Debate at the Dharma Assembly

Sword-Coming Peak, Wind-Listening Hall.

This was where the peak's disciples usually gathered. Dozens of long tables stood within the hall, ancient and elegant.

Today, to welcome the new disciples, the tables were piled with spirit fruits and fine wine, while servant disciples carried dishes back and forth between the seats.

The Inner Sect disciples of Sword-Coming Peak were seated according to their respective master lineages. For a time, quite a few gazes fell upon him.

Shen Qingzhou's arrival drew no small amount of attention.

"What a handsome young man."

As he grew, his figure had become increasingly tall and refined.

Following the voice, Shen Qingzhou swept his gaze around the hall before it finally settled on the main table in the center. Two or three dozen people sat there, drinking and chatting with several middle-aged cultivators dressed in steward robes.

Leading them were Lu Chen and Zhou Huan, both from Elder Li's lineage.

That lineage was currently the strongest on Sword-Coming Peak. The resources in their hands and the weight of their words far exceeded those of the branch lineages.

Lu Chen sat alone in the seat of honor, while his fellow disciples beside him were clearly somewhat in awe of him.

At the neighboring table sat Zhao Heng and the other Zhao family disciples. Shen Qingzhou also spotted Fang Wuji and Liu Yinghan.

He searched the hall for a while before finally finding the seat assigned to him in the farthest corner.

Su Yu was lying facedown on the table with her head pillowed on her arm, sleeping like the dead.

Without saying a word, Shen Qingzhou walked over and sat down on the cushion beside Su Yu.

The sudden addition of someone in the corner drew several more gazes. A few female cultivators whispered among themselves.

"Wow, is that Shen Qingzhou?"

"Stop swooning. That's him. I heard that he went into seclusion as soon as he returned from the mountain a while ago. I didn't expect him to already be at the third level of Qi Refining. What a good-looking rate of progress."

"Oh... if he didn't have absolutely no background, I'd want to become Dao companions with him."

"You're truly muddleheaded. A genius may be impressive himself, but he can't help you cultivate! If you follow him and have no resources, how are you any different from a Rogue Cultivator?"

Shen Qingzhou ignored the discussions and merely observed the situation in the hall.

The seating arrangement at this banquet was a miniature map of influence. The Kan Water Lineage's exclusion was even more severe than he had imagined.

At some point, Su Yu woke up. She lazily raised her head, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. "You're here... It's so noisy."

Shen Qingzhou asked curiously, "Senior Sister, do you know the rules for the minor tournament?"

"The minor tournament?"

Resting her chin on her hand, Su Yu thought for a moment. "It's about the same every year. How confident are you?"

"At least fifty percent."

Hearing that, Su Yu sat up a little straighter and looked him over from head to toe. "Third level of Qi Refining already? Mm... not bad. If you want to fight for it, it's not as though you have no chance."

Just then, an elder in the hall coughed, and the previously noisy Wind-Listening Hall instantly fell silent.

An elder dressed in black robes stood up. His expression was solemn as his gaze swept over everyone below. "I called you here today and arranged this banquet for two reasons. First, to welcome the new disciples. Second, to announce this year's Inner Sect minor tournament."

This man was Elder Wang, Sword-Coming Peak's elder responsible for transmitting techniques.

"Inner Sect cultivation is different from Outer Sect cultivation. The sect will no longer teach you hand in hand as it did before. Everything you need for cultivation must be fought for by yourselves! The minor tournament is the most direct way for you to obtain resources!"

"This minor tournament will be held in half a month. All Inner Sect disciples below the sixth level of Qi Refining may participate. The tournament consists of three events."

"First, the Dao Discernment Examination! It tests your understanding of your own Dao lineage. If your foundation is unstable and you cannot even see the Dao clearly, you will not go far!"

"Second, sword duels on the Sword Trial Platform! All talk and no practice is useless. For sword cultivators, in the end, it still comes down to the sword in your hand!"

"Third, sect records! The tasks and contributions you have completed since entering the Inner Sect will be judged by the Steward Hall. The sect raises you, so you must also do work for the sect!"

"For the overall evaluation of the three events, the top ten will have their monthly stipends doubled for the next year! The top three may cultivate in the Sword Qi Well for three days! As for first place..."

Elder Wang paused here.

"First place may enter the Inner Sect Sword Pavilion and freely choose one mid-stage Qi Refining spell technique or sword art!"

"What? The rewards are actually this generous—more generous than in previous years!"

"No matter what, I have to fight for it!"

As soon as those words were spoken, quite a few people in the hall sucked in a cold breath. Many gazes became blazing hot.

A doubled monthly stipend meant more pills and talismans.

The Sword Qi Well was a cultivation wonderland on Sword-Coming Peak. Cultivating there for one day was equivalent to cultivating outside for a month. It was immensely beneficial for comprehending sword arts and nurturing sword qi.

There was no need to say more about the spell techniques and sword arts in the Inner Sect Sword Pavilion. Learning any of them normally required an enormous number of contribution points. Now that one could be obtained for free, naturally countless people longed for it.

"Mm, that's rather tempting..."

Shen Qingzhou showed little expression on the surface, but inwardly, his thoughts had already begun to stir.

The immortal Dao prized striving. One step slow, and every step would be slow!

The profession panel could not let him ascend to the heavens in a single step.

Without fuel, trying to rise to the heavens by stepping on one's own left foot with one's right was absolutely impossible.

He had to fight for this minor tournament.

"So that you can get a sense of the Dao Discernment Examination, at today's banquet, several stewards and I will first pose a few questions as a warm-up."

Elder Wang continued, "The atmosphere on the peak has been poor these past few years. Many disciples think only of fighting and have forgotten the foundations of cultivation. This is meant to set the atmosphere straight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Huan at the main table raised his cup and smiled at those beside him. "The Dao Discernment Examination? Isn't that simply handing us points? When it comes to understanding Dao lineage inheritances, who can compare with our Lou Metal and Wèi Earth lineages?"

Another person immediately chimed in, "Exactly. Some minor branches are practically about to lose their inheritances. What do they have to discern the Dao with?"

Elder Wang nodded at a steward behind him, and the steward had two disciples carry up a heavy wooden frame.

The frame was covered in red cloth. When it was lifted away, it revealed an ancient stone stele half the height of a man.

The stele's body was pitch-black, and it was impossible to tell what material it was made from. Its surface was covered in spiderweb-like cracks. Watery light flickered deep within those fissures, as though a dark river had been sealed inside.

An ancient yet incomplete Dao resonance emanated from the stone stele.

"This object was found by the sect's elders many years ago in an ancient ruin in the Northern Wastes."

Elder Wang pointed at the stone stele as he explained.

"This stele contains an exceptionally pure water-element Dao resonance, but its body was damaged and contaminated, making it difficult to comprehend. If you forcibly examine it with divine sense, your soul may be injured."

"Today, the first question of the examination is this."

Elder Wang's gaze swept one by one across the faces of the new disciples below.

"State the origin of this stele, and analyze the source of the Dao resonance upon it. If you can explain thirty percent, you pass. If you can explain fifty percent, you are considered outstanding. If anyone can sort out its Dao resonance completely and explain why it is incomplete, then in this minor tournament, the Dao Discernment Examination will directly be counted as full marks!"