After traveling a little farther, he saw a massive stele standing beside the road ahead, engraved with three large characters-Heaven Mending Pavilion.
Clearly, this was the Heaven Mending Pavilion's boundary marker. From here onward, the land belonged to the pavilion.
Only upon reaching this point could he truly be said to have drawn near the Heaven Mending Pavilion.
But although he was now close, this was still not the mountain gate. A considerable stretch of road remained before he reached the Heaven Mending Pavilion itself.
"It looks like the main disciple recruitment hasn't begun yet. I wonder if I can get into the Heaven Mending Pavilion." Di Yi looked around. Compared with the outermost outskirts, where there had been quite a few travelers, this place was rather quiet.
Few people came and went.
This told him that he had arrived at the wrong time.
As far as he knew, when the Heaven Mending Pavilion began recruiting, the road leading there would already be packed with people, gathering a great many children from the surrounding regions.
After all, who would not want to join when the Heaven Mending Pavilion opened its doors to disciples? Its legacy dated back to ancient times, and some great tribes would exhaust every means at their disposal just to secure a single place.
Still, Di Yi did not think this would be much of a problem.
Although the main recruitment period had not arrived, the Heaven Mending Pavilion sent its emissaries to the great tribes every year, venturing deep into the Great Wilderness to personally select talented children and bring in true geniuses.
This meant there were other ways to enter the Heaven Mending Pavilion beyond the established rules. It did not rigidly follow every regulation.
He considered himself reasonably talented, at the very least.
Entering the Heaven Mending Pavilion through a route outside the rules should not be a problem.
"Old medicinal plants stretching on and on... is this part of the Heaven Mending Pavilion's wealth?" Mountain ranges rose and fell along the road, and Di Yi occasionally spotted old medicinal plants rooted in cliff faces and cracks in the rocks.
For instance, he saw a dog-leaf vine. Its leaves were the color of black jade and had strange shapes resembling black dogs, hence its name.
He had once seen one auctioned in a vast city. It had fetched an extraordinarily high price and possessed extremely potent medicinal properties.
Yet rumor had it that dog-leaf vines were becoming almost impossible to find. He had not expected the Heaven Mending Pavilion to cultivate an entire patch. Judging by their age, they were probably close to developing spirituality and becoming spirit medicines.
The Heaven Mending Pavilion's reserves were indeed substantial, filled with rare treasures.
In the outside world, these plants would have long since been picked clean. Here, however, they seemed to be treated as renewable reserves and cultivated among the mountains.
Aside from these old medicinal plants, Di Yi also saw some genuine spirit plants. They already possessed remarkable spirituality, and a hazy radiance flowed over them.
"Young fellow, don't go getting ideas about those old medicinal plants and spirit plants."
The Heaven Mending Pavilion's true mountain gate consisted of two stone mountains standing side by side, forming a natural entrance. Towering and majestic, they were shrouded in a mist of auspicious energy.
An old man with crane-white hair and a youthful face sat cross-legged on a large bluestone boulder. Watching Di Yi stop and start along the way, he spoke with a smile. His tone was gentle, more teasing than genuinely reproachful.
"Hello." Di Yi withdrew his gaze and looked at the white-haired, youthful-faced old man.
"Young fellow, have you come to visit your younger siblings?" The old man had a distinctive air of Daoist grace as he asked Di Yi why he had come.
To his eyes, Di Yi possessed an extraordinary heroic bearing, like someone who had long occupied a lofty position. His background certainly could not be ordinary.
Moreover, the battle pet accompanying him had the imposing presence of a king.
The old man sensed the aura of a Primordial Remnant coming from the beast. It looked like a dog, but could not possibly be one. Most likely, it was a Primordial Remnant skilled in transformation.
Thus, he assumed Di Yi had come to the Heaven Mending Pavilion for the same matter as those powerful clans and great sects before him-to lend his younger brother or sister his backing.
"No." Di Yi shook his head and explained that he had come to join the Heaven Mending Pavilion and study.
"Hmm?" The old man visibly froze. "You're saying you want to join... the Heaven Mending Pavilion?"
"Yes." Di Yi nodded, not understanding why the old man was surprised.
"Young fellow, don't tease this old man. You can already tame a Primordial Remnant as a battle beast. Why would you need to cultivate at the Heaven Mending Pavilion?" The old man merely took Di Yi's words as a joke.
"He isn't my battle beast. He simply wants to follow me," Di Yi explained, stroking the Golden Hou's fur. "Besides, I shouldn't be all that strong. By the classifications used in the outside world, I'm only in the Blood Moving Realm Land."
"Blood Moving?" The old man smiled and stroked his beard, then suddenly moved, sweeping his large hand toward Di Yi.
Thud!
Di Yi was taken aback. Why did he suddenly attack me out of nowhere?
But to his eyes, the attack was very slow. He reached out with his right arm and caught it directly, then pulled against the incoming force. Carefully controlling his strength, he jolted the old man back.
Everything happened in a flash of lightning and a spark from flint. The movements were so swift that even after they ended, the sound of rushing wind still lingered.
"Young fellow, you really are something. And you claim you're only in the Blood Moving Realm." The old man steadied himself before he could stumble, inwardly astonished.
Which great clan does he belong to?
Although it had only been a simple probe, the other party had countered it with equal ease. That alone proved how extraordinary he was.
"I really am only in the Blood Moving Realm." Di Yi insisted he was telling the truth. To convince the old man, he also demonstrated a Precious Technique, releasing the light of Divine Radiance.
"Those really are the fluctuations of the Blood Moving Realm..." The old man's mouth fell open. For a moment, he could not accept it.
How was that possible?
Even though his attack had only been a simple probe, it was certainly not something a person in the Blood Moving Realm could withstand, much less counter as effortlessly as Di Yi had.
He strongly suspected that Di Yi was pretending to be a youngster, playing the pig to devour the tiger.
"Wait, that's not right. The form of that Precious Technique just now was... the Primordial Vermilion Bird?" So stunned had the old man been by Di Yi's performance that only now did he belatedly notice the issue with the technique itself. He asked in surprise, "Young fellow, are you from the Fire Kingdom? A child of its imperial family?"
No wonder he had felt that Di Yi possessed the bearing of someone long accustomed to a lofty position.
"No." Di Yi knew of the Fire Kingdom, a mighty ancient kingdom on par with the Stone Kingdom, but stated that he was not from there.
"Young fellow, this isn't right. Who besides a child of the Fire Kingdom's imperial family could have the fortune to learn the Primordial Vermilion Bird Precious Technique?" The old man felt that the young man before him was spouting nonsense, and seemed somewhat angry. "Whether you truly are in the Blood Moving Realm or are merely pretending, our Heaven Mending Pavilion doesn't care. But if you lack integrity, then our Heaven Mending Pavilion will not welcome you."
"Everything I've said is true. Why won't you believe me?" Di Yi found this utterly baffling. Every word he had spoken was true, so why did it all sound false to the old man?
"Fine, fine, fine. Everything you say is true." The old man's attitude was obvious: whatever Di Yi said went, but whether he believed it was another matter entirely.
"All right, I'll tell you the truth. I'm here to visit my younger siblings." Di Yi felt that there was no explaining the truth. The old man simply did not believe him.
He might as well tell a lie, then. As far as the old man was concerned, that would be the truth anyway.
Besides, this seemed likely to make it easier for him to enter the Heaven Mending Pavilion.
"Ah, now that's more like it. You youngsters love putting on a show of greatness before others, but this old man grew tired of that game long ago. How could I fail to recognize it?" The old man looked like a rooster that had won a fight. "Come with me. There are indeed a few promising seedlings among the children your Fire Kingdom sent over this generation. It isn't impossible that they'll enter the Ancient Sacred Academy to cultivate. I wonder which of them is your younger brother or sister."
"Then you may be disappointed."
"What? Disappointed about what?"
Before you continue