A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

On a clearing at Cangsong Cliff, Steward Liu, dressed in black, sat quietly cross-legged.

Ten feet away from him sat more than thirty children who had finished their assessments. They were all flushed and breathless, but their eyes were filled with excitement.

These people have undoubtedly passed the assessment and are quietly waiting for it to end.

As the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Deacon Liu opened his tightly closed eyes.

"Time's up, this assessment is over."

After speaking, he stood up and gestured to the few Qingzhu Sect disciples standing silently behind him.

"You all go down the mountain to guide those who have not yet finished. Once everyone is here, I will announce the results."

"Yes, sir!"

Several disciples of the Green Bamboo Sect bowed and nimbly rushed down the Cangsong Cliff, disappearing from everyone's sight in an instant.

Everyone watched their swift movements and light steps, and they all exclaimed in sincere admiration.

The bamboo forest, which seemed like an insurmountable barrier to them, was traversed by the other party as if it were flat ground. They couldn't help but be captivated and their anticipation for future martial arts training grew even stronger.

Zhou Ping struggled to climb the last step and had just appeared on the platform of Cangsong Cliff when he saw several figures sweep past his head and rush towards the bamboo forest behind him like the wind.

He paused for a moment, then dragged his tired body to the crowd on the platform.

"The time has passed; those who come later, stand on the other side."

Deacon Liu didn't even glance at Zhou Ping, and coldly gave the instructions.

Zhou Ping walked dejectedly to the spot he was directed to and stood silently.

He ultimately failed to make it in time, though by only a little bit of time. But from Deacon Liu's words, he already knew the outcome without a doubt.

Zhou Ping secretly touched the pocket on his chest, feeling slightly relieved. He hoped that thing would work...

Time passed slowly, and people climbed the cliff one after another. At the signal of the others, they all stood in the spot where Zhou Ping was.

More and more people gathered on the pine cliff, but their expressions were quite different.

Some people were beaming with joy and couldn't contain their excitement, while others were dejected and looked like they had lost their souls.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a hundred or so people had gathered on the platform.

The last disciple of the Green Bamboo Sect returned to the Azure Pine Cliff, dragging a fat man with him.

Zhou Ping glanced around and spotted Chen Dafu, who had been left behind by the others.

"Inform the steward that this is the last person who has a chance to reach the top of the test. The rest have been arranged to return via the same route."

Deacon Liu nodded slightly, a hint of satisfaction appearing on his usually cold face.

"Thirty-six people will pass this assessment and become formal disciples of our sect. They will be assigned to various halls by the Trial Pavilion."

"There are also eighty-one others who, although they did not complete the assessment on time, have good character and can remain at Hsinchu Academy as outer disciples. Those who perform exceptionally well in future cultivation assessments will be able to enter the inner sect and become formal disciples!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a deafening cheer erupted from the huge platform.

The loudest voices undoubtedly came from the thirty-six people who had become formal disciples, but cheers of surprise also erupted from the crowd on the other side.

They hadn't expected that the Green Bamboo Sect would accept so many outer disciples at the same time.

In the past, apart from the formal disciples, only a very few outstanding failures could be exceptionally accepted as outer disciples.

Unlike this time, a total of eighty-one people were all admitted to the outer sect!

Just as everyone was cheering, a chubby figure struggled to squeeze out from the crowd.

Zhou Ping turned his head and saw Chen Dafu, who had caught his breath. When Chen Dafu saw Zhou Ping, he greeted him with a smile and then walked towards Steward Liu amidst the puzzled looks of the crowd.

"I hereby inform Deacon Liu that your disciple, Chen Dafu, has something to present to you. Please examine it!"

Chen Dafu took out a gleaming golden token from his pocket and respectfully handed it to Steward Liu.

"Oh?"

For the first time, a look of surprise appeared on Deacon Liu's usually impassive face upon seeing this item.

"Golden Bamboo Order!"

He took the token from Chen Dafu, examined it carefully for a while, and after confirming that it was indeed true, a kind expression appeared on his face.

"Chen Dafu... Chen... are you from the Chen family of Tianyan Town? What is your relationship with Chairman Chen?"

"It is indeed my father."

Chen Dafu answered respectfully once again.

After listening, Deacon Liu nodded with a look of realization, his expression becoming even more amiable.

He reached out and patted Chen Dafu on the shoulder, gesturing for him to stand on the other side, where the thirty-six formal disciples were.

Then, he announced loudly, "Chen Dafu, holding the Golden Bamboo Token, has been directly promoted from an outer disciple to a formal disciple!"

It turns out that the Golden Bamboo Token is an extremely precious token within the Green Bamboo Sect. Only those in high positions of power or who have made great contributions to the sect can obtain one.

Its purpose is to allow some peripheral disciples of the Green Bamboo Sect to be directly promoted to formal inner disciples without taking any tests.

Chen Dafu excitedly moved into the ranks of the formal disciples, eliciting gasps from those present, and many outer disciples looked on with envy.

Zhou Ping stood in the crowd, secretly observing everything, and reached into his pocket.

I never expected the Golden Bamboo Token to be so useful. I wonder how the Green Bamboo Token is?

Just as he was about to take it out, dozens of children squeezed through the crowd behind him, each holding a token exactly like his.

"I hereby inform Deacon Liu that I also have a token; please examine it!"

"Me too, I have some here!"

......

Dozens of people were shouting and scrambling to hand their tokens to Steward Liu, creating quite a scene.

Deacon Liu glanced at everyone expressionlessly, and when he saw that they were all being offered Green Bamboo Tokens, his brows furrowed slightly.

"These are all Green Bamboo Tokens of our sect. The function of these tokens is similar to that of the Golden Bamboo Tokens."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with surprise, but what Deacon Liu said next caused their spirits to plummet from the heights of joy to the depths of despair.

"The purpose of the Green Bamboo Token is to accept menial servants or non-sect members into the outer sect as disciples, breaking the usual rules."

"You have now become outer disciples, so... this order is no longer of any use."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned, their pale faces even showing a hint of disbelief.

The Green Bamboo Token, which their family had gone to great lengths to obtain for them, turned out to be completely useless in this assessment!

Some people found it hard to accept this result; some families even sold their pots and pans and exhausted their savings to obtain a token.

Originally, I thought this would give me confidence and help my child get a good background in the Green Bamboo Sect.

Who would have thought that it would all be for naught, like trying to draw water with a bamboo basket!

This included Zhou Ping's father, Zhou the blacksmith, who finally understood why his father had marveled at how easily the order could be obtained.

The manager of the weapon pavilion of the Green Bamboo Gate, Zhao San and his gang, actually took advantage of the intelligence gap to deceive and swindle money!

Deacon Liu's reaction showed that he understood the key point, but it was not hard to see from his indifferent words that the higher-ups of the Green Bamboo Sect tacitly approved of it.

Deacon Liu ignored them and gestured for everyone to follow the disciples of the sect and descend the mountain in an orderly manner.

Zhou Ping walked through the crowd with a gloomy expression, his palm tightly clutching the Green Bamboo Token that his father had gone to great lengths to obtain for him.

Because of the excessive force, his finger joints became abnormally pale due to poor blood flow.

This event had a profound impact on young Zhou Ping, and the once lofty image of the Green Bamboo Sect began to darken deep within his heart...