"You're right, young master. Shattering space at the second layer of Qi Refining? Am I still half asleep, or is Ding Lei? That brat must have been watching too long and nodded off!"
"If you ask me, Ding Lei is making a mountain out of a molehill."
"Exactly, exactly. You're the one who stays calm when things change, young master. You saw straight to the heart of the matter. You should be the sect's Dao Disciple!"
The three Nascent Soul Realm hidden operatives showered Ye Guhong with flattery.
Shi Erniu chuckled foolishly beside them, seemingly agreeing with the three, but his heart sank.
The Mysterious Court was not as harmonious as the Azure Nether Immortal Sect. Competition among disciples and among elders was especially fierce. For the elders' true disciples, it reached an extreme: every true disciple regarded the others as mortal enemies.
He had neither power nor influence, only a supreme-grade earth-element immortal spirit root. He had become a true disciple through his own efforts alone.
In this contest for the position of Dao Disciple, Ye Guhong, a direct descendant of the cultivation aristocratic clan, the Ye Family, had arrived with two hidden operatives protecting him, one at the middle Nascent Soul Realm and one at the late Nascent Soul Realm. Shi Erniu could not compare, so he had simply given up struggling and thrown in his lot with Ye Guhong instead.
Even so, hearing that Ye Guhong had the position of Dao Disciple firmly in his grasp still stirred an irrepressible twinge of jealousy.
Ye Guhong thoroughly enjoyed their flattery. Suddenly changing the subject, he said:
"I just remembered an important matter, more urgent even than competing for the position of Dao Disciple. I need to deal with it immediately. You three go ahead with Erniu and follow