The recruitment ceremony of the Azure Leaf Sect continued.
Names were called one after another.
Hands touched the Aptitude Orb.
Lights flickered—green for wood, blue for water, red for fire. Occasionally, a brighter glow would draw mild praise from the elders.
Xu Ming stood quietly among the outer candidates, his expression calm, his breathing steady as the Chaos Breathing Technique circulated invisibly within him.
No one paid him much attention anymore.
And when Li Chen stepped forward beside him, expectations dropped even further.
"That one?" a disciple whispered. "He came with the five-element trash."
"He looks ordinary."
"Probably another mortal with a bit of luck."
Li Chen heard everything.
Good, he thought. Ordinary is safe.
When his name was called, Li Chen walked to the front with measured steps, heart pounding—not with ambition, but with fear.
Please work. Please work. Please don't explode the sect.
He placed his hand on the Aptitude Orb.
For a fraction of a heartbeat—
Nothing happened.
Then—
White light erupted.
Not gold.
Not silver.
Not any elemental color.
Pure, absolute white.
The light engulfed the entire square, washing over disciples, elders, and even the sect gates themselves. For an instant, the world went silent.
Then it came.
An intense sword intent—cold, ancient, and immeasurably sharp—swept across the sect like a passing thought of slaughter.
Swords rang in their sheaths.
Blades buried in the ground trembled.
Several elders staggered backward, faces draining of blood.
But just as suddenly—
It vanished.
The light collapsed.
The sword intent dispersed.
The Aptitude Orb cracked… then repaired itself.
As if nothing had ever happened.
Li Chen slowly removed his hand.
He let out a long, shaky breath.
"…Thank heavens."
No one spoke.
Disciples stood frozen, mouths open. Several fell to their knees without realizing it. Even the elders trembled, cold sweat soaking their robes.
"That intent…" one elder whispered hoarsely.
"That was no lower-realm sword intent…"
Fear spread faster than awe.
The elders exchanged glances—then panic struck.
They had been informed.
Very clearly.
The Small Patriarch of the Higher Realm Heavenly Sword Sect would arrive directly at the Azure Leaf Sect's ancestral hall via teleportation.
Not through recruitment.
Not through aptitude testing.
Not mixed among mortals.
And yet—
An aptitude orb had just screamed his existence to the heavens.
One elder's legs gave out.
"We… we made a mistake," he said weakly.
Another swallowed hard. "We… we disregarded him."
Li Chen, meanwhile, was doing his best to look unremarkable.
Locked aptitude, he reminded himself. Thank you, Patriarchs. Without that seal, this small world really would've shattered.
The Heavenly Sword Patriarch had warned him:
"Only by sealing your nature can the lower realm contain you. Even then—be careful."
Apparently, "careful" had still been optimistic.
The leading elder forced a smile, hands shaking.
"Ahem. This disciple's aptitude…"
He paused, then chose the only explanation that wouldn't get them all killed.
"…is unclear."
Unclear.
The word echoed strangely after what everyone had just witnessed.
"To ensure fairness," the elder continued stiffly, "Li Chen will be assigned to the Outer Disciple Division, alongside ordinary recruits."
Xu Ming glanced at Li Chen, eyes wide.
Li Chen nodded slightly.
Good. Outer disciples. Crowds. Low expectations.
Around them, whispers exploded.
"Outer disciple? After that?"
"What was that sword intent?!"
"Was it a vision? A formation fault?"
High above, the sect's grand formation stabilized—just barely.
In the shadows of the elders' seats, several old men wiped cold sweat from their brows.
They had nearly offended someone their sect could not afford to offend.
As Li Chen stepped down from the platform and rejoined Xu Ming, his knees finally stopped shaking.
"That was terrifying," Li Chen muttered.
Xu Ming stared at him.
"…Who are you, really?"
Li Chen looked at the ground.
"Someone trying very hard not to die."
Xu Ming laughed softly, though unease lingered in his eyes.
Neither of them noticed the elder secretly sending a transmission talisman skyward—
one that carried a single, trembling message:
"The Small Patriarch… has arrived. But not as expected."
"We just need to do as instructed make him a core disciple and tend to his every needs and maybe we'll be rewarded when he ascends successfuly"