In the evening, Fan Wubing came back from Weiri City at the foot of the mountain, where he had been selling the ingredients he gathered.
Just as he arrived at the Enlightenment Peak mountain gate, the Sect Token at his waist vibrated once.
He took it out and glanced at it, a streak of light swept across the surface of the Token, and the light condensed into a line of words above it—
"All disciples of the Eternal Immortal Sect, please gather at the Immortal Performance Plaza on Immortal Performance Peak before one quarter past 5:00 AM tomorrow morning."
At certain times, Fan Wubing felt that this Sect Token, aside from not being able to access the internet, really was almost the same as a cellphone, it could store personal information, record contribution point income and expenditure, verify commission contents, transmit messages…
Once upon a time, he had also fantasized about an "Immortal Web"…
But people, in the end, could only live in the present.
Why were all the sect's disciples being gathered at this time?
Fan Wubing carefully thought back to what big occasion tomorrow was. Suddenly, he clapped his hands,
"Oh right! New disciples were recruited last month, so this month was the usual new disciple grand trial!"
Recruiting new disciples only counted as bringing in those who met the requirements, but how they cultivated, which peak they joined, all had to be decided through the new disciple grand trial.
The better they performed in the new disciple grand trial, the easier it was for them to be chosen by Elders with deeper seniority and higher cultivation to become their Inner Sect Disciples. Some who were especially outstanding even had the chance to enter the various Peak Masters' tutelage as their Direct Disciples.
If they were one of those phoenix-feather, unicorn-horn prodigies, they could even freely choose their own master.
Those who failed to be chosen by Elders and Peak Masters could only become Outer Disciples, following some senior brothers and senior sisters, or studying on their own.
"No wonder Luo Qingyao had time to tail me every day, turned out she hadn't formally joined a peak yet."
However, Fan Wubing also felt it was a bit strange, for the new disciple grand trial, just gathering the new disciples was enough, so why were they summoning all the disciples?
...
Immortal Performance Peak was one of the three main peaks of the Eternal Immortal Sect, in charge of everything relating to "cultivation" within the sect, disciples' coursework and study, promotions, trials, and so on.
The other two main peaks, one was Eternal Immortal Peak where the Sect Leader resided, the core seat of the sect's authority.
The other was Fate Peak, which was responsible for regulating the conduct of sect members and administering rewards and punishments.
The former Enlightenment Peak had been a place for disciples of the sect to comprehend the Dao, examine their hearts, dispel stray thoughts, and steady their foundations. On the path of cultivation, talent came first, temperament in the middle, diligence at the end. Enlightenment Peak had depended on its ability to cultivate disciples' temperament to become one of the three main peaks.
Later it declined, and Fate Peak took over the duty of administering rewards and punishments.
Upon entering Enlightenment Peak, it was already in a dilapidated state, and since he had not experienced its former glory nor its process of decline, Fan Wubing actually did not feel much about it.
In his eyes, Enlightenment Peak was a place that had borne his childhood hardships, and a place where he could feel the warmth of his master and senior sister.
When he arrived at Immortal Performance Square, there were already quite a few people there.
The new disciples were gathered and standing together. The older disciples were arrayed in lines, divided according to the Immortal Peaks they belonged to.
This was the part Fan Wubing disliked the most.
Because every time it was just him alone. Occasionally his senior sister was with him.
When his senior sister was there, others did not dare say much, but when it was only him, gossip and idle chatter came at him from all directions.
Dislike was dislike, habit was habit.
Fan Wubing formed a "team" of one person and stood in the spot belonging to Enlightenment Peak. To others, it looked like he was being isolated.
But from his perspective, it was not that he was being isolated by others, it was that he isolated others.
"Enlightenment Peak truly deserved to be the place that once tempered the heart. Junior Brother Fan, you stood here alone, yet it felt as if hundreds and thousands of people were standing behind you."
Wei Changkong walked over from the side, smiling as he greeted Fan Wubing.
If it had been in his previous life, Fan Wubing would definitely have thought Wei Changkong was being sarcastic, but in truth, Wei Changkong was just that kind of guy, very serious, serious to the point of being a bit simple-minded.
Sometimes he thought, if Wei Changkong schemed even a little, he might have struck up a conversation with his senior sister long ago.
"Senior Brother Wei, good morning." Fan Wubing slightly bowed and cupped his fists.
"There was no need for formality between you and me." Wei Changkong sized Fan Wubing up from head to toe, "Junior Brother Fan, your aura seemed to have grown much steadier, and… you were taller too, your frame looked a good deal more sturdy."
Fan Wubing said with a smile,
"My appetite had been pretty good these days, I ate a lot."
Wei Changkong believed that eating more could make him grow taller, but could it also change his aura?
Still, Wei Changkong did not ask further.
Fan Wubing asked,
"By the way, Senior Brother, in past new disciple grand trials, only the new disciples were summoned, why were even the older disciples summoned this time?"
"You really did not know? The news had been all over the sect a few days ago."
For the past few days, Fan Wubing had been busy hunting in the mountains and forests,
"You knew I kept to myself, and no one interacted with me."
Wei Changkong's eyes flashed with a hint of sympathy, then he laughed and said,
"Honestly, it wasn't anything special. The Elders of Immortal Performance Peak discussed it and decided to tweak the evaluation process for the freshman Grand Trial. Before, freshmen went into the Small Profound Realm alone, took the trial, and were graded by the points they got from killing monsters. That kind of assessment was really unfair to kids from ordinary families.
"Children from powerful clans were born with better resources than everyone else, they started cultivating early, and they had all kinds of high-grade artifacts on them. It was easy for them to gain an edge in the trial. But those born into average families started late, their resources were worse, and they just couldn't compete.
"Yet a disciple had to be judged from many angles, talent, temperament, diligence, luck, and so on… So they introduced a 'senior leading junior' process, letting senior students accompany freshmen into the trial. Through close contact, they observed the freshmen's other qualities and used that to make a more comprehensive judgment of a freshman's potential."
Fan Wubing thought for a moment and asked,
"But what if a freshman from a rich family bribed the senior?"
"That could definitely happen. But change didn't happen overnight. At the very least, those Elders of Immortal Performance Peak really did want to make the Eternal Immortal Sect better."
"That was true. So how were the freshmen matched with the seniors?"
"To prevent exactly the bribery you mentioned, all the pairings were random."
Fan Wubing suddenly realized something and said,
"So that meant I had to take part too?"
Wei Changkong thought about it and said,
"Your situation was special, so they should handle you differently. After all, the freshmen wouldn't want to see a senior whose cultivation was weaker than theirs leading them." He was blunt, and he realized quickly that he was being too blunt, "No, Junior Brother Fan, I wasn't saying you were useless, only that having you lead freshmen was useless… Ah!"
The more he explained, the worse it got. In the end, he slapped his own mouth and shut up.
"It was fine, Senior Brother, you didn't need to overthink it. Were you going to take part?"
Wei Changkong smiled and said,
"Those of us who were several cohorts ahead wouldn't be joining, otherwise it would be way too easy. The ones leading the freshmen were basically all seniors from your second and third cohorts."
The disciples of the Eternal Immortal Sect were divided into five cohorts, each cohort lasting five years.
Freshmen were the first cohort.
Although Fan Wubing had never taken the freshman trial, based on his time since entering the sect, he counted as a third-cohort student. Wei Changkong was a fifth-cohort student, in the same year as Senior Sister Fu Ming.
After the fifth cohort, disciples had to seek other paths, either staying within the sect, returning to their family clans, or venturing into a wider world…
After a short while, a powerful voice rang out from the high platform at the front of the Immortal Performance Plaza. The sound was suffused with immortal resonance, so even those standing at the far corner could hear it clearly.
An Elder in charge of the freshman Grand Trial announced the rules of this trial.
They were basically the same as what Wei Changkong had described.
Once the rules were explained, the matching process started right away.
The Elder on the high platform swept his wide sleeve, and countless talisman slips shot out. The talismans twisted and spiraled across the air for a while, then scattered and precisely fell into the hands of every freshman and senior in the plaza.
The one thing Fan Wubing least wanted to see happened.
A talisman landed in his hand too, which meant he had to serve as a senior and lead a freshman through the trial.
On the talisman were two names, one was his, the other belonged to the freshman, "Sun Xiuming."
In the freshman ranks not far away,
a young man dressed in brocade and jade saw the other name on his talisman and immediately pulled a long face,
"It was over, I drew that Fan Wubing!"
The companions beside him started making a fuss, crowding around to comfort him.
For one simple reason, Sun Xiuming had placed fourth in last month's freshman recruitment tournament, and his father was the newly appointed City Lord of Weiri City.
Born rich and gifted with outstanding talent, he had been in the Eternal Immortal Sect for barely a month and already had a small entourage of companions.
Sun Xiuming let out a sigh and said,
"Well, the rules had to be obeyed, I could only accept it."
The slightly short, thin youth beside him, He Chen, said,
"Brother Sun, how could you just accept it like that? I heard that because seniors were leading the way, the difficulty of this year's freshman Grand Trial had been increased. That Fan Wubing not only had no cultivation, he was physically frail. In the Trial Profound Realm, he would definitely hold you back. And someone with no cultivation at all, how was he qualified to judge your performance?"
"But those were the rules, how could I not obey them?"
"Hey, Brother Sun, the rules were dead, people were alive. Talk it over with the Elders, they would surely understand. After all, you were the son of the City Lord of Weiri City, well-mannered and refined, not the sort to make unreasonable trouble."
Sun Xiuming stared at Fan Wubing's name on the talisman slip and mulled it over.
He Chen said quietly,
"Brother Sun, you really shouldn't stake your future on that Fan Wubing."
Once he said that, Sun Xiuming's mind was made up. He decisively stepped out of the freshman line and called up to the high platform,
"Elder, I requested to change to another senior brother or sister to lead me!"