“It’s you who underestimated me,” Chen Jingzhai said with a smile. “I’ve already told you that you can use any spiritual items and formations. If you are unconvinced, we can go at it again.”

“I submit wholeheartedly!” Zeng Wangbei took a deep breath. “Not only is Master-Uncle a genius in alchemy, but you are also a great magician well-versed in spells. Truly astounding.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little late for flattery now?” Chen Jingzhai said with a chuckle, a little teasing in his eyes. “Are you still worried about me going to the secret zone now? Do you still want my space for yourself?”

“I am truly ashamed!” Zeng Wangbei bowed his head and smiled mirthlessly. The clown, as it were, turned out to be him!

Chen Jingzhai laughed heartily and grabbed onto his arm as they returned to Tianyahai Pavilion.

The two maids immediately served up a cup of spirit tea to Chen Jingzhai with joy and poured one for Zeng Wangbei as well.

The stronger their young master, the greater the benefits they may expect in the future.

They were extremely pleased that Chen Jingzhai had defeated Zeng Wangbei, the genius talent of Daoxuan Peak.

As soon as he tasted the spirit tea, the complicated emotions in his heart dissipated. Zeng Wangbei remembered the business at hand. “Although Master-Uncle defeated me this time, it is better to exercise caution on this trip. Except for the disciples at the peak, the rest of them—”

“It’ll be nothing more than an exchange or them trying to teach me a lesson. So it’s not a big deal.” Chen Jingzhai waved it off. “Can’t I run if I can’t beat them? I just won’t give them a chance to do what they want.”

“Master-Uncle has thought of everything. It is I who’s overly worried!” Zeng Wangbei said with self-deprecation.

“You don’t have to be like this,” Chen Jingzhai comforted him. “After all, you meant well, and I appreciate your concern. If this trip goes smoothly, I will surely be able to produce more Foundation Establishment Pills, and then I can give you a couple of them.”

“Foundation Establishment Pills are useless to me!” Zeng Wangbei said while scratching his head a bit.

“Even if you don’t need them now, they may be useful to you in the future. You’ll have to accept disciples sometimes later,” Chen Jingzhai said with a smile. “If there are those who you feel are suitable, you may accept them regardless of their natural talents.”

“I will keep that in mind!” Zeng Wangbei nodded and bowed to Chen Jingzhai solemnly.

Although the cultivation world in Pulao Kingdom valued celestial bones and aspirant cultivators, it did not overly emphasize aptitude alone. Otherwise, it would not have admitted three-element spirit root or even four-element spiritual root cultivators.

Among them, Daoxuan Peak, in particular, did not take aptitude all that seriously. It was because the cultivation of formation most relied on comprehension. If comprehension were lacking, no matter how excellent one’s talent was, the cultivation would still be in vain. There were many such examples at Daoxuan Peak.

Next, Zeng Wangbei, following his intuition, recounted to Chen Jingzhai some information about the other nine people from Daoxuan Peak. Sun Changrong and Li Yifei’s names were on this impressive list.

These two were considered the hottest characters in recent years at Daoxuan Peak. Sun Changrong was in the Advanced Foundation Plane, and Li Yifei was in the Intermediate Foundation Plane. However, Li Yifei was considered the strongest among his peers in combat.

It was worth noting that these nine people were all elder disciples, and they, too, had to address Chen Jingzhai as Master-Uncle. Perhaps this was why they were the most dissatisfied with Chen Jingzhai.

“I’m not so worried about people,” Chen Jingzhai said. “What is the secret zone like?”

“That, no one can really say for sure,” Zeng Wangbei replied. “No one knows for sure the situation inside the secret zone that appeared for the first time. There may be monsters, ghosts, and spirits, or maybe there is no danger whatsoever.”

“Have you taken on similar missions after you joined the clan?” Chen Jingzhai continued to ask.

“I have taken it on twice, but they are either remnants of cave residences of time past or something like a battlefield,” said Zeng Wangbei. “Our celestial clan occupies the Luanyun Mountain Range exclusively, and there are an endless number of secret zones. Some even require the master to seal them with formations, and some will slowly open up to disciples in the Meditation Plane.”

“Oh? There are secret zones that are available to disciples in the Meditation Plane!” Chen Jingzhai said with some surprise.

“We can’t just let them sit and do nothing,” Zeng Wangbei said with a smile. “More than 20 peaks belonged to the clan, all of which are affiliated with each branch. There are so many disciples to support, so the secret zones have to be opened up. Some secret zones contain very rich resources, and to them, it is also considered something of a trial.”

There were many kinds of secret zones, and different standards had different types of secret zones.

There were secret zones that were formed naturally and secret zones that were formed not so naturally.

There were secret zones that were small, secret zones that were mid-sized, secret zones that were quite large, and then there were the Blessed Lands.

Secret zones of remnants, secret zones of battlefields, secret zones of ghosts and spirits, secret zones of monsters, and secret zones of elixir.

The Luo Sheng Sword School owned Luanyun Mountain Range exclusively and was in charge of hundreds of secret zones, large and small.

Among them, some smaller secret zones would be specially used to cultivate disciples in the Meditation Plane

Among these secret zones, there were ferocious beasts and elixirs, all of which rarely exceeded Grade 2 in rank.

However, if one’s cultivation reached beyond Level 9 of the Meditation Plane, they could accept missions and enter the secret zone.

They could be searching for medicinal plants, hunting down ferocious beasts, or finding spiritual plants.

There were different missions, and the rewards varied accordingly.

It was the first time that Chen Jingzhai learned about the mechanism of disciple training at the Luo Sheng Sword School.

He was listening very intently.

He had been wondering why there were so few disciples from the celestial clan in the autobiography of Hermit Guangmiao.

As it turned out, that celestial clan had secret zones of its own, which were enough to train its own disciples.

All the disciples were trained in the secret zones and continuously elevated their cultivation.

After successfully building the foundation, they may be accepted by Golden Core Elders or deacons.

Or they may create cave residences, continue on missions, and cultivate on their own.

“Disciples of the Meditation Plane are mostly in the secret zones, but disciples of the Foundation Establishment Plane are not,” Zeng Wangbei explained. “Disciples of the main branches, like us, must complete the missions issued by the clan. Then, foundational cultivators will begin to go out into the world, slaying and exorcising demons, or defending the path and saving souls, and so forth.”

“In other words, to accumulate hard skills!” Chen Jingzhai nodded with understanding.

At the level of the Foundation Plane, it was impossible to form the core through simple cultivation; it was necessary to accumulate hard skills.

The accumulation of hard skills was just terminology. In reality, it was to temper one’s own thoughts in the mortal world.

To purify one’s own mind as much as possible.

It was just that most of the disciples of the celestial clan were out there slaying demons and eliminating monsters. Hence, the term hard skills came about.

The more demons they had slain, the more evident their understanding of the self and the ability to reach the Core Plane.

This was roughly the process. Chen Jingzhai would not know the rest until later.

“That’s right.” Zeng Wangbei nodded. “Most disciples of Daoxuan Peak will only venture out after successfully reaching the Foundation Plane. However, if there are missions assigned by the clan, I will participate, such as the Ascension Fair a month ago.”

“I forgot about that. You were there to pick up the aspirant cultivators!” Chen Jingzhai said with a smile.

“Exactly.” Zeng Wangbei smiled. “Except White Cloud City, the aspirant cultivators from the other three major cities were taken by my senior brothers and me from Golden Jade Sword Branch.”

Three of White Cloud City’s celestial bone aspirant cultivators had already been accepted by the Luo Sheng Sword School, plus two others with two-element spirit roots.

It was not an overstatement that they had taken quite an advantage.

Now, the Aspirant Cultivators Academy of White Cloud City was unable to provide aspirant cultivators, and the rest of the celestial clans had to deal with the shortage.

Therefore, this time, the allotment for the Luo Sheng Sword School was reduced by half.

This time around, it should have been Sage Lu of Golden Jade Sword Branch who led the team there.

But because Sage Lu was in retreat, there was no other suitable sage in the peak for the mission.

Therefore, this mission was announced by the clan, and Zeng Wangbei grabbed it.

At the time, Chen Jingzhai was still in retreat for alchemy, so he didn’t know of it.

When he got out of the retreat, Hong Yu went to sell the elixirs at Deacon Hall and heard the news. Subsequently, she came back and relayed the news to Chen Jingzhai.

“The number of aspirant cultivators selected every year by Pulao Kingdom is between 500 and 3,000.

“In a good year, it could exceed 5,000.

“After distributing to various celestial clans, large and small, each would receive less than 200 people.

“This year is the worst. We’ve only received 32 that were qualified,” Zeng Wangbei said soberly.

None of these 32 were that talented. They were all with three-element spirit roots.

Even so, there were still other celestial clans who were highly dissatisfied, feeling that the Luo Sheng Sword School had taken an unfair advantage.

But there was nothing they could do because this was the way the rules were. It was the aspirant cultivators who chose the clans themselves!