On the White Jade Steps of Azure Cloud Peak, the Inner Disciples had taken their places in two rows stretching downward, displaying the grandeur of the Azure Cloud Sect.
Their cultivation ranged from the Foundation Establishment Realm at the lowest to the Nascent Soul Realm at the highest, and they stood in order along both sides of the White Jade Steps.
The might of the Azure Cloud Sect as a super sect was on full display.
In the Azure Cloud Sect, whenever disciples reached Soul Departure, the sect would send them down the mountain, either to establish sects of their own or to travel and temper themselves.
The Azure Cloud Sect claimed to have three thousand Vassal Sects, but those had all been founded by its former disciples.
Never put all your eggs in one basket. That was the principle the Azure Cloud Sect had always followed.
Although those disciples out in the world might suffer losses, once they left the sect's shelter, they would also grow swiftly into towering trees.
In the end, they would nourish the sect in return, bringing it an endless supply of fresh blood. This was what had made the Azure Cloud Sect's prosperity endure without decline!
This was also a consensus shared by nearly all major sects.
After all, cramming a crowd of Mahayana and Tribulation Transcendence cultivators into one place did no one any good.
It hindered not only their individual advancement but also the sect's development.
The cultivation resources required by a crowd of Tribulation Transcendence and Mahayana cultivators were terrifying as well. Better to use them to nurture new disciples.
As disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect, would they really stand by with their hands tucked into their sleeves if the sect ever faced trouble?
After all, this world was vast. Even those at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage could not glimpse its entirety. In a boundless world, everyone had their own opportunities waiting for them.
Aside from those Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators who wished to cultivate in seclusion within the sect until death, and whom the sect settled in its forbidden grounds, the other disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect were scattered across the world like sesame seeds!
And the young disciples now standing on the steps would be the next generation of the Azure Cloud Sect's future!
Little Mountain Peak ranked last among the Azure Cloud Twelve Peaks, so Ouyang and the others stood at the very bottom of the steps.
Xiao Feng looked toward the summit of Azure Cloud Peak, towering into the clouds, and declared with soaring ambition, "Senior Brother, one day I'll make sure Little Mountain Peak stands at the very front of Azure Cloud Peak's steps."
Ouyang sat lazily on a step and snorted with laughter. "That won't do. Why are you so timid even in your dreams?"
Xiao Feng looked at Ouyang in confusion.
Ouyang gestured toward Bai Feiyu with his chin. "On his very first day here, your Senior Brother Bai asked our master whether he wanted to become Sect Master!"
"???" Xiao Feng looked at the utterly composed Bai Feiyu. Was this senior brother of his even more ruthless than he was?
"If you want to become Sect Master, just get on your second senior brother's good side. Once he's strong enough, he'll definitely lop off the Sect Master's dog head and put you in his seat!" Ouyang burst out laughing.
Hearing such outrageously rebellious words, Xiao Feng shook his head repeatedly.
Ouyang glanced at Chen Changsheng, who was shrinking behind the others, and silently grumbled, If it were Third Brother, he'd probably turn the Sect Master into a puppet, then become the Azure Cloud Sect's master behind the scenes!
Xiao Feng looked at his several senior brothers, each so different, standing on the steps. Suddenly, he wondered whether he simply wasn't working hard enough. Even his ambitions lacked the grandeur of theirs.
But now he, too, had earned the right to be proud. Once he was strong enough, once he had avenged his great grudge!
One day, I'll make it so that even these heavens can no longer veil my eyes!
Xiao Feng thought this with boundless heroic fervor.
Hu Tutu was already getting sleepy and was dozing against Ouyang's arm. Even in her sleep, she clutched his clothes tightly. That shameless big sister-brother had come to seduce her senior brother again just now.
I really wish I could grow up faster, then put Senior Brother in a cage so he'd belong to Tutu alone!
In the Main Hall atop Azure Cloud Peak, the sect's Peak Masters, Elders, and Attendants stood in rows along both sides.
Below the viewing platform, countless representatives from other sects sat in the plaza.
Although there was still just under a month before the Azure Cloud Sect's grand competition, most of the sects expected to attend had already arrived.
After all, in a super sect like the Azure Cloud Sect, opportunities could be found everywhere, and one needed plenty of time to stumble upon them.
What if they happened to discover a cultivation method left behind by an Immortal a thousand years ago?
The Azure Cloud Sect's scripture repository housed every cultivation method in the entire Cultivation World that anyone could name!
Among all those supreme secret manuals, there had to be something suitable for them.
They absolutely had to make good use of the borrowing privileges during their stay in the Azure Cloud Sect!
When Dongxu Zi saw that only one bald man sat at the nine tables in front, he glanced at Ling Feng beside him, whose expression remained unchanged, and sighed inwardly.
He was equally clear about what had happened at the mountain gate earlier. His disciple's talent and comprehension were decent enough, but he overthought things and was a little too rigidly upright.
Although Ouyang had defused the situation, it had still dealt another considerable blow to his disciple's state of mind.
The more one was mired in confusion, the more one needed tempering. Without a resilient heart, one could never reach the end of the quest for immortality and the Dao.
This was also why Dongxu Zi had always left Ling Feng to his own devices. Only by finding his own way out could he shoulder greater responsibilities.
This, too, was Ling Feng's responsibility as the Sect Master's disciple!
Of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, only the Great Spirit Mountain Temple had arrived so far-and it had come looking for trouble.
Not one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands was easy to deal with. Dongxu Zi snorted coldly. But my Azure Cloud Sect isn't molded from clay either!
Then Dongxu Zi stepped forward and announced in a ringing voice:
"The Sect Grand Competition will be held in ten days. All our Inner Disciples and disciples of fellow cultivators attending the ceremony may participate! The Azure Cloud Sect throws open its gates and invites immortal sects from all quarters. The victor will receive one Dao Artifact from our Azure Cloud Sect, one supreme mental cultivation method, and a viewing of the Azure Cloud Secret Treasure!"
Dongxu Zi's voice drifted softly into everyone's ears, instantly drawing gasps of wonder from everyone in the plaza!
A Dao Artifact!
A magic treasure containing the Dao resonance of heaven and earth!
That was the very pinnacle of the magic treasures a cultivator could wield.
A single Spirit Treasure was enough to make the Sect Masters outside fight until they beat the brains out of one another.
Yet the Azure Cloud Sect was offering a Dao Artifact with a mere wave of its hand!
It was no less extravagant than giving away a courtyard residence within the capital's Second Ring Road in his previous life!
A supreme mental cultivation method was something every cultivator dreamed of obtaining.
The road to immortality was long, and countless cultivators yearned for a method that could lead them straight to immortality.
Even if this world no longer produced Immortals, a supreme cultivation method offered by the Azure Cloud Sect should at least allow one to cultivate to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, shouldn't it?
Who knew how many cultivators lived between heaven and earth? Yet throughout their lives, they could only cling to ordinary cultivation methods and carry that regret to their graves!
Casually tossing out a cultivation method capable of nurturing a Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivator.
The strength of the Azure Cloud Sect, one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, truly was terrifying!
And that was without even mentioning the Azure Cloud Sect's legendary secret treasure!
That was the sect-guarding treasure that had anchored the Azure Cloud Sect and kept it standing for ten thousand years!
Legend had it that the secret to becoming an Immortal lay within!
As long as one could comprehend its mysteries, the gates of immortality would be within reach!
What extravagance! Truly, what extravagance!
All the sect representatives attending the ceremony marveled at it!
Every single thing Dongxu Zi had named was enough to stir everyone's hearts.
Even Hui Zhi, the Buddhist Holy Son of the Great Spirit Mountain Temple, one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, felt his heart stir slightly as he sat at the very front.
Hui Zhi had not expected the Azure Cloud Sect to be so generous either.
He had no interest in the Dao Artifact or the cultivation method.
But the legendary sect-guarding treasure-he was determined to obtain that!
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