In the great square at the foot of the mountain, a crowd of cultivators gathered, awaiting the arrival of the members of the Infinite Dao Sect.

Many people whispered among themselves, driven by curiosity and fear of this mysterious Golden Core sect that had suddenly emerged.

“Have you heard? The disciples recruited earlier advanced rapidly this month. Many say this sect follows the Demonic Dao, which is why their progress is so fast,” A man whispered to another, his voice filled with caution and distrust.

But his friend, upon hearing this, quickly shook his head and replied in a low, irritated voice.

“If you’re going to spout nonsense, do it away from me. This is a legitimate Golden Core sect, something far beyond our comprehension. If what you say were true, would we still be here? The city entrance fee would have dropped by half, along with rental prices,” He argued, whispering fiercely, worried that his friend’s loose tongue might bring trouble.

But the stubborn man insisted.

“That’s exactly why! It’s too good to be true! It must be a trap. We should flee as soon as possible! I’m leaving with my family today. If I were you, I’d do the same.”

Shaking his head, frustrated by his friend’s “foolishness and blindness,” He walked away, determined to leave the city with his family.

Seeing his friend’s conviction, the man couldn’t help but feel hesitant and suspicious. Should he also be cautious and flee?

Similar conversations echoed throughout the square. Some defended staying, while others planned to leave.

Aotian had accepted only good people into the sect during the last recruitment, disregarding talent and even eliminating those with evil hearts. Moreover, he had lowered prices in the city, as he had no intention of staying there for long. To him, draining every last spirit stone from the residents was unnecessary and not worth the effort.

The guards were reorganized, criminals were barred from entering and hunted down.

With the power he wielded, reforming the city was not difficult. Whenever the slightest chaos arose, he only needed to send an elder, and everything would be resolved.

But, as it seemed, acts of kindness from the strong were uncommon in this world. Thus, many began to distrust the Infinite Dao Sect, which sought no profit and even lost money.

Aotian merely shrugged at these people, uninterested in explaining himself. He didn’t need them. Even if one or two talents fled out of fear, once the sect made its name resonate throughout the region, they would surely come running back.

As the crowd debated, the recruitment hour approached.

Suddenly, part of the crowd hurriedly stepped aside in panic as the elder responsible for the last recruitment, Lie Zheng, crossed the square.

Wearing a purple robe, he was followed by five external elders in red robes and, finally, by the nine disciples recruited earlier, now dressed in immaculate gray uniforms.

The fluctuation of spiritual energy from the fifteen was impressive, leaving the audience in awe.

In the crowd, a young man looked, astonished, at Cang Song, the sect’s 70-year-old disciple.

“T-That’s Uncle Cang?! How is this possible? He’s at the 9th level of Qi Refinement! How did he jump from the 6th to the 9th level in just a month?!” The young man exclaimed, shocked.

Cang Song was an old friend of his father, but he had always despised him for his five-element spiritual roots.

Others also recognized some disciples and were incredulous at their terrifying progress. Those who had hesitated to join the sect now only wanted to spit at their own distrust.

‘If anyone dares to say that the sect of my dreams follows the Demonic Dao, I’ll teach them a lesson myself!’ Some young people who met the spiritual root requirements thought, their eyes burning with ambition.

Elder Lie stepped forward, and the crowd immediately fell silent, not daring to disrespect a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“Everyone, the rules remain the same as the last recruitment. We seek disciples with high-quality spiritual roots or better, and a heart without an inclination toward evil. There are no other requirements,” Lie Zheng declared in a solemn yet slightly indifferent tone, as if merely repeating a tedious but necessary process.

“Those interested may approach our external elders to begin the test. Be aware, everyone knows their own roots, so do not waste our time with futile attempts. There will be consequences for such acts,” Elder Lie warned, his voice carrying authority, making the crowd tremble.

Seeing that everyone understood, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Good, let the tests begin!” He announced, stepping aside.

The audience dared not cause disorder and quickly organized itself. Though some small disputes arose during the line formation, they didn’t escalate due to the fear of the Infinite Dao Sect, so those involved simply memorized their adversaries’ faces to settle scores later.

As he waited, Gu Jian, the external elder of the Treasure Pavilion, calmly approached Lie Zheng.

Lie Zheng looked at him and nodded.

“Any luck?” Asked Elder Lie.

Gu Jian shook his head negatively.

“Nothing. My ability didn’t detect anything above Qi Refinement. It seems we don’t have a child of destiny or even a lucky one here,” He said bitterly.

“Well, that’s normal. We’re just testing to be sure.” Lie Zheng nodded and signaled for him to continue testing the disciples.

Gu Jian, as an External Elder of the Treasure Pavilion, possessed an interesting ability: Treasure Radar.

[Name: Gu Jian (Meaning: Ancient Mirror)

Position: External Elder (Treasure Pavilion)

Cultivation: Perfection of Qi Refinement (Host Realm)

Position Ability: Treasure Heart.

Affiliation Ability: Commerce Affinity.

Position Bonus: Treasure Radar (twice per day)]

This ability allowed him to search for treasures within a given area.

Based on Aotian’s tests, now, at the Perfection of Qi Refinement, Gu Jian could detect Qi Refinement treasures within a radius of 9 miles (14 km) and Foundation Establishment treasures within 0.9 miles (1.4 km).

Treasures from higher realms hadn’t been tested, as Aotian didn’t possess any. But he believed that detection likely decreased to one-tenth with each realm advancement. It was probable that he would only detect Golden Core treasures within 0.09 miles (140 meters).

Among the treasures the ability could detect, anything with commercial value was considered: spirit stones, inheritances, techniques, weapons, materials, ores, pills, and even living beasts.

Considering all this, when the recruitment began, with everyone so close together, Aotian used Gu Jian to try to find treasures, children of destiny, or anything special.

He wasn’t sure if the ability considered children of destiny as treasures, but these individuals certainly had valuable artifacts that could be detected.

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

Or perhaps there was a treasure far above Gu Jian’s current realm, making it undetectable even at close range, but Aotian didn’t put much faith in that possibility.

Another interesting thing to note was that Lie Zheng could simply use his ability to verify if the disciple candidates were lying about their spiritual roots. However, since Aotian wanted to know their exact roots to prepare appropriate techniques, he couldn’t just skip this step. Fortunately, the elders were there to speed up the process.

This time, there were many candidates, far more than Aotian expected. The most curious thing was the large number of elderly men among them.

Listening to the whispers of some people in the crowd who were also puzzled, and the explanations from their companions, he quickly understood.

Many of these old men lived nearby, but being on the brink of death, they could no longer venture out to earn spirit stones and sustain their lives in the city. As a result, they had to retreat to the mortal world and give up cultivation. However, relatives and acquaintances started calling them back upon hearing about a Golden Core Sect that did not discriminate against age or mixed roots.

As he listened and grasped the situation, Lie Zheng’s eyes suddenly narrowed upon witnessing the sight of an old man approaching slowly, hunched over, trembling, and leaning on a cane.

With great effort, the old man stepped forward and gave a toothless smile to Lie Zheng.

Raising his trembling hands, almost falling as he let go of the cane, he clenched his fists in salute and bowed deeply to Lie Zheng.

His aged, trembling voice sounded:

“Junior Hui Lang greets the senior!”

His hunched body began leaning further and further forward.

With his eyes contracting sharply, Lie Zheng sighed helplessly, took a step forward, and caught the old man before he fell. Carefully, he helped him stand upright and, using spiritual energy, picked up the cane from the ground and placed it back in his hand.

Sighing helplessly at the unforeseen situation, he didn’t hesitate and said,

“Haah… I saw that you passed the first phase with Elder Cui, so just answer this and you will become a disciple. Have you ever harmed an innocent person?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep