Chapter 211 – Cloud Sky Sect
Suzaku calendar, year 134,500. In the cultivation country of Chu, there was a ray of light that emerged in its territories. After three days had passed, all of the sects had sent disciples to check it out, but they ultimately found nothing other than an abandoned cave.
It was rumored that a treasure appeared here, but was already taken by someone.
As for this rumor, some cultivators refused to believe it, while other cultivators believed that it was true. Because the ray of light appeared near the Cloud Sky Sect, the rumors became that the treasure was obtained by the Cloud Sky Sect.
In the same year, the Cloud Sky Sect was able to refine a Tian Sun pill. This pill’s quality had reached the early stage of 5th rank. The pill’s effect was to allow a Nascent Soul cultivator that had lost their body to immediately rebuild a new one without the need to steal a body to achieve rebirth.
The moment this pill appeared, the already famous Cloud Sky sect became even more famous. All of the surrounding rank 4 counties wanted to get the pill, but, in the end, the Ju Mo Sect from a rank 4 country got the pill through a secret agreement. Before they left, they placed a formation on the Cloud Sky Sect. The formation was very strong. Even normal rank 4 countries would have trouble breaking it.
In the end of that month, the Cloud Sky Sect opened its doors for recruiting, something that happens once every 30 years.
Various cultivation families in the country of Chu would send their descendants to the Cloud Sky Sect, hoping that they would be able to join the sect and achieve greatness with the backing of the sect.
However, the requirements to join the Cloud Sky Sect were very strange. Unlike the other sects, where they looked at how talented a person was, the Cloud Sky Sect’s recruitment was based on a special technique.
As a result, the recruiting that only happened every 30 years would only ever result in about 10 or so people being recruited. It was really small compared to the thousands of people that would gather for this event.
With the Cloud Sky Sect’s fame and how few disciples they took in, almost all of the cultivators without any sect or background dreamt that they could become disciples of the Cloud Sky Sect.
At the top of the Cloud Sky Sect mountain were rows of puzzles carved from jade in an immortal palace. This was only part of the Cloud Sky Sect. All of the other jade carvings were hidden by different techniques. From a distance, one could only see a lush, green forest, nothing else.
Three large green words were being held in the air by some spell like giant lanterns being hung off the door way.
The three words were “Cloud Sky Sect”.
When the recruiting event, which occurred every 30 years and lasted for 10 days, started, those three words would appear in the sky and, once the ten day period was over, the three words would disappear.
As a result, all of the scattered cultivators and the cultivation families in the country of Chu knew that the moment those three words appeared in the sky, the Cloud Sky Sect had started their recruitment for disciples in the country of Chu. The moment those three words disappeared, the recruitment event was over.
This morning, there were no clouds in the sky. Rays of sword light flew in from all directions toward the Cloud Sky Sect. When they were around 1000 kilometers away from the Cloud Sky Sect mountain, they all got off their flying swords, revealing many youths. All of them were fairly young. Some came by themselves, while others came with their elders.
In order to show their respect to the Cloud Sky Sect, basically all of the people who wanted to join the sect got off their flying swords 1000 kilometers away and walked toward the sect on foot.
If one were to look down from the sky right now, they could see that, within 1000 kilometers of the Cloud Sky Sect, were countless people walking toward the sect.
Outside the gate of the Cloud Sky Sect stood three cultivators who were responsible for arranging lodging and necessities for the people who came to try to join the sect.
Around 500 kilometers away from the entrance of the Cloud Sky Sect walked a man and a woman. The man was about 27 or 28 years old. He walked very leisurely and calmly toward the Cloud Sky Sect. On his clothes was an embroidery of a purple flying sword, showing that he was already an inner disciple of the Sword Sect.
Besides him walked a 20 year old girl. She wore a purple dress with a same colored sash around her waist. She had very nice curves, but also had a hint of sweetness.
Upon a closer look, the girl was very attractive and describing her as a beautiful flower would not be wrong. The girl pouted her red lips and rubbed her legs. “Elder brother, what’s so good about this Cloud Sky Sect that I have to come all the way here? I don’t like alchemy. I like the sword sect,” she complained.
The man’s expression remained normal. He looked at the girl, then poked her forehead and smiled. “There is too much killing in the sword sect. It is not suitable for you. I’m sure know that the Cloud Sky Sect is a very important sect in the Country of Chu. Even if the Country of Chu suffers a great disaster, it wouldn’t affect the Cloud Sky Sect. If you can get into the Cloud Sky Sect, your brother will be relieved. If mother and father were still alive, they would be relieved as well.”
When the girl heard her brother talk about their parents, her expression darkened a little. After pondering for a while, she obediently nodded her head. She then pointed into the forest and said to her brother, “Elder brother, if I get into the Cloud Sky Sect, I’ll make pills just for you. Then, once your cultivation is high, we can go home and teach those old guys a lesson.”
When the man heard this, he turned and a cold light appeared in his eyes. In fear of scaring his sister, he never told her the truth of what had happened that year.
The girl’s eyes widened as she looked at a youth in front of her and laughed, “Elder brother, look. That man is wearing some funny looking clothes.”
The man looked up and saw that 200 feet in front of them was a youth wearing very crudely made clothes slowly walking toward the sect. It has to be said that all of the people that came to try to join the Cloud Sky Sect were either independent cultivators or people from cultivation families. It was impossible for mortals to get there.
Therefore, it was very rare to see someone dressed like this. This was clearly the look of an ordinary mountain villager.
As if hearing the girl’s voice, the youth turned around to look at them and, without pause, he withdrew his gaze and kept walking forward.
A hint of surprise flashed across the man’s eyes. He knew that his sister was very attractive and that, during the trip here, most people who passed by would stare at her. Especially after entering the 1000 kilometer range of the Cloud Sky Sect, everyone they encountered would take an extra look at his sister, but this youth’s eyes were as calm as still water and when the youth saw his sister, there was no fluctuation in the youth’s eyes at all.
The man sent out his divine sense and found that the youth’s cultivation was only at the second or 3rd layer of Qi Condensation. After he looked for a bit, he withdrew his gaze.
The girl looked at the youth with a glint of interest in her eyes. She quickly walked forward and shouted, “Hey, are you here to join the sect as well?”
The youth frowned. He didn’t bother with her and kept walking forward.
The girl let out a grunt. She gently leaped over the youth and landed in front of him. She disgruntledly said, “Are you mute? I asked: are you here to join the sect?”
The youth looked at the girl and helplessly said, “Is that not a pointless question?” With that, he walked around the girl, shaking his head.
The girl’s face turned red. She pondered a bit and realized that what she said before really was pointless. Since the youth was already here, she still asked if he was on his way to join the sect.
The girl’s elder brother curled his lips and let out a faint smile. He wasn’t angry with the youth’s reply at all. Instead, when his sister asked the question, he had the same feeling.
The girl stomped her foot and caught up with the youth. She walked at his side and disgruntledly said, “What I asked was not pointless. With your clothes, no matter how you look, it doesn’t look like you’re here to join the sect. Look at everyone else. No one else is dressed like you. You have to know that when the Cloud Sky Sect accept disciples…”
The youth frowned again and secretly sighed. From his view, this girl was like a newborn chick, and a very annoying one at that.
If it was not for his cultivation being too low right now, he would have already waved his sleeves and left instead of suffering this girl’s pestering.
Time quickly passed by and it was afternoon now. The sun blazed in the sky and sweat oozed out of the youth’s forehead. He bitterly smiled in his heart. It had been a long time since he ran out of breath like a mortal.
Just at that moment, the girl next to him put her hand on her bag of holding and took out a few lychee nuts. After putting them in her mouth, she looked at the youth and raised her hand toward him. She asked, “Do you want this?”
The youth didn’t even look at it. He shook his head and continued to walk forward.
The girl slightly snorted and didn’t bother with it anymore. She returned to her brother’s side and put all of the lychee nuts in her brother’s hand.
Two hours later, the Cloud Sky Sect’s gate appeared in the distance. The youth let out a sigh after looking at the magnificent gate. He couldn’t help but think about the Heng Yue Sect.
This youth was Wang Lin.
More accurately, this was Wang Lin’s avatar that was created by the avatar technique. This doppelganger was created by the avatar technique from his main body and had real flesh and blood.
But this body only had 30 years to live.
This was his only plan to break through into Nascent Soul stage while not losing his cultivation. As for his main body, it was hidden somewhere near the Cloud Sky Sect.
He had already abandoned the cave he was using before because, when the avatar appeared, a ray of light shot out into the sky.
As a result, he had to quickly abandon the cave and find another place to start his closed door cultivation.
His main body went into closed door training while his avatar lived in a village at the foot of the mountain for a few months. When he heard that the Cloud Sky Sect was recruiting, he pondered for a while and decided to try getting in.
That was the cause of the current scene. In Wang Lin’s original plan, once he ran out of the spirit liquid, he was going to kidnap a Cloud Sky Sect disciple and blend into the sect to steal pills.
But now just happened to be when the Cloud Sky Sect was recruiting, so Wang Lin decided to give up his original plan. If he could join the sect, he wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of kidnapping a Cloud Sky Sect disciple and blending into the sect to steal.
All those who came to join the Cloud Sky Sect were be brought to a side mountain to rest. Once the 10 day period is over all, of them will be brought to the Sky Cloud Sect for the selection process.
When the girl that walked with Wang Lin was lead away by the disciples at the gate of the Cloud Sky Sect, her brother turned to leave, but, before he left, he took a few looks at Wang Lin.
Wang Lin’s expression was calm. Although his cultivation was gone, his experience was still there. The man in front of him was definitely not at the Core Formation stage yet and was at best at the late stage of Foundation Building. If Wang Lin were to use his main body, he could effortlessly kill him.
After staying at the Cloud Sky Sect for a few days, the three big words floating in the sky slowly dissipated. Eventually, they disappeared without a trace, signaling the end of the Cloud Sky Sect’s recruitment period.
What was next was to pick around ten or so people to join as disciples of the Cloud Sky Sect. Everyone else would be dismissed from the Cloud Sky Sect’s mountain.
On this day, thousands of people who wanted to join the Cloud Sky Sect sat cross legged on a huge stage at the foot of the mountain, waiting for the exam. Among these people were men and women, old and young, and some had even reached Core Formation, while others were like Wang Lin, who were only at the 2nd or 3rd layer of Qi Condensation.
There were dozens of Sky Cloud disciples standing on the edge of the stage with indifferent looks on their faces. They were releasing hints of pride. After all, they were already members of the Cloud Sky Sect, so their positions were naturally higher than those who wished to join.
Not long after, a middled aged man wearing a white robe with three pills embroidered on the cuffs floated down from the mountain. He floated in the area above the stage and looked at everyone there. He said, in a low tone, “If you wish to join my Cloud Sky Sect, your seniority will be low. If you’re not willing, then leave now.” *辈降十等*
When he finished speaking, none of the thousands of people on the stage left. They all looked up at the person with determined looks in their eyes. Among these people were a few Core Formation cultivators. They knew that the middle aged man’s words were for them.
After waiting for a little, the middle aged man waved his right hand and a burst of force suddenly erupted from the center of the stage, pushing all of the nearby people away and exposing an open space 10 feet in diameter on the stage.
At the same time, a dark mist column rose up from the ground there. It looked very majestic. This thick, dark mist pillar felt like it was a giant hand that was used to hold the sky up. After it rose from the ground, it stretched so far into the sky that if one were to look up from the bottom, they wouldn’t able to see the top.
The middle aged man’s voice floated toward the crowd. “Using whatever method you choose, as long as you can feel exactly what substance is inside this dark mist pillar, then you are qualified. The time limit is six hours!” With that, he landed on the side and stood silently, watching the dark mist pillar.
Wang Lin’s expression remained normal. He stared at the black mist pillar and began to think. Although he was an avatar, when creating the avatar, the avatar didn’t get any cultivation or divine sense from the main body, but all of his techniques and the memories from the Ancient God were still intact.
Wang Lin’s eyes trembled slightly. He kept analyzing the pillar until he slowly started to reveal a faint smile on his face. From his view, this pillar was clearly a type of restriction and the restriction was used to test everyone who tried to see through it.
This must be the Cloud Sky Sect’s way to get rid of people who were here to join them with ill intent, but Wang Lin wasn’t sure about how exactly the restriction would react.
What type of disciples did the Cloud Sky Sect want to find with this restriction?
According to Wang Lin’s knowledge of restrictions, it would be impossible for ordinary people to solve this restriction. As a result, even among the thousands of people on this stage, almost none of them could see through this restriction.
And so, if Wang Lin were to see through the restriction, that would be too obvious and someone would contradict his story of wanting to join the Cloud Sky Sect. But this was still not the most important part. Wang Lin was worried that if he didn’t know what type of disciple the Cloud Sky Sect wanted and broke the restriction, then he would certainly gain too much attention from the Cloud Sky Sect. That would make this venture not be worth it anymore.
Therefore, Wang Lin didn’t immediately break the restriction, but waited. He didn’t believe that the Cloud Sky Sect would just gather people and tell them that none of them were qualified.
If his analysis was correct, someone should soon find the answer here for him.
Time passed by and, in the blink of an eye, three hours had passed. Some of the people in the crowd were already getting restless. They had already tried to probe with their divine sense, but whenever their divine sense got near the dark mist, a mysterious force would push them away. No matter what method they tried, they found no success.
At last, one person slapped his bag of holding and took out a wood carving. This piece of wood was shaped like an eagle. He chanted a few words, then threw the wood carving toward the dark mist pillar.
The middle aged man who was in charge of recruiting disciples didn’t say anything about this action, but he quietly looked at the pillar. Wang Lin noticed that although the middle aged man’s expression remained calm, the Cloud Sky Sect’s disciples that were around revealed strange expressions on their faces for a brief moment.
The moment the wood eagle appeared, it instantly grew and finally turned into a golden eagle, which rushed toward the pillar. But the moment the golden eagle touched the pillar, a hand suddenly appeared from the pillar, grabbed the golden eagle, and pulled it into the black mist.
The person who sent out the golden eagle’s expression suddenly changed. He quickly stood up and quickly turned toward the middle aged man and said, “Junior gives up and would like senior to return the treasure. This is junior’s family treasure. Please, senior!”
The middle aged man scanned the person and slowly said, “The golden wooden eagle is the Gongsun family’s inheritance treasure. Our sect will of course not keep it. Since you have already quit, it will be returned to you when everyone leaves.”
The person’s gaze immediately relaxed a bit. His eyes were filled with gratitude as he walked down the stage.
The middle aged man stressed again. “I have already said this before; you can use anything you like. As long as you can clearly see what is inside, then you have passed.”
This time, a youth on the stage cautiously asked, “But if we say what is inside the pillar, then won’t everyone else here know as well?”
The middle aged man smiled and replied, “Not possible! If one of you can see through the mist, you will know the secret that lies here.”
When the hand came out of the black mist pillar, Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He had been constantly watching the restriction and when the hand appeared, a tiny gap appeared. With his knowledge and divine eye, he immediately saw several pills floating inside the mist pillar.
Wang Lin’s expression remained normal, but his heart skipped a beat. However, he pondered for a while, but didn’t act rashly. This time, more people became restless in the crowd and brought out their treasures to try to break this dark mist.
More and more people started to attack with magical treasures. Every time, a hand would come out, grab the magical treasure, and pull it into the dark mist. If the middle aged man didn’t already say it, they wouldn’t dare to use all of these magical treasures, but the Cloud Sky Sect already stated that if they give up, all of the treasures will be returned when they leave. As a result, everyone stopped caring. Many magical treasures appeared in the sky, one after another.
Through the cracks caused by the attacks, Wang Lin was able to clearly see everything that was inside the restriction. After all, he had divine eyes that could see through restrictions.
Inside it were 11 pills, 11 pieces of jade, and 11 tokens with a pill furnace carved onto them.
Wang Lin didn’t know what these three items represented, but, at that moment, a golden light appeared around the black mist. Then, a flash of golden light came from inside the mist as well. After the golden light circled the pillar for a bit, it turned into a piece of jade and flew into the hand of a girl who didn’t know what was going on at all.
At this point, the middle aged man from the Cloud Sky Sect’s eyes lit up. He quickly moved next to the girl and picked up the jade in her hand. After looking at the jade for a bit, he smiled and said, “You pass!” With that, he waved his right hand and a disciple of the Cloud Sky Sect came and lead her away.
“Take her up the mountain!” The middle aged man smiled at the girl. He waved his sleeve and returned back to where he was and waited for the next person to pass.
That girl still felt like everything was a blur. While still dazed, she was lead up the mountain by a Cloud Sky Sect disciple.
Seeing that someone had managed to pass the exam, all of the people on the stage started to discuss with each other, but, as for the people of the Cloud Sky Sect, they weren’t bothered by it at all.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He clearly saw that it wasn’t because the girl saw through the black mist, but the piece of jade inside the black mist chose the girl.
And when the middle aged man saw the piece of jade falling into the girl’s hand, he didn’t immediately announce her passing, but went up to check the piece of jade before announcing it. Through this, Wang Lin judged that the middle aged man went to check if the jade really chose her, so, if he had acted rashly before, he would have revealed a weak point.
Wang Lin sneered. This Cloud Sky Sect’s method of accepting disciples was indeed strange.
Just at that moment, a golden light suddenly started to flash from the pillar again. Wang Lin’s eyes flashed and his right hand secretly made a restriction. With the spiritual energy he had right now, he could only use a few simple restrictions and was unable to make an illusionary circle.
Nevertheless, the restrictions he possessed were ancient restrictions passed down by the Ancient God. It was not something normal cultivators could match.