Jiang Jinyue was both angry and anxious.
You promised to let me be the chief examiner! Master isn't keeping her word.
This interference not only made Qi Yan's trial much harder, but also oddly went against the sect's usual examination practices. Jiang Jinyue truly had no idea why her master was doing this.
The other elders, however, exchanged glances, a hint of understanding in their eyes.
Perhaps Jiang Jinyue had forgotten something: there were several different ways to "pass"...
Passing and being left in the outer sect to slowly hone oneself counted; being assigned to work in a specialized hall because of certain qualities counted; catching the eye of one of the elders present and being taken into their peak counted too.
The treatment these different outcomes afforded was as far apart as heaven and earth.
The sect master thought highly of this Qi Yan and wanted everyone to take a closer look at him.
After all, the so-called "usual practices" for this kind of examination were primarily practices for children. With children, all they needed to test was whether they could help one another. But Qi Yan was an adult. Using a child's examination on him would simply be going easy on him. Giving him an adult's trial was how they showed they valued him.
One could never be without wariness toward others. If an adult in an unfamiliar place took no precautions against other people, that would clearly disappoint everyone. So far, Qi Yan's performance had been impeccable. He could cooperate while maintaining the proper vigilance, and he was ruthless enough too. The Heavenly Evolution Sect loved precisely this sort.
As for this subsequent pressure test, strength was only part of what it demanded. What truly mattered was perseverance and willpower.
Those were the qualities that determined how far a person could go.
The elders were all looking forward to it. Even Qi Yan himself found nothing unusual about the pressure test. A world in which Jiang Jinyue alone stamped her feet in frustration had come to be.
Qi Yan checked the time. There was little left of the allotted incense stick, so he quickly swallowed a Qi-Restoring Pill to replenish the magical power he had just expended, then resolutely stepped into the area.
The Exquisite Pearl gave off a soft, quiet glow that covered roughly a hundred feet.
The instant Qi Yan stepped into the light, he felt as though he stood beneath the oppressive aura deliberately unleashed by some powerful expert. His breathing grew labored, and his legs went weak.
He took one step forward, and the pressure increased. Another step, and sweat streamed down him.
In a mere three steps, the strain he bore increased exponentially.
Qi Yan mustered every ounce of strength in his body. Even the muscles, qi, and blood he had cultivated through witchcraft tensed to their limit as he took another step.
His feet felt filled with lead, as though he could not move even the slightest bit farther.
Qi Yan raised his head toward the pearl not far away, beads of sweat almost blinding him. A distance that would normally seem so short now looked far enough to drive someone to despair.
Qi Yan wiped away the sweat hard, gathered all his strength into his legs, and suddenly lunged one great stride forward.
Smack! That great stride felt good, but he could no longer stay upright. One knee slammed solidly into the ground.
Worse still was the mental pressure, like ten thousand needles stabbing into him, his head aching as though it would split.
That voice drifted over again. "Why put yourself through this?"
Qi Yan took several more deep breaths. There were no cheats he could use to pass this trial. He could only rely on himself.
It was as though the words he had said to Little Crybaby had come back to him: when you could not communicate and help one another in time, the only person you could rely on was yourself.
Qi Yan swiftly searched his mind for spells.
Great Strength Spell, usable at Qi Refining Third Layer.
The muscles in his thighs visibly bulged, and Qi Yan shakily straightened up.
Calming Spell, usable at any stage... it did not seem to do much. It barely preserved a trace of clarity in his mind as he continued forward.
Jiang Jinyue finally could not hold back. "Master, he's only at Qi Refining Third Layer! He can't withstand the pressure!"
Mu Xunzhen's voice drifted over from afar. "Who told him to come at a mere Qi Refining Third Layer? Me?"
"..." Jiang Jinyue was at a loss for words, and a little resentment toward Qi Yan rose in her heart.
I already told you to wait until the Middle Qi Refining Stage. What on earth were you in such a hurry for?
In fact, all the elders watching knew he did not need to make it to the end. This was simply the sect master's way of letting everyone see him. Several of them were already thinking of whisking Qi Yan back to their own peaks.
Naturally, they would not take him as their own disciple. They would have a disciple or granddisciple take him instead.
Qi Yan's performance merited it. It was just a pity his Spiritual Root was lacking; otherwise, taking him themselves would not be out of the question.
Thud! Qi Yan took another step and dropped to one knee again. At last, his knee was covered in blood.
That voice sounded beside his ear once more. "Even if you give up now, you can still enter the sect."
These words shook his resolve most severely. Even Qi Yan could not help falling into a momentary daze. Then he wiped away his sweat again and smiled.
The voice asked, "What are you smiling at?"
Qi Yan said slowly, "I crossed mountains and rivers, voyaged across vast oceans, and even got caught in a battle between Spirit Transformation cultivators, nearly ending up in a fish's belly... I risked everything to get here. Was it just to give up halfway?"
As he spoke, he took out another pill. After a moment's hesitation, he broke off a small piece.
This was no ordinary pill. It had been intended for Luo Chaoge's own use back when she was at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage. He had also heard about it from someone else, a girl called Little Crybaby. This was the renowned Qi-Replenishing Pill, three of which had landed Sixth Senior Brother with ruptured meridians.
On the distant main peak, Mu Xunzhen stared fixedly at that Qi-Replenishing Pill, a hint of reminiscence in her eyes. At last, she stopped deliberately speaking to distract him.
Qi Yan swallowed the small piece of Qi-Replenishing Pill. Though it was only a small piece, he still felt his dantian's sea of qi explode, as though his entire body were about to burst into flames.
The energy within surged upward while the oppressive force outside pressed down, suddenly forming a strange counterbalance. A pill he had no idea how long it would normally take to refine was now compressed and dispersed throughout his meridians and bones, the surge even going to his head.
The Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, which he had failed to find a way into through twenty full days of cultivation while adrift at sea, was breached in a single push.
Riding that momentum, Qi Yan shot forward like lightning and seized the Exquisite Jade.
The instant the jade entered his hand, it twisted and shattered like a bubble.
Immediately afterward, the entire scene dissolved. Before him was plainly nothing but a dark passage, with nothing in it.
Qi Yan looked as though he had been hauled out of the water. He stood there panting, nearly drained to collapse. Outside the passage, a little light flickered in everyone's eyes.
Jiang Jinyue's little hands were slick with cold sweat, but surprise and delight mingled in her eyes.
Never mind going easy on him or letting him in through the back door... with his performance, Qi Yan could hold his head high and tell anyone that he had passed every trial, completing them more perfectly than a conventional examination.
Before coming here intending to act as a biased judge, Jiang Jinyue had truly never imagined things would unfold this way.
Still less had she expected Elder Wan to turn to her and ask, "Jinyue, were you originally planning to take this man as your own disciple?"
"Huh?" Jiang Jinyue went blank. "Huh?"
"Were you not? You're nearly a thousand years old, and on the verge of breaking through to Spirit Transformation. Once you take that step, you'll be a powerful figure roaming the six continents as well. It is indeed time for you to take a disciple. We all thought you wanted to take a disciple yourself. The way you were going easy on him earlier..."
Was it that obvious? Jiang Jinyue stood stunned for a long while. She really did not seem to have considered taking a disciple. Otherwise, why would she have him call her big sister...?
Then Elder Wan said, "Since that wasn't your intention, I'll take him."
Jiang Jinyue said, "Huh?"
"Wait!" someone immediately said. "We all thought Jinyue wanted to take him herself, so we said nothing. Since she doesn't, why should he go to you, Martial Uncle Wan? Can't our Jade Bamboo Peak take him?"
"He belongs at our Wondrous Brush Peak!"
"He should come to our Jade Pot Peak!"
Knock, knock, knock... Tapping came from behind the stone door, followed by Qi Yan's feeble voice. "Let me out..."
Jiang Jinyue flew over to open the door. Qi Yan's legs buckled, and he nearly fell onto her. With quick eyes and quicker hands, Jiang Jinyue caught him by the shoulder. "Don't think I'm like Yun Ranyi."
Before Qi Yan could speak, a crowd of old men and women surrounded him, their eyes shining. "Qi Yan, right? Come to my Jade-"
Jiang Jinyue finally stamped her feet. "I'll take him!"
Everyone stared at her with gleaming green eyes. The old men who had just said, "We thought you wanted him, so we weren't competing," now all changed their tune. "Jinyue, taking a disciple into the main peak isn't something you can decide yourself, is it? That requires the sect master's approval."
A cool voice came from the sky. "She indeed cannot take a disciple."
Jiang Jinyue's little face fell. "Master..."
Qi Yan abruptly looked up and saw a white-haired woman floating gracefully among the clouds.
Cool and aloof, like a deity gazing down from above, she possessed a beauty unmatched in the mortal world, almost impossible to look upon directly.
She perfectly matched every image in his heart of a peerlessly beautiful female sect master, as though she had grown within his heart, or as though he had seen her in countless dreams.
Neither of them would know that this was Brother A-Yan and Little Crybaby's first meeting.
She said she can't take me... Qi Yan's throat went dry. Was it over?
He was just about to speak up for himself when Jiang Jinyue jumped in first. "Why, Master? Qi Yan did everything so well! Even his answer to that fake scripture was the standard answer!"
Mu Xunzhen gazed steadily at her hopping-mad disciple, her tone without the slightest ripple. "I said that you cannot take him."
"...Then which peak do you want him to go to, Master? Surely not the outer sect?"
Mu Xunzhen could not be bothered with her waterlogged-brained disciple. She announced calmly, "From this day forth, Qi Yan shall be my second disciple, Jinyue's junior brother."
Jiang Jinyue's eyes widened.
The entire gathering fell utterly silent. Everyone's eyes widened.
Although Mu Xunzhen had established the Heavenly Evolution Sect single-handedly, she had also brought many powerful experts into the fold to join in the great undertaking when she founded it. Of those present now, only Elder Wan had survived from those days. He was of Mu Xunzhen's generation, which was why everyone called him martial uncle. All the others had passed away. The people here were all those experts' second-generation disciples, and their own lineages had already continued for several generations.
While the entire sect had carried on through several generations, Mu Xunzhen had only offered guidance to the various peaks' disciples and given public teachings. She had never truly taken a disciple.
Only when she adopted Jiang Jinyue nearly a thousand years ago had she gained her first disciple. After that, she had never taken another-she simply had no inclination to do so.
People had thought the sect master would never take another disciple... what was going on now?
So the increased difficulty of the examination earlier had not been to let everyone take a look, as they had imagined. The sect master herself had become interested and was testing him as a prospective disciple! No wonder she had been especially strict.
Yet, although Qi Yan was indeed outstanding in every respect, no matter how one talked him up, he still only had a trash Spiritual Root... Sect Master, what were you thinking?
Did she know what seniority this eighteen-year-old Qi Refinement disciple would have once she took him in?