Illusion
Ruan Qingyu remained skeptical and cautious about Ruan Linglan's attitude, since all the disciples who could enter this place hoped to have the best aptitude and be able to successfully enter the Xuantian Sect.
After exchanging a glance with Lü Liangke beside her, Ruan Qingyu simply sat down on the ground with her, waiting for the remaining disciples to come in after their tests were completed.
In her previous life, at this time, her aptitude was below average, and she was unable to enter this room. It is evident that the clan had long ago divided these young men and women into different classes.
This time, it just so happened that Ruan Qingyu was assigned to one of the clan's most promising talents.
Thinking of this, Ruan Qingyu lowered her eyes slightly. She didn't bother to observe her surroundings, because her divine sense inexplicably detected many probing gazes.
But the people around her were all chatting idly, some quietly, some noisily. Clearly no one was paying attention to her, yet the feeling of being watched grew stronger.
Unbeknownst to Ruan Qingyu, in another courtyard of the Ruan family.
Inside stood many elders of the Ruan family, who were usually high and mighty, exuding an air of authority. But now, most of them had amiable expressions, and some even seemed quite friendly towards the people on the other side.
If Ruan Qingyu were to observe, she would recognize that the group of disciples dressed in light blue robes were outer disciples of the Xuan Tian Sect. The only one present, wearing a dark red robe, was the inner disciple she had known most before her death.
At this moment, this group of people were carefully observing their disciples, who were sitting in the room, bored and daydreaming, using the teleportation stone.
One group of people kept taking notes, while another group pointed fingers and made comments.
"Senior brother, this batch of disciples is much better than those from a few years ago. The purity of their spiritual roots and their natural talent alone are much better." A disciple in charge of recording looked up and spoke to the person next to him.
Beside him, a disciple dressed in a dark red robe with a Xuan Tian Sect token hanging at his waist, stood expressionless with his arms crossed, watching the Ruan family disciples in the transmission mirror.
If Ruan Qingyu were present, she would surely recognize this person as one of the disciples who had chased after her. However, at this moment, he exudes righteousness, showing no trace of his past life as an accomplice to evil.
Zhang Zitao glanced at the other rooms and said casually, "What's the rush? These disciples look good now, but the Ruan family is only testing low-grade jade. When the sect's magic artifacts are used for testing, I'm afraid more than half of them will be gone."
His words were undeniably blunt, but the elder of the Ruan family dared not speak, only standing there with a smile.
He would only answer quickly and with a delighted expression if a Xuan Tian Sect disciple asked about a particular disciple. This was all so that more disciples from his clan could enter the sect.
The Xuantian Sect publicly announced that they would arrive in Yuzhou in about a month, but in reality, they came out much earlier to prevent other sects from deliberately snatching up their talents at this time.
Although they looked down on disciples from mortal families, many outstanding disciples joined the Xuantian Sect and soared to great heights, bringing considerable resources to the sect as a result.
The head of the Ruan family was much more composed. After all, although the disciples of the Xuantian Sect had come this time, he was now at the Golden Core stage and did not need to be subservient to the Foundation Establishment stage disciples.
These matters were all handled by the various elders. At this time, the one who was most frequently in contact with the disciples was another elder of the Ruan family, who was also in the Foundation Establishment stage and whose cultivation was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
He was adept at navigating social situations, able to speak with almost every disciple of the Xuantian Sect. This was solely because he was the son of Ruan Tianci, the only elder from the Ruan family to have achieved this.
Elder Ruan is currently in the late stage of the Golden Core realm and has been in seclusion at the Xuan Tian Sect. To show his importance, he has sent his favorite youngest son to help the family participate in the sect's disciple selection.
Ruan Tianyang could hardly contain his smugness; he had influence among the disciples of various sects. At this moment, he smiled and said to Zhang Zitao, "Junior Brother Zhang, look at the disciples in the top-tier rooms; they have the best aptitude, and their performance is also extremely good."
Although Zhang Zitao was displeased that this person was overstepping his bounds, he still smiled and said, thinking of his father, whose cultivation was at the peak of the Golden Core stage, "Indeed, it's not bad. We'll review the magical artifacts of my Xuantian Sect again. Those that aren't too bad can directly enter the inner sect of my Xuantian Sect. However, there are only five spots for inner sect disciples. If there are too many above-average ones, we'll have to rank them according to the top five aptitudes."
This was a subtle hint to the Ruan family that if they wanted to add more people at this point, they would have to offer something in return. However, after a long while, no one spoke.
Zhang Zitao frowned, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes. Even scarce resources in such a small, insignificant place would likely be beneath his notice.
If there's no profit to be made, then there's no profit to be made; we can just take it from these new disciples later.
Although Ruan Tianyang knew what Zhang Zitao meant, he didn't want to waste his own resources for the Ruan family. If those elders really wanted to send their precious children into the inner sect, then he would spend his own money to do it.
The other elders exchanged glances, their expressions remaining impassive. Surprisingly, not a single one stepped forward; it seemed this year was unusually fair.
The intense stares from this group of people were naturally all under the watchful eye of the Ruan family head. However, he lowered his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
Unlike other families, the Ruan family did not waste resources by having their young disciples cultivate ahead of time, precisely so that their resources would not be taken away.
Now that we've finally managed to send someone away, naturally few people are willing to give anything in return. The pursuit of immortality and enlightenment must, from the very beginning, rely on oneself.
The elders would at most emphasize who had the best aptitude and who was a little less so. Whether the Xuan Tian Sect disciples were willing to listen depended on their luck.
As Zhang Zitao's voice rang out, the other Xuantian Sect disciples all looked over. He announced, "All the Ruan family disciples have now entered their rooms. Those below grade C will be eliminated and assigned to do menial tasks according to their qualifications. If there are enough this year, they will be eliminated directly."
Immediately, many of the Ruan family elders who still harbored a glimmer of hope felt their faces twitch. Why was it so strict this year? In previous years, they would bring along some menial servants, but now they were simply saying they didn't need to and wouldn't bring any.
The group exchanged glances, but dared not ask a question at this moment.
Then, Zhang Zitao continued, "For rooms C and B, two array plates will be placed in. Those who are qualified will become outer disciples. For disciples in rooms A, three array plates will be placed in. If their temperament, aptitude, and physique are all satisfactory, the top five will be selected as inner disciples in order."
The disciples of the Xuantian Sect nodded slightly: "Yes!"
As the words fell, white light shone from the hands of many disciples. Like meteors falling, they entered the rooms arranged by the Ruan family.
Meanwhile, Ruan Qingyu noticed something amiss as soon as the array plate entered the room. She saw that Lü Liangke inside, along with Ruan Linglan beside her, and Ruan Nanhe, who had been secretly watching from a distance, all had blank stares, seemingly entering some kind of state.
She alone remained conscious. "The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind," and with this thought in mind, Ruan Qingyu allowed her expression to gradually become hazy, and her eyes to gradually become dull.
This was the method she learned when she escaped in her previous life: to make herself look like the people around her as quickly as possible and avoid being discovered to be different.
That array plate was originally a magic tool used by the Xuantian Sect to roughly assess future disciples. Now, whether Ruan Qingyu was caught or not, whether she was qualified or not, even her top-grade fire spirit root was registered.
This immediately attracted the attention of the two disciples in charge of registration. Upon seeing the disciple's cultivation level, they were surprised: "Second level of Qi Refining? Don't the disciples of the Ruan family never cultivate in advance? How come this disciple has cultivation?"
"He probably cultivated it himself. With a top-grade single-fire spiritual root, he can easily grow much faster than ordinary cultivators by simply using a basic Qi-guiding technique." The recording disciple whispered to himself.
Although the two spoke softly, they made no attempt to hide anything. Therefore, Zhang Zitao quickly overheard them and stepped forward to look at the register.
"Ruan Qingyu? I didn't hear the elders of the Ruan family mention this disciple when he came. It seems he's a disciple from a collateral branch. He's quite lucky to have this level of cultivation." Zhang Zitao's tone was unusually appreciative, almost making the two disciples think that he had designs on recruiting this disciple of Ruan Qingyu.
In fact, Zhang Zitao was indeed thinking of recruiting some disciples. In recent years, his master had inexplicably paid special attention to disciples with fire spirit roots, and if he could recommend a disciple with a fire spirit root to join the sect, he would probably receive a considerable reward.
However, thinking of something, Zhang Zitao frowned. If this fire spirit root had other elements added, there might still be a chance, but with this top-grade single fire spirit root, it was probably not even up to his master, a Golden Core cultivator, to accept as a disciple.
Even if a disciple is found by the sect itself, if they have the aptitude, they will be taken in by the Nascent Soul stage ancestor.
Thinking of this, Zhang Zitao's initial excitement faded considerably, and he stopped talking. He simply nodded: "If this person passes all three tests, he will undoubtedly become an inner disciple of the sect. We'll register him and ask the other peaks if any elders need to recruit disciples."
Upon hearing this, the two registered disciples nodded repeatedly, remembering the sect's mission. After all, this trip was also part of their sect's mission. Although other disciples might not like it, the sect would be more grateful for good disciples.
Thinking of this, the disciples took even more detailed notes. They even listed out the subtle differences between the Ruan family disciples.
Two hours later, the array plates in the rooms turned into light again and flew back to the group.
Ruan Qingyu, who had been keeping an eye on the group, quickly pretended to wake up as if from a dream and looked around as well after they regained their senses.
Lü Liangke suddenly burst into tears, grabbing Ruan Qingyu's sleeve tightly with one hand: "Waaah, why did you kill me? So what if you have high cultivation? When my cultivation level rises, I'll beat you to death too!"
Ruan Qingyu sighed helplessly. How could this person still be thinking of fighting her to the death even in the illusion? Thinking of this, Ruan Qingyu reached out and patted Lü Liangke on the back: "It's okay, it's okay, it's all fake. These are all tests given by the sect, and you've all passed them now."
Although she didn't understand why Ruan Qingyu spoke with such certainty, Lü Liangke sobbed a few times. She then wiped her eyes and pretended nothing had happened.
Naturally, Ruan Qingyu wouldn't speak up, for fear that Ruan Qingyu might get angry and start a fight with her right there in the room.
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