Chapter 65
The recruitment group and the five newly joined had just arrived outside the mist under Elder Li's guidance. The four girls were amazed by the beautiful sight in front of them. They saw a giant mountain, surrounded by multiple smaller mountains. Each of these mountains had different buildings and fields of nature. There were also many buildings on the misty mountain, on which six giant platforms were built. There was also a valley with a forest located below the misty mountain, which according to Elder Li was the territory of the sect protector, which was a beast emperor that used to be the mount of the palace's last grand elder who had ascended this world.
Xiao Lun was flying behind Jiang Mang and looking in the valley's direction with interest, while Xiao Liu remained asleep on Jiang Mang's shoulder with its tails curled up.
Jiang Mang was unable to see the scenery in front of him but was impressed by the spiritual energy in the air that ten times denser than on the Xuan Continent's imperial palace, which had the continent's richest spiritual vein.
The recruitment group split immediately up, while Elder Li guided the four girls and Jiang Mang and his two saint beasts towards the second platform on the misty mountain. Here was the main hall of the Zither palace located, that handled all the matters of palace members. Here would new disciples gain their identity medallion and information jade slip, while also being the place where inner palace disciples would be assigned a suitable elder as their master.
When the group arrives at the main hall, they headed toward the administration office, where an elder was waiting for them. The elder welcomed them, before addressing Elder Li. He asked her about the recruitment, which she described from the beginning to the end. The elder was calm at first, as there would commonly only be around four to six new disciples every decade, while a person who scored more than six points only appears every thirty to fifty years. He became shocked, however, when she ended her explanation with Jiang Mang's score of ten points, which made the elder turn his gaze towards Jiang Mang, who could feel it but remained calm.
Jiang Mang was never proud of his scores, as they were only tests that showed his potential, as it was ultimately strength that ruled this world.
Jiang Mang's calm posture was approved by the elder, as many geniuses were prone to being arrogant and condescending. The elder then shifted his attention to the four girls, who were nervous and shy. Elder Li then parted with the group and left them into this elder's care.
The elder introduced himself as Elder Ji, who was responsible for the whole admission office. He started by recording each of their identities and creating their identity medallions. He then asked each person's abilities, mastered techniques, comprehended intents, and eventual interests. He also personally checked everyone's profound spirit.
He immediately assigned the four girls to four different masters, but he was troubled by Jiang Mang as he was talented in many different areas and also deserved an excellent elder as his master to complement his potential. He was eventually unable to assign him a master and send a message to the vice-palace master to explain his predicament.
The elder remained unanswered for an entire hour, but Jiang Mang just waited while passing the time interacting with Xiao Lu and Xiao Liu. This behavior impressed the elder, who remained silent and didn't offer an explanation to the boy. The vice-palace master eventually replied to him, that he had asked all the available elders to gather at the admission office and let them decide amongst themselves.
This made the elder feel helpless as he predicted that those elders would probably start a fight amongst themselves for this boy. He wouldn't even be surprised if the vice-palace master would have taken him as a disciple.
Elder Ji then explained to Jiang Mang the current circumstances, which made Jiang Mang laugh as he didn't expect such a thing to happen the first day he arrived at the Zither palace.
A while later, a host of men and women ranging from middle-aged to old started entering the admission office. They all greeted elder Ji but most paid attention to Jiang Mang. A total of twenty-three elders had shown up.
They started loudly discussing that he would become their disciple, and it started becoming rowdy until elder Ji pacified them by letting Jiang Mang chose after they have made a case for themselves.
Jiang Mang started paying attention to the elders, who took their turns trying to convince him. Three elders suited him the most. The first was the oldest elder in the palace, elder Yu, who specialized in illusions and the wood element through his flute profound spirit.
The second was elder Xia, who has comprehended multiple minor daos. He specialized in close combat techniques and assassination through unique means.
The last was a female elder surnamed Mu, who purely focused on the dao of music and the dao of emotions. She was the elder with the highest mastery in the zither and her zither was of the darkness attribute, which would allow her to guide Jiang Mang with his death zither.
Jiang Mang was contemplating between these three elders when a young-looking couple entered the office. All the elders greeted the man as little Jiu or elder Jiu, while they called the female as little Zhu or elder Zhu.
Jiang Mang greeted the couple as a junior would his elders, and the couple acknowledged him. Elder Jiu introduced himself and his wife and their willingness to take him as a disciple under both of them.
This shocked all of the elders present as Elder Jiu and his wife were the youngest elders in the palace. They both lived inside the valley, which was the territory of the sect protector. They had no disciples despite having been elders for twenty years, which was quite unusual among elders, but the other elders could understand as Elder Jiu used to be the holy son of the Zither palace. He had, however, been wounded twenty years ago and received a heart demon, which resulted in him becoming an elder and secluding himself for the last two decades.
Elder Xia, on the other hand, used to be the strongest core disciple of the holy maiden sect but fell in love with elder jiu and left the Holy maiden sect and joined the Zither palace.
Chapter 33:
Jiang Mang didn't know this and thus remained calm, but was unable to respond, as he didn't know if it would be a good idea to become their disciple or not. This problem was, however, solved by the other elders as they gave up on Jiang Mang and allowed him to become the couple's disciple. This puzzled Jiang Mang, but elder Ji reassured him that they would be excellent masters.
Jiang Mang was fast on the uptake and greeted his masters as master Jiu and master Zhu. This pleased the couple, who took Jiang Mang and his two beast companions towards the valley.
Everyone remained silent along the trip until they arrived inside the valley at a small cabin that could house two people. The couple started introducing themselves. Elder Zhu was the first:
"Jiang Mang, you are now my and Chen's disciple, and we promise to teach and guide you to our full capacity. You will accompany us in this valley, which is grandpa Fang's territory. He is the sect protector but allows us to reside here. You are allowed to move anywhere inside the valley, except for the cave where grandpa Fang stays in seclusion."
Elder Jiu took then over with the following words:
"I would like you to show us all of your abilities, techniques, intents, and profound spirit so that we know what your cultivation is like."
Jiang Mang acknowledged and started displaying all of his intents, techniques, and his two profound spirits. He only kept his bloodline a secret to the couple and even mentioned his inner view. This was the only thing that surprised them as they had seen many geniuses in their powers and generation. They had even fought against some of them.
Elder Zhu also used her divine sense to check his physical body and soul. She was pleasantly surprised by his soul strength that was five times stronger than his peers. She started talking again: " Xiao Mang, this will be the way I will call you as you are our disciple. You can be called a genius due to having comprehended two perfected intents and four intents at great accomplishment despite your age and cultivation realm. Your blindness is unfortunate, but your other senses and inner view make up for it, while it will become obsolete when you reach the King realm and open up your divine sea. You have also tempered your physical body to an extreme degree and have a powerful soul."
She then paused before continuing: " I am a peak formation master and specialize in using charm techniques. I will teach you on formations as you are gifted for this profession due to your soul strength, while I will also help you perfect your charm techniques as they are lagging behind your illusion mastery despite being equally talented in them. Chen is among the three strongest elders, while I am the highest-ranking formation master and am only below grandpa Feng, who is the only formation grandmaster in the palace "
Elder Jiu then took over from his wife. He said: " Ming, that is enough. Xiao Mang will learn those things with time." He then faced Jiang Mang and spoke: " Xiao Mang, I am as Ming described among the three strongest elders, but I will never help you inside the palace when it involves inner or core disciples' matters. This means that I will guide and teach you, and protect you inside this valley, but will not pamper you and allow you to use my status to bully others."
Jiang Mang acknowledged these words and was feeling warm inside as they were treating him more like a son. Elder Jiu continued: "It is good that you understand Xiao Mang. I will teach you my mastery over the zither and the dao of sound, while also guiding you on illusions.
I walk the dao of sound and minor in the dao of illusions and the dao of the sword.
Both of your masters, don't specialize in hidden weapons, poison, and elemental techniques, which you will have to train yourself by using sect merits to exchange techniques and guides. I and Ming are also willing to teach you the dao of the sword and hand to hand combat, but that choice is up to you."
Jiang Mang was happy with his masters and answered the following words: "I will then follow master Zhu to learn formations and charm techniques, and will follow master Jiu to learn the dao of sound and dao of illusions. I also would like to learn the dao of the sword, due to my sword affinity. At last, I would like to polish my movement and hand to hand combat under your guidance, while polishing my hidden weapon mastery, poisons, and elemental techniques during my own free time."
He had decided to specialize in using his instruments to attack and conjure illusions, while also specializing in charm techniques. He would then minor in close combat with both a sword and hand to hand combat. While keeping his hidden weapons, poisons, and elemental techniques for assassination and support. While learning the formation master occupation.
His two masters supported his way of thinking and would alter or change his training depending on the results of his training. They then dismissed him and ordered him to build his dwelling in the valley and return the next day to start training under Zhu Ming.
He started strolling through the valley with Xiao Lu and Xiao Liu. The two beasts quickly found a hill, which Xiao Liu clawed out to form a cultivation cave. The night was approaching, and Jiang Mang was making himself comfortable. He was happy with his circumstances and looking forward to his training the next day. He was about to start meditating and cultivate through the night when a person had suddenly entered his cave. It was an old man with white hair but sharp eyes. The old man scrutinized both beasts and Jiang Mang, before saying the following words: " A young boy who has a pureblooded nine-tailed fox's bloodline, a six-tailed fox with an awakened ancestral heritage and the descendant of the Bi Fang bird."