Please allow this servant to wash your feet

Line up! One at a time! Everyone gets a chance!

The crowd automatically formed a long line, snaking out from the entrance of the Heart-Seeking Pavilion and extending all the way outside the Ant Tomb.

At the very front of the line was a man in his thirties.

His name was Gao Yong, a rogue cultivator at the third level of Qi Condensation.

This cultivation base was not the lowest among rogue cultivators, but it certainly was not high either.

With no cultivation techniques, no medicinal pills, and no sect background, his cultivation relied entirely on sheer, grinding effort.

After grinding for over a decade, he had worked his way from the first level to the third level of Qi Condensation. Any further than that, and the grind simply stopped yielding results.

Gao Yong took a deep breath and stepped into the Heart-Seeking Pavilion.

The interior was not magnificent.

There was no resplendent gold and jade, no lingering immortal mist. It was just an ordinary octagonal pavilion.

Blue brick floors, wooden stairs, no murals on the walls, and no carvings on the windows.

Gao Yong was taken aback; it was quite different from what he had imagined.

It was hard to imagine that such an ordinary pavilion had actually sprouted from deep underground.

So... this is the Heart-Seeking Pavilion, Gao Yong muttered to himself, his nervousness fading slightly.

He stepped onto the stairs and walked up, step by step.

The first floor was very easy.

The second floor was equally easy.

The third floor, the fourth floor...

Gao Yong's heartbeat quickened, and his footsteps grew lighter.

The tenth floor... the fifteenth floor... the seventeenth floor...

He was practically jogging up the stairs, the excitement on his face threatening to spill over.

Almost there, almost there!

The twentieth floor meant becoming a chore disciple!

His greatest wish in life was to join a proper sect.

He could not even get past the mountain gates of the Heavenly Sword Sect, and the Biluo Sect was something he did not even dare to dream about.

But now, he was only three floors away from realizing this dream.

The eighteenth floor!

Gao Yong suddenly stopped.

When he raised his foot, wanting to step onto the nineteenth floor, it felt as though he had crashed into an invisible wall.

No matter how hard he pushed or how loudly he roared, that foot remained completely immobilized, as if weighing a thousand pounds.

Just a little bit... just a little bit more! Gao Yong's eyes turned red with anxiety.

I cannot fail! I cannot go back to living that kind of life!

He used every ounce of strength in his body, his face flushed red, but he still could not take that step.

The next second, a soft white light enveloped him.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing outside the doors of the Heart-Seeking Pavilion.

A crowd immediately gathered around him.

How many floors? How many floors did you climb?

Gao Yong lowered his head, his lips trembling slightly.

Eighteen.

Just two floors away from becoming a chore disciple! What a pity!

What are the rules inside? Is it difficult?

Gao Yong shook his head.

You will know once you go in.

It was not that he did not want to tell them; he truly could not explain it.

There were no rules, no traps. It was just an ordinary pavilion.

But why could he not get past the eighteenth floor?

He did not know.

He just stood there, suddenly feeling completely drained of spirit.

The next person went in.

Eleventh floor.

The next one.

Thirteenth floor.

The next one.

Fifteenth floor.

...

Over a dozen people went in one after another, most of them hovering around the tenth to fifteenth floors.

These were people who frequently came to burn incense at the Tomb of the Ant Immortal. They already had a favorable impression of the Tianyan Sect, so their initial loyalty scores were mostly in the teens, which met expectations.

Just as everyone was feeling a bit discouraged, a shout of wild ecstasy suddenly rang out from inside the Heart-Seeking Pavilion:

Hahaha! I made it! I reached the twenty-sixth floor!

A man dressed in coarse, short clothes stumbled and rolled out of the main doors. He was crying and laughing at the same time, dancing around like a madman.

His name was Wang Er. He used to be a porter in the city, doing hard labor his whole life, and had not even broken through to the first level of Qi Condensation.

A few days ago, he heard people say that the Tomb of the Ant Immortal outside the city was highly responsive to prayers. So, carrying two steamed cornbreads, he came to offer a stick of incense, praying for enough food to eat and clothes to wear. He never expected to stumble right into the Tianyan Sect opening its mountain gates.

The crowd instantly exploded into an uproar.

Someone actually reached the twentieth floor!

Twenty-sixth floor! That is amazing!

He can actually become a chore disciple!

Wait... how come he does not have the slightest bit of cultivation?

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone froze. The envy on their faces instantly turned into disbelief.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

A rogue cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Condensation flushed red and shouted, I gave it my all just to climb to the sixteenth floor! How could an ordinary mortal without even a sense of Qi climb higher than me?

Yeah! This is too ridiculous! Does the Heart-Seeking Pavilion not care about cultivation base?

It cannot be rigged behind the scenes, can it? But he is just an ordinary guy, who would pull strings for him?

The crowd swarmed around him, chattering all at once, trapping Wang Er in the middle.

When had Wang Er ever seen such a spectacle? Surrounded by so many Immortal Masters, he was so scared he did not know what to do with his hands and feet, rubbing his hands together incessantly.

Immortal Masters... please, please do not crowd me...

Do not be afraid. Tell us the truth, how exactly did you climb to the twenty-sixth floor?

The rogue cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Condensation pressed, Is there some kind of trick inside?

Wang Er scratched his head, looking like an honest, simple man, and said, I do not know... I just kept walking up, and before I knew it, I was there.

You do not know? What were you thinking about when you went up? What did you do?

Wang Er scratched his head again, thought for a long while, and answered honestly, I just kept thinking in my heart that if I could join the sect, I would carry water for the Sect Master for the rest of my life!

I would wake up before dawn every day and carry the clearest, first bucket of water on the mountain! I would carry water until I could not carry it anymore!

As his words fell, the surroundings instantly fell dead silent.

Everyone looked at each other, lost in thought.

So... the Heart-Seeking Pavilion did not look at cultivation or talent. It looked at the heart.

Questioning the heart... Seeking the heart...

So that is how it is...

I understand now! Earlier, I kept thinking that if I became a registered disciple, I could learn Nascent Soul cultivation techniques...

No, I have to try again!

This time, I will not think about anything else. I just want to serve the Sect Master well!

Alive, I am a person of the Tianyan Sect; dead, I am a ghost of the Tianyan Sect!

A few rogue cultivators who had failed earlier immediately ran to the back of the line without another word to queue up again.

Just then, Zhao Feng walked over.

He glanced at Wang Er, who was trembling with excitement, and said calmly, Wang Er.

Ah! This lowly one is here! Wang Er immediately straightened his back and answered loudly.

From today onward, you are a chore disciple of my Tianyan Sect.

Zhao Feng's voice was calm and tranquil. In the future, you will be responsible for the sect's daily tasks of carrying water and chopping wood.

Zhao Feng then explained some of the sect's rules.

He had previously served as an Outer Sect Elder in the Heavenly Sword Sect for decades, so he could rattle off these rules effortlessly; he could not be more familiar with them.

Have you memorized all these rules?

Wang Er nodded desperately. I remember, I remember!

This lowly one... no, this disciple remembers them all!

Wang Er was beyond excited at this point. Originally, he had just wanted to follow the crowd and offer a stick of incense.

Perhaps the Ant Immortal would not remember who offered incense, but what if he remembered who did not offer incense and targeted them?

But Wang Er never in a million years expected the Ant Immortal to be this responsive!

He had just finished offering incense, and the very next moment, he was accepted into a sect!

Zhao Feng gave Wang Er a look, completely unfazed by his reaction.

For these bottom-tier independent cultivators, being able to join a sect overseen by a Nascent Soul True Lord, even as a mere chore disciple, was like ascending to the heavens in a single bound.

Their excitement was completely understandable!

...

On Mount Qingyun, inside a small courtyard.

"Master, your servant has brought the water. Please allow me to wash your feet..."