But today, when Jiang Xuan took his seat, Cheng Xiu had actually qualified to find a place and sit not far from his side.
Even though that seat was farther back than Mu Yuan's and the others', and even though Cheng Xiu was far inferior to them all in cultivation, background, and strength, he had ultimately been allowed to sit among them.
In this rigidly hierarchical world, having servants attend to one was a symbol of status, and the best proof that Jiang Xuan had already risen to Dong Hao's level.
Yet Jiang Xuan felt not the slightest pride because of it.
"My current position is fundamentally unstable. If the second assessment..."
Before he could finish his thoughts, Jiang Xuan froze. At that moment, he suddenly understood why Su Linyin had remained so calm and unhurried after being rejected that morning, without trying to persuade him any further.
She was certain that once I experienced my current status, I would be unwilling to fall back into the dust.
It had to be said, the Su mother and daughter had indeed guessed one thing correctly—Jiang Xuan truly could not bear such a plunge from the clouds.
It was not that he enjoyed being welcomed and flattered. Rather, the values and temperament he had developed in his previous life made him unwilling to bow and scrape before others, much less endure their contemptuous gazes.
But within the Divine Firmament Sect, only by becoming an Inner Disciple could one avoid being looked down upon.
As he pondered this, Jiang Xuan looked to his side. At that very moment, Su Linyin also glanced in his direction, and their gazes collided across the distance.
Her eyes still brimmed with calm certainty, while Jiang Xuan's gaze was deep as a still pool, leaving only an unreadable calm.
You guessed one thing right, but you also got one thing wrong... I need neither turn back nor rely on anyone. Even on my own, I can still hold on to my current standing!
"Jiang Xuan, I've already looked into some of the circumstances surrounding the various peaks of our Divine Firmament Sect."
While Jiang Xuan's thoughts ran wild, Dong Hao leaned closer and told him everything he had learned yesterday.
He first explained the overall structure of the Divine Firmament Sect. "Our Divine Firmament Sect has long been said to possess Three Halls, Nine Peaks, Thirty-Three Mountains, and Eighty-One Blessed Lands."
"Among them, the Nine Peaks are the Upper Branch, the Thirty-Three Mountains are the Middle Branch, and the Eighty-One Blessed Lands are the Lower Branch. As for the Three Great Halls—the Divine Firmament Hall, Enforcement Hall, and Profound Origin Hall—they stand above all else and form the core center of our Divine Firmament Sect."
"Each of the Three Great Halls has its own authority. The Divine Firmament Hall is where the sect master cultivates in seclusion, as well as the highest hall for deliberating and deciding sect affairs. The Enforcement Hall oversees the sect's laws and punishments, correcting elders' misconduct above and investigating disciples' violations below. Even the sect's external grudges and disputes fall under its jurisdiction. As for the Profound Origin Hall, it is where the sect's venerable old masters reside. Its elders both assist the Divine Firmament Hall in deciding major sect matters and serve as a counterbalance to the sect master's authority..."
As Dong Hao explained, Jiang Xuan gained a thorough understanding of the sect's power structure and operating rules. He finally understood why, although the Upper, Middle, and Lower Branches were separated by a gulf as vast as heaven and earth, the Divine Firmament Sect had never fallen apart.
It was because beyond the Three Branches stood the Three Great Halls, the absolute central pillar that steadied heaven and earth.
Moreover, these Three Great Halls resembled the Three Departments and Six Ministries of a mortal imperial dynasty. They asked not about one's origins, only one's ability. Whether one was a disciple or elder of any peak, so long as one passed the assessment, one could enter a hall, take office, and wield authority.
Even the supreme position of master of the Divine Firmament Hall—the sect master—could be contested by mountain masters from the Middle and Lower Branches according to sect rules.
Of course, that was only what the rules said. Clearly, the Middle and Lower Branches had almost no chance of producing a sect master, and even fewer of their members entered the Three Great Halls—or rather, if some peerless genius truly possessed the ability to become sect master, their branch would have long since ridden that person's strength from the Middle or Lower Branch all the way into the ranks of the Nine Upper Peaks.
Since the Great Dao revered contention, the Divine Firmament Sect was naturally no exception. Every sixty years, the sect held a Peak-Branch Grand Tournament to reassess the ranks and standings of its peaks and mountains.
At this point, Dong Hao even lowered his voice. "They say the waters run deep here. The shifts within the Middle and Lower Branches are still fairly rule-bound, but once the succession of the Nine Upper Peaks is involved, every time, it ends in a rain of blood and a foul wind."
Shaking his head, unwilling to touch such sect taboos any further, Dong Hao abruptly changed the subject to the matter most urgent for the two of them. "Major matters like the changing of peaks and branches aren't for two newly admitted disciples like us to worry about. What we should be thinking about now is how to choose a peak, enter it, and find ourselves a stable place to cultivate."
"I asked around about the benefits Lecturer Song Zhou mentioned yesterday. That is an edict from the Divine Firmament Hall. With that token, disciples from every Daoist Academy may cultivate within the inner peaks."
"But you should also know that an order is an order, while whether it is carried out—and to what extent—is up to each peak."
"With your circumstances, most of the Eighty-One Blessed Lands will set assessment thresholds. Only after passing them can you enjoy the corresponding sect benefits. Among the Thirty-Three Middle Branch mountains, only a handful disregard Spirit Root grade and give you a chance to participate in an assessment..."
Dong Hao did not say a word about the nine Upper Peaks that came after, but Jiang Xuan understood perfectly. With his current Spirit Root grade, the Nine Upper Peaks would not spare him a second glance.
Jiang Xuan felt no ripples in his heart over that.
He had seen far too many scenes where people were ranked by talent and judged as noble or lowly by their Spirit Roots.
And the intelligence Dong Hao wanted to tell Jiang Xuan naturally went far beyond these ordinary pieces of information that could be uncovered with enough effort.
After a pause, he revealed without reservation certain secret pieces of information that circulated only within small circles.
"Among the Lower Branch's Eighty-One Blessed Lands, I sifted through them and found three that suit you best: Five Organs Temple, Mayfly Valley, and Spirit Butterfly Mountain."
"Five Organs Temple takes nurturing the Five Qi within one's chest as its foundation, which is fundamentally compatible with the One Qi Sword Art you cultivate. But I don't recommend that you go there. Their lineage follows the path of Five Qi Transmutation and excels at deriving techniques and spells. They have not delved deeply into the sword path, so going there would instead delay your talent as a Sword Cultivator."
"Your talent in the sword path is exceptional. The places that truly suit you best are Mayfly Valley and Spirit Butterfly Mountain. The former's lineage-defending sword art, Heaven and Earth, a Mayfly, is a supreme sword canon capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Middle Branch inheritances. Yet that lineage takes an unorthodox path, staking everything on cultivating the ultimate sword strike that determines life and death in an instant. Its other Dao Foundations and cultivation are neglected. Because of this inherent flaw, it has always been trapped in the Lower Branch and unable to rise into the Middle Branch."
"Spirit Butterfly Mountain also focuses on the sword, following a light and agile sword path. It also possesses a secret technique called Breaking the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly. The key reason I strongly recommend this lineage is not merely its compatibility with your techniques—the current branch master of Spirit Butterfly Mountain not only has formidable cultivation, but also possesses deep connections within the sect. Having received guidance from an old master of the Profound Origin Hall, he is now comprehending a method of second transformation based on Breaking the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly. It is said that once this technique reaches completion, Spirit Butterfly Mountain may very well soar to the heavens in a single step during the next Peak-Branch Grand Tournament and directly enter the ranks of the Middle Branch."
Dong Hao truly was capable, and his intelligence was sufficiently well-informed. Every one of the three branch lineages he had chosen for Jiang Xuan struck precisely at Jiang Xuan's apparent strengths.
Five Organs Temple and Mayfly Valley were highly compatible with the techniques he currently cultivated; Spirit Butterfly Mountain not only suited his techniques, but also bet on a future opportunity for advancement. Once he entered it, it would be like grasping a ticket in advance to leap from the Lower Branch into the Middle Branch.
One had to know that the gap in status between the Lower and Middle Branches was as vast as heaven and earth. The cultivation resources available to disciples and their future prospects were as different as clouds and mud, so naturally the difficulty of joining them could not be mentioned in the same breath.
And at present, Spirit Butterfly Mountain was still in the Lower Branch, making its entry threshold far lower than those of the Middle Branch mountains. Such top-secret intelligence of "entering the Lower Branch to ascend through the Middle Gate" would fetch at least a hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones from anyone else, yet Dong Hao had told him everything without holding back. Jiang Xuan understood clearly the sincerity and sentiment behind it.
Yet even though Dong Hao had considered everything for him, Jiang Xuan did not want to choose any of the three options he had offered.
Dong Hao got the most crucial point wrong. He only sees that I possess outstanding talent in the sword path, but he does not know that with the Career Panel, I can set foot on every path beneath heaven. There is no need for me to be trapped on the single road of becoming a Sword Cultivator.
And right now, the path that can let me grow fastest and bring my own advantages to their fullest is not a sword lineage at all, but the Food Cultivator Lineage that specializes in spirit cuisine.
Cultivation is the foundation of everything, and the key to Spirit Pivot Aperture Opening lies in those four words: Refining Essence into Qi!
As someone preparing to take up the role of Kitchen Apprentice and then change careers into a Gourmet, Jiang Xuan could only perfectly align his career system with his cultivation path by entering a lineage that deeply studied spirit cuisine and the art of the kitchen stove. One step ahead meant every step ahead.
Dong Hao naturally noticed Jiang Xuan's hesitation and embarrassment. But he did not know about the Career Panel, so he mistook Jiang Xuan's hesitation for something else.
"Brother Jiang, could that expression mean you want to take a gamble and challenge the Middle Branch?" he blurted out. Without waiting for Jiang Xuan to explain, he revealed a knowing look and patted Jiang Xuan's shoulder. "That is only human nature. The threshold for joining the Middle Branch is extremely high, but once you enter, neither its cultivation resources nor sect status can compare to the Lower Branch. Given such an opportunity, if one did not even dare to try, I too would feel unwilling to accept it."
Once he finished speaking, he poured out all the information he had gathered about the Middle Branch mountains as well.
"Among our Divine Firmament Sect's thirty-three Middle Branch mountains, only seven accept cultivators below Earthly Spirit Root grade. But don't think that makes them easy to enter." Here, Dong Hao spread his hands with a helpless expression. "Their thresholds are actually higher. They do not restrict Spirit Roots, but instead test those elusive things like comprehension, spirituality, and even... fortune."
"Take Illusory Moon Lake. That lineage specializes in the Dao of dreams and the laws of the moon, requiring disciples to possess lucid spirituality and an inborn affinity for dreams. Their assessment requires disciples to use their reflection in water to resonate with the moonlight above and condense a personal moon mark. Out of a thousand cultivators, there may not even be one who succeeds."
"Void Profound Realm specializes in the Great Dao of space. Its assessment tests innate spatial perception, which is even rarer—one in ten thousand."
"Star-Eye Observatory is the most mysterious of all. It specializes in astral deduction. Its assessment tests not only one's comprehension in deducing heavenly secrets, but also whether one's fortune is strong enough. To put it plainly, one must be blessed by fate itself."
"Four Seasons Valley's requirements are not unusual. It is simply difficult. Its assessment requires disciples to taste grains suited to each of the four seasons and comprehend from them a thread of the fundamental rhythm of the turning seasons. This depends entirely on comprehension. There is not the slightest room for tricks."
As Dong Hao spoke, Jiang Xuan could also sense that these Middle Branch lineages, which did not restrict Spirit Roots, seemed to offer opportunities to disciples from humble origins, while in truth demanding even higher standards in other areas.
And among all these lineages, the one that caught Jiang Xuan's attention most was Four Seasons Valley, the last one Dong Hao had mentioned.
"Comprehending the rhythm of the seasons by tasting seasonal grains... Could this lineage be following the path of spirit cuisine?" he could not help asking. There was a trace of eagerness in his voice that even he had not noticed.
"You could say it is related." Dong Hao was taken aback. After pondering for a moment, he explained, "Four Seasons Valley's orthodoxy takes the cycle of the four seasons and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms as the core of cultivation. The growth of grains naturally depends entirely on seasons and climate, making them perfectly compatible with their orthodoxy. As a result, more than half the disciples in this lineage also cultivate the path of spirit plants. With so many grains and ingredients in their hands, some naturally follow that road and switch to spirit cooking and food cultivation."
The moment those words fell, Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up. The idea buried in his heart had finally found its most suitable landing place.
That's it. This is the place I was truly looking for.
Just as Jiang Xuan made up his mind and prepared to visit Four Seasons Valley, Dong Hao looked around. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he quietly say to Jiang Xuan, "I advise you not to set your sights on Four Seasons Valley. It is said that the core technique of that lineage has a fatal flaw, and no one dares cultivate it. Any cultivator who joins Four Seasons Valley can ultimately only practice some peripheral, inferior methods, whose power is no different from those of low-grade Dao Branches."
After exhausting oneself to squeeze into a middle-grade Dao Branch, only to end up cultivating techniques from a low-grade Dao Branch, it was no wonder Dong Hao had tried to dissuade him.
But even after learning the pros and cons, Jiang Xuan still decided to make the trip after weighing the matter in silence.
Choosing a Dao Branch is a matter for a hundred days... for ninety days from now. What I should care about right now is opening more apertures and steadily raising my cultivation. If my cultivation is insufficient, I will not even have the qualifications to choose a Dao Branch. On that point alone, Four Seasons Valley—with its vast fields of spirit grain and mastery of spirit cooking—is the place best suited to me at present.
Visit Four Seasons Valley first, then explore Spirit Butterfly Valley. That was the route Jiang Xuan settled upon after considering all the information.
But Dong Hao truly valued Jiang Xuan—or rather, he hoped Jiang Xuan would owe him many favors, so that during the Hundred-Day Grand Examination, Jiang Xuan would do everything in his power to lend him a hand.
At this moment, he gave Jiang Xuan an enormous "surprise."
"I knew long ago that you would not be willing to settle, so before coming here, I sought out Xie Hanyan. She is also skilled with the sword and intends to enter Star Sword Peak. With her talent and potential, she can secure an opportunity for you to take the assessment."
Jiang Xuan did not doubt that.
Ever since he learned of the Divine Firmament Sect's system, Jiang Xuan had known that competition existed not only among Outer Disciples. The Divine Firmament Sect's Nine Peaks, Thirty-Three Mountains, and Eighty-One Blessed Lands all felt the same pressure.
If they did not strive, their Dao Branch ratings would be lowered, and their corresponding resources, rewards, and status would decline as well. Jiang Xuan believed this was something no Dao Branch in the Divine Firmament Sect could possibly tolerate.
Therefore, they too had to contend.
And cultivating the Dao meant cultivating truth, but also cultivating one's true self.
Thus, talent was the most important thing in the cultivation world, and geniuses were scarce wherever one went. Xie Hanyan's ample talent gave her the qualifications to negotiate terms with Star Sword Peak.
Of course, she was ultimately not Heaven-grade Spirit Root, only a top-grade Earthly Spirit Root. Therefore, all she could bring Jiang Xuan was an opportunity for assessment, not direct entry into Star Sword Peak.
As for why the exceptionally talented Xie Hanyan associated with Dong Hao and the others, Jiang Xuan had long since seen through it.
She clearly refused to settle for a low-grade Dao Branch and instead aspired to become an Inner Disciple of a middle-grade, or even upper-grade, Dao Branch.
With such ambition, naturally the more assistance she had, the better.
Dong Hao's willingness to painstakingly pave the way for him was certainly rare goodwill, but Jiang Xuan's first objective was Four Seasons Valley. It was truly not worth spending that favor on a mere assessment slot.
With that thought, Jiang Xuan immediately waved a hand and declined. "Thank you for your kindness, Brother Dong, but I aspire to..."
Before he could finish, Dong Hao patted his shoulder again, smiling with an expression that said, "I understand everything." "Brother Jiang, I know you do not wish for me to spend favors on your behalf. It is fine. I already discussed this matter with Senior Sister Xie."
"Besides, you need not have any concerns. I said long ago that the stronger you are, the more secure we will be in the second assessment."
"I am still hoping that you will earn another excellent rating in the second assessment, so that we two brothers can enter the inner sect together."
Whether Dong Hao meant it sincerely or not, his words did make Jiang Xuan feel comfortable. At the same time, they made it difficult for Jiang Xuan to say anything more.
Jiang Xuan was also somewhat interested in Star Sword Peak.