Ten Thousand Years in Seclusion

Qi Tian suppressed the turmoil in his heart and the countless thoughts racing through his mind. Along with the other disciples, he faced Qinglu Mountain across the valley beyond the hall doors and bowed deeply.

Once the ceremony was complete, Elder Lü’s voice rang out again, breaking the silence within the hall.

"All right. With this, the rite of paying respects to the founders is complete. Until you are assigned your duties and placed under the various halls, you are free to look around and familiarize yourselves with the sect."

He turned toward Pei Yi, who stood nearby.

"Take them around for a while."

"Yes."

Pei Yi cupped his fists and accepted the order, then led the two hundred and sixty-two new disciples out of the Founding Ancestors’ Hall in an orderly stream.

Beyond the hall doors, the sea of clouds stretched endlessly beneath the strengthening morning light.

Qi Tian took one last deep look at Qinglu Mountain across the valley before withdrawing his gaze. He pushed the questions weighing on his mind back into the depths of his heart and followed the group.

After Elder Lü stepped outside, the doors of the hall slowly closed behind him.

With a sudden movement, he swept past several halls in a few bounds before landing in front of a magnificent building at another part of the summit.

The Council Hall.

This was where the elders of the Falling Cloud Sect convened and made decisions on matters both great and small. The imposing hall was built entirely from blue-gray stone, while twelve massive stone pillars carved with coiling dragons supported its sweeping eaves. It carried an air of stern authority, with an even more austere and oppressive presence than the Founding Ancestors’ Hall.

Elder Lü climbed the steps and pushed open the door to a side chamber.

It was a spacious, quiet chamber for council meetings.

At the center of the room stood a long table of dark mystic wood. Its surface was black as ink, stretching more than four zhang in length and over one zhang in width, nearly spanning half the chamber. More than a dozen white-jade high-backed armchairs stood on either side of the table, with over twenty elders already seated among them, some resting with their eyes closed, others conversing in low voices.

Only the seat at the head of the table remained empty.

Elder Lü entered at an unhurried pace, pulled out a high-backed armchair on the left, and sat down in silence.

Elder Wei cleared his throat.

"All right. Everyone’s here. Let’s begin."

The purpose of this meeting was to arrange the newly admitted disciples.

The first matter to settle was which elders would take the qualified disciples as their personal disciples.

Aside from Lin Ye, who possessed a Heaven Spiritual Root and whose master would have to be decided personally by the Sect Master upon his return, eleven disciples with Three-Element Spiritual Roots, including Xu Xin, as well as the female disciple with an Earth Spiritual Root, had all qualified to become personal disciples.

What followed was a fierce contest among the elders for the disciples.

The Earth Spiritual Root girl, in particular, quickly became the most sought-after disciple among them. Voices rose one after another, and several elders even grew red in the face as they argued over her.

In the end, all twelve personal disciples were assigned their respective masters. Some elders were satisfied with what they had secured; others could only withdraw with disappointment.

Elder Yue, the Hall Master of the Internal Affairs Hall, went down the twelve names, recording each disciple’s assigned master beside their name. He set down his brush and raised his head.

"The personal disciples have been settled. Next, we shall discuss which halls the remaining disciples should be assigned to."

Elder Li, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke.

"I did not contend with any of you over the personal disciples just now. At this point, I would like to take two disciples into the Formation Hall. Does anyone object?"

A flicker of surprise passed through the room.

Everyone knew how strict Elder Li was. His standards were notoriously high, and under normal circumstances, he almost never took the initiative to recruit anyone into the Formation Hall. As a result, the Formation Hall had always been the smallest of the sect’s halls, with barely more than a dozen disciples in total. Most of those disciples had been one or two new recruits whom the Sect Master had practically forced upon him during previous recruitment ceremonies.

For Elder Li to speak up now was almost unheard of.

Several elders immediately voiced their agreement.

"Of course not."

"Junior Brother Li rarely asks for disciples. Who would object?"

"Just tell us which two you’ve taken a liking to."

Elder Li remained unhurried.

"The first—Qian Duobao."

The moment those words left his mouth, Elder Liu gave Elder Li a meaningful sidelong glance.

The other elders also picked up the new disciples’ registers from the table and began looking through Qian Duobao’s information.

The portly elder scanned the page and immediately recognized him.

"Oh. The chubby kid from the last group to undergo the Heaven-Ascending Stairway test."

The elders who had watched yesterday’s test immediately knew who he was.

As for those who had not gone personally, one glance at the record was enough.

Fifth layer of Qi Condensation.

That cultivation was not bad.

But when they saw his result on the Heaven-Ascending Stairway, their interest quickly faded.

Three hundred and thirty-three steps.

He had only just scraped past the Inner Sect threshold.

Elder Yue lowered his head and made a note in the register.

"Fine. No objection."

He raised his head.

"Who’s the other one?"

Elder Li calmly uttered two words.

"Qi Tian."

The chamber fell abruptly silent.

In the new disciples’ register, under the results of the Spirit-Assessment Stele examination, Qi Tian’s name was accompanied by a single line:

Unknown. Unable to determine.

That was hardly an issue. After yesterday’s Heart-Questioning Stone examination, the elders had already debated the matter. But now that Elder Li was actually taking Qi Tian into the Formation Hall, Elder Yue’s hand remained suspended above the register, his brush refusing to touch the page.

Elder Li frowned slightly, his tone turning heavier.

"What? Surely none of you object to me taking a third-layer Qi Condensation disciple into the Formation Hall?"

"Third layer of Qi Condensation?"

Elder Liu gave a quiet laugh. He idly turned the jade ruyi in his hand.

"Elder Li, are you pretending to be ignorant, or do you genuinely not know?"

Elder Li paused.

"What do you mean?"

"Qi Tian broke through four minor realms in less than half an incense stick’s time at the Inner Sect residences last night. He’s already at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation."

His tone was calm, yet the words fell into the room like a stone dropped into a still lake.

"What?!"

Elder Li’s expression changed.

He truly had not known.

And he was not the only one.

Of the more than twenty elders in the chamber, several looked genuinely astonished. Questions immediately came from all sides, one after another.

Elder Liu briefly recounted what had happened outside the Tianyi Gate the previous night—the scene in which Qi Tian had publicly broken through four minor realms from the third layer of Qi Condensation all the way to the seventh, sent Sima Feng flying with a single slap, frightened Cai Zhenyu into retreat, and finally taken up residence in Tianyi.

"Four minor realms in less than half an incense stick’s time...?"

"He sent Sima Feng flying with a single slap?"

"That young man’s talent... is it truly this terrifying?"

Whispers spread through the chamber like a rising tide.

Several elders found themselves sitting up straighter, their eyes now carrying a mixture of gravity and keen interest.

Elder Liu’s gaze swept across the room.

"Which is why I’m revising my conclusion from yesterday once again."

"The Heart-Questioning Stone can only prove one thing—"

"That he isn’t a Variant Spiritual Root."

Elder Liu paused, each word deliberate.

"But what it cannot prove is this..."

"Whether he might actually possess a Heaven Spiritual Root."

The room erupted into an uproar.

Another Heaven Spiritual Root?

To have even one Heaven Spiritual Root appear at a recruitment ceremony was already a stroke of extraordinary fortune, something rarely seen in a century. To have another would be a first in the history of the Falling Cloud Sect.

"This is no small matter," said an elder with a full head of white hair, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should set it aside for now and wait for the Sect Master to return before making a final decision?"

Bang!

Elder Li suddenly slammed his palm onto the dark mystic-wood table. A dull thud rang through the room, making the teacups rattle.

"So what if he’s a Heaven Spiritual Root?"

He swept his gaze across the room, his eyes sharp as lightning.

"I’m only taking him into the Formation Hall. What does that have to do with which elder takes him as a personal disciple?"

The elders fell silent.

There was nothing wrong with what he had said. Within the Falling Cloud Sect, one’s hall affiliation and one’s master-disciple relationship had always been two separate matters.

Take Elder Yue, for example. Though he was the Hall Master of the Internal Affairs Hall, one of his personal disciples had joined the Alchemy Hall.

Ultimately, a hall was simply where a disciple’s duties lay. Halls such as the Internal Affairs Hall and the Mountain-Guarding Hall were burdened with countless mundane affairs and strict responsibilities. By comparison, halls devoted to specialized arts, such as the Alchemy Hall and Formation Hall, offered far more freedom.

Their disciples could not only live with fewer distractions and master a useful skill, but also have more time to devote themselves to cultivation.

For many disciples, such places were exactly what they longed for.

Elder Yue pondered for a moment before finally nodding.

"Very well. Since Junior Brother Li has spoken, this disciple will go to the Formation Hall."

"Wait—" Elder Liu spoke up, attempting to object.

Elder Yue waved a hand, his tone leaving no room for further discussion.

"No need to say anything more. It’s settled."

He picked up his brush and wrote Formation Hall beside the name Qi Tian in the register.

Seeing this, Elder Liu could only swallow the words he had been about to say. His fingers slowly rubbed the jade ruyi in his hand, his expression unreadable.

Elder Wei seized the opportunity to speak.

"Then what about Lin Ye...? Why not send him to the Formation Hall as well?"

"Fine."

Elder Yue made a large stroke of his brush, agreeing without hesitation.

None of the other elders objected. Even Elder Liu remained silent.

They all understood that sending Lin Ye to the Formation Hall did not mean he would become Elder Li’s personal disciple. Regardless of which elder he eventually chose as his master, learning another formation technique could only benefit him.

In fact, over the years, quite a few elders had gone to considerable lengths to get their personal disciples into the Formation Hall.

Every time, however, Elder Li had rejected them outright.

That was precisely why Elder Li had never been particularly well-liked within the sect.

"How the remaining disciples are assigned is for the rest of you to decide. I won’t interfere."

With the matter settled, Elder Li rose abruptly. With a sweep of his sleeve, he strode out of the meeting chamber.

The door closed behind him.

For a moment, silence settled over the room.

Elder Yue cleared his throat.

"All right. Let’s continue with the discussion of how to assign the remaining disciples."

——

The new disciples had by now begun making their way down from the summit.

Pei Yi was still leading them toward the two lesser peaks to familiarize them with the various parts of the sect, but it was already their free time, and no one was required to stay with him.

Before long, more than half of the once sizable procession had dispersed.

Qi Tian was among them.

He returned alone to his residence in Heaven One, closed the door, and took out the Falling Cloud Sect Handbook, sitting down at the table to read through it at his leisure.

The handbook covered everything from the sect’s rules and system of rewards and punishments to maps of the sect grounds and the responsibilities of the various halls. Nothing had been overlooked; everything was laid out in clear detail. Qi Tian read slowly, going through the pages one by one and committing everything he learned about the Falling Cloud Sect to memory.

Just as he finished the final page, a sudden sound of footsteps came from outside.

Qi Tian extended his divine sense slightly.

Three people.

The one at the front was a Half-Step Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Qi Tian’s gaze darkened.

Had Sima Feng and Cai Zhenyu found some personal disciple to come and settle the score for them?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when a familiar voice came from outside.

"Brother Qi, are you there?"

It was Qian Duobao.

Qi Tian immediately got up and walked out.

His eyes first swept over the two people behind him—Qian Duobao and Lin Ye. His gaze then settled on the person leading them.

The man looked to be just over thirty. He was broad-shouldered, with heavy brows and large eyes, and a solid, honest-looking face. At a glance, he seemed like a straightforward and good-natured man.

When he saw Qi Tian come out, the man broke into a broad smile, his expression open and hearty.

"Hello, Junior Brother Qi. I’m Guo Qing, Elder Li’s personal disciple."

"Senior Brother Guo... hello."

Qi Tian cupped his fists slightly.

"Is there something I can help with?"

Qian Duobao had already cut in, his face full of excitement.

"Brother Qi, the three of us were all assigned to the Formation Hall!"

"Oh?"

Qi Tian raised an eyebrow slightly.

He honestly did not care which hall he ended up in.

Still, he was quite pleased to have been assigned to the Formation Hall.

For one thing, he had always had some interest in formations.

For another...

If he got the chance, he could ask Elder Li to set up an isolation formation around his residence in Heaven One.

That way, when he cultivated here in the future, he would no longer have to worry about someone probing him with divine sense and discovering his true cultivation level.

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