Painting of the Nine Immortals

When the news of Xian Ling’s reappearance was made known, the entire Shang Qing Sect reacted as if they had lost their voices.

Ten years ago, he showed up in a dazzling manner and created a rainy storm that washed over the entire Shang Qing Sect. Every single person who’s heard of what he’s done felt somewhat shocked. Even the important figures like the Supreme Headmaster were astonished at what he’s done.

It was because there was precedent of what happened 10 years ago, thus, what happened today was even more shocking. It was like the king was returning!

Though Ling Xian merely completed missions for the Path of Crafts and did not go for missions of arrays, his 100 perfectly ranked missions were glorious enough to make everyone’s heart quiver.

Because of this, when news about him circulated, the entire Shang Qing Sect was once again astounded!

From as high as the Supreme Headmaster, to as low as the guards, everyone heard of this news and everyone was in a state of utter shock.

At once, the name Xian Ling created another turmoil. No matter where he went, people would be talking about his glorious achievement and discussing his mysterious identity.

Some people guessed that he was a newly admitted descendant, which was why nobody’s heard of his name.

However, the moment this guess appeared, it was shut down.

What a joke! Newly admitted descendants are normally so young they belong to the younger generation. How could anyone from the younger generation have such terrifying abilities?

Therefore, despite someone’s claim that Xian Ling was a newly admitted pupil, nobody believed him.

On the contrary, the moment this other guess appeared, it was greeted with countless people’s responses and speedily became the most probable answer. The guess was that Ling Xian was a grandmaster who was in hiding and never showed his face in the history of the Shang Qing Sect.

Whether it was his sudden appearance, or his multi-talented skills. This guess would make the most sense.

Therefore, this guess was deeply rooted into those who weren’t fully aware of what was going on. It became an unshakable truth to them.

However, to those who knew what was going on, that conjecture was extremely laughable and extremely surprising.

For example, the Supreme Headmaster, Ji Qian Bai, knew very well that Ling Xian was merely a new pupil and was not some grandmaster who’s been in hiding.

Because he knew, he was very surprised.

Or in other words, everyone who knew how young Ling Xian was, were extremely shocked.

How powerful did one have to be to be recognized as a century old grandmaster?

Nobody really had an answer. But everyone knew that they must be extremely capable. Or else they wouldn’t be known as a grandmaster.

Therefore, as much as everyone found people’s guess funny, they were also very surprised.

Yu Wu Xiu was one of these people.

As much as she was surprised, the greed in her heart also intensified.

She knew very well that Ling Xian was very young. Even though a decade had passed, he remained one of those from the younger generation and he was no different from the other 20 year olds.

To have achieved such glory with crafts at such a young age was enough to prove his extraordinariness with crafts. At the very least, his talent with ancient arrays was one of the very best.

Therefore, why wouldn’t Yu Wu Xiu’s heart be wavering?

However, her dream wasn’t to be a multi-talented master with both arrays and crafts. Her dream was to be a goddess who rides on the cloud and control every inch of land.

In other words, what she needed was talent with cultivation.

Though Ling Xian’s clone had reached the tenth level of the meditational level and he was considered a genius by many, in her eyes, that was nothing.

In addition to that, her ability to steal someone’s talent could only be used once. If Ling Xian’s natural talent with cultivation turns out to be weaker than expected, then wouldn’t she have wasted her great inheritance?

Therefore, Yu Wu Xiu has been hesitating and she wasn’t sure if she should use her treasure right away or if she should wait.

After struggling with it for a while, she finally made up her mind and decided to wait a while. If Ling Xian proves his cultivation talent to be worthwhile, then she will make her move. If he doesn’t live up to his current reputation, then she will have to find another candidate.

….

Ling Xian was completely unaware of Yu Wu Xiu’s internal struggles.

Even if he knew, he wouldn’t be disappointed. Because he knew very well that the woman places the utmost importance in cultivation. His talent with crafts and arrays can only add points to him, it wouldn’t help her make up her mind.

Ling Xian was prepared to combat that.

Since that woman sees cultivation talent as the most important, then all he needed was to display his powerful talent. The best time for him to show off his cultivation skills would be during the Competition of the Four Paths.

There, he would be able to acquire much contribution points and he will be able to truly show himself off to Yu Wu Xiu. That would be killing two birds with one stone.

After finalizing his plans, Ling Xian’s days began to get busy.

Every day, he would go find Dong Fang Bi for chats and discussions in order to earn some contribution points. Then, he enlightens himself with craftsmanship in order to improve his skills. Every day, he also finds the time to train and cultivate.

Of course, he visits the Hall of Missions daily and silently leave the place after finishing 100 missions. Every day, he would snatch up countless heated and respectful gazes.

This was all there is to his life.

Just like that, Ling Xian’s every day life became filled with studying the Immortal of Craft’s inheritance, and earning contribution points. His days passed by silently and very uneventfully. Even an immortal wouldn’t trade for it.

Of course, this “silently” and “uneventfully” was just how he saw it. To people inside the Shang Qing Sect, everyone was in a state of astonishment still.

What could they do? Ling Xian was far too powerful. Missions are just missions. Everyone does missions and that wasn’t really surprising. However, everything he does was considered to be perfect and high level by the Shang Qing Sect!

Therefore, how could the Shang Qing Sect stay quiet and stay put?

Especially those who visits the Hall of Missions regularly were shocked to a point of no return. To the low leveled cultivators however, this was an extremely celebrated event.

After all, those descendants have no background nor wealth. To have someone like Ling Xian help answer their questions was naturally a joyous event.

In general however, every time Ling Xian is there at the Hall of Mission, there was no quietness and the place was destined to be disturbed.

As time went on, the Elders in charge of the Hall of Mission could no longer stay put and were all utterly shocked by Ling Xian’s perfect rankings.

Though these elders control the ranking system and could assign scores as they see fit, none of them overstepped their power and gave Ling Xian a bad ranking. This was all because Ling Xian was far too insane.

Every single missions was completed with very few strokes but all of his completed missions were ridden with intricacies that earned the respects of the elders!

They all had to give him a perfect ranking or else they would end up having inner demons. Therefore, how could any one of them remain calm at this?

But as time went on and the number of perfect missions piled up, these people became numb.

After all, the reason why shocking events are shocking, is because they don’t occur frequently. If something frequently happens, then they wouldn’t be known as surprising, they would be known as normal.

Yes, by now, to everyone inside the Shang Qing Sect, Ling Xian completing perfectly ranked missions was considered normal. If there comes a day when he doesn’t get a perfect ranking, then it would be strange!

One has to admit that he was truly insane!

Just as everyone was getting numb and were no longer getting shocked by his perfect missions, three months passed. In other words, the Competition of the Four Paths were about to begin.

Therefore, when the Shang Qing Sect finally got over the astonishment brought on by Ling Xian, they once again fell into a state of craze.

After all, the Competition of the Four Paths occurs once every 10 years and was an extremely important competition. Even the Supreme Headmaster himself pays great attention to it, let alone everyone else.

Especially the pupils who joined in the last 10 years, they were all rubbing together their fists and were full of expectations.

To these pupils, the Competition of the Four Paths was a place they could acquire their fame. Ignoring the rewards they would get as winners, during the competition, if they perform well, important figures would recognize them. This alone was enough for everyone to want to try their hardest.

This plus the rewards that could make anyone drool, were enough to have everyone fight and compete.

The third place gets 10,000 contribution points and half an hour at the Cliff of Enlightenment.

The second place gets 50,000 contribution points and two hours at the Cliff of Enlightenment.

The first place gets 500,000 contribution points and an entire day at the Cliff of Enlightenment.

These were the rewards given to the victors of the Competition of the Four Paths. The reward was the same for all paths, which meant even those in third place would acquire much rewards.

There was no more need to emphasize on the contribution points. If one has enough, one could exchange them for the greatest inheritance the Shang Qing Sect could offer.

As for the Cliff of Enlightenment – it was a mysterious place inside the Shang Qing Sect that was filled with experiences written down by the powerhouses throughout history. Legend had it that with enough enlightenment, not only can people acquire much knowledge, they might even find themselves learning certain techniques.

This was why many called the Cliff of Enlightenment the pathway to heaven. Because even staying at it for half an hour was a very valuable opportunity, let alone staying for a whole day.

From certain angles, it was more precious than earning 50,000 contribution points!

Therefore, after this news was announced, the pupils who didn’t know about the rewards already, went absolutely insane. Even those who already knew about the generous rewards found it hard to suppress their excitement.

Even Ling Xian found himself anticipating for the competition to start.

Currently, inside Dong Fang Bi’s palace.

Ling Xian’s eyes shone hotly after hearing all about the rewards related to the Cliff of Enlightenment.

At first he knew about the 50,000 contribution points awarded to the winner, but he didn’t know he would also get a chance to visit the Cliff of Contribution. Now that he learned this piece of news, he couldn’t help but to grow more hopeful.

He obviously knew just how magical the Cliff of Enlightenment was. With his enlightenment skills, even staying for just half an hour would teach him many valuable lessons.

Don’t forget, he was aiming to be the winner of the competition. And he was aiming to win in all four paths!

In other words, if he could win all four paths, then he would stay at the Cliff of the Enlightenment for four whole days. With his enlightenment skills, imagine all the skills he will gain in four days’ time!

Thinking about this astonishing number, Ling Xian’s eyes exploded with passion. He smiled. “The House is giving everything for the competition. The Cliff of Enlightenment isn’t something they normally activate.”

“That’s correct. You are tempted aren’t you?”

Seeing Ling Xian’s passionate gaze, Dong Fang Bi smiled. But very quickly, it turned into a long sigh, “If you participate in the Competition of the Four Paths, I wonder how many people’s hope would be diminished.”