Chương 376: Lan Wujie

"I must admit though, you guys aren't bad. When I was an early stage deity, I was only about as strong as you guys. Especially you." The youth glanced at Long Feng with intrigue in his eyes.

"I fail to comprehend just how your cultivation is that of an Imperial, yet you unleash power that can startle me." Long Feng merely smiled and didn't say anything to that. The others also had the exact same question, but untill now, no one could come up with a reasonable explanation to his unusual power. Many of them presumed that it was as a result of the Dao heart. That only served to fuel their bitterness, imagining what would have happened if they had the heart instead.

"You all are good. In view of that, I'll give you some advice that could save your lives." The youth's expression turned serious, causing them all to perk their ears and listen.

"Never, for any reason start a fight. You will face humiliation, you will be bullied, insulted and mocked for being weak. You must endure it all. There are no less than a thousand disciples in the outer peak, and not a single one of them hasn't refined their cultivation at least once! In fact, I'm not even the strongest among the refined early stage deities. Any casual early stage deity you meet can absolutely kill any of you. As for a mid stage deity?

Stay away as much as you can, because they would have already climbed back to the mid stage after refining their cultivation once. Their strength is far beyond even mine. And refined mid stage deities? Lower your heads and flee. Each and everyone of us was a genius similar to you, and many were even more monstrous than most of you. You shouldn't even think of yourselves as special in this place… we all are." He solemnly advised, causing an unusually bitter feeling to fill the hearts of the ten disciples.

After being accustomed to standing at the top of the ladder in the outer peak, suddenly finding themselves at the very bottom where they could be bullied definitely didn't sit well with them. The only ones who were unbothered were Long Feng and Qiu Yushi. The former had spent most of his life under the title of a trash, getting bullied and humiliated. Even when he first joined the sect, he was at the very bottom. This wasn't a new thing. As for the latter, his talent wasn't anything great.

He had come so far purely by his determination and hard work that would put any genius to shame. The torture and extreme training he had to endure to come so far was unimaginable, and simply lowering his head and ignoring some insults wouldn't be an issue for him. The others weren't the same. Most of them found it hard to imagine falling so much, and it would take a while for them to get used to it.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. You've all passed my test to become Inner disciples, but whether you'll remain so will be determined by yourselves." The youth smiled and explained.

"All new inner disciples are expected to refine their cultivation once within a year, otherwise they'd be sent back to the outer peak. In other words, you all have a year to reach the mid stage deity realm and refine yourself back to the early stage. Good luck!" Everyone's expressions flickered intensely. A year to reach the mid stage deity realm wasn't impossible. In fact, many of them were already on the verge of achieving a breakthrough. Only few of them felt worried, especially for Long Feng.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. This rule was a little… intense for him. As the first and perhaps only rank five Imperial to ever become an inner disciple, how exactly would the rule apply to him? Was he required to possess the combat power of a refined early stage deity in a year? Or would he also have to actually reach the deity realm and refine his cultivation once?

It was rather complicated to think about, so Long Feng decided to drop the thought for now. The youth led them to the Central Hall, where they all received special robes worn by inner peak disciples, as well as their new identity tokens. The robes were extremely unique, made out of a material that made them so light they were practically weightless. At the same time though, they possessed a shocking defensive property that could block the all out attack of a peak Imperial!

This was the first time any of them were seeing such a shocking robe. It could even deflect a portion of a deity's attack, slightly improve the wearer's agility and change colors according to their will. Each of the robes were classified as peak Imperial treasures on their own, leaving Long Feng speechless. He was to wear an entire peak Imperial grade treasure on his body now? This was a luxury he couldn't imagine before. As for the identity token, it was bound to their souls.

With it, they could locate their residences as well as bypass the many life threatening formations scattered throughout the mountain. After they received the two items, the youth smiled at the middle aged man who handed them over.

"Thank you, Deacon Ye." The man nodded lightly and leaned back on his chair to rest his head.

"I seem to recall that new disciples can enter the Myriad Techniques Hall and take a single low grade earth manual and two peak mortal grade techniques?" The youth asked. The Deacon responded with a nod.

"That's right." His nod caused the expressions of all ten youths to light up. No one in his right senses would refuse a low earth grade manual as well as two peak mortal grade techniques. They would greatly improve their strengths.

"Very well. We'll not bother you any longer." The youth quickly led them out of the hall.

"That was Deacon Ye, an a rather annoying person. But he is a mid stage Dao realm master." They all expressed surprise at his words, mainly at the fact that the inner peak has deacons, and also at the deacon's strength. Mid stage Dao realm was the same as the head warden of the outer peak!

"Here, the elders are all powerful, nearly always in seclusion pursuit higher realms or guarding the sect and various core places. It is rare for an elder to be seen. The inner peak is mostly supervised by the deacons, and the lowest requirement to become one is to be a mid stage Dao master." The youth explained.

'mid stage Dao realm! … this is ridiculous!' Long Feng gasped.

"Many important information will be sent to you through your tokens. Pay attention to lectures by the deacons. In rare cases, an elder could decide to share some insights, which will greatly help our understanding of cultivation. In short, try everything possible to grow stronger." They all listened to his words and kept them close at heart. His final advice really wasn't necessary. They were all pumped up already, willing to become stronger by any means. That wasn't something he needed to remind them of.

"I'm done with you all. Follow your identity tokens and you'll find your Cave residences. Whenever you're ready, check out the Myriad Techniques Hall. You're all excluded from undertaking a mission this month unless you wish to, but from next month, a mission will be sent to you each month via your tokens. Great rewards will await upon completion, and you can even go to the missions hall and find some low risk missions to clear for more resources. Stay low key, endure everything and focus on getting stronger."

The youth paused and scratched his head blankly.

"Damn… I'm sounding old. I'm done with you monkeys. I hope none of you dies too soon. Ah, so stressful… luckily, the reward I'll receive for clearing this mission is worth it."

"Wait a minute, this was a mission?" Qiu Yushi couldn't help but question. The youth nodded casually.

"What else did you think? I was in the middle of my cultivation when an urgent mission was sent to my token, and there was a time limit. You didn't think I'd lead you all around for so long all for nothing did you?" His response left them all speechless. To what extent did the inner peak look down on the outer peak exactly? To think their inner peak test which they all spent so long preparing for was nothin but a causal mission in the inner peak… They all didn't know how to feel about this.

"Don't take it to heart. Next year, one of you might be the one chosen for the mission." The youth laughed then glanced at Qiu Yushi.

"I await your challenge. Hope you don't waste my time." Then he glanced at Long Feng with a crease on his forehead.

"I still can't comprehend you at all, but I look forward to seeing your progress later on." Saying that, he began to walk away, covering tens of meters with every step.

"How do I find you?!" Qiu Yushi shouted, causing the youth to pause.

"Ask for Lan Wujie." He waved his arm loosely before rushing off, leaving them staring at his silhouette as he vanished.

"Urgh. The inner peak is much different than I thought." Wang Chen shook his head and murmured.

"Get used to it. We've stood at the top of the outer peak for so long that we've forgotten how vast the sky is. We just left a small well and truly stepped into the world." Qiu Yushi smiled and clenched his fists for a few seconds before unclenching them. Hearing his words, Long Feng felt strange in his heart.

'Stepped into the world…? Or did we merely enter a slightly larger well?' Did the mainland count as the real world? Or were there more worlds out there? He didn't know the answer to that, but he did know that they were all frogs in a well. Regardless of the size of the well, they were still only viewing at a tiny part of the sky. After all… Wu Kong still existed somewhere out there among the stars.