Chapter Thirty-Five: Miao Cheng Zong

  Still in a daze, Gan Ping suddenly found that Tan Ming and Xuan Xin had already walked up to him. Looking at Xuan Xin's respectful attitude, Gan Ping also knew that the black-bearded Taoist in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person. He hurriedly bowed his head and paid respects, but before he could straighten his waist, he felt a palm pressing down on his head. A surge of true yuan spiritual energy emanated from Tan Ming's hand, and Gan Ping only then realized the gap between himself and a foundation-building cultivator. "I thought that even if I couldn't defeat a foundation-building cultivator, I could at least retreat unscathed. Now I realize I was naive. If this person had malicious intentions towards me, I wouldn't be able to last three rounds, not even with the help of the Heaven-Devouring Blood God Knife."

  At this point, Gan Ping's complacent and arrogant heart that arose from killing Qing Ruo's two brothers earlier thoroughly woke up. "Earlier, I thought that by killing those two brothers, with the Blood God Knife as my trump card, finding a way to save Ling Er in Xian Shan would be easy, and at worst, I could retreat unscathed. Who would have thought that in this Shuo Feng City, I'd encounter such an expert? If the power of the Foundation Establishment realm is already so terrifying, then what about the powers of those who have reached the Liquid Transformation, Golden Elixir, or even the legendary Yuan Ying Yuan Shen stages?" Thinking this, Gan Ping's cold sweat poured down, and he no longer had the mindset to look down on other cultivators.

  Actually, it's completely normal for Gan Ping to have this mindset. With his lowly cultivation, he was able to use the Tianmo Huaxue God Knife to kill Qingruo, who had reached the peak of Lianqi. Of course, he has something to be proud of. Furthermore, with the influence of the Fire Dragon and Xuanmingzi's Yuanshen fragments, it's natural for him to look down on other cultivators in the world. But what kind of person is Xuanmingzi? A peak Yuanshen who is about to transcend the tribulation, a demonic master of the evil path who has been killing people and destroying families for thousands of years. Of course, he would look down on the cultivators of the world. He has the capital to do so, but Gan Ping's lowly cultivation having such an arrogant mindset is simply seeking death. According to Gan Ping's previous thoughts, he originally wanted to find a famous sect to solidify his godsoul and then roam freely in the world. Even if someone tried to stop him, his few techniques would be enough to block them. But unexpectedly, he was facing a Jigou cultivator and was trembling with fear. This has nothing to do with mindset, but rather a pure comparison of strength, where the strong and weak are clearly distinguished.

  Just as Gan Ping was lost in thought, his mind a mess, he heard Tan Ming Dao Ren excitedly exclaim: "Good! Indeed, you have excellent qualifications, your spirit is stable and your bones are strong, you're a great material for cultivation!" Seeing Gan Ping's confused expression, Tan Ming smiled and asked: "What's your name?" Tan Ming Dao Ren hadn't expected to find such a high-quality talent in this dark and gloomy city of Shuo Feng, let alone someone so young. To have found one person like this was better than recruiting all the disciples in the entire city! How could he not be overjoyed? Gan Ping, still reeling from the shock of being discovered by the person in front of him, hastily replied with respect: "I am Gan Ping, greetings to the immortal elder."

  Gan Ping had already made up his mind, although he had several mysterious skills at his disposal, but for some basic cultivation techniques, he was still half-baked. The appearance of the Taoist in front of him revealed a new world to him, and in his heart, he had already made a decision to follow the Taoist to the Immortal Mountain and start from scratch, only then could he step by step reach the pinnacle of power.

  Tan Ming saw that Gan Ping's voice was clear and bright, his attitude neither arrogant nor humble. What was most valuable was a pair of shining eyes, which showed that he was extremely intelligent. Talent was important, but if one wasn't intelligent enough, their achievements would be limited. This child had excellent talent and was exceptionally intelligent, but it was still unknown how his heart was. However, based on these two points alone, he could already be included in the ranks of the inner disciples. Thinking of this, Tan Ming nodded slightly and said: "Gan Ping, is it? You go with those who have passed the test to wait over there." He pointed far away at a group of children, his expression once again becoming calm and peaceful, without any sign of the joy from earlier. Gan Ping didn't know why he was acting this way, but he didn't show anything, obediently walking in the direction Tan Ming had pointed.

  Tan Ming saw him like this, liked him even more, but didn't show it on his face. He wanted to test Gan Ping's temperament. Gan Ping arrived among the group of children, found a corner and sat down, looking at the long queue, afraid that it wouldn't be until nightfall before they finished checking. Tan Ming glanced at Gan Ping with the corner of his eye, secretly approving in his heart. From the storage bag at his waist, he took out a purple talisman, cast a spell, and this talisman transformed into a flowing light flying towards the sky.

  In the far west, a range of mountains was shrouded in mist, looking like a fairyland. A purple light flew over and shot into a towering mountain peak. On top of the main hall, a Taoist priest sat with his eyes closed, but suddenly opened them, and two beams of light shot out from his eyes. He raised his hand to receive a transmission talisman that had been thrown to him. He nodded slightly, then threw it back to a young Taoist nearby. The young Taoist caught the talisman, hesitated for a moment, bowed and said: "Master, I'm afraid the young man Tan Ming spoke of cannot enter the inner gate."

  "Oh? Where to start?" "I think our sect, Miao Cheng Zong, has a tradition of selecting disciples every 30 years, and this time is no exception. However, due to the sudden surge in spiritual energy, our Master joined forces with other sect leaders to deduce the Heavenly Way, and discovered that this is an omen of a great calamity. Within a hundred years, talented individuals will emerge one after another, and those chosen by the Heavenly Way will appear in succession, only then can we respond to the impending disaster. But our sect's tradition of selecting disciples every 30 years has been followed for thousands of years, although under pressure from other sects to take on more disciples, we have also gone down the mountain to recruit students. However, if we were to add another inner disciple without reason, it would certainly cause a huge stir. What's worrying is..."

  "What you said, Master, I'm well aware of, but we must try our best. If this young man is indeed as talented as Tan Ming said, we should strive to take him in earlier. We can't let that child wait until the day of selecting new disciples 15 years later to enter the inner sect, or else it would be a waste."

  "Master, whether this child is as excellent as Tan Ming said is still unknown. Even if it is true, putting him among the miscellaneous disciples to temper for a few years can also polish his temperament and be very beneficial to his growth."

  A faint, lingering sigh floated out of the palace gate, stirring up the clouds and fog outside, vanishing in an instant.

  Gan Ping waited until nightfall, when all the children had finished their tests. Some of the younger ones were crying from hunger, but fortunately Gan Ping had eaten a full meal just before arriving and didn't feel particularly hungry at the moment. Tan Ming sighed and looked out at the group of children. Although he had lowered his standards, among the thousands of children in the city, he had only selected less than a hundred. The youngest was around seven or eight years old, while the oldest was only fifteen or sixteen. It seemed that he had a lot of work ahead of him.

  With a wave of his hand, Tan Ming indicated that Xuan Xin should lead the children who had passed the test to go eat, and he himself turned around and left. Gan Ping and a group of children followed Xuan Xin into the nearby General's Manor, where someone had already set out food and was waiting for them to arrive. Each person got a large bowl of rice, plus a large bowl of vegetables and a ladle of soup. Gan Ping took a bite and felt that the flavor was good, so he wolfed it down. It seemed that joining this sect's power was quite great, as even a worldly general like him was connected to it, and this General's Manor had become their lodging place. Gan Ping was already secretly looking forward to going to see the scenery inside the sect as soon as possible.

  After dinner, the children were arranged to live in separate rooms. A quiet night passed and early next morning a Taoist boy came to wake them up. Gan Ping followed the crowd of children into the courtyard, where he saw Tan Ming standing tall, with a row of Taoist boys in green robes standing behind him, led by Xuan Xin. What made Gan Ping curious was that Xuan He, the old Taoist who had been standing on the high platform yesterday, was now also wearing a green Taoist robe and stood respectfully behind Tan Ming, apparently having the same status as the other Taoist boys.

  Just as Gan Ping was watching these people with interest, the black-bearded Taoist said clearly: "From now on, you are all the 84th generation of outer door disciples of Yulongsan Miao Chengzong. This is a great blessing, and you must cherish it. However, the path to immortality is long and difficult to find, and it's unknown how many years it will take to return after leaving. If you leave now, I won't stop you." After finishing speaking, his piercing gaze fell on the children in front of him, but none of them suggested leaving.

  Seeing this scene, Tan Ming nodded in satisfaction and waved his sleeve, saying: "Since that's the case, we'll set off immediately." He didn't want to stay any longer in this filthy city. If it weren't for the sect's orders, he wouldn't have left Yulongsan, where spiritual energy was abundant, while he was still in the midst of breaking through to the liquid stage. Now, Tan Ming's heart was set on returning to the sect and cultivating, eager to reach the liquid realm as soon as possible.

  Tan Ming waved his hand and threw out a dark object, which grew with the wind and transformed into a giant ship over 50 meters in size. It was actually a large-scale magical artifact called the "Tuo Xian Ship", which was used to transport new disciples to the sect. Although its name sounded impressive, it was only a sixth-grade treasure. However, due to its massive size and ability to carry multiple people, it seemed particularly precious. Crafting such a giant transportation artifact required a significant amount of resources, even if only using sixth-grade materials. Fortunately, the Miao Cheng Sect was one of the top sects on the Tian Fu Continent, with ample resources to spare.

  Gan Ping and the others entered the giant ship, but what he didn't expect was that the inside of the ship was incredibly vast. Looking around, it seemed to be at least a mile long. It appeared that the space divine ability of Xī Zǐ Nà Xū Mí had been added during its creation. He casually found a corner and sat down, staring intently at Tan Ming's every move. Tan Ming took out several pieces of spirit stones and threw them towards the top of the ship, where they merged into the mysterious array. Gan Ping's eyes were sharp, and with one glance, he recognized that they were mid-grade spirit stones, which he had many of in his ring. It seemed that the giant ship was powered by spirit stones. As Tan Ming cast several more spells, the giant ship slowly rose into the air, disappearing into the sky before the eyes of the citizens of Shuofeng City.