Wang Shousi paused, then smiled again. "These two kinds of recommendation letters aren't the same thing. An admission recommendation letter is generally issued by your own sect. It means your sect has selected you for one of this year's admission places. It's a necessary credential for admission, and everyone needs one. But recommendation letters for the final assessment depend entirely on you and your sect's capabilities. Whether you have any, how many you have, and how good they are-all of that varies."
Pei Ye understood then-if a lower-ranked sword sect wanted its disciples to learn higher-level sword arts, it naturally needed the approval of higher-ranked sword sects. A "recommendation letter" served precisely that purpose. If more sword sects a level above acknowledged a disciple, that disciple could learn sword arts of the corresponding level.
As for why they would acknowledge someone, that was, as Duan Yu had said, something to be "completed independently beforehand."
Pei Ye looked at Wang Shousi, who smiled. "The sword sects of our level in the south all recommend one another. Beyond those, my master took me to obtain letters from Qingwei and Dongting."
"Dragon Lord Dongting?" Pei Ye asked in surprise.
"Yes."
Ning Shuhong added, "Emei has good relations with both sects. I have letters from Shushan and the White Deer Palace."
Pei Ye hesitated. Miss Ming had written him an admission recommendation letter, but he had never opened it, so he did not know whether it could serve this purpose. He could not help feeling awkward and uneasy at being unprepared again. Seeing his frown, Ning Shuhong reassured him, "Don't worry, Fellow Cultivator Pei. You hold a Great Tang place, so naturally you have a baseline guaranteed by Great Tang. Generally, that's on the fifth floor-most sword talents holding Great Tang places don't have