The young man found the examiner leafing through a book in the library. He returned to usher her to the testing room. 

Bai li yue was composing herself. It'd been years since the last time she'd taken a formal exam. She'd revised only a few diagrams when the door opened and the examiner entered. He ignored her greeting and quickly lit a stick of time measuring incense. It was a special type of incense that gave out a scent five minutes before time ran out. 

'You have the time of an incense to answer all these questions. You may begin.' 

He finally spoke, passing her the question sheet. 

She skipped the first question when she didn't understand what it was asking. The second, third, fourth, and fifth revealed a pattern that continued to the fiftieth question. There was no way to answer when she couldn't understand the questions. The questions were centred around materials. Only, she had never heard of materials in her studies. Teacher chu had never taught her to include materials in her arrays and neither had the Han bei jie's formation inheritance.

'What have i gotten myself into?!'

She glanced at the examiner with panic in her eyes, but there was no sympathy to be found in his cold dead eyes. The rest of the questions followed the same scheme as the first fifty.

She breathed easier reading the second part of the exams. It was about the theory of formations. These questions were ones she was conversant with and she had a fair chance at answering them correctly. 

As for the first part, she ticked random answers and hoped for the best. According to the law of chance, she was bound to get a few of them right. With more than an hour to spare, she handed in her sheet after reviewing her answers. It was clear to her that nothing would change by sitting and waiting. 

'The next test will start in an hour. Stay here. I'll call you when it is time to begin.' 

He snuffed the incense and left the room. 

Once she was alone, Bai li yue finally had the time to put her thoughts in order. The questions had been peculiar to say the least. It seemed like a whole section of knowledge was unknown to her. She didn't know anything about formation materials. She never heard of it and she didn't believe that both her teacher and Han bei jie would ignore such an important aspect of formation. There had to be an answer.

'Is it possible that the practice has evolved? And that I've been studying so far is probably a thing of the past?'

Fortunately for her, it was only ancient or obsolete but not useless. She could cast arrays that much was evident, but she might have a hard time interacting with formation masters of this generation. It was similar to a person who spoke the ancient form of a language meeting others from the future. Communication would be a hurdle for both of them. She wasn't even sure if she was capable of passing the exam now. 

Examiner Hu didn't come for her, but sent an attendant to bring her to another examination room. This one didn't have any chairs or tables, rather, it had a shelf holding pots and bottles. The examiner waited for her in the centre of the large room.

'You have the time of four incense sticks to find the problem in this array. Begin.'

He moved away and lit the first of four time measuring incense sticks. 

Bai li yue was once again at a loss.

'I've really bitten off more than I can chew' 

she mumbled to herself, moving forward to where she sensed energy rippling in the air. At least this time, she could move closer to examine the array. If she could examine it, then she could find something. 

There was no array diagram on the floor and if there was, she couldn't find it anywhere. She was disappointed, but no matter how far the new tradition had progressed, it couldn't have separated itself completely from the use of array diagrams. Right? Array diagrams still existed. Of that, she was certain. People had just gotten better at hiding it. 

Right. If it's not in the earth, then it must be in the air. The ripples, maybe?

Bai li yue knew she was grasping at straws. She was throwing around ideas and hoping one might stick. In any case, the ripples in the air was the only lead she had. She needed a better view before she could reach a conclusion. 

A vein pulsed in the examiner's forehead. He saw her chaotic movement around the room and snapped. He had barely managed to control his anger when he was marking the written test, but this was unforgivable! Anyone with a brain could see that this was a person trying their luck. They dreamed of becoming array masters, but didn't put in the required hard work. He despised these kinds of people the most. 

Bai li yue was following the movement of the energy when a hand grabbed her from behind.

'Wha-!'

She wrenched her away from the array by the examiner. Bai li yue escaped from the examiner's hand a second later. She was nothing short of irritated by his action.

'What are you doing?'

'The exam is over. You are disqualified.'

'What?'

'Don't pretend you didn't hear me. Do you think this is your personal playground? Do you think the profession of array master is a joke? If you came here to try your luck expecting us to humour you, you're misinformed. People have spent years working hard to get a chance of a lifetime, but then people like you keep on cheapening that chance. Leave now before i have you thrown out!' 

He barked in her face.

Bai li yue tried to keep a tight rein on her temper. Her behaviour was admittedly proof of her ignorance, but was that a reasonable basis for disqualification? How dare he lump her together with whatever group of people he was ranting about? It was obvious that the man had lost his mind. There was no way she was accepting his verdict. Disqualified? After paying all that money? Because some bigot said so? No way!

'Sir-'

'Get out!'

Well, if he could raise his voice at her then so could she. 

'Look here. I didn't pay five hundred gold coins to be harrassed by you. What right do you have to disqualify me? I haven't broken any rules here as far as I know. Your judgement is clouded by prejudice and because of that you are wasting my precious time. Will you accept the blame if i fail my exam?'

She yelled.

'Impudent girl! Shameless opportunist! Do you think this is my first time dealing with your type?'

'My type?' 

She scoffed at him. 

'Why do you care anyway? I'm wasting my money? It's mine not yours. Can I go back to my exam now? I've wasted enough time on your nonsense.'

'Didn't you hear me the first time? You are disqualified. I am using my right as an examiner to disqualify you.'

'On what basis? Even if I am ignorant or a charlatan as you said, I still don't believe you have the right to disqualify me when I haven't even done anything yet.'

'Exactly. You people come here to waste our time just so you can have a chance to find a loophole in the system.'

'That's not what i am doing.'

'They all say that.'

'You are so determined to disqualify me, aren't you? In that case give me a refund. I'll find another city where the array masters aren't as prejudiced as you.'

'You should have read the rules. There are no refunds.'

A laugh erupted from her lips. she wasn't amused. 

'You disqualified me and now, you won't give me a refund. Mark my words: I'm going to file a complaint with your director and pursue your association for damages if I have to spend my whole fortune doing so.' 

She stated coldly, striding out of the door to the reception.

'That's what they all say.' 

He shook his head at the predictable end of the situation. He could finally go back to his reading.

Bai li yue was currently filling a complaint form at the reception after confirming with the attendant that she wouldn't be getting a refund. 

These people didn't know who they were getting entangled with. She came from a world where people got sued for forgetting to read a clause much more, this. 

'Miss! Miss, please hold on!'

The attendant tried to stop her from filing the complaint, but it was like leading a stubborn donkey. He'd known something like this would happen but he'd hoped that Examiner Hu would behave wisely. The president would have to get involved again and pay compensation in private to close the case before it escalated. 

He sent a boy to inform the president of the situation. If they were lucky, he would arrive before the complaint got processed. It would be less expensive to make the problem go away and more importantly stop this nosy auditors from digging further into the issue of missing complaints. So far they were investigating a rumour, but if another complaint vanished during their stay, then the storm that threatened them will finally befall the branch. 

'Miss, could you hold on for a while. I have sent a message to the president. He will be here soon to hear you out. Please reconsider.'

'The president? I don't care if the emperor is on his way. I'm still filing a complaint!' 

Why should she bear with them? Her patience had already run out and she needed an outlet for her anger. 

She stared coldly at the attendant who was slowly reading her statement. She knew what he was doing. Stalling for time in the hope that the president arrived to stop the process.

'Do you want me to write another complaint about you? I will, if you don't do your job properly.' 

The threat gingered him into action. He figured that he'd done his best by stalling and informing the president of the situation. 

Once the complaint passed through processing and was taken upstairs albeit reluctantly, two men arrived in the hall. They introduce themselves to Bai li yue as elders Song and Xia. Elder Xia stayed with her to go over her statement while Elder Song went to take examiner Hu's statement. 

When the president arrived, he did a double take. Elder Xia sneered at his unease and passed him the complaint form and statement which he read through clenched jaws.

'President Shao, this statement has provided us with a break in our case regarding the missing complaints.'

'Where is Examiner Hu?'

'You don't have to worry. Elder Song is questioning him as we speak. I'll send you our report when we are done investigating, but I suggest you prepare yourself. You won't be able to avoid punishment.' 

'Thank you, Elder Xia.'

'I wonder. Will you be thanking me when you read our report?' 

The auditor chuckled. He didn't expect an answer; President shao didn't give him one. 

'I'm done here. Do your best to reach a satisfactory settlement with the lady. If you handle the situation well, today might not be a complete disaster.'

The president thanked him again and watched him leave. He spared a glance at the attendant who shrugged helplessly.

'You could have- forget it, Yao meng. You did your best.'

He patted the young man on the shoulder and took a deep breath before addressing Bai li yue: the person responsible for his woes.

'Miss, i am president shao, head of the chenyang array masters' association. If you could reconsider, I would be honoured to be your examiner. I promise to evaluate you fairly so you won't have any cause for concern.'

Bai li yue wasn't moved by his solicitous manner. She didn't trust him. If what she'd heard was true, then he was the one behind the cover up. If he had been responsible in the first place, she wouldn't be in this situation. She didn't want to be at their mercy again, but she had already paid for the exam. The auditor had informed her that even though the president might see fit to refund her money, she wouldn't be getting a full refund. It was better to get it over with.

'Alright.'

She nodded, accepting the offer.

'Excellent. Please give me a few minutes to prepare.' 

He hastened off to find Examiner Hu. He found him arguing his case to the auditor who took notes at regular intervals. 

'Examiner Hu! You still don't acknowledge your fault? Examiners give judgement after the tests, using the test taker's work as proof. They don't rely on their sentiments to determine who gets to take a test.' 

President Shao realised his own failing in that moment. He'd repeated those words several times, but Examiner Hu had never truly taken them to heart. That's why they were here now under investigation. 

'Hand over the test papers. I'll be taking over from now on until your fate is decided.'

Examiner Hu who was hoping for understanding from the president saw nothing that put his mind at ease.

'President shao! I was wrong. Please give me one more chance.' Examiner pleaded.

'I already gave you many chances, don't you remember?'

'I admit that i'm at fault, but if you had been there, you might have made the same decision. Look at the answer sheet.'

President shao took the offered sheet. There were only short of ten correct answers in the first part. She obviously knew little to nothing about arrays if she was giving wrong answers for questions two and seventeen. They covered basic knowledge taught on the first day of apprenticeship. 

'f that isn't enough for you to believe me, she can take the practical test again. Then you'll see what I saw.' 

Examiner Hu added with conviction.

'Your mistake is not up for debate, Examiner Hu. If you're arguing that there were mitigating factors for your behaviour, then maybe witnessing the test for ourselves wouldn't be a bad idea. It might give us an insight to the situation.' 

Elder Song stroked his beard pensively. His suggestion had some merit to it; in that, it could minimize the damage done by the complaint. If the auditor was amenable to the idea then President Shao wasn't going to reject the help.