Fang Rabbit Yōma

One after another, the qi tests ended, and finally it was my turn. When I stepped forward before Examiner Yimin, I stood naturally and waited for his instructions.

“Now then, First Tier.”

I immediately generated qi. Yimin looked slightly surprised.

“You generate qi quickly. You must have trained considerably. Good, now the Second Tier.”

I increased the amount of qi I generated and circulated it through my body. After confirming that, Yimin nodded in satisfaction.

“Very good. You pass the qi test. By the way, can you do the Third Tier?”

Without replying, I advanced my qi level to the Third Tier.

“Splendid. No complaints there.”

Yimin said with a smile.

“What is the martial arts test like?”

I asked the examiner.

“You will hunt a Fang Rabbit living on the outer edge of the demon realm.”

A Fang Rabbit was a large rabbit-like yōma about one hundred twenty centimeters long, with sharp fangs. Hearing that, all of the examinees looked surprised. Until now, it had apparently been customary to fight the examiner instead.

I had not even known the usual custom, but I was still surprised to hear that we would be fighting a yōma.

“I had heard that we would fight the examiner. Why are we fighting Fang Rabbits this year?”

Zengu asked. Hearing that, Yimin let out a sigh.

“One of last year’s successful applicants went to gather medicinal herbs, encountered a Fang Rabbit, and died. It became an issue that if someone could be killed by a Fang Rabbit, said to be the weakest among yōma, then our passing standards were too lenient.”

Now that he mentioned it, I did not have a weapon.

“Excuse me. What do we do about weapons?”

“You will use spare weapons belonging to the sect. Of course, if you have your own, you may use that instead.”

We were guided to an armory exclusively for outer disciples. It was almost like a storage shed, and inside were used swords, spears, axes, and the like. Since the weapons there were not of particularly good quality, I chose a small one-handed sword.

Zengu chose a spear, the two women chose maces, and the remaining men chose swords. The one-handed sword I chose was a narrow, double-edged blade with a little rust on it. The other weapons were much the same, so I did not bother changing it.

“Once you have chosen your weapons, we are going outside.”

At Yimin’s signal, everyone went outside. The mountain where the sect stood was called Mount Gyorei, and we headed toward the outer edge of the demon realm spreading out to the north of that mountain.

When we arrived at the outer edge of the demon realm, Yimin closed his eyes and seemed to be doing something. I could feel qi from his body, so I understood that he was using qi.

“Over there.”

Yimin pointed with his left hand. After walking a little, we spotted a Fang Rabbit sleeping under a tree.

“First is Zengu.”

At the quiet instruction from Yimin, Zengu silently nodded. Gripping his spear with both hands, Zengu slowly approached the Fang Rabbit.

Then the Fang Rabbit noticed him, got up, twisted its face, bared its fangs, and let out a growl. I had been watching from a slight distance, but even though it was supposedly a rabbit, it was not cute at all.

If anything, it was savage. With its fangs still bared, it lunged at Zengu. Zengu struck it with the tip of his spear. The Fang Rabbit rolled across the ground and tried to get back up. Zengu ran over and beat it mercilessly with the spear. When the Fang Rabbit was battered and broken, Zengu thrust the spear forward and finished it off.

“Good. You pass the martial arts test.”

They searched for another Fang Rabbit, and it became the next examinee’s turn. That female examinee was afraid of the Fang Rabbit. As a result, she nearly got bitten, and Yimin saved her.

The next one was also a female examinee of about fifteen, but she beat the Fang Rabbit down with her mace. The exam continued, and by this point three people had defeated Fang Rabbits, while the remaining three had failed to do so.

And then, at last, it was my turn. When Yimin found a Fang Rabbit, he signaled to me. Since it was my first battle against a yōma, I was tense. When I drew my sword and carefully moved forward, the Fang Rabbit leaped at me with its mouth opened wide.

As for the Fang Rabbit’s movements, I already understood them from watching it fight the other examinees. Using the body movement of the Meisen Swordsmanship, I evaded it, then spun my body and brought my sword down on the Fang Rabbit’s neck. The blade of the one-handed sword struck its neck, and I felt the impact. The sword was heavy, and its edge was dull.

Even so, the blade tore through a major blood vessel in its neck. The next instant, the Fang Rabbit spurted a huge amount of blood, collapsed to the ground, and stopped moving. Seeing that, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“One strike, huh? Amazing.”

I heard Zengu mutter. Examiner Yimin’s eyes were wide as well.

“Splendid. Your martial arts score passes without question. However, whether you pass overall will likely depend on your written exam score.”

Hearing that, my shoulders sagged. We returned to the exam hall and had to wait for the results.

Yimin brought the written exam papers back to the exam preparation room and began grading them. In that preparation room, the examiners for the inner disciple exam were also grading papers.

“Yimin, how are this year’s outer disciples?”

Long Zuhan, a Taoist practitioner from the same cohort, asked.

“They’re decent enough. But there’s one child who had talent in both qi and martial arts.”

“Oh? Then did that child pass?”

“No, the problem is that his written exam score is disappointing.”

Seventy points was the passing line, but Kou’s score was only around fifty.

“Pass him anyway. You’ve been entrusted with that, haven’t you? Besides, he’s only going to be an outer disciple. He’ll just be doing odd jobs, so it doesn’t matter if he’s a little dim.”

“I suppose that is true. Still, it’s a waste. If his written exam score had also been good, he would have talent enough that it wouldn’t be strange for him to become an inner disciple.”

“He’s an outer disciple, right? If he’s too clever, he’ll just be insolent. It’s better if he’s a little stupid—it makes him more likable.”

Hearing that, Yimin laughed.

“That’s a terrible thing to say. He was only about ten years old. He might still grow from here.”

Zuhan shook his head with a laugh.

“A person’s brains should already be decided around the age of ten. Even if there is room for growth, it would only be a tiny amount.”

“You never know. He might be the late-blooming type.”

“Hmph. You get one of those maybe once in ten years—or a hundred.”