Chapter 48: Rules of the Grand Examination

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

As the chime of the Immortal Gathering Bell rang out, a grand and majestic voice echoed through the air: "The second year of the Immortal Seed period has arrived. The sealing of Immortal Seed Peak is imminent. All Immortal Seeds, proceed immediately to gather at the Outer Sect Immortal Examination Peak!"

Lin Donglai cast a reluctant glance at his small courtyard. He had been picking a few leaves from the spiritual vegetables he planted to eat with his meals lately, but it was impossible to take them with him.

The surplus spiritual rice had already been stored with Senior Sister Huang Yue at the Spiritual Plant Hall; there was nothing left here.

"Let's go!"

Among the group in the courtyard, Lin Donglai was only close to Ding Zhen; he had had little contact with the others since they began farming in the Spirit Field Valley.

He had heard rumors that Yu Jiang had failed in learning weapon forging and had switched to learning butchery—a skill used to perfectly harvest materials from spirit beasts and demon beasts. It was also possible that the sect, with its tens of thousands of miscellaneous workers, truly needed such talent.

Roger, on the other hand, seemed to have failed in learning spiritual medicine and had run off to study animal husbandry.

As for Zhong Xuan, he had gone to study talismans. However, since talisman making was expensive, he worked odd jobs at the Hall of Merit while studying to afford talisman paper, ink, and brushes.

He seemed to have some talent; he could successfully produce two or three out of every ten low-grade first-tier spiritual talismans, and he had already joined the Talisman Hall as an outer sect disciple.

Additionally, Lin Donglai saw many people who had not been practicing on Immortal Seed Peak before; they had been screened to serve as combat disciples.

"It's him!"

From a distance, Lin Donglai spotted an old enemy.

It was the youth who had crossed paths with his family on the path to immortality two years ago.

The boy was wearing the robes of an outer sect disciple, but he carried a sword casket on his back and was conversing with several other disciples who were also carrying sword caskets.

Sensing Lin Donglai's gaze, he looked over and flashed a grin, showing his white teeth.

"Senior Brother Ding, are you acquainted with that internal affairs disciple?"

Ding Suo replied indifferently, "He's a sort of old acquaintance."

He didn't pay any mind to Lin Donglai—just a farming disciple with a low-grade five-element root aptitude.

"Internal affairs disciple" was a polite term; in reality, they were merely high-level laborers.

The sect relied on combat cultivators like them—especially his own Doujian Peak lineage, which was the elite among combat disciples, practicing the Sword Immortal Path of "one sword to break ten thousand laws."

Lin Donglai looked past Ding Suo, and a moment later, he saw the high-spirited Xue Hong, followed by several outer sect disciples.

Xue Hong also noticed Lin Donglai's gaze and gave a slight nod as a greeting.

Lin Donglai returned the gesture with a smile.

On the way to the Immortal Examination Peak, they encountered female disciples they had never seen before. The number of women was indeed much smaller than the men, numbering only thirty or forty, but each possessed an extraordinary temperament, some even bearing the beauty of celestial concubines or goddesses.

After all, the first step of cultivation was the transformation of tendons and marrow; once one stepped into cultivation, they could all be described as having "celestial grace and handsome features."

After practicing different cultivation methods, they would also develop different temperaments.

Even a country boy like Lin Donglai, since beginning his cultivation, had seen his bone structure mature into a refined and elegant appearance.

The female disciple leading the group possessed a beauty that outshone all others. Though she wore the same outer sect robes, she looked as if she were clad in celestial garments, exuding a detached, ethereal, and cold aura.

Beside her was a familiar girl, Sang Qiao, who possessed the Earth Master aptitude. She had been only eleven or twelve when she entered the sect, and now she was only thirteen or fourteen, in the bloom of youth.

However, because the female disciples attracted so many admiring gazes, Sang Qiao did not sense Lin Donglai and was simply preoccupied chatting with her companions.

"When we were trekking the Immortal Path, weren't there fewer than three hundred of us? How did so many people appear now?" Ding Zhen remarked with emotion.

Lin Donglai said, "People like us were recruited from the mortal realm, but there are others who are the children or descendants of the various deacons and elders of the sect; they can be directly accepted as outer sect disciples."

"There are also geniuses sent specifically by small cultivation families that depend on the sect."

"Furthermore, before we entered, the sect also recruits a batch of suitable Immortal Seeds in Qingmu Immortal City and the eight great marketplaces."

"There's such a thing?" Ding Zhen was far more uninformed than Lin Donglai.

After all, Lin Donglai had Senior Sister Huang Yue, who was willing to chat more, so he knew that the sect was composed of many different branches and factions with varying foundations.

"Otherwise, why would there be a total of over two thousand eight hundred outer sect disciples, excluding elders and deacons?"

"That's even after accounting for those over sixty who have no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage and have applied to leave the sect to retire, marry, and have children."

"Among these disciples, those from mortal places like us have the cleanest backgrounds. The sect is willing to spend time nurturing us as Immortal Seeds so that we remember the sect's kindness."

"People like Xue Hong were actually enlightened long ago; they just weren't allowed to practice their family's cultivation methods so they could be sent to the sect to learn a craft."

"No wonder I thought many of them looked unfamiliar."

After a bit of whispering, they arrived at the Immortal Examination Peak, which was actually a collection of arenas and competition grounds.

The elders of the various outer sect halls had already arrived.

Some outer sect elders were maintaining order and announcing the rules for this Immortal Seed Grand Examination.

"In this Immortal Seed Grand Examination, we will first compete in combat arts. Internal affairs disciples may choose to compete or not."

"The top ten in combat will receive rewards: First place receives one top-grade magical tool and one small Obstacle-Breaking Pill; second and third place receive one high-grade magical tool and one Purple Qi Pill; the top ten will each receive one mid-grade magical tool and a bottle of Yellow Sprout Pills."

"Furthermore, the top ten combatants will be personally taken in as disciples by the Sect Leader and the Peak Masters of the nine inner peaks, allowing them to directly promote to inner sect disciples."

"There will also be some Foundation Establishment elders from the inner sect selecting disciples during this examination. If you catch their eye, you too can become an inner sect disciple."

"After the combat, there will be the Competition of the Hundred Arts. Both combat disciples and internal affairs disciples may participate. The main focus will be the Six Arts: Alchemy, Weapon Forging, Talisman Making, Array Formations, Spiritual Planting, and Heavenly Divination. The masters of the Six Arts will also receive rewards!"

"The first prize for Alchemy is one first-tier high-grade alchemy furnace and one first-tier high-grade exotic fire seed."

"The first prize for Weapon Forging is one first-tier high-grade forging platform and a set of first-tier mid-grade forging tools."

"The first prize for Talisman Making is one first-tier high-grade talisman brush, one inkstone, three ingots of talisman ink, and eight sheets of talisman paper."

"The first prize for Array Formations is one first-tier high-grade array diagram, one blank array disk, and eight array flags."

"The first prize for Spiritual Planting is one second-tier low-grade Green Essence Fruit and a set of mid-grade spiritual plant magical tools."

"The first prize for Heavenly Divination is one chance at a path deduction by the Supreme Elder and one Heavenly Mystery Jade Talisman."

Hearing this, Lin Donglai thought to himself, *How are these rewards so much more generous than Senior Sister Huang Yue's batch?*

Not only was Lin Donglai surprised, but many disciples who were aware of the previous years' rewards were also shocked.

The rewards this time were truly too extravagant.

Especially for the art of Spiritual Planting; not only was there the Green Essence Fruit, but also a set of mid-grade spiritual plant magical tools. Although spiritual plant tools cannot be used for combat, as production tools, they are actually more expensive than ordinary magical tools.

However, among these Six Arts, Lin Donglai was familiar with Alchemy, Weapon Forging, Talismans, Arrays, and Spiritual Planting, but Heavenly Divination remained very mysterious.

But since the sect's Purple Mansion cultivation method, the *Remnants of the Creek-Crossing Method*, required proficiency in Heavenly Divination to practice, Lin Donglai knew this art was also very important. He would seek to learn it if he had the chance in the future.

While Lin Donglai was still wondering, he saw two ranking lists that had already been hung in front of the arenas ahead of time.

How strange—the competitions hadn't even started, yet rankings had already appeared.

Guarding the lists were the outer sect disciples of the Hall of Mystery, who were to compete in Heavenly Divination.

It was a man and a woman.

The two of them had each prepared a ranking list in advance, consisting of predictions for the top ten combatants and predictions for the masters of the Six Arts.

It was precisely because of these three sets of predictions that the outer sect disciples were in an uproar, all feeling that this was nothing more than a stunt to attract attention.