Demon Sword Sect's Undercover-Chapter 497 - 496 True Disciple

In the Quanzhen Sect of the Shan Sect, the process of nominating True Disciples is extremely complicated, and it isn’t entirely determined by combat power alone.

Since the goal is to break the Heaven and Earth Chains on Jinxiu Continent after undergoing Nascent Transformation, it means that the focus is on the future. However, how one should focus on the future has been an unresolved historical issue ever since the advent of humanity, regardless of Mortal Cultivation.

A face suggesting immense fortune? Exceptional bone structure?

Without any justifiable reasons, it’s not possible to convince everyone. On this point, not only the Shan Sect but indeed all Daoist traditions face a difficult problem, fraught with controversy, contradictions, and even underhanded dealings, including private exchanges of benefits.

A rather common practice is to initially establish nine True Disciples, and then reassess them every ten years. The evaluation spans various aspects, such as potential, understanding of the Great Dao, unique features of the Cultivation Techniques, contributions to the Sect, influence, combat power, and so forth, covering nearly all aspects of cultivation.

Among these, only combat power is a definite standard, because it can be resolved through combat, leaving no room for pretense; but as for the other aspects, well, that’s another story.

How do you measure potential? Understanding of the Great Dao doesn’t have a definitive answer, contributions are full of subjective judgments, and what’s the measure for influence?

But one thing is very real—those who manipulate the evaluations are the Nascent Transformation Great Cultivators from various factions within the Daoist tradition. In such a situation, having a good background and connections becomes very important.

The Quanzhen Sect of the Shan Sect is still considered relatively fair in these respects among the various Daoist factions on the Continent. In some traditions, the selection of True Disciples simply becomes a place overrun by personal desires, greatly breeding resentment.

Over a thousand years, the selection of True Disciples has formed its own set of criteria. Firstly, combat power is a must; otherwise, you won’t even be able to face others’ challenges. At any event, there will always be those with ulterior motives ready to do harm. Such a joke would be too big.

Therefore, the combat powers of True Disciples are indeed the most outstanding within the tradition. But there are certainly more than nine such individuals, leading to endless strife and the introduction of many factors that can be artificially controlled.

For example, in the Quanzhen Sect, the nine True Disciples of the Tongtian Realm indeed possess formidable strength, but there are also Sword Cultivators with similar abilities. Why they are the ones sitting in those slots, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that we can’t see.

Hou Niao didn’t feel the impact of this when his Realm wasn’t high, but once he reached the Natural Realm, it became an unavoidable hurdle.

Who would willingly hand over such an opportunity?

The last favor of Heavenly Dao was thirty years ago, which means Hou Niao had only three chances to ascend. It sounds like plenty of opportunities, but in reality, he had already been a bit late in taking action.

"Husband," Bai Qingqian took his hand, "in the history of over a thousand years on Jinxiu Continent, so many Cultivators who received the favor of Heavenly Dao have not managed to change anything, even after achieving Nascent Transformation, nor have they broken the Heaven and Earth Chains. This shows, shows that perhaps rumors can’t always be trusted?

To enjoy success and be content in loss—struggles within the Sect can be no less dangerous than the threats outside, sometimes even more insidious, so perhaps there’s no need to be too fixated on this, right?" she said with genuine concern. Hou Niao was currently in a glorious position, partly because he had the backing of this Daoist tradition. With already many enemies, if he were to engage in a life-and-death struggle within the Sect now, considering Hou Niao’s almost blank background, the outcome might not be favorable.

But Fang Yazi’s view was completely different, "Heaven sends Spiritual Green, and those with virtue dwell in it! Why should it be yielded to those incompetent fools? If they were really pulled out into the open to fight, with Brother’s strength, he could wipe them all out!

Won’t give way? Then kill them! If an open assassination isn’t appropriate, then do it secretly. I’m an expert at this. Thirty years, enough for me to make sure none of them dare claim to be True Disciples unless they hide in rat holes every day!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Hou Niao put a stop to Fang Yazi’s rant. He knew the young man didn’t just think this way; if he gave the nod, Yazi would truly dare to act on it, so it was crucial to send him a clear message.

"As for how to obtain the status of a True Disciple, I have my own methods. There’s no need for you to worry. Just do your own things, and don’t cause me any trouble."

...News from the sea made its way back to Mirage City, fermenting and spreading. At least within the Tongtian Realm Cultivation circle near the Lizhi Sea, his name had become a forbidden presence; very few knew that the serene and low-profile Sikong Mansion was his stronghold, and those few who did know didn’t dare to come disturb him easily.

During this time, the Dugu sisters returned on their boat and visited several times, with Bai Qingqian taking charge of receiving them, excusing that Hou Niao had other matters and wasn’t in the Mansion. It wasn’t because he feared anything, but rather he didn’t want to affect the sisters’ standing in Prince Manor because of his own reasons.

Living under someone else’s roof always brought too many helplessnesses—he could understand.

Eventually, unwilling to part, the sisters left without seeing the Hou Niao who once dominated the Outer Sea again.

Two months later, a decree from the Sikong Mansion in Yu City summoned him to return immediately and resume his duties;

Without informing anyone, he thoroughly cleaned and maintained his home, oiled everything, and then set off on his return journey.

Flying in the sky, the sea breeze was filled with a strong fishy smell. From initially being somewhat unaccustomed to it, he now felt somewhat reluctant to leave. Once he left, when would he be able to return?

When in Jianghu, one cannot help oneself.

Half a month later, in the Sikong Mansion in Yu City, Judge Cheng glanced at the travel-worn Hou Niao and didn’t bother with much courtesy,

"You’ve handled the situation in the Lizhi Sea well, and the Mansion has recorded a Special Merit for you, kept at the bottom of the file for future evaluation purposes." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

The Sikong Mansion has its own merit-recording system: Extraordinary Merit, Special Merit, Great Merit, Normal Merit, and Minor Merit—five levels in total. Of course, the specific merit recorded still involves some subjective judgment, and it’s not just up to Judge Cheng alone.

Extraordinary Merit and Special Merit require the decision of two Mansion Masters, whereas a jury committee of Golden Core Cultivators deliberates the three lower levels of merit. His achievements in the Lizhi Sea, such as defending the sea efficiently and seizing territory originally not under the Shan Sect, immensely boosting morale and suppressing the rival Wu Sect, demanding Great Merit was a bit harsh, but Special Merit seemed a bit of a stretch, so overall, it wasn’t too unfair to him.

About the size of the merit, subjective judgment plays too big a role to claim absolute fairness.

It sounds pretty good, but when considering that establishing a Great Merit took him over a decade, it seemed a bit too protracted. It wasn’t his fault, after all—it was due to the limited number of missions he undertook.

Judge Cheng cut straight to the point, "The rush to call you back isn’t because we want to pull the rug out from under a hero, or that we distrust a meritorious official. In fact, the Lizhi Sea is still quite unstable, and normally you would need to be stationed there for another three to five years for it to be considered proper.

However, the Sikong Mansion currently has an urgent matter and can’t find a suitable person to handle it. Your temperament and methods are both excellent; you rank well among the Mansion. That’s why we called you back, and I hope you won’t dwell on it too much."