An untimely voice rang out.
Every gaze in the inn converged on the speaker.
The man was dressed in luxurious robes, accompanied at his table by two beautiful maids.
“That’s… Young Master Pei! The legitimate son of the Pei family from Liangchuan City!”
“What! Young Master Pei? Do you mean the number one genius of Liangchuan City, that monster who reached the Foundation Establishment Stage at 20?”
The room erupted into a clamor as many recognized the identity of the noble-looking youth.
Young Master Pei gave a cold sneer.
“Where did these random nobodies come from? Go out and ask around; since when has there ever been a Liu family in Liangchuan City? If every stray dog acted as insolently as you, Liangchuan City might as well be called a bandits’ den.”
Brother Liu clearly knew the other man’s identity as well.
Though he was fuming, he didn’t dare speak up.
His face turned the color of a pig’s liver, and he couldn’t squeeze out a single word for a long time.
“Brother Liu, forget it.”
One of the men in Brother Liu’s group tugged on his sleeve.
“This isn’t a place where our Liu family has any say, after all. Besides, Young Master Pei might actually be saving us.”
Brother Liu raised an eyebrow.
“Saving us?”
The man nodded.
“We were careless when we entered the inn. Just now, I tried to probe the cultivation levels of the warriors here. More than half of them are existences far beyond my reach.”
Brother Liu’s pupils shrank at the words.
“Are you serious? You’re at the sixth level of Qi Condensation.”
The man’s expression was grim.
“I’m serious. We should leave.”
Brother Liu wasn’t one to stubborn his way into a grave.
He led his group away, slinking out of the inn in a sorry state.
Once that group had left, the inn became lively again.
“So it was the Pei family’s heir, Pei Sheng. I have long looked forward to meeting you!”
Soon, someone approached Pei Sheng with a wine cup, hoping to curry favor.
Pei Sheng didn’t snub him.
He smiled, took the cup, and downed it in one go.
“Li Tian, the Li family’s heir. I know of you.”
With that, Zhu Lan was left with nothing to do.
She belonged to the rank of low-level cannon fodder, unable to mingle in the circles of high-level cannon fodder.
There were only seven days left until the Tianyan Sect’s annual recruitment began, and Zhu Lan was starting to feel a bit of a sting in her heart over her top-grade spirit stones.
At this time every year, the city became overcrowded, and these inns became outrageously expensive.
Staying in an inn for over ten days was like burning money.
If it weren’t for the top-grade spirit stones Liu Shishi had given her, she would have been forced back onto the streets.
Seven days wasn’t a long time.
The only thing Zhu Lan could do was find a way to improve her Seven Kills Art.
The second form of the Seven Kills Art — Falling Star.
In the original novel, this was a move the male protagonist frequently used, usually in combination with the first form, Death Strike.
The first three forms of the Seven Kills Art focused mainly on assassinations and sneak attacks.
From the later forms onward, it shifted toward direct combat, suppressing opponents with a backhand.
It was incredibly cool.
She had spent the first few days practicing the Seven Kills Art in her room, but she had made zero progress.
A sudden whim struck Zhu Lan.
Since it was called ‘Falling Star,’ would it be easier to cultivate while looking at the stars?
In the dead of night, when everything was silent, Zhu Lan climbed onto the roof to cultivate, absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon — or so she told herself.
To her surprise, it actually worked!
After seven consecutive nights of climbing onto the roof to practice, Zhu Lan’s comprehension of Falling Star had deepened significantly.
On this particular night, Zhu Lan finished her cultivation at 2:00 AM.
Since she had to participate in the sect recruitment the next day, she wanted to slack off a bit — no, she wanted to recharge her energy.
She hopped back into her room, unaware of one thing.
A pair of eyes hidden in the depths had been staring at her the entire time.
Only when she returned to her room did those eyes slowly close.
Cranes flew alongside auspicious clouds, and a shimmering mist wrapped around a celestial bridge.
An old man with the air of a transcendent immortal arrived in Liangchuan City atop a cloud.
As he stepped down, dozens of disciples followed behind him.
“Line up in an orderly fashion for the spirit root test.”
Clearly, the Tianyan Sect’s annual recruitment was a long-standing tradition.
Both the elders and disciples of the sect, as well as the cultivators who had come to Liangchuan City for the event, were extremely familiar with the process.
With a wave of the elder’s hand, 20 round, glowing spheres were distributed evenly among the Tianyan Sect disciples.
“I hope you all possess the talent to step onto the immortal path.”
After saying his final piece, the elder vanished.
The Tianyan Sect disciples began their work.
“Line up in an orderly fashion!”
Liangchuan City had a massive open space dedicated specifically to the annual recruitment.
Zhu Lan stood in the middle of the crowd, observing the scene.
The dense throng of people moved into lines quite obediently.
The recruitment lasted for three days.
The first two days were mainly for family disciples who had already stepped onto the immortal path and rogue cultivators who already possessed cultivation.
The third day was for testing the aptitude of mortals; only children with talent could enter the sect.
Zhu Lan noticed that for the ‘adult channel’ — those who already had cultivation — the process was quite simple: report your cultivation level, then test your aptitude.
The pass rate was very high.
She even saw a cultivator at the third level of Qi Condensation with a five-element spirit root pass.
‘Why is the threshold so low?’
Zhu Lan reached out and tapped the shoulder of the woman waiting in front of her.
She asked with a smile, “I see the Tianyan Sect recruitment is so casual, with almost no threshold. How do they ensure they remain the number one sect in the world?”
The woman in front let out a disdainful scoff when she heard the question.
She turned around, and upon seeing that Zhu Lan’s features were decent enough, her tone softened slightly.
“First time? Testing your aptitude is just the simplest step. Once we reach the Tianyan Sect station, there will be a selection process. No matter how many people participate in the recruitment every year, in the end, only one in 20 is chosen.”
Zhu Lan had dressed in men’s clothing and hidden her hair.
She had also dirtied her face quite a bit.
If one didn’t look closely at her features, she was usually mistaken for a handsome young lad.
The original novel really didn’t describe the entry examination for the Tianyan Sect; after all, neither the male nor female leads were here for this.
Zhu Lan grinned.
“Thank you for clearing that up, sister. This kid really did come from thousands of miles away because of the sect’s reputation. Does sister know what kind of selection process they use once we reach the sect?”
“Dueling. You’ll find out when the time comes.”
Seeing that the woman didn’t want to say anything else, Zhu Lan thanked her, feeling a bit nervous.
Dueling?
‘I hope I get paired up with some level 1 Qi Condensation weaklings.’
“Next!”
Zhu Lan hurried forward.
“Cultivation level.”
“Level 8 Qi Condensation.”
The Tianyan Sect disciple looked up at Zhu Lan.
“Age.”
“21.”
“Put your hand on this.”
The disciple pointed to the smooth crystal ball.
Zhu Lan swallowed hard, feeling a bit apprehensive as she placed her hand on it.
She might be a bit weak — being killed in seconds by the protagonist despite him being four levels lower — but that was the protagonist, after all.
He wasn’t a normal person.
It couldn’t be that…
Zing!
Several rays of multicolored light emanated from the sphere, and every color was incredibly faint, almost to the point of being transparent.
“Five-element spirit root. Next!”
‘Five-element spirit root! No wonder I’m so weak; I’m a total five-element trash. Boohoo.’
Though she had discovered a cruel truth, passing this simplest test was still no problem.
“That five-element trash just now passed, so why can’t I?”