The next day.
Qiu Changtian continued escorting Junior Sister Xu. The two flew around the Celestial Pillar amid swirling sword light, chatting and laughing, thoroughly at ease.
Meanwhile, Guan Zhan below, on the Kunlun Heavenly Stairway, had been running wildly along the mountain path for a day and a night. His strength was already utterly exhausted.
On the day the mountain was opened, before they began their ascent, Kunlun had issued everyone a mountain-climbing token with an inherent fasting effect.
Yet even without eating, drinking, or relieving themselves, the long climb inevitably brought physical torment and mental anguish.
After passing the ninety-thousandth step, he saw Yan Zhitui catching up from behind at an unhurried pace.
Guan Zhan was horrified. He forced himself to accelerate once more.
Running and stopping like that was ultimately more exhausting than walking at a steady pace.
When he reached the last dozen steps before the hundred-thousandth, Guan Zhan finally ran out of strength. He accidentally fell onto the stone steps, yet still stubbornly crawled upward.
Yan Zhitui saw it all from behind, but did not take the opportunity to overtake him.
Although his face showed no signs of fatigue, he was still a mortal body. By then, even his four limbs felt as though they had been filled with lead.
It was just that his family had taught him the etiquette of a gentleman since childhood. No matter how tired he was, he could not lose his composure, so he forcibly kept his expression taut.
In the end, Guan Zhan finally crawled to the finish line, only three steps ahead of Yan Zhitui.
He lay facedown on the ground, his chest rising and falling faintly. He did not even have the strength to turn over.
Yan Zhitui calmly stepped over his body and sat down on a nearby rock to rest.
A short while later, a streak of crimson sword light flew over.
Xu Yinglian brought the sword light down, glanced at Guan Zhan lying on the ground, then looked at Yan Zhitui sitting on the rock and said coldly:
"You two have completed the Heavenly Stairway. You may rest here for a while. An escorting disciple will come shortly and lead you to the entrance ceremony."
Guan Zhan raised his head and said weakly:
"You go ahead. I need to rest a little longer."
"You cannot skip it," Xu Yinglian said with a frown. "After the entrance ceremony comes the disciple-selection assembly."
"You must follow the order in which you completed the mountain ascent and choose a Kunlun elder willing to accept you as a disciple."
Guan Zhan shook his head and said:
"I came first this time. According to the sect rules, I should be the Chief Disciple of this generation and the Sect Master's personal disciple. What is there to choose?"
Xu Yinglian sneered:
"The Chief Disciple of the two hundred and eightieth generation is Senior Brother Qiu Changtian. It has nothing to do with you."
"What!" Guan Zhan cried out, his voice turning shrill. "But I... I clearly came first this time! Who is Qiu Changtian?"
"Senior Brother completed the Heavenly Stairway on foot long ago, on a day when the mountain was not opened, so the Sect Master personally appointed him Chief Disciple of this generation," Xu Yinglian said coldly. "If you refuse to accept it, you can climb the mountain once on a day when it is not open."
Guan Zhan lay on the ground in impotent fury, cursing who knew what under his breath.
Yan Zhitui, on the other hand, seemed thoughtful as he asked:
"Senior Sister, if I remember correctly, on days when the Kunlun Heavenly Stairway is not open, starting from the eighty-fifth-thousandth step, heavenly calamity winds blow down from beyond the heavens. They are colorless as nothing, foul-smelling as rot, sharp as blades, and keen as awls. There are even demonic voices that corrode the soul mixed within."
"That Senior Brother Qiu was merely a mortal at the time, was he not? Even with the mountain-climbing token on him, he did not know how to activate it. With the slightest demonic desire, those calamity winds would pierce through the Gate of Heaven and bore into the joints, all the way to the Bubbling Well, turning his entire body into feather silk to scatter with the wind."
"You are correct." Xu Yinglian's gaze shifted toward him, and she nodded indifferently. "However, Senior Brother Qiu possesses the peerless talent of the 'Clear Dao Heart.' Is there anything strange about him completing the Heavenly Stairway on a day when the mountain was not open?"
"Clear Dao Heart?" Guan Zhan immediately went blank upon hearing this. Yan Zhitui also drew in a sharp breath, clearly aware of the weight carried by those four words.
That was a peerless talent for cultivating the Dao! The ancient texts recorded that it was difficult for even one such person to appear in ten thousand years!
Seeing the two of them reduced to stammering silence, Xu Yinglian inexplicably felt a dark thrill rise in her heart.
Back then, her Senior Brother had used his peerless talent to oppress her as he pleased, and she had been so stifled. Now, using her Senior Brother's name to cow these newcomers, she felt just as exhilarated.
Soon, the Heavenly Stairway closed once more.
Those who failed to reach the summit of the Celestial Pillar before it ended were sent out of Kunlun by the mountain-protecting array.
By then, a total of three hundred and twenty-three people had successfully completed the Heavenly Stairway. One hundred and seven became inner disciples, while two hundred and sixteen became outer disciples.
The seven disciple slots under the Ziwei Sect Master, apart from Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian, were precisely taken by the five disciples who had successfully climbed the mountain and ranked in the top five this time. This showed just how tremendous the allure of the Nine Heavens Pure Micro Entrance True Words was.
Qiu Changtian also took part in the disciple-selection assembly. The five disciples who chose to become disciples of the Kunlun Sect Master were:
Guan Zhan of the Guan Family of Longyou.
Yan Zhitui of White Deer Cave Academy.
Chen Zhen of the Chen Family of Guangling.
Zhong Tianhuai of the Zhong Family of Nanyang.
Jian Qingnan of the Jian Family of Qingzhou.
The Guan Family of Longyou had produced Sword Immortals for generations, while White Deer Cave Academy was a sacred ground of Confucianism.
The Chen Family of Guangling and the Zhong Family of Nanyang each possessed a small cultivation sect in their local region, with numerous disciples.
The Jian Family of Qingzhou was an Aristocratic Clan of divination and calculations. Its current head, Jian Buyan, was an unsurpassed master of divination.
Judging by this, these five junior brothers and sisters were actually all immortals' second-generation descendants...
Qiu Changtian sighed and began making plans inwardly.
The phenomenon of inner disciples being monopolized by cultivation clans could be traced back to the source of the ancient conflict between Chan and Jie.
The ancient Chan Sect emphasized "teaching according to aptitude."
The so-called "Chan" meant explaining and enlightening people according to their innate potential.
The result was that the Chan Sect placed excessive importance on cultivation aptitude when accepting disciples. Without aptitude, one could not cultivate into an immortal.
Though the Chan Sect had now split into three branches, they still maintained this sect custom:
The Kunlun Taiqing Sect examined one's temperament, the Shangqing Sect of Shu emphasized Root Bone, and Penglai Yuqing Temple only considered comprehension.
As for cultivation aptitude, how could children of commoners with nothing compare to the children of cultivation clans, who had been fed heavenly treasures since childhood and nurtured under the guidance of renowned masters?
The result was that the channels for advancement were completely controlled by the children of Aristocratic Clans.
The ancient Jie Sect, on the other hand, emphasized "teaching without distinction." Regardless of whether one's aptitude was good or poor, anyone could cultivate into an immortal, giving children of commoners a glimmer of hope.
The result, however, was that the disciples under its command varied wildly in quality. To bypass insufficient aptitude, they even invented all kinds of unorthodox methods, such as the sacrificial offering path, the blood-food path, and the dual-cultivation harvesting path, causing their reputation to be utterly ruined.
Setting aside the historical background for now, he had gained four more junior brothers and one junior sister, all of them immortals' second-generation descendants. They were probably all proud and high-spirited types.
I need to think of a way to put on a good show and establish my authority... No, I mean, educate them properly and raise them into obedient, sensible juniors like Junior Sister Xu.
With that thought, Qiu Changtian could not help turning his head to look at Xu Yinglian beside him.
Junior Sister Xu is so adorable. No, I have to tease her a little more!
"Why are you looking at me?" Xu Yinglian asked, baffled. "You are now the Chief Disciple of this generation. Your words and actions must carry dignity. Stop darting your eyes around."
"Junior Sister, have you resigned yourself to acknowledging me as Chief Disciple?" Qiu Changtian asked in surprise.
"I have not!" Xu Yinglian snapped angrily. "One day, sooner or later, I will defeat you and seize the position of Chief Disciple! Just you wait!"
Before you continue