So, for the sake of choosing the right candidates, Xiushui City had been on its New Year holiday these past few days, and he had returned to the Imperial Capital, where he carefully pored over the Li clan genealogy in his own Eclosion Palace, making notes and selecting candidates.
“What? Ancestor, I’m going to walk the Heart-Questioning Path too?”
Inside Eclosion Palace, Li Zhouxuan stared at the list his ancestor had just handed him. His feelings could no longer be described as mere surprise.
Why was he on it? How had he ended up on it?
His ancestor had arranged for him to walk the Heart-Questioning Path. Surely it wasn’t simply a matter of bringing as many people as possible, was it? Naturally, he hoped that Li Zhouxuan would pass, right?
But what if he really did pass?
Would he have to give up being emperor?
Although cultivation was certainly better than being emperor, he had not exactly neglected cultivation in the past.
From the age of three, his elders had guided him toward the path of cultivation. It was only when he reached twelve and they realized that he truly lacked talent that they began grooming him to become an emperor. Even so, he had never completely abandoned cultivation. Even now, he would still meditate for several hours during his free time to consolidate his cultivation.
Yet after all these years, he was only at the first level of Qi Refining!
Seated at the head of the hall, Li Zhanying gently stroked his long beard and said warmly to Li Zhouxuan, “Among our Li clan, setting cultivation aside and considering only one’s temperament, you are the person I have the most faith in. You have been meticulous and capable in everything you have done since childhood. It is only a pity that you have lacked a little luck when it comes to cultivation… If you can pass the Heart-Questioning Path this time, that will be your opportunity. How could you possibly allow the mundane position of emperor to hold you back?”
Li Zhouxuan fell silent.
Just as his ancestor had said, whether the emperor of the Pusi Kingdom was him or someone else made little difference to the Li family.
After a thousand years of rule, there were precedents to follow for minor matters, while for major matters, they could consult and discuss them with the elders of the clan.
Besides, Li Zhouxuan was only going to the Lingxian Sect to cultivate. He was not going to die. If his successor encountered an issue he could not decide, using a Voice Transmission Talisman—or even returning in person—would not be a problem.
Hadn’t that fellow Mo Yuanjiao been running back to the Imperial Capital from time to time ever since joining the Lingxian Sect, without ever being stopped?
Clearly, the Lingxian Sect did not mind.
As long as he cultivated properly and completed the sect’s duties, occasionally returning to the Imperial Capital to assist the successor would not be difficult…
Although Li Zhouxuan had not even seen what the so-called Heart-Questioning Path looked like, he had already arranged everything in his mind for after he joined the Lingxian Sect.
If he failed to pass, then none of it would matter. But if he did pass, everything could be arranged accordingly.
Li Zhanying watched the changes in his expression without any attempt to conceal them and knew that he had already made his decision.
Sure enough, the next moment, Li Zhouxuan raised his head and said to him with a resolute gaze, “I will not disappoint you, Ancestor. I will do my best to walk the entire Heart-Questioning Path!”
Of the several Li clan members Li Zhanying had selected to walk the Heart-Questioning Path, only Li Zhouxuan’s candidacy required discussion. The others had been notified directly.
Now that Li Zhouxuan had also agreed, Li Zhanying immediately took several of his clansmen and hurried to the Lingxian Sect, where he contacted Liu Yunan.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Xiushui City was still immersed in the lively atmosphere of the New Year celebrations.
At the foot of the Lingxian Sect’s mountain, however, an isolation formation had already been activated. It blocked both sight and spiritual sense, and outsiders could not enter. This was to prevent residents from accidentally wandering in or others from spying on them.
When Liu Yunan saw that Li Zhanying had brought only five people, he was rather surprised.
He had assumed that the Li clan would bring a large group of people to try their luck, believing that the more candidates, the better.
What would happen if none of these five passed? Would they go back and find more people? That would cause another delay. What if they failed to make it back in time for work to resume on the seventh day of the New Year?
Besides…
Liu Yunan uncertainly examined one of the five people standing to the side.
Why did this person look so familiar?
Still unsure, he took another two glances.
Wasn’t this Li Zhouxuan? The very Li Zhouxuan who had always been the emperor of their country? He was here to walk the Heart-Questioning Path too? Was this for real?
What if he actually passed? Would he stop being emperor?
Or did he have a twin brother?
Liu Yunan was somewhat puzzled. However, this was the Li clan’s affair. He was more concerned that there were too few candidates and that none of them might pass the Heart-Questioning Path. Thus, he asked Li Zhanying hesitantly, “Senior Li, are these the only five? Do you need to bring a few more people?”
Li Zhanying smiled and shook his head. Pointing to the five young people standing quietly to the side, he said, “These five are the most resolute and virtuous members of my Li clan. If none of them can pass your sect’s Heart-Questioning Path, then I imagine our Li clan is simply not fated to join your sect. We will not force the matter.”
Hearing this, Liu Yunan could only nod. He then added, “If more than one of these five passes the Heart-Questioning Path, then as long as your Li clan is willing, they may all join our sect.”
Li Zhanying smiled and nodded. “Thank you for your consideration.”
Among the five candidates were four men and one woman. Li Yuanze, the Li clan’s Core Formation cultivator, was not among them.
It was not that Li Zhanying was reluctant to let him go. Rather, after careful consideration, he had concluded that Li Yuanze’s temperament and administrative abilities were not particularly impressive.
The fact that he had successfully cultivated to the Core Formation stage was largely due to his single spiritual root.
Li Zhanying had used certain standards when selecting these young people.
The Lingxian Sect had been very clear about what the Heart-Questioning Path tested: candidates needed to possess a resilient temperament and excellent character.
But what exactly counted as a resilient temperament, and what exactly counted as good character? That was a matter of personal interpretation.
After all, aside from a few genuinely evil people and genuinely virtuous individuals, most people believed that they were good. Yet this kind of goodness was subjective and differed from person to person.
Thus, while considering the matter himself, Li Zhanying had also used successful examples as references.
Compared with the other sects and royal families that wanted to force people into the Lingxian Sect, this was one small advantage the Li clan possessed.
That was because two disciples currently in the Lingxian Sect had grown up beneath the walls of the Pusi Kingdom’s Imperial Capital.
Mo Yuanjiao and Xuanyuan Haoyue.
Mo Yuanjiao had passed the Heart-Questioning Path several years ago, and it was said that he had completed it particularly quickly.
Xuanyuan Haoyue had encountered some unexpected circumstances at the time. It was said that during that recruitment, only one disciple had stepped out of the Heart-Questioning Path ahead of the others. The rest had been affected by those unforeseen events, resulting in no meaningful difference in the time they spent completing it.
However, her outstanding performance in both cultivation and conduct after joining the sect demonstrated that she was very much in line with the Lingxian Sect’s standards for selecting disciples.
Although Li Zhanying was not especially familiar with either child, as the Li clan’s ancestor stationed in the Pusi Kingdom’s Imperial Capital, learning about the lives of two youths connected to the imperial family over the past decade or so was incredibly easy for him.
He naturally possessed the ability to learn about how they had lived and treated others over those years, and from that, discern what kind of people they were.
Therefore, the five people he had brought this time had all been carefully compared against Mo Yuanjiao and Xuanyuan Haoyue, then selected after he had seriously evaluated their individual abilities.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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?”
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."
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
