Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 60: Bai Zhehua

Chapter 60: Bai Zhehua

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/1).

Xu Disheng was standing at the stern of the giant ship, looking down at the vast sea of clouds below. The giant ship slowly lifted into the air, and the distance to the rainbow vortex above his head shortened. After a short moment, half of the ship had already entered the vortex.

As he stood there at the back of the ship, he unconsciously looked down the second before the ship was about to be swallowed up by the multicolored vortex. For a moment, he stared down into the sea of clouds, and suddenly, his pupils contracted violently as if he had seen something inconceivable. He didn’t even have time to react before he felt a wave of dizziness, and then the prismatic light disappeared. In the next moment, they were already back at the Examination Hall at Mountain Affairs Peak.

The purple-robed Deacon said, “Zhou Chao, bring them to Examination Hall and record their grades. Those disciples who have already passed the examination may take their jade identity tablet and go to Human Affairs Hall to be assigned to a Mountain Peak.”

“Understood, Lord Deacon,” Zhou Chao and Wu Liangyu respectfully complied with the order.

The giant ship slowly landed in front of the entrance to Examination Hall, and the 100 or so people aboard started getting off the ship one by one. Most of them had looks filled with emotion, or looked expectant for the future. Meanwhile, the faces of the dozen or so disciples who didn’t pass the Mountain Entry Examination were ashen, their moods gloomy.

Seeing that everyone on the ship had already gotten off, the purple-robed Deacon made a hand seal, and the giant ship shot off into the sky with a streak of light, disappearing over the horizon.

Zhou Chao looked at the disciples and stated, “Those who passed the examination, bring your jade identity slips and come in to record your grades. Then, you can go to Human Affairs Hall for your Mountain Peak assignment.” Then, he looked over at the dozen or so people who hadn’t passed the examination, his tone turning cold. “As for those who didn’t pass the examination, you can all go back to the Outer Region on your own.”

When he finished speaking, he turned around and strode into Examination Hall.

In the last year or so, Xu Disheng had been digesting the last remaining Qi Gathering Pill, paired with the two remaining Spirit Gathering Pills. He broke through to the Sea of Qi stage in one go, condensing his Jianggong Sea of Qi, which formed an endless, renewing cycle of profound qi in his body. With this, his lifespan was extended to 500 years.

He had also cultivated the Corrosion Incantation to the level corresponding to the Sea of Qi stage. When he initially picked his cultivation methods, he chose 3 levels of the Corrosion Incantation. However, it was a badly damaged version, so it could only be cultivated up to the Dao Foundation stage at the highest level. In the examination in the private Secret Realm, he used the most ordinary Shangqing Fierce Incantation with the effect of the Sea of Qi level of the Corrosion Incantation, allowing him to pass the Mountain Entry Examination with ease.

He cleared the examination in 30 breaths of time, but it wasn’t the fastest among this time’s cohort of people taking the Mountain Entry Examination. There were two other people who had longsword Spirit Tools, and only needed 20 breaths of time and 12 breaths of time respectively to deal with all 3 white humanoid figures.

But he was the most eye-catching of the examinees, since he hadn’t used a Spirit Tool, and only relied on the capabilities of his own profound qi. He only needed to wave his hand to deal with each white humanoid figure, which gave off an extremely effortless and natural impression to the onlookers.

The two jade bottles of medicine that he bought were already completely used up, and of the 100 or so spirit stones that he originally had, he now only had somewhere between 50 or 60 remaining. It wasn’t that Xu Disheng hadn’t been able to afford an ordinary longsword Spirit Tool. It was just that in the last year or so, Xu Disheng’s focus had only been on raising his cultivation, so he hadn’t thought much about those sorts of things.

Now that he had reached the Sea of Qi stage, his next step was to join one of the 317 Mountain Peaks in the Mingxin Mountain Range. Then, he would be considered a real disciple of the Shangqing Sacred Sect in all aspects.

Xu Disheng finished recording his grade, then left Examination Hall. He thought back to the scene he beheld in the sea of clouds while he was standing on the rear of the ship, in the moments before the giant ship disappeared into the rainbow vortex. The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile, and he muttered to himself, “The waters of the Mingxin Sixth Mountain Range are indeed deep and unfathomable.”

He clutched his jade identity tablet in his hand and went straight to Human Affairs Hall, at the highest point on Mountain Affairs Peak.

In Human Affairs Hall, there were already several dozen people who had participated in the examination with him, standing around in groups of 3 or 4, waiting for their Peak assignment.

Among them was that youth who used a longsword Spirit Tool and passed the examination in only 12 breaths of time. The youth was conversing with others amidst the crowd, but when he caught a glimpse of Xu Disheng’s figure, his eyes lit up. He took a few steps over and approached Xu Disheng. “Junior Martial Brother Xu, have you picked a Mountain Peak yet?”

Xu Disheng’s showing in the examination was very striking to many of them, so they remembered his name and appearance.

Xu Disheng raised his brow and replied, “I thought you couldn’t pick a Mountain Peak yourself, and that you could only be assigned to one?”

The name of the youth that approached him was Bai Zhehua. When he heard what Xu Disheng said, he was shocked, and the expressions of the other people beside him also revealed a hint of a smile. Because of Bai Zhehua’s presence, those people didn’t say anything, but they looked at Xu Disheng as if he were a country bumpkin.

Bai Zhehua smiled and said, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, you’ve probably always been immersed in cultivation, so you might have been unaware. Ordinary disciples can only listen and comply with the arrangements of Human Affairs Hall. However, there are some disciples who made arrangements in advance with a certain Mountain Peak, and upon leaving the Outer Region, they would be directly taken in by that Mountain Peak, removing the need for an assignment.”

Bai Zhehua had clearly already settled on the Mountain Peak he wanted to join, and he was only here at Human Affairs Hall to go through with the formalities.

Xu Disheng nodded, and when he was just about to open his mouth to speak, an obviously quite quick-witted person standing beside Bai Zhehua said to him with a smile, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, if you haven’t picked a Mountain Peak in advance, you could come along with us and join Morning Dew Peak if you would like. We are all fellow martial brothers who took the same examination, so we should look out for each other.”

This was another custom that was tacitly carried out among people who had been preselected by a Mountain Peak. They would keep an eye out for other outstanding disciples during the examination and try to rope them over to their side. Xu Disheng had drawn the attention of these kinds of people.

There were many other groups of 3 to 4 people in Examination Hall, and many of them were now looking in his direction.

That quick-witted disciple was called Li Dan. Seeing that Xu Disheng was still pondering, he opened his mouth to continue.

Bai Zhehua waved his hand, interrupting Li Dan. He said with a smile, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, you most likely don’t know very much about the 317 Mountain Peaks of Mingxin Mountain Range, right? In that case, you can try to get a better understanding first, you don’t need to be in a hurry to respond.”

The people beside him all agreed.

Xu Disheng cupped his hands and replied, “Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Bai.”

Bai Zhehua’s identity clearly wasn’t ordinary, given the way that the disciples at his side acted towards him, and that he owned a longsword Spirit Tool while still in the Outer Region, which often cost over 50 spirit stones. There was a good chance that he was even a descendent of the Dao Foundation powerhouse of Morning Dew Peak.

Aside from Bai Zhehua’s group of people, there were several other waves of people who approached Xu Disheng to express their goodwill, inviting him to join certain Mountain Peaks, such as Transgression Peak, Tackling Thunder Peak, and so on. Among the people who approached him, one was the other disciple who passed the examination with a longsword Spirit Tool in just 20 breaths of time. His name was Zhang Puze.

Xu Disheng neither refused nor accepted any of these invitations. As they all stood waiting in a queue, people would approach him to share a few well-intended words and polite laughs with him.

There were several disciples working in Human Affairs Hall. There were very few people left in Xu Disheng’s line, and very soon, it was Xu Disheng’s turn.

The human affairs disciple was rather impatient and said coldly, “Hand over your jade identity tablet.”

Xu Disheng handed over his jade identity slip. The human affairs disciple took it and swept his consciousness through it. The look in his eyes changed, and the impatience from before diminished considerably. He asked, “Xu Disheng, which Mountain Peak were you pre-selected by?”

Xu Disheng replied, “I have not yet been preselected by a Mountain Peak, Senior Martial Brother.”

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