(Brain storage area! A friendly reminder: this book features an ensemble cast. Both the master and his disciples are protagonists. If that isn't your thing, don't enter.)
The Black-Yellow Great World.
The Eastern Wilderness, Qianyuan Dao Domain.
Purple Firmament Holy Land, Clear Void Peak.
The peak rose a thousand zhang high, shrouded in clouds and mist. Pines and rocks exuded ancient charm, flowing water cleansed the Dao heart, and pavilions and towers dotted the landscape. Winding mountain paths appeared and disappeared from view, their Dao resonance formed by nature, serene and unspoiled.
Jiang Chen sat quietly cross-legged on a bluestone at the summit, breathing in and out. His bearing was as flawless as jade, his grace like an immortal's, with an ineffable, mysterious Dao resonance all his own.
Whoosh!
Jiang Chen opened his eyes. His gaze pierced the void and illuminated the myriad mountains and rivers, as though everything between heaven and earth had lost its color.
"Today is Purple Firmament Holy Land's triennial disciple recruitment ceremony again. Hopefully, I'll meet a son of destiny at this ceremony. Otherwise, that damned system is just for show..."
Jiang Chen shook his head lightly, and his figure vanished from Clear Void Peak.
A hundred years ago, Jiang Chen had transmigrated to this world with a Supreme Luck System, becoming the last true disciple of Clear Void Peak in Purple Firmament Holy Land.
As long as he took sons of destiny as disciples and nurtured their growth, Jiang Chen could receive corresponding luck feedback and unimaginably generous rewards! These included soaring cultivation, hundredfold comprehension, physiques and bloodlines, Dao arts and divine abilities, heavenly materials and earthly treasures, divine weapons and supreme treasures, Dao talismans and ancient formations, and more.
Unfortunately, how could sons of destiny be so easy to encounter?
Even the Holy Son of Purple Firmament Holy Land lacked the fate of a son of destiny!
Over the years, through his own efforts, Jiang Chen had opened his Wheel Sea, established his Life Palace, transformed his True Spirit, broken through to Marquis, and attained Emperor!
Yet the system he carried with him had remained dormant all along.
Eighty years ago, Jiang Chen's master, Qing Xuanzi, had passed away in seated meditation, and Jiang Chen had become the peak master of Clear Void Peak.
Jiang Chen attended every disciple recruitment ceremony and had even traveled the outside world for several years, yet he had never managed to find a son of destiny.
Today was Purple Firmament Holy Land's triennial disciple recruitment ceremony once more, and Jiang Chen was preparing to try his luck again.
Jiang Chen merged into the void and appeared at Purple Firmament Holy Land's mountain gate in the blink of an eye.
The vast square outside the mountain gate was a sea of people. Tens of thousands of spirited young men and women stood in orderly, winding queues, each looking up at the majestic mountain gate that towered into the clouds, their eyes filled with awe.
Purple Firmament Holy Land's mountain gate was supported by four heaven-reaching divine pillars wreathed in hazy purple Qi, like the heavenly gate of an ancient celestial court descended into the mortal world. Runes resembling dragons and phoenixes flashed from time to time across the gate tower and the heaven-reaching divine pillars, holding terrifying divine might that involuntarily inspired reverence.
In the void, a pitch-black divine dragon ten thousand zhang long coiled around one of the heaven-reaching divine pillars. His mountain-sized head rested by the gate tower, his draconic eyes half-closed. His freely streaming whiskers twisted and distorted the void, and his enormous body radiated terrifying draconic might.
This ten-thousand-zhang black dragon was called the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor. He was an unrivaled demon Emperor and the divine beast guarding Purple Firmament Holy Land.
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor cultivated at the mountain gate year-round, and he was responsible for every disciple recruitment ceremony.
At this moment, dozens of figures with powerful presences floated in the void near the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's enormous body. Some rode swords through the air, some were wreathed in lightning, some had crystalline petals swirling around them, some had ice lotuses blooming behind their backs, some stood atop surging seas of fire, and some held towering mountains in their palms... Their manifestations were myriad, too numerous to list.
These were all elders and true disciples from Purple Firmament Holy Land's various main peaks.
They did not dare stand on the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's body, each employing different divine abilities and Dao arts to remain aloft.
Purple Firmament Holy Land held its disciple recruitment ceremony once every three years, and virtually every ceremony produced a few exceptionally gifted disciples.
These elders and true disciples naturally came to such ceremonies hoping to recruit a genius or two to strengthen their own lineages. Peak masters rarely attended in person.
Whoosh!
Jiang Chen abruptly appeared in midair and bowed slightly to the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor. "Jiang Chen of Clear Void Peak pays his respects to the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor."
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's eyes snapped open, as though two divine lamps had lit up between heaven and earth.
His gaze fell on Jiang Chen, and a trace of surprise flickered through his enormous amber dragon eyes.
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's Dao arts reached the heavens, and he was especially sensitive to all kinds of Qi fluctuations. Just as Jiang Chen appeared, he vaguely sensed a faint, elusive trace of pressure from him. Yet when he examined it carefully, it disappeared, leaving him rather puzzled.
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor suppressed his doubts. His jaws opened and closed, his voice resounding like a great bell. "So it's Peak Master Jiang! All these years, you've attended every disciple recruitment ceremony, yet you've never taken a disciple. You're the only one left on Clear Void Peak. It's a little too desolate! I hope you can recruit a disciple to your liking this time!"
Jiang Chen replied with a smile, "Thank you for your concern, Dragon Emperor. I hope so."
I've wanted to recruit disciples for ages!
Unfortunately, that lousy system only lets me recruit sons of destiny!
And how could sons of destiny be so easy to encounter?
Jiang Chen could not help grumbling inwardly.
"Greetings, Peak Master Jiang!"
Seeing Jiang Chen arrive, the elders and true disciples all respectfully saluted him, each inwardly curious.
Ever since joining Purple Firmament Holy Land, Jiang Chen had cultivated in seclusion on Clear Void Peak. Aside from the disciple recruitment ceremonies, he rarely participated in other activities.
Precisely because of this, many elders and true disciples of Purple Firmament Holy Land were relatively unfamiliar with him. Only after asking others did they learn that such a figure existed in Purple Firmament Holy Land.
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor swept his gaze over the tens of thousands of disciples in the square. His mountain-sized head turned toward the sky above Purple Firmament Holy Land, and he called out in a deep voice, "The time has come. Summon the sacred bell!"
Hum!
As the Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's words fell, the auspicious clouds and rosy haze that enveloped the skies over all of Purple Firmament Holy Land rapidly faded and vanished.
Immediately afterward, an ancient bell as large as a mountain manifested from the depths of the void, high in the sky stretching ten thousand li. Emerald mist swirled around its exterior, while purple and azure clouds churned within. It radiated vast, boundless pressure, as though an unsurpassed existence had revived and awakened.
The Purple Firmament Azure Heaven Bell!
The Purple Firmament Azure Heaven Bell was an immortal sacred weapon left behind by the founding patriarch of Purple Firmament Holy Land. Its name had once shaken the Eastern Wilderness.
With a single toll, the myriad Daos collapsed, heaven and earth fell silent, and Gods and Devils alike were annihilated.
The Dark Annihilation Dragon Emperor's draconic might was already exceedingly terrifying, but before the Purple Firmament Azure Heaven Bell, it was like a firefly before the bright moon-not even one ten-thousandth of the bell's pressure!
Clang!
The Purple Firmament Azure Heaven Bell trembled gently, releasing a melodious toll. Emerald mist rippled from its body, blotting out the sky and sun as it swept toward the tens of thousands of young men and women in the square like roaring mountains and a howling sea.
At that instant, everyone in the square was stunned by the toll.
Each person involuntarily sank into a multitude of illusions: freezing ice and blazing flames, raging gales and lightning tribulations, thorns and miasma, mountains of bones and seas of blood, savage beasts and evil ghosts, and more. The illusions seemed to contain endless calamities, battering everyone's mind.
At once, swathes of young men and women collapsed helplessly to the ground, their faces covered in panic. Quite a few even wet their pants.
After the bell's toll, only a little over three hundred people remained standing in the square.
Although most of them looked rather pale, they all gritted their teeth and persisted in standing, their eyes revealing unyielding perseverance and resilience.
[Cultivation realms: Wheel Sea, Life Palace, True Spirit, Marquis, Emperor, Venerable Lord, Demigod, the four Divine Spirit realms (Heavenly God, God King, God Emperor, God Venerable), Quasi-Saint, the three Sage realms (Saint, Saint King, Great Saint), Quasi-Emperor, the two Emperor Venerable realms (Great Emperor = Supreme, Heavenly Emperor = Heavenly Venerable)...]