Chapter 4: Opening Light

  Many young people walked into the grand hall one by one, worshiped their ancestors and then received the ancestral symbol for enlightenment.

  This ancestral talisman is truly mysterious and wonderful, requiring only a moment of effort to complete the opening process. Moreover, even if it's just a low-level opening talisman, the success rate of opening the orifices is almost guaranteed at 90%.

  Firstly, the process of opening the light with ancestral symbols and opening symbols has been passed down for thousands of years in the Yuan Symbol Sect, and after continuous improvement by able men and scholars of past dynasties, the means have become mature and the success rate is extremely high. Secondly, these young people have already undergone rigorous selection when they first entered the sect, and there are fewer worldly impurities in their ancestral apertures, which also facilitates the opening of the light.

  At noon, nearly half of the disciples had received their enlightenment, and it was finally Li Muran's turn.

  As soon as Li Muran entered the grand hall, a smile appeared on the face of the Zhāngmén Cāng Xiá Daoist, whose expression had been solemn.

  "Nameless, pay respects to the ancestors first!" Cang Xia Dao Ren instructed Li Mu Ran in a loud voice. Among the many disciples, those who could make Cang Xia Dao Ren call out their names directly were extremely rare.

  "Yes!" Li Muran immediately walked to Xiang Shengjin with a respectful attitude and knelt down to pay his respects; after paying his respects to the ancestors, he also bowed to Cang Xia Dao Ren and other Taoist priests.

  Cang Xia Dao Ren smiled and nodded, introducing: "Mo Shidi, this disciple is called Zhao Wuming. Not only is he exceptionally talented, but also extremely diligent, the best among his peers. I hope that in the future, he will become a pillar of our sect, just like Mo Shidi!"

  "Is that so?" Mu Yunzi looked up and down at Li Muran with an expressionless face, saying: "Since the Master knows your name, I suppose the intermediate-level Open Enlightenment Symbol won't be difficult for you. Have you ever tried making a high-level Open Enlightenment Symbol?"

  "The disciple indeed tried, but unfortunately, his strength was insufficient and ended in failure." Li Muran said dejectedly.

  Cang Xia Dao Ren heard this and showed a hint of disappointment, but he still spoke with a smile: "High-level Kai Guang Fu not only requires strength, but also luck and opportunity, it's indeed something that can't be sought after. However, it doesn't matter, being able to use mid-level Kai Guang Fu to open up one's potential is also very promising, this Master Mo is your role model! Wú Míng, take out your Kai Guang Fu!"

  "Yes!" Li Muran's heart was nervous, he followed the instructions of his master and walked to the center of the great hall, then could only stick out his neck and take out his only talisman, sticking it on his forehead.

  This talisman has no symbols, no incantations, and no magic spells, only some messy fingerprints.

  As soon as this symbol appeared, the great hall was suddenly filled with a buzz of noise. Not only were the disciples on one side discussing it in an uproar, but even those few Taoist priests were also shocked beyond measure.

  "What's going on?!" Cang Xia shouted, her face changing color.

  "Hmph, no need to guess, it must be that this kid is too ambitious, determined to draw a high-level talisman, but ended up failing repeatedly, and luckily managed to salvage a useless talisman." A white-bearded old man stroked his beard and said, he was Chi Xia Lao Dao, one of the most senior Daoist priests in the Yuanfu Sect.

  Hongxia Laodao shook his head, turned around and said to the disciples behind him: "The path to immortality is long and arduous, how can it be achieved in one step? Having high aspirations is not a bad thing, but you must be down-to-earth and move forward one step at a time. A person values self-awareness, today's affair with Zhao Wuming is a lesson, I hope you all take it as a warning!"

  "Hey, a waste of the Ancestral Symbol's energy! You're not worthy to receive the Ancestral Symbol's enlightenment!" Mo Yunzi coldly snorted, his expression stern as he spoke to Li Muran.

  "Hold on!" Qing Xia said with a light sigh, "Fellow disciples, judging from their usual performance, Zhao Wuming is exceptional and the most promising among this batch of disciples. Should we give him another chance to draw a mid-tier talisman paper and successfully activate it?"

  "Master Palm's words are somewhat inadvisable!" Red Mist Old Dao shook his head and said, "For over a thousand years, our sect has always had each disciple only have three talismans, three chances. This is the only way to be fair. If we make an exception for Zhao Wuming this time, there will naturally be countless excuses to change the rules again in the future, ultimately leading to many injustices and hidden dangers."

  "What Hongxia Shixiong said makes sense. Shidi knows that the master brother loves talents dearly, but it's not acceptable to break the rules of our sect for thousands of years because of this."

  "Not bad, in fact, similar things have happened from time to time over the past thousand years or so, but none of them have broken the rule, and we naturally don't want to be the ones to spoil it either."

  Moreover, cultivating immortality emphasizes opportunity. Zhao Wuming is diligent and has great potential, but lacks opportunity, so he won't go far on the path of cultivating immortality either!

  About 70-80 Taoist priests were discussing and debating, most of them opposing the proposal made by Qingxia Taoist.

  Li Muran was anxious and uneasy, his fate almost rested in the hands of these people's few casual words, this feeling was extremely unbearable.

  Cang Xia Dao Ren nodded and said, "Since all of you fellow disciples are opposed to it, the proposal I made earlier will be withdrawn. However, Mo Shidi, according to our sect's rules, no matter what quality of talisman a disciple takes out, our sect should help them activate it."

  However, if the quality of the talisman is poor and it cannot be opened smoothly, this disciple will be expelled from the sect or wait for the next grand opening ceremony five years later. And after five years, Zhao Wuming was already over twenty years old, missing the best age for opening, so he was no longer qualified to participate in the next opening ceremony.

  Hongxia Laodao also said: "The door master brother is right. Mo Shidi, you can replace him to complete the opening process, anyway this opening symbol has extremely poor quality and will not consume much ancestral symbol energy."

  "Since both of you said so, I'll obey!" Mo Yunzi nodded and then coldly ordered Li Muran: "Close your eyes and focus on the ancestral aperture!"

  Li Muran hastily closed his eyes as instructed, trying to "gaze" at the spot an inch inside the center of his eyebrows - of course, it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

  Mo Yunzi swung the green sword in his hand, sprinkling out a series of green lights, which shot towards Zu Fu. Zu Fu emitted a layer of seven-colored rainbow light, shining onto the waste symbol on Li Muran's forehead.

  That waste symbol turned into a bloody light and entered Li Muran's brow, the symbol paper itself turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared.

  In an instant, Li Muran's entire body shone brightly, while at the same time, the great hall fell into darkness!

  It was as if all the light had gathered on Li Muran's body in this instant, and the great hall was like a dark night, pitch black. But Li Muran was like a bright moon in the dark night, his whole body emitting a faint silver glow, dazzling and hazy.

  But this strange scene only lasted for a moment, and everything returned to normal in an instant.

  "I saw it!" Li Muran's eyes widened with great joy, and he said: "The disciple saw a faint light, has the enlightenment been opened?"

  "Can it be opened with a waste symbol?" Mo Yunzi was somewhat skeptical, he walked straight to Li Muran's side, stretched out two fingers and placed them on Li Muran's wrist.

  Li Muran suddenly felt a cool sensation coming from his wrist, this cool air flowed along his arm to various parts of his body, but encountered heavy resistance and quickly disappeared.

  "It's indeed opened!" Mo Yunzi said calmly: "However, only a thread of gap has been opened, and the cultivation talent is considered extremely poor! Strange, strange! What a pity, what a pity!"

  Mo Yunzi shook his head and motioned for Li Muran to step aside.

  What he said was strange, and it was surprising that Li Muran could open the light with a waste symbol; what a pity, but it was a pity for Li Muran. Since Li Muran can use waste symbols to open the light, it means that his innate talent is not bad, if he can use mid-level opening symbols to open the light, the effect will definitely be better!

  Li Muran stood silently among the crowd of disciples, enduring the various gazes cast upon him. Although Master Mo said his enlightenment effect was poor and his cultivation aptitude extremely lacking, he still held onto a glimmer of hope.

  This hope comes from the mysterious runes in the mirror, Li Muran saw with his own eyes that the runes he drew were extremely profound and deep, definitely not ordinary, but why they disappeared out of thin air, he didn't know.

  If it were another young man, he would have already made a big fuss about this matter, but Li Muran didn't mention it at all. He even suspected that this might involve an earth-shattering secret, and for this reason, he was willing to suffer some grievances and be looked down upon by his fellow disciples and superiors, which didn't matter to him!

  After Li Muran, two more young men came forward to accept the opening of their spiritual aperture, both successfully. However, when it was the third young man's turn, the ancestral symbol suddenly dimmed and couldn't be activated smoothly.

  "Is the ancestral symbol's yuanqi insufficient?" Cang Xia Zhen Dao Ren personally examined the ancestral symbol carefully and muttered, "Strange, yesterday Qing Xia Shifu had already filled the ancestral symbol with enough yuanqi for over a hundred disciples to open their eyes, how could it have exhausted its yuanqi when half of the disciples haven't even opened their eyes yet?"

  "Perhaps it's because the ancestral symbol has been passed down for too long, and the consumption of yuanqi is getting more and more." Red Mist Old Dao gave a vague guess.

  Cang Xia Dao Ren nodded and said, "Alright, tonight I will personally use the yuanqi symbol to fill the ancestral symbol with yuanqi. Tomorrow at this time, we will continue the grand opening ceremony and open the light for the remaining disciples."

  The remaining disciples were disappointed upon hearing the news, having worked hard for many years and finally waiting for the grand opening ceremony to officially enter the immortal cultivation world, only to find out they had to wait another day.

  However, they could not help but oppose this matter. The disciples could only retreat one after another. Those who had already opened their eyes were either joyful or worried, with different emotions.

  The opening is just the first step, after the grand ceremony of opening tomorrow, there will be a ritual for choosing disciples to worship their masters. At that time, if they are not chosen by their masters, even if they have already opened their eyes, they may not be able to continue to stay in Yuanshu Sect to practice.

  Li Muran only took out a waste symbol and barely opened the light, which was also discussed among the disciples. Wherever Li Muran went, there were always people pointing and discussing behind his back.

  Li Muran used to be surrounded by a group of disciples, asking him questions from all sides. Now, he is alone and solitary, with no one by his side. The contrast between the two situations has made him realize the coldness of the world.

  "The path to immortality is long and winding, with a heart that's as gentle as silk; the mind is like still water, an ancient well without ripples. Not swayed by desires, not lost in emotions; not rejoicing in material things, nor sorrowing for oneself." Li Muran sighed softly: "I've been affected by others' opinions and my heart has changed, it seems my mental cultivation is still far from enough."