Chapter 278

"Master, drink some tea!"

As he exited the herb garden, a medicine boy immediately offered him a cup of brewed tea.

Elder Changchun took a sip, handed the teacup back, and shook his head: "I will meditate for a while; do not let anyone disturb me."

Saying this, he sat down on a meditation cushion nearby and began to meditate.

Invisible substances began to flow in the air, gathering toward Elder Changchun. After another while, Elder Changchun was already enveloped in a mist.

"Master is meditating; do not disturb him!"

Sun Jian came over with a stack of apprenticeship applications, and the medicine boy stepped forward to remind him.

Hearing this, Sun Jian could only wait obediently on the side, looking enviously at Elder Changchun, who was shrouded in mist.

"A Heavenly Origin martial artist, gathering the essence of heaven and earth. When will I reach this realm?"

As one of the four great Elders of Blazing Fire Peak, Elder Changchun’s cultivation naturally exceeded the Marrow Cleansing realm, having broken through to the Heavenly Origin realm.

"What is the matter that you come to find me!"

At noon, Elder Changchun’s voice finally sounded.

Sun Jian looked over; the miraculous scene of mist had disappeared, and his master, Elder Changchun, was standing up from the meditation cushion, stretching his limbs, looking full of vigor.

Not daring to be slow, Sun Jian walked over with large strides and cupped his hands: "Disciple greets Master. The apprenticeship applications from the outer sect disciples whose three-year term expired this year have been submitted to the inner sect, and I have brought them for Master to see."

"Oh?"

Elder Changchun raised an eyebrow: "Two more years have passed already? How fast. Bring them here for me to see."

The two had only just met when that troublemaker Luo Dehu jumped out to sow discord, so despite knowing each other for nearly five years, this was truly the first time Lu Ren had spoken to him with a smile.

The smile on Lu Ren’s face instantly stiffened, revealing an unnatural look as he said, "I won't let you act for nothing; I will give you a reward."

Bowing his head to Xu Yang and asking for help made him feel deeply humiliated.

But apart from Xu Yang, he could find no one else to turn to; the others were not familiar with him and would not help him.

"I'm not interested in money!" Xu Yang shook his head.

Since Lu Ren had to ask for help and wanted him to intervene, the task was definitely very difficult, and he would not take such a risk.

Not to mention that the two had no friendship, even if they did, he would still carefully consider it; as for rewards and the like, he had absolutely no interest in them at all.

If he wanted to make money, he wouldn't have stayed holed up in the Purple Sun Sect all this time.

"I can give you cultivation techniques, as well as contribution points; you can have whatever you want." Lu Ren still thought Xu Yang wanted other things.

Xu Yang smiled and said, "Do you think I would risk my life for these things?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Ren’s face immediately fell, and his smile vanished.

Only then did he remember that Xu Yang had been in the Purple Sun Sect for three years and had never once gone to the Cloud Ridge Mountain Range, only taking on tasks without danger; getting Xu Yang to risk his life to help him was basically impossible.

"Zhang Yong, Sun Tao..." He had no choice but to turn his gaze toward Zhang Yong and Sun Tao.

"Don't look at me; I have a task too, and my task is even harder than yours," Zhang Yong snorted coldly.

Seeing that Lu Ren was also having bad luck, his mood finally felt a bit better.

"I have already agreed to help Zhang Yong," Sun Tao said.

Lu Ren had no choice but to leave with a dark face.

Departing Fire Peak!

Beside the burning red furnace, Elder Tie Fu, one of the four great elders of Departing Fire Peak, was shirtless, his body covered in knotted muscles that looked as if they had been cast from molten iron.

In his hand, he gripped a giant hammer larger than a human head, swinging it with great effort; every time the giant hammer fell, it was accompanied by a deafening muffled sound, and a blade blank gradually took shape.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the blade blank shattered, turning into a piece of pitch-black scrap.

"Failed again. When will my Spirit-Attaching Technique ever reach perfection?"

Tie Fu put down the heavy hammer in frustration and picked up a cloth from the side to wipe the sweat from his body.

"Master, the second apprenticeship petition has been delivered."

Zuo Mu walked over and respectfully handed over the apprenticeship petition in his hand.

The second batch of apprenticeship applications?

Iron Floating didn't care at all, saying: "Just put them there."

Truly good disciples had already been accepted by others the first time. Those who submitted applications in this second batch were just people who had been rejected and were submitting applications again to try their luck.

"Master, there are two disciples in the top three of this year’s outer sect competition. The Peak Master wants you to choose at least one as a disciple," Zuo Mu reminded him.

Iron Floating complained: "He chose a rare talent like the young Marquis as a disciple, but threw these mediocre people to me."

Being in the top three of the outer sect competition meant only three people out of hundreds or thousands of outer sect disciples.

But for someone like him, they weren't scarce geniuses at all. Among his disciples, there were more than one or two who had once been the first of the outer sect’s Ten Talents.

He didn't value the mere top three of the outer sect competition at all.

"But we can't go against the Peak Master’s words, and both of them have reached Marrow Cleansing. According to the sect rules, since they are submitting their applications for the second time, Blazing Fire Peak cannot refuse them," Zuo Mu said.

He knew that if these two top-three disciples had submitted their applications to his master the first time, his master would have been very happy to accept them.

It was only after failing to apprentice under others that they came to Blazing Fire Peak, treating this place as a choice of last resort. With his master’s proud nature, he naturally wouldn't welcome them.

"Who are these two, and which peak did they submit to before?" Iron Floating put down the cloth and tidied his clothes.

Zuo Mu cupped his hands: "They are Xu Yang and Xiong Kun. Both of them submitted to Medicine King Peak before. By the way, Xiong Kun is second in this year’s competition, and Xu Yang is third; their rankings in the Ten Talents are fifth and sixth respectively."

Xu Yang and Xiong Kun were famous in the outer sect, but he knew that such small figures weren't qualified to enter his master’s eyes, so he hurriedly explained their situation.

"Ignorant children. My path of weapon forging is far superior to alchemy."

Hearing that both of them had been rejected by Medicine King Peak, Iron Floating was even more dissatisfied. Blazing Fire Peak and Medicine King Peak had always had friction, with alchemists and weapon forgers looking down on each other.

For Iron Floating, Xu Yang and Xiong Kun were equivalent to people who had failed to defect to the enemy and had come to defect to Blazing Fire Peak, making him even less welcoming.

"Just take this Xiong Kun, take the others away!" Iron Floating waved his hand.

If it weren't for the Peak Master’s instructions, he wouldn't even want to accept Xiong Kun.

"Yes!"

Zuo Mu didn't dare to say more, knowing that his master, Iron Floating, disliked people who only submitted their apprenticeship applications to Blazing Fire Peak the second time.

This batch of applications passed through Iron Floating’s hands, and Iron Floating didn't even glance at them before they were transferred to Elder Huoyun.

It was fortunate that when submitting an apprenticeship application for the second time, after being rejected by the first master, one could be transferred to the next Elder; otherwise, except for Xiong Kun, everyone else would have had to rewrite their applications.

"This kid was supposed to apprentice under Iron Floating? Why was he transferred to me!" Elder Huoyun picked up the first application and discovered it was Xu Yang.

He had watched this year’s outer sect competition and had some impression of Xu Yang.

"He submitted to Medicine King Peak first and was rejected by Elder Changchun. You know Elder Iron Floating’s temper. It was only because of the Peak Master’s instructions that he reluctantly accepted Xiong Kun and didn't want him.

The Peak Master instructed that you should accept him," Gao Lin explained.

Xu Yang had really been predicted correctly; failing to apprentice under his preferred master, he had been rejected by Elder Changchun of Medicine King Peak and Elder Iron Floating of Blazing Fire Peak in succession.

Now he could only be forcibly stuffed into his master, Elder Huoyun’s, lineage by the Peak Master, and he would likely be hard to be well-received in the future.

"He only knows how to give orders; why doesn't he accept him himself?" Elder Huoyun was also full of anger.

The best one, Xiong Kun, was picked away, leaving a worse one, Xu Yang, for him?

"Master, this Xu Yang is actually quite good, steady and hardworking. Actually, when I first met him, I wanted him to apprentice under you.

Even if he hadn't won the top three in the competition, I would have hoped for you to accept him, Master."

Gao Lin said in a low voice, helping Xu Yang speak well.

He had a good impression of Xu Yang and had intended to help him.

"Steady and hardworking? That’s just being overly cautious. For three years, he didn't even dare to enter the Yunling Mountain Range once, lacking any of the sharpness and drive of a martial artist."

Huoyun snorted: "Are you complaining that Master gives you too much work and want to find someone who doesn't run around to help you share the burden?"

Gao Lin hurriedly cupped his hands: "Disciple wouldn't dare."

"Alright, just him. The Peak Master has already given instructions; how could I go against the Peak Master?"

Elder Huoyun picked out Xu Yang’s application, added a few others who had specifically requested to apprentice under him, and finally selected three people, waving for Gao Lin to withdraw.

……

Three days passed in a flash. Xu Yang arrived at the foot of the four peaks. This time, there weren't as many people as last time.

Everyone waited for a while, and then disciples from each peak came down to announce the results.

"Xiong Kun, Xu Yang..."

Soon, the Blazing Fire Peak disciple also appeared, holding a booklet and starting to call names.