Chapter 3508 — The Successors Arrive

At the Ice Palace, the arrivals were Bingtang and Feng Xiaoxiao. After stepping down from the vehicle, they cast a glance over the trial participants, then walked to the platform beside Ancestor Xuanchen and sat down—far closer to him than any of the trial participants dared to sit.

Wei Zhao knew they were looking for him, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At last, he had seen them.

To reunite with the successors and journey together to Cloud-Tier Island—this had been Wei Zhao's constant effort and resolve all along, and now that moment had come. His heart surged beyond measure.

At Snow Valley, the arrivals were Xueli and Tang Zhi. Wei Zhao had seen them both before and remembered them both—though what he remembered was how pure and lovely they were. Xueli mattered little to him; but toward Tang Zhi, Wei Zhao suddenly felt something he could not put into words.

It seemed that the woman whose backward glance he had glimpsed in that fleeting instant at Snow Valley was her—was it her? Surely it was. It was a strange feeling; he could not say why, but the moment he laid eyes on Tang Zhi, Wei Zhao's heart fluttered.

Could this be some special attraction between him and the successors? The successors of the other elements all had ties to Wei Zhao—ties of the sort between lovers—all but Snow Valley's. And now this feeling toward Tang Zhi made him wonder whether some hidden design of fate was at work.

At the Dark Night Palace, the arrivals were Gu Mengyao and the Grand Elder. The young lady made no attempt at concealment: she stepped down, halted, looked toward Wei Zhao, gave him a nod and a faint smile, and only then went with the elder to sit beside Feng Xiaoxiao.

Feng Xiaoxiao paid no mind at all to whether the man on the platform was Ancestor Xuanchen; she chattered away to Gu Mengyao without pause, which turned Ancestor Xuanchen's expression rather sour. But since he still had need of these successors, he could hardly say much.

From the Wood element succession came White Leader and Guan Xin. White Leader, of course, could not possibly take part in the trial—his rank was insufficient, and he had no wish to go to Cloud-Tier Island anyway.

When Wang Xinyan had advanced, the remaining Qi-Gathering Pills had gone unused. Wei Zhao meant to set them aside and leave them to White Leader; with those pills, White Leader could make a run at the Heaven-Tier, and perhaps reach Great Perfection—retaking the Five Luminaries Sect would then be no difficult matter.

From the Endless Western Sea came an old woman, and at her side was Yuning. The old woman's strength... seemed to be no strength at all—she ought to be an ordinary person. Yet Yuning's power had already stunned Wei Zhao.

Late Heaven-Tier peak, Great Perfection. The esoteric sect's empowerment rite was truly formidable, and Wei Zhao could not help but admire it. The world was vast, and there were still many extraordinary people and marvels in it.

From Fireflame Mountain came Rocket Launcher and Shen Yushu, and Shen Yushu's power had likewise reached the late Heaven-Tier peak of Great Perfection that left Wei Zhao stunned. Her case, however, was much like Yuning's, and he guessed it too was the work of the esoteric sect's empowerment rite.

From the Yellow Earth High Sect came Tu Qingsong and Tu Ranran. Tu Ranran's strength had not reached Great Perfection—only late Heaven-Tier peak. Even so, one could well imagine how formidable these foreign sects were.

The foreign sects all possessed certain esoteric methods capable of swiftly raising a cultivator's power. In this they differed from the ancient sects of the Central Plains. To be sure, the advancement was swift, but the price exacted was correspondingly vast.

To make one master, the strength of two or three might have to be sacrificed. This trade of two for one, or three for one, existed only in the foreign lands; the sects of the Central Plains would never do such a thing.

All these successors had now stepped down from their vehicles and found places to sit. The rules would be announced before the trial, and it was surely about to begin.

Sure enough, seeing that everyone had arrived, Ancestor Xuanchen nodded calmly and said, "Very well. Since all the personnel are present, let us begin. First, a word of self-introduction. Many of you likely know me already. I am Xuanchen, acting sect master of the Five Luminaries Sect, and the chief overseer of the Heaven-Tier trial, the Heaven-Tier Assembly, and the Cloud-Tier Island initiative."

Ancestor Xuanchen's words sent a tremor through the trial participants below, and they grew greatly excited. Cloud-Tier Island, the Heavenly Dao—these were the higher pursuits of such cultivators. Who would not wish for greater power?

Some might ask: you are already a top-tier existence in the mortal world, a veritable walking atomic bomb—why seek further advancement? There is a saying: learning has no end, and the path of martial cultivation is no different.

Once a bottleneck is reached, one wishes to break through it. This is the lifelong pursuit of cultivators like us.

"For this trial, two of my assistants will help everyone take part. One of them is my son-in-law, Kang Jingming. You should all have met him by now; he is also an elder of the Xuandan Sect," said Ancestor Xuanchen.

This set the trial participants below astir with surprise. Many had not known Kang Jingming's identity, and now that Ancestor Xuanchen had spoken, they immediately grew cautious. This Kang Jingming was someone they would need to curry favor with.

"And the other is the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect—Tianchan!" Ancestor Xuanchen dropped another bombshell, pointing to Tianchan as he spoke.

The trial participants below all stared at Ancestor Xuanchen in an uproar. Was the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect not a man? How had he become a beautiful young woman? Were the rumors wrong, or... was this a man in woman's guise?

And wasn't the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect named Tiancanbian? How had that become Tianchan?

Most shocked of all, of course, were the successors and the people of their sects. These successors' sects had, one after another, received marriage proposals from the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect. But now the young sect master turned out to be a woman? Then where had the rumor of a harem of wives and concubines come from?

If she was a woman, what was the point of those marriage proposals? Was Ancestor Xuanchen deceiving everyone?

"As for the matter of the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect being a woman, I was the one who had them conceal it. The proposals to the successors' sects were likewise my arrangement. I will announce the specific reasons at the Heaven-Tier Assembly. For now, your primary task is the trial—put such matters out of your minds," Ancestor Xuanchen explained briefly, then went on: "These two are both disciples of my Five Luminaries Sect. Kang Jingming is my disciple, and Tianchan is the disciple of my second senior brother. They are the senior assistants who will help oversee the trial affairs."

"Whoa—" Another wave of shock and uproar swept through the trial participants below. Tianchan, the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect, was an assistant too? It seemed they had one more person to curry favor with. (Reserve your July guaranteed monthly votes! Please support Yuren!) RS