Chapter 1732: Elite Disciple

Li Yan entered the stone room once again. As he activated the formations and restrictions, the teleportation array in the corner flashed with white light. It was a familiar process, and Li Yan once again saw a storage ring…

Shortly after, a pot of spiritual soil radiating rich spiritual energy appeared before Li Yan, followed by three brown seeds. These were presumably the seeds of the Iron-Bristle Dragon-Profit Tree. Next were medicinal bottles in three colors: red, yellow, and green. There were three red bottles, six yellow ones, and twelve green ones. Each bottle was about a foot tall.

Li Yan picked up one of the bottles and found it quite heavy. Though he didn’t open it to check, he knew it contained a large amount of medicinal liquid. Finally, there was a jade slip of instructions. Li Yan picked it up to find several simple explanations.

The red, yellow, and green medicinal liquids represented high, medium, and low grades, respectively. Any of the three could stimulate the growth of the seeds, but higher-grade liquids yielded better results. One could use all three types simultaneously, provided one had enough time to manage them.

The moment Li Yan saw the size of the bottles, he understood why Elder Liu’s rules did not restrict the use of various means. Even if a cultivator possessed some heavenly treasure that could purify liquids, how much of such a treasure would be needed to purify such large bottles? From this perspective, Huangqi Valley’s assessment was designed with this vast quantity in mind. Even if one chose the red bottles, there were still three of them. How could one possibly cheat through such a massive volume?

‘According to the descriptions from Elder Liu and the jade slip, it is best to choose only one grade of liquid to purify. However, there is a catch. The liquid in the red bottles is the most effective but contains the most impurities and is the hardest to purify. The liquid in the green bottles is the least effective but the easiest to purify, with the yellow liquid falling in between… If one wanted to use all three, there wouldn’t be enough time in twenty-four hours to refine and remove the impurities from all of them…’

Meanwhile, in other stone rooms, many disciples were also lost in thought after reading the jade slip. They had to make a choice. None of them felt that using all three liquids was the best path; that was merely an idealized thought.

In Yan Qingchen’s room, he considered it for less than ten breaths before reaching for the red bottles. He chose the most effective liquid. Ming Qi opened one bottle of each color and observed them carefully. Before long, she picked up a yellow bottle. Liu Siyu also chose the yellow liquid, while Ming Yu opted for the red bottles. Each had their own approach…

Li Yan ultimately chose the green medicinal liquid. This meant he had to purify the impurities from twelve whole bottles. Furthermore, the purification of each bottle had to be of excellent quality for him to have a chance at success!

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the internal selection of Huangqi Valley finally reached its conclusion. The results left some in joy and many in sorrow. When Elder Liu finally announced the list of the top ten names, the remaining twenty-odd people, though unwilling to accept it, were mostly filled with disappointment.

In the end, most of the cultivators bowed and departed immediately. Only ten people remained in the stone hall, listening to Elder Liu speak about the matters concerning their entry as Core Elite Disciples. And among them stood Li Yan!

In the third stage, Li Yan had no opportunity to take shortcuts and eventually ranked twenty-third. However, given his excellent performance in the first two stages—ranking in the top three for both—he still secured a spot in the overall top ten after the three stages were tallied.

Yan Qingchen and the Ming sisters, who had consistently held spots in the top ten, naturally entered the ranks of the Core Elite Disciples without any surprise. Yan Qingchen stood in the group, the same warm smile on his face as he appeared to listen intently to Elder Liu’s words. In his heart, however, he was profoundly dissatisfied and angry.

Only Liu Siyu and one other Spirit Transformation cultivator from his group had made it into the top ten. The other three had departed in dejection.

‘These fools. When they asked me for cultivation resources, they were more proactive than anyone else, boasting bigger than the last. In the end, they couldn’t even beat a few Nascent Soul cultivators…’ He thought with fury. These people had already caused a significant impact on his future plans.

Fifteen minutes later, Li Yan was flying toward his courtyard, various thoughts swirling in his mind. Becoming a Core Elite Disciple did not come with a separate living area; he still lived in his original place. If he wanted a better courtyard, he generally had to wait until his cultivation reached the Void Refining stage or higher. Huangqi Valley considered not only alchemical attainment but also a disciple’s cultivation realm.

Li Yan had learned from Elder Liu that his current authority allowed him to enter some of the sect’s important restricted areas. Previously, when he had inquired about those areas, he had found he had no right to even approach them. Furthermore, the cultivation resources for Core Elite Disciples would be adjusted and increased, but these were not things Li Yan cared about.

‘Deacon Li took our ten tokens on the spot and refined them again. Afterward, the names of several places were added. Those are the important areas we can enter as Core Elite Disciples. But… but among them, there is no Legacy Ancient Hall…’

Li Yan felt a sense of bewilderment. After all his hard work, even risking exposing himself before others, the result was different from what he had imagined. Elder Liu had explained the responsibilities and rights of a Core Elite Disciple in detail. Li Yan had been waiting for her to mention the Legacy Ancient Hall, but while several important names appeared in his new token, none were what he wanted.

The name “Legacy Ancient Hall” was nowhere to be found.

‘Regardless, I have achieved the second goal. Being close is a good result. With this identity, it will be much easier to act in the future…’ Li Yan comforted himself. After calming his emotions, he flew quickly toward his residence.

Two months later, Li Yan was sitting cross-legged in his cultivation room. He was not currently training, but sat with his eyes closed in deep thought. After two months of constant investigation, Li Yan had finally grasped the basic information regarding entry into the Legacy Ancient Hall. However, the final result left him with a severe headache.

There were no free meals in this world. During the assessment, he had thought his next step was within reach, but it was not nearly as simple as he had imagined. He felt that fate had still not chosen him; he could not enter the Legacy Ancient Hall—or more accurately, he could not enter it now.

The reason lay in the division of authority for Core Elite Disciples. About fifty thousand years ago, becoming a Core Elite Disciple granted immense power. Generally, their authority was only slightly lower than that of an Elder, which included the right to enter the Legacy Ancient Hall.

However, several Elders later raised differing opinions. They felt that opening so many resources to disciples without condition would slowly make them lazy. The Legacy Ancient Hall was just one of these resources. This matter was debated frequently, and over time, the authority of Core Elite Disciples was split into “Basic Authority” and “Reward Authority.”

Basic Authority consisted of the rights added to Li Yan’s token previously. Even then, it was said that their current authority was less than what it was ten thousand years ago, having been weakened several more times since. Yet, even so, it provided far more resources than ordinary disciples possessed, making it a target everyone fought to seize. From this, one could see that the control over the authority of Core Elite Disciples was becoming increasingly strict. This was an inevitable result once a sect’s membership became too vast.

The so-called Reward Authority meant that although Core Elite Disciples were eligible to enter important areas and obtain powerful manuals and pills that ordinary disciples couldn’t, they had to exchange Sect Contribution Points for them.

Where did these points come from? Core Elite Disciples were not masters who only took resources without working. Every hundred years, they had to complete three missions corresponding to their alchemical rank. By performing these tasks, they could earn Contribution Points. However, these three missions were mandatory; the points were merely an additional reward.

Therefore, in their daily lives, many Core Elite Disciples went to the Mission Hall to accept various tasks to accumulate more points. The Mission Hall was divided into the Ordinary Mission Hall and the Elite Mission Hall, which was open only to elite disciples. Generally, elite disciples accepted tasks in the Elite Mission Hall because the rewards there were greater. However, this also meant the difficulty was higher and the danger would multiply.