Firmament Sword

"Before I came to Celestial Brilliance, I held this Supreme Great Sect in the highest regard. At the time, my greatest wish was to become one of the Heavenly Brilliance Disciples. To achieve this... I trained relentlessly, constantly improving my cultivation, all for the chance to one day join Celestial Brilliance."

"By a stroke of luck, I rescued a mysterious individual. He was being hunted by his enemies when I saved him. After that, we became friends, and he knew full well what my greatest ambition was."

"Afterward, we went our separate ways. We would occasionally use our Sound Transmission Stones to stay in touch, but we rarely met. That is, until a while ago, when he suddenly contacted me and asked if I still wanted to become a Heavenly Brilliance Disciple..."

Xu Luo faced the hundreds of thousands of people in the plaza, speaking with eloquence and ease. Those who had been enraged by his words gradually calmed down, watching him with cold eyes, waiting to hear what else he had to say.

Among the nine Elders on the stage, Lu Xue's expression was one of slight astonishment. She had been present when Xu Luo spoke with Yuwen Ji, but Yuwen Ji had sealed her aura, so Xu Luo hadn't noticed her.

But she knew Xu Luo's origins perfectly well. Now, seeing him weave such a moving tale, Lu Xue couldn't help but think to herself, 'This kid... how is he so cunning?'

The corner of Yuwen Ji's mouth twitched slightly. He had actually anticipated this scene, but it didn't bother him. Even if Xu Luo were at a loss for words, he himself had plenty to say.

He just hadn't expected that not only was Xu Luo not at a loss for words, but he had single-handedly dominated the crowd of hundreds of thousands, successfully getting them to dance to his tune!

'What a talent!' Yuwen Ji thought to himself after a long moment.

The other seven Elders looked on with surprise. Regardless of anything else, their loyalties... still lay with the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden. They were Elders of the Medicine Garden; naturally, they wanted to see it prosper.

"Say what you will about this Luo Tian, but that tongue of his... is really something!" Sixth Elder Cui Shu muttered under his breath.

This prompted several nearby Elders to nod in agreement. "Indeed... he's a smooth talker!"

At the same time, Xu Luo's voice continued to drift across the great plaza. "After confirming the offer was genuine, I was ecstatic. I could finally join Celestial Brilliance and become a Heavenly Brilliance Disciple!"

"But when I heard it was for the Medicine Garden, I hesitated. I don't know much about the path of Alchemy... what I'm best at... is combat!" Xu Luo's eyes glinted as he looked out at the crowd.

"But my friend told me that the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden isn't short on talent for Alchemy and Medicine Refining. There are more than enough people with exceptional gifts in that area. What they were supposedly lacking were disciples with powerful combat abilities!"

"Only after I asked did I understand. It turns out the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden... always ranked dead last in Celestial Brilliance's annual competition."

As soon as he said this, many in the crowd looked ashamed. What he said was an indisputable fact; they wanted to argue but were speechless.

"At that moment, I swore to myself that if I joined the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden, I would change this situation!"

Xu Luo's tone suddenly grew impassioned, and he roared, "You might say that I, Luo Tian, am full of hot air, but I'm here to tell you: You are all geniuses! True geniuses! But what you excel at... is Alchemy and Medicine Making! Asking you... to go compete with others based on combat strength—that's not fair!"

Xu Luo's voice was like a thunderclap, and countless people in the plaza, unable to suppress their emotions, roared in agreement.

"That's right! It's not fair!"

The sound was a deafening, rolling wave.

After shouting out involuntarily, many of them realized something was wrong. 'Why are we agreeing with this kid?'

But seeing the fervent passion on the faces of those around them, they felt that maybe agreeing with him wasn't so wrong after all.

'It's the truth, after all!'

'Everyone knew in their hearts... it wasn't fair!'

'But those were the rules of Celestial Brilliance!'

'They didn't care what you were good at. The annual competition... was all about combat!'

'The other side of the argument also made sense. No matter how skilled you were at Alchemy, no matter how profound your attainments in the dao of elixirs, if you ran into a powerful opponent, they could cut your head off with a single strike. How could you refine medicine then?'

'So... you had to be strong!'

'No matter what you excelled at, you also had to excel at combat!'

'Combat!'

'Combat!'

'That was what a Heavenly Brilliance Disciple was supposed to be best at!'

"So... for you to judge my fitness to be the Senior Brother Medicine Garden based on my skill in Alchemy and Medicine Refining—that's also unfair!" Before the roar from below could fade, Xu Luo struck while the iron was hot, driving his point home.

At this, many faces in the crowd turned awkward. They wanted to retort but suddenly found they couldn't!

'What could they say in rebuttal?'

'Claim that this was actually fair?'

'Wouldn't that be a slap in their own faces?'

Never mind the Inner Sect Disciples and Direct Disciples; just moments ago, even some of the Medicine Garden's Deacons, Stewards, and other higher-ups had been irresistibly swept up by Xu Luo's fervor, joining the roars of "Unfair!"

On the stage, a faint smile finally broke through Yuwen Ji's calm expression as he cursed inwardly, 'That cunning little bastard! He actually used a mental pressure technique. The nerve of him, daring to use such a method on a crowd of hundreds of thousands!'

Indeed, Xu Luo had delivered that last part of his speech using the Jade Balance Demon Sound. It acted directly on a person's Sea of Spiritual Consciousness, making it easy to stir their emotions.

What Yuwen Ji didn't know was that for Xu Luo, a technique like this... was hardly worth mentioning. Forget a few hundred thousand people; he could use this method to bewitch the hearts of millions in a great city!

Lu Xue's gaze toward Xu Luo now held a hint of admiration. She suddenly felt that her elder brother's Heart Inference Skill was truly powerful!

Clearly, when her brother had used the Heart Inference Skill to investigate that Nether Flower Seed and discovered Xu Luo's identity, he must have seen much more!

Xu Luo scanned the crowd and announced, "But I won't force you... to accept me as your Senior Brother Medicine Garden!"

"Do you remember the first thing I said to you all just now?"

At his words, the expressions of many in the crowd changed once again. Of course they hadn't forgotten. No one likes having the word "trash" thrown at them.

This time, however, the crowd wasn't overly agitated. All eyes were on Xu Luo, clearly waiting for his explanation.

At this point, many people, including the group of Elders on the stage, sighed inwardly. 'Luo Tian's position as Senior Brother Medicine Garden... is a done deal.'

From this subtle shift in the situation, though it was only a glimpse, one could infer a great deal.

'Luo Tian... has already taken control of the entire situation!'

Xu Luo said calmly, "When it comes to Alchemy and Medicine Refining, you are undisputed geniuses. Many among you could be called peerless prodigies! In this regard, I am far inferior to you! You could even use the word 'trash' to describe my skill level in Alchemy and Medicine Refining!"

"However..."

Xu Luo's tone shifted as he spoke coldly, "You have your own strengths, yet you don't know how to use them. You receive the grace of the Medicine Garden, yet you don't think to repay it. You should be engrossed in your training, striving to improve, yet you launch vicious attacks and mockery against someone who poses absolutely no threat to you... Heh heh."

Xu Luo chuckled. "If people like that aren't trash, then what are they?"

Just then, Zhu Gang called out coldly from the crowd, "I don't accept that. Please explain. How are we not using our own strengths? And how have we received the Medicine Garden's grace without repaying it? As for your last point, I admit it. I did look down on you for using connections to get into Celestial Brilliance. I was wrong about that. I own up to it!"

On the stage, Zhu Gang's master, Second Elder Thunderstorm, sighed. His eyes held a mixture of pride and disappointment.

He was proud that his disciple could recognize and admit his mistakes, but disappointed... because his disposition... was too straightforward. A nature like that could easily be exploited, leading him to suffer great losses.

Yuwen Ji, however, said softly, "A pure and sincere heart. That is a blessing for our Medicine Garden."

The other Elders nodded in agreement. The Medicine Garden was different from the rest of Celestial Brilliance. If all its disciples were experts in scheming and backstabbing, then the Medicine Garden would truly be finished.

Xu Luo smiled at Zhu Gang. "I say you don't know how to use your strengths because you finish last in the annual competition every time. While I may not have a deep understanding of the dao of elixirs, I know there are thousands upon thousands of types. Can't you refine some with offensive properties? You possess all this talent yet don't know how to be flexible. If that isn't failing to use your strengths, what is?"

"But the annual competition relies on combat power... on personal strength. Relying on elixirs... how can that be considered personal strength?" Zhu Gang's voice... was much weaker. Clearly, he was no longer so sure of himself.

"Bullshit!" Xu Luo rolled his eyes, his expression one of profound disappointment. "What are you?"

"A Heavenly Brilliance Disciple..." Zhu Gang's mouth twitched as he answered subconsciously.

"Nonsense! You're Alchemists!" Xu Luo shouted. "An Alchemist's power... if it doesn't come from elixirs, where does it come from? All kinds of elixirs... they are your power! They are your combat strength! During the annual competition, go tell a Sword Cultivator to throw away his sword and say, 'Let's fight based on our own power.' See if he agrees!"

A sudden roar of laughter erupted from the crowd. After they finished laughing, many of them wore thoughtful expressions.

The nine Elders on the stage sighed in unison. Many of them exchanged glances, seeing a hint of shame in each other's eyes.

For so many years... none of them had ever thought of it this way. Or perhaps they had, but no one had dared to say it so bluntly.

There were countless varieties of elixirs. For a Medicine Garden Disciple, refining some with offensive properties was not a difficult task at all.

But nearly everyone in the Medicine Garden believed that winning that way would be dishonorable...

"As I see it, the annual competition is a contest of what each person does best! You're disciples of the Medicine Garden! If you're not going to pelt people with elixirs, what are you going to use? The idea that using elixirs is a dishonorable victory because you're relying on external objects is just utterly pedantic!"

"In a real fight, who cares what methods you use? As long as you can defeat your opponent, that's all that matters!"

"Refine all sorts of offensive elixirs and just blast the hell out of them!"

"I refuse to believe you'd still lose so miserably! That you'd still be last every single year! That you'd still cause the Elders to lose face!"

Xu Luo's voice, like rolling thunder, echoed across the plaza.

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