Chapter 400: A Year Gone, Brother Fang, You

Before the Xuan Sect, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and a woman arrived.

Fang Yu's divine sense swept over them and guessed the woman's identity—she should be Ji Ziyue, sister of Ji Haoyue, the Eastern Wilderness Divine Body who had brazenly seized the Emperor's Weapon during the Four Extremes competition.

Now these three walked together, aiming to take the Xuan Sect's examination.

Fang Yu took a step and appeared atop Zhuofeng, his divine sense scanning the Xuan Sect's Shanmen grounds.

During every examination, this place revealed the myriad faces of mortals; the three blending in among them was unremarkable.

"Xuan Sect, I've come! I, Zhang Erdan, carry the hopes of my whole village—I've struggled so hard to get here, and I must join the Xuan Sect and become an immortal! Then no one will dare bully our village again."

A seemingly simple and honest boy muttered these words, his eyes burning with stubborn determination.

"I am the Marquis of Wei State, raised since childhood in cultivation—joining the Xuan Sect should be effortless. With my cultivation base, I will surely enter the Xuan Sect to cultivate!"

"I must succeed. Once I enter the Xuan Sect, Wang Wu will ascend to heaven overnight—everywhere I go, people will respect me, not treat me as they do now, with contempt."

"I must pass this exam—last time I failed, but maybe this time I can."

Many voices carried many thoughts; everyone was different.

But whether they passed or not was not up to them—it was decided by the stone gate forged by the Xuan Sect's Nineteenth Generation Founder; those unsuited for cultivation could never pass.

The first trial was simple, yet most people stalled at this stage—they marched toward the Mendeshan Sect gate, only to be teleported back.

Every person teleported back felt bitter resentment, stepping forward again—but the outcome never changed.

After being teleported several times, those people had no choice but to leave in gloom.

Fang Yu saw that the simple-minded boy named Zhang Erdan had passed the first trial, while the young Marquis of Wei State failed even the first trial.

But this was perfectly normal—Fang Yu could see the young Marquis had only cultivated secular martial arts, knew a few punches and kicks, nothing more; while the boy named Zhang Erdan seemed to have gained some rare fortune in the mountains, opening his Bitter Sea, giving him a chance to join the Xuan Sect for the examination.

This was entirely normal—fate did not always distinguish between the noble and the lowly.

As many in the crowd moved forward, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Ji Ziyue also advanced, walking in with hundreds at once—all three passed without the slightest surprise.

Then they continued onward, heading toward the One Hundred and Eight Main Peaks.

Each person had different immortal fortunes—even those who passed the first trial still had a high chance of failing the second. Of the thousands who passed the first trial, only a few remained.

"This is the Xuan Sect? Truly magnificent—there's the aura of immortals here."

"That mountain peak looks so beautiful—do you hear it? There's music from the immortals—could there be immortals living atop it?"

"And this mountain peak—why is it barren, yet so many disciples are here?"

Zhang Erdan, puzzled, arrived with Ye Fan and the others before one of the main peaks.

This peak was not particularly majestic—only three thousand meters high—and its subordinate "subsidiary peaks" numbered dozens, many even taller than the main peak.

The peak held no splendid scenery, no majestic aura, no spiritual or immortal roots—nothing remarkable at all.

It was utterly ordinary, nothing like a main peak of an immortal sect—but strangely, many disciples cultivated atop it, as if this peak held an extraordinary and mysterious inheritance.

"This is Zhuofeng—it opened its inheritance several months ago."