Longzang

Chapter 32 The Ancestral Master's Blessing (Part 1)

Whether or not a disciple can gain the favor of the patriarch is the most direct demonstration of their talent. However, Wei Yuan stood there for a long time, watching five or six groups of people go in, but only one person received the bestowal.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng was standing at a distance, talking to Sun Yu. According to the rules, he could only stand ten zhang away from the main hall, standing with the elders of the new disciples.

Zhang Sheng glanced at the number of new disciples and said, "There are indeed more new disciples this year."

"A total of 150 people were recruited from the seventeen states, which is less than ten per state, so it's not a lot."

“There were only eighty-four people in my year,” Zhang Sheng said.

Sun Yu said, "True Lord Yanshi advocates opening his mountain gates wide and teaching all without discrimination. In my opinion, taking in more disciples may not necessarily be a bad thing."

"hope so."

At this moment, a new batch of disciples entered, and the statue of the patriarch changed again. A ray of light flew out from the jade crown binding the patriarch's hair and entered the body of a young girl. Not far away, an old man was overjoyed and laughed loudly, "Excellent! Excellent! This bestowal is supreme! The revival of my Jiao family is in sight! Our ancestors have opened their eyes! Our ancestors have opened their eyes!"

The old man's alternating crying and laughing drew the attention of onlookers. Immediately, someone asked his companion sarcastically, "Do you know what this crown represents?"

The man replied, "Of course I don't know!"

"Although the crown is a treasure, it is neither the ancestral master's true form nor a powerful weapon like a celestial sword. This thing is like clothing, an everyday item, mainly for its exquisite craftsmanship. Generally, those who receive this gift will easily make progress in weapon crafting, treasure making, and auxiliary Dao techniques. In other words, when her fellow disciples are charging into battle, she can help out from the back, repairing magical artifacts or something."

After the man finished speaking in a sarcastic tone, the old man's face turned pale and then red, and he shouted, "Whatever it is, it's a gift from the patriarch! It's better than having nothing at all!"

The sarcastic man immediately became angry and shouted, "What did you say? My child hasn't even gone in yet, how dare you say there isn't one?"

The old man pointed to the main hall and said, "Isn't this where we go in?"

Among these children were the child of the eccentric man. However, the ancestral statue remained completely still until the worship ceremony was over. The eccentric man was both ashamed and angry, and after being repeatedly mocked by the old man, he lost face and hurriedly left.

At this moment, the Taoist priest chanted from afar: "Wei Yuan of Fengyuan County, Yongzhou; Bao Yun of Fengyuan County; Xiao Yu of Fengyuan County; ... Yan Ming of Fengyuan County."

The moment the names were read aloud, they caused a stir in the crowd.

"Why are there so many Feng Yuanjuns?"

"That's right!"

An elderly man in plain clothes suddenly stepped forward and shouted, "Our Chu Prefecture is a major prefecture in the world, yet we only have eight slots. Yong Prefecture, a remote and desolate place, has six people in just one prefecture. If you say there's no foul play, I'm the first to doubt it! Tai Chu Palace, as a celestial sect, acts so unfairly, how can it win over the people?! I refuse to accept this!"

The old man's shout immediately drew responses from many people. Even a person from Yongzhou said, "Of the nine prefectures in Yongzhou, the other eight prefectures only accepted one person in total. Why does Fengyuan Prefecture have six slots?"

The Taoist priest called for silence several times, but the commotion in the crowd grew louder and louder. The old man at the head of the group jumped up and down, crying out that his great-grandson had almost been rejected. He argued that if the Taichu Palace were truly fair, it should have allocated Feng Yuanjun's quota to Chuzhou so that his great-grandson could also enter the Taichu Palace.

Zhang Sheng looked around and saw the burly man and the old man from the Bao family. The old man's expression was wooden, as if nothing in the world could change his expression, while the burly man crossed his arms and sneered. When he saw Zhang Sheng looking over, he simply walked over and said, "Why don't you go and argue with them?"

Zhang Sheng said indifferently, "This person is here for your prestigious families, what does it have to do with me? But how can your Xiao family tolerate such arrogance?"

The burly man grinned and said, "This is a matter for the Taichu Palace. If he specifically names my Xiao family, I will take action. But I doubt he would dare." The burly man remained unmoved, while the young and inexperienced Taoist priests, who were handling the ceremony, began to panic, trying to persuade and stop him. However, the old man, seeing this, became even more agitated, demanding fairness. The young Taoist priests, sweating profusely, were at a loss, unsure how to proceed.

At this moment, a Taoist priest suddenly appeared in the square. As soon as he appeared, a huge and ferocious dragon appeared above his head. An invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire square, and everyone below the Dharma Aspect level was unable to move, which finally suppressed the chaos.

All the Taoist priests immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, True Man Teng Qiu!"

The Taoist priest coldly asked, "What's all this commotion?"

A young Taoist priest immediately recounted what had happened. Upon hearing this, the Master's expression darkened, and an invisible pressure instantly intensified. The old man stood frozen in place, as if crushed by a mountain, unable to move or speak, his face filled with panic.

Master Tengqiu rebuked, "The number of disciples each prefecture recruits is determined by the True Lords. How dare you make such a fuss! You dare to cause trouble in front of the Ancestral Master's Hall. You must be punished."

The Taoist priest reached out and grabbed, and a long whip of lightning appeared in his hand. He lashed the old man's head with the whip!
Immediately, a screen appeared above the old man's head, with a plum tree on it, in full bloom. With this lash, the screen cracked instantly, and plum blossoms fell like rain, leaving only a few in the blink of an eye. The old man, struck by the lash, immediately slumped down, his hair turning mostly white in an instant, and the wrinkles on his face deepening, making him look as if he had aged more than ten years.

Many onlookers immediately gasped. Teng Qiu Zhenren's whip had shattered much of the old man's foundation, crippling at least several decades of his cultivation.

Master Tengqiu put away the thunder whip and said, "This whip is just a small punishment. Considering that your child is young and ignorant, I will not expel him for the time being, but demote him to a nominal disciple and let him cultivate in the palace with the others, so that we can observe his future performance."

The old man was unable to speak, only coughing up blood, and was carried away by his family and disciples.

After dealing with the incident, Master Tengqiu stopped and stood in the square, watching the new disciples enter the hall to pay homage to the ancestral master.

Sun Yu suddenly sighed and said softly, "That person only wanted to fight for the opportunities of the younger generation, but he used the wrong methods and ended up ruining his own path. He originally had a sliver of hope to cultivate into a Dharma Aspect."

Someone nearby said, "These cultivators from humble backgrounds have no resources, so they have to fight for everything. They fight all the time and in all the places, and they get used to it, and now they're even fighting for the Taichu Palace. Actually, for a family like this, having a junior enter the Taichu Palace is like a fish leaping over the dragon gate. They're still not satisfied with that; they're really insatiable."

At this moment, Wei Yuan followed the guidance of the Taoist priest and entered the Ancestral Hall. In front of the Ancestral Master statue, which was tens of feet tall, both the new disciples and the Taoist priests seemed as insignificant as ants.

Guided by the Taoist priest, Wei Yuan knelt on the prayer mat before the statue of the patriarch and began to worship. After seven bows, Wei Yuan silently recited the sacrificial text. At that moment, he felt as if a gaze had descended from an infinite height, instantly seeing through him inside and out.

In an instant, Wei Yuan felt as if his consciousness had been ripped from his body and he had risen to an infinite height. The Ancestral Hall below shrank to the size of a palm. And that gaze was still looking down on Wei Yuan from an even higher place, with Wei Yuan unable to perceive where the gaze was coming from.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a little panicked. He looked around, but all he saw was empty space.

As the gaze from above fell upon him, Wei Yuan's inner energy seemed to be stimulated and began to stir. Then, Wei Yuan sensed an invisible entity appearing above, standing opposite the source of the gaze.

The invisible thing was indescribably huge, ancient, and desolate, with no end in sight. It seemed to have some connection with Wei Yuan's luck, but the feeling of this connection was extremely vague, and Wei Yuan was not sure if it was real.

At this moment, Wei Yuan's consciousness was suspended alone high up, sandwiched between two unknown entities, just like an ant standing between two mountains, which would be crushed to death without anyone noticing.

No matter how hard Wei Yuan struggled, he couldn't move. He could only watch the figures in the hall below kowtow repeatedly, as if the real world had nothing to do with him anymore.

At this moment, faint music suddenly rang out in the main hall, and a beam of light fell from the sky, illuminating the statue of the patriarch. Countless petals fell like rain from within the beam of light.

(End of this chapter)