The Myriad Beasts found a secluded location for themselves to land their spirit vessel. The entrance to the valley had been taken up by four groups of people who"d arrived before them, with four spirit tools blocking the paths inside and keeping the Myriad Beasts from advancing further.
Once Ying Qiaoqiao and Fang Xing hopped off the vessel, she and Elder Moye began to look around at the surrounding people in a daze, their expressions gloomy and uncertain. The two had believed that since Ying Qiaoqiao was here to join the palace, someone would come and welcome them after their arrival and all they"d have to do was follow the arrangements. They hadn"t expected something like this and had no idea what to do.
Fang Xing looked at the pair of dumb geese before lightly tugging on Ying Qiaoqiao"s sleeve. "Go and scout out information!"
When Ying Qiaoqiao realized what Fang Xing meant, she looked towards Elder Moye. Elder Moye flushed a bit of from embarra.s.sment when he overheard what Fang Xing had said, and he gave a cough before saying, "You wait for me here. This is a little different from what I imagined, but allow me to first seek out some information from the fellow Daoists here about what is going on…." With that, he waved his sleeve, put on a smile, and walked on towards the four groups of people at the front.
Ying Qiaoqiao turned and smiled towards Fang Xing. "You"re so smart; it hadn"t even crossed my mind!"
"It"s not that I"m smart, you"re all seriously just too stupid…." Fang Xing internally vented. Simply put, if he was in a situation where he was faced with something beyond his control, wouldn"t he just go and scout out some information and gossip beforehand to get an understanding of what was going on? How stupid would someone have to be to simply stand there and gawk at everything? Fang Xing was just venting, however; he understood Elder Moye wasn"t actually stupid, just so old he that seeing so many powerful people had sent him into muddled confusion. It was Fang Xing—who had considerably more guts than someone his age should have—who wasn"t afraid of anyone and remained level-headed.
Cold snow and freezing ice—the areas surrounding the snowy plains weren"t suitable for ordinary people to survive. Although everyone here had cultivated in some manner, they still felt the sting of the extreme cold, so the two grannies serving under Ying Qiaoqiao began to boil some pellet tea. Ying Qiaoqiao pa.s.sed a cup to Fang Xing once they were finished, and Fang Xing naturally wouldn"t reject this offer and so sipped it while squatting to the side.
Elder Moye finally returned an hour later, and he didn"t look too happy. It turned out he hadn"t received much respect during his trip, and all the information he obtained was problematic for Ying Qiaoqiao. "I"ve asked, but it"s just too strange. There are actually a lot of people who received the Black Ice Order, all of them talented youths from either Chufung Kingdom or the smaller kingdoms nearby. What exactly does the Melodic Ice Palace intend to do?"
"How many people have come here to become a pupil?" Fang Xing asked while squatting on the ground and drinking his pellet tea.
Although Elder Moye looked at him, he didn"t give a response because he felt this servant was speaking beyond his station. Ying Qiaoqiao glanced at Fang Xing as well before asking, "Elder Moye, how many people came here for the sake of becoming a pupil?"
Elder Moye released a long sigh. "Four people from four groups have already arrived by now. Among them is the Mo clan from the Hundred Mile Kingdom, the Xiu clan from east of Chufung, and the Li clan from northern Chufung. All of them are carefully nurtured and brought up as the elites of their individual clans. For some reason, they all received the Black Ice Order, and their cultivation levels, well, many of them are already at the peak of Spirit Stage…."
Elder Moye looked visibly worried as he spoke. Ying Qiaoqiao had also been carefully nurtured by the sect master of the Myriad Beasts Sect and had inherited the Yinglong Dragon beast spirit on top of that—it was rare to find someone as strong as her in the same tier. However, she"d only just broken through into Spirit Stage tier seven, so there was a vast gulf between her and those other "elites" at the peak of Spirit Stage. Elder Moye felt uneasy leaving Ying Qiaoqiao with these groups of people.
When Fang Xing heard this, he creased his brows and began to consider the situation without saying another word.
"Elder Moye, then why are there so many people waiting here at the valley entrance without entering it first?" Ying Qiaoqiao asked in confusion after giving it some thought of her own.
A bit taken aback, Elder Moye replied, "Apparently, the Melodic Ice Palace ordered that everyone would enter at the same time once everyone who intended to join has been gathered here together."
As time went on, the snow and wind grew into blizzard-like conditions, and the coldness began to seep into the bones of those waiting outside. Even Ying Qiaoqiao felt she couldn"t handle it anymore and returned to the spirit vessel. With such a harshly frigid environment, only those who were in Foundation Stage could withstand it at all, yet the Melodic Ice Palace didn"t say anything so no one dared to enter the valley; they could only hold their tempers while waiting for those who hadn"t yet arrived.
One by one, more groups arrived.
With a closer look, it was clear all of them were disciples of large clans of the Chufung Kingdom or its surroundings, and these people all had one similarity: they were young, but already somewhat well-known. Most of them had cultivation levels in the late Spirit Stage, and their fundamentals were all rather solid, surpa.s.sing ordinary Spirit Stage cultivators.
"What the h.e.l.l is the Melodic Ice Palace playing at?" Fang Xing thought to himself while watching from the side. The more he dwelled on how bizarre this old Hu Qin"s methods to accept a new pupil were, the stranger it felt. One had to know that although these people were considered "the elites", it wasn"t easy to study under the wings of a Golden Core master!
Golden Core Stage cultivators had the power to reach the heavens. Their resources were endless, and their knowledge stretched far and wide. For them to nurture a few of these "elites" wasn"t a problem for them at all, since people who"d formed the Golden Core in the first place had been extraordinary during their younger days as well. It was actually for this reason that there were very few "sprouts" a Golden Core Stage cultivator would deem worthy—the so-called "semi-elites" like Ying Qiaoqiao wouldn"t even be seen as mediocre in their eyes.
To put it simply, for these so-called "elites" to want to study under old Hu Qin was not much easier than when Fang Xing had first wanted to join the Qing-Yun Sect. This was why it was so surprising. Did this old man hand out so many Black Ice Orders and gather all of these "elites" to study under him because he wanted to start a school of some sort?
It was common knowledge that old man Hu Qin had only accepted a total of three students in all his life, yet today he was planning on accepting such a large group?
The more Fang Xing thought on it, the less sense it made.
As the day grew dark and night fell, more and more of these so-called elites arrived. There were already over twenty people, and all of them were youths under thirty years of age who"d reached late Spirit Stage.
This was the criteria. In the Qing-Yun Sect, reaching late Spirit Stage by twenty-one was enough for someone to qualify for becoming a core disciple so they could be nurtured by the sect"s large fortune. The minimum requirement of this gathering at the Melodic Ice Palace seemed to be similar, but the criteria was actually a bit more relaxed. It allowed late Spirit Stage cultivators under thirty years of age instead of twenty-one, while also drawing from Chufung and the surrounding area.
Put simply, aside from the Chosen Ones of the Qing-Yun Sect and the Ephemeral b.u.t.terfly, the Melodic Ice Palace had taken all of the elite youths from Chufung and the nearby lands.
BOOM….
Just as Fang Xing was contemplating this, a thunderous noise could be heard amidst the wind and snow. When everyone looked up towards the sky in surprise, they saw a spirit vessel covered in vibrant lights far off in the distance flying towards the area. The vessel itself was a supreme-quality spirit tool covered in formations and spells, and it rushed through the snow and wind with lightning-like speed.
"It"s actually a supreme-quality spirit tool. Who is that person?"
"There"s a clan symbol on the spirit tool. It"s the Xiao clan from the Large River Estate…."
Those at the entrance of the valley all began to chatter amongst themselves in astonishment.
The thunderous carriage came to a halt in front of the valley, its extremely smooth movements showing off the capabilities of a supreme-quality spirit tool that could be handled at will. The two Melodic Ice Palace disciples on the side leapt down and cupped their hands towards the spirit vessel with a smile. "Please kindly wait at the valley entrance for a moment, Miss Xiao. The palace master has ordered that everyone will enter the valley together once everyone has arrived."
No answer came from the carriage. The two Melodic Ice Palace disciples didn"t mind, though, and bowed once more before turning to leave. As for the groups of people in front of the valley, they were all extremely surprised to hear these words.
"Xiao Xue? Could it be… that Chosen One of the Xiao clan who would only speak with her sword?"
"How could that be? Didn"t she already break through into the Foundation Stage?"
Everyone chattered quietly in confusion. Everyone who"d come so far was in Spirit Stage, yet a Foundation Stage cultivator had suddenly arrived.
As it so happened, this Xiao clan"s elite youth had once been the most famous person in Spirit Stage throughout all of Chufung. When it came to the most famous woman within Chufung, Ye Gu"yin from the Melodic Ice Palace currently had that spot, but it was this woman named Xiao Xue who had held it before. She"d defeated all the other elites in Spirit Stage with only a single sword and held the t.i.tle of most powerful beneath the Foundation Stage.
After forming her foundation seven years ago, Xiao Xue rarely showed herself to the eyes of the public, which had given Ye Gu"yin the chance to s.h.i.+ne. No one had expected her to show herself again today with the seeming purpose of becoming an apprentice student. Everyone broke out into heated discussion in mere moments, and even those who believed they"d guessed the intentions of the Melodic Ice Palace were left uncertain once more.
The surprise hadn"t worn off before a golden ray quickly rose up from the western sky and shot right towards them, while a loud and high-pitched voice gradually made its way closer. "His Majesty Prince Chu Huang has arrived! Any idlers shall move aside to clear the path…."
"Prince Chu Huang?"
"Why is he here?"
"He formed the golden foundation ten years ago. His future is without limit, so why is he also here to become an apprentice under the Melodic Ice Palace?"
It was as though a pot of water had reached its boiling point. Everyone at the front Cold Soul Valley was filled with questions.