A Bunch of Geniuses

When Zhang Yang had first joined the Azure Cloud Sect, he had enjoyed supreme VIP treatment. Not only had Azure Cloud Master and the other six explained every aspect of Qi Gathering to him, they had also sealed a large number of Spirit Stones within an array, creating an incomparably dense spiritual energy environment. In such an environment, Zhang Yang had successfully gathered qi in half a day.

Now, five people had actually succeeded in gathering qi in three days through their own exploration!

Even with the help of a few Spirit Stones, their treatment was still far inferior to what Zhang Yang had received back then.

This talent... They were geniuses!

To complete Qi Gathering, one first had to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, then draw it into the body. The latter step was extremely crucial. Many people needed three to five months to succeed at it. These five had completed it in three days. Their talent was anything but ordinary!

"You're all excellent!" Zhang Yang immediately praised the five. "Once the spiritual energy of heaven and earth enters your bodies, it will naturally temper them. This process is also the process of mastering how spiritual energy moves and becoming familiar with its nature.

With your talent, there is no need to use body-tempering herbs. Although this will prolong your tempering process, it will be extremely important for opening your Spirit Seas and forming Dao Seeds later on. It may even yield twice the result with half the effort."

These were all things his master and uncle-masters had told him during his own cultivation.

Now, he used those experiences to guide his fellow disciples.

The reason the five had come to Zhang Yang was naturally because they wanted to take one quick step, then be quick every step of the way.

But after hearing Zhang Yang's words, they understood.

"Eldest Senior Brother, then we'll go back and continue cultivating!"

Zhang Yang nodded. "Tell me your names first, then go back and cultivate diligently!"

The five geniuses each gave their names, then happily returned to their cultivation.

Over the next few days, the disciples who had gathered qi experienced a blowout, coming one after another to Zhang Yang with good news.

In less than seven days, all eighty-seven disciples had completed Qi Gathering!

Even Zhang Yang could not help but stare blankly at such a sight.

Had every disciple recruited by the Azure Cloud Sect this time been a genius? To succeed in gathering qi within seven days, even with the help of Spirit Stones, surely counted as talent, didn't it?

Why had all these geniuses come to join the Azure Cloud Sect?

After pondering for a while, Zhang Yang understood.

It was like in his original world: if Qingbei recruited only three students a year, would you even have the nerve to apply without scoring above seven hundred?

Over the past century, the Azure Cloud Sect had recruited only three people. That showed just how strict it was in accepting disciples.

Without knowing that the Azure Cloud Sect was poor, would anyone without some talent dare come to register for its assessment?

A whole sect full of geniuses!

At the thought of such a scene, Zhang Yang was incomparably excited.

Yet when he told Azure Cloud Master and the others the news, the expressions of the Azure Cloud Seven Sons changed drastically once again.

"This is bad! This is bad!" Azure Cloud Master muttered to himself. "What are we supposed to do?"

The other six also wore grave expressions.

They had originally thought that more than half were spies. Now, it seemed they were all spies?

Zhang Yang was somewhat puzzled. Wasn't the sect supposed to recruit geniuses?

Now that there were so many geniuses, why were his master and uncle-masters still dissatisfied?

"Master, has something gone wrong?" Zhang Yang asked curiously. "Judging by the current situation, in at most ten years, our Azure Cloud Sect will have more than eighty Golden Core Realm cultivators. Even producing quite a few Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would not be difficult."

Azure Cloud Master shook his head with a bitter smile. "Zhang Yang, you don't understand! The more geniuses there are, the more resources they naturally need. How are we supposed to raise them?"

Zhang Yang waved a hand grandly. "Master, the Azure Cloud Sect has already begun reforming. Resource problems definitely won't count for much in the Future."

Fifth Uncle-Master Hualingzi said in a deep voice, "We can grit our teeth and solve the resource issue. Ten years ago, our Azure Cloud Sect was still very poor, yet didn't we still raise you?

But resources are merely a minor problem. The more important issue is that once these people advance in cultivation, they will have to comprehend the sect's cultivation techniques."

Zhang Yang was even more baffled. What was wrong with cultivating the sect's techniques?

Could it be that the sect was unwilling to let these people cultivate its techniques?

Third Uncle-Master Danchენzi let out a long sigh. "Kid, the human heart is complicated. Among these eighty-odd people, how many are truly loyal to the Azure Cloud Sect? You don't know!

Let me ask you: over the past century, our Azure Cloud Sect took in three people. Aside from you, where are the other two?"

Zhang Yang froze for a moment. He truly had never paid attention to this question, and the sect elders had never mentioned it either.

"A hundred years ago, we accepted two disciples," Azure Cloud Master said slowly. "We also raised those two disciples with care. They were indeed considered geniuses and cultivated very quickly. In merely twenty or thirty years, they reached the Nascent Soul Realm, which greatly comforted us.

We devoted all our efforts to raising them, but sixty years ago, those two shirked their responsibilities and separately left the Azure Cloud Sect.

Not only did they take many of the Azure Cloud Sect's cultivation techniques, they also took two precious treasures.

From then on, we stopped accepting disciples!

Otherwise, no matter how poor the Azure Cloud Sect was, it would not have been so poor that we could not afford to take in a few people.

If we had not encountered you ten years ago, we would not have planned to accept disciples either."

As Azure Cloud Master spoke, he could not help recalling the scene of meeting Zhang Yang ten years ago.

Back then, he had raised all kinds of difficult problems to trouble the disciples undergoing assessment, eliminating everyone else until only Zhang Yang remained.

It was as if Zhang Yang had come specifically to make things difficult for him. In the end, Azure Cloud Master had truly run out of options and could only keep Zhang Yang.

So rather than saying Zhang Yang had joined the Azure Cloud Sect, it would be more accurate to say that Zhang Yang had forced his way into it!

Zhang Yang frowned. He had not expected the Azure Cloud Sect to have such a past.

"Why did my two senior brothers do that?" Zhang Yang asked in confusion.

Azure Cloud Master glanced at the others and did not reveal the true reason. "Although our Azure Cloud Sect has a long history and deep foundations, we are completely incapable of comparing with the other great sects. Tempted by the enormous benefits offered by those great sects, the two of them developed other thoughts."

Zhang Yang said seriously, "Then they betrayed the sect! You simply let them leave without bringing them back for punishment?"

Ling Yunzi said expressionlessly, "We couldn't beat them!"

Zhang Yang was greatly surprised. "My two senior brothers had already surpassed you in cultivation?"

"Not quite. The main thing is that we couldn't beat the two sects that tempted them!" Azure Cloud Master said flatly. "Those sects... If our Azure Cloud Sect did not still have its sect-protecting grand array, they would have acted against us long ago."

Zhang Yang smiled. "What are those two sects called? Once my cultivation rises in the future, I'll definitely have to meet my two senior brothers!"

"You don't need to know their names. That isn't something you can know right now!" Azure Cloud Master decisively stopped Zhang Yang, lest he cause trouble in the future. "So now you understand how troubled we are about bringing so many people up the mountain, right? There are more than eighty geniuses now. If anything goes wrong, it will be even more troublesome."

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment, then smiled. "Master, Uncle-Masters, don't worry. I definitely won't allow such a situation to arise.

Starting tomorrow, I'll give them ideological education!"