The Apprentice Recruitment Ceremony

"Elder Lu, tomorrow is Shushan's once-a-decade Apprentice-Selection Ceremony. The sect leader has ordered all elders from every peak who aren't in seclusion to attend. Elder Lu?"

"I understand."

"What a strange man."

Elder Lu's voice came from inside the cave abode, and the Shushan disciple who had come to deliver the message muttered in frustration.

Lu Changsheng was one of Shushan's elders. After entering the Nascent Soul Realm a hundred years ago, he had remained in seclusion cultivating. The disciples who had joined Shushan within the past century had never seen him. If not for the Apprentice-Selection Ceremony, even the inner disciples would have forgotten that Shushan had such an elder.

"Then I shall take my leave."

The Shushan disciple summoned the flying sword on his back, stepped onto it, and shot through the air.

Flying on a sword was an essential skill for Shushan inner disciples and meant they had reached at least the Qi Condensation Realm.

"The Apprentice-Selection Ceremony..."

Inside the cave abode, Lu Changsheng spoke to himself.

Lu Changsheng's soul had transmigrated into this world of immortal cultivation, and it had taken him three days to absorb all the memories of this body.

This Shushan elder was also named Lu Changsheng. Three days ago, just as he was about to break through to the Dao Palace Realm, his soul had suffered Qi Deviation, and he had died.

Shushan was one of Xiazhou's Six Great Orthodox Sects. Founded hundreds of thousands of years ago, it had weathered the rise and fall of countless mortal dynasties and remained standing throughout, taking it upon itself to slay demons and fiends and defend the Heavenly Dao.

Shushan was an unprecedentedly enormous floating mountain, with hundreds of peaks of various sizes, each with an elder. Only an inner disciple who had reached at least the Nascent Soul Realm and rendered meritorious service to Shushan was qualified to become an elder.

Lu Changsheng was one such elder, though he had little presence.

[Verification successful... Loading Apprentice-Teaching Simulator... Loading successful...]

[Checking host's number of apprentices...]

[Current number of apprentices: 0]

A cold voice sounded in Lu Changsheng's sea of consciousness.

Apprentice-Teaching Simulator?

Lu Changsheng was thrilled. It seemed this was the cheat he had received after transmigrating.

Lu Changsheng carefully studied the system.

The Apprentice-Teaching Simulator could reveal an apprentice's talent and simulate his life. An increase in an apprentice's cultivation could also trigger an apprentice-teaching reward.

The higher the apprentice's cultivation, the greater the apprentice-teaching reward.

Because Lu Changsheng was a cultivation fanatic who had focused solely on improving his own cultivation, he did not currently have a single apprentice.

More apprentices were not necessarily better. Too many would instead delay one's own cultivation, so most Shushan elders followed the principle of accepting none rather than settling for less. They would take someone as a disciple only if they met a person of exceptional talent and character.

I can become stronger just by taking an apprentice?

Having understood what the Apprentice-Teaching Simulator did, Lu Changsheng patiently waited for Shushan's Apprentice-Selection Ceremony the next day.

From the memories of this body, Lu Changsheng learned that Shushan's Apprentice-Selection Ceremony was a grand event held once every ten years in Xiazhou. Across Xiazhou's hundred thousand li, great clans and common families alike fought tooth and nail to send their descendants to Shushan to cultivate immortality.

After all, Shushan was one of Xiazhou's Six Great Orthodox Sects. It slew demons and fiends and enjoyed immense prestige in Xiazhou. Many households even worshipped clay statues of Shushan Dao Ancestor Taiqing Zhenren, with incense offerings continuing without interruption for hundreds of thousands of years.

Because Lu Changsheng had shut himself away to cultivate and rarely ventured out, he had already missed the previous nine Apprentice-Selection Ceremonies.

As it happened, Lu Changsheng had obtained the apprentice-teaching system. Perhaps he could use this Apprentice-Selection Ceremony to find an apprentice with decent talent.

The next day, Lu Changsheng carried a longsword on his back as he stepped out of the cave abode he had not left in a hundred years.

With a thought from Lu Changsheng's spiritual sense, the longsword flew from his back. He controlled it with Qi and became a streak of light, flying toward the Shushan Main Hall as he broke through the sea of clouds, which flowed like the wind.

Lu Changsheng's was not the only streak of light in the sea of clouds. Other Shushan elders were also on their way, and streaks of light in every color darted through the clouds, a truly majestic sight.

Such was Shushan's foundation.

Shushan Main Peak rose ten thousand ren, piercing the clouds, its majesty reaching the Dipper and Ox constellations.

On the plaza before the Shushan Main Hall, no fewer than ten thousand young men and women from the hundred commanderies of Xiazhou had gathered!

These youths had already passed through multiple preliminary rounds of selection. Otherwise, their numbers would have been countless.

Shushan elders arrived one after another, flying on swords and entering the Shushan Main Hall.

Those figures carried an immense presence. Watching the Shushan elders pass overhead, the people in the plaza before the hall were like mayflies gazing up at towering trees.

Every Shushan elder was an immortal cultivator at no less than the Nascent Soul Realm. Even clans a thousand years old were nothing much before them.

"Shushan truly deserves its reputation as an ancient sect with a legacy stretching back hundreds of thousands of years. Its foundation runs deep—it has hundreds of Nascent Soul Realm elders alone."

"It's said that three thousand years ago, before the current Shushan Sect Master took charge of Shushan, he had already broken through the Nascent Soul Realm and entered the Dao Palace Realm. After three thousand years, his cultivation is probably beyond imagination."

"Shushan ranks first among the Six Great Orthodox Sects. Young master, if a Shushan elder, or even the Shushan Sect Master himself, takes you as an apprentice, our clan will have hope of rising again."

"Your Highness, joining Shushan concerns the ten-thousand-year legacy of our Great Xia Dynasty. Success or failure rests on this one attempt."

As the people in the plaza before the Shushan Main Hall watched the elders pass, their hearts yearned.

In the Shushan Main Hall, hundreds of Shushan elders gathered together, every one of them bearing the poise of an immortal and a Dao Bone, with an awe-inspiring righteousness.

Shushan was a renowned righteous sect. The first purpose of this Apprentice-Selection Ceremony was to recruit a new batch of Shushan disciples; the second was to display Shushan's foundation to the unorthodox and Evil Dao, intimidating the gathered demons.

"Junior Brother Lu, you've finally come out of seclusion. The last time we met was a hundred years ago. Back then, you were one of the disciples the sect leader valued most. You reached the Nascent Soul Realm after only fifty years of cultivation. Times have changed, and your cultivation should have improved considerably."

A familiar voice rang out. A middle-aged man in a green robe, with a square face and a faint smile, took the initiative to greet Lu Changsheng.

Lu Changsheng quickly searched his memories and soon recalled the man's identity—Eldest Senior Brother Li Changye, a powerhouse at the great completion stage of the Dao Palace Realm and the current Shushan Sect Master's first disciple.

Three hundred years ago, Li Changye had fought three opponents alone and slain three demonic cultivators who were also at the Dao Palace Realm, shaking the Six Great Orthodox Sects and the Four Great Demonic Sects.

The other five great righteous sects regarded Li Changye as the elder most likely to succeed the Shushan Sect Master.

The previous generation of Shushan elders who were cultivating in seclusion did not necessarily have lower cultivation than Li Changye, but those old monsters were of the same generation as the Shushan Sect Master and would no longer compete for his position.

"The great completion stage of the Nascent Soul Realm... It seems you'll soon break through to the Dao Palace Realm, Junior Brother Lu. Congratulations."

Li Changye saw through Lu Changsheng's cultivation. Lu Changsheng was at the ninth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm, only one step away from the Dao Palace Realm.

A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator could become a Shushan elder, while those in the Dao Palace Realm were Shushan's true pillars.

In a hundred and fifty years of cultivation, Lu Changsheng had broken through the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Qi Condensation Realm, and the Golden Core Realm in succession to reach the Nascent Soul Realm. After another hundred years in seclusion, he was about to enter the Dao Palace Realm. Such a cultivation speed made him outstanding even in Shumen.

Lu Changsheng himself had good aptitude. Otherwise, he would not have stood out at the Apprentice-Selection Ceremony and been taken as a disciple by the Shushan Sect Master.

What Li Changye did not know, however, was that the original Lu Changsheng had become so obsessed with cultivation that he had gone to extremes, ultimately suffering Qi Deviation and dying.

And the Lu Changsheng before him came from a distant place called Earth.

"Thank you, Senior Brother. I came out of seclusion this time partly to clear my mind and partly to see if there are any promising prospects. I'd like to take one or two disciples."

"Hahaha, I never thought I'd see the day when Junior Brother Lu, who always goes his own way, would want to take disciples. What a strange thing..." Li Changye was exchanging pleasantries with Lu Changsheng when his expression suddenly turned solemn. "The sect leader is here."