Chapter 2

Li Wen looked at Jiang Yuanchen and began to talk like those lecturers. His black eyes rolled and he changed the topic, "Senior Brother, are you going to the Golden Spring Pavilion to see Elder Sikong? Junior Brother will go with you. "

As the person in charge of the outer sect, Elder Sikong was more than happy to give some pointers to the outer sect disciples to help the Taixu Dao Sect gain new blood. However, there were hundreds of outer sect disciples every ten years. If the three waves of outer sect disciples added up to a thousand people, how would Elder Sikong be able to cope? He came to the outer sect's Golden Spring Pavilion to heal and recuperate. Although he was the nominal head of the outer sect, he was not here to solve the doubts of the outer sect disciples. Therefore, this elder opened a Golden Spring Pavilion near the top of the mountain. Every day after the Qi extraction at the Spirit Cloud Rock, there would be a question. Only those who solved the question could come forward to ask for advice.

However, the questions that this elder set were trickier than the previous one. There was making a fire to boil water, calligraphy and painting, drawing talismans, fighting with swords, looking for tokens, and even guessing puzzles. Luck, skills, eyesight, wisdom, and so on were all aspects of the assessment. The questions were different every day. No disciple could answer the questions correctly for three days in a row.

Fortunately, the lecturers in the outer sect, in addition to teaching the principles of how to conduct oneself, they also taught calligraphy and painting, zither skills, archery, medicine, and other miscellaneous skills. They did not ask you to be proficient in all of them, as long as you could use them when walking in the mortal world.

After all, these outer sect disciples, although the outstanding disciples would enter the inner sect to cultivate the method of longevity, there would still be a group of disciples who would be sent down the mountain to enter the various Taixu Taoism temples as Taoists to collect incense and luck and spread the prestige of the Taoism Sect.

Taoist, although there were all kinds of rules and regulations in this profession, qualified Taoists from the Taixu Taoism would have all kinds of literary and artistic skills. Sometimes, when walking among the nobles, not knowing some literary and artistic skills would be a loss of face for the Taixu Taoism. It could be said that every Taoist from the Taixu Taoism was a kind of high intellectual. They could not be said to be proficient in mountain, medicine, fortune telling, physiognomy, and divination, but they must have some knowledge. They could not be said to be proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but they must be able to appreciate. In this way, the profession of Taoist could stand above all the other professions in the surrounding countries. In fact, apart from the Taixu Dao Sect, there were no other Daoist sects in the neighboring countries around it. Among the countries, only the Taixu Taoism Temple existed, which allowed the influence of the Taixu Taoism to firmly spread throughout the Spiritual State.

The Taixu Dao Sect was able to control the abolition of a nation, and control the Mountain Deities and River Earls of a region to summon clouds and rain. This was the power of one of the strongest sects in the divine continent, the Nine Immortals Sect. Even if those Daoist priests who were sent out were failures on the path of Immortal Cultivation, they would not be allowed to abuse the name of the Dao Sect. Instead, they would be allowed to spread their faith for the sake of the Dao Sect's strength. In fact, they might even have a very small chance of successfully building their foundation.

By the time Jiang Yuanchen and Li Wen arrived at the Golden Spring Pavilion, there were already a dozen or so fellow disciples answering today's questions at the tables outside the pavilion. In the pavilion, a white-bearded old man with white hair and a ruddy complexion was resting with his eyes closed, waiting for the pot of tea in front of him to boil.

"Painting?" Li Wen sighed when he saw today's question. "Congratulations, Senior Brother. I'd better give up on this question."

Although the Outer Sanctum of the Golden Spring Sect taught them the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, they only needed to be skimmed over. If they wanted to specialize in it, it all depended on their personal interests.

"Dao is everywhere and all-encompassing." This was one of the words Elder Sikong often said. Therefore, he also used these daily questions to encourage all disciples to study one or two skills. Zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting could also "enter the Dao." It was very helpful to understand the Heavenly Dao. On the long road to longevity, it was not impossible to choose a leisure skill.

Because it was not a compulsory skill like drawing talismans and dancing with swords, Li Wen was not interested in the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. The skill he chose was Yi Archery.

As for Jiang Yuanchen, he was slightly relieved when he saw that today's question was related to painting. Among the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, he was best at painting. This kind of question gave him a big advantage.

After all, it was not like last time where he had to find the golden talisman or hide and seek. That kind of thing that depended on luck was not his specialty. Jiang Yuanchen thought to himself.

Jiang Yuanchen looked at the questions on the Golden Spring Pavilion in detail, and then sized up the dozen or so fellow disciples who were seated outside the pavilion for a long time. Only then did he say to Li Wen, "Although it's bamboo painting, it's not that easy to copy exactly according to the pot of bamboo in the pavilion within the time limit of an incense stick."

Today's question was very simple. They only needed to copy the bamboo placed in the Golden Spring Pavilion within the time it took for a stick of incense to burn. Moreover, there were a total of three places for today's Dao Seeking. The first three qualified people would be chosen.

Because "Golden Spring Dao Seeking" was after "Spirit Cloud Qi Gathering", most of the outer sect disciples on the Spirit Cloud Rock had not arrived yet. Jiang Yuanchen had arrived early from Emerald Cloud Plain.

Not daring to waste time, Jiang Yuanchen stood outside the pavilion and stared at the bamboo for a while. Then he found an empty seat and began to paint. As for Li Wen, he stood outside the pavilion and watched the others' paintings with interest.

Although the question this time was simple, it was only to paint bamboo. On each table, there was only a brush, a piece of paper, and a shallow dish of ink. In other words, there was no time to start from scratch. Everyone only had one chance. If there was a slight mistake, they would lose this chance today.

Although Li Wen had a lively personality, he was not a fool. Being able to reach the late stage of Qi Nourishing at the age of fifteen, apart from the care of his great granduncle in the outer sect, was also the result of his talent and intelligence.

After pondering for a while, Li Wen thought to himself, "This time, it's implying that in the struggle of the Great Dao, one can advance but not retreat, and that everyone only has one chance?"

All living beings in the world only had one life. When they died, their souls would return to the world, and their life imprints would completely disappear. That was why the desire for longevity led to all kinds of Dao Seeking methods to achieve longevity. However, even these people from the immortal sects could not truly live forever. Even Golden Core cultivators had a day when their lifespans would decline. Because there was no such thing as reincarnation, their souls could only dissipate between heaven and earth.

There was great terror between life and death. In order to obtain that sliver of longevity, one could only walk through the door of life forever without taking even the slightest wrong step.

One wrong step would lead to a bottomless cliff, never to rise again!

Li Wen wandered around the surroundings for a while, careful not to disturb these fellow disciples. Looking at the bamboo they were painting, he could not help but secretly laugh.

Regardless of whether there was anyone whose painting skills were on par with Senior Brother Jiang, there were some people who clearly knew that they had painted wrong but still did not repent and continued to paint on top of it. This kind of character of walking to the end would probably be remembered harshly during the evaluation in the future.

Li Wen learned a lot of inside information from his great granduncle. For example, the time he spent in the outer sect could be considered as the scope of the Dao Sect's inspection.

Reading and writing were similar to the Immortal Sect's "Yuheng Seal Script". If he did not study and write well, how would he be able to practice the Dao Rune Incantation of the Dao Sect in the future? If he could not even do the initial calmness of reading, he could not expect to be able to peacefully study calligraphy, painting, Dao Rune, or Dao Scriptures in the future. Even understanding the scriptures and cultivation methods of the inner sect was a problem.

Ethics and filial piety tested a person's nature. If someone despised human relations and was vicious and ruthless, they could not enter the inner sect to continue cultivating.

Elder Sikong's questions were more to test the behavior of the outer sect disciples and the way they dealt with things. Would they go to the mountain knowing that there was a tiger in the mountain, or would they retreat when it was necessary, or would they fight for a chance of survival in a dead end …

"At the age of thirty, one can enter the inner sect as a candidate for the Foundation Establishment Realm." These words sounded nice, but if one's temperament was not up to standard, even if one entered the inner sect, one could be unknowingly banished from the outer sect, making it difficult for one to become a true successor disciple.

While Li Wen was staring blankly at his fellow disciples who were drawing, the many Qi gathering disciples at the Spirit Dawn Rock also walked over in groups of three to five.

"Senior Brother Zhang?" Li Wen hurriedly greeted when he saw that there was one more person beside him.

Zhang Zihao, twenty-eight years old, was one of the last batch of outer sect disciples. Compared to those geniuses who succeeded in building their Foundation within ten years, he could only slowly linger in the Qi Nurturing Realm, continuing to cultivate with junior brothers like Jiang Yuanchen and Li Wen.

"Senior Brother, do you want to give it a try?" Li Wen asked with a smile.

"No need." Zhang Zihao saw that a few people had already begun to submit their drawings to Elder Sikong for inspection, so he shook his head and said, "With Junior Brother Jiang's attainments in the art of drawing, as long as there are no accidents, you will definitely occupy a place. Among the others, there are also a few whose drawing level is far above mine, so rather than hoping that they will carelessly fail, it is better to decisively give up and take this opportunity to meditate and cultivate Qi. "Zhang Zihao finished speaking and left in a carefree manner.

After Zhang Zihao left, Elder Sikong, who had his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes to look at his back and nodded inwardly, 'What a tactful person. Since he understands that there is no chance this time, why waste time here and fail on the verge of success? This kid has wasted more than ten years in the outer sect, his temperament is much stronger than when he first entered the outer sect. As long as he succeeds in building his Foundation in the last two years, it is not impossible for him to take the lead. Since this is the case, why not take care of him when we set the test tomorrow? '

Sikong Changming had been seriously injured in the Devil Calamity several decades ago, and it was difficult for his cultivation to improve further, so he requested to take charge of the outer sect. Regarding these outer sect disciples, who were the future cornerstones of the sect, he maintained an attitude of being able to promote them. If he saw a disciple with a good temperament, he would modify the scope of the test to give them a chance to improve.

Then, Sikong Changming's gaze fell on Jiang Yuanchen, 'Is he the most outstanding talent among this batch of disciples? Unfortunately, he is still a bit lacking compared to the two chief disciples of the previous two generations.

In the previous two waves of outer sect disciples, there was one disciple who had broken through the Gate of Heaven in the seventh year and entered the inner sect in one go. Compared to those two, Jiang Yuanchen's generation was a bit lacking. Whether it was Jiang Yuanchen or Li Wen, their aptitudes were not as good as those two.

However, compared to those two, Jiang Yuanchen's temperament was much more amiable. Whether it was his true temperament or his hypocrisy, Jiang Yuanchen had never taken the initiative to pick a fight with others. This point alone was enough to make people raise their eyebrows.

'Moreover, this kid's literature is number one in all subjects, much better than Lin Zixuan's carelessness. That guy's temperament is bold and unrestrained, and he doesn't treat us elders as respectfully as Yuan Chen.' Thinking of the two chief disciples of the previous generation, Sikong Changming carefully compared the three of them.

Lin Zixuan was the most outstanding disciple among the first batch of disciples, and Yang Ling was the most outstanding disciple among the second batch of disciples. Both of them entered the Foundation Realm in the seventh year. However, between the two of them, one was proficient in all kinds of martial arts, while the other was proficient in all kinds of literature and art. One had a bold and unrestrained temperament like a chivalrous warrior, while the other was refined and courteous like a gentleman. They were completely different from Jiang Yuanchen's magnanimous and indifferent temperament.

'These juniors have all kinds of temperaments, and they are quite similar to the senior brothers of the eighth generation disciples. However, I don't know how many of them can become the true disciples of the ninth generation disciples, and who will the title of chief senior brother fall into? '