483: Results of the Ascension Ceremony

The duration of the Lightning Tribulation was roughly equal to that of the Ascension Assembly, lasting for over a full month.

Originally, several Fourth-Rank Cultivators from the Eastern Region were personally overseeing the Ascension Assembly, but they were all drawn away by the Lightning Tribulation, which even kept many Fifth-Rank Elders extremely busy.

Consequently, the authority over the Ascension Assembly was handed down to the Elder representatives and Inner Sect Disciples.

This included the player, Jiang Vengeance.

Jiang Vengeance himself had not expected to obtain such immense authority.

According to the original procedure, while he could decide on the list whether to eliminate or evaluate candidates, the final decision on which players to recruit still required the personal designation of higher-ranking Elders.

However, because of the Lightning Tribulation, this authority was delegated downwards.

Originally, there should have been Senior Brothers to keep him in check, but because his understanding of players was so profound that it won over the Senior Brothers, they handed the majority of the final decision-making power to him, retaining only a few spots to recruit players they favored.

After obtaining such great power, the thought of selling spots flashed through Jiang Vengeance's mind once more, but he forcibly suppressed it.

For the sake of a better future, he carefully studied the list and locked onto the players most likely to be guided and controlled by him.

He set layer upon layer of trials for these players, adjusting the "tasks" time and again, and each one was more difficult than the last.

Yet, in order to pass, not a single one of these players complained; they all went about their tasks without a word of grievance.

Later, Jiang Vengeance took it a step further and simply stopped giving rewards altogether, only designing failure penalties for the tasks.

Given the nature of players, this would surely cause an uproar, and some might even just refuse to do them.

Yet, the players he selected still diligently performed the tasks, fearing that they would be eliminated if they didn't perform well.

Jiang Vengeance nodded in satisfaction and gave these people a nickname in his heart: "Beasts of Burden."

During this time, he also learned that someone on the Burial Emperor Star had inquired about Ye Hei, saying that Ye Hei had joined some small Sect and was cultivating arduously but had yet to achieve any results; it seemed the reputation of the Sacred Body being a useless body was indeed well-deserved.

Thus, Jiang Vengeance thought for a moment and gave the players he selected a new nickname: "Innate Sacred Body of Beasts of Burden."

When he shared this nickname with his Senior Brothers, it immediately drew a wave of resonance.

Amidst the laughter, the recruitment spots for the Nine Swords Dao were all distributed, and other Sects also successively issued their spots.

The player [Divine Craftsmanship] was one of the candidates who passed and received a spot from Jiang Vengeance.

When he learned that he had successfully passed the Ascension Assembly, was able to join the Nine Swords Dao, and would directly become an Outer Sect Disciple of Giant Fiend Peak, he was so excited that he was almost incoherent.

And when he saw Jiang Vengeance descend lightly from the sky and land before him, his overflowing excitement transformed into thrill for the future, which then turned into gratitude and awe toward Jiang Vengeance.

Seeing Jiang Vengeance approach, he was just about to cup his hands in greeting and offer thanks, but another player beat him to it by bowing first.

Divine Craftsmanship's movement stopped abruptly; his reaction was a beat slow, and he felt he shouldn't repeat the action, wanting to display himself in a more three-dimensional way.

Yet for a moment, he couldn't think of what he should do.

Then, watching Jiang Vengeance get closer and closer, his gaze shifted away from the other players and landed directly on him.

Divine Craftsmanship actually shuddered, knelt on the ground on the spot, and with a loud thud, kowtowed to Jiang Vengeance.

The other players around were completely dumbfounded.

Although everyone had been carefully selected and were not the most restless type of players, and they held much respect for the Native Cultivators.

But Divine Craftsmanship was truly the only one who could kneel and kowtow to his Face.

Many players looked at each other, secretly asking themselves: "Wait, do we need to kowtow too?" "Who is this guy? He's so competitive, what are we supposed to do?" "If we don't kowtow, will they think we don't know how to be grateful?"

After hesitating for a moment, these players actually followed suit and knelt to kowtow.

Jiang Vengeance couldn't help but be stunned. He knew what kind of character the players he selected had, but he never expected that instead of acting like proper Disciples, they would actually want to act like servants.

He pondered for a moment and didn't immediately express his stance. He waited until the remaining players had all knelt and kowtowed, only then waving his hand to signal: "Alright, we don't do this in the Nine Swords Dao. Do not do this in the future."

Divine Craftsmanship and the others stood up. A few people looked at Divine Craftsmanship, originally carrying some anger, but afterwards, they restrained it.

They thought, after all, it was just kneeling to a Native Cultivator, which at best could be considered role-playing; it didn't cost them any Face, so it didn't matter.

Meanwhile, Jiang Vengeance, who was across from them, saved this video and felt secretly delighted. He forced himself to remain calm and said: "Since you have all joined the Giant Fiend Peak of our Nine Swords Dao, I, representing the Peak Master and Elders, must state some rules beforehand..."

As Jiang Vengeance spoke, Divine Craftsmanship and the others took notes, planning to watch the video many more times later, fearing they might miss something.

Elsewhere, outside of the Nine Swords Dao, other Sects were also recruiting Disciples.

Many Sects' recruitment standards were similar to Jiang Vengeance's, selecting players who were obedient, sensible, and easy to manipulate.

But there were also some Sects that disdained these so-called "high-quality players," considering them all to be trash and a complete waste of Sect resources.

What they wanted to select were players with the most personality, or even those with a Dao Heart; the purpose of recruiting was to have the players inherit the Dao Lineage and subsequently create glory.

Perhaps they truly had no sectarian prejudices and weren't afraid of players running off after obtaining the Legacy. Or perhaps they hoped to use genuine master-Disciple and Sect camaraderie to win over the players, making them spontaneously defend the Sect. Or perhaps there was some problem with the Dao Lineage within the Sect, just waiting for players to come and save the day.

Of course, there were also some with other ideas.

For example, a Sect named [Fire Worship Cult] acted quite ruthlessly and had once sent people to besiege Old Potato, attempting to seize the Exotic Fire.

But they were forced back by Yan Xiao and suffered quite a loss, and because of this, they realized the prowess of a Prodigy.

After that, the Elders of the Fire Worship Cult valued Geniuses more and more, and became increasingly dissatisfied with the many mediocre talents within the Sect.

For this Ascension Assembly, the Fire Worship Cult carefully selected only players who were valiant in battle and had a firm Dao Heart.

After confirming the recruitment, they didn't waste any time, directly ordering these players to respawn immediately, and then sent Elders to personally escort the players to the grotto-heaven of the Fire Worship Cult.

This left the players quite shocked, and some even asked the Elder if they were really entering the grotto-heaven directly, rather than starting from the Outer Sect of a branch Sect.

The Elder gave a clear answer.

Only then did the players realize that the Fire Worship Cult was truly nurturing them as direct-line Prodigies; all provisions were the best, and the Sect Master and even the Grand Elders would personally come to teach them Cultivation Techniques, and they could go to ask for guidance at any time.

A player was silent for a long time and couldn't help but exclaim: "The Ascension Assembly has truly allowed us to ascend to the heavens in a single step..."

At this time, the players had not yet exchanged information, and each was even harboring their own secrets, deliberately concealing their own intelligence.

Therefore, everyone did not yet know that their different performances in the Ascension Assembly had led them to be valued by different Sects, subsequently beginning vastly different cultivation careers.