Radiant Brilliance

Everyone who was still persevering along the Heart-Questioning Path was the same.

Under this rising wave of encouragement, they each brought out everything they had and broke free from the predicaments they were facing.

In Tong Jialiang’s dream, the last faint glimmer of light, nearly suffocated beneath the pressure of endless darkness, was suddenly stirred by a gentle breeze from somewhere, causing the flame that was about to die out to flicker back to life.

The breeze blew once, then again.

With each gust, it lifted the tiny flame a little higher, then a little higher still.

At last, the flame was no longer weak and feeble. It grew stronger and more vigorous.

Tong Jialiang felt the voice in his mind, ringing like a bell, gradually drifting away from him.

It grew quieter and quieter until it vanished completely.

Then Tong Jialiang heard a new voice speaking to him from the depths of his heart.

That new voice said:

“Stand up.”

He slowly opened his eyes, only to discover that he had somehow curled up on the ground, crouching with his head buried in his arms.

The darkness around him seemed to be driven away layer by layer every time that new voice rang out.

He saw light.

He saw the azure sky outside.

He saw the sun hanging high above the sky, blazing with radiance.

For some reason, he felt as though something inside him had changed.

Tong Jialiang instinctively raised his hands and saw a layer of black substance mixed with rings that shimmered with dazzling light sinking into his body.

After they completely disappeared beneath the surface of his skin, he vaguely realized that something about him seemed different.

But what exactly had changed, he did not know.

In the final moment of his memory, he raised his head once more and gazed straight at the radiant sun in the sky.

So brilliant. So warm.

If only this sunlight could remain in his life forever. He never wanted to fall into endless darkness again.

Then he lost consciousness.

When Tong Jialiang regained awareness, he found himself surrounded by a vast expanse of white mist.

There were many others around him who, like him, seemed to have just woken up.

After awakening, everyone was dazed and confused, unable to make sense of their situation.

After quite some time, they finally remembered that they had entered Lingxian Sect’s Heart-Questioning Path. They also recalled everything they had experienced within it.

It took them a while to emerge from the conflicting emotions brought about by their dreamlike trials.

As they observed their surroundings, they wondered whether they had passed or failed.

As though he had heard everyone’s thoughts, a frail-looking young scholar gently spoke up among the crowd:

“Um… The information I heard before was that if someone failed the Heart-Questioning Path, they would be teleported directly back to the foot of the mountain…”

Wen Yuejun nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. Anyone who failed would be sent out.”

Upon hearing this, someone exclaimed excitedly, “But we aren’t at the foot of the mountain now. Doesn’t that mean we all passed?”

Everyone hurriedly looked around. They discovered that there were roughly a hundred people in this vast white region.

Considering how many people had come to take part in the trial, this group of a hundred or so was hardly large at all.

A pretty young girl with delicate features pinched the satchel at her waist and boldly said, “I beat that vile scoundrel senseless in the Heart-Questioning Path! I must have passed!”

Her words caused everyone to recall their own dreams, and they gained a little more confidence.

They had all conquered their nightmares!

“Exactly! We definitely passed!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

As they spoke, they saw the white mist around them rapidly retreating.

The scenery gradually emerged around them.

A beautiful, ancient-looking peach blossom tree appeared before everyone’s eyes.

On one of its branches sat a handsome young man in white robes, a leather belt decorated with jade ornaments around his waist. He was perched casually on a slender branch, supporting his chin with one hand and resting the other on his knee as he looked down at them with a smile.

“Everyone present, are you willing to join my Lingxian Sect and become a part of the sect, devoting yourselves to the path of cultivation?”

His voice was clear and elegant, yet carried the magnetic quality of a youth just coming into his own.

When Third Miss He heard the voice that had appeared countless times in her dreams over the past three years, she looked up in delighted surprise.

It was Immortal Lin!

In her eyes, the young man sitting atop the peach blossom tree seemed to be radiating light.

“I’m willing!”

Before anyone else could recover from their surprise, she had already cried out her answer.

Only then did everyone else react, hurriedly calling out their agreement one after another.

Lin Xiao had just emerged from seclusion and had not even had time to change his clothes. He had only managed to pull off the outer garment he had worn for a year.

Watching the number of sect members on the system panel continuously increase, he felt extremely satisfied.

A system notification sounded in his mind, announcing that the mission requiring the sect to reach one hundred members had been completed.

Another notification announced that the mission reward had been successfully issued.

His mood was exceptionally good.

Something wonderful had happened the moment he emerged from seclusion. That was certainly a good omen.

At that moment, Qin Jianghe, Sun Yigao, and the others had still been at the foot of the mountain, checking the physical condition of those who had exited and monitoring the condition of those who remained inside the Heart-Questioning Path.

Then, in the blink of an eye, everyone inside the Heart-Questioning Path vanished together.

The black aura that had previously surrounded them had also already been washed away without a trace by the successive vortices of spiritual energy.

They stood there blankly for a moment. Then Sun Yigao said, “Don’t panic. It’s very likely that the Sect Master has emerged from seclusion.”

With that, he was the first to hurry back up the mountain.

Liu Yunan turned around and briefly announced to everyone that Lingxian Sect’s recruitment ceremony had come to an end. He then followed the others back to the sect.

After they had all left, the village chief of Xiushui Village appeared and began handling the arrangements for the remaining crowds.

Meanwhile, inside Lingxian Sect—

The newly inducted disciples had already been brought by Lin Xiao to the newly built sect plaza in the space of a few breaths.

Although he had been in seclusion all this time, he had carefully read every system notification that appeared after emerging from it.

Thus, he did not know every detail of what had happened within the sect during that period, but he had a general understanding of it.

In particular, whenever a sect gained a new location or constructed new buildings, how could the system possibly bear to withhold the corresponding rewards from him?

Lin Xiao glanced at the number displayed on the sect member panel. After subtracting the original members, the number of new disciples recruited this time came to one hundred and thirty-two.

It was not a great many.

Given Lingxian Sect’s current reputation throughout the Pusi Kingdom, he had expected even more people to come.

But when he remembered the system’s latest notification about the Heart-Questioning Path upon his emergence from seclusion, he no longer felt particularly disappointed. Everything had been caused by outside interference.

The difficulty of the Heart-Questioning Path had suddenly been forcibly increased, yet this group of new disciples had still managed to endure it.

Perhaps this could even be considered a blessing in disguise.

After undergoing such an experience, the temperament and state of mind of this new batch of disciples would surely be far superior to those of ordinary people.