Chapter 156: Announcement

When Che Wuyou and Zhang Qing'er were brought beneath the soaring Heaven-Reach Tower, a large crowd had already gathered there. Clearly, these were the young cultivators who had attempted the trials of the tower, and they were now awaiting their final results. Some of the youths appeared rather nervous, perhaps because their performance in the trials had fallen short of their expectations. Others, however, looked quite relaxed, confident that breaking into the top one hundred would pose no problem at all.

Along with the rest of the youths, Che Wuyou and Zhang Qing'er joined the queue awaiting their scores. As time passed, the crowd beneath the Heaven-Reach Tower grew denser, and the tower's testing phase slowly drew to a close. After the two of them had waited for nearly five days, a crisp, resonant bell suddenly chimed from within the tower. Those aware of its significance immediately began to murmur among themselves. From their hushed conversations, Che Wuyou gathered that the Heaven-Reach Tower trials had finally concluded.

About a quarter of an hour later, a large group of figures appeared before the assembled youths. At the head of this procession was Li Muqiu, the sect master of the Azure Pool Sword Sect. Che Wuyou had already seen Li Muqiu a few times, but today's Li Muqiu emanated a majestic aura that made Che Wuyou instinctively want to kneel and submit.

Li Muqiu wore a high sect master's crown, held the renowned spiritual artifact Qiu Shui Sword in his hand, stepped upon the soaring boots—a supreme treasure of Azure Pool—and was dressed in ancient robes with wide, billowing sleeves. The various elders of Azure Pool followed closely behind him in two orderly ranks, all dressed in formal attire, which made Li Muqiu look all the more like a divine ruler of all living beings.

It was the first time most of these youths had laid eyes on the Azure Pool sect master. Unaccustomed to such overwhelming majesty, they dropped to their knees one after another, trembling and falling completely silent. Seeing the youths react thus, Li Muqiu's expression grew even more solemn. His gaze swept like lightning over the kneeling youngsters before he finally spoke: "The Heaven-Reach Tower trials are officially concluded. I, Li Muqiu, Sect Master of Azure Pool, hereby officially announce the disciples admitted into the sect."

No sooner had Li Muqiu finished speaking than he waved the long sword in his hand. Following a flash of sword light, the eighteenth tier of the Heaven-Reach Tower suddenly blazed with light. Immediately afterward, a beam of light shot out from the eighteenth tier, directly enveloping the head of a young man in the crowd. Above the youth's head, a line of characters abruptly manifested: "Yang Fengge, eighteenth tier of the Heaven-Reach Tower!"

Just as the youths were wondering what this meant, Li Muqiu's majestic voice rang out: "Yang Fengge, first place in this Heaven-Reach Tower trial, with a clearance of the eighteenth tier." As soon as Li Muqiu's words fell, a chorus of astonished gasps erupted from the youths below.

"The eighteenth tier, my gods!" Even in Che Wuyou's eyes, a look of profound shock appeared. Having gone through the trials himself, he knew all too well how immense the difficulty was. He truly had no idea that this fellow Yang Fengge was so extraordinary; no wonder Yun Fan had always been deeply wary of him.

After announcing this result, Li Muqiu paused slightly, and a rare complexity flickered across his expression. He had been startled just moments ago, for given his status, it was rare for him to pay attention to juniors. Yet this junior, Yang Fengge, was so outstanding that it had reached a point where Li Muqiu could no longer afford to ignore him. But why must such a formidable junior belong to the Yang family rather than the Li family?

"Humph..." True to Li Muqiu's formidable temperament, he cast aside all such distracting thoughts in a fraction of a second. With a mere soft hum, he silenced the noisy crowd and continued: "Yang Fengge possesses rare and exceptional talent. Let him become the disciple of Lao Yi. From this day forth, Yang Fengge shall be a fourth-generation disciple of Azure Pool." As Li Muqiu's voice faded, an extraordinary silence fell over the crowd, while Elder Yang Quzhi, standing not far behind Li Muqiu, flashed a hint of joy across his face.

Perhaps a small minority of people did not yet understand the significance of "Lao Yi," but those hailing from prominent families knew very well that the eight seed disciples of Azure Pool's third generation were the backbone of the sect's strength and its ultimate lethal weapons. For anyone to be accepted as a disciple under their tutelage clearly demonstrated how highly the Azure Pool Sword Sect valued that individual.

Counting from the sect master's generation as the first generation of the Azure Pool Sword Sect, most of those seniors served as protective elders or senior elders. Next came the direct personal disciples of the first generation, forming the second generation of the Azure Pool Sword Sect. They held the reins of all major power structures within Azure Pool, such as the Four Halls and One Army. The only exception was the Hall of Elixirs, whose mastership was concurrently held by the protective elder Qing Dan, simply because no one else possessed the requisite mastery of alchemy to take on the role.

Meanwhile, leadership positions in the Hall of Holiness, the Hall of Penalties, the Dark Hall, and the Sect Protection Army were essentially held by second-generation disciples. Thus, the first and second generations constituted the ruling class of Azure Pool and no longer took on apprentices; therefore, only the third and fourth generations were permitted to accept disciples.

Regarding the ranks of disciples within the Azure Pool Sword Sect, they were divided into seed disciples, core disciples, inner disciples, and outer disciples. Among these four tiers, outer disciples were typically stationed outside the sect to handle external communications or manage mundane affairs. Among the inner disciples, those who performed poorly were likewise dispatched beyond the sect to oversee the outer disciples. Core disciples served as the pillars of Azure Pool's strength, joining various halls or the Sect Protection Army.

As for seed disciples, they were extremely rare in any sect because the criteria for selecting them were exceedingly rigorous. Eschewing quantity for quality, they represented a sect's pinnacle strength and commanded universal respect. For instance, though the seed disciples of Azure Pool's first and second generations were fewer than those of the third, every single one of them held a lofty position within the sect. Back in the day, Li Muqiu himself had been one of the seed disciples of the first generation.

From this, one could imagine how many people envied Yang Fengge for securing a place under the tutelage of Lao Yi of the third generation, especially considering there were only eight seed disciples in the entire third generation of Azure Pool. Yet upon hearing Li Muqiu's words, Yang Fengge's expression remained indifferent, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking. To him, perhaps this was nothing more than a matter of course; after all, he was a divine entity who had bravely conquered the eighteenth tier...

"Yang Shi, second place in the Heaven-Reach Tower trial, with a clearance of the twelfth tier... Outstanding talent. He shall become the disciple of Lao Er of the third generation, and from this day forward, a fourth-generation disciple of the Azure Pool Sword Sect." Li Muqiu announced after a brief hesitation. Although Yang Shi's achievement of second place also surprised him greatly, it lacked the earth-shattering impact of Yang Fengge.

"What? Second place is actually Yang Shi? Then what about Ye Xuan?" The youths below immediately broke into whispers, and even some elders closely following the trials began exchanging secret voice transmissions. They had not anticipated that both first and second place would be seized by the Yang family. Although they were more or less aware that the Yang family had produced a few formidable youngsters this generation, they never imagined they would be formidable enough to overshadow the wildly popular Ye Xuan.

It should be known that Ye Xuan was a direct descendant of the Southern Frontier's Ye family, a massive faction second only to Azure Pool in that region. To think that the scion they dispatched had been repeatedly suppressed by someone from Azure Pool's Yang family—this left everyone utterly astounded.