Tongtian: What Is This Disciple Called?

After breaking through to the Heavenly Immortal realm.

Lin Yuan had originally thought he could push himself a little further.

It was not until he truly stepped onto the next round's arena that he understood something.

As for cultivation realms in the Primordial World.

They still had to be respected when the time came.

The senior brother across from him, an Early True Immortal, showed no trace of underestimating him.

He began by suppressing him with spells.

Lin Yuan had only just broken through to the Heavenly Immortal realm, and his mana had yet to fully stabilize.

His innate spiritual awareness allowed him to sense danger in advance.

His Blackstone Dao Body allowed him to withstand most of the aftershocks.

The Thick Earth Sword was also more than handy enough.

The problem was—

He was tired.

A True Immortal cultivator's reserves of mana vastly surpassed those of a Heavenly Immortal.

With the same spell.

The other party could bombard him dozens of times in succession.

When Lin Yuan blocked the twelfth strike, he could still seize the chance to counter with a sword.

By the twentieth strike.

His lips had already gone a little numb.

When more than thirty spells came crashing down.

Lin Yuan swung his sword while unable to stop himself from complaining.

"Senior Brother."

"Is your mana free or something?"

The white-robed Daoist across from him nearly laughed aloud.

"Junior Brother."

"When your realm is higher, you have more mana."

"Sometimes, that means you can do whatever you want."

"..."

Damn it.

He could not even refute that.

Lin Yuan held out for several dozen more exchanges.

In the end, before his protective mana was about to run dry, he voluntarily retreated to the edge of the arena.

"I concede."

The white-robed Daoist immediately stopped.

The spiritual radiance of spells filling the sky dissipated.

"You let me win."

Lin Yuan rolled his eyes.

"Senior Brother, you sound awfully insincere saying that."

"Hahahaha!"

Laughter immediately erupted all around them.

He had lost.

Yet no one thought Lin Yuan had disgraced himself.

A disciple who had just broken through to the Early Heavenly Immortal realm.

After fighting three consecutive battles across realms, he had then held his ground head-on against a True Immortal for so long.

That was already outrageous enough.

The minor competition continued.

Lin Yuan's final ranking settled within the top three.

The other two disciples who entered the top three were both in the True Immortal realm.

With him, a Heavenly Immortal, mixed among them.

No matter how one looked at it, he seemed utterly out of place.

"Junior Brother Lin."

Zhou Yuan, whom Lin Yuan had previously knocked off the arena with a single punch, had mostly recovered and took the initiative to approach him.

"I thought about it for a long time just now."

"Thought about what?"

"If I fight you in the future, I'll have to learn from that True Immortal senior brother too."

Zhou Yuan spoke with a solemn face.

"I absolutely will not clash with you physically."

Lin Yuan seriously reminded him.

"Senior Brother Zhou."

"You should break through to the True Immortal realm first."

The smile on Zhou Yuan's face instantly vanished.

"Has your mouth always been this annoying?"

Several disciples nearby laughed so hard they doubled over.

The group of young disciples, who had rarely interacted due to differences in cultivation realm and training grounds, instead became familiar with one another after several rounds of combat.

The Intercepting Sect had many disciples to begin with.

Its atmosphere also lacked the Explanatory Sect's harsh hierarchy.

Whenever someone performed well.

Most people's first reaction was not rejection.

Instead, they would come over to get acquainted.

Lin Yuan quite liked this feeling.

At the very least, these people showed no mercy with their words when they fought.

But once the fighting was over, they still drank together as they should.

No wonder that, even knowing the Investiture of the Gods was dangerous, so many members of the Intercepting Sect had still been willing to descend the mountain one after another for their fellow disciples.

Some bonds.

Were indeed tempered through countless years spent together.

"Silence."

Duobao's voice came from the high platform.

The plaza swiftly fell quiet.

This minor competition had now concluded.

The top ten disciples stepped forward one by one to receive their Shangqing Primordial Spirit Pills.

When it was Lin Yuan's turn.

Duobao glanced at him and suddenly tossed over an additional bottle.

Lin Yuan caught it in a fluster.

"Senior Brother, there's one too many."

"I know."

Duobao said with a genial smile.

"You consumed quite a lot during your breakthrough. The extra bottle is a personal gift from me."

"Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother."

Lin Yuan accepted it without the slightest politeness.

Duobao found him more pleasing to the eye the longer he looked.

Many disciples of the Intercepting Sect were like this.

If someone gave you something, you accepted it.

Pushing it back and forth with empty pleasantries for half the day was exhausting to watch.

After the ten people finished receiving their rewards.

Lin Yuan had thought the matter was more or less over.

Yet a calm voice suddenly came from the deepest part of the high platform.

"Lin Yuan."

The voice was not loud.

Yet it landed with perfect clarity in the ears of everyone in the entire plaza.

The disciples who had been chatting and laughing just moments ago fell silent at once.

Lin Yuan lifted his head immediately.

At the center of the high platform.

At some unknown moment, a young Daoist in a black Daoist robe had appeared.

He seemed to possess no earth-shattering presence.

There was not even the slightest trace of mana to be felt.

Yet as he sat there.

It was as though the heaven and earth of all Golden Turtle Island naturally revolved around him.

Sage Tongtian.

Lin Yuan's heart tightened.

He immediately stepped forward.

"Disciple Lin Yuan pays respects to Patriarch."

Tongtian looked at him.

"Why did you not concede when you faced Chen Xuanfeng in the match just now?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment.

"This disciple felt that he could still fight."

"What if you had felt that you would die then?"

"Then this disciple would definitely have run faster than anyone else."

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

The expressions of many disciples turned strange.

Before a Sage.

He truly dared to speak.

Yet Tongtian smiled.

"When you saved the child attendant under Shiji, you did not run."

"By then, the arrow had already arrived."

Lin Yuan answered honestly.

"There was no time to think."

"And if this disciple had not blocked it, Biyun would have died."

The smile in Tongtian's eyes grew more pronounced.

"You know when to retreat."

"And you also know when you cannot retreat."

"Not bad."

Two words: not bad.

The way many Intercepting Sect disciples looked at Lin Yuan immediately changed.

To receive Tongtian's personal appraisal.

Carried an entirely different meaning.

Lin Yuan himself understood this very clearly.

Tongtian raised his hand.

A streak of azure light flew from his sleeve.

It descended before Lin Yuan.

It was a three-foot azure blade.

Azure light flowed along its blade.

Merely hovering in midair, it naturally radiated a sharp sword intent.

"This sword is called Qingxuan."

"A high-grade postnatal spirit treasure."

"The Thick Earth Sword you currently wield is compatible with your constitution and suited for direct spell combat."

"The Qingxuan Sword is even sharper."

"It will neatly make up for your lack of killing power."

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.

"Thank you, Patriarch, for bestowing this treasure!"

A Thick Earth Sword.

One was Qingxuan.

One was heavy.

One was sharp.

They truly suited him as he was now.

It was not over yet.

Tongtian raised his hand again.

A speck of clear light shot straight into Lin Yuan's brow.

A vast amount of profound text surfaced within him.

Supreme Clarity Immortal Scripture.

Though it was not one of Tongtian's core inheritances, it was still countless times more profound than the basic cultivation method Lin Yuan had practiced before.

Lin Yuan had only one feeling in his heart.

The Intercepting Sect's benefits were truly top-tier.

No wonder everyone in the original book kept shouting about how numerous the Intercepting Sect's members were.

Their teacher was generous with his gifts.

After bestowing those things, Tongtian said no more.

"Cultivate well."

"Do not squander your own opportunities."

"This disciple will remember."

Lin Yuan solemnly bowed.

Tongtian's figure gradually faded away.

He had clearly only come to take a look at the sect's minor competition and had not intended to stay long.

Only after the Saint's aura had completely vanished—

did the plaza come alive again.

"Junior Brother Lin!"

"Congratulations!"

"Junior Brother has caught the teacher's eye."

"Senior Brother, why didn't we get this treatment when we placed in the top three before?"

Duobao's face darkened.

"You could barely even fight opponents at the same realm back then, and you still have the nerve to ask?"

Laughter immediately erupted all around them.

Jin Ling also walked up to Lin Yuan at this time.

"From today onward, you will no longer be listed among ordinary registered disciples."

"You will enter the roster of elite disciples under my branch."

Lin Yuan bowed once more.

"Thank you, Master."

"Do not celebrate too soon."

Jin Ling looked at him.

"Becoming an elite disciple means gaining more resources, but it also means taking on more responsibilities."

"In a few days, your Senior Brother Wen Zhong will be returning to Great Shang."

"This minor competition was held precisely to choose people to accompany him down the mountain."

Lin Yuan's heart stirred.

It was finally here.

Jin Ling continued:

"Among the top ten disciples, I intend to choose three."

"You are one of them."

"Are you willing to go?"

Lin Yuan did not hesitate in the slightest.

"I am willing."

Jin Ling glanced at him.

"You agreed that quickly?"

"This disciple has long heard of Senior Brother Wen Zhong's great reputation."

"I wish to follow him and broaden my horizons."

There was nothing wrong with that statement.

As for what he was thinking...

Lin Yuan had already begun arranging the names in his mind.

Wen Zhong returned to Great Shang.

The war at Western Qi expanded.

Next, they would very likely go and invite the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island.

Wang Mo.

Yang Sen.

Gao Yougan.

Li Xingba.

Four senior brothers.

Four rewards.

This world—

was indeed worth seeing.

Meanwhile.

Blue Star, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.

Another cry of alarm rang out from the monitoring hall.

"Lin Yuan rose again!"

"Eighteen!"

"He has charged up to eighteenth among the entire school's students of the same cohort!"

Chen Qingshan abruptly turned around.

On the stone stele—

the name representing Lin Yuan had indeed leaped forward by a large stretch once again.

More importantly—

the faction marker beside his name remained blood-red.

[Intercepting Sect]

Chen Qingshan stared at it for a long while.

At last, he let out a breath.

"It is merely an early stroke of fortune."

"The Intercepting Sect's true danger lies in the latter half of the Investiture of the Gods."

A teacher beside him shot him a glance.

"You said the same thing last time."

Chen Qingshan: "..."

Primordial World.

The center of Golden Turtle Island.

A streak of lightning flew in from the distant horizon.

Wen Zhong, dressed in the robes of Great Shang's Grand Preceptor and bearing a divine eye upon his forehead, landed outside the plaza.

He first bowed to Jin Ling.

"This disciple greets Master."

Jin Ling nodded.

Then she raised her hand and pointed at Lin Yuan and the other two young disciples.

"The people you wanted."

"I have already chosen them for you."

Wen Zhong looked in the direction of her finger.

His gaze fell first upon Lin Yuan.

"Early Heavenly Immortal?"

He frowned slightly.

"Is his cultivation not a little too low?"