Chapter 1709: Low-Profile Entry

Fairy Ning Ke said that Li Yan’s current situation was quite poor, as he relied on grouping with others to gather herbs and hunt demonic beasts to maintain his daily cultivation. She and that old friend had a bit of history, and she felt she should repay that favor. However, she was a wanderer and didn’t want to be tied down by anyone, so she wouldn’t take a disciple or bring Li Yan with her. After checking his cultivation, she found that his primary root was a Fire root, so she thought of Huangqi Valley and wondered if she could get him into the sect. This would count as finding him a backer; as for how far he could go, that would be up to him. After hearing this, the Alchemy Grandmaster asked Li Yan about his origin and some alchemy-related questions. Li Yan had memorized the contents of the jade slip provided by his Martial Aunt, so there were no flaws. The alchemy questions were basic, intended to confirm if he met the minimum requirement. Li Yan could have answered them even without his Second Martial Uncle’s teaching.

The woman then had Li Yan demonstrate a simple Fire-attribute technique. Since Fairy Ning Ke said he had a Fire root, she couldn’t very well test him again to her face. But her eyes were sharp; with just a simple Fireball, she confirmed his Fire root talent was decent. Thus, she readily agreed. As a Body Integration Earth-rank Alchemy Grandmaster, arranging for a disciple was no problem. Crucially, she wanted to repay the favor to Fairy Ning Ke to keep her Dao Heart flawless. But the Fairy was a Tribulation Transcendence master—what could she possibly need help with? Now that the Fairy had come to her, it was just arranging one person. To her, this was a trivial matter; even if Li Yan had no talent, she could have found him a menial role.

Fairy Ning Ke found it easy to make people owe her favors. As they traveled, they would sometimes deliberately seek out cultivators from sects that weren’t overly hostile to the Five Immortals Sect and have them “accidentally” owe a favor. Call it the wickedness or unpredictability of human nature; the world was simply like that. However, this woman had truly been saved by Fairy Ning Ke by chance. Back then, Fairy Ning Ke didn’t intend to act, as the crisis could have killed a Body Integration cultivator and the enemy was powerful. But after hearing their conversation in secret, she learned the woman’s identity and stepped in… Now, her intervention had borne fruit.

The Grandmaster wanted to arrange for someone to take Li Yan directly to the inner valley, but Fairy Ning Ke stopped her. She asked her to follow the rules as much as possible and not let anyone know of the connection. She hoped Li Yan could live and cultivate normally here. Otherwise, a meteoric rise in a new environment would only bring Li Yan endless trouble. The Grandmaster understood; she could look after Li Yan, but didn’t need to give him too much attention. It made sense; he wasn’t her personal disciple. Direct entry into the inner valley might cause dissatisfaction among other disciples. While they wouldn’t dare defy her, they might suppress Li Yan in secret. She couldn’t watch over a minor cultivator at all times. If he needed help, she would assist him for the sake of Fairy Ning Ke, but it couldn’t be a repeated thing.

This arrangement was something Li Yan and Fairy Ning Ke had discussed. If he drew too much attention, his future actions would be troublesome. Li Yan was more than familiar with infiltrating sects; he had arranged everything for himself. This made Fairy Ning Ke believe Shi Ligui’s words even more: she only needed to provide the opportunity, and Li Yan would do the rest without any outside help. This would allow him to integrate more easily into the unfamiliar environment.

The woman had no objections to the suggestion. She had already offered the inner valley, but since they refused and just wanted him to be an ordinary disciple, she would waive the first three rounds of outer valley testing and have him participate directly in the inner valley examination. Fairy Ning Ke agreed. The woman then summoned one of her disciples, a thin young man, and instructed him to take Li Yan. The young man then found another initial-stage Void Refining cultivator, who seemed to have been stopped at random. The young man pulled the man aside, whispered to him, and gave him a jade slip. The man patted his chest and had Li Yan follow him. On the way, he only spoke a few words to Li Yan before they reached the black-clothed deacon. After a few instructions, he threw Li Yan a voice transmission talisman and told him he could use it if he had trouble, then left in a hurry. To an inner valley disciple, this was a minor matter.

Hu Quanjie watched the warm wind blowing the willows outside. He sat in his chair, not greeting Li Yan, leaving him standing in the already somewhat scorching sunlight by the door. He sat there in silence, his eyes flickering with dark light as he sized Li Yan up. Li Yan felt his clothes heating up from the sun. His wooden face broke into a somewhat stiff smile. He looked around to see no one else was there before taking a few steps forward. But after just a few steps, he stopped and spoke in a low voice, breaking the silence.

“This Senior… I am used to wandering outside and do not know the sect’s rules. In the future, I might accidentally violate them. I hope Senior can provide some guidance. I will be immensely grateful!” As he spoke, he flicked his sleeve, and a storage ring flew toward the other man.

Hu Quanjie was annoyed when Li Yan approached without permission. He was about to lose his temper when he heard Li Yan’s words. His sharp gaze softened. He squinted at Li Yan, letting him finish. Li Yan’s expression was stiff, clearly struggling internally, and Hu Quanjie saw the trace of heartache in his eyes. He scanned the storage ring; it was an ordinary one, not something he’d normally look at, and it wasn’t branded, so his Divine Sense entered easily. His eyes narrowed further. The ring wasn’t great, but it contained some high-grade spirit stones. The quantity wasn’t much to him—only thirty—but he recalled the boy’s identity. He was just a rogue cultivator, so he couldn’t be wealthy, or he wouldn’t be using a connection to enter Huangqi Valley. The inner valley disciple had given a brief background. Being able to produce thirty spirit stones was decent; the boy surely had to bribe others as well.

‘He likely has more on him. I wonder if I can squeeze out more…’ Hu Quanjie thought, gauging Li Yan’s wealth. After half a tea session, looking at Li Yan’s forced smile, he knew the boy must be cursing him. But what did it matter if he didn’t dare show it? In the end, he pocketed a total of fifty high-grade spirit stones.

“Mm, this is your temporary identity token and this jade slip. It contains the sect rules and regulations; do not violate them, or no one can save you. Additionally, the jade slip has the location of a temporary cave residence. Take the token and go there. In four months, someone will notify you to participate in the inner valley examination.” Hu Quanjie threw a token and a jade slip before waving his hand to dismiss Li Yan like a fly.

‘Black-hearted fellow! Taking my money and giving only these two things,’ Li Yan thought. The inner valley disciple had told him he didn’t need to take the first three rounds of tests, which included spiritual root testing, basic alchemy skills, and cultivation checks. If anyone forced him, he could use the talisman. But if he failed the inner valley entrance exam, the man wouldn’t interfere. He also told Li Yan that because of the testing, the valley would provide some spirit stones and pills for recovery, but this deacon had withheld them, clearly intending to pocket them. Li Yan simply despised him in his heart; those things weren’t worth his time.

Li Yan left in a hurry. Since he wasn’t an official disciple, he wore his own clothes, causing him to be stopped and questioned by patrolling disciples several times. Those disciples were unfriendly and ordered him not to fly around; clearly, the deacon should have arranged this. The cave residences were just rows of caves on a mountain, covered in vines. They were close together, and their restrictions were easily sensed. Entering his cave, Li Yan saw it was only five or six fathoms wide—entirely simple. There were no tables, chairs, or beds. Besides the restriction at the entrance, there was only a meditation mat in the center. It was rudimentary, but considering it was a temporary lodging for outsiders, it was acceptable. This was essentially the outer sect; what kind of conditions did people expect? In the lower realms, several outer sect disciples would share a room. He wasn’t even an outer sect disciple yet. He knew the valley would select some people who failed the inner exam to become official outer disciples.

The spiritual energy was decent—it was the Immortal Spirit Realm and a top-tier sect, after all. Li Yan sensed that many nearby caves were empty; he had just come early. He didn’t mind the environment. He would have been fine even outside the valley. As long as he could cultivate, it was fine. After placing two additional sets of arrays outside his cave, he sat down. He didn’t intend to leave for the next few months until the exam. In his position, the fewer people he met, the better.

‘Martial Aunt Ning Ke should have left by now…’ Li Yan thought. The Grandmaster had sent her disciple to see him off, and the Fairy hadn’t sent him any more messages. Over the years, everything that needed to be said had been said. She likely left after a short stay. Li Yan quickly entered cultivation. He was satisfied with his progress; everything fit his low-profile plan.