Li Yan felt a chill run down his spine at her words. 'Little fellow? You only look like you're in your twenties.' But then he remembered that Li Wuyi, who was over seventy, still looked excessively young and handsome, like a perfect gentleman in a mundane world. He muttered to himself, 'Are all cultivators such monsters?'
"Zhi, my dear, don't scare him. Hehe, he's probably just not used to the appearance of cultivators yet. Hehe, Li Yan, your Master and Martial Mother are both over two hundred years old. Even just by age, it's not unfair for you to kowtow to your elders, is it?"
The first half of his sentence was directed at the woman in the palace dress beside him, but the second half was said to Li Yan with a soft chuckle.
Li Yan was utterly stunned. Although he had been mentally prepared, he had not expected the young man and woman sitting above him to be older than his grandfather's grandfather.
"Look at you, revealing a lady's age again," the woman in the palace dress said, seemingly gritting her teeth as she glared at the chubby young man.
The chubby young man just smiled slightly and did not answer her. "Li Yan, since you've come with Wuyi, I imagine he has already explained some things to you. The reason you were brought here was to familiarize yourself with the people on this peak and to have a simple initiation ceremony. Your master does not like all that red tape, but if we don't follow some rules, and the people from the other four peaks find out, they will inevitably use the sect's doctrines to criticize us."
Li Yan lowered his head without a word. During his apprenticeship ceremony, he heard the words "red tape" again, which were similar to words he had heard before, and a trace of resistance welled up in his heart.
Seeing that Li Yan was just staring at the ground without any reaction, the chubby young man frowned and looked at Li Wuyi. Li Wuyi was also stunned. 'Didn't we agree on this earlier? Why does this junior brother seem like he's lost his soul?'
The two men and two women sitting below also began to frown slowly, their expressions turning somewhat unfriendly.
At that moment, Li Yan looked up, scratched the back of his head, and smiled embarrassedly. "This disciple was just in a daze and was a bit impolite."
Hearing this, the chubby young man and the others nodded. They figured that for any ordinary person to be able to join the Malevolent Spirit Sect, their heart would be pounding with excitement, as if in a dream.
Li Wuyi was already holding a tray with two cups of tea. He came to Li Yan and motioned for him to get up and offer the tea. Li Yan respectfully offered a cup of tea to the chubby young man and the woman in the white palace dress beside him, then backed away and stood with his hands clasped in the middle of the hall.
The chubby young man took a sip of tea and placed the cup on the small table beside him.
"Well, from today onwards, you are the eighth disciple of my Little Bamboo Peak. Like your Seventh Senior Brother, Lin Daqiao, you are both temporarily Disciples-in-Name. I hope you reach the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible." As he spoke, he pointed at the long-armed young man below and said with a smile.
Li Yan followed his finger and saw it was the long-armed young man. He thought, 'So this person is my Seventh Senior Brother. He's also in the Qi Condensation stage, I just don't know which layer.'
Seeing his Master point at him, Lin Daqiao grinned at Li Yan. "Finally, another Disciple-in-Name. Junior Brother Li, from now on, you are the youngest junior brother, hehe." It seemed this person had felt somewhat lonely being the only one here who was not a formal disciple.
Li Yan could only nod and smile.
The chubby young man continued, "My name is Wei Zhongran. These few below are your senior brothers and sisters. You should already know your Eldest Senior Brother. The others are, in order, your Second Senior Brother, Wei Chituo; Seventh Senior Brother, Lin Daqiao; Fourth Senior Sister, Miao Wangqing; and Sixth Senior Sister, Gong Chenying." Wei Zhongran pointed in turn to the stout middle-aged man, the long-armed young man, the woman in the goose-yellow dress, and the short-haired woman with a cold expression.
The disciples all smiled and nodded at Li Yan. Lin Daqiao's smile was particularly wide. Even the cold-faced woman gave a slight nod, but her expression remained as impassive as an iceberg.
Li Yan smiled and bowed to each of them. He only knew that Lin Daqiao's cultivation was at the Qi Condensation stage. The others should all be at the Foundation Establishment stage, but as for whether they were in the early, middle, or some other stage, he had no way of telling.
After seeing everyone greet Li Yan, Wei Zhongran continued, "Hmm, your Third Senior Brother is out on a sect mission, so you won't be able to meet him this time. Your Fifth Senior Brother had an epiphany after this major competition and has gone into seclusion. You will have time to meet in the future."
After speaking, he pointed to the chairs below. "Sit down." Li Yan looked. There were two rows of chairs below, but the four of them were sitting in one row without any particular order. It was naturally inconvenient for him to sit opposite them, so he started walking towards the end of that row. He was, of course, aware of the order of seniority. But just as he turned, Li Wuyi grabbed his arm and led him to the other row, then pointed to the chair at the head of that row. "Junior Brother, you sit there. Master has something to say, and it will be more convenient. We rarely get together for a meeting like this, and Master doesn't like too many formalities, so just sit wherever." As he spoke, he sat down in the second chair below Li Yan's.
Wei Zhongran nodded. He greatly admired this eldest disciple of his. He was very discerning. Although cultivators had sharp ears and eyes and could easily send their words into another's ear from dozens of zhang away, this arrangement was more suitable. This was also why he was at ease entrusting all matters of Little Bamboo Peak to this disciple.
Li Yan looked and had no choice but to sit down. Although he sat, he still knew his place in his heart. He would not really think that there was no distinction of seniority here, only that it was not so strict. But if he came again next time, he would definitely sit at the end.
Wei Zhongran picked up his teacup and took another sip. "Li Yan, although I know a little about your affairs, it's all hearsay. Since you have joined the sect today, I still need to understand your past. It's best if you tell it yourself. Can you tell me your story? Of course, you don't need to mention any parts that involve personal privacy. Hmm, but this is a bit of a disadvantage for you. This group of senior brothers and sisters of yours are getting a good deal. They get to hear your past, but you don't know theirs, hehe! But we are all from the same sect; it won't be long before you get to know each other. It's mainly that your situation is a bit special, and even I know very little about it."
Hearing this, Li Yan felt a little dejected. 'I joined the sect without knowing anything about you, and now you want to turn me inside out.' However, he also understood that he had cultivated their sect's immortal art without reason. According to Dong Fuyi, let alone being accepted as a disciple, it would not have been excessive for them to kill him directly. Now that they wanted to know his past, it was, of course, undeniable. They could not just accept him for no reason. Although he had told the cultivator surnamed Yu from Spirit Insect Peak a lot, this was the real master now. The only thing that made him uncomfortable was that a group of senior brothers and sisters were also listening in. He really did not know what this new master of his was thinking.
After speaking, Wei Zhongran put down his teacup, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. The Martial Mother beside him also looked very interested. The others did not speak, but they were also staring at him.
Li Yan had no choice. He began to recount how he had left the village to join the army, how he met Strategist Ji, how he discovered something was wrong, and how he contacted Marshal Hong to finally kill Strategist Ji.
However, he concealed the matter of Dong Fuyi and the Gui Water Immortal Sect. He also changed the story of how he discovered Strategist Ji's ill intentions to finding a letter secretly left by that deceased senior brother, stating that he might have been poisoned and hoping that someone who saw the letter in the future could avenge him. He claimed to have found this secret letter by chance, and combined with his own adverse symptoms, he became very scared. In desperation, he went to the army's marshal. After all, he was also a soldier. He described Marshal Hong as a great hero of the martial world, a man of great passion, who took pity on him after hearing his plight and helped him escape. But in the end, he and his junior brother died tragically at the hands of Strategist Ji. He also conveniently attributed most of the credit for killing Strategist Ji to Marshal Hong and his junior brother.
Anyway, these people were all dead, so where could they find any loopholes? If they wanted to find loopholes, it would only be in his words. He had already made up a story once before at Spirit Insect Peak to deal with those people. Now, he was just making the story sound even more real.
As he told his story, certain parts drew continuous sighs from the two women. Apart from the cold, short-haired Sixth Senior Sister, the Martial Mother in white and the Fourth Senior Sister in the goose-yellow dress would sometimes interject, seeming very worried about his situation at the time. The others were left speechless. Especially when it came to how Marshal Hong had set up an ambush to hunt down Strategist Ji, it made them sigh with emotion. They had not expected there to be such heroic figures in the mortal martial world. It seemed that cultivators were not necessarily superior to mortals; it was possible to die at the hands of a mortal.
After he finished speaking, Li Yan felt that he even admired himself. He felt he had the potential to be a storyteller. Some of the things he said, even he almost believed them.
Wei Zhongran had been leaning back in his chair, listening quietly. His expression was sometimes solemn, sometimes contemplative, sometimes smiling, as if he were thinking about something. Finally, after Li Yan finished speaking, he looked at Li Yan with a faint smile.
As Li Yan spoke, he had also been paying attention to everyone's eyes, afraid that he might accidentally let something slip. Especially when it came to the matter of the Gui Water Immortal Sect, he had to be careful to avoid it. If an immortal art from the Spirit Immortal Realm appeared in this realm... although he had just entered the immortal path, he still understood the danger of possessing a treasure. Dong Fuyi had said that even in a place like the Spirit Immortal Realm, various sects had been searching for the Five Immortal Sects since ancient times, which showed their extreme desire for the Five Sects' immortal arts.
After he finished speaking, he noticed his master's faint, smiling expression, and his heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself, 'Oh no, did I slip up somewhere?' For a moment, he did not know where the problem was.
But Wei Zhongran's next words put him at ease. After Li Yan finished speaking, Wei Zhongran sat up straight, his expression becoming serious. He asked Li Yan a few more questions, basically all about his cultivation. This made Li Yan feel that it was still about the "Fragmented Poison Body."
After asking a dozen or so questions, Wei Zhongran looked at the others. "This is also why I let you listen in. Of course, it's not to expose your Eighth Junior Brother's secrets, but to let you listen to his entire cultivation process together and analyze and consider it afterward. Today, I will also report what I have heard and my own analysis to the sect. I hope it can be of some help." After speaking, he turned back to Li Yan.
"Li Yan, do you know about the 'Fragmented Poison Body' now?"
Li Yan stood up. "Reporting to Master, Eldest Senior Brother has already told this disciple about the general situation of the other two poison bodies."
Wei Zhongran pressed his hand down, motioning for Li Yan to sit. "It's good that you know. These three poison bodies are the strongest combat constitutions of our sect. The other two are easier to deal with; if you find the corresponding constitution, you can follow the immortal art to cultivate it. But your 'Fragmented Poison Body' is changeable and difficult to cultivate. Since ancient times, only a handful of people have succeeded, but we have never been able to find a normal cultivation method. Therefore, every person in the sect who succeeds must report their cultivation process in detail so that the sect can gain experience from it. So, your method of success must also be recorded. Today, I also let your senior brothers and sisters listen in to see if they can discover anything from it. That's why I said they got a good deal. Let me ask you one more time: is your cultivation process completely true?"
Li Yan thought, 'So that's how it is. I was wondering why they gathered a group of people here to probe my secrets. But it seems this master of mine is also being selfish. Recording it and reporting it to the sect means it will be preserved by the sect and not made known to everyone. But now he is letting everyone from Little Bamboo Peak who could come participate. That means he wants them all to gain some understanding. But this selfishness of his master... if he were the one listening in now, he would like it too.'
"Master, this disciple's cultivation process is all true, without the slightest falsehood."
After answering, Li Yan added in his heart, 'The cultivation process is certainly true, but I've concealed some things. But what I said about the 'Night Curtain Art' was not false. As for how I succeeded in cultivating this poison body, I don't even know myself. I imagine you've listened for nothing.'
Wei Zhongran smiled and nodded, but in Li Yan's eyes, this nod seemed to have a profound meaning, which made him feel a little guilty.
"Well, let's leave it at that. Li Yan, come forward," Wei Zhongran said suddenly after smiling, which made the already guilty Li Yan even more uncertain. He thought, 'Could it be that this new master of mine has discovered something?'