All eyes fell on Feng.

  Feng took a deep breath, calming his nerves and steadying his emotions.

  Ye Yunqi, as one of the true disciples, had been fiercely sought after by representatives of the Twelve Supreme Peaks. As a true disciple myself, I shouldn’t be too far behind, right?

  "True disciple Feng, do you possess any innate divine ability?" a representative from Tiann Peak asked.

  "No," Feng replied holy.

  As for the Heavenly Creation Seal, that was an absolute secret.

  "In that case, Tiann Peak passes." The representative from Tiann Peak refused him without hesitation.

  The sele process proceeded from the highest-ranked disciples downward.

  The true disciples were evaluated first, and only after them would the core disciples be sidered.

  "Hanhai Peak passes," the representative from Hanhai Peak said.

  One by one, representatives from the Supreme Peaks decred their refusal.

  Feng’s heart shook as if struck by lightning, his body swaying slightly. His face turned pale.

  Meanwhile, Ye Yunqi’s face lit up with schadenfreude, his smile gloating and mog.

  "Now you uand, don’t you?" Ye Yunqi’s voice pierced Feng’s ears like a dagger.

  "A talentless, ordinary person, even if you mao strike the drum four times and bee a true disciple, what does it matter?"

  "Without divine abilities, your potential is limited. Even if the sevests in your cultivation, you’ll never pete with the true prodigies. Xuanyuan Peak passes." One previously silent representative sighed softly as they spoke.

  Oer ahe mountain representatives refused him.

  Feng’s face grew increasingly pale with every decration.

  "What a pity. If we could seleore disciple, Qingye Peak might have sidered giving you a spot," said a representative from Qingye Peak.

  "True disciple Feng," the representative from Kumao Peak added, "if we ’t secure a suitable disciple, we might sider giving you an opportunity to join our peak."

  The tone was casual, almost dismissive, carrying a faint air of dession.

  Feng’s heart stricted, and anger began to stir deep within him.

  dession?

  I don’t need your pity!

  In the end, none of the Seventy-One Peaks chose Feng.

  "True disciple Feng," the burly elder from the Disciples' Hall addressed him with a sigh, "it seems you’ll have to remain in the Disciples’ Hall with me."

  He shook his head with regret but offered words of encement. "Still, if you have the ability, there’s no reason you ot bee a powerful cultivator iure."

  Though the elder’s words were kind, it was clear even he didn’t hold out much hope for Feng.

  Without divine abilities, the odds of Feng rising to prominence were slim to none.

  "Thank you, Elder," Feng responded firmly, bowing slightly as he expressed his gratitude.

  The sele then moved on to the sixty-eight core disciples.

  With Tiang Peak having already selected Ye Yunqi, that peak withdrew from the petition.

  By the end of the process, every core disciple had been assigo a peak—leaving only Feng.

  Striking the drum four times… so what?

  Being a true disciple… so what?

  The core disciples looked at Feng with a mixture of pity and s.

  The burly elder overseeing the Disciples’ Hall sighed inwardly.

  Fate be so cruel.

  At that moment, a dazzling beam of silver-white sword light streaked across the sky, cutting through the heavens like a bolt of lightning. It arrived instantly, h just in front of Feng.

  " Feng, I am Wang Yuandao. If you are willing to take me as your master, step onto this sword."

  A voice filled with immense pride and dominance echoed from within the sword light.

  The brilliant silver-white sword light floated at Feng’s feet, glowing intensely.

  Feng noticed the faint ripple of divine energy emanating from the representatives of the Seventy-One Peaks. Even the burly elder’s face showed a rare expression of astonishment and surprise.

  Without hesitation, Feng made his decision.

  He stepped forward, firmly pnting his foot on the radiant sword light.

  The moment he did, the sword light surged into the sky, carrying him upward at breathtaking speed.

  Feng’s scalp tingled, and for a moment, he nearly screamed in shock.

  Thankfully, the sword light seemed to have a stabilizing force, keeping his body securely iherwise, he would have plummeted midair.

  "I didn’t expect it to be him…" the burly elder murmured to himself, watg as Feng was carried away. "But it’s still better than having him waste away in the Disciples’ Hall."

  "Granduncle, who was that?" Ye Yunqi’s expression shifted dramatically.

  The glee and satisfa he had felt were now repced with shod disbelief.

  "That was Wang Yuandao, the Peak Master of Absolute Sword Peak," replied the representative from Tiang Peak.

  "The Peak Master?!" Ye Yunqi’s face turned pale.

  Everyone knew what it meant to be accepted by a Peak Master.

  Being chosen by a Peak Master was far superior to being a disciple of a peak elder.

  The realization hit Ye Yunqi hard, leaving his face ashen.

  But theher disciples began murmuring among themselves.

  "Absolute Sword Peak ranks among the bottom of the Thirty-Six Lower Peaks, doesn’t it?"

  "That’s right. Absolute Sword Peak has long since fallen into dee. It no longer has any disciples—only the Peak Master and his old servant remain. Even the Peak Master himself is nearing the end of his lifespan."

  "Joining Absolute Sword Peak is no different from cutting off your own future."

  Hearing this, Ye Yunqi let out a sigh of relief, his fidence restored.

  The core disciples, too, seemed to rex, their earlier unease dissipating.

  "What a pity," Jin Hongdang muttered to himself. Having ied with Feng several times aboard the great airship, he had e to view Feng as a friend.

  The silver-white sword light streaked through the sky, its speed blindingly fast.

  Feng experienced what it truly meant to move like the wind. pared to this, his own full-speed effort seemed ughable.

  As the sword light carried him forward, the surrounding sery blurred into streaks of motion.

  Just as nausea began to set in, the sword light pierced through a dense yer of clouds and arrived at a solitary mountain peak.

  The sword light came to a halt, gently l Feng to the ground. His head still spinning, it took him a moment tain his bearings.

  "Old servant Yang Tao greets the Young Master," a calm yet strong voice greeted him.

  Feng snapped back to attention and saw a kindly old man dressed in gray smiling warmly at him from just a few meters away.

  For a moment, Feng didn’t know how to respond, his mind feeling sluggish.

  "Young Master, please follow me," the old man said with a smile before turning to lead the way.

  As Feng followed, he couldn’t help but gnce around.

  He saw rows of bamboo buildings in the distance, but they all appeared abandoned, giving the pce a desote and lonely atmosphere.

  "Those used to be the residences of the Peak Master’s followers, as well as the elders and disciples of this peak," the old servant expined casually. "But now, the people are gone, and the buildings are empty."

  "Why did they leave?" Feng asked instinctively.

  "You’ll find out in time," the old man replied with a faint smile.

  Before long, they arrived at a cliff’s edge. The cliff jutted out like a leaf into the sky, overlooking a vast sea of clouds rolling below.

  "Master, Feng is here," the old servant announced, bowing deeply.

  Feng finally noticed a figure standing at the edge of the cliff, fag the sea of clouds with his back to the bamboo buildings.

  Until this moment, Feng hadn’t sehis person’s prese all—it was as if they were part of the sery.

  But now that Feng’s attention was drawn to the figure, his heart trembled untrolbly.

  The white-robed figure seemed unimaginably tall, like a colossal sword pierg the heavens and splitting the clouds.

  A vast and indescribable sharpness emanated from his presence, as if he could cut through mountains and seas with a sihought.

  The figure turned, and Feng’s breath caught as he locked eyes with a gaze that burned like radiant stars, pierg through everything.

  "I am Wang Yuandao, the Peak Master of Absolute Sword Peak. Will you take me as your master?"

  His voice was like a and from the heavens, vast and unyielding.

  "Disciple Feng greets Master!"

  Feng immediately snapped out of his daze, kneeling and kowtowing three times.

  "Rise," Wang Yuandao said.

  Feng stood, finally getting a clear look at his new master.

  Wang Yuandao had long hair that draped freely, his temples streaked with white. Though he appeared to be in his forties and carried an air of elegand charm, there was a faint sense of frailty in his presence, as if the passage of time had taken its toll.

  "From this day forward, you are my final disciple," Wang Yuandao said with a faint smile. "You will train here on Absolute Sword Peak."

  "Yes, Master," Feng replied without hesitation.

  "You must have many questions in your heart," Wang Yuandao said with a ugh. "Ask them now, and I will answer. After that, your training will begin."

  [--------------------------------------------]

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