Beside it lay nothing but an endless desert, bordered only by a range of mountains that were not particularly towering.

A sun ascended from the horizon. Standing on the yellow sands, a cold wind whipped around, marking the morning of the desert—the temperature was still biting low. If only a few more hours passed, the ground would be hot enough to bake flatbreads. The Great Jin Kingdom was truly vast, encompassing every conceivable type of terrain and landscape.

Lu Yuan stood upon the sand, a wine gourd still clutched in his hand, with about two hundred others waiting beside him.

This, purportedly, was a joint training session for the Tenth Sub-Station of the Tenth Branch Hall.

These two hundred individuals represented the total intake of new recruits for the Tenth Sub-Station this cycle.

Looking ahead, there stood a middle-aged scholar, lean in build, with a distinct sword scar cleaving across his face. His name was Song Jianjiu. No one knew his origins, though at the Five Immortals Alliance, lineage was rarely emphasized. Lu Yuan had once witnessed this man take flight on his sword, suggesting a cultivation base of the Eighth Layer of Body Tempering, capable of Sword Flight. The Eighth Layer was respectable, certainly marking him as a capable hand even within the Five Great Immortal Sects. Lu Yuan was also aware that this man was the Sub-Station Master, the very person tasked with drilling these two hundred newcomers.

Song Jianjiu, the Master of the Tenth Sub-Station, cleared his throat lightly. “You newcomers have come here to be trained, and I will be the one training you for the foreseeable future. This time, we have recruited a total of two thousand new disciples across the Tenth Branch Hall’s ten sub-halls, with each sub-station absorbing two hundred. Nine months from now, there will be a Sub-Station Disciple Competition. To ensure you do not fail, and that I do not lose face, I will train you diligently over the next nine months.”

“Of course, I have always believed that elite cultivation is the true path to supremacy; otherwise, the Five Great Immortal Sects would not all exclusively adopt an elite training model. However, I will not concern myself with your background or status. Here, regardless of who you are, everything is determined by strength. Next, I will conduct a test. The top ten performers in this test,” he paused, his voice deepening, “I will personally nurture. These top ten may follow by my side for twelve full shichen every day. The top fifty will receive serious cultivation—six shichen of training daily. Those ranking in the top one hundred and fifty will still receive my attentive instruction—three shichen of training per day. As for the bottom fifty,” he looked pointedly at the crowd, “do not blame me if you only receive one shichen of instruction per day.” Song Jianjiu barked out the decree.

“Therefore, everyone must take the upcoming test seriously. This directly concerns the amount of training time you receive each day for the next nine months…”

“Nine months from now, that Sub-Station Competition—do not let me lose face, and fight for your own glory…”

“The Sub-Station Competition itself offers exceptionally rich rewards. If your performance is stellar, whether you choose to remain in another branch hall of the Five Immortals Alliance or return to the safe world above ground, you will be highly sought after everywhere,” Song Jianjiu commanded sharply.

Hearing Song Jianjiu’s loud shout, the newcomers below stirred with excitement.

Next came the test, followed by the Sub-Station Competition in nine months.

People are easily galvanized when competition is involved.

Lu Yuan listened amidst the two hundred recruits. It seemed he needed to take the competition nine months hence seriously. The rewards were substantial, and his own rapid breakthrough to the Second Layer of Body Tempering had been solely due to the immense bounty offered by the Five Peaks Grand Competition. Because of this, he found himself quite interested in what awaited him after nine months.

Naturally, he was less enthusiastic about Song Jianjiu’s system of determining training duration based on a single test score.

Forget it. If he pushed to make the top ten and had to shadow Song Jianjiu for twelve shichen of continuous training, it would kill him faster than any enemy. Since joining the Mount Hua Immortal Sect, he had never endured such rigorous training; it completely clashed with his nature. He rather preferred the one shichen of training allotted to the bottom fifty—each person had their own path to improvement.

Most people advanced through sheer effort.

But Lu Yuan understood well that he was the type who advanced through sudden enlightenment, through fleeting sparks of insight.

If he forced himself into constant, relentless effort, like a string pulled perpetually taut, he risked grinding away those sudden flashes of brilliance. That would be an unacceptable loss.

Not long after Song Jianjiu finished speaking, the individual assessment commenced.

This particular test required traversing a five-hundred-mile stretch of the desert. Along this route, numerous obstacles awaited, including hidden desert beasts and ferocious monsters poised to ambush anyone who passed. The faster one reached the endpoint, the better the test result.

Five hundred miles, under normal circumstances, would pose no challenge.

But this route was through the desert, and Song Jianjiu had explicitly stated that dangerous creatures lay in wait. Furthermore, attempting to detour was impossible. Firstly, none of them were familiar with this expanse of desert. Secondly, many key points were monitored via Water Mirror Arts; bypassing the prescribed path would be noticed by Song Jianjiu, resulting in an immediate placement at the bottom of the rankings.

As soon as the order was given, several figures shot into the air.

Among them was Zhao Qiankun, the Eldest Senior Brother of the Kunlun Immortal Sect. Besides him were several younger cultivators, only a century or two old, who were Ninth Generation Elders with potential. The Five Immortals Alliance had recruited two thousand newcomers at once, naturally not limited to just true disciples from various sects; they also enrolled disciples with potential and younger, promising Ninth Generation Elders.

Sects certainly favored the elite cultivation method, showering true disciples with resources and opportunities. But they did not completely deny chances to other Elders and disciples.

It was just that the opportunities and resources offered to the rest were comparatively fewer.

Seeing Zhao Qiankun and several one- or two-hundred-year-old Ninth Generation Elders take flight, Song Jianjiu merely smiled. Flying was certainly permitted; it was a skill attained upon reaching the Body Tempering stage, and he could not forbid it. However, the desert held monsters not only on the ground but also a variety of fearsome avian creatures in the sky.

“Very good. The test begins now. Everyone, accelerate!”

From the outset, the crowd surged forward. Ignoring those few cultivators at the Body Tempering stage who could fly, the remaining one hundred and ninety or so recruits of the Tenth Sub-Station began moving on foot. Some exerted their full strength immediately, while others chose restraint, waiting to explode later.

Lu Yuan blended into the mass of people. He felt no urgency to rush to the front. He truly did not need a top score in this personal assessment. Being tethered to Song Jianjiu for twelve shichen of close-quarters training, engaging in such intense effort, was utterly incompatible with his nature and risked extinguishing his innate spiritual insights. That would be a Pyrrhic victory.

Therefore, securing a place among the bottom fifty of the two hundred recruits—receiving only one shichen of instruction daily—seemed optimal. Lu Yuan watched those rushing ahead with zero haste, moving leisurely at the rear.

Meng Bai caught up to Lu Yuan’s side. “Little Sixth, you need to move faster.” Generally, higher mana cultivation meant faster walking speed. At the peak of Qi Condensation (Ninth or Tenth Layer), cultivators could sprint as fast as or faster than a swift horse over short distances. Meng Bai, seeing Lu Yuan’s slow pace, naturally assumed his mana was insufficient, causing his slow progress. He was anxious; with Meng Bai’s own cultivation, he could easily sprint far ahead, but he couldn't abandon his sworn brother trailing behind. He was deeply worried.

Lu Yuan smiled. He appreciated Meng Bai’s concern; maintaining such a good bond with a childhood friend was valuable. “Go on ahead, I’m simply slow because my mana isn't high right now.” Seeing Meng Bai still hesitant to leave, Lu Yuan chuckled. “Run ahead and get a better score. That way, you’ll receive more specialized training, learn more things, and then you can tell me about it, right?” Hearing this, Meng Bai nodded, spurred his mana, and began accelerating toward the front.

At that moment, Zhao Han and Huang Yun, who shared the same newcomer dormitory as Lu Yuan, also passed him. As Zhao Han swept past, he sneered inwardly. Putting on airs. At first, this fellow they called Lu Liu seemed so cold and detached, refusing to curry favor even with the favored aide of Senior Brother Zhao Qiankun. I thought he was some exceptional figure—turns out he’s just this mediocre.

Lu Yuan settled near the last cluster of runners, proceeding neither too fast nor too slow.

In this final group of newcomers, one could actually remain quite comfortable. After all, most of the desert monsters had already been dealt with by those ahead. Only an occasional half-man-sized Sand Scorpion would erupt, or perhaps a Corpse Vulture with a wingspan nearly a full zhang across would suddenly pass overhead.

Such creatures posed difficulty and danger to the rear-guard newcomers, but for Lu Yuan, they presented little challenge; a casual sword swing would dispatch these scorpions and vultures.

The sky grew hotter.

The desert nights were piercingly cold, but the days burned like fire. After walking for several hours, the heat began to build. The yellow sands baked under a scorching sun that seemed to swell and intensify, pouring limitless light and heat onto the land, threatening to desiccate every living thing, until the very sand emitted a scorched odor.

Yes, he had reached the Tenth Sub-Station of the Hundred Ores Hall, Tenth Branch Hall of the Five Immortals Alliance.

He was currently undergoing the entrance test for the new arrivals at the Tenth Sub-Station.

A completely new chapter of life was about to begin.

He took a swig of wine and continued walking at an unhurried pace. No matter the environment, he remained himself; his temperament would not change.

He would stay here for nine months. After the Sub-Station Competition, he would return to Mount Hua’s Northern Peak. He resolved then never to descend the mountain again until his Master passed away, intending to spend the final phase of his master's life with him, fulfilling his filial duty as a disciple, he mused internally.