The Four Peaks

"Follow this deacon into the sect."

After speaking, Shen He silently recited an incantation. The flying ship sped toward the distant immortal mountains, vanishing into their white mist in mere moments.

At the Heavenly Dao Sect's mountain gate.

Zhao Ting shook the sleeping Chen Xun awake, and everyone disembarked.

"Greetings, Deacon Shen!"

The two disciples guarding the mountain gate immediately stepped forward and bowed.

"Mm."

Shen He nodded, then suppressed his excitement and drew a deep breath. Taking Zhao Ting by the arm, he hurried off and instructed, "I'm taking Zhao Ting to the Inner Pavilion. Xu Yang, take them straight to Servant Disciple Peak to report and register!"

"Yes!"

One of the six disciples bowed in acknowledgment.

Zhao Ting had not expected Deacon Shen to be in such a hurry. As he walked, he hastily turned back and called, "Brother Chen, I'll come see you once I'm finished!"

With that, he soon disappeared alongside Shen He.

The two gatekeepers were already dumbstruck. Coming to their senses, they turned stiff, searching gazes toward Xu Yang and the other disciples, desperate for answers.

What was going on? Who was that fellow Deacon Shen had just dragged away?

Had they heard wrong?

To the I-Inner Pavilion?

The six disciples exchanged smiles. Xu Yang said, "The one Deacon Shen took to the Inner Pavilion was Senior Brother Zhao Ting. We've just recruited him from the mortal world."

At those words, the two gatekeepers' pupils contracted.

Just recruited?

And they were already calling him senior brother?

Xu Yang sighed with feeling. "Don't look at us like that. Senior Brother Zhao has... a metal-attribute heavenly spiritual root."

"You five, follow me to Servant Disciple Peak to register!"

With that, Xu Yang headed toward Servant Disciple Peak with Chen Xun, Yu Zheng, and the other three.

The other five disciples passed through the mountain gate and left as well.

Only the two gatekeepers remained, rooted to the spot in shock.

A h-heavenly spiritual root!

"See that? The mountain up ahead is Servant Disciple Peak."

On the mountain path, Xu Yang pointed toward a peak as he spoke.

"Wow."

Yu Zheng and the others gasped. Would they be spending their days on that Servant Disciple Peak from now on?

Although Servant Disciple Peak was much shorter than the other peaks they had just seen, it was the largest overall. To their eyes, it was still rich in spiritual energy, like an immortal paradise.

Chen Xun was rather quiet now. Holding a blank book in his hands, he stared at it with feverish eyes as he walked.

"Senior Brother Xu, what were those other peaks?"

Yu Zheng asked curiously.

Xu Yang's lips curled into a smile. "You servant disciples can only gaze at those peaks from afar. Unless you're sent there on an assignment, they're generally off-limits."

As he spoke, Xu Yang turned and pointed toward a mountain, saying proudly, "That's Human Mystic Peak, the outer sect. I live there myself."

"Wow, you're amazing, senior brother!"

Yu Zheng and the others exclaimed enviously.

Xu Yang laughed heartily, then pointed toward the mountain behind Human Mystic Peak. Longing appeared in his eyes as he explained, "That's Earth Profound Peak, the inner sect. Its disciples and elders are the pillars holding up our Heavenly Dao Sect. Should war break out, they'll be the sect's backbone."

Before Yu Zheng and the others could ask anything, Xu Yang pointed toward the peak farther behind it. His gaze grew respectful, and he said solemnly:

"That's Heaven Mystic Peak, where the legacy disciples live. Legacy disciples are also called purple-robed disciples. Every one of them possesses dazzling, extraordinary talent. They stand at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Dao Sect, and even across the entire Northern Mystic Cultivation World, they rank among the finest!"

Xu Yang smiled. "Senior Brother Zhao Ting, who came here with you, will be living on Heaven Mystic Peak from now on."

Yu Zheng and the others widened their eyes, though they still seemed not to fully understand.

Seeing this, Xu Yang said, "Apart from the sect master, elders, protectors, deacons, and so on, our Heavenly Dao Sect has over thirteen thousand disciples: more than ten thousand servant disciples, over three thousand outer disciples, over five hundred inner disciples, and purple-robed disciples... including Senior Brother Zhao, only fifteen."

What?

Yu Zheng and the others finally understood the true weight of being a purple-robed disciple. Their breathing quickened, and their bodies began to tremble faintly.

The four of them had stood out among all those tested for spiritual roots in Clear Sky City. They were already the sort of people rarely found even among ten thousand, and had considered themselves geniuses, brimming with confidence on the journey here.

They had never expected that, upon arriving at the Heavenly Dao Sect... reality would slap them hard across the face.

The Heavenly Dao Sect had over ten thousand servant disciples like them, each one a talent picked out of ten thousand!

And beyond them were the outer disciples, inner disciples, and purple-robed disciples!

If they already called themselves geniuses, then what did that make Senior Brother Zhao Ting, who had become a purple-robed disciple?

No wonder there was a saying: being a genius was merely the threshold for meeting me. Now, the four of them felt they were not even qualified to take a single look at Zhao Ting.

Even Senior Brother Xu Yang before them, an outer disciple, was someone they had to treat with deference...

Their idle chatter on the journey here seemed like nothing more than a dream.

At that moment, they finally understood the gap between them, understood what it meant to be as far apart as clouds and mud.

"Heh." Seeing the change in their expressions, Xu Yang chuckled. "All right, that's your brief introduction to these peaks. As for the other peaks and the rules you need to keep in mind, you'll gradually learn about them in the days ahead. Now follow me up Servant Disciple Peak."

"Yes." Yu Zheng and the others hastily bowed, their attitudes utterly transformed.

Xu Yang nodded in satisfaction. These youngsters could be taught. Upon entering the Heavenly Dao Sect, the first thing to do was recognize one's own place. Only then could one last.

Xu Yang could not help glancing again at Chen Xun, who was trailing behind. He curled his lip but said nothing more.

The man was a lunatic anyway, constantly lost in his own world. Besides, he had no need to learn all these matters. He had only gotten in through his connection to Senior Brother Zhao Ting to scrape together a living; he was not a disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

Although Servant Disciple Peak was the lowest-ranked mountain in the Heavenly Dao Sect, it was the largest.

After all, Servant Disciple Peak alone had to accommodate over ten thousand servant disciples.

As Xu Yang led Chen Xun and the others up the mountain, they frequently saw servant disciples passing by, all of whom cast appraising looks at them.

Everyone knew the sect had been recruiting disciples lately. Over the past few days, several dozen new servant disciples had arrived one after another.

But as soon as they noticed Xu Yang's attire, their expressions changed, and they hastily bowed and addressed him as senior brother.

Whenever this happened, Xu Yang nodded indifferently and continued up the mountain with Chen Xun and the others.

Upon reaching the mountainside, they stopped climbing. Instead, Xu Yang led them briskly forward. They encountered more and more servant disciples along the way. Faced with all those gazes watching them like prowling tigers, Yu Zheng and the others felt rather frightened and could not help lowering their heads.

Soon, dense clusters of buildings came into view along the way. After Yu Zheng and the others asked about them out of curiosity, they learned that these were the servant disciples' residences.

What shocked the four of them was Xu Yang's explanation that servant disciples were divided into ranks as well.

Those living here halfway up the mountain were the lowest-ranked. Most were at the first level of Qi Refinement or had yet to draw spiritual energy into their bodies, and numbered around eight thousand.

The other two thousand or so lived farther up Servant Disciple Peak. Those servant disciples were all at the second level of Qi Refinement, with a very small number at the third.

If a servant disciple at the third level of Qi Refinement advanced one step further, he could leave Servant Disciple Peak for Human Mystic Peak-in other words, be promoted to an outer disciple.