The layer of clouds roiled as the sun shone down from the clear sky.
Over ten emissaries of the Dark Reverie flew over, causing all the clamorous noise at the scene to vanish completely as everyone held their breaths in deep concentration, and their gazes carried reverence, yet were mostly filled with excitement and antic.i.p.ation.
They knew that their fate would perhaps undergo a change in the next moment!
But Chen Xi was extremely calm. His gaze swept past each and every emissary, yet didn’t notice anything unusual, but the more it was like this, the more it caused him to be vigilant in his heart.
The more normal they seemed, the more serious the matter would seem to be. Because as far as he was concerned, Bing s.h.i.+tian would absolutely not allow this opportunity before him to strike the heaviest blow on Chen Xi and the others.
“Everyone, I have to first congratulate all of you for pa.s.sing the final test of the Primeval Battlefield and having smoothly obtained the qualifications to enter the Dark Reverie. Compared to your companions that have lost their lives in this heavens and earth, all of you are lucky.” In midair, the old man with a fluttering violet beard and a gaze that was like bolts of lightning suddenly took a step forward, and he spoke with a heavy voice that was like a resounding bell that reverberated in the heavens and the earth.
Chen Xi recognized this person, and he was called Ancestor Zi Ming. He had a deep relations.h.i.+p with the Xue Clan, and he was the emissary of an ancient power of the Dark Reverie, the Skyreach Sect.
“At the same time, your ability to survive through the various tests of the Primeval Battlefield has sufficiently proven that your natural talent, cultivation, and strength far exceeds ordinary people, and the various powers of my Dark Reverie require outstanding talents like all of you the most.” Ancestor Zi Ming continued. “Next, I invite Fellow Daoist Feng Xuanzi of the ancient Dao Sect, Truth Embrace Sect to announce the list of disciples recruited by the various sects this time!”
The breathing of every instantly became heavy when they heard this, and their eyes stared fixedly at the middle aged Daoist by Ancestor Zi Ming’s side.
The middle aged Daoist wore Daoist robes, his hair was tied into a Daoist knot, and he held a snow white horsetail whisk, causing him emanate a sage-like air. He was precisely the Earthly Immortal Realm expert of the Truth Embrace Sect, Feng Xuanzi.
At this moment, he held a jade slip in his hand, and recorded within it was a list of all the disciples recruited by the various powers of the Dark Reverie. Those that were chosen would be able to directly be fostered as core disciples, whereas those that weren’t chosen could only enter the Dark Reverie and start as an independent cultivator without a sect.
But everyone present knew clearly that according to past convention, almost all of the disciples capable of pa.s.sing through the final test were able to be chosen, and the situation of someone not being chosen very rarely occurred.
After all, the cultivators that were capable of pa.s.sing the final test possessed natural talents and natural endowments that could be said to be at the utter peak. Moreover, if one wanted to maintain a sect’s prosperity for a long time, the addition of fresh blood was of vital importance. If they were able to recruit all of these disciples into their sects, then it was of extremely great use towards the long lasting development of the sect.
So everyone present wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t be chosen, and all they were concerned about was if they would get their wish to enter the sect they yearned to join.
Even though the ten plus emissaries present were all from the various large powers of the Dark Reverie, there was disparity between these powers.
For example, the Skyreach Sect Ancestor Zi Ming was from, the Heartcontrol Swordhouse Ancestor Ling Ya was from, the Heavenflow Dao Sect Yun Lansheng was from, and the Truth Embrace Sect Feng Xuanzi was from were all extraordinarily large and influential powers of the Dark Reverie, and they were ranked amongst the top 10 sects of the Dark Reverie, causing them to be like formidable overlords.
These four powers were the places everyone present yearned to join the most.
Of course, besides these four powers, the sects behind the other emissaries were all first-rate sects that possessed ill.u.s.trious fame. But they were slightly inferior when compared to those four sects.
When he saw that it was actually Feng Xuanzi that would be announcing the recruitment list, Chen Xi instantly recalled Feng Jianbai’s act of provoking him earlier, and his heart couldn’t help but sink as he faintly realized that Bing s.h.i.+tian’s scheme was probably concealed within this list.
Because according to his knowledge, Feng Xuanzi had a deep relations.h.i.+p with Feng Jianbai’s Feng Clan, so since Feng Jianbai dared to provoke Chen Xi earlier, it was obvious that Feng Jianbai had found out about some information long ago.
“The Darkhan Dynasty’s Su Qingyan and Zhao Zhen, the Dartang Dynasty’s Yun Kong’er and Wen Chan… You seven have been taken as disciples by the Heavenly Insight Palace.” Feng Xuanzi spoke slowly with a voice that was neither fast nor slow, and one couldn’t discern any feelings from it.
Everyone present was in an uproar as they felt extremely envy towards Su Qingyan and the others. After all, the Heavenly Insight Palace was a formidable power that only recruited female disciples. Even though it wasn’t ranked in the top 10 sects of the Dark Reverie, its strength couldn’t be looked down upon, and it was on par with the top 10 sects in terms of reputation.
“Congratulations.” Chen Xi cupped his fist towards Su Qingyan from afar as he spoke via voice transmission.
Su Qingyan grinned in reply, while an expression of happiness couldn’t help but appear on her beautiful face. Obviously she was extremely satisfied by being able to enter the Heavenly Insight Palace.
The seven of them walked out from the crowd to arrive by the side of a beautiful woman that wore palace clothes, and they bowed before standing at the side.
This beautiful woman in palace clothes was the Heavenly Insight Palace’s Yue Yingxia, and she was an Earthly Immortal Realm expert as well. Moreover, she was the one and only female cultivator amongst the emissaries present, causing her to be extremely conspicuous.
“The Dartang Dynasty’s Li Xiaoyun and Li Yuehong… All seven of you have been taken as disciples by the Jadesky Immortal Sect.” Feng Xuanzi announced again.
Everyone was stunned and felt slight pity for Li Xiaoyun.
After all, even though the Jadesky Immortal Sect was a first-rate sect of the Dark Reverie, it was inferior to those four immortal sects, whereas Li Xiaoyun’s ranking on the Warsoul Tablet was in the top three, and his ranking was only inferior to Chen Xi and Feng Jianbai. His natural talent was extremely outstanding, yet he wasn’t taken as a disciple of those four sects, so how could everyone not feel pity for him?
But then everyone came to a sudden understanding in the next moment. Because they saw Li Xiaoyun had already walked forward to chat with the Earthly Immortal Realm expert of the Jadesky Immortal Sect. Obviously, they were rather familiar with each other, and this was presumably the outcome of Li Xiaoyun’s endeavors.
“Darjou Dynasty’s Xu Luo, Dang Zhenting… You seven have been recruited by the Origin Convergence Dao Sect.”
“Dartang Dynasty’s…”
Subsequently, Feng Xuanzi announced list after list that drew wave after wave of exclamations from everyone present at the scene.
Just as Chen Xi expected, Feng Jianbai and Shang Que were recruited respectively by the Truth Embrace Sect and Heartcontrol Swordhouse, and both of them had complacent expressions as they grinned from ear to ear.
On the other hand, Xue Ranchen was naturally taken as a disciple by the extraordinary sect, the Skyreach Sect, just as he wished.
But up until now, there wasn’t a single person from their Darchu Dynasty that had their names called out, and this caused Chen Xi’s mood to gradually became heavy, because he’d already completely understood that all of this was surely instructed by Bing s.h.i.+tian!
The reason was extremely simple. With their natural talent and endowments, they were already completely capable of joining a good sect, yet now, none of their names had been called. Wasn’t this a bit too odd?
Moreover, besides Bing s.h.i.+tian the Heavenly Immortal, who else was capable of instructing these emissaries of the Dark Reverie to commit such acts so brazenly?
Before long, everyone present had noticed the situation Chen Xi and the others were in, and their gazes became bewildered. What’s going on? It shouldn’t be like this. The display of every single one of the disciples of the Darchu Dynasty was so outstanding, so how could there possibly be no one that showed interest in them?
But no one dared to make a questioning remark. After all, this list hadn’t been fully announced, and perhaps… Their names might appear at the end.
The corners of Feng Jianbai and Shang Que’s mouths couldn’t help but be suffused with a sneer when they saw this scene, and a complacent expression flashed within their gazes.
“Chen Xi, we seem to have been trapped by someone!” Young Master Zhou frowned as he spoke via voice transmission.
“Why is this happening? With the strength that all of us possess, it wouldn’t come to the extent that none of us are recruited, right?” Huangfu Qingying felt a trace of unease as well.
Actually, it wasn’t just the two of them, Zhao Qinghe, Ling Yu, Fan Yunlan, and the others were extremely bewildered.
Only Qing Xiuyi and Zhen Liuqing maintained their calm, as if it had nothing to do with them. But the warmth in their eyes had descended to the lowest possible level, and their gazes seemed like frosty starlight. Obviously, their feelings weren’t as calm as they seemed on the surface.
“I’m sorry. It’s probably because of me that everyone was implicated as well.” Chen Xi’s voice revealed deep guilt.
At this moment, he was already 100% certain that this was a scheme of Bing s.h.i.+tian’s that targeted him, a scheme that caused him to fall into an embarra.s.sing situation while implicating Huangfu Qingying and the others as well.
Such sinister tricks were absolutely like hidden arrows in the dark that were difficult to guard against, and it caused him to be utterly unable to resist it. After all, the emissaries of the various powers of the Dark Reverie were recruiting disciples now, and only the emissaries themselves had the authority to make decisions, whereas he was utterly incapable of interfering.
“This…is actually a deliberately planned action!?” Young Master Zhou was furious to the point of almost stamping his feet with rage, and he was forcefully restrained by the nearby Huangfu Qingying.
“Despicable! He’s truly going too far! If it wasn’t for you lending a hand that day, he would have already died long ago. How could he still be able to stand here all fine and well? Not only does he not know how to feel grateful and seek to repay this kindness, he’s even causing trouble for you. He’s truly a disgrace!” Even the honest and straightforward fatty, Ling Yu, couldn’t help but be furious after he heard what Chen Xi said.
“Brother Chen, there’s no need to explain any further. Isn’t it just a sect? All of us just need to enter the Dark Reverie because by relying on our strength and natural talent, we’ll absolutely be able to find a better sect!” Zhao Qinghe spoke coldly, and his voice revealed a feeling of hate.
“All of us support you, there’s no need to blame yourself.” Zhen Liuqing and Fan Yunlan spoke with firm gazes, and even though Qing Xiuyi hadn’t spoken, yet her eyes were filled with killing intent.
“Everyone, there’s no need to worry. So long as all of us enter the Dark Reverie smoothly, I’ll seek help from Senior Liu, and we ought to be able to join the Nine Radiance Sword Sect Senior Liu is from. It’s one of the top 10 sects in the Dark Reverie, and it isn’t inferior to any of the powers present here now,” consoled Chen Xi. The understanding and support of his companions caused him to feel extremely comfortable in his heart.
Moreover, he was really certain that even if Madman Liu didn’t agree, he could beg Bai Wanqing, and with the monstrous power of the Violet Thistle Mountain’s Bai Clan, he didn’t have to worry about being unable to arrange a place for all of them.
However, right at this moment, Feng Xuanzi had suddenly announced the final list of names, and it instantly caught Chen Xi and the others off guard. “The Darchu Dynasty’s Qing Xiuyi has been taken as a disciple by the Heavenflow Dao Sect!”
At this moment, even the other cultivators present noticed that something was strange about all this, and all of them had expressions of surprise, bewilderment, and slight disbelief. Up until the end, there was actually only a single person recruited from the Darchu Dynasty!?
Could it be that there’s more to this than meets the eye?