"Greetings, Senior Martial Sister Liu." Daoist Mysterious Yin was expressionless as usual.
Daoist Mysterious Yin smiled and nodded. He turned around and sat on two purple chairs with Daoist Mysterious Yin. The eight early-stage Core Forging Enlightened Masters waited for the four mid-stage Core Forging Enlightened Masters to take their seats.
When the servant boy saw that the fourteen Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters had arrived, he retreated. A Late Blood Condensation Realm middle-aged scholar who had been following behind Daoist Profound Miao stepped forward and announced loudly, "The apprenticeship ceremony will now begin. All apprenticeship disciples, come forward and offer incense to the ancestor!"
Lu Ping followed the disciples to Tian Ling Palace. There, he offered incense sticks and kowtowed to the Zhen Ling Sect's Core Forging Enlightened Masters, hoping that they would protect Zhen Ling Sect for a long time to come and protect the disciples to achieve success.
The entire ceremony was solemn and respectful. Even Lu Ping didn't dare to overstep his boundaries.
After bowing to the ancestors, the middle-aged scholar said, "Disciples, come forward and bow to your teacher!"
Lu Ping saw the disciples who were called to come forward and respectfully bow to their teacher. Lu Ping was dumbfounded. He still didn't know which Enlightened Master his teacher was. After being called, he didn't even know which Enlightened Master he should bow to.
Just when Lu Ping was at a loss of what to do, the middle-aged scholar announced his name, "Lu Ping of Huang Li Island, former Group 7 disciple of Zhen Ling Side Hall, come forward and bow to your teacher!"
Lu Ping panicked. He hesitated whether he should explain the situation in front of everyone. If he did so, wouldn't it mean that his unknown teacher forcefully accepted him as a disciple without his consent? If that happened, wouldn't his unknown teacher lose face in front of all the Enlightened Masters? Even if he became her disciple again, he would still be disliked by her.
Lu Ping's hesitation caused him to slow down. The middle-aged scholar who presided over the ceremony felt sorry for his disciple for being so rude. He shouted again, "Huang Li Island's Lu Ping, step forward and greet your teacher!"
This time, not only was Lu Ping sweating profusely, the disciples also looked at each other. Lu Ping was about to brace himself and explain the situation, but he noticed that only Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling and Enlightened Master Profound Miao were smiling at him. The other Enlightened Masters didn't know who Lu Ping was and only looked at the disciples who were preparing to become Lu Ping's disciple.
Lu Ping's heart skipped a beat. Although he didn't know who his teacher was, it was obvious that his teacher knew who he was. Otherwise, he wouldn't have specially asked to accept him as a disciple. However, other than Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling and Enlightened Master Profound Miao, the other Enlightened Masters obviously didn't know who Lu Ping was. Therefore, his teacher could only be Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling or Enlightened Master Profound Miao.
The girl who came to find him that day clearly told him that it was her mother who wanted to accept Lu Ping as a disciple. Therefore, his teacher must be a female Enlightened Master, so it could only be Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling.
The more Lu Ping thought about it, the more he felt that it was reasonable. The girl that day was also wearing a palace dress, and Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling was also wearing a palace dress today. Lu Ping recalled the girl's appearance that day and realized that there were many similarities between her and Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling.
Just when the middle-aged scholar was about to shout Lu Ping's name again, a young man in his twenties suddenly walked out from the group of disciples. Under everyone's gaze, he walked up to Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling, who obviously had the highest status. He bowed deeply and said, "Disciple Lu Ping greets Master. I wish Master's cultivation to improve and live a long life!"
When Lu Ping bowed, his impulsive mood instantly calmed down. Then, cold sweat immediately dripped down his forehead. His previous guess was just an inference, and there was no evidence. If he made a wrong judgment, not only would the real master lose face, but Lu Ping might also be punished for the crime of deceiving his master!
Just when Lu Ping was letting his imagination run wild, a gentle voice sounded, and immediately made Lu Ping feel as if he had been pardoned. "There's no need to be so polite, please get up first!"
Lu Ping stood up and saw Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling looking at him with a smile on his face. He quickly turned around and returned to the group of disciples. In the end, his gamble paid off. Lu Ping heaved a long sigh of relief. He was too impulsive at the start, and this time, he had unintentionally taken a trip to the gates of hell. A light breeze blew past, and Lu Ping realized that his back was already soaked in sweat.
Although all of them had become the disciple of a Enlightened Master, there were still differences between them. Most of them could only become a Core Forging Enlightened Master's in-name disciple after passing the test. If they performed well in the future, they would naturally be promoted to an official disciple. There were also some who became an official disciple the moment they entered the sect, becoming the envy of others.
Thinking about it, Zhenling had heard that there were close to ten thousand Mid and Late Blood Condensation cultivators, but there were less than a hundred Core Forging Enlightened Masters. If every Mid and Late Blood Condensation cultivator had a Core Forging Enlightened Master as an official disciple, then each Enlightened Master would have close to a hundred disciples. Therefore, it was inevitable for them to adopt the in-name disciple method.
Lu Ping didn't know whether he was an in-name disciple or an official disciple. After everyone was done with the ceremony, there was only one last event left. It was also the event that everyone was talking about the most: the ceremony of accepting a master!
As expected, when the middle-aged scholar saw that everyone had greeted their master, he shouted, "The last event of the ceremony is for all disciples to present their gifts!"
In fact, when Zhenling held the ceremony in front of the Heaven's Spirit Mountain's cultivators, her original intention was to encourage the disciples to take risks and improve themselves. After all, everyone had to put in a lot of effort to present their gifts in front of everyone. They couldn't let others look down on them. However, for some reason, the Core Forging Enlightened Masters' reputation was also involved in the ceremony, which made things a little more complicated.
This time, the middle-aged scholar didn't read out the disciples' names according to the name list. Instead, he decided on the order of the disciples' gifts according to the status of the Enlightened Masters present. "Enlightened Master Xuansheng's disciple, Luo Zihuan, presents his gifts!"
Because this Enlightened Master Xuansheng had just called his master, Liu Xuanling, 'Mistress', Lu Ping paid close attention to him.
A Fourth Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator, about the same age as Lu Ping, walked up to Enlightened Master Xuansheng. He scratched his disheveled hair and took out a jade crystal box from the storage bag at his waist. He said, "This disciple doesn't have much ability. I found a cultivator's ruin in the Slow Surge Sea and obtained nine thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. I'm here to present them to you, Master!"
Enlightened Master Xuansheng took the jade box and nodded with a smile. "Nine thousand-year-old spiritual herbs is very good!"
Nine thousand-year-old spiritual herbs was not a small number. On Fei Ling Island, Lu Ping and the others often fought over a single thousand-year-old spiritual herb.
Sure enough, many of the cultivators who were watching the ceremony cheered. At the same time, sparse applause sounded. When Luo Zihuan heard Spiritual Master Xuansheng's praise and heard the cheers from the audience, he smiled foolishly and stood to the right of Spiritual Master Xuansheng.
Lu Ping thought about his five cauldrons of Face Halting Pellets. He used 25 spirit herbs that were nearly a thousand years old, which was enough to concoct a cauldron of ordinary Early Core Forging Realm medicinal pellets. In addition, he used 150 spirit herbs that were five hundred years old. Although the success rate was low and he wasted a lot of them, they were still medicinal pellets. Plus, with his identity as an alchemist, the value of the medicinal pellets was far higher than the nine thousand years old spirit herbs.
The apprentice ceremony continued. The next one to come up was also a Fourth Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator. His apprenticeship gift was a total of 50 mid-grade spirit stones. Obviously, this amount of spirit stones was not a small burden to him. He must have put in a lot of effort to get it. However, the cultivators in the audience did not buy it. In their opinion, giving spirit stones was like giving gold and silver to mortals. It was too vulgar. Therefore, many people started booing.
The apprentice's face turned pale and beads of sweat dripped down. On the other hand, his master, Enlightened Master Xuanchang, accepted the gift with a smile and said, "50 mid-grade spirit stones is a token of my sincerity. Very good!"
When the apprentice heard Enlightened Master Xuanchang's words, he calmed down and thanked his master gratefully. Then, he stood next to Enlightened Master Xuanchang.
Lu Ping was stunned as he watched from the side. No wonder everyone attached so much importance to the apprenticeship ceremony. To put it bluntly, they couldn't lose their master's face. To put it bluntly, which cultivator could withstand such ridicule in front of so many people?
Next, the apprentice cultivators came forward one by one to present their gifts. There were all kinds of gifts, such as magic artefacts, spiritual materials, materials obtained from hunting demon beasts, talismans, treasure maps, and some other strange things. It was an eye-opener for Lu Ping.
Of course, there were also people who gave him elixirs.
No matter what kind of apprenticeship gift the apprentice disciple gave, whether it was precious or not, or whether the audience cheered or jeered, the Enlightened Masters who accepted the apprenticeship ceremony all had a calm expression on their faces. They would smile and say a few words of encouragement. None of them showed any dissatisfaction with the gift.
In the blink of an eye, 34 out of the 37 apprentices had finished their apprenticeship ceremony. Only four disciples, including Lu Ping, were left on the stage. Ten Enlightened Masters on the stage had also finished their apprenticeship ceremony. Only Enlightened Master Liu Xuanling and Enlightened Master Xuanyin were left on the purple seats in the center. There were also two Enlightened Masters in the middle of the stage. They were Enlightened Master Xuanjing and Enlightened Master Xuanhuai, who had arrived on the Golden Roc and White Cloud respectively.
Lu Ping was curious about which of the three Enlightened Masters were the apprentices of, so he looked at the other three. At the same time, the other three also noticed each other. Obviously, they had the same idea as Lu Ping. The four of them looked at each other, making the atmosphere very strange.
The middle-aged scholar who presided over the apprenticeship ceremony also seemed to be tired of speaking at this moment, so he casually thanked them.
The audience of Zhenling cultivators also looked at the four people at this moment. Obviously, they were very interested in the apprenticeship ceremony of the last four people.
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