After returning to the Profound Blossom Sect, Su Yang continued his daily routine of training the Profound Blossom Sect disciples and lecturing Bai Lihua and Wang Shuren once a week.
A few weeks later, Liu Lanzhi knocked on his door and said to him, "We have received an official letter from the Xie Family, inviting the Sect Masters and three disciples to their household for dinner and our rewards from the Regional Tournament."
"About time," said Su Yang with a calm expression. "When do we have to arrive?"
"The letter did not give us an exact date, only telling us to go whenever we feel that we are ready," she replied while looking at the letter.
"So they're telling us to go as soon as possible, huh."
"When do you want to go?" he asked her a moment later.
"I can leave within an hour," she quickly said.
"Then we shall leave in an hour," he nodded.
"What about the three disciples that we are supposed to bring? This is mostly for the Celestial Pond, but we still haven't decided on who we should pick." Liu Lanzhi said.
"Hmmm… then we can simply decide now. Summon all of the disciples in the sect."
"Okay." Liu Lanzhi then pulled out her jade slip and spoke to every disciple in the sect, "I want every disciple to stop whatever you are doing now and head to the gathering area as soon as possible. The Sect Masters have an important matter to discuss with all of you."
Fifteen minutes later, Su Yang and Liu Lanzhi stood before a thousand disciples in the gathering area— both new and old.
"Ahem. This is regarding one of the rewards from our victory in the Regional Tournament— the Celestial Pond." Liu Lanzhi said to them.
"The Celestial Pond is a mythical cultivation spot that can improve one's cultivation speed by 100 times if they cultivated there, and we have been given the privilege by the Xie Family to send three disciples to train in that place for seven days, meaning your cultivation will improve as though you'd cultivated for two years, or 700 days to be exact."
The disciples expressed shock and excitement upon learning about the Celestial Pond, as it was essentially giving them two years of time for free! A peerless treasure and a massive opportunity for any Cultivator!
"However, as you'd heard, we are allowed to bring only three disciples with us, and that is the reason we have gathered all of you here today, as we will be deciding here and now which three disciples we will bring with us."
Liu Lanzhi then continued, "Before we start, if you do not wish to cultivate in the Celestial Pond, please step aside now."
The disciples looked at each other. Who in their right mind would give away this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity willingly and without anything in return?!
A few moments later, all of the Legacy Disciples and Sect Elders began walking out of the crowd and stood at the side, dumbfounding the new disciples.
"Who needs the Celestial Pond when we already have Su Yang? His Yang Qi definitely won't lose to some Celestial Pond." One of the Legacy Disciple mumbled in a low voice that was heard by many people there.
Indeed, Su Yang was able to help them reach the True Spirit Realm from the Elementary Spirit Realm in less than a year, which usually requires many years of effort. Although his Yang Qi might not be as effective as the Celestial Pond, they are able to absorb his Yang Qi on a daily basis while the Celestial Pond can only be used once every 100 years.
A few moments later, more disciples could be seen walking to the side, and they were the Junior Disciples.
"There's no point for us to go there since we cannot cultivate until we are mature," said one of the Junior Disciples.
"Is there anyone else who does not wish to go?" Liu Lanzhi asked them later.
When no more disciples stepped out of the crowd even after waiting for a few moments, Liu Lanzhi said, "Then I will let Sect Master Su take things from here."
Once Liu Lanzhi stepped back, Su Yang stepped forward and said to the disciples, "Because we don't have much time, I will make this process quick and simple."
"I have hidden three ordinary rocks with my name written on it around the sect, and the first three to find it will be allowed to cultivate in the Celestial Pond."
"…"
The entire place was dead silent, as they were dumbfounded speechless by his eccentric method.
Seeing the funny expressions on the disciples' faces, Su Yang continued to speak in a calm voice, "Do you believe in the existence of fate? Some people believe that no matter what you decide to do in your life, there will be events in your life that have already been predetermined by fate and cannot be avoided no matter what you do. Therefore, let's see which of you are fated to find the rock and cultivate in the Celestial Pond."
"And because I don't want this to take all day, I have limited the places where I can hide the rock. Firstly, it will not be in any living quarters or any building that cannot be accessed without special permission. Second, all three rocks are hidden within the Outer Court so you don't have to search the entire sect. And finally, it will not be in places where you cannot reach without the assistance of techniques or treasures."
After explaining the rules to the disciple, Su Yang said to them with a smile on his face, "You all have exactly two hours to bring me the rocks. If nobody can find it by then, I will simply act as though none of you were fated to cultivate in the Celestial Pond. And in the case less than three people find the rocks, I will only bring the ones who found the rocks. Good luck. Your time starts now."
