The ninth year after the contract for the blessed land was secured!
While cultivating, Ye Qingxuan was, as usual, sitting quietly in the stone pavilion, sipping tea and gazing at the scenery beyond the mountain peaks.
Suddenly, the resonant tolling of bells rang out from the direction of Xuantian Peak.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Hearing the unexpected chimes, Ye Qingxuan was somewhat startled.
“What’s going on?”
Immediately after, as the bells continued to sound, cultivators from various peaks within the Xuantian Mountain Range began to soar into the air, flying on their swords toward Xuantian Peak.
Watching figures occasionally fly past the Qingxuan Blessed Land on their way to Xuantian Peak, Ye Qingxuan was momentarily at a loss.
After taking out his disciple token and contacting Bai Wenyang, he finally understood with a start.
“So it’s the sect’s centennial Enrollment Ceremony!”
The centennial Enrollment Ceremonies for all the hegemonic-level powers were scheduled for the same day.
This day could be considered a grand celebration across all five regions of the Di Xuan Realm.
It was also the best opportunity for cultivators with moderate aptitudes to join the various hegemonic-level powers.
For a sect like the Xuantian Sect, at other times, apart from its affiliated factions which could lower requirements to send people of ordinary talent into the sect, individuals from ordinary villages and towns could only go to major state cities, commandery cities, or prefectural cities each year to test their aptitudes. Only those with a talent of seven-element spiritual roots or above could directly join the Xuantian Sect.
Therefore, the centennial Enrollment Ceremony of hegemonic-level powers was practically the only chance for ordinary individuals with less than seven-element spiritual roots to join such powers.
The reason it was held only once a century was twofold: first, to give other factions some breathing room for survival; second, because having too many low-level disciples held little significant meaning for the major hegemonic-level powers.
For the Xuantian Sect’s centennial Enrollment Ceremony, the minimum talent requirement was three-element spiritual roots!
But in reality, disciples who joined the Xuantian Sect each year generally started with at least four-element spiritual roots.
This was because only with four-element spiritual roots could one, leveraging the superior environment within the Xuantian Sect, have a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul realm.
Nascent Soul realm cultivators were considered the foundational strength of the major hegemonic-level powers, possessing the true independent capability to travel abroad and handle various matters for their sect.
As for disciples below the Nascent Soul realm, in the eyes of the hegemonic-level powers, they were like infants, unable to shoulder significant responsibilities.
For those with talent below four-element spiritual roots, even within the Xuantian Sect, without substantial support, the chance to break through to the Nascent Soul realm was exceedingly slim.
Therefore, unless one was exceptionally outstanding in other areas, individuals with three-element spiritual root talent essentially had no chance of joining the Xuantian Sect during the centennial Enrollment Ceremony.
The gap in innate talent was not so easily bridged!
The further one progressed in cultivation, the more immense the energy required. Without an excellent cultivation environment and ample resource supply, those lacking in spiritual roots would not accumulate enough spiritual power to break through even if they exhausted their lifespan.
For those with three or four-element spiritual roots, outside of hegemonic-level powers and without ample resources or heaven-defying opportunities, there was basically no chance to break through to the Nascent Soul realm.
Which power below the hegemonic level had the audacity to lift the suppression on their spirit veins, allowing spiritual energy to spread unchecked?
Hegemonic-level powers dared to lift the suppression on their spirit veins without affecting the cultivation of high-level practitioners.
This was because, with the cooperation of Mahayana realm cultivators and immortal artifacts, they could forcibly breach the world’s barrier, drawing sufficient chaotic energy for tenth-grade spirit veins, accelerating their conversion of spiritual energy.
After lifting the suppression on spirit veins, the spiritual mechanisms between veins intertwined, greatly increasing the growth rate of lower-grade spirit veins, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.
Mahayana realm cultivators, immortal artifacts, and tenth-grade spirit veins—these three were indispensable. They were conditions that powers below the hegemonic level simply could not fulfill.
This was also one of the reasons why the major hegemonic-level powers in the Di Xuan Realm remained perpetually strong, capable of producing ascendants one after another.
A power with only Mahayana realm cultivators guarding it, lacking an immortal artifact for suppression, could only be called a pseudo-hegemonic power.
Though seemingly separated by a thin line, pseudo-hegemonic powers and true hegemonic powers were worlds apart.
For a pseudo-hegemonic power to advance to hegemonic status, there were only two paths.
The first: the pseudo-hegemonic power must possess at least two Mahayana cultivators, one of whom successfully condenses laws and ascends to the Immortal realm. Before ascending, this cultivator must nurture the faction’s spirit vein to the tenth grade and, using their own Dao laws, forge an immortal artifact to remain with the faction as its guardian.
The second path: through incredible, heaven-defying luck, the power occupies a tenth-grade spirit vein, unexpectedly acquires an immortal artifact, and, with a Mahayana realm cultivator in the sect, can also be considered a hegemonic-level power, though its foundation would be much weaker.
Below pseudo-hegemonic powers:
Were the top-tier powers with Tribulation Transcension realm cultivators guarding them, first-rate powers with Void Interpretation realm guardians, second-rate powers with Cave Void realm guardians, and third-rate powers with Spirit Transformation realm guardians.
Powers without a Spirit Transformation realm or higher presence were collectively termed unranked powers.
Unranked powers, within the five regions of the Di Xuan Realm, could only survive by attaching themselves to other powers.
At the stone pavilion by the entrance to the Qingxuan Blessed Land.
Ye Qingxuan looked toward the direction of the Xuantian Sect. Though curious about the grand spectacle of the sect’s centennial Enrollment Ceremony, hindered by his identity as a blessed land cultivator disciple, he could not go personally to witness it. After a moment’s thought, Ye Qingxuan took out his disciple token and directly contacted the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu:
“Zhaoheng, Zhaoyu, the Xuantian Sect’s centennial Enrollment Ceremony has begun. Temporarily close the Tianfu Shop. Go join the excitement and see what the ceremony is like.”
Moments later, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu excitedly responded in unison:
“Yes, Young Master!”
Having been in the Xuantian Sect for nearly nine years, the two brothers, unlike the sect’s miscellaneous duty disciples, did not have to undertake chores. Moreover, with the ample resources provided by Ye Qingxuan, they had now smoothly reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, just a step away from the Foundation Establishment realm.
The Xuantian Sect’s centennial Enrollment Ceremony did not affect Ye Qingxuan’s daily life.
The Enrollment Ceremony lasted a total of three days!
Ye Qingxuan continued his routine each day: cultivating, alchemy, occasionally practicing artifact refinement, talisman creation, or crafting an array disk or two. During breaks from cultivation, he remained unwavering in his habit of savoring tea and admiring the scenery from the stone pavilion.
As the Enrollment Ceremony neared its end, powerful auras surged from various locations across the Xuantian Mountain Range, catching Ye Qingxuan’s attention.
These beings, radiating immense presence, hurried toward Xuantian Peak, exchanging messages via divine sense and constantly grumbling:
“The Sect Master, that old fellow, really… How carefree I was cultivating alone! Must he force me out of seclusion to take on a disciple to train?”
“Enough, it’s just one disciple. No big deal!”
“Hehehe, Old Man Xuan, the Sect Master hasn’t gone out today. The one presiding over the sect right now is the Sect Master himself. You’re in trouble!”
As soon as these words were conveyed, a thunderous roar echoed through the void!
Boom!
Feeling the oppressive force emanating from Xuantian Peak, Old Man Xuan quickly backed down:
“Sect Master, I was wrong! This old man is willing to take three disciples, no… five? Ten, ten! This old man will take ten disciples and train them diligently!”
Only after Old Man Xuan promised to accept ten disciples did Cen Zhe, atop Xuantian Peak’s summit, withdraw his pressure.
Sensing the pressure vanish, Old Man Xuan started grumbling again:
“You old fogies, why didn’t you tell me the Sect Master was here? I almost got another ‘cultivation guidance’ session from him.”
“Hehehe, Old Man Xuan, being guided by the Sect Master is an honor!”
Hearing this, Old Man Xuan glared in that person’s direction through the air, annoyed:
“Tian Xuanzi, shall I bestow this honor upon you instead?”
At Old Man Xuan’s words, Tian Xuanzi gave an awkward laugh and didn’t respond.
While the two bickered, the other elders of the Xuantian Sect had already rushed ahead to the Enrollment Ceremony site.
Since they had to take on disciples anyway, why not seize the initiative and pick a few with better aptitudes?
While the various hegemonic-level powers in the Di Xuan Realm were holding their Enrollment Ceremonies…
Across the numerous subordinate minor worlds of the Di Xuan Realm, nine minor worlds were each enveloped by a suddenly appearing, eerily dark, pitch-black banner.
On these nine sinister black banners, dense and complex Dao patterns lit up, directly obscuring the connection between these nine minor worlds and the Di Xuan Realm.
After completing their preparations, the barriers of these minor worlds were forcibly shattered by powerful members of the Cyan Demon race. Numerous Cyan Demons below the Spirit Transformation realm began to forcibly traverse the unstable spatial tunnels, rushing into these minor worlds.
Upon entering a minor world, these Cyan Demons landed in a remote village.
After slaughtering the surrounding humans to silence witnesses, they did not rashly start a war. Instead, they chose to lie low, planning to coordinate from within, establish more stable spatial channels, and usher in more of their kin.
The disturbances in the nine minor worlds and the movements of the Cyan Demon race went temporarily unnoticed by the hegemonic-level powers in the Di Xuan Realm, which were still engrossed in their lively Enrollment Ceremonies.
