Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng did not speed up time to obtain the special reward from the main quest of the System beforehand, but instead patiently nurtured his disciples and watched the increasing number of youngsters below him grow together.
Lin Feng himself was no longer worried. He continued cultivating his mantras and abhijina as he kept a close eye on the Great Void Sect’s attempts to unseal the Spirit Sea.
The main tune playing throughout the Divine Lands was the eradication the Hall of the Dead’s cultivators. There was news of their progress flooding over time.
As time passed, the frequency of such news gradually decreased, but consequently, the mastery levels and status of the slaughtered Hall of the Dead cultivators became higher and higher – especially with a recent gigantic catch.
One of the ten Hallmasters of the Hall of the Dead’s sub-halls, King Doushi of the Ten Kings of Hell has been captured by the Great Void Sect. This caused an immediate chain reaction, where King Doushi’s sub-hall was thoroughly exterminated from the top-down, which even spread to the other Kings of Hell.
Zhu Yi, Wang Lin and the others also reaped their respective harvests. The Hall of the Dead was being ravaged by a vicious storm.
The raging tempest outside, however, did not affect the systematic day-to-day operations of the Celestial Sect. Xiao Yan stayed in the centre of the Netherworld Sea, strengthening his communication with the Netherworld Sea while cultivating the Nine Yang Holy Light left behind by Wen Chiyang. Meanwhile on Mount Yujing, Zhu Yi’s Great Sun Avatar, Wang Lin’s Great Satanic Avatar, Yue Hongyan, Yang Qing and Ge Qingwu were also concentrating on their individual cultivation, raising their capabilities to prepare themselves for the real storm that would arrive anytime.
The Celestial Sect’s new recruitment exercise was also underway in an orderly manner. All the second-generation Immediate Disciples have grown up, and Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi have passed on many duties to their respective disciples. The Celestial Sect’s rules and traditions have been officially established, and their daily operations are completely systematic without any unforeseen circumstances, not needing Lin Feng to worry.
After a worldwide search, preliminary selections, and having the candidates temporarily stay at the Cloud Mirror City and undergo the trials and examinations of the Heart-Revealing Steps below Yun Peak, only then can a young talented hopeful become a official Foundational Disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
After Lin Feng’s multiple rounds of refinement, the Heart-Revealing Steps do not merely test the candidate’s conscience but also examines his experience, becoming an all-rounded assessment. Lin Feng created many of the mantras inside. It may seem like a simple process, but its numerous tests are complicated yet systematic, culminating from countless experiences.
And for those who cannot pass the tests of the Heart-Revealing Steps, the ones with ulterior motives are expelled, while those lacking in other areas can be arranged to continue staying at the Cloud Mirror City to await the next chance for recruitment. Those who wish to enter the Mirror Lake Knowledge Palace to learn are free to do so, and can even bring their family along to the Cloud Mirror City or Shazhou City in the Celestial Wonders World – the Celestial Sect of Wonders has people in charge of external affairs to do these arrangements.
According to the rules that were slowly being established, after the matriculation of a new batch of disciples, the earlier batch of Foundational Disciples would undergo another test from the Immediate Disciples. There would first be an overall assessment to select the Official Disciples before the successful candidates pick their ideal faction from the Eight Abodes. Following that, they will undergo the second round of selection from their respective abodes – those that succeed will be accepted by a master, while those who fail would not be rejected entirely, and would instead be allocated to other abodes.
At the foot of the white mountain boulders, the empty fields outside Ge Qingwu’s Qingwu Pavilion stood a group of hopeful junior disciples of varying mastery levels who have previously passed the overall assessment.
The selections conducted by the Immediate Disciples focused mainly on the future potential of the candidates instead of their current strength levels.
As Lin Feng meditated, a thought flashed through his mind and he directed his gaze downwards at the Qingwu Pavilion. He cracked a smile, “Interesting.”
There was a decent number of disciples who have passed the overall assessment, but the number of disciples selecting to enter the Qingwu faction was nowhere near little. Instead, it has even matched the Inferno Precipice and the Heavenly Temple in popularity.
There were several reasons for this. Firstly, Tang Jun and Lin Tong of the Inferno Precipice, and Yang Tie and Ying Luozha of the Heavenly Temple were absent. Secondly, Han Yang, Ge Qingwu’s first second-generation disciple has become renowned, garnering widespread recognition as one of the three strongest second-generation disciples alongside Tang Jun and Zhou Yuncong, stirring admiration in the hearts of all the junior disciples. Thirdly, everyone in the Celestial Sect knew that Ge Qingwu’s faction specialized in sword cultivation, which attracted all the junior disciples who were either gifted in swordplay or interested in sword cultivation.
Yet in spite of all this, the number of people selecting Ge Qingwu as their master was still not that large due to previous rumors that Ge Qingwu’s assessment was traditionally extremely strict. However, many disciples still wanted Ge Qingwu as their master despite the stringent requirements.
This was because everyone knew that Ge Qingwu only took in disciples of the highest quality, only accepting eight at a time.
And now, Ge Qingwu already has a few third-generation Immediate Disciples, and the eight slots for her second-generation disciples have not been filled up.
Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi have not been personally accepting disciples in the past few years. Even when they find exceptional talent, they would pass them to Tang Jun and Yang Tie to preserve the legacy of the sect.
Under such circumstances, Ge Qingwu has become a popular pick when junior disciples select their faction of choice.
The barriers of entry into the Celestial Sect are already very high, and these junior disciples each have their confidence and pride, hence naturally wish to go as far up as they can.
In front of these junior disciples stood seven people in purple robes. There were five men and two women, with six of them boasting long swords and only one of them being empty-handed.
The person in front of the pack was a young man with an average build. He had dashing eyebrows, his face as white as jade, his looks were exceptionally ravishing. However, the smile on his face was even sharper than other ordinary sword cultivators. The junior disciples standing before them did not dare to underestimate this young man as he was the only cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage among the seven. He was the first of Ge Qingwu’s second-generation Immediate Disciples, Han Yang.
Ge Qingwu has placed Han Yang in-charge of many of the daily operations of the Qingwu Pavilion, so the juniors would be seeing Han Yang more often than they see Ge Qingwu.
Even though he was still at a young age, since Han Yang has already achieved the Nascent Soul Stage, whenever cultivators with lower mastery levels see him outside Mount Yujing, they would earnestly address him as Master Tian Shu, or even Grandmaster Tian Shu.
On one hand, this was due to the Celestial Sect’s influence, but on the other hand, Han Yang himself possessed terrifying strength himself. Within these few years, everytime he left the sect for cultivation, there would be a sizeable number of Nascent Soul cultivators or Demon Kings that he defeats or slaughters, which would even include senior powerhouses either in the Advanced Nascent Soul Stage or the Demonic Lord Stage.
Flanking Han Yang were three young cultivators on each side. One of the women with a round face smiled at Han Yang and spoke to him with her mana voice projection. “Senior Tian Shu, should I do it?”
Han Yang nodded nonchalantly. He was not concerned about how the assessment would be conducted since he set the rules himself.
With that, the round-faced girl stepped forward to face the junior disciples and said with a smile, “The Qingwu Pavilion’s assessment is very simple, but it requires a longer time to complete. There is a mountainous path in front of you that leads straight to the pavilion on the mountain’s summit. The space around the path is distorted, and would deliver you to our sect’s Dharma Hall. The Dharma Hall’s battlefield ahs already formed an enormous alternate spatial dimension. You have to locate the signpost placed there by Senior Tian Shu within three days. The signpost would deliver you back to the mountain path where you can then ascend to the summit.”
She paused for a bit before continuing, “Within the alternate spatial dimension, you would be pelted with various kinds of assaults and dangers. Even though the Dharma Hall’s protective mechanism prevents you from actually dying, you might still be gravely or permanently injured. Hence, you are free to opt out of the Qingwu Pavilion’s test at this juncture.”
Everyone exchanged glances and remained where they were after pondering for a short moment.
The round-faced girl nodded in satisfaction and continued, “If you cannot locate the signpost within three days, you would be eliminated from the competition. If you are dealt with a fatal blow which activates the Dharma Hall’s protective mechanism, you would also be eliminated. Have you all understood the rules?”
Everyone nodded gravely. The round-faced girl then exclaimed, “Well then, you can be on your way.”
The hopeful disciples bowed towards Han Yang and the other seniors before ascending up the mountain path together. All of them were then delivered to the Dharma Hall’s alternate spatial dimension by the distorted void space.
Only after entering the separate dimension did they truly understand what they were up against.
Everyone dispersed in various directions, being forced to act independently of one another. None of them were allowed to communicate through mana voice projection.
The alternate spatial dimension they were in was like an actual world, teeming with various demon tribes and unidentifiable human cultivators that attacked them indiscriminately. Even though these demons and enemies have been suppressed to a certain level of strength, they were still a pain to deal with.
Their opponents did not actually stand at any advantage against the Celestial Sect’s disciples, in fact, they were at a slight disadvantage. Although the mastery levels of the participating disciples were not identical, every opponent that each individual faces would be set at a lower standard compared to the candidate under Han Yang’s intentional control.
But this does not mean that they can underestimate these opponents. On the contrary, all these opponents, regardless whether they were demons or humans, were incredibly ferocious, cunning, and lethal to the extreme.
Besieging, assassinating, ambushing and laying traps were all basic and normal tactics that any one of them could employ. Even though each individual opponent could not match the Celestial Sect’s disciple in terms of raw strength, these foes would never attack a disciple on their own, always opting for a coordinated team attack.
Those opponents that resemble human cultivators are skilled at deception, and may pretend to be friendly forces by helping the disciples decimate the demon tribes to earn their trust before stabbing them in the back at a pivotal point.
The candidates might even receive clues about the signpost only to realize that they were traps set by their opponents.
Some of these Celestial Sect disciples might not be wary of the situation they are in, and save those human cultivators attacked by the demon tribes in a rash act of bravery, just to be conveniently betrayed and dispatched by these deceitful human-looking enemies and die unjustly.
There might also be some human cultivators who form alliances with the Celestial Sect disciples at times, but there would always be some treacherous fiends who plot deviously behind the scenes to sabotage these friendships, cornering the disciples such that they cannot argue their way out of misunderstandings, becoming the attacking target of an entire group of enemies.
These possibilities are countless, but there simply won’t be a single opponent who would forge a pure alliance with the participating disciples.
At the foot of the Ge Qingwu Pavilion’s mountain, Han Yang observed everything calmly while the stern-looking woman beside him turned to him and said, “Senior Tian Shu, what you are doing is greatly detrimental to these disciples’ minds, and may very likely turn them towards evil.”
