17: They finally fell for it!

The light screen in the sky began to fill with names as time passed; from time to time, someone's ranking would rise, while others would instantly vanish from the list.

This contrasted with the quiet forest, signifying that people were constantly battling and snatching points.

Outside the Secret Realm, on the square, a similarly massive screen was divided into multiple frames, randomly displaying the performances of different Disciples.

This kept the various Disciples, Deacons, and Outer Sect Elders outside thoroughly entertained; many Outer Sect Elders had already begun scouting for candidates, preparing to contact them in advance to select them as Preparatory Disciples after this trial.

Above their heads, the five Inner Sect Elders and the Sect Master sat on a floating platform, observing the performance of the various Prodigy Disciples inside more closely through a mirror-like Magic Treasure.

Sect Master Immortal Master: "This batch of Prodigy Disciples is truly impressive."

"One is Long Tianxing, who possesses great Luck, and the other is Wang Yao with the Primordial True Form constitution. Both are rare Prodigies, and to think they've gathered in the same batch."

The Third Elder also had some thoughts while watching the content of the Secret Realm.

"That little girl isn't bad either; I recall she's the Legitimate Daughter of the Prime Ministers Residence from the Great Qian Dynasty, right? To have such a Realm at such a young age, I wish to take her as my Disciple. Surely none of you have any objections?"

Sixth Elder: "Third Sister, that little girl's background is a bit complicated. The Prime Ministers Residence doesn't favor her, and there are people in the West River keeping an eye on her. Are you sure you want to take her as your Disciple?"

The Third Elder did not respond further, but her confident expression was the best answer.

"Ah, well, as long as she's happy. But Long Tianxing shall be mine." The Sect Master stroked his beard, looking at the overbearing boss in the screen with great appreciation and satisfaction.

Unfortunately, while he was satisfied, the Grand Elder and the Sixth Elder were not.

One must know that someone with great Luck learns everything quickly; whether they follow the Grand Elder to learn the Sword Dao or the Sixth Elder to learn the Pill Dao, they could truly serve as a Legacy successor.

Usually, the Sect's atmosphere was quite good, and their bickering didn't affect anything, but the current occasion was serious, and there were guests from other Sects watching below.

Otherwise, based solely on the Sect Master's boastful words, the two of them would have shown him some brotherly affection.

The three were discussing heatedly, but halfway through, they felt like someone was missing.

The three turned their heads together to look at the Fourth Elder, who was calmly sipping Spiritual Tea, appearing somewhat lost in thought while watching the mirror.

Wrong, something was very wrong!

Last time, the group had given the Fourth Elder a round of electrotherapy, but he was so stubborn that he didn't say a single word, so they had no choice but to release him.

But after being released, the Fourth Elder's behavior became increasingly strange. They had clearly hidden themselves well and were tailing him in secret, but besides idling about in his Immortal Cave as usual and occasionally pranking the Disciples, he did nothing else.

He stopped looking for the person he was searching for before, as if nothing had happened, but the more he acted this way, the more the three who knew him well realized he was up to no good.

Even now, this guy wasn't even active in selecting Disciples. That's a Child of Luck! Does he really not want a successor for his Artifact Dao and Formation Dao?

It was hard enough for those of them who mastered one path to find a successor; how could he, who mastered two, not be in a hurry?

Feeling the gazes of the three old fogies, an imperceptible gloom flashed in the Fourth Elder's eyes.

"Ahem, I think this Wang Yao is also not bad. This Physique is indeed a good prospect for Artifact Refining; even if he's unwilling to refine artifacts, simply being a Body Cultivator is also excellent."

Oh~, then it's not strange at all.

So this was the root of it all.

They had wondered why the Fourth Elder was being so strange; it turned out it was for this Primordial True Form constitution.

Calculating carefully, Wang Yao was also among the last batch of Prodigies to report, and the one responsible for reviewing the files back then was the Fourth Elder.

The Fourth Elder must have noticed him back then and wanted to intercept him early for fear they would snatch him, which led to the subsequent events.

And because this Physique could only inherit half of his Legacy, he didn't care as much later on and returned to his normal behavior.

If that were the case, they really did feel a bit sorry for the Fourth Elder; after all, although he had selfish motives, Wang Yao was indeed more suited to his path.

And seeing how indifferent he seemed later, it was probably because he was irritated by their forced interrogation, so he stubbornly refused to speak. He wasn't hiding any great secret; he was just being bullheaded.

Then how about letting... letting him have it? Like hell they would!

There were only a few good prospects in this batch, and they had already let the Third Elder pick one to avoid trouble.

With only two left, how could they be enough for four people? Could it be they had to wait for heaven's grace for two more good prospects to emerge later?

As for why there were four people? Because the Fifth Elder didn't count; he was usually no different from a Loose Cultivator, if not for this Disciple recruitment ceremony.

He was simply wandering outside and didn't want to come back, so except for the few Disciples he was forced to take under his Master's intimidation, he never actively recruited any.

During this dispute, he sat aside enjoying the show, too lazy to compete with them.

"Then I don't care. It's been a long time since I last took a Disciple, so I must take several this time. I want that Primordial True Form constitution, and that handsome young man next to him—he fits my temperament, so I want him too. And this one, and that one..."

The Fourth Elder insisted on having Wang Yao and even made a spiteful selection of several Prodigies, which happened to include an obscure individual.

The Sect Master looked at his shameless appearance and remembered that they had been too excessive with the torture before, so he still felt a bit bad.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and gave an answer: "This Wang Yao certainly can't be given to you so easily; we still have to observe further. What if he's unwilling to join your lineage?"

Seeing that the Second Brother had even brought out his authority as the Sect Master, the Grand Elder and the Sixth Elder also became more serious and nodded in response, as they had indeed been a bit excessive before.

"Fine~ then, since you've all taken a step back, what more can I say? However, if Wang Yao is unwilling to join my lineage, so be it, but if you use shameless means, don't blame me if I truly turn hostile."

"As for the other Disciples I've already selected, I can't just reject all of them. I'll take that handsome lad; since I was the first to pick him, we are fated, so I'll take him first."

Grand Elder: "Fourth Brother, we know you usually care about your Face. There's no need to follow through on words spoken in anger; if you don't want to take them, then don't. Don't waste the child's potential."

The Fourth Elder was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on; his Face flushed red as he snatched the register from beside the Sect Master and added Zhou Yan's name to his list of Disciples.

"Who said I was just venting? I've added him, so what?"

Now, as long as Zhou Yan successfully completed the trial and became an Inner Sect Disciple, he would be directly promoted to a True Disciple.

Even if he failed and ended up in the Outer Sect, as long as he could enter the Inner Sect, he would still be eligible for the True Disciple Trial to become the Fourth Elder's Disciple.

It could be said that this move by the Fourth Elder bound the two of them together; he wasn't just taking him as a Disciple with the status of an Inner Sect Disciple, he was truly treating him as a Legacy successor.

Seeing this, the Sect Master helplessly said to the Grand Elder, "Big Brother, look at you. You knew the Fourth Elder has been in a bad mood these past few days, yet you had to provoke him. Now look at the mess you've made."

This kid indeed has some tricks; that ability to slow down the flow of time by 18 times is quite interesting.

But they could feel that the exertion of that ability was limited; it could probably only be modified around 18 times, and further improvement would likely be very difficult.

Furthermore, there were inherent issues with the upper limits of the Law of Time itself. This made time-type Divine Abilities very strong before Soul Transformation, but quite useless after Soul Transformation.

Therefore, a talent or Divine Ability with no future path might make delicate tasks easier in the early stages, but it would be of little help once one's cultivation reached a higher level.

The Fourth Elder probably chose him just to casually pass on some Artifact Refining arts, as a way to make up for his previous grand boast.

However, Zhou Yan was just barely qualified to become the Fourth Elder's Disciple as an Inner Sect Disciple.

Now, provoked by the Grand Elder, the Fourth Elder seemed completely enraged. With things developing this way and placing him in such a high position, one wondered if it might actually harm the child.

As a woman, the Third Elder's thoughts were more delicate; she cast a secretive glance at the Fourth Elder, but besides his still somewhat indignant expression and his occasional sips of tea to suppress his anger, she didn't see anything unusual.

The Fourth Elder's inner thoughts at this moment: "Fi~nal~ly~ fal~len~ for~ it! Wang Yao was just the bait; Zhou Yan was my target! Ha... no, I can't laugh, I can't laugh yet."