Two Seeking Masters

"Stop!"

With a loud shout, more than a dozen disciples wielding weapons and dressed in the inner robes of the Dao-Seeking Academy descended from the sky and landed in front of the mountain gate, blocking the two dusty cultivators.

The inner disciples glanced at the two men's attire; neither of them wore clothes from any major power, and a hint of disdain arose in their hearts.

The leading disciple said sternly, "Who goes there? How dare you trespass on the gates of the Dao-Seeking Academy!"

The celebration of the Great Sage sons is only a few days away. The higher-ups have assigned these disciples a heavy responsibility: absolutely no scoundrels are allowed to infiltrate the Dao-Seeking Academy.

If anything goes wrong, these disciples patrolling the mountain will be in big trouble.

"I am Ximen Ye Rogue Cultivator Ximen Ye from the Endless Sea."

A middle-aged man who looked like a hermit said respectfully.

Immediately afterward, another young cultivator said, "This junior Qin Yun from Sword-Forging City."

Upon hearing the two men introduce themselves, the leading patrolling disciple frowned instinctively and asked, "What is your purpose here? If you can't give a clear answer, don't blame me for being impolite with my weapons."

Seeing the other party's arrogant demeanor, Ximen Ye did not get angry. Instead, he respectfully said, "Senior Brother, I have come to the Dao-Seeking Academy to become a disciple, this..."

Before he could finish speaking, the leading disciple interrupted him, "Alright, now is not the time to become an apprentice. If you wish to become an apprentice, please wait until the day of the disciple recruitment. We have important matters to the Dao-Seeking Academy and cannot entertain you now."

After saying that, he turned his gaze to Qin Yun, who was standing to the side, and asked, "You didn't come here to become my apprentice, did you?"

"Indeed, I've also come to become your disciple. This is my master's identification token."

Seeing that Ximen Ye had been interrupted, Qin Yun finished speaking in one breath and also took out Mr. Ye's identity token.

"Let me see."

Upon hearing this, the lead patrolling disciple's expression softened considerably. In his view, the other party had come to seek apprenticeship simply to witness the brilliance of the two prodigies.

Qin Yun handed over the identity token, but before the patrolling disciple could even receive it, his expression changed slightly, and he questioned:

"Are you sure you're not making fun of me? This is clearly a disciple's token. Only elders of the Dao-Seeking Academy are qualified to accept disciples; deacons can take on menial tasks."

"Ah?"

Qin Yun was stunned for a moment, then muttered, "But my master Ye Beixuan, said he would take me as his disciple, so why isn't it going to work out?"

Upon hearing the name Ye Beixuan, the disciples of the Dao-Seeking Academy's expressions changed drastically, as they had all heard of this important figure from the Miscellaneous Dao Institute.

The leader quickly took the token from Qin Yun's hand, examined it carefully, and confirmed that it was indeed a token from the Miscellaneous Dao Institute, with the character "Lin" engraved on it. It must have been the token of the newly promoted elder.

He immediately forced a smile, "So, Junior Brother is Elder Ye's disciple. You must have taken the wrong token. Come, let's enter the mountain gate together."

Qin Yun wanted to say that he hadn't taken the wrong one, but thinking about what had just happened, he was too lazy to explain. He decided to become a disciple of his master first to avoid any further complications.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Ximen Ye spoke up, "I also have your token, sir; it's right here."

Upon hearing this, everyone present stopped in their tracks.

Why didn't you say so sooner?

The leading disciple said something rather irritatingly.

Ximen Ye: "..."

He wanted to say, "I haven't finished speaking yet, and you've interrupted me," but he still took out the token in his hand.

The moment the leading disciple received the token, his expression changed slightly, because this token was for a candidate for Holy Son.

Currently, the Dao-Seeking Academy has no more candidates for Holy Son; if it does, they are those two Holy Sons.

He examined the token closely, and when he saw the character "Xiao" written on the back, he couldn't help but tremble.

The surrounding fellow disciples also paled.

The leading disciple said, "Quickly... quickly go and inform Head Deacon Bai of the situation here."

"Promise."

One of the disciples responded and then turned to leave with the jade slip.

The leading disciple, abandoning his previous condescending attitude, said, "Senior brother, please wait a moment. Your matter is not something we can decide."

Ximen Ye nodded slightly. Over the years, he had witnessed all sorts of human nature and was naturally not angry about such a small matter.

A moment later, Head Deacon Bai descended from the sky and landed outside the mountain gate, his gaze falling on Ximen Ye.

"Did Uncle Xiao really give you that token you have?"

Ximen Ye replied respectfully, "That's right."

Head Deacon Bai said, "In that case, the two of you come with me to the External Affairs Institute to register. I'll go and deliver a message to the Miscellaneous Dao Institute."

"No."

This minor incident did not affect the normal operation of the Dao-Seeking Academy.

Miscellaneous Dao Institute.

Chu Feng was leading his disciples in tasting wine when a respectful voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Disciples from the External Affairs Institute have come to pay their respects to Chief Chu."

"Come in."

Chu Feng said it casually.

Head Deacon Bai walked in with a smile, greeting everyone familiarly as soon as he entered.

Wang Baole walked straight up to him and put his arm around his shoulder. "Senior Brother Bai, what brings you to the Miscellaneous Dao Institute today? Let's have a couple of drinks."

Head Deacon Bai said, "Two disciples from minor factions came to formally become disciples, carrying tokens from Martial Uncle Xiao and Martial Uncle Ye. Since my uncle and I from the External Affairs Institute are relatively familiar with your Miscellaneous Dao Institute, we came over."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Feng subconsciously turned his gaze to his two disciples and teased, "When did you two secretly take on disciples behind your master's back?"

Xiao Chen looked thoughtful. Seeing that he couldn't figure it out for a long time, Liu Yue'er said, "Reporting to Master, Brother Chen gave a sword cultivator a test on the Endless Sea more than ten years ago. It seems that the person passed Brother Chen's test."

"There really is such a thing."

Xiao Chen murmured to himself. He was a pure sword cultivator, and what happened on the Endless Sea back then was just something he did casually.

Ye Beixuan, standing to the side, said, "It should be that kid from the Qin Clan in Sword-Forging City. Back then, I went easy on him when I accepted him as a disciple; my senior brothers and sisters should still remember him."

"Since they are your disciples, then you can handle this yourselves."

After Chu Feng finished speaking, he continued drinking. Wang Baole was reminded of the time when he first entered the Dao-Seeking Academy, and he pulled Head Deacon Bai to drink with him as well.

Xiao Chen and Ye Beixuan flew towards the External Affairs Institute.

As soon as the two landed, disciples from the External Affairs Institute came forward to greet them.

"Greetings, Holy Son, Elder Ye."

"Um."

Xiao Chen responded, then asked, "Where is he?"

The disciple from the External Affairs Institute said, "Please, Holy Son and Elder Ye, come with me."

After speaking, the disciple led Xiao Chen and Ye Beixuan towards the courtyard where the two cultivators were located...