Chapter 774: Core Disciples

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

There was a gigantic screen suspended in the void, and on it was the visions of all the cultivators who had participated in the second trial.

Tang Ximen felt a pang of sympathy as he looked at the despairing Li Tong. “Li Tong’s disposition is actually very suited for cultivation. Can’t we make an exception and accept him?”

“I agree. I feel like we’ll lose a lot of potential talents in this second trial.” Su Qianyun also felt a deep sense of sympathy.

An Lin shook his head. “I agree that we’ll lose a lot of talents this way. I also understand that love and friendship aren’t necessarily determining factors in how successful one can become. Cultivators who cherish their own life over others’ lives might indeed achieve great success in the future.

“However, I hope that our sect is more caring and compassionate. It doesn’t need to be the strongest sect, but it needs to be a sect that everyone loves. It needs to be a large and caring family.

“Think about it. If the disciples are sincere individuals who care about their teammates’ safety, we’ll also be more at ease when passing cultivation methods down to them, am I correct?”

An Lin’s words caused Tang Ximen and Su Qianyun to fall deep into thought.

He’s right… This kind of caring sect is what we want to create!

If the sect is full of strong yet selfish and cold-hearted individuals, then what joy will there be?

There was a glimmer in Xu Xiaolan’s eyes as she gazed at An Lin, and a look of pride also emerged on her face.

It was as if she was saying, “Look! That’s how loving and caring my dao partner is!”

Xuanyuan Cheng and Liu Qianhuan also nodded in approval. It was evident that they agreed with what An Lin said.

Since they were friends who had been through thick and thin together in the past, An Lin’s words were right up their alley.

In the end, only fifty-two of the one thousand people passed the second trial.

This wasn’t to say that all the cultivators were cold-hearted. Rather, most cultivators valued their lives greatly, and many people would choose to flee rather than save someone who they barely knew. This was completely understandable.

In fact, Li Tong had performed relatively well. He had hesitated for a long time before choosing to flee. If Bai Ling’s illusion wasn’t so underhanded—creating a teammate who urged him to flee—there was a strong possibility that he would’ve stayed to rescue his other teammate.

As for those who chose to stay and risk their lives for their teammates, perhaps they were dumb c*nts in the eyes of many other cultivators.

However, the Four Nine Immortal Sect liked these types of dumb c*nts.

Thereupon, those fifty-two cultivators entered the final round of selection.

To An Lin’s surprise, Li Tong—who had failed to pass the second trial—resolutely decided to participate in the normal disciple selection trial.

In truth, proud and talented people like him were probably better off joining other sects.

“He wants to strive to become a core disciple through becoming a normal disciple first? Interesting…” An Lin grinned in anticipation.

An Lin didn’t dislike Li Tong. Rather, he found him to be very honest and forthright.

Thus, An Lin was eager to see what he could make of himself.

Out of the ten thousand trial-takers, only half decided to stay and participate in the normal disciple selection trial.

In reality, most people had come in the hopes of becoming a core disciple. Many of them were uninterested in becoming normal disciples. They knew that normal disciples were merely coolies and that there was little room for development.

Xuanyuan Cheng was in charge of the normal disciple selection trial, and he led them over to the Number Two Testing Ground.

The cultivators had all experienced the terrors of Bai Ling’s trials, and some of them were still trembling uncontrollably as they walked.

What kind of strange and daunting trial was awaiting them?

The space distorted and warped, and the remaining fifty-two trial-takers arrived before An Lin and the others.

Of these fifty-two trial-takers, eight were of the Soul Formation Stage, fifteen were of the Spirit Nurturing Stage, twenty were of the Dao Body Stage, and nine were mortal humans.

Of the mortal humans, An Lin had a strong impression of a little boy called Ning Rique.

In order to protect another little boy, Ning Rique was bitten several times by a wild dog. Although he was in tears, he still persisted and attacked the dog with rocks. In the end, he managed to scare the dog away.

In the step-climbing trial, he was also the third-last to give up.

This kind of perseverance and maturity didn’t seem like something a five or six-year-old boy would possess.

It was also worth mentioning that Dragon Princess Bei Lian was the second last to give up in the step-climbing trial. She finally gave up after persisting for a long time and fainting several times. An Lin could barely bear to watch her suffer.

Bei Lian’s sulky expression when she glanced at Bai Ling after leaving the trial was still imprinted deep in An Lin’s mind…

An Lin appeared before the fifty-two trial-takers. His white robe fluttered gracefully, and his eyes were piercing and profound. He had a haughty look on his face.

“Congratulations on passing two extremely difficult trials! It’s now time for the final selection!

“The pavilions which are currently recruiting disciples include the Dragon Pavilion, Sword Pavilion, Purple Star Pavilion, and Man Pavilion.

“You guys can nominate a pavilion that you want to join. Also, you can’t change your decision. After choosing, the pavilion lords will also make their choice. If they accept your request to join, then congratulations, you will have succeeded. If not, then you will have failed!”

A commotion broke out among the trial-takers. What the f*ck? So they would fail if they were unfortunate and the pavilion lords didn’t like them? Their hard work from before would all go to waste?

This kind of recruitment process was far too casual!

However, they had become accustomed to the Four Nine Immortal Sect’s unique recruitment process long ago. Thus, they didn’t grumble for long and quickly started pondering over their options.

They glanced at Xiao Ze, Liu Qianhuan, Bai Ling, and Little Lang, and they mulled over which Pavilion Lord would like them more…

Bei Lian walked toward Xiao Ze with confidence.

Xiao Ze’s eyes lit up. “Bei Lian, you’re the type of talent that my Dragon Pavilion needs!”

Bei Lian smiled daintily. “Thank you for accepting me, Pavilion Lord Xiao Ze. Please look after me in the future.”

The others were all surprised upon seeing this. So it’s actually this easy?

A male cultivator became giddy, and he walked up to Liu Qianhuan. “Pavilion Lord Liu Qianhuan, please look after me in the future!”

Liu Qianhuan glanced at the male cultivator, and the shadow of some ancient sword flashed past her eyes. Then, she shook her head in disappointment. “Your aptitude for the sword is too weak. I can’t teach you, sorry.”

Boom!

It was as if he had been struck by a bolt of divine lightning.

The male cultivator swayed dazedly. He almost fainted upon hearing Liu Qianhuan’s words of rejection.If you like reading comics please visit Webnovel.live

I failed? I was rejected because my aptitude for the sword dao was too weak?!

Dong Zhen, a Four-Tailed Fire Fox that had come from the Myriad Mountain Realm, stood up and ran toward White Scale Wolf God’s Man Pavilion.

A female cultivator felt that the wolf person was more amicable, so she also ran over to him. However, she was brutally rejected.

The trial-takers were eliminated one after another. The remaining trial-takers became more and more terrified.

The reasons for rejection were infinite in variety.

Insufficient aptitude, unsuited, fate, not smart enough, “you’re a good person, but”…

What the f*ck… The group of trial-takers was about to have a mental breakdown!

They had initially thought that they had a good chance of becoming a core disciple. After all, there were only a few dozen trial-takers left. Who would’ve thought that the elimination rate in this final round of selection would be so high?! Moreover, the reasons for rejection made them want to spew blood!

In the end, only fifteen of the fifty-two trial-takers succeeded in becoming core disciples.

Liu Qianhuan’s Sword Pavilion recruited three people—Ning Rique, Ding Xiang, and Peng Yu. Peng Yu was a sword cultivator of the Spirit Nurturing Stage.

Xiao Ze’s Dragon Pavilion also recruited three people—Bei Lian, Sun Xiaodie, and Gong Xichen. Bei Lian was a member of the Dragon Tribe, and the other two were both Soul Formation Stage cultivators who had dragon bloodlines.

White Scale Wolf God’s Man Pavilion recruited four people—He Xiang, Ou Huang, Dong Zhen, and Jiang Ba. He Xiang and Ou Yang were both of the Dao Body Stages, Dong Zhen was a Four-Tailed Fire Fox of the Spirit Nurturing Stage, and Jiang Ba was a Golden-Furred Lion Person of the Soul Formation Stage.

Bai Ling—who had left deep scars in the minds of the trial-takers—ended up accepting the most disciples.

Her Purple Star Pavilion accepted five people—Chu Ming, Zhou Yu, Meng Mei, Cheng Yingxiong, and Liu Bei. Chu Ming and Zhou Yu were both intelligent mortals, Meng Mei was of the Dao Body Stages, and Cheng Yingxiong and Liu Bei were of the Spirit Nurturing Stage.

As for the other trial-takers…

Some of them left, and some of them chose to stay and participate in the normal disciple selection trial.

An Lin sighed as he looked at the leaving cultivators.

Sometimes, simply being talented wasn’t enough. For example, what the final trial looked for was fate…