Immortal Soaring Blade

After several months, Zhao Jiuge was still calmly sitting inside the pool and absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.

On the side, Fu Hongling stood there, waiting for Zhao Jiuge to finish cultivating. She had come half a month ago because the exchange between the old and the new was about to happen. All the disciples would gather at the Mysterious Heaven Temple, and she had come to pick Zhao Jiuge up.

At this moment, Fu Hongling had helplessness in her eyes. As the Chief Head Disciple of the sect, she was reduced to running errands. However, no matter what, she would have to disrupt Zhao Jiuge’s cultivation because the exchange between the old and the new was today.

The Thousand Year Chilling Ice Pool was now an ordinary pool of water. It was very different from when they first entered. The spirit force inside it was so thin that it was negligible.

During the several months Zhao Jiuge spent absorbing the spirit force here, his understanding of the third layer of the sword art, Star Moon, had improved drastically. Combined with the spell Master Moon had taught him, he had gained a unique insight on the third layer.

The biggest progress Zhao Jiuge made was in his cultivation. He had reached the mid stage of the Spirit Core Realm.

His grade-8 spirit core had completely lost all color and only released a dim glow, but it felt even more sturdy. The spirit force it gave off was simply tyrannical. Zhao Jiuge could be said to be the strongest in his realm. The more he cultivated, the more the benefits of a grade-8 spirit core revealed themselves.

He revealed a satisfied smile and opened his eyes. When he stretched his arms, he saw Fu Hongling and was startled.

“Senior Sister, why are you silently standing there? You scared me to death.” Zhao Jiuge quickly got up and walked toward Fu Hongling.

Fu Hongling rolled her eyes and said in an annoyed tone, “Hmph, why don’t you look at the time? If you hadn’t finished now, I was going to interrupt you.”

Fu Hongling angrily said, “Let’s go, today is an important day. I have almost become a dedicated servant to you.”

Zhao Jiuge just chuckled and didn’t speak. He thought about how his senior sister had come to pick him up twice, and she waited a long time for him both times. Even Zhao Jiuge felt embarrassed by this.

After leaving the pool that had become like an ordinary pool of water, Zhao Jiuge looked back. He had absorbed almost all the spiritual energy inside. He had cultivated here for several months and was about to leave.

After taking a deep look at the cave, Zhao Jiuge walked out of it without looking back with Fu Hongling.

In the air, Fu Hongling controlled her Heavenly Phoenix Sword while carrying Zhao Jiuge.

“Not bad. In just a few years, you have reached the mid stage of the Spirit Core Realm. It seems like your progress has become more and more obvious.” Fu Hongling looked at Zhao Jiuge with an expressionless face, but there was a flash of relief in her eyes.

Zhao Jiuge only smiled and didn’t continue this topic. Instead he asked, “Senior Sister, what exactly is going to happen during the exchange between the old and the new?”

Although Zhao Jiuge knew about the exchange between the old and the new, he didn’t know the specifics. Not only that, there was also the matter of the competition between the seven holy lands, so it would be more lively than usual.

Through the conversion from before, Zhao Jiuge seemed to understand that they wanted him to attempt the competition between the seven holy lands. He was very excited, but he didn’t know if he had the strength to compete. There were many things he didn’t understand, so he could only take it one step at a time.

“Why are you asking so much? You’ll know once you arrive.” Fu Hongling didn’t have the patience to explain and was in a rush. Presumably, too much time had been wasted on waiting for Zhao Jiuge.

When the two of them arrived at the Mysterious Heaven Temple, Zhao Jiuge was shocked by the scene before him.

He saw that the square in which he had spent a lot of time was completely crowded and was very lively, as opposed to its usual silence. Zhao Jiuge quickly looked around and thought that this was the biggest crowd he had seen since entering the sect. Even when he entered the inner sect, it wasn't comparable to today.

The square was filled with no less than 7,000 disciples wearing robes of various colors. The disciples were split between the left and right side based on age. Those that stood at the front were the direct disciples.

The Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect didn’t accept a large amount of disciples like the other holy lands, as they would rather not accept disciples than to have them rot. The whole sect only had about 20,000 people, so the 7,000 to 8,000 disciples here were a good portion of the sect. Most of the disciples had rushed back so they could see the exchange between the old and the new that happened once every 200 years. They also wanted to see who would hold the position of Head Chief Disciple.

Behind the red fence above the white jade steps were some powerful elders, Head Teacher Jian Wuxian, and the heads of the two other peaks, Du Jun and Zhang Xu.

Elder Dawn Wind, Elder Waning Moon, and Elder Pine Tree were there as well. This was the first time the three of them had attended such an event. Even without doing anything, their might suppressed everyone here.

However, what caught Zhao Jiuge’s attention were the dozen or so people standing in front of the group on the left side. Among them was his third senior brother, Wu Tianshan, who had a jade fan in his hand. Next to him were almost a dozen men and women, each with an extraordinary aura. Zhao Jiuge didn’t know many of them, but he assumed they were the people on top of the rankings. Each of them was undoubtedly the top among the older disciples.

The direct disciples that were standing in front of the group on the right side were obviously a lot weaker. Although their cultivation was weaker, their auras were not much worse.

Zhao Jiuge knew most of those people. Fang Qiwen, Zhang Pingquan, Zhou Hongyong, Leng Rufeng, Luo Bowen, Luo Xie, and Jiulian. There were a few that he didn’t recognize, but their auras were no weaker than the others, so they could not be simple either. What confused Zhao Jiuge was that he didn’t see that girl Sha Sha.

Behind the direct disciples was a sea of disciples wearing the three colors of the three peaks. Although they weren’t direct disciples, their strength couldn’t be underestimated. Some of them were as strong as the direct disciples. After all, on the path of cultivation, luck played a big role as well.

Only when Zhao Jiuge saw this did he realize how many talented people were among the disciples in the sect. Whether it was the higher-ups, the old disciples, or the new disciples, they all had their own strength. Not to mention this was only about ⅓ of the sect’s power. The more powerful disciples were all training outside.

A sense of pride surged in Zhao Jiuge’s heart. He felt proud because he belonged to the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. He felt lucky that when he was faced with the decision of choosing a sect, he had decisively chosen the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect.

Zhao Jiuge watched the scene before him in a daze. However, after they landed, Fu Hongling put away her flying sword and broke Zhao Jiuge out of his daydream.

“Don’t remain in a daze, quickly head over. Whatever happens, remember who you are.” Fu Hongling’s words confused Zhao Jiuge. She pointed toward Jiulian and then quickly left.

Seeing his senior sister walk toward his third senior brother, Zhao Jiuge was startled. He then walked toward the opposite direction, toward another group. The line between the two groups was the division between the old and the new generations.

It was already late, but everyone that should have come should have arrived. Zhao Jiuge's extra late arrival was very eye-catching. Everyone couldn’t help but look at the young man in black with a quaint, black sword on his back.

Some people didn’t know him, but some recognized Zhao Jiuge. Everyone’s gazes were different and complicated.

When Zhao Jiuge arrived, Leng Rufeng and Luo Xie l laughed, waving him over. Jiulian, who had no expression, was somewhat in a daze until she suddenly saw Zhao Jiuge. Like the dark clouds disappeared and the sky became sunny, she immediately smiled.

Today, Jiulian was wearing a blue dress. She immediately walked up, smiled, and said, “Jiuge, where have you been for the last few months? Didn’t you agree to come and find me when you had time?”

Zhao Jiuge felt a headache coming on and muffled for a while before he said, “I was dragged by my teacher to cultivate and couldn’t leave.”

Hearing this explanation, Jiulian’s teasing expression calmed down a bit. She wanted to say more when Zhao Jiuge quickly interrupted her. “We can talk later. Today, we are here for an important matter.” After he finished speaking, Zhao Jiuge gestured toward the other direction.

Jiulian didn’t think too much and quietly nodded. She stood beside Zhao Jiuge, and a burst of fragrance came from her body. Zhao Jiuge couldn’t help but think about Bai Qingqing, and he seemed to enter a trance.

Leng Rufeng and Luo Xie looked at each other. They both noticed Jiulian’s expression. It looked like the falling flower yearns for love, but the heartless brook ripples on.

As for the others, they looked over with cold gazes. Some of them contained ill intent.

In particular, Fang Qiwen’s eyes were filled with ill intent. The matter from last time was not over, and the show today had not yet begun.

Zhao Jiuge was soon interrupted by the noise around him, which broke him out of the trance. He was too lazy to observe the situation around him and began to listen to the people talking around him.

“Let’s guess who will become the Chief Head Disciple of this new generation.”

“Who knows? Once the Sword Pavilion Ranking is changed, whoever is stronger will be selected.”

“That’s not the case. You can see that Ceng Qingniu is the strongest, but it is Fu Hongling who is the Chief Head Disciple.”

“That’s right. However, it's always a direct disciple of the Mysterious Heaven Peak who takes the position. Will this time be the same?”

“They don’t have anyone this time. Wu Tianshan and Fu Hongling are over the age limit.”

“I say the situation is not certain. We can only watch the show. The Chief Head Disciple position is not simple, and I believe it will be different from before.”

“Haven’t you all noticed that even the three pillars, who haven’t appeared for hundreds of years, are all here? I believe something else will be announced today.”

The noise around Zhao Jiuge was very chaotic, with many people talking. Zhao Jiuge could only hear a few important things, and with what Fu Hongling had said earlier, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Could this matter be related to him? It seemed like the position of Chief Head Disciple was also very important.

Thinking about how many disciples and higher-ups were here, even Zhao Jiuge was a little nervous. His fingers turned pale from clenching his fists too hard. He could only wait for what was going to happen.

Soon, Jian Wuxian gently took two steps forward and the entire audience became silent. They looked toward Jian Wuxian.

As Jian Wuxian’s disciple, Zhao Jiuge became excited and stared at his teacher.