Chapter 41: The Divide Between Ancient and Modern

After opening the topic, Feng Chutang said: “To discuss the Sect Unified Examination, we must first understand its origins—why the Sect Unified Examination came into being. We all know there are countless paths of cultivation, yet techniques vary in quality, and so do the paths. Some paths lead to immortality; others only grant crude physical strength. Yet regardless of the path, in ancient times, anyone who could cultivate could establish a sect, resulting in countless sects.”

Feng Chutang continued: “When anything becomes numerous, quality inevitably varies—and sects are no exception. Only those with paths to immortality qualify as Immortal Sects. Immortal Sects stand high above, naturally unafraid of lacking disciples; their only concern is too many applicants, too many to accept. Thus since ancient times, Immortal Sects have set countless barriers, deliberately making entry difficult. When even that fails, they simply say, ‘You have no affinity with our sect,’ and send them away.”

A burst of laughter filled Qisi Hall, but only Wei Yuan and a handful of others did not laugh. In that era, without question, someone like Wei Yuan, of humble origins, belonged to the category of ‘those with no affinity.’

“But for other sects, a single cultivation seed often becomes the source of their revival. Small sects, in particular, can be utterly transformed, reborn from ashes. Thus, sects gradually resorted to increasingly desperate measures to compete for cultivation seeds. The weaker the sect’s lineage, the more extreme their tactics became…”

Feng Chutang then began recounting these various tactics. As the students listened, they realized a new world had opened before them.

To compete for cultivation seeds, early small sects merely promised poor but talented disciples grain and oil; later, they offered silver and land. Once every sect began giving money and land, even that was no longer enough—so some sects promised that if one attained cultivation, even one’s entire family would ascend to immortality, relocating relatives into the sect; others took a different path, promising wives or concubines upon entry.

Naturally, where there were wives and concubines, there were also male favorites.

When all sects began distributing goods and such offerings could no longer determine superiority, some sects tore off their masks entirely, seizing mountains and claiming entire cities and regions as their own, declaring that every cultivation seed within was theirs alone—no one else could even come to look.

Later, a small sect acquired a disciple blessed with cosmic fortune. Seeing they could not properly guide him, they suddenly had an idea: they priced him and sold him to a major sect, thus opening a new frontier.

Once someone began selling disciples, others quickly grew bored with petty schemes. Small sects approached their superior sects—even Immortal Sects—requesting foundational cultivation methods, requiring all disciples they recruited to train under them. Those with the talent to succeed were sent upward; those who failed were kept or expelled. Since all trained under the same foundational arts, these disciples adapted swiftly upon entering the superior sects, their progress nearly matching that of the direct disciples.

This provided a steady stream of disciples, and the superior sects welcomed it.

As this practice multiplied, formal rules gradually emerged.

Small sects and superior sects agreed: every few years, the small sects would send batches of disciples; the superior sects would pay a fixed sum of silver and supplies based on the disciples’ quality and cultivation level, turning cultivation into a business.

Thus, small sects gained stable income, superior sects gained stable disciples—each got what they needed, and the system spread. Soon, nearly every county and prefecture had an owner; there was no land left unclaimed.

Over time, chaos intensified. Many true cultivation geniuses were tricked into small sects and forced to train on inferior arts. At first, deception dominated; later, threats and bribes were used openly. Since these tactics worked, some sects even stopped giving out promised goods entirely.

At this point, the once lofty Immortal Sects finally realized something was wrong: the number of independent disciples reaching them dwindled. Then one day, an Immortal Sect accidentally discovered a child blessed with cosmic fortune—in an era where such fortune was invisible, this was like finding a savior destined to revive their sect.

But the boy had already trained for six years in a small sect, his foundation corrupted beyond repair.

Normally, a child blessed with cosmic fortune would naturally, through countless coincidences, find the Immortal Sect suited to him. But this boy had been lured, then kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, and forced to train a method utterly incompatible with his cosmic fortune and innate constitution. Yet his talent was so immense that even this wrong path allowed him to forge a foundation in just a few years. His original path to heaven, however, was crippled—he would forever remain at the Phase stage.

This incident shocked the Immortal Sects. Even a child blessed with cosmic fortune could not escape the clutches of these small sects.

Soon after, another major event occurred.

Another child blessed with cosmic fortune appeared, but he was born frail. The superior sect governing his birth region was famed for body-refinement arts. He was forcibly taken by a local small sect, barely survived nine deaths, passed the trials, and earned entry to the superior sect. But his frail body made cultivation painfully slow; his humble origins made him stubborn and unyielding, unable to adapt or flatter others. He was constantly mocked, called a waste.

Soon after, he was framed and expelled from the sect. Yet as a child of cosmic fortune, he always evaded his enemies’ assassins. After years of wandering, fate intervened, and he joined another major sect famed for talisman arts. His primordial spirit was naturally strong—he was destined to be a talisman genius. Within less than a century, he achieved Foundation Establishment, Phase, and ascended to the Divine Vision realm, creating several immensely powerful talismans.

After attaining cultivation, he secretly descended the mountain. First, he slaughtered every last person in the small sect that had forced him in. Then he went to the body-refinement superior sect and exterminated every person who had ever humiliated him—even his former master and his master’s master.

He remembered every person who had called him a waste, even those who had merely looked at him with contempt. He dug up the earth to find them and killed them all. His massacre finally drew the attention of several Supreme Elders of the body-refinement sect, who emerged from seclusion to suppress him.

Yet his combat power was extraordinary. His self-created talismans were unprecedented and devastating. The body-refinement sect’s elders suffered heavy losses at first glance. In the end, he fought Divine Vision against Divine Vision, slaying three of the sect’s elders and breaking through with grave injuries.

At this point, even the talisman sect could no longer protect him. The Immortal Sects intervened, finally surrounding and killing him on the Eastern Sea.

But the matter did not end there. The body-refinement sect, having lost three Supreme Elders, was severely weakened. The next year, the region was overrun by mountain tribes, and three million people across two prefectures were wiped out.

This event was never recorded in history.

At this point, Feng Chutang paused, seeing the students stunned. He let them absorb it.

(End of Chapter)