CH 85

Chapter 85 – Green Lotus Domain

Beneath Mingxin Peak, there was a spirit lake called Lotus Lake.

Lotus Lake was vast and wide, spanning nearly 6,000 meters in diameter. As a standalone body of water, it was so deep that it was impossible to see the bottom. In the center of the lake, there was a large island. There was an extremely grand Daoist domain on it which served as a mainstay of Mingxin Peak.

It was rumored that the appearance of the island was extremely mysterious. An untold number of years ago, after the deity of Green Lotus Lake achieved enlightenment, the heaven and earth gave rise to this massive island domain, which was protected by the Mingxin Mountain Range.

Every time some extremely important matter came up, the Spirit Masters in power would gather every Peak Master, Vice Peak Master, Deacon, and disciple at the Green Lotus Domain. This time’s Internal Disciple Tournament was no exception.

Xu Disheng was riding his own black Spirit Cloud. He didn’t even have to look at the map inside of the jade slip. He just had to follow along with the densely packed stream of disciples flying with him. They flew over the seemingly bottomless Lotus Lake and landed at the Green Lotus Domain on the massive island at the very center of the lake.

Almost all of the several tens of thousands of disciples from the Mingxin Mountain Range had come to the Green Lotus Domain. Even those that didn’t want to participate would still come and watch the lively event. Even Dao Foundation stage powerhouses could occasionally be seen among them.

There was an impressive arch that was over 30 meters tall at the entrance of the domain, and below it, there were several dozen disciples from the Disciplinary Hall standing guard. Two Dao Foundation stage Deacons from the Disciplinary Hall were there as well.

“Your jade identity tablet,” a Disciplinary Hall disciple came forward and said after Xu Disheng followed along behind several other Sea of Qi stage disciples and arrived beneath the arch.

After having his jade identity tablet checked, he walked through the massive archway. Only then could he truly perceive the magnificent scale of the Green Lotus Domain.

It was located at the center of a spirit lake, so it went without saying that the spiritual energy surrounding the place was extremely concentrated. Plus, it was directly adjacent to Mingxin Peak.

An enormous space had been cleared out around the domain, and several hundred brilliant white circles of light had been traced out, representing the Peaks of the Mingxin Mountain Range.

Xu Disheng did as the Disciplinary Hall disciple instructed him and activated his jade identity tablet. Sure enough, a faint signal several li away began to echo in resonance, which indicated the location of the white circle of light representing Morning Dew Peak.

After arriving at Morning Dew Peak’s white circle of light, there were already a little over a hundred people there. In other words, almost all of the disciples from the Peak had already arrived.

After all, Morning Dew Peak only had over a hundred people in total. The higher ranked the Peak, the less disciples there were.

Seeing that Xu Disheng had arrived, Bai Zhehua came forward and said to him, “Come with me.”

There were some seats of honor, upon which the Dao Foundation powerhouses of Morning Dew Peak were seated. The Daoist youth in the highest seat of honor was presumably the Peak Master of Morning Dew Peak, Lu Changge.

The hundred or so Sea of Qi stage disciples were standing behind the Dao Foundation stage powerhouses. There were also several lone people who were standing all alone.

“Father, this is Junior Martial Brother Xu,” Bai Zhehua said respectfully to a young man in purple robes after bringing Xu Disheng to the very front.

The place where the young man in purple was sitting was clearly the area designated for Dao Foundation stage powerhouses. He gave Xu Disheng a once-over and smiled. “Not bad, daring to participate in the tournament when you’re only at the early Sea of Qi stage.”

Xu Disheng saluted and said, “I’m only giving it a try.”

The young man in purple didn’t say too much and just nodded his head, then turned around and began conversing in a quiet tone with some of the other Dao Foundation stage powerhouses.

Bai Zhehua and Xu Disheng retreated into the crowd of Sea of Qi stage disciples, attracting quite a few gazes in the process.

A grand majority of them didn’t know Xu Disheng, and this was their first time seeing him. They had almost all heard that after Chen Xingzhou died during a mission, the one who came back and received the reward in the end was this new disciple. However, aside from bitter cultivation, the only other thing that Xu Disheng did was sect missions. He lived in a very secluded manner, never going out of his way to establish friendly relationships or make connections with other people. Therefore, out of all of the people of Morning Dew Peak, the only other people who recognized him were Li Dan and Lu Siwan.

However, those two hadn’t come to participate in the tournament. They were only here to spectate the liveliness. Out of the hundred or so Sea of Qi stage disciples here, only 30 or so of them were actually participating in the tournament.

The excited, spirited conversations between the disciples suddenly quieted down. The Peak Master, Lu Changge, had turned his head to look in their direction.

“Disciples of Morning Dew Peak. Those who are participating in the tournament today, stand apart from the rest,” Lu Changge’s clear and sonorous voice resounded out. His outer appearance was that of a young man. It was rumored that he was at the peak of the Dao Foundation stage, and he was just a bit away from reaching the half-step Divine Core stage, but he had been stuck at this bottleneck for over a hundred years.

The thirty or so disciples participating in the tournament came forward and stood by the side of the several Dao Foundation stage powerhouses.

Xu Disheng felt the gazes of these Dao Foundation stage disciples sweep over him, but they didn’t stop and examine him in particular. But when Bai Zhehua’s father’s gaze swept over him, his gaze paused slightly and he nodded.

Lu Changge looked at the 30 or so people and said, “As participants in the Internal Disciple Tournament, you all must have made preparations… Is that right? Why are there still two early Sea of Qi stage disciples?”

His swift, fierce gaze turned towards Xu Disheng and one other disciple.

Xu Disheng’s expression didn’t change, but the other male disciple was a little unable to bear the invisible pressure. That disciple stuttered out, “R-Respected Peak Master… I-I didn’t mean to register, I… I don’t want to participate.”

He was clearly an early Sea of Qi stage disciple. No one stepped forward to vouch for him, so it was unknown why he had registered.

Lu Changge sneered and said, “Cowardly fool. Step down!”

That male disciple hurriedly retreated into the crowd as if had received a generous pardon.

“What about you? Did you also not mean to register?” Lu Changge said.

“Respected Peak Master, I did not register incorrectly,” Xu Disheng replied.

Lu Changge narrowed his eyes at Xu Disheng but didn’t look in his direction anymore. Addressing the thirty or so people, he said, “For our Morning Dew Peak, in the last two tournaments, the best placement we achieved in the Sea of Qi stage division was only 800th or so. We practically haven’t participated in the Dao Foundation stage division. For this time’s tournament, if you place in the first 10,000 ranks of the Sea of Qi stage division, I will reward you with 50 spirit stones. If you enter the first 5,000 ranks, I will reward you with 100 spirit stones!”

He turned to look at the several Dao Foundation stage Deacons and the other several Dao Foundation stage disciples who hadn’t taken up a post, all of them seeming to turn a deaf ear. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “Are there still no people at the Dao Foundation stage participating in the tournament this time?”

No one responded. All of them just sat there, either looking into the distance or fiddling with the Spirit Tools in their hands.

After all, these several Deacons were at the same cultivation stage as him, and many of them were old wily foxes with many years of experience of being his subordinates, so he couldn’t criticize them too harshly. As for the other few disciples who had just reached the Dao Foundation stage, there originally should have been one or two brave ones who would be willing to give it a try. But unexpectedly, all of them turned a deaf ear.

“Fine,” Lu Changge closed his eyes, no longer looking at them.

However, there seemed to be people nearby who didn’t intend to let him stay quiet. Directly next to the Morning Dew Peak’s circle of light was the Falling Snow Peak’s circle.

“Peak Master Lu, how many people are participating this time from your Morning Dew Peak?” an elderly man in white robes asked with a smile. He was the Peak Master of Falling Snow Peak.

He had spoken in an overly loud voice, attracting the gazes of the people from the several nearby circles of light.

Lu Changge’s complexion soured. He opened his eyes and said coldly, “Peak Master Shi, what is it? Are you that concerned about my Morning Dew Peak?”

Falling Snow Peak and Morning Dew Peak were directly next to each other location-wise, so they were often compared in all aspects. In recent years, their Peak Master, Shi Jiayu, had gotten a leg up over Lu Changge by reaching the half-step Divine Core stage. He was just a little bit away from forming a Profound Core and ranking up to the Divine Core stage. Then, he would be able to receive a title as a Spirit Master and be showered in endless glory.

Shi Jiayu looked closer at the 30 or so people on Morning Dew Peak and pretended to be astonished. “Peak Master Lu, is there no one at your Morning Dew Peak? You actually have disciples at the early Sea of Qi stage participating in the tournament?”

The several Dao Foundation stage powerhouses by his side also loudly jeered in agreement.

The several nearby brilliant white circles of light all belonged to different Peaks, and they were now all looking over in their direction. Many of them began to point at the people of Morning Dew Peak and started to laugh.