7 Chapter 7
As they were talking, they suddenly heard silence in the entire hall. Then the spirit shadow stone in the middle of the stage lit up, and a clear and realistic color picture filled the entire stage.
"Stop arguing! It's started over there! Look!" The second brother patted the eldest brother's shoulder excitedly.
So everyone in the private room, including the junior sister, began to look towards the center of the stage curiously.
"Hello, hello, hello? Can you hear me?" A girl in a yellow dress asked tentatively to the screen outside. As if receiving affirmation from someone, she smiled and waved enthusiastically to the people outside the screen.
"Good evening, fellow Taoists and knights! Welcome to the talent show, Cultivation Dream Factory, exclusively sponsored by our Hehuan Sect! I'm the host, Ning Shu! Welcome everyone to our show's auditions!"
She was standing in a very strange place. The wall behind her was covered with various pink and white light spots. There was also an arch-shaped corridor in the middle of the wall, dotted with stars, and filled with an unreal and dreamy feeling.
As soon as she finished speaking, the camera that had been filming her moved away, and the audience realized that she was standing on a place similar to a stage. Unlike ordinary wooden floors, the tiles under her feet were smooth and shiny, and there was a circle of glowing light strips around the stage, illuminating the stage she was on.
The monks in the hall couldn't help but talk about it.
"What's the meaning of the audition?"
"Why are there so many lighting arrays engraved in this room?"
"I feel a little dizzy..."
“I think it’s a unique view!”
"Choose what? A talent show? Isn't that a disciple-taking ceremony?"
"So how exactly do they plan to select their disciples?"
As if he could hear the doubts of the audience outside the screen, Ning Shu in the picture immediately spoke, stretching out his right arm:
"When it comes to talent shows, the most important thing is, of course, the brave contestants! I'm sure you viewers can't wait, right? Let's turn the camera to them!"
As she spoke, the image in the Spirit Shadow Stone really changed. This time it was in a spacious room with complete facilities and many seats. Many women with different clothes and temperaments were sitting on the chairs waiting quietly.
Most of them are between fifteen and twenty years old, which is consistent with the requirements of other sects. Now these girls are sitting on the chairs with nervous expressions waiting for the judgment of the immortals.
The camera that suddenly appeared in front of them seemed to make them a little panicked. Most of them had a look of confusion on their faces. Only a few women remained calm, and a woman in red clothes waved at the camera.
Ning Shu's energetic and excited voiceover sounded at the right time, explaining the rules of this talent show to the audience watching the show:
"These are all the registered contestants for this competition, a total of 4,261! And among them, only 40 were selected and successfully participated in the preliminary round!
The remaining contestants will be eliminated, failing at the first step on the path to immortality!"
It is obvious that the director of this talent show is very unethical and did not tell the contestants about this cruel rule in advance. When this was said, the audience sitting outside had no time to react, and the contestants sitting on the chairs waiting were in an uproar.
"What? Only forty? Doesn't that mean a one percent chance of winning?!"
"How could this happen? Is there no hope for me?"
"Wow, wow, I don't want to go back to that hellish place..."
"I won't give up! I must be chosen no matter what the cost!"
"This is my last chance! If I'm not chosen..."
Panic, loss, dejection, desperation, desperate throw, all-in...all kinds of different reactions are vividly presented in front of the camera. The wide venue is buzzing with voices, mixed with sobs, which is a real picture of all living beings.
Seeing this scene, Xiao Cui, who was holding the Xuantong Mirror, felt a little bit sorry. She contacted Ning Shu through the love network built by the sacred tree: "Miss, isn't this a bit... Several people are scared to tears..."
"What? They're all crying?" Ning Shu was overjoyed upon hearing this and repeatedly instructed her, "Then don't just stand there? Quick! Go over and take some close-ups of those people's faces! Pick out the ones with exaggerated expressions, so it'll be more effective for the show!"
Xiao Cui: ...
Miss, I seem to understand why those old Taoists call us witches.
Although she felt a little sympathy for the contestants, she had to obey the lady's orders. So Xiao Cui cursed in her heart, "What a beast I am!" while moving forward to take close-ups of the contestants.
On the screen in the center of the hall, the faces that were either nervous or crying successfully tensed the audience's emotions. Everyone was infected by this high pressure and began to discuss the elimination rate of the auditions.
The young apprentice sister of Qingyun Sect immediately gasped: "Only, only forty left? And it's only the first match? Isn't this too cruel?"
She is the daughter of the head of the sect, and was destined to embark on the path of immortality since birth. Before this, she had never known how fierce the competition on the road to immortality was, nor had she ever thought about how fierce the selection process was for her senior brothers and sisters to be qualified to stand by her side.
Sure enough, although the others sitting in the room were somewhat surprised when they heard this, none of them were as surprised as the younger sister. The third sister touched her hair, as if she was thinking about something:
"Come to think of it, the disciple-recruiting ceremony I attended back then was similar. A small sect like Qingyun Sect had hundreds of people traveling long distances to participate in the selection. The larger sects would only see it more exaggerated."
"That's right. If the Hehuan Sect hadn't had the sudden incident, the number of people rushing to sign up would have been several times more!" The second senior brother nodded in agreement.
The younger junior sister looked over curiously and asked, "Senior sister, how many of you were selected back then?"
"Alas, the spiritual root testing alone eliminated more than half of the people. There were also many more tests later, such as endurance and comprehension. In the end, only a few hundred people were left." The third sister couldn't help but sigh when she thought of the tears of those who failed to be selected. Even though it had been so many years, she suddenly felt emotional:
"Back then, I was still young and had decent talent, so I didn't really feel anything. But now that the female cultivator from the Hehuan Sect has revealed the number of people who will be selected, I'm shocked to realize how cruel the path to immortality can be."
In the past, they often lamented that they were not talented enough to catch up with those gifted people who could form a pill at a young age. Now, seeing that they could become direct disciples and sit here leisurely and enjoy themselves, they didn’t know how much luckier they were than others.
The other people in the room just sighed for a moment and then continued to discuss the contestants. Only the junior sister looked at the picture on the screen and her heart ached unconsciously.
She had been in poor health since childhood, so her father and other senior brothers and sisters loved and doted on her even more. Over the years, she had focused on cultivation and playing with her senior brothers and sisters. She never knew that it was so difficult for ordinary people to cultivate immortality.
However, most of the immortal cultivators were not surprised by this rule. They just sighed a little and then accepted it.
After all, if you have no talent, you have no talent. Even the Lord can’t do anything about it. The immortal cultivation sect is not a porridge shop. You can’t just let anyone in, right?
Compared to this, they are indeed more concerned about the standards used by the Hehuan Sect to select disciples.
Ning Shu, the host, was also very tactful. After leaving only a short time for the audience and contestants to digest and discuss, she directly announced the content of the selection.
"And what kind of rigorous challenges will these contestants face soon? Now, let's turn the camera back and welcome the judges of this competition—the guardian elders of the Hehuan Sect—to explain the rules of the auditions!"
So the camera quickly turned back to the room as she spoke. Ning Shu, who was wearing a yellow dress and talking and smiling, stretched out her left arm to make a guiding gesture, and the camera naturally moved to the left. Everyone then realized that this strange-looking room not only had a stage, but also three luxurious chairs next to it. Two of the seats were occupied by two beautiful women with graceful figures, who were smiling and nodding.
Sitting in the middle was a female cultivator in a purple gauze skirt. She leaned on the table with her legs crossed, and casually took away the round fan embroidered with mandarin ducks in her hand, revealing a bright and beautiful face.
Her eyebrows were long and sharp like swords, and the pair of fox eyes below were slightly narrowed, with two traces of bright red rouge slightly raised at the corners of her eyes. Her nose was high and straight, and her red lips were slightly pursed to reveal a charming smile: "I am Zixiao, the guardian elder of the Hehuan Sect."
There is no doubt that this is a dangerous and beautiful woman. Unlike the bright and innocent girl just now, this female cultivator named Zixiao is very beautiful and aggressive.
It seems that this female cultivator has a high level of cultivation. She is indeed a genuine elder of the Hehuan Sect, and her cultivation level is at least at the Nascent Soul stage.
After just one glance, the monks who were watching the show through the screen made their judgment.
"Hello everyone, I'm also Bai Xuan, the guardian elder of the He Huan Sect." The white-robed female cultivator to Zi Xiao's right also poked her head out to greet them. She was certainly beautiful, but compared to Zi Xiao's flamboyant beauty, Bai Xuan's temperament was pure and gentle, so most people were immediately drawn to Zi Xiao, and few could focus their attention elsewhere.
Bai Xuan had black hair that flowed down like a waterfall, and two small white flowers were pinned in her bun. She smiled gently at the screen, her voice clear and pleasant, like a spring breeze: "Next, let me introduce the audition rules to everyone."
The people outside the screen were silent for a moment, then began pointing at the screen and talking excitedly.
Of course, the women who practice cultivation are not ugly, but the female cultivators of the Hehuan Sect are able to raise their appearance to a higher level among the already beautiful fairies.
"As expected of the Hehuan Sect, these female cultivators are more beautiful than each other!"
"Just based on these beautiful fairies, my trip was not in vain!"
"I'm getting more and more curious. How do they choose their disciples? Do they just look at their looks?"
"These three female cultivators are truly beautiful in their own ways! But if I had to choose, I still prefer..."
"My fellow Daoist, please wake up! That's the witch from the Hehuan Sect. If you get entangled with her, you'll die!"
"But they are so beautiful and charming. As the saying goes, appearance reflects the heart. Is there some misunderstanding here?"
"Oh no! I was stunned! What are the selection rules? Has anyone heard of it?"
Other monks: ...
I was so focused on looking at her face that I didn't pay any attention at all.
Hiss, the Hehuan Sect is so terrifying.
【Author’s words】
The Hehuan Sect must be very good-looking since they can cause trouble to other cultivators everywhere, but most cultivators have never seen the real person so they have no idea.
Ning Shu: From today on, I will spread the beautiful glory of the Hehuan Sect to every immortal cultivator! Feel the critique of beauty! [Spread flowers]
Before the other cultivators saw the real person, they said: "Stay away from the evil woman of the Hehuan Sect! Anyone who can be deceived is a fool!"
After seeing the real person: There must be some misunderstanding! Those men must have betrayed me and turned the tables!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
