Chapter 2: The Ancestor of Ten Thousand Ghosts
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The Yin family has a total of thirteen ancestors, each occupying a mountain or a cave, all of which are places for spiritual practice. Every ten years, they recruit disciples, which is also an important matter for them. Disciples are not only successors but also a part of the increase in prestige and power. Everyone thinks that having more talented and genius-like disciples under their command is better. However, it's already difficult to find a young man with excellent qualifications and spiritual roots who can be nurtured. Those who can be called geniuses are even rarer.
From this, the Yin Xie sect has a rule for assigning disciples. Each of the nine elders will send three disciples from the previous generation, totaling 39 disciples, to participate in a drawing and competition. The final ranking of each disciple determines the score of each elder. The one with the highest score gets to choose their disciples first.
Of course, every new disciple who has not yet entered the door will undergo an assessment test of their qualifications. However, only the top thirty are counted, and those with higher qualifications and greater potential require more points to be exchanged. All the old ancestors use points to compete for the top thirty disciples with the highest qualifications. After the top thirty matches are completed, the remaining hundreds of unranked disciples will be evenly distributed among the various caves and mountains.
To put it simply, the top thirty in terms of qualifications will be regarded as treasures by each cave's old ancestor and carefully cultivated. They may not necessarily be treated as direct disciples. Those ranked after the top thirty do not have a ranking, they can only be treated as ordinary disciples and handed over to the unified teaching within the cave mansion. Only those who perform exceptionally well will enter the eyes of the old ancestors.
Lei Dong didn't know what his qualifications or potential were, but he knew for sure that he wouldn't be among the top thirty. Naturally, he wouldn't catch any of the old ancestors' eyes, and when the time came, he would definitely be randomly assigned to one of them. But this was also good, as this kind of cultivation was fraught with danger everywhere, so it was better to keep a low profile.
This time, the first place in the qualification ranking is an eight-year-old girl who looks delicate and lovely. It's said that her qualifications are rare to see even in a hundred years. The old ancestors of various caves also sent their strongest direct disciples, vowing to win her over. That's why this year's Doufa Conference was particularly bloody. Only the old ancestor who ranked first in total score has the qualification to choose her first. The white-clothed youth who ranked second had good qualifications too, but compared to that little girl, he was far inferior.
The situation on the martial arts arena has started to change again. The short, silver shield was finally cut into four pieces by a heavy sword. However, before the tall one could even finish gloating, a half-transparent ghost suddenly entwined itself around him, causing him to lose color in shock. A dark thunderbolt, only the size of a dragon's eye, appeared silently on his body.
Boom~ The poor big guy had already been stunned by the advantage, always thinking about how to kill the short guy with one sword. But unexpectedly, he was counterattacked and entangled by the short guy's ghostly sneak attack, and finally killed by a dark thunderbolt in an instant. If he had been on guard, the ghost would not have approached without being discovered. The dark thunderbolt could also be dodged or defended against. Nowhere like now, being blown to smithereens.
Seeing that tall man die so miserably, Lei Dong's face also changed greatly. The fighting arena was indeed extremely dangerous. Although I had expected the short man to have a comeback move, I didn't think it would be so ruthless and poisonous, taking his opponent's life in an instant. My heart couldn't help but become even more cautious. And seeing that zombie-faced helper of Zhi Yan's, with his completely indifferent expression, it seemed that this place was not only eerie and terrifying, but human lives were also extremely worthless.
Soon, someone cleaned up the arena. The next match began again. This time, a girl went on stage, and her opponent was a burly man. However, that burly man's face turned pale. As soon as the battle started, he prepared to surrender. But unexpectedly, the girl's attack was extremely vicious. A dark green light flashed, and the burly man's chest burst with blood, his body engulfed in green flames, falling to the ground with a miserable wail.
At that moment, the burly man was grabbed by himself until he was bruised and battered, and then he was burned to death by a green flame.
It's clearing the battlefield again, and continuing on to the next duel.
Three days later, all the fighting finally came to an end. Thirty-nine people participated, and in the end, only more than twenty survived.
That delicate and charming little girl was taken away by a blue-robed old ancestor who laughed maniacally. The rest of the caves also had their gains. Lei Dong's body moved involuntarily, and he was assigned to the Wan Gui Cave under the command of an old ancestor named You Wan Gui. Coincidentally, it was the same sect as that cunning dwarf who flipped the board at the last minute. That dwarf ultimately got tenth place, barely making it into the top ten. As for the other two disciples who went to battle, one ranked twenty-first and the other died in battle, his overall score ranking ninth among the thirteen old ancestors. However, when it was his turn to choose, all of the top ten had already been taken away. Helpless, he could only choose three new disciples who were all within the top twenty.
The results can be said to be extremely poor, and this loss is likely to affect his ranking next time. This mode of cultivating disciples often leads to the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. The direct reason for this loss is still due to the previous loss. Under the vicious cycle, it led to today's result.
As a result, the face of this Wan Gui Lao Zu was very unsightly. After bringing back more than 20 new disciples including Lei Dong to the Wan Gui Cave, he handed over most of them to his older disciples to deal with. He then took three of his top twenty disciples and went to personally instruct them, wanting to teach them earlier and strive for a higher ranking next time. So as not to always end up with some leftover scraps in the end.
The remaining disciples, including Leidong, were each assigned a room carved out in the mountain cave and went to sleep after washing up. After all, they had been busy with the entrance ceremony and observing battles for days, which was quite tiring.
The Lei family's mansion had several rooms, including a living room, a training room, a study, and a large private martial arts hall. In total, it was likely over 1,000 square meters. The interior was lavishly decorated, with all sorts of furniture and objects being the best of the best, only suitable for royalty and nobility in the mortal world. The Lei family was a wealthy family, but even they had only heard of the materials used to make these exquisite pieces of furniture, without ever having seen them before.
It's no wonder, the Yin Xie Sect controls several countries and has all sorts of treasures to offer. However, in the eyes of the Yin Xie Sect, these things are just ordinary objects, even the lowest-level disciples can enjoy them. Originally, Lei Dong was dissatisfied with joining an evil sect, but seeing these things made him take a deep breath. Just moving out the furniture and decorations from this ordinary disciple's room would be enough to make him rich for life. Cultivators are indeed the most noble existence in this world. His disappointed mood was reduced by several points. However, the biggest problem with this place is that there is no sunlight, only a gloomy atmosphere. No wonder the people of the Yin Xie Sect he saw had pale faces.
Joining the Yin Evil Sect doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Especially after seeing the previous generation of disciples' fighting methods today, which were sinister and evil, with extraordinary power. Lei Dong also understood that the Yin Evil Sect could survive in this world and live very comfortably, so there must be some reason for its existence.
Lei had known the importance of exercising since he was young and his physical condition wasn't bad. But after a series of trips and events, his body felt exhausted too. He fell onto the couch and soon fell fast asleep.
On the second day, he woke up early. After all, unlike other companions' true childlike nature, Leidong was also a transmigrator, so his knowledge and temperament were naturally much stronger than theirs. Firstly, this Yinyue Sect was not a good place at all. Secondly, since he had stepped onto this dangerous path of cultivating immortality, Leidong did not want to become someone else's stepping stone. Although he had a spiritual root and qualified for cultivation, he was by no means an extremely exceptional person. The principle of the slow bird flying first was still understood.
Since being discovered to have the talent for cultivating immortality two years ago, I had been given some extra pre-training. Most of it was teaching me some texts, as well as some simple pharmacology, mining, and basic concepts of cultivating immortality. These were all meant to lay a foundation so that when I joined a sect, I wouldn't be completely clueless. Especially the knowledge of texts - without even being able to recognize characters, how could one cultivate immortality? Fortunately, Lei Dong had studied and practiced writing from a young age, and was not unfamiliar with the texts of this world. In this aspect, perhaps he had a slight advantage over some of his peers.
After waking up, I first went to the door of my room. From the senior brother who assigned rooms yesterday, I learned that each disciple's private suite is an absolute place. Except for Wan Gui Lao Zu in the Wan Gui Cave, no one can enter without permission. Otherwise, the forbidden law array in the room will make the intruder suffer greatly, and in severe cases, it may even cost their life. As for Wan Gui Lao Zu, he won't be bored enough to sneak into the bedrooms of low-level disciples everywhere, so let's not mention that for now.
In addition to the restrictive spell formation on the door, there are other uses. Not only can it be used to send messages and contact other disciples without leaving the room, but it can also directly summon servants by inputting requests inside. These so-called servants are a group of slaves belonging to the jurisdiction of the Wan Gui Cave, composed of ordinary people who cannot cultivate immortality, specializing in taking care of the daily life of the disciples.
For example, Leidong is now hungry and can send out his food requirements through the house door array. The large number of Wan Gui Ku slaves are always on call. As soon as any formal disciple has a request, it will be immediately satisfied. Yesterday, that senior brother said that there were only over a hundred formal disciples in Wan Gui Ku in total. However, there are tens of thousands of formal slaves serving in Wan Gui Ku. In addition, near Wan Gui Ku, there is also a city where ordinary people live, called Wan Gui City. This Wan Gui City is specifically used to supply the various living needs of the Wan Gui Ku disciples. If calculated carefully, even a primary formal disciple can enjoy service that is no lower than that of a duke or marquis in the secular world.
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