Chapter 77: The Tianyuan Ancestor

In front of the pavilion, it was quiet and silent.

Over a hundred candidates looked at Heng Xian, their mouths agape.

Although the remark voiced many people's true feelings, saying it outright—was it… not quite appropriate?

Yet the four elders fell into a strange silence, offering no immediate response.

……

On Reclining Sacred Mountain, where the spiritual veins are dense, there are seventy‑two peaks, twelve of which are topped with endless eaves and dougong structures.

Faint celestial music drifts, white cranes and fairy sparrows flutter, and ethereal mist swirls incessantly.

These twelve peaks are the main training mountains of the Tianyuan Sect's twelve veins, each hosting countless elders and disciples!

At this moment, within the sect head's main peaks—Qianshou Peak and Taiyi Hall—the sect head Zhen Xuan Zhenren holds a monthly gathering with the heads of the other eleven peaks.

Ku Qing Daoren, the head of Qianyuan Peak, said: "According to the senior elder of the Divine Calculation Sect, the five saints who, one hundred thousand years ago in the ancient Demon‑Eradication War, used their bodies to suppress the demon race have all been reborn.

And the reincarnation of the Sword Saint lies somewhere in our Dongyu, between the southwestern small states of the Great Zhou Empire."

Bai Sizhen Zhenren, head of Little Pine Peak, a woman past her prime, said solemnly: "The five saints concern the lifeline of my Eastern Continent; this matter must not be taken lightly!"

Sect head Zhen Xuan Zhenren twirled his flowing beard: "In recent years, all major sects and empires of Dongyu have never ceased the search; destiny will bring it, but without destiny it is futile!"

Lan Wuyan Zhenren, head of Great Pine Peak, said: "By the way, I heard junior brother Zhen Jing has found a good seedling; I wonder if it has been sent yet?"

"It's here!" Sect head Zhen Xuan Zhenren waved his hand lightly; a ripple appeared before everyone, showing a scene of the candidate disciples entering the mountain.

Just then, Heng Xian's words echoed: "I'm simply here to be wildly cool, dominate the world, and answer to no one!"

The sect head and the group of peak heads exchanged glances, each seeing a hint of surprise in the other's eyes.

"Th‑this line… sounds so familiar!"

At that moment, from a low stool in the far corner, a long, straight, white leg stretched out.

The peak heads, upon seeing it, each lowered their heads to look for ants or examine the pattern on the teacup.

The sect head, bristling with anger, shouted: "Nan Gong Lilu! As one of the twelve peak heads, to be disheveled before a large audience—what decorum is that?"

"Who, who is disheveled? Are you jealous of my long legs!" A person rose from the low stool, slender, with misty large eyes, a delicate jade‑like nose, and a bright red mouth,

beautiful in appearance, though her cloud‑like hair bun was messy; she held a wine jar in one hand, a piece of stinky tofu in the other, and a few bits of meat dangled at the corner of her mouth.

Burp—

As she rose, she let out a long wine‑burp.

"Tsk tsk…" several nearby peak heads turned away with disdainful faces.

"Your greasy, meat‑stained broken leg—what's there to brag about?" the sect head said, rubbing his forehead.

The drunken woman, her eyes half‑closed, looked at him: "Back then when you peeked at someone's bath, didn't you… didn't say that?"

The highly cultivated, respected sect head erupted in fury: "Sneaking into my room at midnight to bathe, and you have the nerve to say I was the one spying?

How dare you say that in front of so many senior brothers? Show some decency!"

The drunken woman chuckled: "Give—give me a million medium‑grade spirit crystals, and this will be settled!"

"Don't even think so!" the sect head swished his sleeve forcefully.

"How stingy!" the drunken woman muttered, then asked: "Who said that line just now? It sounds familiar… where have I heard it?"

Ye Sizhen, head of Little Pine Peak, said: "It was spoken by the Tianyuan Ancestor when he founded the sect; could this kid have heard it somewhere?"

……

Up the mountain steps, in front of the pavilion.

The four elders, seemingly just now realizing, looked at Heng Xian and asked: "Have you read the Tianyuan Immortal Scripture?"

Heng Xian, surprised, replied: "Do we still need to read… such an immortal scripture?"

The four elders exchanged glances: "You've passed the test!"

Heng Xian lightly clasped his fists, turned past the pavilion, and continued upward.

From behind, Su Wan'er timidly stepped forward: "I… I joined the Tianyuan Sect to cultivate, mainly to show off once I reach a certain level… then to play the pig and eat the tiger!"

The four elders waved their hands: "If you have ambition, go ahead!"

Su Wan'er patted her chest, sprinted upward, catching up with her own young master: "That works too; I thought I'd been rejected!"

Heng Xian calmly said: "Actually, what you answer isn't important!"

Su Wan'er was startled: "Why?"

Heng Xian said: "Those who can be selected all have acceptable talent, and answering questions is merely a simple test of mindset."

"A bland answer, lacking ambition and full of hatred, will lose the true purpose of cultivation; hesitation also breeds insecurity."

"All could lead to rejection!"

"As long as the answer is positive and shows drive, the issue is minor."

Su Wan'er thought for a moment: "Young master, you're truly clever!"

As the words fell, Xu Wei and two others caught up: "Brother, you're awesome!"

Heng Xian was too lazy to reply.

Su Wan'er curiously asked: "How did you answer?"

Xu Wei chuckled: "I said I came to cultivate to dominate the world and become a Nascent Soul old monster!"

Zhao Ying flicked his hair and shouted: "If you don't accept me, my whole family will die!"

Ye Ling'er said calmly: "I came in to become a true disciple and the senior sister among true disciples!"

Su Wan'er gasped: "Really impressive!"

"Actually it's nothing!" Xu Wei fanned his folding fan, "When that senior sister Qing Zhu let us pass, they immediately saw our talent!

The earlier questions were just a test of our mind, weeding out the self‑pitying, hateful, and unsteady!

Even if we babble on, the four elders can perfectly detect our pulse, heartbeat, and mindset!"

Su Wan'er blinked: "Just like what our family's young master said!"

Ye Ling'er glanced at the Heng Xian before her and said, "The first two stages were easy, but testing the spiritual root in the third stage will probably be hard!"

Su Wan'er: "Spiritual root?"

Xu Wei nodded and said, "A spiritual root is an innate talent a person is born with, divided into the Five Elements—gold, wood, water, fire, earth—and also ice, wind, thunder, and more than ten other attributes."

"The best are the variant roots like wind, ice, and thunder; cultivation advances quickly, and their spells are fierce!"

"Next are single‑attribute roots; cultivation progresses extremely fast, and practicing a single‑type technique or spell yields double results."

"A bit lower are the most common true spiritual roots in the cultivation world; they have two or three true roots leaning toward one attribute, and progress depends on luck and oneself."

"The worst are pseudo‑spiritual roots, with four or five very poor attributes; essentially they cannot cultivate and will be sent away!"

Su Wan'er, a bit nervous, asked, "Do we have to test it in the next stage?"

Ye Ling'er replied, "Of course! We'll have to test it in the middle of the Spiritual Root Array Stone!"

While they were talking, the candidates below kept coming up, but fewer than a hundred remained.

Ascending the steps again, a group of youths lost the mood to chat; after all, being eliminated in the next stage would ruin their happiness.

After walking another half hour, amidst the gentle mist ahead, a vast plaza paved with white‑jade carved stone appeared.

Two demon beasts the size of a building, resembling pixiu, lay on both sides of the steps before the plaza, as if asleep, their heavy breaths carving grooves into the ground.

At this moment, both sides of the plaza were already packed with crowds.

The youths in green, blue, black, and white robes, each wearing wide sleeves and standing straight, looked like they were here for the spectacle.

PS: I drank too much; I'll add two chapters tomorrow afternoon.

(End of chapter)