Offering Salted Fish to Master - C2
On the third day, the young master, who appeared quite youthful despite being over three hundred years old, arrived to escort Liao Tingyan to the selection venue. As she traveled, Liao Tingyan was awed by the vastness of Gengchen Immortal. Their journey took place aboard a swift, magical vehicle that arrived in two hours.
"We're approaching Qu Dong Thirty-Six Immortal Mountain, which stretches for eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight miles, all within the Gengchen Immortal's frontiers," Master Dong Yang explained, almost as if he were reading her thoughts. "Indeed, our sect is quite expansive; many lower-level disciples live in these affiliated cities their entire lives, much like citizens of a mortal country."
Liao Tingyan reflected on this newfound knowledge with astonishment.
In the distance, she spotted a massive square that resembled a plain, flanked by dozens of jade pillars. A grand palace rose majestically in the center. Many disciples had already gathered there, with a steady stream of newcomers arriving. The sight was magnificent, filling Liao Tingyan with awe.
Dong Yang was like a parent sending a child into an examination room. After escorting her, he offered her a warm, encouraging look before stepping away to wait at the edge of the square, leaving Liao Tingyan among a gathering of beautiful disciples.
Standing in one corner, Liao Tingyan looked up and felt as if she had stumbled into a beauty pageant.
[If it were a beauty pageant, choosing a champion would surely be a challenge, as everyone around me is as beautiful as a fairy.]
After a while, Liao Tingyan began to experience a bit of aesthetic fatigue from all the beauty surrounding her.
Eventually, she yawned, cracked her neck left and right, and decided to do some eye exercises to relieve the strain. There were at least 10,000 people gathered in the venue, and the stunning individuals in various dresses chatted softly among themselves. Some of them noticed Liao Tingyan standing alone there.
“Who is this Junior Sister?” one of them remarked.
Liao Tingyan, adept at navigating social situations, introduced herself politely as a disciple of the renowned Qinggu Tiandongyang. The beauty who had spoken to her laughed, covering her mouth with a hint of arrogance in her eyes. Although her hand gesture was meant to be elegant, it came across as haughty and mean. "Oh, she’s not a sister; she’s a niece," she replied dismissively before turning away, clearly uninterested in her.
Liao Tingyan, unfazed, ignored her and turned away, much to the frustration of the girl who had thought she could belittle her.
Liao Tingyan overheard snippets of their conversation and realized that the beauties around her were either a single spiritual root, a mutated single spiritual root, or a top-level double spiritual root. In the cultivation world, a genius is born every ten years, while truly exceptional geniuses emerge only once every hundred years. They were here, clustered together like a pile of Chinese cabbage, trying to figure out which girl was the top root.
Nothing ever changes; whether in kindergarten, middle school, university, or the workplace, girls tend to be bullies, submissives, or ignored. Throughout her life, she has been tested repeatedly and has come to prefer being ignored.
Moreover, many of them were the same generation as the true Dongyang and held high status, which naturally led them to look down on Liao Tingyan, this unassuming disciple. Perhaps if she had been strikingly beautiful, they would have taken the initiative to talk to her.
[Who cares! It seems the master was right. I’m just here for the experience.]
She had, of course, no idea that her completely indifferent attitude stopped most of them in their tracks. It had nothing to do with her looks.
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Suddenly, a loud, resonant chime echoed through the crowd, causing it to fall silent. A stream of five colorful lights descended from the sky, transforming into five figures before the hall in the square. From her distance, Liao Tingyan couldn’t see their faces clearly, but she felt an overwhelming aura emanating from them that made it difficult to look at them directly.
“Five house leaders have arrived!” someone exclaimed.
“There was a great evil demon event a few years ago, and at that time, there were only two house leaders. It seems the higher-ups are very serious about this event,” another replied.
Liao Tingyan listened intently as the women around her whispered, their tones filled with amazement and excitement.
[wā[i]! It’s like a human rainbow!]
On the high steps, an old man began to speak. “Today, we will select a hundred individuals from all the disciples present here, who will serve His Supreme Majesty, Monarch Cizang.”
The old man spoke briefly before allowing several people beside him to release their auras. The energy enveloped everyone in the field, including Liao Tingyan. After a moment, the radiance diminished, revealing only a hundred individuals who remained bathed in the glow. These were the ones chosen by the sect leaders.
Liao Tingyan frowned, still surrounded by rays of light, and wondered, “Why was I chosen when I only came to watch?”
[Since she has been selected, there's no other choice. Nothing to worry about. They say this monarch has emerged from his retreat after five hundred years. He must be very old. One hundred of us. I can surely hide among them. I will just take care of my duties and stay in my corner.]
[Challenges and unexpected events inevitably enter our lives. They often arrive unannounced, catching us off guard and forcing us to face situations we’d prefer to avoid.]
Liao Tingyan embraced a modern mindset, slowing down and looking past any stress.
[That is a profound and universal truth. Life rarely consults our schedules before dropping a major curveball, and navigating those uninvited moments takes a heavy toll on our energy and focus. Facing situations we want to avoid is one of the hardest parts of the human experience.]
She believed that there were no hurdles in life. If there were, she would simply lie down and take it easy. After all, it’s about lying down at the finish line, no matter the starting point.
Once she adopted this perspective, nothing seemed like a problem anymore.
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As Liao Tingyan waited for the day her ancestor would emerge from seclusion, she noticed that everyone in the sect was genuinely concerned. The Qinggutian place, which had been overlooked for years, suddenly came to life because of her presence. It felt as if a small township high school had produced a champion in the provincial college entrance examination. Hundreds of eyes spotted her and stared at her in disbelief.
Why was Liao Tingyan selected? Normally, with so many eligible female disciples, there were others who seemed more qualified than she was. Even Liao Tingyan herself couldn't explain why she had been chosen, which left many senior and junior disciples confused as they came to inquire about the news.
"I heard that both Baidi Mountain and Chishuiyuan sent representatives to participate in the ceremony for Monarch Cizang," one disciple mentioned.
"It's not just Baidi Mountain and Chishuiyuan; various large and small sects are expressing interest. However, it seems that participation requires certain qualifications. This time, the exit ceremony won't allow outsiders to join. Instead, they can go to the Three Sacred Mountains to welcome him in person. Only disciples of our Gengchen Immortal, along with the masters of various palaces, caves, and lineages, will be allowed to come close. Others must remain at the foot of the mountain, and people from other factions cannot approach."
"Sister Liao must have hidden talent, since she was chosen as one of the hundred disciples to serve Monarch Cizang," some unchosen women near her corner said, glancing at Liao Tingyan.
Nodding in response to their envied looks, Liao Tingyan thought, [I wish I could tell you which one I have too.]
"I really want to know what kind of person Monarch Cizang is! Unfortunately, we juniors can only greet and send him off from outside; we aren't qualified to meet him in person."
"Sister Liao, if you get the chance to meet him, would you tell us about it later?"
"Of course," Liao Tingyan agreed. To be honest, she imagined the ancestor as an elderly, stout man with white hair flowing and a long beard, typical for his age. She envisioned him having kind features, a broad forehead, and thick ears resembling those of a bodhisattva, perhaps with a red mole on his brow.
As she pondered this, she felt a growing sense of anticipation, akin to preparing for a meeting with a national celebrity. In this cultivation world filled with demons, ghosts, and immortals, Daojun Cizang's influence was substantial. The day he finally emerged from his retreat, the entire Gengchen Immortal seemed to buzz with excitement.
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