Chapter 1173 - Novelty in the Assessment

Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu stopped in surprise when they saw the crowd jammed around the teleportation array.

"Everyone, don't push! You'll all reach your destinations!" the overseer barked, driving the people into neat lines. Maintaining an array consumed countless astral stones, but it also produced vast profit. Throughout the astral domain, powerful sects or clans almost always controlled teleportation arrays, drawing steady revenue from them.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Are you also going to join the Heavenly Dragon Sect's annual recruitment?" a voice drifted to Liu Wuxie's ears.

"Of course! The sect will open its mountain in just a few days, and ninety-nine percent of us are heading there," another answered with excitement.

From their words alone, Liu Wuxie understood the immense influence the Heavenly Dragon Sect held in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. The flood of people eager to join testified to its unmatched prestige. Relief washed over him—the sect still stood firm. He had feared it might have declined or even vanished entirely.

"Wuxie, we have to find a way to join the Heavenly Dragon Sect," He Yingwu whispered.

Rushing directly to the gates would be pointless. The guards wouldn't let them inside, much less grant them an audience with the sect's upper echelons. The True Martial Continent had long since vanished, its name forgotten by most. Liu Wuxie understood that if he wished to meet the leaders and obtain the Dragon Origin Herb, he would first need to join as a disciple. He nodded firmly.

Two long hours passed before their turn arrived. After paying the required fee, they stepped into the glowing teleportation array.

Two hours later, they stepped out into a colossal city.

"We'll stay in Mount Dragon City tonight and set out at dawn,” Liu Wuxie said. From travelers, they learned the Heavenly Dragon Sect's grand opening was five days away. The journey from this city to the sect would only take about a day, leaving them with plenty of time.

Mount Dragon City sprawled endlessly, home to tens of billions. Liu Wuxie had already recognized its importance, for it stood closest to the sect itself. Disciples of the Heavenly Dragon Sect often roamed freely through its streets. Weary from the long journey, he and He Yingwu once more chose an inconspicuous inn to rest.

Yet both knew the truth: a superpower like the Heavenly Dragon Sect imposed demanding requirements, and with their modest cultivation, admission would not come easily.

In recent days, the city had become even more bustling, with people flocking in from every direction. After washing up, Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu went out to scout their surroundings, knowing they might be living here for a long time.

As they walked the streets, it felt as though they had stepped into another age. Mount Dragon City exuded ancient grandeur. Countless footsteps had polished the stone slabs smooth, and they gleamed under the lantern light. Each step gave the illusion of treading across ten thousand years.

Both sides of the streets overflowed with shops, their merchants hawking wares in dazzling variety, enough to overwhelm the eyes.

The journey from the Laman Astral Domain to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain had cost them over four hundred thousand astral stones. Now, Liu Wuxie had barely one hundred thousand left. Travel between astral domains was a luxury few could ever afford, and many cultivators spent their entire lives bound to a single planet.

"Wuxie, it looks lively up ahead," He Yingwu said. Despite his actual age of over a hundred years, his curiosity brimmed like a youth's. Unlike him, Liu Wuxie carried himself with composure at all times, like an ancient monster who had lived countless lifetimes.

"Let's go take a look,” Liu Wuxie replied. They had come out to familiarize themselves with the city, and this too was part of learning.

Pushing through the crowd, they came upon a vast pavilion where thousands craned their necks to look upward.

Liu Wuxie lifted his gaze and saw a man and a woman sitting in the upper gallery, calmly drinking tea. Confusion stirred in him. Did these people truly have nothing better to do than watch two others sip tea?

"Isn't that Young Master Mu Heng and Lady Shen Yue?" gasps of recognition spread, followed by envious stares.

"They're a match made in heaven," sighed several voices, their envy palpable.

Liu Wuxie frowned in puzzlement. Both of them were only at the pinnacle of the Transcendent Realm. Why such a fuss?

"Brother, who are they?" He Yingwu asked a nearby youth, baffled by the crowd's reaction.

"You don't know them?" the youth sneered, disdain flickering in his tone at He Yingwu's ignorance.

He Yingwu rolled his eyes inwardly. Why should he know them? Still, he restrained himself and smiled politely. "Please enlighten me."

The youth's disdain passed quickly, and his voice softened without mockery. "The youth on the left is Mu Heng, son of Sky Cloud Star's planet lord. The lady is Shen Yue, daughter of Tranquil Meteor Star's planet lord. Both are prodigies."

Though lineage did not decide everything in this world, a powerful background gave an undeniable advantage.

The title of planet lord rivaled that of the Heavenly Dragon Sect's sect master, for such figures ruled entire planets. Yet planet lords varied greatly in power. A lord of a low-grade planet might not compare even to a sect elder. Only those who truly ruled an entire planet bore the title with weight.

Here, on the Indigo Bamboo Star, the ruler was Emperor Haoyuan, rumored to stand at the very edge of immortality, though no one knew for sure. As planet lord, Emperor Haoyuan rarely interfered in worldly affairs, save in times of life-and-death calamity.

Still, not all planet lords wielded more authority than the Heavenly Dragon Sect's master. Every lord was elected by the people of their planet, carrying not just high status but also the expectation of upright character. Yet titles meant little in absolutes. Some lords crowned themselves kings, ruling their planets as private gardens, enjoying supreme authority unchecked.

"I see..." He Yingwu drew a deep breath. Though the title carried no absolute power, it still marked an extraordinary status. He hadn't expected those two to be descendants of planet lords.

"I heard they've already been pre-admitted into the Heavenly Dragon Sect without any assessment," someone in the crowd whispered. Their lineage alone wasn't enough; such privilege also proved their outstanding talent. Without it, the sect would never accept even the children of planet lords.

"Let's go," Mu Heng muttered at last, rising from his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the countless eyes upon him.

"Agreed," Shen Yue echoed, equally unwilling to endure the scrutiny. They descended from the pavilion into the street below.

The instant they appeared, the crowd surged forward and surrounded them.

"Make way!" several guards roared, stepping forward. Each radiated the strength of the Origin Conversion Realm. They carved a path through the throng, escorting the pair with overwhelming force. Their unleashed aura struck the bystanders so fiercely that several coughed blood.

The wave of pressure did not relent, sweeping even toward Liu Wuxie. While the Origin Conversion Realm was nothing exceptional in the astral domain, such power was akin to giants in the eyes of those at the Heaven Profound or Transcendent Realm.

The crowd toppled like stalks in a storm. A faint radiance flared around Liu Wuxie and dissolved the oppressive aura, but others weren't so fortunate. Cries of pain echoed as more clutched their chests and spat blood.

"That's too overbearing! Do they think they can do whatever they want just because their fathers are planet lords?" people grumbled in hushed tones. Yet no one dared raise their voices. Planet lords carried status far beyond what commonfolk could afford to offend.

"There's nothing special about them. Strip away their backgrounds, and they'd still need to pass the assessment like everyone else," some muttered quietly.

Mu Heng and Shen Yue ignored the chatter, their expressions calm, their steps unbroken.

"They're too much," He Yingwu muttered with a frown. The crowd had gathered out of admiration, only to be trampled under arrogance.

"In their eyes, we're nothing more than ants,” Liu Wuxie said coolly, his interest fading. He turned and walked away.

He Yingwu hurried after him, and together they wandered the streets, occasionally stepping into shops to learn more of the Indigo Bamboo Star's situation.

Before long, the sky turned dark, though the streets remained crowded. More and more people poured into Mount Dragon City, drawn by the Heavenly Dragon Sect's imminent opening. Even those with no intention to take the assessment came to witness the event.

"Guides for sale! Guides for the Heavenly Dragon Sect's assessment!" a hawker cried, waving a small booklet. Several youths followed behind, holding copies aloft as they shouted. The moment they appeared, the crowd swarmed.

Joining a great sect was every cultivator's dream. For small clans or wandering cultivators, it was the only path to greater resources.

"Give me one!" someone shouted.

"One for me too!"

Hundreds of booklets vanished in a blink. At five astral stones each, they weren't costly, though the printing likely cost less than half a stone. The actual value lay in the information inside.

Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu exchanged a glance. He Yingwu squeezed into the mob and returned with a copy, his face bright with excitement as he handed it over.

Liu Wuxie flipped through it, and his brows furrowed.

"We were duped?" He Yingwu asked.

"No," Liu Wuxie said, shaking his head, “But the information is shallow. It's mostly just summaries of past assessments."

Like other great sects, the Heavenly Dragon Sect tested candidates through a series of trials—talent, attributes, and potential—the gifted earned admission, while the rest faced elimination. Yet as a true superpower, its methods remained unpredictable.

In one assessment, candidates had to write essays on their insights from a previous test, and only a handful passed. In another, the trials measured intelligence rather than strength.

Though such tests seemed unrelated to cultivation, they struck directly at the core.