Xiao Xinghe

"Hello, Senior Brother Dong!"

"Hello, Senior Brother Dong."

In the last two chairs sat a man and a woman, two young cultivators dressed in inner sect disciple robes.

They rose to greet Dong Lin.

A trace of displeasure seemed to flash through the male cultivator's eyes as he looked at Dong Lin.

Yet he concealed it well and showed none of it.

Dong Lin studied the two of them. "And you two are?"

"Oh, these two—one is Xiao Xinghe, and the other is Su Lin.

They are two nominal disciples Master took in a few years ago.

Their talent in Lightning Arts is ordinary, nowhere near yours, Junior Brother.

They usually do not live on the mountain, so I suppose most of you senior brothers do not remember them."

Fourth Senior Brother Lu Heng stepped forward to explain.

The others nodded in understanding. If not for Master gathering all his disciples together this time,

many of them would not even have known these two probationary disciples existed.

A satisfied smile appeared on Zheng Huayuan's face.

"Good, everyone is here. Now that you all know one another, we shall hold a banquet today to welcome Dong Lin!"

"Yes!" everyone answered in unison.

After adding one another as jade tablet friends, they headed for the banquet.

The evening feast was truly lavish, and Dong Lin nearly had to stagger out holding up the wall.

All sorts of rare delicacies from mountain and sea, along with precious treasures, opened Dong Lin's eyes wide.

Since it was Dong Lin's first time consuming these heavenly treasures,

his cultivation rose considerably as well, and the spiritual energy in his dantian increased by more than ten units.

His divine sense also strengthened somewhat. The most outstanding dish at the banquet was meat from a Third Rank spirit beast, the Wild Iron Bull.

It was practically an intense Body Tempering session for Dong Lin, leaving him exhausted.

Generally, the flesh of such high-ranking exotic beasts was an excellent supplementary material for body cultivators.

It gave Dong Lin's originally frail body a fierce round of forging.

Immortal cultivators generally did not place much importance on training their bodies, resulting in the generally poor physical constitution of cultivators throughout the cultivation world.

Although they were far stronger than ordinary mortals, they were often still inferior to martial artists who had entered the path of Body Tempering.

As a result, cultivators were relatively weak in close combat and greatly feared being entangled in close-quarters fighting.

They generally relied only on Body Tempering pills or meat dishes to barely build up a little foundation in their fleshly bodies.

After this feast, Dong Lin's physical strength had risen by a great margin.

This delighted Dong Lin immensely.

"Getting stronger just by eating—there aren't many good things like that."

Back in Thunderwave Hall, Dong Lin silently digested the many precious ingredients he had just consumed.

Unbeknownst to him, at the foot of the mountain, Xiao Xinghe's face was so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water.

"Senior Brother Xiao, are you all right?" Su Lin asked with concern as she looked at the sullen Xiao Xinghe.

"It's nothing. Junior Sister Su, you should head back first. I'm going to discuss something with Deacon Cao."

"Oh, all right. Goodbye, Senior Brother."

Xiao Xinghe and Su Lin were both inner sect disciples of the Heaven Sect.

Xiao Xinghe had been born into the Xiao Household of Cloudfall Commandery City in Hanlin Province, while Su Lin had been born into the Su Household of Redwater Commandery City in Hanlin Province.

As the Su Household's eldest daughter, Su Lin was also the only child of the Su Household's head.

She had lived amid silks and fine food since childhood, showered with affection.

Her nominal disciple position had been obtained by her father, Su Que, who feared that his daughter would be bullied in the sect.

He had paid a tremendous price to secure it for her.

Su Lin herself had not needed to give much, nor had she asked for much.

Unlike Su Lin, Xiao Xinghe had merely been an ordinary member of his Lineage.

He had no idea how great a price he had paid to obtain this nominal disciple position.

Unlike Su Lin, that little girl, Su Lin at least possessed a faint affinity for the lightning element.

Only after much pulling of strings and coordination had she caught Elder Zheng's eye through the joint recommendation of a chief steward and several deacons.

Xiao Xinghe, meanwhile, was a genius cultivator with an elemental affinity of sixty-nine and affinities for both fire and water.

From the moment he stepped onto the path of cultivation, he had received the Lineage's full attention.

Though his talent far surpassed that of most of his cousins,

he was still inferior to the two geniuses of the main family line.

He had always been suppressed by those two cousins on the road of cultivation.

Then, by a stroke of chance, he caught the eye of a Heaven Sect steward,

who brought Xiao Xinghe into the Heaven Sect.

From then on, Xiao Xinghe's life took off like he had been granted cheat codes, soaring skyward like a rocket.

In his second year after entering the sect, he successfully joined the inner sect through his talent.

Yet after entering the inner sect, Xiao Xinghe discovered that his talent was utterly ordinary here.

Geniuses one in ten thousand were everywhere in the Heaven Sect's inner sect.

The selection to enter the Heaven Sect had already been strict enough, and as for joining the inner sect,

neither talent nor perseverance could be lacking in the slightest.

Thus, unwilling to spend every day beneath the feet of heaven's favored, serving as their stepping stone, Xiao Xinghe began to scheme.

While traveling outside, Xiao Xinghe had once obtained a copy of the Thunderstorm Technique and a Mystic Thunder Crystal in a hidden mountain cave dwelling.

Though he had originally intended to sell them for money, another idea took root in Xiao Xinghe's mind.

This was because Xiao Xinghe had heard certain rumors within the sect.

The Profound Mountain Thunder Division had not recruited a suitable Lightning Arts cultivator for many years.

They intended to select some inner sect disciples with talent for cultivating the lightning element

and nurture them as nominal disciples.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xinghe began to plot.

On one hand, through his father's connections in the Lineage, he obtained several extremely precious

magical treasures capable of advancing Lightning Arts cultivation.

Then, using the dense lightning-attributed spiritual energy within the Mystic Thunder Crystal, he successfully began cultivating the Thunderstorm Technique.

After arduous effort, he successfully obtained a position as a nominal disciple of the Thunder Division.

Two years later, Xiao Xinghe had just received a Black Tier Foundation Establishment Pill through the Lineage's support and successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

Looking at the Thunder Division, which had not accepted a newcomer for years, he had been planning to use this breakthrough into Foundation Establishment

to gain Elder Zheng's approval and realize his dream of becoming a personal disciple—but Dong Lin's arrival quietly shattered that dream.

When Xiao Xinghe saw that immature youth, who had only just reached the Mid Qi Refining Stage, so effortlessly obtain the position he had dreamed of,

jealousy and hatred immediately surged within him. The endpoint he had striven toward for years had been taken by another.

It left Xiao Xinghe burning with rage.

"Brother Cao, I suppose there's no chance anymore."

Amid his unwillingness, Xiao Xinghe revealed a trace of helplessness.

A heaven's favored who had entered the cultivation world less than a year ago, yet had already been valued by Master and accepted as a personal disciple—

how could he compare to someone like himself, an ordinary fellow who had only barely stepped into Foundation Establishment at thirty with the aid of a Foundation Establishment Pill, and whose most important Lightning Arts talent was nonexistent?

"Junior Brother Xiao, there may yet be a turn for the better."

After a moment of silence, Cao Xuan spoke words that startled him.

Hearing this, Xiao Xinghe seemed to have seized a lifeline.

He took two steps closer to Cao Xuan.

"Big Brother, tell me. What should we do?"

"Junior Brother, don't rush. He is a personal disciple, and the mountain has also happened to be sealed.

During this period of mountain closure, it will be difficult to do anything.

Everything must wait until the mountain closure ends before further discussion."

Cao Xuan patted Xiao Xinghe on the shoulder.

"Five years? But..."

Xiao Xinghe hesitated.

"Five years is not a short time. What if that brat grows into something by then?"

"Don't worry. He has only just entered the Mid Qi Refining Stage.

Before you came, I had already investigated Dong Lin's background in detail.

Give him five years, and reaching the Foundation Establishment Early Stage would already be remarkable.

Dealing with a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator would be as easy as turning over one's hand."

Do I still have to endure another five years?

Though Xiao Xinghe was unwilling, he could only nod helplessly.