The Immortal Path Shone Bright

"Third-Class Mission Grade B."

Upon the clouds, Lin Changsheng made his decision and wrote down Bai Jing's rating for his first mission.

The three fellow disciples beside him gathered around.

"No way, Senior Brother Lin. I think this kid completed the mission quite well. By rights, a first mission should receive a Grade A Rating," one of them said with a slight frown.

"Hmph!" Lin Changsheng snorted coldly. "This boy cultivates the Minor Formless Technique, and his Qi and blood are abundant. He was naturally suited to restrain evil ghosts of the same realm, yet he twice dared not confront the enemy head-on and ended up in such a sorry state."

"But this disciple secretly set up an array, and even you and I failed to notice it. That counts as a skill in itself."

Yet Lin Changsheng shook his head. "His ability to set up an array was merely a trick. If he faced a true powerhouse, would he still be able to keep it hidden?"

"Being able to set up an array is his own ability. We are only responsible for observing and rating them. Junior Brother Lin, you are being unfair. In this senior brother's view, this disciple did quite well." The eldest of them, dressed in white, spoke up.

"Senior Brother, your words wrong this junior brother somewhat. More than ten days have passed since their assessment missions began. The other disciples have already started, or even completed, their second missions, while this Bai Jing has only done his first. Moreover, there was an element of luck in the process. If he does not even have the courage to face an enemy head-on, how can he become a disciple of Shangqing Mountain?"

Lin Changsheng still insisted on his view.

"Unless he truly is as Senior Disciple Yun guessed—using evil ghosts to temper a supreme art?" he added.

The three fellow disciples shook their heads. Though the Minor Formless Technique was a low-level supreme art, Bai Jing had cultivated it for less than half a month. He had likely only just entered the gate. How could he have reached the stage of advancing by borrowing force?

"No matter what, Junior Brother Lin, this disciple is under your charge. If he can pass the assessment smoothly and successfully ascend the immortal mountain, you will benefit as well. At the beginning, you should not set the bar so harshly." After some thought, the eldest, Senior Disciple Yun, said this.

"I think Senior Brother Lin is disappointed because this boy clearly walks the path of a Spiritual Cultivator, yet after choosing a supreme art, he went and chose an array technique instead." Another fellow disciple glanced at Lin Changsheng and smiled.

"It makes no difference." Lin Changsheng shrugged. "Among the twenty assessment disciples whose records and ratings I oversee, I am not relying on him to earn Immortal Merit for me."

"Old sir, sign here."

The older one got, the more he loved to doze off. Elder Fang had been leaning against the wall outside the small courtyard, half-asleep, until someone patted his shoulder and startled him awake.

Before him stood a smiling youth with jade-crowned hair, holding the letter Elder Fang had written.

"Has the Immortal Master finished?" Elder Fang trembled as he rose with his cane, asking hurriedly.

He had never doubted the Immortal Master's ability, especially when three Immortal Masters had set out together.

"Eh? Where are the other two immortals?" He looked left and right around Bai Jing but did not see any other figures.

"Uh..." Bai Jing maintained his smile. "They had matters to attend to and left first. Eliminating this evil ghost was my mission."

"Oh." Elder Fang did not doubt him and bowed in thanks. "Many thanks, Immortal Master, for eliminating this evil ghost for this old man."

"It was my duty." Bai Jing steadied him.

After obtaining Elder Fang's signature, he left the Fang residence without lingering further.

"Immortal Master, may your immortal path shine brilliantly!" Elder Fang stood at the main gate and watched him depart, his heart filled with sincere gratitude.

The Immortal Masters of Shangqing Mountain slew demons and vanquished fiends. Perhaps there was an assessment component to it, but they never demanded anything in return from common folk like them. They answered almost every plea—

After leaving the Fang residence, Bai Jing hurried without pause toward a certain town.

Shangqing Mountain's disciple recruitment assessment covered the hundreds of thousands of miles of Yunzhou. It was an assessment, but they also wished to use these assessment disciples to purge the demons and fiends within Yunzhou.

The assessment stronghold was located in the east of Yunzhou, near the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

Yet he was in the south. Returning to headquarters would be an extremely long journey.

Therefore, he needed to quickly reach a town and take the Immortal Express back to submit his mission.

Since Shangqing Mountain intended both to purge Yunzhou of demons and fiends and recruit disciples, it had naturally arranged everything properly. Immortal transport routes had long been opened throughout the region for them to travel everywhere.

Otherwise, with their own foot speed, how could they traverse Yunzhou in such a short time?

Still, though routes connected every part of the region, the journey home was rather far for a minor cultivator like Bai Jing.

He rode a fast horse through several small towns, yet still could not reach a town with an immortal route within a single day.

If I want to complete missions quickly, it seems I'll have to find a supreme leg technique.

Under the starry sky, beside a small river, Bai Jing looked at the exhausted horse collapsed on the ground and thought to himself.

"Dawn is not far off. I'll rest for now."

He looked at the little horse lying there like a puddle of mud, then found a large stone and sat cross-legged upon it.

"The Twelve Gates of Qi and Blood cultivate the five viscera and six bowels, opening the meridians throughout the body to obtain the Heaven and Earth Dao Platform."

Bai Jing silently recited the formula of the Minor Formless Technique. The Qi and blood within him immediately surged, especially around his waist, where dense Qi and blood continuously seeped forth from his kidneys.

The first gate of the Qi and Blood Realm was to cultivate the kidneys. Once kidney qi was abundant and blood qi surged like the tides, it would be complete.

However, he was still some distance from completion.

"With the supreme art at great mastery, my cultivation progress is much faster than before." Near sunrise, Bai Jing opened his eyes with a faint smile.

"It's here!" His gaze turned toward the horizon, where streaks of fiery red divine light descended.

"Devour the Morning Glow Spiritual Tide!" Bai Jing activated the Minor Formless Technique. Immediately, strands of white qi threaded with crystalline rainbow light gathered toward him.

This was the purest qi within the tide of heaven and earth's spiritual energy. Generally speaking, only cultivators past the second realm, the Dao Platform Realm, could devour this qi to strengthen themselves. Those in the Qi and Blood Realm only cultivated their own blood qi and could not absorb it.

Yet the most distinctive trait of the Minor Formless Technique was that one needed to use this refined qi to replenish the body, preventing it from becoming depleted from condensing too much Qi and blood.

Of course, if that were all, Bai Jing would not have chosen this supreme art. As the senior brothers responsible for ratings had said, this technique only helped disciples with poor talent.

But—

Did they think Deep Blue Point Allocation was just sitting around eating for free?

What he needed was precisely this trait of devouring the Morning Glow Spiritual Tide!

Strands of white qi entered Bai Jing's mouth, yet instead of replenishing his body, they all poured into the Scorched Earth within his sea of consciousness.

Rustle!

As though it had sensed a breeze, the Sapling's two miniature branches swayed. It was also as though it had been satisfied, cheering and dancing with joy.

For it was greedily absorbing the Morning Glow Spiritual Tide. This was nourishment for the Sapling's growth!

I wonder when the third branch will grow out. Bai Jing watched the swaying Sapling, his heart filled with anticipation.

Each of its branches represented a talent. For example, one of the Sapling's current branches was inscribed with arrays, so that branch represented talent in the Dao of arrays. It could inscribe arrays without limit and activate Deep Blue Point Allocation mode.

Naturally, the Talent Tree's immense mystical power could not be limited to this. It currently possessed only bare branches and no leaves. Perhaps it could even bloom and bear fruit.

Bai Jing guessed that once the Sapling had been cultivated to a certain stage, it would undergo unimaginable changes.

Buzz... buzz...

As he pondered this, a sudden flash of inspiration came to him.

"What is this?" Bai Jing looked toward the Sapling and saw it shaking even more violently.

Bang!

Like a tender shoot breaking through the soil, a third radiant and mystical branch appeared before his eyes.

"It really grew!" Delight filled Bai Jing's face, and he could not suppress his excitement.

"It's a pity I have no technique to inscribe upon it." He slapped his thigh again, feeling quite regretful.

He clearly possessed such a mystical little tree, yet had no arts to fill it.

"Cultivate first." After being happy and regretful for a moment, Bai Jing continued devouring the Morning Glow Spiritual Tide.

There was only a brief quarter-hour each day. He could not waste it.

Under the setting sun, before a town.

"Good, I'm not too late." A youth in plain clothes, yet carrying an unworldly air, slowly led his horse over.

He calculated the time. There would still be an Immortal Express tonight that traveled back and forth to the assessment headquarters.

"Come take a look! Come take a look!"

The moment Bai Jing entered the city, a lively atmosphere rushed over him.

Vendors cried out without pause, the crowd surged like a tide, and richly dressed young masters and married women occasionally passed by in carriages.

People of every kind busied themselves for their own livelihoods.

Having entered the city, Bai Jing was no longer in a hurry.

He chose a dumpling shop and ordered a bowl of wontons.

"Young master, you look like an Immortal Master from Shangqing Mountain." Seeing that Bai Jing was extraordinary, as though he did not partake of the dust of the mortal world, the waiter could not help but praise him.

Of course, he did not believe such a secluded master would visit a little shop like this.

"Many people say I do." Bai Jing smiled.

"Young master is indeed exceptional, but I have seen a real Immortal Master." Recalling what he had witnessed today, the waiter spoke somewhat proudly.

"I see." Yet Bai Jing did not ask further, leaving the waiter slightly disappointed. He had wanted to tell someone about it.

It seems I'm not the only assessment disciple in this place. Bai Jing thought.

When Shangqing Mountain recruited disciples in Yunzhou, that grand spectacle remained vivid in his memory.

There had been three hundred thousand applicants alone, and that was after selection and screening. Otherwise, there would have been no fewer than three million.

After another strict assessment, only thirty thousand assessment disciples remained.

Yet fewer than three thousand would ultimately truly enter the sect.

From this, one could see just how difficult it was to step onto the immortal path.

And this was only the test for entering the sect!

After eating the wontons, Bai Jing followed the street toward the most prosperous part of town.

Before long.

He arrived at the town's most popular restaurant, the Ascension Tower.

It had been opened by senior disciples of Shangqing Mountain, its purpose being to provide convenience for the assessment disciples.

However, after ordinary people learned that the restaurant had been founded by Immortal Masters, people came from time to time to admire the bearing of lofty masters. This created the bustling, overflowing scene the restaurant now enjoyed.

"Sorry, we're full."

Just as Bai Jing was about to enter, a servant greeting guests stopped him, coldly calling out.

He paused slightly, but still took a Jade Pendant from his robes.

"Do you recognize this?" Bai Jing held the Jade Pendant before him.

The servant's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly bent at the waist, his attitude making a complete reversal as he said respectfully, "I did not know which young master you were. Please forgive my offense."

Working at this restaurant, he was naturally familiar with the identity tokens of assessment disciples.

This was a young man with hopes of becoming an Immortal Master of Shangqing Mountain!

Afterward, Bai Jing was personally received by the acting manager and led to the third floor of the restaurant.

"That youth went up to the third floor. He must be an assessment disciple of Shangqing Mountain!" Many diners watched Bai Jing's back with envy in their eyes.