134: Weird selection criteria

To the west of the Green Emerald Mountains lies Yue Country.

Yue Country is currently the smallest in terms of territory among the four great nations, and it has many sub-Sects of Duan Kong Cave, making its Disciple recruitment relatively lenient. Coupled with Qinghe Town being the starting point for single-player mode, Yue Country has become the Newbie Village among Newbie Villages, attracting countless new players.

Due to the sheer number of people, soul transmigration triggered an upper limit protection, preventing further soul transmigrations into Yue Country. As a result, more and more players entered Yue Country as blank-slate body transmigrators.

Simply put, the players here are truly weak.

Bao Gaoshua was also one of the countless weak players.

Originally, he came to the game for the Xing Shi Club, but before he could find his idol, he was deeply captivated by the Xuanhuan World.

He worked in a Mortal town to earn money, mined, gathered herbs, and did everything he could. He estimated that he would need another two hundred years of effort to buy a Spirit Nurturing Pill to aid his Qi Refining.

He quickly realized that only stationary, time-consuming tasks like Alchemy and Artifact Refining could leverage the advantage of accelerated Lifespan, whereas almost all tasks a Mortal could do offered no acceleration and were completely uncompetitive.

Thus, Bao Gaoshua had no choice but to use his money-spending ability. Finally, not long ago, he successfully cultivated a Ninth Grade Cultivation Method and consumed a Spirit Nurturing Pill, allowing him to enter Qi Refining First Level. This made him incredibly excited.

Don't look at those high-level players, whether they have a Mortal Foundation or an Immortal Foundation, flying around up there. For low-level players, being able to perform Qi Refining at this stage is already a remarkable achievement.

Bao Gaoshua enjoyed himself for two days, but soon discovered that, damn it, the resources needed after Qi Refining became even more extensive.

Every day, he had to eat Spirit Rice, drink Spirit Spring water, and occasionally take Medicinal Pills to heal after combat. From time to time, he encountered fluctuations in Spiritual Veins that damaged the Spiritual Qi within his body, requiring him to spend a large amount of Spirit Stones to compensate.

The series of expenses left Bao Gaoshua dizzy. He roughly calculated that if he were to buy all resources from other players using his money-spending ability, even if he sold himself, he wouldn't reach Foundation Establishment. And this didn't even account for the Immortal Foundation Method and Immortal Qi.

Just as Bao Gaoshua resigned himself to becoming a casual player, he suddenly received news that the Three Great Sects were collectively holding a Disciple recruitment ceremony.

At this, he became completely exhilarated!

Duan Kong Cave was lenient in recruiting Disciples and had many sub-Sects. Almost every so often, it would send Disciples out to recruit. However, after the appearance of players, Duan Kong Cave became extremely conservative, only recruiting a very small number of Disciples. As for the other two Sects, they completely closed their doors to players.

Finally, perhaps the high-level Cultivators within the Sects had thoroughly discussed their stance on players, and they decided to recruit Disciples on a large scale!

Bao Gaoshua was extremely excited. He prepared overnight, found a few friends he knew, and together they journeyed to the Duan Kong Cave mountain gate.

This Duan Kong Cave Disciple recruitment ceremony was located outside the main Sect, in a mountain range that had been leveled. Hundreds of arenas were temporarily set up, along with various testing mazes and mechanisms, looking as if a giant city had been built out of thin air.

When Bao Gaoshua and the others saw it clearly, they felt dizzy and mesmerized, their mouths wide open, completely awestruck.

With Duan Kong Cave Cultivators directing and Liu Zhuan players who had joined Duan Kong Cave helping to greet them, Bao Gaoshua quickly entered the first test point, which was the Spiritual Root test.

“Three Spiritual Roots, continue testing.”

The testing personnel waved his hand, signaling Bao Gaoshua to proceed.

His eyes lit up. My goodness, as expected of Duan Kong Cave, the Sect with the most lenient recruitment, even his Aptitude could pass?

“Single Spiritual Root, failed.”

Suddenly, he heard the voice of the testing personnel again, and at the same time, a player shouted in surprise:

“What? Failed? Are you kidding me? I have a Single Spiritual Root, and it's a Fire Spiritual Root that is very compatible with your Duan Kong Cave. Why won't you let me pass?”

“Next!”

The testing personnel offered no explanation, merely beckoning the next player.

Bao Gaoshua paused, he felt that something seemed a bit off. It seemed that Duan Kong Cave was not selecting Geniuses?

He arrived at the second testing location, an arena. He and many other players stepped forward together, facing a Cultivator from Duan Kong Cave.

“We're in the same group. Let's discuss our tactics carefully.”

A player took the lead in discussing and planning tactics. It turned out that this stage required defeating the opponent to pass.

Bao Gaoshua honestly listened to the tactical briefing, but when it came to actual combat, he genuinely couldn't react, fumbling clumsily in various ways. Ultimately, the players suffered a crushing defeat, while the Duan Kong Cave Cultivator stood gracefully in his white robes, unmoving.

Just as Bao Gaoshua thought he was about to be eliminated, he heard the Cultivator speak:

“You, you, you, and you. The four of you have passed.”

Bao Gaoshua was among them, along with three other players, all of whom had performed poorly in the arena, unable to even execute simple tactics.

“Why?!”

The player who planned the tactics was completely stunned: “They performed so badly, they can't even fight. Why did they pass?”

The Cultivator still offered no explanation, merely waving his hand, signaling Bao Gaoshua and the others to continue forward.

Bao Gaoshua felt it was getting stranger and stranger.

There were many more tests afterward, whether it was maze exploration, quick mastery of spell techniques, or Alchemy and Artifact Refining. Without exception, Bao Gaoshua performed extremely poorly in all of them, yet he passed every stage, surprisingly making it to the very end.

At this point, even he, no matter how dull, understood. This damn Duan Kong Cave was specifically selecting Mediocre Talents!

Not only did he realize it, but all the players who came to participate in the test understood, and they all complained on the forum:

“Damn it, this Duan Kong Cave only wants Mediocre Talents! Everyone, don't perform too well!”

“No, there's a difference between pretending to be mediocre and truly being mediocre. The people from Duan Kong Cave can tell the difference.”

“This is truly Heaven-Defying. Are the higher-ups of Duan Kong Cave out of their minds?”

Players discussed animatedly, all somewhat bewildered.

At this time, players from Heshui Prefecture and Qingling Sect also joined the discussion:

“Oh? You guys only recruit Mediocre Talents over there?”

“Damn, we really only select Geniuses here. You wouldn't believe how difficult the Sect entry test is.”

“Do you know about the Ten-Mile Stairway to Heaven? A high-level Cultivator with an Immortal Foundation personally exerts his power. Every step is like carrying a mountain, and on top of that, there are Demonic Beasts blocking your way midway!”

“What's that? We at Heshui Prefecture have to cross a hundred-mile-long great lake, and it's not just Demonic Beasts, there are also Yao Beasts, and even evil Cultivators captured by Heshui Prefecture!”

Players exchanged information and quickly discovered something was amiss.

The selections for Qingling Sect and Heshui Prefecture were very logical; they truly only wanted Geniuses, and their Trial Grounds were each more magnificent and imaginative than the last.

However, this Duan Kong Cave was exactly like a company recruiting employees, and only wanted those with the worst resumes.

What was the reason for this?

Bao Gaoshua felt a vague unease in his heart. He always felt that something was wrong. Was this Duan Kong Cave perhaps problematic?

Just as he was thinking this, the first batch of Disciples from Duan Kong Cave was finally selected. As a high-level Cultivator with a Mortal Foundation announced the names, Bao Gaoshua was prominently on the list. From now on, he would be able to enter Duan Kong Cave and become a respected Sect Disciple!