As the sun rose in the east and the earth awoke, the annual assembly of Lingxian Sect officially began.
This day was New Year’s Eve.
Down in the beautiful city of Xiushui, the common folk bustled about cheerfully, making preparations to welcome the coming year.
Yet on the mountain, the people who had come to attend Lingxian Sect’s annual assembly found their horizons broadened again and again by this sect.
This time, members of the royal families from several surrounding nations had been invited. The Li clan of Pusi Kingdom and the Zhao clan of Huanyou Kingdom were already old friends of Lingxian Sect. In addition, the royal families of seven other nations—including the Qu clan of Wufeng Kingdom, which had maintained close ties with the Li clan for many years, and the Bai clan of Weiqiang Kingdom—were also in attendance.
There were even more sects present. The three great sects of Pusi Kingdom—the Qinghe Sect, Shangyang Gate, and Yunyan Cult—had all sent their sect masters in person, accompanied by their sect elders.
As for the sects from other nations, aside from a few with old ties to the Li royal family, most were sects that enjoyed considerable renown in the mortal world.
For example, the Chixiao Sect and Luoshen Mountain.
Luoshen Mountain was the most powerful sect in the entire mortal world apart from the Chixiao Sect and Tianxin Sect. It had one distinctive characteristic: it accepted female disciples exclusively.
It was said that many of the elders of Luoshen Mountain traveled through the mortal world, taking in abandoned girls. They accepted everyone from infants to elderly women. As long as the elders deemed an older woman’s character upright, they would bring her back to Luoshen Mountain.
Regardless of whether these women possessed spiritual roots, they could all find a place to live and make a life for themselves in Luoshen Mountain.
For that reason, Luoshen Mountain was a dreamlike paradise in the hearts of the common people—especially women.
It was called dreamlike because, to the vast majority of mortals, it was nothing more than a legend.
After all, no one had ever truly seen which elders of Luoshen Mountain traveled through the mortal world, when they came or went, or whom they might take a liking to.
Only those mothers who had been forced to abandon their daughters because their families could no longer afford to raise them would continue praying in their hearts after leaving their children behind, praying that their daughters might encounter the immortals of Luoshen Mountain.
Luoshen Mountain was also the most mysterious sect in the mortal world.
Its ability to stand on equal footing with Tianxin Sect and the Chixiao Sect was due in no small part to that mystery.
No one knew where its mountain gate was located. All communication with Luoshen Mountain went through a contact station it had established in Weiqiang Kingdom.
Moreover, Luoshen Mountain rarely interacted with the outside world. It had not even participated in the allied army’s previous campaign against the Jishi faction of Huanyou Kingdom.
Thus, when five women claiming to be the sect master and disciples of Luoshen Mountain appeared at the entrance to Lingxian Sect’s main square carrying invitations, everyone except the people of Lingxian Sect was utterly astonished.
That included the Bai Ancestor of Weiqiang Kingdom.
The Bai Ancestor did not know the sect master of Luoshen Mountain personally, but as the ruler of the territory where Luoshen Mountain’s contact station was located, he could be considered to have a fairly good relationship with her.
For one thing, the invitation in the hands of the sect master of Luoshen Mountain had been delivered to the contact station by his own people.
At the time, he had only sent it as a gesture of courtesy. The Li clan of Pusi Kingdom had expressed a wish for Luoshen Mountain to be notified as well, but since Luoshen Mountain rarely appeared in public, he had not held out much hope.
Who would have thought that Luoshen Mountain would actually come?
Not only had they come, but their sect master had personally attended, accompanied by the Left Elder and three direct disciples.
This left the Bai Ancestor somewhat puzzled.
Why was Luoshen Mountain showing Lingxian Sect such tremendous respect?
Could they have already learned that Lingxian Sect possessed a Deity Transformation expert, and therefore felt they had no choice but to show it respect?
The Bai Ancestor was also a Nascent Soul cultivator. Though he was only in the early Nascent Soul stage, he could likewise sense the faint pressure emanating from within Lingxian Sect.
He set his calculations aside for the moment, rose, and went forward to greet the sect master of Luoshen Mountain with warm pleasantries.
The moment the sect master of Luoshen Mountain appeared, the lively atmosphere throughout the main square quieted considerably.
There was only one reason: the sect master was simply too captivating.
Her hair was bound high with a ribbon, her brows were dark and misty, and her eyes were filled with gentle tenderness. Her aura was so soft that merely looking at her made people feel as though a lustrous glow like jade and pearls surrounded her. Everyone was left marveling that an immortal had surely strayed into the mortal world.
Only a strand of white hair falling from her temple to her shoulder lent her a trace of the twilight of mortality.
Immortals did not grow old—but the sect master of Luoshen Mountain did.
Every time the Bai Ancestor saw the sect master of Luoshen Mountain, he could not help being dazzled anew by her appearance and bearing.
He stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said with a smile, “Sect Master Bai, it’s been a long time!”
The sect master of Luoshen Mountain was also surnamed Bai, and her name was Bai Yu. Whether Bai Yu was her real name, however, was something no one knew.
“It has been a long time.” Bai Yu nodded with a faint smile, then said nothing more.
The Bai Ancestor knew that Bai Yu was not fond of conversation, so he did not say anything further. He merely stepped aside and followed the guidance of Lingxian Sect’s disciples as he entered the seating area alongside her.
Not far away, Venerable Xunfang, who had only just taken his seat, watched the group from Luoshen Mountain with a thoughtful expression.
The visitors from the other nations and sects were much the same.
Before long, all the guests had taken their seats, and the disciples of Lingxian Sect returned to their assigned places one after another.
Liu Yunan climbed onto the high platform in the square. He first greeted everyone below with great enthusiasm, then loudly introduced Lingxian Sect’s sect master and its various elders to the guests. After that, he announced the official start of Lingxian Sect’s annual assembly.
Lingxian Sect had always been straightforward in its dealings, and this time was no exception.
The annual assembly began without any lengthy speeches or tedious ceremonial performances. Instead, it went straight to the main event.
First came the awards for the sect’s own elders and disciples.
That was right—awards.
There were prizes with names such as Best Progress in Cultivation of the Year, Outstanding Contribution to the Sect of the Year, and Top Ten Disciples of the Year…
There were more than twenty different categories in all!
Each award even came with a specially designed and carefully crafted trophy!
Of course, how could Lingxian Sect possibly hand out nothing but trophies and call it a reward?
Along with each award came an extremely generous prize.
Depending on the difficulty of the award, the prizes ranged from one hundred to one thousand spirit stones, low- to high-grade pills, magical artifacts, talismans, formation disks, and countless other items.
The variety of rewards left everyone below staring in dazzlement!
The disciples of Lingxian Sect itself were relatively calm. They were merely surprised that the sect had given out such generous rewards, and that there were so many different kinds. This was enough to match what they could earn by exchanging two or three months’ worth of sect contributions!
But for the outsiders below, surprise was nowhere near enough to describe their feelings. They were utterly shocked.
Lingxian Sect had simply piled all the rewards into a corner of the platform.
The pile had formed a small mountain.
Many of the people below watched with burning envy.
They were all spirit stones!
And those pills and magical artifacts…
Just look at that! Was that a magical artifact in the hands of a little disciple only at the ninth level of Qi Refinement—a magical artifact that would not be used by anyone below an elder in other sects?!
And what was with those heaps of spirit stones?!
When we give spirit stones to our disciples, we count them one by one. You count them by the pile?
And those pills!
The pills had been handed out in a remarkably crude fashion, simply placed on a tray. They had not even bothered to put them in specially refined jade bottles!
Furthermore, could someone explain why Lingxian Sect had not only so many pills, but also so many different kinds?
There were even many varieties that cultivators with years of experience could not recognize!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nce】【Lighthearted Comedy】【Ultimate Gentleman's Novel】【Viewer Discretion Advised for Under 16】 The mightiest human hero, Sharen Morian, is resurrected after a thousand years by his wife—the Demon King. This is not your typical hero-vs-demon-king tale.
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
