Chapter 415: Taiyi Pavilion

Duan Rong followed Yao Che into the depths of the dense forest.

Yao Che walked with his head down, not saying a word. Although they had just met, Duan Rong could tell that Yao Che was a man of few words, so he also walked in silence and did not strike up a conversation.

As the two walked, they passed through a rather lush grove of large zelkova trees, and the view before them suddenly brightened.

This place was clearly a clearing that had been developed deep within the dense forest.

The area was quite large and surrounded by a wooden fence; inside, there were wooden huts of varying sizes arranged haphazardly, much like mushrooms sprouting in a wetland.

Among those wooden huts, there were also a few scattered tents interspersed, like rare white mushrooms mixed into a pile of black ones.

Yao Che silently led Duan Rong into this area.

As they passed a wooden hut, they saw a large man at the entrance with a full beard, his upper body bare, scrubbing his neck with a towel.

He watched the two walk by, his gaze sweeping over Duan Rong, and he asked, "Yao Che, what is this kid here for?"

Yao Che kept his eyes on the path, not even glancing at the large man, and replied, "He has exited the Tower Forest."

"Is that so?" The large man wiped his face with the towel and tossed it into a wooden basin. However, as he watched the back of Duan Rong, who had already walked some distance away, a flash of doubt crossed his eyes, and he muttered to himself, "That kid looks... a bit unfamiliar, doesn't he?"

Yao Che led Duan Rong to a rather large tent.

The two stood at the entrance of the tent.

Yao Che looked at him and said, "You stay here and rest for a few days first. I will report your information to the Inner History Department today. There is a complex set of rituals for Inner Sect Disciples exiting the Tower Forest and entering the Sect. It is customary for them to be held every two months. You are lucky; you only have to wait a few days. The three people inside have already been waiting for over a month."

After Yao Che finished speaking, he suddenly lifted the tent flap, and the two ducked their heads and stepped inside, one after the other.

As soon as he entered the tent, Duan Rong frowned; an extremely pungent and unpleasant odor rushed straight into his nose.

Inside the tent were four bamboo beds, three of which were already occupied. Only one empty bamboo bed was piled with a lot of miscellaneous items.

It was still early morning, and the three people inside were still fast asleep.

Yao Che, with a cold expression, swept all the miscellaneous items on the bamboo bed onto the floor. He then took a fur blanket and a pillow from a cabinet near the tent entrance, threw them onto the empty bed, and said, "That's it. Make do with sleeping here. If you need anything, find me at the fifth wooden hut on the east end of the camp."

After Yao Che finished speaking, he lifted the curtain and walked out of the tent.

Having stayed inside for a while, Duan Rong's nose had already adapted to the smell, and it no longer felt pungent. He had not slept all night, so he wrapped himself in the blanket and lay down on the bamboo bed.

The other three, disturbed by the commotion, seemed to have all woken up.

On the bamboo bed across from Duan Rong, a fairly fair-skinned young man propped himself up on his elbows with a creak at the head of the bed. The blanket slid down from his bare upper body. As he rubbed the grime off his skin, he looked at Duan Rong and asked, "This Senior Brother, I just heard Instructor Yao say that you also just exited the Tower Forest?"

Duan Rong glanced at him and smiled, "That's right! Three Senior Brothers, you are the same, aren't you?"

"Yes, we all are!" the person diagonally across from Duan Rong suddenly replied.

"Senior Brother, how come you look so unfamiliar to me!" the young man rubbing the grime off his skin threw away an oily ball of dirt in his hand and asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

He had been suffering in the Tower Forest for three years and knew almost everyone inside. Since this person had just exited the Tower Forest, why did it seem like he had never seen him before?

Duan Rong smiled, "Of course. Senior Brother, this is our first time meeting!"

"First time meeting?!" The young man was slightly stunned, his eyes flickered, and he immediately asked, "Then may I ask Senior Brother, how many years have you been suffering in the Tower Forest?"

Duan Rong hesitated for a moment before answering, "Well... I entered the Tower Forest last night."

"What!?"

This time, all three sat up halfway on their bamboo beds. One of them had sat up too abruptly, causing the blanket to slide off the bed, revealing a body with exquisite curves.

"Senior Brother, you said you entered the Tower Forest last night? And you exited the Tower Forest early this morning!?"

Duan Rong said, "During the morning assembly, I beat that family of baboons and came out."

The other three looked at each other in dismay upon hearing this.

The young man rubbing the grime wrapped his lower body with the blanket and looked at Duan Rong with a somewhat strange expression, saying, "Senior Brother, you aren't joking, are you?!"

What Duan Rong said was truly hard for him to believe; it completely exceeded his understanding.

"He is not joking," another guy, so thin that his ribs were faintly visible, suddenly said, "If that weren't the case, we have been suffering in the Tower Forest for years, so how could we have never seen him before?"

Upon hearing this, the young man rubbing the grime lowered his head to ponder for a moment. When he raised his head again, he looked at Duan Rong with astonishment in his eyes.

That look was as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Although the three were greatly shocked, they accepted the fact that Duan Rong had exited the Tower Forest in one night. After all, it was Instructor Yao who had personally brought him into the tent; one could only say that this person was naturally gifted.

Since they had been woken up, they soon began to chat.

Duan Rong had originally wanted to sleep for a while, but seeing them chatting, he joined in. He had only stayed in the Tower Forest for one night and was unaware of much information, so he took the opportunity to ask about some things while chatting with them.

And so, Duan Rong lived in that tent for a few days.

Although the conditions here were simple, the three seemed to live quite comfortably. Duan Rong realized why after a moment of thought: if one had been locked in that cramped tower body for two or three years, the conditions in the tent would probably feel like heaven upon coming out. He did not feel this deeply because he had only stayed in that cramped tower body for one night.

Over these few days, Duan Rong had basically gathered all the information he needed to know.

Inner Sect Disciples who exited the Tower Forest must first go to the Taiyi Pavilion on the bi-monthly worship day to pay respects to the past ancestors of the Sect.

These so-called past ancestors were actually the past Elders of the Elder Council of the Taiyi Sect.

As long as one could enter the Elder Council, one could be enshrined in the Taiyi Pavilion after death and enjoy the worship of future generations of disciples forever.

After worshipping at the Taiyi Pavilion, there was the apprenticeship ceremony inside the Longyu Hall.

Compared to the complex etiquette and formalities of worshipping at the Taiyi Pavilion, the apprenticeship ceremony inside the Longyu Hall was, for them, an extremely important event.

This was because not every Inner Sect Disciple could successfully find a master. Or rather, most Inner Sect Disciples actually had no master.

These Inner Sect Disciples whom no one was willing to take in were forced to be registered under the names of various departments such as the Inner History Department, the Office of Transmission, and the Zongzheng Adjudication Division, accepting tasks assigned by each department and receiving cultivation resources allocated by them.

If one performed exceptionally well within a department, there was still a certain chance of successfully finding a master within that department, but the probability was already very slim. Basically, if one did not find a master on the day of worshipping the past ancestors, the chances later on were not great either.

Within the Sect, those qualified to take on disciples in the Longyu Hall included not only the various Elders within the Elder Council but also the hidden veterans within the Sect, as well as the accomplished managers of various Halls.

These were the three echelons.

Being taken as a disciple by an Elder of the Elder Council naturally meant a boundless future, with all kinds of resources and opportunities guaranteed.

Although the hidden veterans within the Sect did not usually show their faces, they also had a great deal of say within the Sect; if one could become their disciple, it would also be a leap over the dragon gate.

In fact, some hidden veterans had even more authority than some Elders in the Elder Council.

Finally, there were the accomplished managers of various Halls. If one became a disciple of these people, one could also obtain some resources. Although they could not compare to the first two echelons, they were much better off than those Inner Sect Disciples registered under various departments. At the very least, you had a master, someone to guide your cultivation, and someone to look after your resources. It could be considered "not enough at the top, but more than enough at the bottom."

Most Inner Sect Disciples who leave the Tower Forest only hope to be taken in as disciples by the managers of the various Halls.

As for the Elders of the Elder Council and those reclusive Sect Elders, they are truly not people one can easily covet. These individuals generally prefer quality over quantity and will not easily take on disciples.

Five days later.

Duan Rong and three other Inner Sect Disciples who had left the Tower Forest arrived at the Sect's Cuiwei Peak one day early.

This Cuiwei Peak is the location of the Sect's Taiyi Pavilion, the Elder Council, and the Longyu Hall; it can be said to be the core heartland of the Sect.

Cuiwei Peak is not very high, considered a rather low-lying mountain peak, but it is densely vegetated and lush, and looking at it from afar, it gives one a sense of spiritual beauty.

The evening before, Duan Rong and the others had arrived at a Separate Courtyard below Cuiwei Peak.

In that Separate Courtyard, the History Supervisor and Attendants of the Inner History Department, who are in charge of etiquette, put them through the wringer for an entire night.

They bathed and changed clothes early, putting on heavy ceremonial robes that had been worn by who knows how many people, and then the Attendants began teaching them the various tedious formalities for worshipping at Taiyi Pavilion the next day, until they were tossed about until nearly dawn, when they finally managed to snatch a quick nap.

Fearing they would wrinkle their ceremonial robes, they could only lean against pillars to doze; after only a short while, they were dragged away by the Attendants, and early in the morning, with the sky just barely brightening, they stood hungry at the foot of the high and towering stone steps of Cuiwei Peak.

They lifted their groggy eyes to look upward, only to see that in the dim sky, the distant stone steps were layered and stacked like a heavenly ladder, leading straight to the mountain peak. At the end, a magnificent and towering great hall sat like a giant beast.

When the sky was fully bright, the ceremony finally began at the chosen auspicious time, and by this point, Duan Rong and the others had already been standing dryly at the foot of the stone steps for nearly an hour.

Amidst a sound of horns, Duan Rong and the others performed the ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows before ascending the steps; upon reaching a certain platform, they knelt and offered incense again before continuing to drag the heavy hems of their ceremonial robes and ascend along the stone steps...

By the time the worship ceremony at Taiyi Pavilion was halfway through, the nearby Longyu Hall was already packed full.

This terrified the old Attendant who had been guarding Longyu Hall for years, leaving him pale with shock.

What is going on today?

The various Elders from the Elder Council, and even some reclusive Sect Elders who had not appeared for many years, had actually all arrived.

This old Attendant had been guarding Longyu Hall for over twenty years and had never encountered such a scene.

"Could something have happened?" worry welled up in the old Attendant's heart.

Since so many Elders and Sect Elders had come, he naturally dared not be negligent and immediately directed the junior Attendants under him to add tables and chairs and serve tea.

Seeing two junior Attendants taking tea leaves from the cabinet, the old Attendant immediately shouted: "Not those!"

"Don't you see who has come? And you're serving this tea! Can last year's stale tea be served? The jar under the bottom of the standing cabinet contains this year's new tea; how many times have I told you?"

Those junior Attendants were flustered and finally, under the old Attendant's direction, finished serving the tea.

Seeing that the arrangements were basically in order, the old Attendant finally caught his breath, walked over slowly, and said respectfully: "May I dare ask you Elders and lords, what is the reason for your grand arrival at Longyu Hall?"

"You old fellow, why are you playing dumb here? We have come, naturally, to take on disciples!"

"That's right!"

The old Attendant was stunned, his eyes darting around. "All here to take on disciples?"

"Why haven't you collected the invitations yet!" an old woman with a wrinkled face and white hair suddenly shouted.

"Yes, yes, yes. It is my negligence!"

The old Attendant hadn't reacted in time; these people were actually all here to take on disciples!?

This was naturally a normal occurrence, as Longyu Hall was the place for holding apprenticeship ceremonies. But he had been here for over twenty years and had never seen such a formation. He had thought something had happened to Longyu Hall to alarm so many people into coming!

So it turned out that after all this fuss, these people were all here to take on disciples!

The old Attendant bowed to each one of them and collected the invitations from these Elders and Sect Elders. Holding the thick stack of invitations in his hands, he bowed once more in the center of the hall before leaving the front hall and coming to the back hall.

The old Attendant sat down at the desk in the back hall, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a cotton towel, washed his hands, and then opened the top invitation from the stack in front of him.

Written inside this invitation were the names of the Inner Sect Disciples that these Elders and Sect Elders had chosen and wished to take into their sect.

The old Attendant first glanced at the seal on the invitation and saw it was from Ge Rusong, an Elder of the Elder Council.

This Ge Rusong is not only an Elder of the Elder Council but also the Head of the Office of Transmission; he can be said to be in a high and powerful position.

If one could be favored by him and taken into his sect, it would be a smooth path to success, and one would have the opportunity to participate in many important matters within the Sect.

Below the seal were the conditions set by Ge Rusong! This part was not strictly necessary, as Ge Rusong's status itself was already a condition hard to refuse.

But Ge Rusong's invitation still listed five dense lines of additional conditions, each of which made the old Attendant's heart tremble.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and finally looked at the name at the very bottom of the invitation.

That name was somewhat unfamiliar; he seemed to have never heard it before.

"Duan Rong?!"

The old Attendant's expression was blank; he was wondering who this Duan Rong was to be worth someone like Ge Rusong going to such lengths to win him over!

He thought about it, but still had no impression of the name. He put down Ge Rusong's invitation and picked up the second one.

It was the invitation from Yang Sixuan, the Head of the Zongzheng Adjudication Division!

The old Attendant's eyes widened instantly.

"Still Duan Rong?!"

He continued by opening the third, the fourth...

With a rustling sound, all the invitations were spread out on the desk in front of him.

"My goodness!"

"They are all for that person named Duan Rong!?"

Who on earth is this person! To be able to make the Sect Elders, and even those reclusive Sect Elders, all scramble to take him into their sect!

And the conditions, each one more generous than the last!?

This is truly hellish!?

(End of this chapter)