Chapter 18 - Zhi Ruo

Just after Xuan Hao left the servant quarters a huge storm swept through the place as the managers of different parts of the servant quarters quickly came together to decided on how they would choose the servant Xuan Hao had asked for.

A few minutes passed before all the higher-ups from the servant quarters had gathered in the managing building.

"I have already gone through the files of the younger servants around the age of 15 who preformed well enough to be chosen as the servant for Elder Xuan's first disciple."

A middle-aged man said as he looks at the other people sitting around the table.

"For now, let's decided on how we chose one of them." Saying that the middle-aged man passed a few papers around to everyone as they quickly read through each and every one of them.

"Hmm… I think we should let the young'uns compete among themselves to see who is best. This way nobody would complain about us being unfair or favourable towards someone!"

"I think that the idea Manager Hou came with is reasonable, I vote for it."

"Count me in as well."

"Me too."

"With that out of the way, let's begin right away. The faster we get it done the better!"

Having agreed on having the young girls compete with each other to find the best one, the managers quickly left and organised the tournament for the young girls, to find out who would become the servant of Elder Xuan's first disciple.

The News about the tournament and the reason for it soon spread around the servant quarters.

The servant girls who were around the age of 15 were all excited upon hearing the news about the tournament arranged by the managers, while the younger ones lamented about why they couldn't be born a few years earlier.

No matter what, a storm had swept through the servant quarters as all the girls who could compete prepared to do so.

After all, this was the first disciple of Elder Xuan, a Nascent Soul expert! Even just being the servant of his disciple would be a prestigious endeavour and would be like ascending to heaven in a single step.

Another reason was because the servant girls heard tales of some young elder who had once married his servant girl after years of service and they ended up living happily together.

No matter what reason it was for, all the servants who fit the criteria for signing up for the tournament did.

Zhi Ruo was the same as most of the other servants signing up for the tournament, only, she had a little different reason for signing up compared to the other servants.

The reason was that Zhi Ruo had once met Xuan Hao before. He had saved her back when she was only around 10 or so years old.

Back then she was an orphan, she had been attacked by a group of people when she was out begging on the street like usual and Xuan Hao had come to help her back then. Afterwards he even helped her enter the servant quarters of the Flying Sword Sect!

Zhi Ruo had worked hard ever since then in the hope of being helpful to her saviour sometime in the future. Now she finally had the opportunity to do so!

After she finished signing up for the tournament, Zhi Ruo quickly went back to her room and started practicing.

The tournament that the servant quarters held was nothing like the tournaments held by the Flying Sword Sect. The Flying Sword Sect was after all a sect for cultivators, so their tournaments involved fighting and other similar things.

The servant quarters on the other hand, focused on the tasks of a servant, so the tournament it held of course did so as well.

From cleaning, to cooking and tea brewing. All the things would be tested.

Time passed and upon waking up the next day, Zhi Ruo immediately made her way to the place the tournament would be held.

A few hundred people around the same age as Zhi Ruo had already gathered and were waiting for Manager Hou to officially begin the tournament.

"I think all of you already know what the first test will be, so I won't explain too much. You all move to the station you are assigned to and start making something to eat. The time limit will be 1 hour."

It didn't take long and soon, Manager Hou officially announced the start of the first part of the tournament.

Zhi Ruo looked around and saw a table with her name on it. The station itself was a table with cooking utensils. The first thing she did was start up the fire and taking out a relatively big wok.

The dish Zhi Ruo decided to make was a rather simple one as she did not have a lot of time. Sadly, one of the aspects she lacked in was cooking and the most she could do was stir-fry something.

The dish she decided on was stir fried chicken and rice with some vegetables. Rather simple and quick, but it was still enjoyable to eat.

Picking out the vegetables she needed, Zhi Ruo cut them before starting to cook.

...

"Time's up, we will be evaluating what you all cooked and the top 50 will move on to the next round of the tournament."

Hearing the voice of Manager Hou, Zhi Ruo smiled proudly at what she had made and waited for the judges to come and judge her dish.

"passable, you can move on."

She didn't wait for long as she was soon evaluated to have passed the first stage of the tournament.

The next part of the tournament was cleaning, one of the things Zhi Ruo excelled at, so without much trouble, she managed to easily pass through it and enter the top 10.

"The final test will be tea brewing! Only one of you can win this and it will be the best! To ensure that only fairness, all of you will be personally judged by the managers of the servant quarters and the winner will be sent to be the servant of Elder Xuan's first disciple!"

Zhi Ruo gulped slightly as she nervously looked towards the entrance of the tournament ground and saw the five remaining managers from the servant quarters enter.

The other contestants were no different as they nervously looked at the five managers. Together with Manager Hou, all the managers from the servant quarters had gathered here!