Chapter 96: 96. Chapter 96

96. Chapter 96

Guan San is currently stroking the server; please complete your subscription to defeat him!

This girl... is unfathomable.

Having already lowered her sleeves and loosened her skirt, Atian noticed the bearded man's probing gaze, tidied her disheveled long hair, and gave him a shy smile.

The bandit, who had just been beaten up, felt himself fluttering in the wind.

Fortunately, he didn't have much time to be in a daze; after being declared qualified, the losers who were originally lying on the ground howling were taken away one by one by newly appeared streams of light. Just as the two stared at each other in dismay, a new voice rang out, this time a female voice:

"This Ascension Ceremony has now concluded; two have qualified."

Two qualified?

Song Zhicheng looked at Bai Tian, Bai Tian looked at Song Zhicheng, and for a moment, neither knew what to say.

A total of three thousand and two people participated in this Ascension Ceremony, and now only two had qualified. From now on, when they went out, they could boast that they had eliminated three thousand weaklings.

Over three thousand people participated in the selection, yet only a tiny fraction could step onto the path of Xiuxian. This was the first time Atian had a real sense of what Zhao Kuo meant when he said, "Those with aptitude are one in ten thousand."

Admittedly, perhaps many people, like the original Atian, intended to live an ordinary life honestly and had never thought of striving for the path of Xiuxian. Furthermore, among those who could come to participate in the Ascension Ceremony, who didn't have confidence in themselves? Yet, even among this group of people with promising futures in Xiuxian, the elimination rate was incomparably cruel.

"My god," Song Zhicheng plopped onto the ground, took off his straw sandals, and picked at his feet. "I didn't expect that I would actually hit the jackpot. It's just a pity for my brothers; they'll have to fight for their own futures."

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the world was unpredictable. He had originally thought he was just material to be a bandit boss, and now he was going to cultivate immortality. No matter how far he could go, it sounded as magnificent as a storybook tale.

"Sister from the Bai family, it looks like you and I will be fellow disciples from now on." He looked rough and careless, but he was actually very attentive; he had remembered Bai Tian's name after hearing it only once. "I'm a crude man; if there's anything that displeases you, just say it straight!"

Then could you stop picking your feet?

Years of upbringing as a young lady prevented the words from slipping out. Atian covered the lower half of her face with her sleeve, leaving only a pair of sparkling, watery eyes visible, looking truly gentle and lovely.

Perhaps because all the losers had been sent away, the jumping streams of light returned to the two of them, circled them a few times, and finally turned into a ribbon that lay horizontally between them.

Atian tentatively reached out to grab one end of the ribbon, and the flexible silk actively wrapped around her wrist. Song Zhicheng put on his shoes and followed suit, reaching out his hand, only to be ruthlessly whipped by the ribbon.

"Hey! Hey! Why does this piece of junk dislike me!" Song Zhicheng yelled in anger, then was tied around the waist by the ribbon and enjoyed a thrilling, exciting swing in the air.

One had to admit, this ribbon's flying technique was much better than Zhao Kuo's Sword Controlling Technique. At least Atian didn't feel any bumps during the smooth ascent. It wasn't until she suddenly broke through the water's surface that she realized this wasn't flying, but surfacing.

The Sword Washing Pool was truly a pool. Strands of pool water flowed quietly around her, yet they were as light as mist, dissipating like rosy clouds the moment they were touched. The huge Broken Sword that pierced through the entire Floating Island was soaking in the crystal-clear pool water. Atian then discovered that its blade was actually moon-white; this seemed to be the color of the Beihai Sword Sect. Unlike her first sight of it outside the Floating Island, despite being so close to it, she didn't feel that oppressive Sword aura, as if it were just a plain and unremarkable ornament.

The ribbon carried the two of them away from the water and threw them directly onto the lakeside. There, a boy was waiting, and seeing the two land in a heap, he then leisurely made a bow.

"Senior Brother Song, Senior Sister Bai, this disciple is a Sword Attendant Boy under the Sect Master. By the order of the Sect Master, I have come to welcome you both."

Bai Tian helped the groaning bearded man stand steady and found that although this boy looked as cute as jade and snow, his expression and demeanor were incomparably dull, and his eyes were like stagnant water, looking like an inanimate object.

In reality, the Sword Attendant Boy was just a Sword Rack that Duan Xuan had casually enlightened; his true form was indeed an inanimate object without thoughts.

His appearance had to start with the Beihai Sword Sect's old rival, the Fangxian Dao.

In myths and legends, wherever an immortal resides, there must be auspicious clouds and white cranes. Regarding this, the Fangxian Dao, which had always branded itself as the orthodox Daoist sect, put their minds to it. They not only decorated their mountain gate with swirling clouds and mist but also managed to get thousands of immortal cranes from somewhere, enlightening them into human form. These White Crane Boys were responsible for all the trivialities of daily life, and in their spare time, they would even be made to turn back into their original forms and dance among the clouds—what a scene of an Immortal Sect.

Once such a crooked trick was released, it immediately triggered a craze for imitation in the cultivation world. Even the Taixuan Sect, which had always been at odds with them, secretly started raising immortal cranes.

As a stubborn duck that never admitted to being unpopular, the Beihai Sword Sect naturally didn't want to be out of touch with the latest fashion in the cultivation world. However, the trick of raising immortal cranes wasn't very applicable here.

Friend, have you ever seen a Sword Cultivator who doesn't control a Sword but sits on an immortal crane?

Even if the immortal crane agreed, the Sword wouldn't!

But other sects were using immortal cranes as gate boys; if they still had cultivators doing things themselves, it felt inferior. Thus, after racking his brains, the wise and martial Sect Master Duan came up with a crooked trick among crooked tricks:

Since there are no immortal cranes, let's make do with a Sword Rack first.

This led to the stiff Sword Attendant Boy before them. He would only be awakened by Duan Xuan when needed; on ordinary days, he would honestly remain in the Sect Master's room as furniture.

"Our Beihai Sword Sect was founded in the ancient times and has been passed down for nearly ten thousand years," the Sword Attendant Boy said with a stiff little face. "There are currently one thousand three hundred and six people, including Sect Master Duan Xuan and the various Elders, ranking last among the Four Great Immortal Sects."

Did you really have to add that last half-sentence?

Song Zhicheng's expression shifted, and he finally squeezed out, "This child is truly honest."

In fact, this ranking of the Beihai Sword Sect was purely because they suffered from having too few people. When the Four Great Immortal Sects were being selected in the cultivation world, they couldn't shamelessly let their disciples stuff the ballot boxes like the Fangxian Dao, Taixuan Sect, and Fahua Temple, which was why they ended up with the last seat.

Ignoring the bearded man's grumbling, the Sword Attendant Boy continued, "From today on, you two are disciples of our Beihai Sword Sect. You must abide by the sect's rules and precepts. If you violate them, the Law Enforcement Elder will teach you how to behave."

The tone of this sentence was completely different from the seriousness of the previous one; he sounded more like he was repeating words taught by someone else.

"The Beihai Sword Sect is divided into three levels from top to bottom: Sect Master, Elders, and Disciples. We are different from those mediocre groups like the Fangxian Dao that have a row of Supreme Elders. That position is just for people who have reached a certain age and failed to achieve Ascension but still want to proudly announce it to the world. It's too shameful, so we don't have it."

This was yet another completely different tone.

"This sect implements the Senior Brother system. The authority of the Senior Brother is equal to that of an Elder. All disciples must unite under the leadership of the Senior Brother and work together to make the Beihai Sword Sect shine. I know this sounds shameful, but as long as you let go of unnecessary shame, you can become deeply immersed in it and unable to extricate yourselves. Come on, unleash your true nature!"

Speaking of this, the boy paused, then opened his mouth expressionlessly and made a strange laughing sound: "Hee hee hee."

Clearly, the Beihai Sword Sect had taken a strange turn in the major event of following trends and was galloping wildly in an unpredictable direction.

But it was fine; being different was just being different. Anyway, they were broad-minded.

Atian and Song Zhicheng looked at each other, and both saw the four words "dumbfounded" in the other's eyes.

This sect... seems a bit wrong!

This girl... is unfathomable.

And Atian, who had already lowered her sleeves and loosened her skirt, noticed the bearded man's probing gaze, tidied her disheveled long hair, and gave him a shy smile.

The bandit, who had just been beaten up, felt himself fluttering in the wind.

Fortunately, he didn't have much time to be in a daze; after being declared qualified, the losers who were originally lying on the ground howling were taken away one by one by newly appeared streams of light. Just as the two stared at each other in dismay, a new voice rang out, this time a female voice:

"This Ascension Ceremony has now concluded; two have qualified."

Two qualified?

Song Zhicheng looked at Bai Tian, Bai Tian looked at Song Zhicheng, and for a moment, neither knew what to say.

A total of three thousand and two people participated in this Ascension Ceremony, and now only two had qualified. From now on, when they went out, they could boast that they had eliminated three thousand weaklings.

Over three thousand people participated in the selection, yet only a tiny fraction could step onto the path of Xiuxian. This was the first time Atian had a real sense of what Zhao Kuo meant when he said, "Those with aptitude are one in ten thousand."

Admittedly, perhaps many people, like the original Atian, intended to live an ordinary life honestly and had never thought of striving for the path of Xiuxian. Furthermore, among those who could come to participate in the Ascension Ceremony, who didn't have confidence in themselves? Yet, even among this group of people with promising futures in Xiuxian, the elimination rate was incomparably cruel.

"My god," Song Zhicheng plopped onto the ground, took off his straw sandals, and picked at his feet. "I didn't expect that I would actually hit the jackpot. It's just a pity for my brothers; they'll have to fight for their own futures."

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the ways of the world were unpredictable; he had originally thought he was just cut out to be a bandit boss, but now he was going to cultivate immortality, and regardless of how far he could go, it sounded as magnificent as a storybook tale.

"Little sister from the Bai family, it looks like you and I will be fellow disciples from now on," he looked rugged and careless, but was actually very attentive, having remembered Bai Tian's name after hearing it only once, "I'm a rough man, if there's anything that displeases you, just say so!"