The pride from Xueya faded to a warm, steady hum in the back of his mind, a constant reminder he wasn't alone. Lin Tian turned from the ranking slab and walked out of the arena, ignoring the lingering stares. His body ached from the cold bind, and his shoulder wound throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
An inner administration attendant was waiting for him just outside the archway.
The man wore the pale blue robes of the sect's bureaucrats, not the martial cut of a disciple. He held a slender scroll case of polished white jade.
"Disciple Lin Tian," the attendant said, his voice flat and procedural. "A formal notification."
Lin Tian stopped. He wiped a trace of frost from his sleeve. "Yes?"
The attendant extended the scroll case. "By order of the Outer Court Administration, and in recognition of your current standing at Rank Seventeen, you are hereby invited to participate in the preliminary trials for inner disciple status."
Lin Tian took the case. It was cold, unnaturally so.
