A Giant Gray Bird soared on outstretched wings among a sprawling mountain range, three people standing on its back.
The man at the front was in his thirties, with a fair, clean-cut face.
Behind him stood two young men, one around twenty-five or twenty-six, the other eighteen or nineteen. They were none other than Shi Hai, Wang Yu, and Yu Xiaoming.
"Our Four Symbols Sect is renowned for its beast-taming arts. The sect is divided into four branches: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird. Each has a Golden Core patriarch presiding over it, and the patriarchs take turns serving as sect master. The disciples, however, are divided into outer disciples, inner disciples, and true disciples.
"Generally speaking, anyone who passes the outer sect's test can join as an outer disciple. If an outer disciple reaches late Qi Refining before turning thirty and still has the potential to attempt Foundation Establishment, they can join one of the four branches and become an inner disciple.
"Once an inner disciple succeeds in Foundation Establishment, they can become an elder of their branch.
"As for true disciples, each branch can have no more than three. All are promising Golden Core candidates personally approved by their branch's patriarch.
"Remember, you two: although the sect provides its disciples with a certain amount of cultivation resources every year, the shares enjoyed by outer and inner disciples are as far apart as heaven and earth. The spiritual energy concentration in the inner disciples' cultivation areas alone is several times that of the outer disciples' areas.
"As for true disciples, the four branches spare no effort in supplying them with all manner of cultivation resources, just to give them one more sliver of a chance when they attempt to reach Golden Core in the future.
"The