Myriad Ghost Ancestor

The Yin Sha Sect had thirteen Ancestors. Usually, each occupied a mountain or a cave, all of them treasured cultivation grounds. Recruiting disciples once every ten years was also an important affair for them. Disciples were not only successors; they were also part of bolstering one's influence and strength. Naturally, everyone wanted as many exceptionally gifted, genius-level disciples under their command as possible. But even finding one youth with a Spiritual Root and the potential to be cultivated was no easy feat. Those who could be called geniuses were rarer still.

Thus, the Yin Sha Sect had a rule for distributing disciples. Each Ancestor put forward the three disciples they had recruited in the previous round, for a total of thirty-nine, who then competed in a tournament. The disciples' final rankings determined each Ancestor's score. The one with the highest score got first pick of the new disciples.

Of course, before each new batch of disciples entered the sect, their aptitude was assessed. Only the top thirty were ranked, and the higher their aptitude and potential, the more points it cost to claim them. The Ancestors would all use their points to compete for the thirty highest-ranked disciples. Once those thirty had been distributed, the remaining few hundred unranked disciples were divided evenly among the caves and mountains.

In simple terms, the top thirty were treated as treasures by the Ancestors of the various caves and carefully cultivated. They might even become Personal Disciples. Those who didn't make the rankings were treated as ordinary disciples and taught together by the cave's instructors. Only those who distinguished themselves would catch an Ancestor's eye.

Lei Dong didn't know how his aptitude and potential measured up, but he knew he hadn't made the top thirty. Naturally, he wouldn't catch any Ancestor's eye, and he would surely be randomly assigned to one of them. But that was probably for the best. In a world of cultivation like this, dangers lurked everywhere, so it was better to keep a low profile.

The top-ranked talent this time was an eight-year-old little girl, as adorable as a painted doll. 🐙☢  ♣☢ Word was that her Root Bone was a once-in-a-century rarity. The Ancestors of the various caves had sent their strongest Personal Disciples, vowing to claim her. That was precisely why this tournament was especially bloody. Only the Ancestor who came in first overall would get the right to choose her first. The white-clad boy in second place also had decent aptitude, but he was nowhere near the little girl's level.

The situation on the tournament stage began to change again. The short fellow's silver shield was finally cleaved into pieces by a series of heavy blows. But before the tall fellow could finish gloating, a half-transparent wraith suddenly latched onto him. As he paled in terror, a Yin Thunder no bigger than a dragon's eye appeared on his body without a sound.

Boom! The poor big fellow had already been blinded by his advantage, thinking only about how to stab the short fellow to death with a single sword thrust. He hadn't expected the short fellow's wraith to ambush him and hold him fast, leaving him to be killed instantly by a single Yin Thunder. If he'd been on guard, he would have spotted the wraith before it came close. He could have dodged or defended against the Yin Thunder, too. Instead, he was blown to pieces.

Seeing the tall fellow die so horribly, Lei Dong's face changed. The tournament stage really was a place of deadly danger. He'd expected the short fellow to have a way to turn the tables, but he hadn't expected it to be so vicious and sinister—to take his opponent's life in an instant. He couldn't help becoming even more vigilant. The stiff-faced commentator didn't seem to care at all. It seemed that in this ghastly place, not only was everything eerie and terrifying, but human life was truly worth nothing.

Soon, someone cleared the stage, and the next match began. This time, a young woman stepped onto the stage to face a burly man. Yet the burly man's face had gone deathly pale. The battle had barely begun when he tried to surrender. But the young woman attacked with extreme cruelty. A flash of dark green light, and the burly man's chest sprayed blood as green flames surged around him. He fell to the ground, wailing in agony.

For a full stick of incense, the burly man clawed himself until his flesh was a bloody mess. Then the green flames refined his soul, and he died.

The battlefield was cleared again, and the next match began.

Three days later,

all the bouts were finally over. Thirty-nine had competed, but only a little over twenty were still alive.

The adorable little girl was taken away by a laughing Ancestor in blue robes. The other caves had all gained something, too. Lei Dong had no say in the matter and was assigned to Myriad Ghost Cave, under the command of Myriad Ghost Ancestor. As it happened, he was assigned alongside the treacherous short fellow who had turned the tables at the end. That fellow had ultimately placed tenth, just barely making the top ten. Of the other two disciples who had competed, one had placed twenty-first, while the other had died outright. Myriad Ghost Ancestor's overall score ranked ninth among the thirteen Ancestors. But by the time it was his turn to choose, the top ten had already been taken. With no other choice, he picked three new disciples who had all ranked in the top twenty.

It was a very poor result, and this setback might affect his ranking in the next round. This method of cultivating disciples often made the strong stronger and the weak weaker. In the end, the direct cause of this defeat was the previous round's failure. That vicious cycle had led to the situation he was in now.

Thus, Myriad Ghost Ancestor was in a very bad mood. After bringing Lei Dong and the twenty-odd other newly recruited disciples back to Myriad Ghost Cave, he left most of them for the senior disciples to handle. He took the three who had placed in the top twenty straight away to become his Personal Disciples, hoping to start teaching them early and secure a better ranking next time. That way, he wouldn't always end up with the leftovers.

The remaining disciples, Lei Dong among them, were each assigned a set of rooms carved into the mountainside. They washed up and went to sleep. After all, they'd been worn out by the initiation ceremony, watching the matches, and everything else over the past few days.

The set of rooms assigned to Lei Dong had several chambers: living quarters, a cultivation room, a study, and a large private martial arts room. Altogether, they covered a thousand square feet or more. The furnishings were extravagantly luxurious, and every piece of furniture and ornament was top quality. In the mundane world, only royalty and nobility could afford such things. Lei Dong came from a well-to-do household, but he'd only ever heard of the materials used to make such furniture. He'd never seen them with his own eyes.

Small wonder: the Yin Sha Sect controlled several countries. How could it lack the finest offerings from each one? In the eyes of the Yin Sha Sect, though, these things were ordinary; even its lowest-ranked disciples could enjoy them. At first, Lei Dong had been resentful about joining an Evil Sect. But when he saw these things, he drew a sharp breath. If he carried off and sold the furnishings from this ordinary disciple's room alone, he could live in wealth for the rest of his life. Cultivators really were the most exalted people in the world. His dejection eased a little. The biggest problem with this place, though, was that there was no sunlight. It was steeped in a chilling gloom. No wonder most of the Yin Sha Sect members he'd seen were so pale.

Joining the Yin Sha Sect wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Especially after seeing the previous generation of disciples fight today—sinister, bizarre, vicious, wicked, and formidable—Lei Dong understood that the Yin Sha Sect must have its reasons for surviving in this world and prospering.

Lei Dong had known since childhood to train his body, and he was in decent shape. But after traveling for days and dealing with one thing after another, he felt utterly exhausted. He collapsed onto the bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, he woke early. Unlike his companions, who were still children in temperament, Lei Dong had at least come from another world, so he was far more experienced and mature. For one thing, the Yin Sha Sect was certainly no safe place. For another, now that he had embarked on this dangerous path of cultivation, Lei Dong didn't want to become someone else's stepping stone. He had a Spiritual Root and the right to cultivate, but he was by no means exceptionally gifted. He understood the wisdom of the early bird catching the worm.

After his cultivation aptitude had been discovered two years earlier, he'd received some extra preliminary training. Most of it involved learning characters and some basic knowledge of medicine, minerals, and cultivation in broad strokes. This was to spare them from being completely at sea when they joined a sect. Learning to read was especially important: how could you cultivate if you couldn't even read? Fortunately, Lei Dong had studied and practiced writing while building up his body as a child, so the writing system of this world wasn't unfamiliar to him. That might give him a slight advantage over some of his peers.

After waking, he first went to the doorway of his room. The senior brother who'd assigned the rooms the day before had told him that every disciple's private quarters were absolutely private. No one could enter without an invitation, except Myriad Ghost Ancestor himself. Otherwise, the protective formations in the rooms would make any trespasser suffer grievously, and in serious cases, even cost them their life. As for Myriad Ghost Ancestor, he wasn't so bored that he would go barging into the bedrooms of low-ranking disciples, so that didn't really need consideration.

Furthermore, the protective formation on the door had other uses. It could send messages to other disciples without leaving the room. It could also be used to place requests and summon servants. These servants were groups of ordinary people under Myriad Ghost Cave's authority who were unable to cultivate. They were there specifically to see to the disciples' daily needs.

For example, if Lei Dong was hungry, he could use the formation on his door to send in his meal request. The vast number of servants at Myriad Ghost Cave were always standing by. The moment any official disciple made a request, it would be fulfilled. The senior brother had said that Myriad Ghost Cave had only a little over a hundred official disciples in total, but more than ten thousand official servants. In addition, a city inhabited by ordinary people lay near Myriad Ghost Cave. It was called Myriad Ghost City, and its purpose was to supply the disciples of Myriad Ghost Cave with all kinds of necessities. By the time you counted everything, even the lowest-ranking official disciple enjoyed service no worse than that of a duke or prince in the mundane world.

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