Inside the only room on the topmost floor of the sword tower, Jiu Shen sat on his chair with a calm look on his face. Lying peacefully on his embrace was a little girl with short white hair. She had a wide smile on her face, a clear evidence that she was having a good dream.

Behind the two of them was a tall young lady with long purple hair. She was looking at the man in front of her with respect and admiration.

"I'm again one step closer to my goal..." Jiu Shen muttered under his breath. His indifferent eyes flashed intensely for a moment.

This wasn't the first time that Long Meili heard her master speak about this goal of his, but she always tactfully chose to remain silent during these moments. She knew that Jiu Shen had his reasons for suddenly establishing a sect after living an idle life inside his store. As Jiu Shen's subordinate, she would always remain at his side, ready to do his bidding...

"Knock. Knock. Knock."

"Come inside." Jiu Shen said when he heard the knocking on the door.

Creak.

Jiu Shen stared calmly at Xia Xinyue who had just stepped inside the room. The coldness that she showed to the young applicants earlier was gone and was now replaced with a warm and docile look.

"Sect Master, the first assessment is now over. From the initial 13,689 applications, 758 of them passed. With all due respect, I think the standard is just too high for the applicants, and there might only be a little more than a hundred after the final assessment. Do you still wish to continue with the same arrangement?" Xia Xinyue asked with concern.

She was the one who tested the applicants' talents and she saw a lot that she deemed worthy of nurturing. However, most of them failed to reach the standards set by Jiu Shen.

Jiu Shen's expression remained the same after hearing her words. It was as if he had already expected to hear those words.

While gently rubbing the hair of the little girl in his arms, Jiu Shen replied with an indifferent tone.

"Xinyue, only those that are accepted by the Brilliant Star possesses the fate and talent to surpass the 9th-rank Saint. However, how many of these talented young elites could attain such a level of cultivation in their lifetime? I can indeed help those with lesser talents to overcome that realm, but it would take many years and a lot of valuable resources to do this. I did not establish this sect just to create a massive army..."

Jiu Shen did not want to linger for too long in Nuar. That's why he only chose to accept the best young elites of the Profound Dragon Continent. Besides, he did not mention one thing to Xia Xinyue regarding how the Brilliant Star works.

It is not just capable of measuring one's talent. It is also capable of measuring a person's fate, luck, and willpower! That means those that passed the first assessment were not all talented individuals. Some of them might just have a sufficient amount of luck and fate or high willpower.

Jiu Shen sacrificed a bit of his soul power to create a few of those crystal balls, but he knew that it was worth it. After all, the heaven-defying ability that it has is just too important to achieve his goal.

Xia Xinyue no longer pressed the matter when she saw Jiu Shen's unchanging look.

"Sect Master, is there anything else you want me to do?" She asked with her head down.

Jiu Shen was about to say no, but he suddenly felt the little girl in his embrace sucking his thumb like a vampire.

"Have the kitchen staff prepare five bottles of milk for me and bring it here immediately." He said while looking at Ice with a gentle expression.

Xia Xinyue knew that the milk was meant for Ice, but she still nodded her head as she responded. "Yes, Sect Master."

The room lapsed into silence after that and Xia Xinyue took this as a sign to leave the room.

Creak.

"Master, do you want me to massage your shoulders?" Long Meili asked as she held Jiu Shen's stiff shoulders.

Jiu Shen was silent for a moment, but he still nodded his head to accept her offer. His neck and shoulder felt a bit stiff after holding Ice in his embrace for too long. A good massage might help him...

***

"So this is the Heavenly Sword Tower. I can't believe that it is even more gorgeous inside! It looks even more imposing than the headquarters of the Alliance!" Prince Dante said with a look of shock.

"Your Highness, you've been to the Alliance's headquarters before?" Zhu Ren asked curiously.

Prince Dante nodded his head and replied. "Yes, I've been there twice when my father, His Majesty, had something to report to the Alliance. That place has thousands of supreme individuals, but I doubt if one of them could even beat Sect Master Jiu."

Zhu Ren and the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Their group was currently seated cross-legged inside one of the sword tower's training rooms. It had such a vast space inside that it caused this group of youths to remain standing dumbfounded for more than ten seconds when they came inside this training room.

"Among our group, Brother Zhu has the highest measured talent. He is actually an eight-star talent!" Prince Dante said in admiration.

Zhu Ren felt a bit overwhelmed when he sensed the gazes of his friends.

"Yeah. I never thought that this spear maniac is actually hiding such monstrous talent..." Beiming Chu shook his head with a wry smile.

Zhu Ren felt a bit embarrassed, but he was a bit curious about how the Brilliant Star measured their talents. In his opinion, his talent was definitely not the best in their group, but the results showed by the Brilliant Star proved otherwise. Was it broken? Or was there something else about it?

"Just that, from the name of this sect, its focus should be on swordsmanship. Would you really be able to improve your spearmanship here?" Prince Dante glanced at Zhu Ren with a solemn look.