Heavenly and Earthly Sacred Land: One Mountain with Ten Peaks

Seeing Gu Changyuan's figure, Su Wanqing quickly stepped forward and introduced him to Su Tianhui beside her:

Second Brother, this is the senior I told you about.

Su Tianhui followed his sister's gaze, only to see the man before him dressed in a simple long black robe. His temperament was detached and unworldly, and there was not the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy around him.

The corner of Su Tianhui's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Compared to the image of a hidden mighty figure with a transcendent Daoist demeanor and boundless majesty he had imagined...

The gap was truly a bit large! Especially that barefoot little girl, no matter how he looked at it, she didn't seem to fit the style of a senior expert...

Despite thinking this, Su Tianhui still bowed respectfully:

Junior Su Tianhui greets Senior!

Gu Changyuan naturally caught Su Tianhui's fleeting look of astonishment.

He was also quite helpless about it, but he maintained a calm and indifferent expression on his face, giving Su Tianhui a slight nod.

It wasn't that he hadn't made shoes for Gu Xing'er; brocade ones, spirit leather ones... he had made all sorts of shoes.

But the little girl simply didn't like wearing them. She would take them off as soon as she put them on, and throw them away once they were off. No amount of persuasion worked.

To prevent her from getting her bare feet dirty, Gu Changyuan simply crafted a pair of anklet artifacts for her.

Not only could they automatically clean, but they also isolated dust and filth. They even had an extremely thin spiritual energy protective membrane, so there was no need to worry about her getting hurt.

As for how outsiders viewed it... anyway, there was a high probability they wouldn't be interacting long-term in the future, so there was no need to care about these details.

The Su family's procession quickly assembled. Gu Changyuan said no more and casually waved his right hand.

That immortal skiff appeared out of thin air once again, hovering above the Su family plaza and casting a massive shadow.

Hiss...

Su Tianhui looked up at the colossal object, gasping as his eyes widened into perfect circles.

Such a massive, magnificent immortal skiff with such profound and terrifying spiritual energy fluctuations...

In all his years at the Celestial Human Holy Land, he had never seen anything like it!

Before he could calm the shock in his heart, Gu Changyuan waved his hand again.

A gentle force field enveloped everyone in the plaza.

The next moment, the crowd found themselves standing on the broad, flat deck of the immortal skiff.

Input the coordinates, Gu Changyuan said to Su Tianhui.

Su Tianhui snapped back to his senses and hastily took out a jade slip engraved with the specific reception coordinates for the outer perimeter of the Holy Land, respectfully handing it to Gu Changyuan.

Gu Changyuan took it, swept it with his divine sense, and imparted the coordinate information into the core of the immortal skiff.

The immortal skiff trembled slightly. The flowing light of the runes on its surface accelerated as it silently activated, turning into a streak of light that sped toward the northern horizon.

The distance between the Eastern Region of the Southern Continent and the Western Region of the Eastern Continent was incredibly vast. If they went by the speed of the standard flying skiff Su Tianhui had borrowed from the Holy Land...

They would only arrive at the outer perimeter of the Holy Land by sunset tomorrow, just in time to participate in the last batch of selections for the day.

However, the performance of Gu Changyuan's immortal skiff far exceeded the ordinary flying artifacts of this realm.

Calculating based on its current speed, they would arrive at their destination before noon tomorrow at the latest.

However, Gu Changyuan had also learned of a restriction from the system:

The various realms of the entire Great World not only suppressed the maximum cultivation base of cultivators, but they also existed to suppress and repel overly powerful artifacts, and even certain powers that exceeded the conventions of this realm.

If the immortal skiff were to burst forth with its full power, it could certainly arrive faster, but it would very likely trigger the laws of the world, attracting unnecessary trouble, and perhaps even being expelled or marked by the world's will.

Having just returned from that hellhole known as the Ruins of Disorder, Gu Changyuan had absolutely no desire to experience being inexplicably banished ever again.

Therefore, he deliberately controlled the speed of the immortal boat, maintaining it at a level that was faster than usual but would not trigger the world's warning lines.

With a long journey ahead, Gu Changyuan asked Su Tianhui about the current specific situation of the Celestial Holy Land.

Today, the main structure of the Celestial Holy Land could be summarized as One Mountain, Ten Peaks.

The One Mountain referred to Tianyuan Mountain, where the core of the Holy Land was located.

This mountain was divided into upper and lower sections. The lower half was the area for external activities, such as recruiting disciples and hosting the Grand Ceremony of Heavenly Destiny.

The upper half was the heavily guarded core forbidden area of the Holy Land. Ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter without permission, and the main discussion hall, the Tianshu Hall, was situated there.

As for the Ten Peaks, they corresponded to the ten Patriarchs of the Holy Land. From the First Patriarch to the Tenth, all were mighty figures of the Tribulation Transcendence realm whose prestige shook the region.

The distribution of positions in the Holy Land was also very clear. Below the Patriarchs were the Taiyin Elders, below them were the Supreme Elders, and further down were the regular Elders.

Below the Elders were the Deacons, Stewards, and other specific administrative personnel, along with the vast number of inner and outer sect disciples.

The Tianyuan Grand Ceremony was usually co-hosted by one Elder from each of the ten peaks, with a Supreme Elder overseeing the event.

Although the Celestial Holy Land had ten peaks, they were not in competition with one another.

Despite the division into ten peaks within the Holy Land, it was not a hostile rivalry, but rather a division of labor and inheritance.

After new disciples passed the assessment and entered the sect, the Elders of each peak would introduce the unique characteristics of their inheritances based on the disciples' talents and inclinations. Ultimately, the disciples would choose their own affiliation.

There were two methods for the Holy Land to assess and recruit disciples.

In terms of assessment, the Celestial Holy Land offered two options. The first, chosen by most cultivators, was the Three Celestial Passes: Spirit Testing, Questioning the Dao, and Questioning the Heart.

The other was the Immortal Ascension Terrace. One had to endure the pressure of the terrace while climbing upwards; the more steps taken, the more highly they would be valued.

The Immortal Ascension Terrace had a total of one hundred steps, said to be a supreme trial left behind by the founding ancestor.

Its trials shared similarities with the Three Celestial Passes but were much more difficult and comprehensive, focusing more heavily on willpower, potential, and the ability to endure extreme conditions.

Moreover, the Immortal Ascension Terrace possessed special restrictions that ignored cultivation levels. Any external magical treasures, talismans, or even assistance from others would be rendered ineffective upon it; one could only rely on themselves.

Reaching the fiftieth step granted direct entry into the outer sect.

If one could reach the sixtieth step, they could directly enter the inner sect.

After the sixtieth step, the difficulty increased drastically compared to before.

Reaching the sixty-fifth step allowed one to directly become the personal disciple of an Elder. Climbing to the seventieth step granted the qualifications to study under a Supreme Elder, while reaching the eightieth step offered the chance to become a disciple of a Taiyin Elder.

If one could climb past the ninetieth step, there was a very high probability of being taken in as a personal disciple by one of the ten Patriarchs.

If someone could reach the summit at the one hundredth step, they would directly obtain authority equal to that of the ten Patriarchs and receive the full backing and cultivation of the Holy Land.

However, up until now, no one had ever reached the one hundredth step, and even those who surpassed the ninetieth step were exceedingly rare.

Every cultivator wishing to participate in the assessment could only choose one of these two methods. Once they failed, they would have to wait another twenty years before they could participate again.

Therefore, many cultivators would choose the relatively simpler Three Passes of Heaven and Man. After all, failing the challenge at the Immortal Ascension Terrace meant wasting another twenty years of one's life, a cost no one could afford to bear.

Listening to Su Tianhui's account, Gu Changyuan's gaze grew distant.

Back then, the system had presumably granted the Heaven and Man Sect eleven growth-type spirit veins. Thinking about it now, these spirit veins must have been placed within this single mountain and its ten peaks, having long since developed into fully mature spirit veins.

Otherwise, given the current scale of the Heaven and Man Sacred Land, small spirit veins would be entirely incapable of absorbing and supplying sufficient spiritual energy. It would be even more impossible for it to become what cultivators now hailed as the number one sect in the human realm.