Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Who was Dong Chong?
He was the elder of the Moon Illumination Sect!
Although he was just an outer court elder, his position in the Moon Illumination Sect was just a rank lower than the supreme elder, the Sect Leader, the Vice Sect Leader, and some inner court elders.
At that moment, the eyes that were focused on Duan Ling Tian were filled with envy and jealousy.
‘Damn it!’ Deng Yu had a drastic change of expression.
Meanwhile, Deng Wei who stood next to Dong Chong looked aghast too.
He had just promised his nephew that he would definitely kill Duan Ling Tian, yet now his immediate superior, Elder Dong Chong, wanted to take the man in as his direct disciple?
If Duan Ling Tian really became Elder Dong Chong’s direct disciple, he would not dare to do anything to him even if he had the guts to.
Although he could do it secretly, it would be alright if everything went well, but it would be beyond redemption if the attempt failed!
“Elder Dong Chong, thank you so much for your kindness… But I don’t plan to have a master at the time being,” Duan Ling Tian said while smiling in an apologetic manner.
The people who were shocked by Dong Chong declaring his intention to take Duan Ling Tian as his disciple took a while to snap back to their senses. They then froze hearing what Duan Ling Tian said.
“This brat’s so ungrateful!”
“That’s right! Elder Dong Chong’s taking him as his disciple because he values him. I can’t believe he rejected the offer!”
…
Many of them condemned him. All of them thought Duan Ling Tian was being rude.
“I, the scoundrel, win!” A gleam flashed through Deng Yu’s eyes as Duan Ling Tian’s rejection of Dong Chong’s request made him relieved.
Deng Wei was assured too.
As long as this purple-clad young man did not become Elder Dong Chong’s direct disciple, Duan Ling Tian would be merely a piece of meat on his chopping board to whom he could do whatever he wanted when the opportunity arose in the future.
Perhaps he might not even have to do the dirty job by himself.
‘These people from Mound Hill City… Elder Liu Huan would never let them off easily.’ Deng Wei grinned secretly.
Dong Chong was stunned for a moment as he heard Duan Ling Tian’s direct rejection. He only snapped back to his senses after a while and smiled embarrassedly. “I realized that I’ve misbehaved. I wonder what’s your name, little friend?”
Little friend!?
The people were dumbstruck upon hearing Dong Chong call Duan Ling Tian “little friend” instead of being mad at his rejection.
What was happening?
In such a situation, should Elder Dong Chong not revoke the purple-clad young man’s eligibility to get into the Moon Illumination Sect especially after the agitation that he was feeling?
“I’m Duan Ling Tian.” Duan Ling Tian did not expect Dong Chong to be reasonable either. He responded while grinning at that moment. At the same time, he began to have a good feeling about Dong Chong.
“Duan Ling Tian…” Dong Chong nodded and smiled lightly at Duan Ling Tian. Subsequently, he looked at the Moon Illumination Sect outer court disciple who had arrived next to Duan Ling Tian. “Bring Duan Ling Tian to register at the outer court.”
“Yes, Sir,” the outer sect disciple responded before leaving the stone platform with Duan Ling Tian. They headed towards the sect’s outer court.
While following the outer court disciple, Duan Ling Tian turned around to take a glance at the City Governor of Mound Hill City and nodded at him. He then glanced at Ling Yun and Xiong Hu.
“I’ll be waiting for the both of you at the outer court,” Duan Ling Tian said to them through True Energy Voice Transmission.
Both of them nodded.
Duan Ling Tian knew Ling Yun and Xiong Hu’s abilities, so he was sure that they would definitely pass the Moon Illumination Sect entrance assessment and become the sect’s outer court disciple.
What Duan Ling Tian did not know was that there were two dark horses among the over thirty Mastery Mortal Shedding Stage young geniuses after he left the sect’s entrance assessment venue. The two dark horses defeated two Perfection Mortal Shedding Stage young geniuses.
The two dark horses passed the sect’s entrance assessment successfully and became outer court disciples.
“Junior Brother Duan, I’m surprised that you have such a powerful ability when your cultivation base is only on the Mastery Mortal Shedding Stage… It’s shocking!” The Moon Illumination Sect outer court disciple could not help but exclaim when he was leading Duan Ling Tian towards the outer court area.
Duan Ling Tian smiled lightly without responding. He had no idea how he should respond at that moment.
The Moon Illumination Sect’s outer court disciple who walked ahead of Duan Ling Tian proceeded to speak, “What was even out of everyone’s expectations was that Elder Dong Chong asked you to be his direct disciple publicly! Junior Brother Duan, it was wise of you to reject Elder Dong Chong. With your talent and ability, as long as you stand out in the sect, it’s possible for the inner court elder to take you as his direct disciple. Elder Dong Chong’s position is higher than the inner court deacons since he’s the outer court elder. However, he’s lower than inner court elder when you compare their ranks.”
“Do you think I rejected Elder Dong Chong so that I could be the disciple of the inner court elder?” Duan Ling Tian was dumbfounded. He did not expect people to perceive his rejection towards Elder Dong Chong as looking down on the man.
“Isn’t it?” The outer court disciple asked him back.
“Of course not!” Duan Ling Tian shook his head vehemently. “I’ve never thought of becoming inner court elder’s disciple.”
“Junior Brother Duan, you’ve such lofty goals. I hope you’ll make it,” sighed the outer court disciple.
“Lofty goals?” Duan Ling Tian was stunned. “You know what my goals are?”
“Of course!” The outer court disciple nodded. “Since your goal isn’t to make the inner court elder your master, you must be going for the disciple position of the Vice Sect Leader, the Sect Leader or even the supreme elder… But Junior Brother Duan, I must remind you that it’s impossible for the three of them to take you as their disciple unless you have a freaky talent.”
“The same applies even though you can defeat people whose level is higher than yours. They’ll look at talents that last, not abilities that are temporary,” said the outer court disciple to Duan Ling Tian patiently, seeming to have kind intentions.
Meanwhile, Duan Ling Tian was dumbstruck.
Was he, Duan Ling Tian, someone who fawned over powerful people to this outer court disciple?
He did not bother to explain himself at that second because he knew that he would only complicate the situation further if he did.
Duan Ling Tian arrived at the Moon Illumination Sect outer court area with the guidance of the outer court disciple. He also got his personal token from the outer court disciple. There was no uniform when it came to attire.
He had found out about that much earlier.
No matter whether it was the Moon Illumination Sect outer court elder Dong Chong, the two outer court deacons, or the outer court disciple, all of them dressed casually.
However, each of them had a significant token tied around their waist on their casual attire. It was the Moon Illumination Sect’s identity token.
Apart from the words ‘Outer Court Disciple’ carved on top of the personal token, there were three words that had just been carved on the personal token that Duan Ling Tian received. It was his name.
“Junior Brother Duan, I’ll bring you where we outer court disciples live.” The outer court disciple brought Duan Ling Tian to the place the outer court disciples lived after calling out to him.
“Senior Brother Yang, I’ve heard from my teacher before that the Moon Illumination Sect’s accommodation is divided into three classes: the third, the sixth and the ninth. The more powerful a person’s ability is, the better their accommodation is whereas the weaker the person is, the poorer their accommodation is.” Duan Ling Tian asked along the way, “Is that true?”
Duan Ling Tian familiarized himself with the outer court disciple along the way. He learned that his name was Yang He.
Yang He had entered the Moon Illumination Sect five years ago.
He was 43 this year and his cultivation base was on the Paramount Mortal Shedding Stage.
“That’s right.” Yang He nodded. “The accommodation we outer court disciples are living in are divided into three classes. The best one has an individual compound. Not only is there a quiet room for cultivation, but there’s also a vast courtyard to cultivate your Saint Grade Martial Tactic too.
“The second one would be an individual stone house. Its environment’s much worse compared to the individual compound as there’s no space to cultivate the Saint Grade Martial Tactic. Outer court disciples who stay there can only cultivate the Saint Grade Martial Tactic at the training field.
“The poorest one would be the individual cottages. Those that have just been refurbished are fine but some of them haven’t been maintained for a long time and leak whenever it rains,” Yang He told Duan Ling Tian about the third, sixth, and ninth-class accommodation areas in one breath.
“An individual compound!” Duan Ling Tian’s eyes lit up and he mumbled softly to himself. He had a goal in mind.
He would not have to worry about the space to cultivate his Saint Grade Martial Tactic if he were to stay in the stone house that was poorer than the individual compounds because the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda would serve that purpose.
However, it was only natural that he wanted the best if it was available.
“Junior Brother, don’t tell me you’re eyeing the individual compound!” Yang He’s ears were sharp as he heard Duan Ling Tian’s soft mumble and could not help but ask with his eyes opened wide.
“Is there a problem with that?” Duan Ling Tian asked, noticing Yang He’s surprise.
“Of course, there is.” Yang He forced a smile. “Junior Brother Duan, you must know this… Although I’ve broken through to the Paramount Mortal Shedding Stage half a year ago, until now, I’m still no match for the weakest person staying in the individual compound.”
The accommodation where the Moon Illumination Sect outer court disciples lived were assigned based on their personal ability.
One could replace another as long as their ability was more powerful.
The rule was exactly the same back at the Latent Dragon Camp in the City Governor’s Estate of Mound Hill City. Those with a powerful ability would have better accommodation while the weaker ones would live in a dreary environment.
“Are the individual compounds limited?” Duan Ling Tian asked. He could not believe that Yang He who had gotten into the Moon Illumination Sect five years ago and was on a cultivation base of Paramount Mortal Shedding Stage had yet to move into the individual compound.
“It’s not exactly limited — there are a total of a hundred of them,” Yang He explained.
“A hundred? That many?” Duan Ling Tian exclaimed in surprise, “You mean you can’t get any although there are so many individual compounds?”
“A hundred isn’t that many,” Yang He replied, forcing a smile, “The sect recruits outer court disciples every five years and they recruit more than a hundred of them each time. It’d be considered great if half of those outer court disciples pass the inner court assessment and become inner court disciples.
“Among those outer court disciples, many of them are stuck on the Paramount Mortal Shedding Stage for ten years, 15 years or even 20 for a variety of reasons… Since they’re unable to break through to the Saint Rudiment Stage and can’t pass the inner court assessment, they’ve remained in the outer court until now.”
“Some of the older outer court Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters are close to 100 years old,” Yang He sighed.
“Close to 100 years old?” Duan Ling Tian was astounded by what Yang He revealed.
“Yes,” Yang He affirmed, “There’s a rule in the sect. If one hasn’t entered the inner court before they turn 100, they’ll be expelled from the sect. Naturally, many outer sect disciples realize they have no hope of getting into the inner court, so they leave the sect on their own.”
“Even so, there are still many elderly outer court disciples who decide to stay.”
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