Under Rihai’s helpless gaze, she and Aotian stepped forward and joined the other disciples.

At that moment, Rihai had completely given up on the idea of being discreet. She knew Aotian well enough to know he wouldn’t accept losing on purpose, even if she begged.

At least, she felt a little more at ease knowing he wouldn’t go around saying he was the young master of the sect. That way, the level of foreign danger he could attract would only be that of an extremely talented disciple… which, in a way, was already terrible.

‘Are you going to hold back?’

Aotian looked at her with quiet curiosity as his voice echoed in her mind. There was no need for him to say he wouldn’t — she already understood.

Rihai just rolled her eyes at him.

‘If you’re not going to hold back, then there’s no point in me doing so either. At the very least, with my strength, I can keep opportunistic female cultivators off your back. If I pretend to be weak while you show your power, I’ll only be creating trouble for myself.’

She scoffed and stopped caring about hiding.

Aotian smiled and winked mischievously at her, and her slightly annoyed face couldn’t help but form a small smile against her will, because of his shamelessness.

Elder Zheng Tao, seeing that everyone planned to participate, nodded in satisfaction.

“Good spirit. Since you all plan to participate, each day of the combat competition will have 59 one-on-one fights. We’ll divide them into 6 daily rounds, with 10 matches happening at the same time, except for the last one, which will have only 9. Are you following?”

Zheng Tao asked, analyzing them.

Except for the boy nicknamed Little Brick, the rest nodded seriously… as for the first, he shook his head with a slightly lost expression.

“Excellent. We’re about to arrive at the Gu family’s city, so I’ll leave the choice to you. Would you rather begin the matches after the recruitment at the next city and have a few days to prepare, or start immediately today?”

He smiled and asked the 118 outer disciples, who looked at each other uncertainly.

Soon, several voices began to rise in the crowd:

“After!”

“A few days to prepare!”

“Let’s go today, we still have 9 days of battles!”

“After!”

“Today!”

Soon, a cacophony of voices spread, and Aotian noticed that many more people were asking to start after recruitment. He understood. No one wanted to be unprepared, and everyone wanted to give their best in the competition.

Even though three days wouldn’t change much, at least psychologically they’d feel more confident. But there were always the confident and impatient ones who wanted to go right away.

Hearing the opinions shouted by the crowd and seeing the overall trend, Elder Zheng Tao raised his hand, silencing everyone.

“The great majority of you asked for after the recruitment at the Gu family’s mountain, so you’ll have about three days to prepare for the battles. Your opponents will be determined on the day of the match, to avoid any backstage manipulation that could affect the score.”

He concluded, and with everyone nodding, he dismissed them so they could disperse and return to their cabins.

Cang Song, along with the other four inner disciples of the sect near the elders, looked at the outer disciples who would be competing with envy and regret.

‘Haah… why wasn’t there something this good in my time, like being able to choose whether to participate or not? And look at these prodigal disciples nowadays… with such a good, safe, and forgettable position like that of an outer disciple, they still want to become something so unstable, dangerous, and full of responsibilities and scrutiny like an inner disciple. This generation is lost.’

He looked helplessly at them as they began to disperse along with the other disciples.

Cang Song also turned to leave, but froze when he noticed someone standing calmly behind him.

The man had fiery red hair lazily tied in a ponytail, tired and disinterested eyes, and was calmly observing him.

He wore the iconic dark purple robes of the inner elders.

Cang Song knew him well. That was the leader of the pavilion he had joined.

Dan Hong, the inner elder of the Alchemy Pavilion.

Although he knew Dan Hong, he wasn’t very familiar with the elder. Apparently, Elder Dan was always focused on alchemy and rarely came out. There were few occasions where Cang Song had even seen him in person.

The elder’s gaze calmly swept over the other four inner disciples before returning to Cang Song.

Wisely, the four disciples respectfully bid farewell to the elder and left, understanding that the matter did not concern them.

“You’re Disciple Cang, correct?” Dan Hong asked with mild disinterest. It seemed that if the subject wasn’t alchemy, he didn’t care much.

“Uh… Elder Dan, please forgive this disciple’s rudeness.” At his words, Cang Song snapped out of it. Slightly panicked, he cupped his fists respectfully and bowed deeply. “Disciple Cang Song greets Elder Dan.”

“Uhm!” the elder merely grunted, but he didn’t seem very impressed.

“Um… Elder Dan, may this disciple be bold enough to ask why the elder is looking for him?” he asked cautiously, trying to maintain proper decorum.

“You’re already being bold by saying that. Don’t beat around the bush — speak directly. I don’t like wasting time with roundabout talk,” Elder Dan Hong rolled his tired eyes and spoke plainly, unconcerned.

“Ah, no, err, well… the disciple understands.”

Cang Song found himself at a loss for words in the face of such bluntness and grew awkward.

His best tool for avoiding offense was flowery language and phrasing things in circles, creating a polite and respectful atmosphere.

Not that he wasn’t humble or kind, but he felt the need to make that clear in a way that wouldn’t get him into trouble.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Elder Zhao came to recommend you to become my direct disciple, which would elevate your status to a core disciple of the sect.”

He spoke without even blinking, with a bored expression — but his words made Cang Song freeze in place like a statue.

‘E-Elder Zhao, did I kill your family in a past life? Why do you hate me so much?’

Cang Song wanted to cry in that moment, but he had no tears to shed.

He just wanted to cultivate peacefully and discreetly. Why did Elder Zhao insist on causing him trouble?

But then, the next sentence from the elder made a light shine and clear the fog in his mind.

“Since this isn’t a decision that can be made lightly — after all, once we initiate a master-disciple bond, we can’t easily undo that karmic link — I came here to evaluate you and hand you this list of challenges. Over the next period, you’ll be under my observation, and I’ll be judging your actions as you go through the challenges. I hope you don’t waste my time by disappointing me.”

He said this and handed a jade slip to the stunned Cang Song.

Though the cowardly disciple looked dazed on the outside, inside he was thrilled.

‘I see, Elder Dan. As long as I disappoint you, I won’t keep rising in the social ranks, and therefore won’t make my life more valuable — which means less dangerous.’

He thought in satisfaction.

But the cold shower came far too quickly.

“Elder Zhao warned me that you’re very cowardly and might try to trick me just to avoid being approved.”

He said this while staring directly into his eyes, which narrowed like a needle.

‘Elder Zhao, I really didn’t kill your family in a past life!’

Cang Song felt a true urge to cry at that moment.

“That—Elder—I…”

He stammered, unsure what to say, but was cut off before he could even try to explain.

“Cang Song, if you don’t want this, just say so. No need to dance around it. If it’s truly your will to remain an outer disciple, I can demote you as well.”

He spoke seriously, causing Cang Song’s eyes to widen in disbelief.

‘Just… that easy? Could this be some kind of trap?’

He thought, hesitant.

But Dan Hong, even with his disinterested eyes, seemed to have no trouble reading this from his gaze.

“It’s not a trick or some kind of trap. Cang Song, you might want to run, and you may indeed spend your whole life running — no one will stop you. I can’t say whether the outcome will be good or bad if you choose that path or not. I can only say there will be an outcome. It’s not up to us to decide which path you’ll walk. It all depends entirely on you. But what I’m giving you now is a great opportunity… one that likely won’t come again if you choose to stop here.”

“There is no right or wrong — only different outcomes and different perspectives.”

“The choice is yours, and yours alone… and so are the consequences of your decision.”

With that said, he didn’t wait for a response and simply turned around and left.

Cang Song felt his heart tremble in that moment, and looked at the jade slip with the challenges in his hand, then at the back of Elder Dan Hong as he walked away.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep