Pass Rate

Otherwise, for all its vast numbers, the Li clan would never have been able to select more than these five people.

Nor would it have been necessary to drag Li Zhouxuan, the current emperor, down from the throne he had occupied for barely ten years.

The clan would even have to choose the next successor from among its own members—but that was a matter for later.

As it turned out, Li Zhanying’s careful selection had indeed been worthwhile.

Of the five people the Li clan sent onto the Heart-Questioning Path, four actually passed!

That could be considered a remarkably high success rate.

Still, it could hardly be called some secret method for joining the Lingxian Sect. The sect’s strict requirements were right there in plain sight: if you failed to meet them, you simply could not enter.

Moreover, these five people who had passed four out of five were selected from the Li clan’s enormous population.

Of the four Li clan members who successfully passed the Heart-Questioning Path, only Li Zhouxuan entered that morning and successfully emerged from the path that evening.

The other three did not come out until the following afternoon or evening.

The sole Li clan member who failed had nevertheless endured for an hour or two on the Heart-Questioning Path before being expelled.

Thus, all four Li clan members successfully became disciples of the Lingxian Sect.

In accordance with the Li clan’s request, Li Zhouxuan was assigned to the External Transactions Office of the Trade Affairs Center, where he was put in charge of external trade.

The other three, however, were not assigned any work at the foot of the mountain. They were merely placed in various positions on the mountain to fill the vacancies created by the manpower shortage resulting from the construction of Xiushui City.

This was not because the Lingxian Sect was wary of the Li clan. After all, the sect fully trusted the character of anyone who could pass the Heart-Questioning Path.

However, the four had joined the sect with strong ties to their family behind them. If they were to integrate into the sect quickly, they certainly could not be placed together. It was best to scatter them among different posts.

Besides, aside from Li Zhouxuan, the other three had virtually no cultivation. Only one of them had managed to draw qi into his body, and even then, he could barely retain more than a few wisps of spiritual energy within himself.

Compared with the disciples of Qingyun Peak, whose cultivation was at least at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, the Lingxian Sect did not feel comfortable sending these newcomers down the mountain to handle affairs. Their top priority was to cultivate as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, what use was there in having them work if their efficiency was no better than that of ordinary people?

There were plenty of mortals at the foot of the mountain. The sect was hardly short of a few more mortal laborers.

And so, the four members of the Li clan settled in.

When Mo Yuanjiao learned that Li Zhouxuan had actually joined their Lingxian Sect as well, he found it so astonishing that he put aside even the most urgent task at hand and slipped over to Li Zhouxuan’s dormitory on Qingyun Peak.

When he saw Li Zhouxuan, who had just finished settling in and was preparing to leave, Mo Yuanjiao hurried over and began circling him, three times to the left and three times to the right, inspecting him with clicking sounds of amazement.

Li Zhouxuan was rendered speechless by the scrutiny.

“If you have something to say, just say it. You’re making me dizzy,” Li Zhouxuan said.

Only then did Mo Yuanjiao stop. He familiarly draped an arm over Li Zhouxuan’s shoulder and exclaimed in astonishment, “I never would’ve guessed it, Imperial Cousin! You actually got in too. You’re not emperor anymore?”

In recent days, everyone in the sect had been frantically busy. Mo Yuanjiao had barely paid any attention to the news from the imperial capital. Most of the sect’s affairs beyond its gates were currently being handled by Liu Yunan, Qin Jianghe, and Lin Yun, so he had known nothing about the Li clan sending people here.

Now that he knew, however, he was delighted.

When they were children, he had been very close to his older cousin Li Zhouxuan, who was more than ten years his senior. Li Zhouxuan had personally taught him his lessons when he first began his education, and Mo Yuanjiao had gotten plenty of his childhood runny nose all over Li Zhouxuan’s ceremonial robes.

The childish stubbornness and seriousness that adults had considered immature when he was young had been taken seriously only by this cousin of his. Li Zhouxuan had even helped him deal with their elders. He truly had been an excellent elder brother.

As a result, Mo Yuanjiao genuinely liked him.

Later, however, Li Zhouxuan ascended the throne, and Mo Yuanjiao gradually grew older and came to understand the so-called rules. That was when the relationship between the two of them became somewhat distant.

To Mo Yuanjiao, though, that was merely an issue of identities defined by the secular world. He disliked the stifling imperial palace, and because of their positions, he could no longer be as close to his cousin as he had been in childhood—but the respect and affection he held for Li Zhouxuan had never changed.

Thus, now that Li Zhouxuan had cast off his identity as emperor, Mo Yuanjiao immediately returned to throwing an arm around his shoulders and behaving as familiarly and shamelessly as he had in their childhood.

“Yeah. The Old Ancestor drove me here and wouldn’t let me be emperor anymore.” In his thirties, Li Zhouxuan stood with Mo Yuanjiao’s arm around his shoulder. Seeing that Mo Yuanjiao was no longer keeping his distance as he had in the imperial palace, he could not help finding it amusing. “Not bad. You’ve grown taller again.”

Li Zhouxuan raised a hand and compared the heights of their heads.

He discovered that his cousin was now nearly half a head taller than him. No wonder Mo Yuanjiao found it so easy to drape an arm over his shoulder.

Mo Yuanjiao proudly straightened his body and gave Li Zhouxuan a mysterious, smug look.

“Do you know what cultivation level I’m at now?”

In the past, because the sect did not wish to reveal itself to the world, its disciples concealed their cultivation levels with Peach Leaf Pendants and did not disclose their realms to outsiders.

Now, as long as low-level disciples remained within the vicinity of the sect, they no longer needed to wear Peach Leaf Pendants in their daily lives.

Those at the Golden Core stage and above also no longer needed to wear them, because the sect now possessed a cultivation technique capable of concealing one’s cultivation level.

Compared with the sect’s wide variety of cultivation techniques, this one was extremely simple. Thus, while cultivating their other techniques, everyone would practice this one on the side.

But whether Mo Yuanjiao was wearing a Peach Leaf Pendant or not, how could Li Zhouxuan, who was only at the first level of Qi Refining, possibly see through his cultivation?

He simply followed Mo Yuanjiao’s lead and asked, “What cultivation level?”

Mo Yuanjiao lifted his chin and puffed out his chest. With a smug look, he slapped himself on the chest and said, “Golden Core! Mid-stage!”

“What? Golden Core?!” Li Zhouxuan exclaimed in astonishment.

“Mm-hmm~” Mo Yuanjiao replied smugly. Then he leaned mysteriously toward Li Zhouxuan’s ear and whispered, “I’m actually considered slow. My Senior Brother Sect Master and Senior Brother Yigao cultivated even faster.”

At that moment, Li Zhouxuan was still immersed in the shock of learning that Mo Yuanjiao had become a Golden Core cultivator after cultivating for only a few years. Upon hearing this, he merely stared blankly at Mo Yuanjiao.

Mo Yuanjiao hurriedly continued, “My Senior Brother Sect Master is already at the Nascent Soul stage, and Senior Brother Yigao reached the Nascent Soul stage not long ago too. Oh, right—you don’t know yet, do you? There’s also an Elder Liao in our sect. He reached the Divine Transformation stage a few days ago.”

Although the seniority within the Lingxian Sect had now been roughly sorted out and clarified, Mo Yuanjiao’s was still a complete mess. He was the only person in the entire sect who called everyone by whatever form of address he pleased and could never seem to correct the habit.

Still, within the Lingxian Sect—especially among the sect’s original disciples—seniority was not particularly important. Thus, Lin Xiao had long since stopped trying to correct him and simply let him be.

After saying all of that, Mo Yuanjiao finally felt satisfied.

He had truly been holding those words in for a long time!

When he had first joined the Lingxian Sect, he really had not understood much about it. He had blindly assumed that it was a reclusive sect hidden from the world, different from the three major sects.