a chance.

"Luo Anbo, civil exam, C."

There was another round of applause.

For Luo Anbo, who was as forthright as a big ape, this grade was pretty good. This person was extremely strong in battle, but alas, he was too brainless as a person, the exact opposite of He Songxu. From the very start, everyone knew that he would fail at the civil exam. In reality, everyone had guessed that he would get a D, which was why a C was worthy of applause.

"Xin Yue, civil exam, B-plus."

Xin Yue exhaled in relief.

Although he didn\'t get an A, to be honest, this was the best grade he could have gotten. This grade was probably partially thanks to the examiners he had bribed. For this contest, he had spent all of the wealth he had accumulated over the years, more than two million spirit coins! The thought had his heart wincing. But it was fine if he could overcome Fan Chenglong. Given Fan Chenglong\'s mind, he probably wouldn\'t score any better.

"Fan Chenglong, civil exam, B-plus."

Thunderous applause!

Xin Yue shuddered, shouting out, "This is impossible!"

"What did you say?" the announcing elder barked, his eyes glaring.

Alarmed, Xin Yue hastily said, "Elder, please forgive me. This disciple is merely confused. Haven\'t Fan Chenglong\'s grades always been in the Cs? Even at his best, it would be a B-minus. How did he suddenly get a B-plus?"

"What a joke," He Songxu commented. "Your best civil exam grade is only a regular B, so how did you suddenly get a B-plus?"

"You!" Xin Yue furiously glared at He Songxu, but He Songxu fearlessly glared back.

On the other hand, Fan Chenglong woodenly said, "Don\'t interrupt the elder."

While Fan Chenglong had a rather wooden personality, he was very fair and honest, which was why he enjoyed the respect of his peers.

Even Xin Yue had no choice but to fall silent, restraining his anger. Still, it\'s only a tie, so the final result will be decided by the Elder Council and Disciple Assembly, he consoled himself.

The Elder Council had received the results long before the announcement of the grades.

The elders engaged in some whispered conversation, and then, the white-haired elder announced, "In this Young Lord competition, the victor is… Fan Chenglong!"

These words exploded in Xin Yue\'s ears like a clap of thunder, dizzying him along with his followers.

"How could this be? Big Brother Xin lost?" Their jaws dropped and their eyes flew open, but the rest of the audience erupted with thunderous applause.

"No! I don\'t believe it!" Xin Yue shouted.

He had spent eighty years cultivating and running around for the sect, eighty years accumulating fame and reputation, all for this moment.

But when the moment came, he wasn\'t the winner! How could he accept this?

He shouted at the white-haired elder, "I don\'t believe it! How could I lose? Yes, Fan Chenglong beat me in the battle command category, but I beat him in individual strength. And then we drew on the civil exam. Since we were essentially equal, why should I lose to him?"

The elder wasn\'t angry, simply glancing at him and coldly saying, "Then why do you think that you should be the one to win?"

"\'Why\'? Because of my reputation in the sect. From the Elder Council down to the disciples, when has Fan Chenglong ever been able to overcome me in terms of reputation? So when the masses choose who they support, it\'s naturally going to be the one with the higher reputation!"

"Why are you so confident that your reputation is better than Fan Chenglong\'s?" the elder sneered, pointing at the crowd. "Why don\'t you look around you and see how many people are cheering for Fan Chenglong\'s victory?"

Xin Yue trembled and looked back, upon which he saw that countless Horizon Ocean Pavilion disciples were loudly cheering. Even the normally stern martial uncles were all smiles and clapping to congratulate Fan Chenglong.

As for He Songxu and Luo Anbo, they even went over to Fan Chenglong and hugged him as if they had been praying for this moment.

The elder said, "If you don\'t believe it, then I can just tell you that in this election, those disciples voting for Fan Chenglong reached as high as fifty percent, while those voting for you… heh, not even ten percent."

\'Not even ten percent\'?

Xin Yue\'s heart turned ice-cold. "How? How could it be?"

The elder seemed to want to stimulate him even more, adding, "Oh, right, even the Elder Council wasn\'t that enthusiastic about you. Of the 32 elders, only nine supported you, but seventeen supported Fan Chenglong. Oh, right, I also supported Fan Chenglong."

What?

Xin Yue\'s vision went dark, and he almost fainted.

The congratulatory cheers continued, but as the loser, they had nothing to do with Xin Yue.

He left alone and unnoticed, like a stray dog. Even those people who had sworn loyalty to him did not follow him, only silently watching as he left.

After gambling everything and losing, Xin Yue was no longer someone worth paying attention to.

He numbly walked the paths of the garden, until two people appeared before him.

It was Xu Miaoran and Hong Yuan.

Startled, Xin Yue asked, "You… Why are you here?"

And then Xin Yue laughed. "If it\'s about the marriage, then you can relax. I lost, so your esteemed father won\'t marry you to me."

"I know," Xu Miaoran said. "I came to tell you why you lost."

Xin Yue froze, and then he understood, shouting, "It was you? This was your handiwork?"

"You\'ve realized a little too late." Xu Miaoran strode over. "It was me who persuaded He Songxu and Luo Anbo to give up on the contest and support Fan Chenglong, both openly and secretly. It was also me who bribed numerous disciples and elders to stop supporting you and support Fan Chenglong instead. It was also me who made Fan Chenglong and his people stronger so that they could beat you in the team battle. It was also me who fabricated rumors to destroy your reputation so that the people I wasn\'t able to bribe lost confidence in you. Even the injury inflicted in the team battle was arranged by me, as there were some elders who weren\'t easy to bribe, so I had to find some other way of worsening their impression of you… It was all me."

"You!" Xin Yue exploded with rage. "Why? Why did you have to do this!? Don\'t you know how much I worked for this day? To make them choose me, I spent more than two million in spirit coins alone! That took me five whole years to save up!"

Xu Miaoran scornfully said, "Then do you know how much I used? I\'ve already used 23 million in the last few days, and that\'s not even considering what I\'ve promised to pay out. I estimate that I still need to pay those people another ten million in the next fifteen days. What is your two million compared to that? To deal with you, I can use ten times that amount, and more! Five years is nothing! I would spend my life savings to get rid of you!"

"Foul woman!" Xin Yue was crazed from anger, and he raised a hand to slap her.

Xu Miaoran didn\'t dodge, standing fast and waiting for his strike.

Pa!

There was a resounding smack, and a bright red handprint appeared on her face.

A moment later, there was a roar. "Xin Yue, attacking a fellow disciple is a crime!"

He turned around and saw an elder walking over, holding a crystal ball in his hand. On the crystal ball, the scene of Xin Yue slapping Xu Miaoran was playing.

Xin Yue gasped and looked at Xu Miaoran. He said in a trembling voice, "You tricked me!"

Xu Miaoran callously replied, "I bribed so many people that there was no way I could hide, and you would find out eventually. Rather than let you hold a grudge and seek a time to carry out your vengeance, better to strike first and have you removed. Don\'t panic. The sect won\'t do much to you. But for you to turn the humiliation of your loss at the Young Lord contest into anger and lash out at the daughter of a True Lord is a grave crime. From now on, the main base of the Horizon Ocean Pavilion is no longer fit for you. The Elder Council will decide to banish you to Cold Spring Pass, never to leave without permission."

Xin Yue collapsed to the ground.

Cold Spring Pass was an extremely cold, barren, and dangerous place, and it had always been the worst place Horizon Ocean Pavilion could assign one to. Someone banished there to protect it couldn\'t even get contribution points, essentially working for free. But he couldn\'t refuse, for refusal meant treason, which meant execution.

As he looked at Xu Miaoran, he began to regret his past decisions.

"Fiend woman!" he squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Thank you for the praise." Xu Miaoran easily accepted this evaluation. It wasn\'t the first time the women of Horizon Ocean Pavilion had been called fiend women, but it was quite rare to be called that by a fellow disciple.