Green Leaf Disciple Recruitment Season

The thought of swelling with pride hadn't even been in his mind for long before Chen Ganliu remembered. His Senior Sister, less than twenty years old, had achieved Great Perfection in Qi Refining. By thirty, she had advanced to the Golden Core stage. In sixty years, she reached Great Perfection in the Golden Core. If she hadn't failed to break through to the Spirit Embryo Realm, she would have been a great cultivator in the Spirit Embryo Realm before the age of a hundred. This realization immediately brought him back to reality.

The path of cultivation was always one step harder than the last. Even within the Qi Refining Realm, the first one or two layers were easy, the next three or four were harder, and the fifth and sixth layers were even more difficult. Most disciples of the Immortal Encounter Sect stopped at the sixth or seventh layer. Those who could break through the seventh layer and achieve Essence and Qi Integration, capable of flying on swords, were rare, less than one in a hundred.

The Immortal Encounter Sect disciples Chen Ganliu had fought with Jiang Ningxue and Xie Zhanrou were all at Qi Refining Layer Seven or above. However, it would still take them another thirty to fifty years to advance to the Golden Core stage.

Chen Ganliu had lived three lives and cultivated in two. He possessed deeper wisdom and understanding than any of his peers, along with decades of cultivation experience. Yet, his cultivation speed was merely average to below average.

He came to his senses, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He sighed inwardly, "My aptitude is too poor; it's ultimately an insurmountable obstacle."

"I remember my Senior Sister reached Qi Refining Layer One in just over a month, and Qi Refining Layer Two in just a few months. I still can't compare."

Although he had regained clarity and knew he was still the same cultivator with poor aptitude, possessing only half a Severed Vein, he still felt a bit of joy at having broken through to Qi Refining Layer Two.

The True Qi of martial artists originated from the physical body, transforming from their own essence and energy. However, human essence and energy were limited, so the True Qi produced was weak and bland. If one practiced martial arts for a long time, excessive consumption could even shorten one's lifespan.

The cultivation techniques of cultivators aimed to transform the human body into a treasure for cultivation, allowing them to draw inexhaustible energy from heaven and earth, converting it into their own essence and energy. This essence and energy, tempered by the energy of heaven and earth, would then be refined into True Qi.

In the first layer of Qi Refining, the Golden Essence Jade Liquid stage, the more one cultivated, the more potent their own essence and energy would become, and the longer their lifespan would be. This True Qi was even more formidable than that of peak martial artists.

In the second layer of Qi Refining, Boiling Liquid into Qi, one could easily convert the refined essence and energy into True Qi, even projecting it several feet out of the body. Its mystical methods were already beyond the reach of martial artists.

As for the third layer of Qi Refining, there was no specific bottleneck. As long as one achieved Boiling Liquid into Qi in the second layer and accumulated enough True Qi over a period of time, they could then use their True Qi to break through the various apertures throughout their body. Once all hundreds of apertures were opened, they would have reached the third layer of Qi Refining, Condensing Qi into Apertures.

In his previous life, Chen Ganliu never accumulated enough potent True Qi. He only managed to open five or six apertures before running out of power, getting stuck at Qi Refining Layer Two and dying in despair.

In this life, after cultivating the second layer of the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art, he naturally broke through two nasal apertures, far surpassing his previous life.

Chen Ganliu had broken through his realm but dared not be careless. He spent several days nurturing and consolidating his cultivation before contemplating whether to focus on opening more apertures or refining the wood Demon Core.

The former was, of course, the proper path. The latter was also a case of sharpening the axe before chopping wood. If he could refine a few Spiritual Veins, his cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds, almost within reach.

Chen Ganliu pondered for a long time before suddenly gritting his teeth and deciding to go all out to refine the wood Demon Core. He had suffered enough from his poor aptitude and was unwilling to easily let go of this opportunity to change his fate.

Having been in seclusion for too long, Chen Ganliu couldn't help but want to relax for a few days to ease his emotions. For several consecutive days, he simply wandered around the Immortal Market.

After all, the path of cultivation required both effort and relaxation. Constant arduous cultivation might even lead to cultivation obstacles!

During this period, Chen Ganliu had been diligently cultivating and hadn't paid attention to the changes in the Talisman Collection Immortal Market. Now that his cultivation had broken through and he was temporarily relaxing, he noticed something strange about the Talisman Collection Immortal Market.

The Green Leaf Sect Daoists, who were usually seen everywhere, were now much fewer in number. However, he hadn't heard of any crisis in the Green Leaf Sect in his previous life. He pondered inwardly, "What has happened in the Green Leaf Sect recently?"

He thought for a long time but still couldn't recall what had happened in the Green Leaf Sect at this time.

Chen Ganliu, suddenly curious, found a kind-looking Green Leaf Sect Daoist and asked, "Fellow Daoist, why are there so few people from your esteemed sect recently?"

This Green Leaf Sect Daoist, seeing his "young age" (though he knew it might not be his true age), felt a slight sense of closeness and smiled, "It's the time for our sect to recruit new disciples!"

"Our Green Leaf Sect does not accept outside disciples. Those fellow disciples who are older and have made little progress are sent down the mountain to marry and start families. Every five years, these fellow disciples are asked to send their age-appropriate descendants back to the sect to select new disciples."

"Those with poor aptitude will be sent down the mountain. Those with passable aptitude will remain on the mountain and be taught the Dao. When they grow older, if their cultivation is limited, they will still be instructed to go down the mountain to marry. This cycle repeats, continuing endlessly."

Chen Ganliu suddenly realized, muttering to himself, "So that's how it is. I forgot, it's the Green Leaf Disciple Recruitment Season again."

"This is an old rule of the Green Leaf Sect, yet I thought something unexpected had happened and searched in the wrong direction, so of course, I couldn't remember."

"Hmm! I remember the Green Leaf Sect only checks for a token when accepting disciples, not family lineage."

"In my previous life, I never had any good opportunities for apprenticeship. If I could blend into the Green Leaf Sect, wouldn't that be greatly beneficial for my cultivation?"

Because so many of the Green Leaf Sect's disciples went down the mountain to marry, their descendants were spread throughout the Great Gan, with some even migrating to other countries. It was difficult to trace their origins, so they simply gave each disciple who went down the mountain a Green Leaf Talisman, allowing their descendants to return to the sect for apprenticeship with the Green Leaf Talisman.

The Green Leaf Disciple Recruitment Season lasted for a month.

Applications could be submitted within this month. Hundreds of young men and women came from various prefectures and counties across the Great Gan, and even descendants of the Green Leaf Sect who had already established families in other countries came to acknowledge their ancestors.

Each time the Green Leaf Sect recruited disciples, some disciples from other sects would infiltrate. However, the Green Leaf Sect pretended not to notice. Even if these disciples from other sects showed traces of practicing other sects' techniques, the Green Leaf Sect feigned ignorance, accepting them all equally without questioning their origins.

Over hundreds of years, there had never been any incidents. These disciples with impure origins were very loyal to the Green Leaf Sect, and very few ever betrayed the sect.

Chen Ganliu possessed a Green Leaf Talisman, one of his twelve personal Magic Treasures. He didn't know which act of merit had brought it to him.

In any case, if he claimed to be a descendant of the Green Leaf Sect and presented this Green Leaf Talisman for apprenticeship, he would most likely succeed.

Chen Ganliu pondered repeatedly for a long time, his heart finally burning with desire. His obsession with finding a good master suppressed his various concerns. He ignored the tent, checked the Mad Zen tied to his waist, and left the Talisman Collection Immortal Market, heading straight for the nearby Green Leaf Mountain. Holding the Green Leaf Spiritual Talisman he had obtained in the Suiyang Immortal Market, whose origin he didn't even know, he blended in with the crowd of young men and women without appearing conspicuous.

The Green Leaf Sect only verified the Green Leaf Spiritual Talisman presented by the young men and women seeking apprenticeship. There was also a Heart-Questioning Trial to assess character, but no other checks, not even any questions.

Crying, I was only half an hour short of updating before midnight...

Today, I must strive and work hard to update at least three chapters. This chapter doesn't count.

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