A Fateful Connection with Me

The hall remained silent for a long time. Elder Chen swallowed hard and said in a strained voice, "I never expected that female cultivator to have such abilities."

Although he was smiling, anyone could see the awkwardness behind his smile.

"But this time, I was truly wrong." Without waiting for anyone's response, Elder Chen continued with a sigh, "That female cultivator is worthy to be my disciple, Ten Thousand Daos Born's disciple!"

Jiulian didn't speak, but looked at the water mirror with a hint of nostalgia.

The formation containing Jiaoren, though not the most difficult, was unanimously considered by the elders to be the hardest to overcome. This formation was named the "Heart-Questioning Array."

The boundless darkness in the water mirror slowly receded, and the exquisitely beautiful golden-tailed Jiaoren swam freely in the pool that had been restored to its original state.

The group quickly realized that the woman lying on the shore was Sang Ying, who had been swallowed by the Jiaoren earlier!

At this moment, she was no longer the disheveled woman she had been before. Her original wounds had disappeared, and even her Spiritual Power had become much more abundant. She looked much better than when she first entered the Heart-Questioning Array. It was not as if she had experienced a great battle, but rather as if she had just meditated and recuperated.

As if she could see Elder Xiao and the others through the water mirror, the Jiaoren gave them a charming smile, "You lads are in luck this time. This girl is determined to join your Ten Thousand Daos Born!"

Indeed, everything before was just an illusion. An illusion woven by the Golden-Tailed Jiaoren could deceive even Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivators, let alone Golden Core cultivators. Therefore, even though Sang Ying remained clear-headed and vigilant throughout, she was still deceived.

She inevitably fell into the illusion created by the Jiaoren from the very beginning.

If a cultivator who has entered the Heart-Questioning Array is easily tricked by the Jiaoren into crushing the leaf token, they will naturally lose their qualification for the test.

But if the other party insists on staying, or uses other methods to break through the illusion... as long as the Jiaoren is satisfied, then they have passed this test.

However, the Jiaoren had to admit that in the tens of thousands of years since she had been imprisoned here to guard the formation for Ten Thousand Daos Born, there had been very few cultivators who ended up in her womb like this.

Including Sang Ying, there are probably only two.

Thinking of this, the Jiaoren chuckled softly, "I must congratulate you in advance. Soon, the Ten Thousand Daos Born will likely have another cultivator as powerful as Little Jiu'er."

Jiulian Lian, known as "Little Jiu'er," remained all smiles, though the slightly cracked armrest of his chair betrayed his turbulent emotions.

"Yes, Jiulian was swallowed by the senior, just like that female cultivator. Although he successfully passed through the formation, he didn't dare to eat fish for many years after entering the sect." The female cultivator in blue suddenly recalled the past.

However, she did give Jiulian some face, since at that time Jiulian not only dared not eat fish, but had reached the point of being terrified of even the smell of fish.

If Elder Xiao, his senior brother, hadn't taken it to heart and thrown him into the formation several times to keep the Jiaoren company, Jiulian probably still wouldn't have been able to overcome this fear.

The female cultivator in the water mirror had not yet awakened, but Elder Xiao couldn't help but say, "Those who can maintain their original intentions without wavering are considered to have achieved the lowest rank. Those who can recognize the illusion and Zhou Xuan with the Jiaoren are considered to have achieved the middle rank. And those who can combine the former two, break through the Jiaoren' Technique Method, and approach the Jiaoren..."

"Count the chips." The one who answered was Jiulian, dressed in Hongyi.

He shook the folding fan in his hand, which was painted with ink-wash landscapes, a smile playing on his lips, "It seems this young lady is destined to be with me."

Upon hearing these words, Elder Chen was the first to become restless, not to mention others.

He coughed lightly to cover his embarrassment. "Although that girl used the same method as you through the Heart-Questioning Array, that doesn't prove that she's destined for you, does it? I could tell at a glance that this was an illusion; her skill in array formations is probably extraordinary. It's not unreasonable to say that she's destined for me!"

If Jiulian's words earlier only stirred up emotions among the crowd, then Elder Chen's words immediately made the elders in the hall restless.

One of the elders, a man with wide sleeves and a sword in hand, immediately slammed his hand on his chair and stood up. "Fatty Chen, you're shameless! You were looking down on that young girl before, and now you have the nerve to want to take her as your disciple? I think your big face is all skin and no flesh!"

While others might not understand, Ten Thousand Daos Born's elders certainly did.

Ten Thousand Daos Born's standard for selecting disciples can be summed up in one word: fate. An elder said that he had a special connection with the new disciple, clearly indicating that he wanted to take him on as a disciple.

Jiulian has an eccentric temperament. She could have taken on disciples when she first advanced to the Nascent Soul, but the other party insisted on refusing to accept any disciples, claiming that their master-disciple relationship had not yet come to fruition. This has dragged on until now.

Therefore, most of the other elders present now have disciples, while Jiulian is a lone figure guarding Carefree Peak.

If it were anyone else, the elders certainly wouldn't have competed with Jiulian, after all, the sect leader had been troubled for a long time because Jiulian refused to accept disciples.

But that disciple broke the Golden Core -Tailed Jiaoren's Technique Method and even got close to the Jiaoren with just his Golden Core cultivation!

Putting everything else aside, just looking at Jiulian, who also passed the Heart-Questioning Array Formation with top marks, everyone could tell that this disciple definitely had a bright future.

This is also why Elder Chen disregarded his reputation and was the first to stand up and compete with Jiulian for it.

After Elder Baojian spoke up, several more elders joined the battle to recruit him. They exposed each other's weaknesses, using their strengths to attack the weaknesses of their opponents.

The magnificent and solemn hall seemed to have instantly transformed into a bustling marketplace. If the elders hadn't been mindful of their pride, they probably would have been the next ones to start fighting.

As if the scene wasn't chaotic enough, the female cultivator in the blue dress, who had been watching the show, joined in and said with a smile to the crowd, "I think that girl and I are quite destined for each other. She has a single Ice Spirit Root, and we don't have any elders with Ice Spirit Root in our sect. I'm the only one with Water Spirit Root, so I'm somewhat related."

"Pshaw!" one of the elders laughed. "Ice Spirit Root and Water Spirit Root sound similar, but they are actually vastly different. So what if you have Water Spirit Root? You don't know any Ice Spirit Root Cultivation Method!"

Elder Chen hurriedly asked, "From what you're saying, you possess Cultivation Method for the Ice Spirit Root?"

The unfamiliar elder who had spoken earlier straightened his disheveled clothes and slightly raised his chin. "It's nothing much. I just had a bit more luck than you all. I happened to recently obtain a level-one Ice Spirit Root Cultivation Method, which is perfect for that little girl to practice."

Upon hearing this, everyone erupted in a frenzy, bringing out all the ice-type Cultivation Method, pills, and Law Artifact they had recently acquired. The blue-clad female cultivator was even provoked into bringing out a set of high-grade female cultivator's robes.

Jiulian, nestled in her chair, quietly memorized everything that everyone had brought out, her true intentions unknown.

Before the elders could argue their point, Elder Xiao couldn't stand it any longer. "What kind of behavior is this? You are all peak masters and sect elders. If word gets out that you're behaving like this, what reputation Ten Thousand Daos Born?"

"It's even more shameful to fail to snatch a disciple!" Elder Chen said, his neck stiff.

Elder Xiao rubbed his temples. He felt that since taking on the heavy responsibility of acting sect leader, he had been experiencing headaches more frequently than in the previous thousands of years.

"She's only passed the second formation, what's the rush? Besides, even if that girl joins the sect and wants to choose a master, it depends on their wishes. What's the point of your constant arguing?" Elder Xiao patiently advised.

"Stop arguing, let's watch the test first!"

With Elder Xiao's efforts to mediate, the elders were finally persuaded to sit back down in their chairs.

As soon as Elder Chen sat down, he immediately waved the Jing He Water Mirror aside and set up another one, the Sang Ying Water Mirror, in front of him.

When Jiulian glanced over, he silently turned his head away, pretending that he wasn't the one who had mocked Sang Ying earlier.

As for Jing He... hmm? Who is he? Never heard of him, don't know him!