Chapter Sixteen: Newcomer Selection

  The Qin family estate, where all the young masters gather!

  Five or six hundred young men and boys followed the leader of the estate into the martial arena.

  Everyone was solemn because the upcoming clan selection would determine their future fate to a large extent.

  In the crowd, Qin Yun saw Qin Haiman and others, but they all avoided Qin Yun's gaze very unnaturally.

  Those fellow villagers of Qinghe County avoided him even more, as if approaching Qin Yun would infect them with the plague.

  Qin Yun didn't mind and just cast his gaze forward.

  On the east side of the martial arts arena, a huge wooden platform was set up, with three clan elders and twenty attendants sitting on it. The corner of the platform had a Zhuque flag fluttering in the wind.

  These 23 representatives of the clan mainly came from the seven main branches of the Qin family, and many were high-ranking officials in the Moyang Tao.

  They are in charge of hosting and supervising the entire selection process. Absorbing new blood to expand themselves is a very important thing for each family, so it will be particularly grand.

  In addition, these clan representatives also want to select some excellent juniors for their own use through the selection process, so every return and selection of the clan is not without a fierce struggle.

  On the surface, they were chatting and laughing together in harmony, as if they were close like real brothers.

  "This year's number is a bit more than last year, hoping to bring out some good seedlings. The previous batch was not very good!" A red-faced old man in the middle of the stage chuckled and said: "Our martial arts hall really needs people now."

  The white-robed woman sitting on his left snorted: "You old thing, which time wasn't it you who took the most people away, what do you want to do now?"

  She had a head of silver hair and grasped a dragon-headed cane, her spotless face showed not a single wrinkle, yet the way she spoke was so imposing that it was hard to tell her real age.

  The old man with a red face seemed to be somewhat afraid of her, rubbed his nose and smiled awkwardly: "Your Dan Medicine Hall is not short of people, as long as it's a girl, you can choose first, the martial hall is not suitable for them to fight and kill, as for others..."

  He glanced sideways at another gaunt old man on his right: "Old Iron, are you going to compete with me again this time?"

  A thin old man smiled faintly and said, "Your martial hall is short of people, but our external affairs hall is even more short-handed! If we give them all to your martial hall, how many people will be left to do things? Everyone can just stay at home and enjoy the wealth!"

  "This time, even if it's an ancestor coming in person, you still have to leave a batch of people for me!"

  His voice was like a rusty knife scraping against a grindstone, extremely hoarse and unpleasant to listen to, with a calm tone but carrying an unyielding and decisive meaning.

  The old man with a red face chuckled: "How can people who do things not have any? Besides your family's external affairs, aren't there also family tasks? The sons of the Martial Hall also need to go out and gain experience."

  "Hmph! You people from the Martial Hall are all cunning and deceitful, grabbing all the good missions for yourselves. Let us people from the Foreign Affairs Hall deal with the leftovers. If this continues, you can just go play by yourselves, I won't bother with anything anymore!"

  "Alright, alright!" The red-faced old man apparently didn't want to provoke the other party either, and said with a smile: "This time I'll also leave some for you, that's okay, right?"

  The two elderly masters of the hall exchanged verbal blows, while the other twenty deacons were all watching with bated breath, sitting still and waiting for the ceremony to begin.

  After half a stick of incense, a middle-aged attendant looked at the time and walked to the front of the stage, loudly saying to the hundreds of young people below: "The Qin family's return flow selection has officially begun!"

  He stretched out his right arm, and a low voice echoed in the air above the manor: "Everyone, line up to the left and right. Those who have reached the Refining Body stage, please stand on my right side, and those who have reached the Refining Qi stage, stand on my left!"

  The crowd began to take sides, with about one-third of them standing on the left side.

  Qin Yun was slightly surprised, he didn't expect that there would be so many people who had achieved the unification of their martial veins. To think that these young masters were roughly the same age as Qin Yun, and at most wouldn't exceed nineteen years old.

  Because the requirements for returning to the sect's selection, apart from having to have Qin family blood, one must be under twenty years old and possess martial veins; otherwise, there wouldn't be only a few hundred people standing here.

  Generally speaking, a martial artist can start opening the meridians when they reach the seventh level of physical refinement. After successfully opening the meridians, they can continue to refine their body and spirit.

  So most people will open their veins as soon as they reach the seventh level of body refinement, in order to quickly improve their realm. It's rare for someone like Qin Yun to refine his body to the Great Perfection stage before opening his veins.

  "After everyone has finished lining up, the middle-aged steward continued: 'Next, I will announce the rules for the selection of returnees. Listen carefully!'"

  All new disciples must first join Moyang Dao, but outstanding disciples can choose their own preferred hall.

  The Muyang Dao General Hall has seven major halls: the Martial Hall, the Penal Hall, the Foreign Affairs Hall, the Casting Hall, the Dan Medicine Hall, the New People's Hall and the Guest Minister's Hall.

  Apart from the Guest Hall of foreign surnames, the disciples of the Refining Body Realm can only choose between the Foundry Hall for casting weapons, the Dan Medicine Hall for refining elixirs, and the Newcomer Hall for training newcomers.

  The disciples of the Refining Qi Realm have two more options: the Martial Hall and the External Affairs Hall. The Martial Hall is dedicated to cultivating outstanding disciples, and those who enter can learn various advanced martial arts techniques and internal energy methods, making it the most prestigious hall in the Moyang Dao.

  The Outer Hall was in charge of various Daoist affairs, such as mountain patrols and hunting, collecting minerals and medicinal herbs, and even escorting and guarding.

  It sounds like the Foreign Affairs Department is doing miscellaneous and dirty work, but the responsibilities it undertakes are heavy, and the tasks assigned often have a certain degree of danger, which ordinary people cannot bear.

  Those who really do the dirty work and hard labor are often the servants of the Taoist temples.

  The treatment of the Outer Affairs Hall disciples is relatively high, and their daily life is also more free. As long as they complete their tasks, they will be richly rewarded and can accumulate family merits, and there are many opportunities for promotion. It is the third largest hall in the Wu Yang Dao, besides the Martial Hall and the Guest Hall.

  As for the Foundry Hall and the Dan Medicine Hall, they are the best choices for those who do not have enough martial talent. Being able to stand out in these two halls will make future achievements limitless.

  In the nine continents, powerful artifact refiners and alchemists are welcomed and respected everywhere, even able to enter the imperial palace and become a sect's offerings.

  Of course, in the Foundry Hall and the Dan Medicine Hall, you can also learn martial skills and mental methods, especially the Dan medicine masters who rely on their own elixirs to increase their strength are numerous.

  The disciples of Xinrendang, as long as they successfully opened their veins before the age of 18, can also reapply to join Wudang or Waishi Hall.

  As for those mediocre descendants who have achieved nothing, our family will never raise useless people!

  After the middle-aged steward finished announcing the rules, the selection officially began.

  Among nearly two hundred children who reached the Refining Qi stage, as many as 140 chose to join the Martial Hall, including Qin Yun.

  And four hundred of the physically strong young men were chosen for the new temple, occupying three-quarters.

  Nearly a hundred people joined Dantang, and the vast majority were women.

  In the vast continent of Jiuzhou, alchemists were mostly women. Refining elixirs was a tedious process but not particularly perilous, requiring only patience and meticulousness, making it most suitable for women.

  The rest all chose the Foreign Affairs Hall and the Casting Hall, and the two combined still didn't have as many people as the Dan Hall, which made the thin old man on stage look very displeased.

  The old man with the red face indeed wanted to take in all these Qi-refining disciples, but he also had to consider the face of the thin old man and the balance of power among the various factions. Eating alone would invite jealousy from others.

  So he stood up and announced that the disciples above the first heaven of the Refining Qi Realm could directly enter the Martial Hall, while those at the first heaven would have to undergo a trial selection to compete for the qualification to enter the hall!

  Among the more than 140 disciples of Wu Tang, only about 20 were at the level of Reheaven Boundary. The remaining 120 or so needed to compete for 60 places, basically two against one.

  A middle-aged attendant wrote down over a hundred names on paper for the draw, and the young man who drew the lot went up to the stage for a trial of strength; if he won, he could join the Wu Tang.

  A young man stepped onto the wooden stage, unfolding a fierce competition in front of the elders and deacons. Most of them came from families with a rich martial arts background and had been practicing sword fighting since childhood, often requiring numerous rounds to determine the winner.

  "Next, Qin Yun, Qin Sui Feng!"

  Qin Yun gritted his teeth and stepped onto the wooden stage after being called out by name.

  At this moment, no one in the scene knew the depression and helplessness in his heart.

  Yesterday's battle left Qin Yun with a serious injury. This morning, the old man in gray clothes treated his wounds and warned him not to engage in any physical altercations with others for ten days.

  His left arm is temporarily disabled and his true energy cannot be used. What else can he rely on to compete with the other party for this quota?

  Although he knew he was no match for him, Qin Yun did not want to retreat without a fight.

  Qin Yun had just stepped onto the wooden stage when his opponent immediately took the field.

  But this opponent's entrance was much more elegant than Qin Yun's, he walked out of the crowd and stepped onto the wooden platform, his toes lightly tapping as he jumped up to a height of over ten feet, turning lightly in mid-air before landing steadily in front of Qin Yun.

  This young man named Qin Sui Feng was handsome and elegant, with a unique temperament. His white clothes fluttered in the wind, making him look like a jade tree swaying in the breeze. With his exceptional lightness skill just revealed, he immediately drew applause and admiring glances from many girls.

  He took up a blunt long sword for trial use, held it horizontally in front of him and gave Qin Yun a slight bow: "Please instruct me!"

  After Qin Yun's return gift, Qin Sui Feng's expression solidified, and he shouted out loud, drawing his sword to take the lead.

  He saw that the long sword in his hand instantly transformed into a swimming dragon, swift and rapid, extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, it approached Qin Yun's front.

  Qin Yun immediately raised his sword to block, using the basic sword technique of Po Jian Shi.

  This sword move Qin Yun had practiced no less than a thousand times, even when he was injured and couldn't run true energy, the sword move he executed was still standard and perfectly sealed off his opponent's sword path.

  Bang!

  Under the cross strike of two swords, Qin Yun's long sword flew out of his hand and fell far away under the stage.

  Under the gaze of everyone's astonished eyes, Qin Suifeng's sword merely hesitated for a moment before continuing to advance forward, its tip stopping just at Qin Yun's chest!

  Qin Yun, one sword falls defeated!