Chapter 286: The Black Maiden's Incarnation

Does Yuan Muyu really have a disciple?

Everyone looked at each other, indicating they had never heard of it.

Besides, what is this nonsense about you "training" Yuan Muyu's disciple? Even if you helped teach her disciple out of sisterly affection, she still wouldn't count as someone from Tianyao Holy Land; what use is her cultivation being impressive?

Forget it, just consider it the Sect Master pressing down on her sister while bored.

The Elders simply pretended not to hear, asking: "If we must send someone, we have others besides Miss Qingli; those slightly older haven't crossed the line, so it's completely fine."

Ye Tinglan said, "Keeping the age line low, won't people laugh that one generation is worse than the next? Back then, this Seat fought at a tender age, and someone else went up smiling before they even grew hair."

Uh, has she grown it all in yet? The doubt flashed through Ye Tinglan's mind.

"Most likely people will speak with sarcasm, but since it doesn't violate the rules, what can they say? If they have the ability, let them lower the cutoff rule!" An Elder then said, "Besides, are they all young men and women? How many have ever broken the third grade at such an age since ancient times? It's impossible that only Miss Qingli from our Tianyao Holy Land could achieve this while they could find a whole bunch? That makes no sense. If we really push the age cutoff down, I'm afraid there won't be many families able to gather enough people."

"Precisely, we only feel ashamed comparing ourselves to ourselves, not because we are truly worse than them."

"But comparing ourselves to ourselves does indeed make one sigh."

Ye Tinglan watched the discussion with cold eyes and said coldly, "You go ahead and select them yourselves; why worry needlessly? Where is Miss Qingli?"

"Miss Qingli learned about the competition shortly after returning and is now in seclusion refining herself."

"Do we have numbers on the other two candidates?"

"Before the Sect Master returned, we had already conducted preliminary selections, and the top candidates have been screened out. If the Sect Master wishes, you can test them again to select the final candidates."

"Which one do you favor most? Zhang Qingxiang? Xiao Xiao Qingya? Xie Qingxiu?"

The names Ye Tinglan recited were the outstanding disciples under various Elders of Tianyao Holy Land, all around thirty years old, and all having broken through to third grade. But such disciples were indeed a bit awkward; as for the Rising Stars List, they had been on it when young, their positions could be in the top ranks, yet they never reached the top three; at their current age, they had squeezed onto the Heroes List, but couldn't rank anywhere significant.

At least in public rumor, no one would mention names ranked in the hundreds; most wouldn't remember who was who.

Originally this was standard; even for a Holy Land, geniuses are hard to find. Having a stable group of disciples entering the top of the Rising Stars List and steadily stepping onto the Heroes List, with quite a large number, was already something other families couldn't beg for. Given time, if they promoted to second grade and first grade, they would naturally reach the peak of the heroes, also becoming successors to the Elders' positions of Tianyao Holy Land.

But the people Ye Tinglan had seen recently were a bit perverted; whether it was Lu Xingzhou and his master-disciple pair, or Shen Tang and Pei Chuyun, plus her own disciple, they had raised the threshold for young people quite high, making others seem somewhat listless and lacking energy.

An Elder said, "Zhang Qingxiang is the strongest, already reaching upper third grade; Miss Qingli probably isn't his match either, after all, the age gap is right there..."

"Is that so?" Ye Tinglan glanced at him, didn't say much, and was too lazy to argue with anyone on this matter, so she said, "This Seat has time to test them a bit."

After speaking, she immediately changed the topic: "What recent moves has Gu Zhanting made?"

"We have been paying close attention, but truly haven't seen any special moves; instead, they increased troops in the Northern Border and fought several battles against the Demon Clan. They also sent people to inform us, hoping we would join the expedition; someone from the State Observatory went with the army."

Ye Tinglan pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "How is Huo Zhang?"

"Huo Zhang's incident of losing the city was exposed; he was suspended and investigated. This matter mainly triggered the removal of many people from the Huo family within the army. Gu Zhanting believed it was because these people helped deceive, leading to this result; he could not tolerate such things. Now, the military power the Huo family cultivated over ten years has almost halved; they suffered a major loss."

Another person said, "For so many years, many have tried to shake the Huo family from various angles, but it never had much effect. Gu Zhanting did too many dirty things through the Huo family... It's rare to have such an incident greatly strike the Huo family; the Sect Master's move is indeed impressive."

Ye Tinglan smiled slightly.

This matter was indeed an unexpected gain from serving as Mr. at the Pill Academy, but how to push the matter under Gu Zhanting's nose without leaving a trace was Lu Xingzhou's idea.

This probably counts as the first event of cooperation between herself and Lu Xingzhou; starting well led to the following string of events...

As Ye Tinglan thought and thought, she began to zone out, not hearing the flattery others were saying for a moment.

"Sect Master, Sect Master?"

"Ah?" Ye Tinglan came to her senses and said lightly, "Thinking about some games of chess with Gu Zhanting. Hmm, it is said that Young Lady Sheng joined the army; what is her situation now?"

"It is said that upon arriving at the Northern Border, many veteran soldiers looked down on her, thinking what could a spoiled noble from the capital do, perhaps not even as good as Huo Zhang. But this person's first act was to take command of the scout camp, specializing in gathering intelligence. Everyone knows scouting is among the hardest jobs; all are waiting to see her laugh."

"And the result?"

"The result made jaws drop to the ground; she didn't know where her passion came from, performing nearly perfectly, gathering intelligence wave after wave... Others training falcons didn't get as much as she did."

"..." Ye Tinglan propped her head, saying leisurely, "The editor-in-chief of the Heroes List, after all, eats this profession."