Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Outside Lianyun City, in front of Lianyun Mountain, on a lush green lawn, a great Immortal Ascending Platform rises into the air. Starting today, on this beautifully carved stage, the grand recruitment event for the hundred sects officially begins.

This large-scale recruitment is the only chance for ordinary people without any background to approach the path of immortality. It happens once every ten years and lasts for three days. Once a sect recruits enough disciples for that year, they will leave immediately. By the end of the three days, whether they have found their desired disciples or not, this temporary Immortal Ascending Platform will turn into a clean empty space.

Those who wish to seek immortality must first pass an age check. Before entering the Immortal Ascending Platform, there is a gate that measures bone age. Anyone over twenty-five years old cannot enter. After passing through this gate, they will test for Spiritual Roots.

In a remote corner of the Immortal Ascending Platform, a round-faced boy carefully placed his hand on the Spirit Measuring Stone in front of him. The transparent spirit stone inside remained gray and foggy, showing no change from before.

"No Spiritual Root, next!"

The round-faced boy’s eyes widened in disbelief, finding it hard to accept that he was not destined for the path of immortality. He tried to persuade the cultivator in front of him to give him another chance, "Immortal Master, the Spirit Measuring Stone must be broken! It can’t be! How could I not have a Spiritual Root?!"

The Spirit Measuring Stone they had just replaced could not be broken. If the energy ran out, the Spirit Measuring Stone would crack. The Foundation Establishment cultivator in charge waved his sleeve, and the noisy boy was sent flying, landing hard on the distant ground. The boy fell in a disoriented state and could not come back to cause trouble for a while.

Slightly to the right of the center of the recruitment square, the Beast Control Sect occupied a space ten times larger than a small stall, with five lines of people waiting. One of the teams was testing the spirit stone, which emitted five-colored lights of varying lengths, "Five Spiritual Roots, the purity of the Gold Spiritual Root is at the Xuan level, tier three, Qi Refining first layer. Let’s go, let’s go."

The girl in charge of the recruitment, while petting the golden spirit cat that was comfortably dozing in her lap, waved her hand impatiently to send people away.

The young rogue cultivator with Five Spiritual Roots quickly said, "I want to be a manual labor disciple." He had clearly done his homework beforehand.

The recruitment meeting had just started, and the cultivator in charge still had some patience. The female cultivator glanced at him and patiently explained, "You are a rogue cultivator, right? You are behind on the news. Our Beast Control Sect is accepting manual laborers starting from Four Spirit Roots this year. Three Spiritual Roots can only be outer disciples. We do not accept manual laborers with Five Spiritual Roots."

She turned to a male cultivator at another table and said, "Brother, let’s put up a sign so that those with Five Spiritual Roots don’t come here and waste time."

Several hours had passed since the sect’s recruitment began. Hundreds of different sects simultaneously tested spiritual roots, and with the use of many Spirit Measuring Stones, countless ordinary people without Spiritual Roots came with dreams of becoming Immortal Masters, only to leave feeling dejected.

Lianyun Mountain connects the Mortal World and the realm of cultivation, yet the Spirit Qi is too thin. Among ordinary people, there is only one with a Spiritual Root in a thousand, and the common Five Spiritual Roots make up seventy percent of that, while Four Spirit Roots account for twenty-five percent.

Disciples from the Mortal World with Five Spiritual Roots cannot enter top-tier sects and can only be manual laborers in second-tier sects. Even if they go to small sects, they barely qualify as outer disciples. But small sects often lack resources, and after years of hard work, they may still be worse off than the manual laborers in larger sects.

Some sects are too small and weak; joining such a sect is not as good as being a rogue cultivator. After all, rogue cultivators now have the protection of an alliance. Although it is much harder at first, it offers freedom.

Four Spirit Roots are somewhat better, but still just a little bit better, while Three Spiritual Roots have a much wider range of choices.

With the same Spiritual Root, the purity of the Spiritual Root, the age and ability of the disciple, and their background also determine how much the sect values new disciples.

Suddenly, the Spirit Measuring Stone of a small sect shone with bright red and green colors, "Fire and Wood Dual Spiritual Roots, Fire Spiritual Root at earth level one, Wood Spiritual Root at earth level three, no cultivation."

A dual Spiritual Root, especially Fire and Wood Dual Spiritual Roots, both with earth level purity, are excellent for alchemy.

As soon as this young dual Spiritual Root talent appeared, several elders responsible for recruitment from large sects rushed over to compete for the disciple, "Join our Miaoyin Sect; our Tianyin Elder is a second-tier Pill Master."

"Miaoyin Sect focuses on music cultivation; even with a Tianyin Elder, resources are very limited. Our sect has many Pill Cultivators, especially skilled in teaching new disciples. Join my Tianjing Sect, and you will be the direct disciple of Elder Cangmu, who just became a second-tier Pill Master!"

"Come to my Beast Control Sect instead. Tianjing Sect has many alchemists, and resources for you are limited. Unlike us, the Beast Control Sect can offer you plenty of resources!"

The leaders of the top sects also tried to attract him, "We are from Tianheng Sect; with your level of cultivation, you will definitely be an inner sect disciple. Once you join, there is a chance to be accepted as a personal disciple by an elder."

However, since they only recruit disciples from the mortal realm, these top sects naturally do not place too much importance on it. The person sent over had merely reached the early stage of the Golden Core Stage, but could still crush other sects.

After all, Tianheng Sect is the number one sect in the cultivation world; their direct disciples have a Single Spiritual Root at the start, and there are ten with Heavenly Spiritual Roots. The treatment given by this golden core cultivator could only be for inner sect disciples, as he was just a manager and could not accept disciples on behalf of the elders.

The top sects have many rules and a clear promotion system, but their resources are unmatched by ordinary small sects. Big sects like them do not lack servants and outer disciples. They have come this time to emphasize the position of the first sect, and if there are any excellent talents, they will not let them go.

However, the Tianheng Sect does not expect to find top talents here. Mortal World disciples are still not comparable to those from the cultivation world, and the good talents that can be noticed by top sects are like one in a million.

Today is the first day of recruitment. The people who have traveled far to come here have some understanding of the various sects. After hesitating for a moment, the disciple with Fire and Wood Dual Spiritual Roots finally chose Tianjing Sect, "I wish to join Elder Cangmu of Tianjing Sect."

The cultivator from Tianjing Sect happily handed over a disciple badge and brought the person to their sect’s stall. The cultivators still in line and those from small sects responsible for recruitment looked over with envy. This talent is probably the best in the Mortal World recruitment this time.

A few hours passed quickly, and many sects gradually issued quite a few badges, but in a corner, Qingxu Sect had not a single person waiting in line.

Qingxu Sect was once a well-known sect, but back then it had internal divisions and split into two sects: Qingxu and Tianyuan. Nowadays, Tianyuan has become a major sect ranked within the top fifty in the cultivation world, while Qingxu Sect has gradually declined, having only a rundown hill and a few small disciples.

If it were not for the current leader of Qingxu Sect holding it together, this small, broken sect would have long been taken over by other powers and completely disappeared from the cultivation world.

However, if another ten years pass, when the grand competition of a hundred sects arrives, if Qingxu Sect does not have enough fresh blood joining, it will be forcefully taken back by Tianyuan Sect, losing its name and heritage.

Even if one has no prior knowledge of the sects, they can determine the ranking of the sects by looking at the size of the land, the decoration of the stall, and its advantageous location. With just a small wooden table and a chair, Qingxu Sect clearly ranks at the very bottom of the hundred sects.

No one was in line, and the cultivator sitting in the chair was in a messy position, lazily asleep on the recliner, with a book turned upside down on their face, covering a stunningly beautiful face.

There was a sign on the table, "Qingxu Sect, accepting Five Spiritual Roots with at least Earth level purity, and Four Spirit Roots for destined disciples; without a Spirit Measuring Stone, please do not disturb."

"Are they crazy? They won’t even spend money on a Spirit Measuring Stone, and they, such a small and shabby sect, are being so picky."

Passersby looked at the little worn table and shabby sign, muttering a few words and shaking their heads as they went to line up at other sects. It was exactly this indifferent and careless attitude of the Qingxu Sect’s leader that left the little stall with no one interested for several hours.

The reason was that Yun Chuyou, the chief disciple of the Qingxu Sect who should have been in charge of this matter, suddenly broke through her realm before entering the Mortal World and had to withstand the Golden Core Thunder Calamity. Therefore, she hastily found a nearby mountain to stay for Transmigration and to consolidate her cultivation, allowing her master to report to the Immortal Ascending Platform in her place to recruit disciples for the sect.

She knew her master’s nature well and did not expect him to do much, just to keep an eye on the little stall to prevent their already small territory from being taken by other sects.

After all, this was recruitment directed at mortals, and even top sects usually had protectors at most at Nascent Soul level, which was more than enough in the Mortal World. Her master was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, at the peak of the late stage of the Nascent Soul Stage; others respectfully called him Master Qingyun, unafraid of small sects causing trouble.

Of course, even the foundational disciples of large sects were not to be trifled with. After all, if they fought with the small sects, the older ones would come after them; top sects had Golden Core cultivators everywhere, and it was said that the Supreme Elder stationed at Tianheng Sect was even a Transcendence Stage monster, able to wipe out their entire sect with just one finger.

However, Yun Chuyou did not have the energy to manage outside distractions; she was fully concentrating on facing the Thunder Calamity from her breakthrough from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core.

The Golden Core was facing the Thunder Calamity of Four Nine, and she had to endure thirty-six strikes of heavenly lightning. For some fortunate prodigies, the number of Thunder Calamities might even double.

However, Yun Chuyou’s talent was only considered above average. Her level of Thunder Calamity was clearly within the normal range, and she smoothly endured the first thirty strikes without even using her protective artifact.

The thunder grew louder, and Yun Chuyou calculated the limits of her body in her mind. Still, she did not use the artifact and planned to continue using the Thunder Calamity to strengthen her flesh and blood.

On one hand, this was a rare opportunity to enhance her physique; on the other hand, she was poor. As the Elder Martial Sister of her sect, the resources she had were limited, so she naturally had to budget carefully and save them for the next Thunder Calamity or for her younger martial brothers and sisters in the sect.

The thirty-six strikes of heavenly lightning hit her, turning the young girl’s beautiful skin into blackened char. By the last strike, Yun Chuyou’s body was nearly at its limit, waiting for the calamity cloud to disperse so the nourishing rain could come down, allowing her to recover.

As she saw the calamity cloud beginning to fade, a bolt of lightning suddenly appeared in the clear sky. Yun Chuyou’s eyes widened in surprise as she tried to activate her defensive artifact. However, by that moment, her spiritual power had already been exhausted from her previous Transmigration, and she could only rely on passive defense.

As the lightning came towards her, Yun Chuyou felt a sense of despair. Was it true that destiny was greater than human effort? She wondered if she would have a chance to go home if she was struck dead by lightning. Resigned, she closed her eyes. Just as she lost consciousness, Yun Chuyou faintly heard a mechanical voice, "System charging complete, loading… loading progress 10%…"

In the Mortal World, at the recently opened recruitment conference of the Hundred Sects, Xie Fuzhi sensed something was wrong: his precious apprentice, who should have smoothly Transmigrated, had encountered trouble!

He suddenly jumped up from his chair, grabbed the collar of his newly accepted disciple, and leaped onto a blue flying sword, shooting towards the immortal realm in the sky.

The little beggar held by Xie Fuzhi looked messy in the wind, "This Qingxu Sect seems really unreliable. Is it too late for her to regret now?"

Xie Fuzhi, who rushed over with all his might, arrived at the place of Yun Chuyou’s Transmigration. The golden lightning had finished striking, and the calamity cloud finally turned into pure white clouds. Soft spiritual rain began to fall, washing away a clump of black ash on the ground and revealing the girl’s jade-like shoulders… The extra Thunder Calamity turned everything into nothingness, and now Yun Chuyou had nothing on her.

Seeing his living disciple, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Realizing something, he quickly covered the eyes of his newly accepted disciple, "You must not look!"

He made a protective spell to cover Yun Chuyou and turned his face away. There should be a proper distance between men and women, even between a master and a disciple.

"Master."

When he heard Yun Chuyou’s voice, Xie Fuzhi instinctively turned back. Yun Chuyou, having regained her spiritual power, was already dressed in the prepared white robe, looking ethereal and extraordinary.

The green-clothed Sword Immortal couldn’t help but feel a bit wistful: that little child had grown into a beautiful young lady.

Yun Chuyou did not look at her master but instead gazed at the dirty little beggar, "Is this the new disciple Master has taken for the sect?"

The sword stopped. The little beggar, whose eyes had been uncovered, began to vomit uncontrollably.

Xie Fuzhi frowned and said, "Why are you disrespecting your senior martial sister?" The little disciple was so good-looking, but this little beggar had such poor taste, saying such careless things!

He originally thought that the young disciple was special, but seeing him like this made him doubt his own fortune-telling. Maybe he had miscalculated their connection after all.

The young man looked at his senior disciple, whose face was turning slightly pale. As the Elder Martial Sister of the sect, Yun Chuyou had always had a good temper. She respected her teachers, was smart and capable, worked hard in her training, and took care of her younger martial brothers and sisters without complaint, managing the sect very well.

Xie Fuzhi couldn’t help but worry; what would happen to the Qingxu Sect without his senior disciple?

Yun Chuyou saw the little beggar’s dizzy expression, which looked like he was seeing stars. She softened her expression and handed him a round candy, saying, "The master is a bit anxious, so the sword flew quickly. Suck on this candy, and you’ll feel better."

Zhong Wei finally came to her senses after that dizzy spell. She breathed in the refreshing scent of grass and trees, raised her pale face, and looked at Yun Chuyou.

Although cultivators have beauty-preserving pills, destiny plays a role; unless one creates a false appearance, there are still significant differences in looks, just like ordinary people.

However, compared to ordinary people, cultivators usually have better skin, and female cultivators tend to be fair and beautiful. Even so, Zhong Wei was still taken aback when she saw Yun Chuyou.

It’s not that Yun Chuyou was extraordinarily beautiful, stunning the world. In terms of the delicacy of her features, she was even less striking than her own master, who stood nearby.

Of course, it’s not that she is not pretty. Xie Fuzhi, the master of Qingyun, might not have high enough skills, but his appearance and demeanor are definitely among the best in the cultivation world.

Zhong Wei’s somewhat confused agreement to the disciples of Qingxu Sect is indeed partly related to how incredibly good-looking Xie Fuzhi is. Unfortunately, as Xie Fuzhi flew her around wildly, the little girl’s affection for him was quickly blown away by the strong winds.

Returning to the topic, Yun Chuyou is not like those female cultivators from Hehuan Sect; her looks are not the kind that aggressively attracts attention. She is like a gentle breeze blowing in the spring morning. Her smiling eyes exude a lot of Spirit Qi.

Zhong Wei herself resembles a stray cat that has been hurt many times; she looks harmless but is quite wild at heart. She is wary of Xie Fuzhi, but when she sees Yun Chuyou’s smiling face, she can’t help but feel a little dizzy and instinctively wants to get closer. However, memories of past hurts instinctively warn her: perhaps this is some kind of trick! Beautiful women love to deceive!

She instinctively took two steps back, and Yun Chuyou was not annoyed. She opened her palm and said, "Look, it really is candy."

She unwrapped a candy that looked exactly the same and popped it into her mouth, filling the air with the fresh scent of green tangerines.

Xie Fuzhi reached out to his disciple, "Chuyou, you can’t be biased; give me one too."

Seeing that Yun Chuyou was not angry, Zhong Wei carefully took the candy, her voice timid, "Thank you, Elder Martial Sister."

Yun Chuyou’s expression softened a bit, but it was not as warm as usual. She shot a glance at her cheap master, feeling a surge of anger all directed at him.

The golden lightning that just appeared was not a natural thunderbolt, but was forced upon her by the story as it began to bind her to the system.

Just as she was transmigrating, her unreliable master summoned the cruel female antagonist from the story, successfully activating Yun Chuyou’s special ability: as long as she could make her sect thrive, she would be able to ascend painlessly and return home.

Since her special ability arrived ten years late, the system assumed she had already bonded with the Qingxu Sect.

After ten years of transmigration, Yun Chuyou finally realized she was in a book. The incredibly unreliable master before her was the ultimate villain from the story, and the whole sect was filled with wicked characters!

Thinking about the plot of the original book, Yun Chuyou’s hand quietly rested on the sword hilt by her side, her desire to clean house was already stirring. Instead of trying to make this sect of all villains prosper, it would be better if the lightning just struck her down!

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