The Peak Lord's fingers closed lightly around Lin's hand
cool as jade chilled by mountain frost, steady as peaks that had weathered celestial wars.
"Do not let nervousness take root,"
she murmured, her voice a silken thread weaving through the dying thunder of cheers.Lin summoned a smile,
though rogue sparks of Qi danced beneath his skin like fireflies trapped in meridians under siege. "Nervousness implies familiarity, Peak Lord.
I feel… uncharted currents. Emotions without names, racing like sparks through void."Her gaze softened fractionally, lips curving with the veiled amusement of one who had seen a thousand such fledglings tremble before glory.
Wordless, they ascended the stage together—robes of sect silk hissing against jade-hewn steps, each footfall a measured defiance of the vertigo induced by ten thousand staring souls.
The air thickened with expectation, heavy as incense smoke coiling toward indifferent heavens.The two men observed from their thrones.
Their eyes were not eyes, but twin abysses—obsidian voids appraising Lin with the merciless precision of spirit appraisers dissecting flawed spirit stones.
Gazes traced his robe's embroidery, the faint tremor in his stance, the invisible threads of his anomalous aura. Smirks synchronized on their lips:
thin, predatory veneers polished by centuries of sect intrigues, promising judgment veiled as courtesy.
Then, as one, they averted—dismissing him like a curiosity already weighed and found… intriguing.Lin stood unmoved.
Silence became his first true technique: impenetrable, revealing nothing.Time stretched like taffy pulled by unseen immortals.
Curiosity burned hotter than his dantian. He leaned closer, voice low. "Peak Lord… what unfolds in this ceremony?
"Her response: silence absolute. A glance forward, eyes like still ponds reflecting unspoken lessons.
Knowledge comes unbidden to those who wait. .Lin accepted the rebuke. Swallowed further questions.
Let thoughts ferment in the privacy of his mind.
The wind surrendered.
The world exhaled as one.
Silence descended—a profound void,
thick as the pause before cosmic calamity, smothering the murmurs of tens of thousands into nothingness.
Then sound invaded.Not sound, but manifestation.
Storm clouds birthed themselves from clear night sky—unnatural vortices swirling with deliberate malice, edges crackling with restrained thunder.
Within their heart, a woman's form coalesced—robe not of silk or spirit weave, but living air itself, rippling unbound by gravity's petty chains, flowing like the breath of forgotten gods.
Beauty clashed with Peak lord like twin celestial swords: hair an abyss so black it devoured moonlight, cascading in waves that mocked the void between stars;
eyes tempered sharper than heaven-forged blades, keen enough to shame tempered spirit steel into submission.Lin's thoughts blanked
. One certainty crystallized amid the awe
.Sect Leader.
Her descent was no mere arrival—it was sovereignty incarnate. Each languid motion an imperial edict carved from the fabric of reality.
Aura descended first: a gravitational tide from eclipsed stars, bending knees and shattering resolve before flesh registered presence.Peak Lords prostrated—foreheads kissing jade without hesitation.
Elders followed, beards trailing like frozen waterfalls. Disciples en masse collapsed, sect hierarchy enforcing instant obeisance.
Lin mirrored them, brow to unyielding stone, pulse thundering primal submission in his veins.She claimed the central throne—a monolithic jade behemoth veined with abyssal darkness, dominating the stage like fate's own unblinking seat
. Sat with the finality of epochs ending."Rise."The assembly obeyed—a tidal surge of humanity reclaiming verticality.Her gaze swept the expanse: omniscient, indifferent, lingering nowhere yet piercing every soul.
"Heed my decree. I, Sect Leader of the Nine Jade Peak Sect, Fairy Xi Yue'er, hereby commence this Grand Disciple Ceremony."
Light detonated.Colors erupted skyward in symphonic fury: crimson dragons coiling through azure phoenix wings
, golden lotuses unfurling petals amid emerald tempests, violet serpents devouring sapphire storms,
silver kirins trampling obsidian waves—all woven not from vulgar powder, but pure realm essences,
Qi symphonies conducted live by celestial intent.
The night sky became canvas, heavens a gallery. Cheers reignited—earth-shaking, bone-rattling, a roar to crack mountains.
Peak Lords and their chosen prodigies advanced toward the throne.
Arrayed as vassals before an eclipsing sovereign, auras dimmed in her shadow.Xi Yue'er's voice sliced the tumult like a guillotine through silk:
"Official disciple recruitment announcements commence
."Lin's moment arrived first.Peak lord guided him to stage center.
Qi lanterns converged—spotlights of divine scrutiny focusing like the eyes of judging immortals. Thousands leaned forward, collective breath a held storm.She raised her palm. Lin ascended—not hurled, but cradled in gentle Qi currents, robe billowing like nascent phoenix wings unfurling for first flight.
"I, Peak Lord of Dove Peak, Fairy Han Luan'er,
formally claim this child as my personal disciple under heaven and sect law."Names seared into Lin's soul—not mere phonemes, but adamantine chains of duty, banners demanding rivers of blood and pyramids of glory.
Joy flickered deep—not for lexical trivia, but for futures forged in fire he now carried.
Wild Boar Peak Lord lumbered forth, bulk belying Qi ferocity.
"I, Peak Lord of Wild Boar Peak, Ji Kong, seize this child under my eternal banner."Second prodigy rocketed upward—brute Qi yank masked in ritual poise, boar savagery leashed for ceremony.
Dolphin Peak Lord glided next, movements liquid grace.
"I, Peak Lord of Dolphin Peak, Dijun, bind this child as disciple eternal."Third floated sea-smooth—undulating currents, oceanic dominion incarnate.
Three prodigies hovered mid-air, silhouettes etched against riotous sky-colors.Flesh was irrelevant.
They were symbols.
New generation manifest in child-flesh—peaks incarnate, futures wagered on frames too fragile for such weights
.Descent synchronized precisely
. Tradition's climax approached: one wish granted each—sect honey laced with velvet debt-traps, boons that bound tighter than oaths.
The crowd tensed into perfect silence.Choices loomed like executioner's blades.
What would the anomaly wish?