The Grand Recruitment Assembly

Feibai Sect.

Today marked the sect’s grand recruitment ceremony for new blood, new futures, and new talents.

In simpler terms, it was merely the Recruitment Assembly.

How had Sect Master Yuxi conceived such an abstract name?

Luochen gazed at the banner, its name alone stretching to thirteen characters, a sense of helplessness washing over her.

Suddenly, a familiar figure materialized before her eyes.

A cascade of hair, white robes, and a solitary sword.

Undoubtedly, Shuanghua, Feibai Sect’s cold-faced sword immortal, had made her grand entrance.

This scene felt eerily familiar, yet she knew that today was vastly different from yesterday.

A mischievous smile subtly curved Luochen’s lips.

Li Jin was convinced he had lost his mind.

As the senior disciple of Sword Forging Peak, what was one supposed to do upon encountering their Peak Master on the way to the Recruitment Assembly as a representative of outstanding disciples?

Without a doubt, the further away from her, the better!

Just as Li Jin was silently widening the distance between them, he witnessed a sight he could never have imagined.

A fairy in verdant robes had stealthily approached Shuanghua from behind.

Not only that, but she had even covered the Peak Master’s eyes with her hands? And her lips were moving as if she were speaking?

‘My heavens! Someone dared to joke with the Peak Master?’

Li Jin began to suspect that the medicinal pill he had consumed yesterday might have been laced with some peculiar ingredient, causing him to hallucinate.

For the scene unfolding before him simply couldn’t be real!

‘Wait, shouldn’t I be fleeing right now? What if I get splashed with blood later?’

‘That girl, she’s really going to be minced meat, isn’t she?’

‘No, not quite that coarse.’

Just as he was already lamenting the fate of the girl in green, an even more terrifying sight emerged.

The Peak Master actually… smiled?

Li Jin felt he ought to get himself checked to see if his mind had been tampered with by demonic cultivators.

“Guess who I am?”

Shuanghua, her eyes covered, was startled.

The next second, she replied with a wry smile, a hint of resignation in her voice.

“Luochen.”

“Eh, how did you guess? I clearly altered my voice completely with spiritual energy.”

Turning to face Shuanghua, Luochen’s lips puffed out, a slight pout of dissatisfaction at being recognized so quickly.

“Besides you… who… who would dare?”

“Right… I suppose so.”

Luochen scratched her head, a trace of awkwardness on her face.

“Don’t… don’t delay.”

“Mhm, let’s go.”

Luochen walked by Shuanghua’s side, and together they proceeded towards the Sacred Stone Plaza.

Li Jin and the other disciples were left in utter disarray, caught in the bewildered breeze.

“Wait, wasn’t that Senior Sister Luochen in the green robes?”

A disciple finally realized.

“But didn’t they have a rather ordinary relationship before?”

“Damn, I was on duty at the mountain gate a few days ago and saw them heading out on a mission together.”

Someone slapped their forehead, “And they came back like this!”

“Even Peak Master Shuanghua couldn’t resist Senior Sister’s charm?”

‘Luochen, you rascal.’

“Is this what they call a bulldozer princess (TL Note: 推土姬 (tuītǔjī) is a Chinese slang term for a female character who aggressively and effectively ‘plows through’ relationships, often leading to many admirers.)?”

A female disciple from Sword Forging Peak spoke slowly, her expression dazed.

Unaware of her newly acquired nickname, Luochen was currently pondering from the position of Bamboo Green Peak’s Peak Master.

‘How could three people possibly fit in this seat?’

She had spent considerable effort that morning finally rousing Zhu Qing, and Su Yue had also agreed to attend the Recruitment Assembly.

However, what Luochen hadn’t anticipated was that the seat seemed a bit… insufficient.

‘She hadn’t noticed it years ago when she sat with her master; back then, she seemed to have sat on her master’s lap?’

‘But three people clearly wouldn’t fit, and the image of it felt strange no matter how she thought about it.’

After a great deal of effort, Luochen finally located two small stools before Su Yue and Zhu Qing arrived.

Thus, under the curious gazes of the disciples, Su Yue and Luochen sat on the two small stools in front of Zhu Qing, resembling her left and right guardians.

“Why are there three people from Bamboo Green Peak? What are those two sitting on stools doing here?”

A new disciple, utterly baffled, asked curiously.

“Hush, those are the two geniuses who scored full marks on the first three trials; Feibai Sect has only ever produced these two perfect scores.”

“Both of them are from Bamboo Green Peak? How does one get into Bamboo Green Peak?”

Another female disciple spoke up.

The senior disciple leading the group chuckled.

“Do you see the one in green robes seated to the Peak Master’s right?”

“That’s our Feibai Sect’s Senior Sister. As long as she nods, you can enter Bamboo Green Peak.”

‘Senior Sister? She’s quite different from what I imagined.’

Gazing at Luochen’s smiling face, utterly devoid of majesty, the female disciple scratched her head.

“Silence!”

Sect Master Yuxi rose, his authoritative gaze sweeping across the entire plaza.

The murmurs and whispers in the plaza ceased abruptly.

“I hereby announce that the New Blood, New Future, New Talent Recruitment Conference—hereafter referred to as the Recruitment Assembly—”

“Is officially open!”

The nine Peak Masters ascended into the air simultaneously, injecting their spiritual energy into the Sacred Stone, which gradually transformed from transparent to shimmering with brilliant light.

“The Sacred Stone bears the spiritual energy imprints of the nine Peak Masters; only when all nine act in unison can its power be unlocked to test your physiques.”

On the plaza, the disciple chosen as the announcer was reading the speech with utmost concentration.

“Junior Sister,” Luochen leaned halfway, pressing her face close to Su Yue’s ear.

“What is it?”

“Master once told me that activating this Sacred Stone is just a trick.”

“In reality, as long as the spiritual energy is strong enough, even nine seventh-rank dogs could activate it.”

“Pfft.” Su Yue couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘I’d like to see who dares to laugh during such a solemn moment!’

Li Jin, tasked with maintaining order, flared with anger and scanned for the source of the sound.

‘Ah, it’s the two of you, sirs. Carry on, carry on.’

Li Jin awkwardly retracted his left foot, which had just taken half a step forward.

Not to mention the monster who dared to joke with his Peak Master, but he absolutely couldn’t afford to offend Su Yue either.

As Feibai Sect’s most consistent and most affordably priced producer of medicinal pills, Su Yue had already amassed a large following.

After the Sacred Stone was activated, Zhu Qing flew back to her seat.

“Next, I shall introduce the rules for this Recruitment Assembly.”

Luochen keenly noticed that the Sect Master’s speech manuscript seemed rather thick.

“I’m off first.”

Zhu Qing spoke languidly, “Based on experience, he won’t finish in under an hour.”

She glanced at her two disciples, “If you see any new students you fancy, let me know.”

Zhu Qing’s form dissolved into a wisp of clear breeze, vanishing.

Yuxi’s speech was as soporific as ever.

‘I can’t just fall asleep like this; I need to find something to do.’

“Junior Sister.”

Luochen leaned closer, “Let’s play a game.”

“What kind of game?”

She clapped her hands together, forming a thumbs-up gesture.

“This one adds a point of spiritual energy.”

She clapped again, making a shooting gesture.

“This is an attack, consuming one point of spiritual energy.”

Then she held her palm flat, forming a blocking gesture.

“This is a shield; it can block attacks.”

“And then…”

Soon, the two were thoroughly engrossed in their game.

Luochen couldn’t help but recall her previous life, enduring her school principal’s tedious and long-winded speeches on the sports field.

‘In my past life, I also got through those moments with these little games.’

‘Why do I have to go through this again after being reborn, seriously!’

‘Is this truly how geniuses cultivate?’

The new disciple who had previously inquired about Bamboo Green Peak was secretly observing their every move.

‘Indeed, the world of geniuses is beyond my comprehension.’

He simply couldn’t fathom what cultivation secrets these strange gestures held.

****

“How terrifyingly formidable.”

“This child is destined for greatness.”

“Mediocre talent.”

“A waste, only at the third stage of Battle Qi (TL Note: A direct reference to a popular Chinese web novel, ‘Battle Through The Heavens,’ where ‘Battle Qi’ is a core cultivation concept.) .”

As various lights continuously flashed across the plaza, the Elders and Peak Masters began conversing amongst themselves.

‘What classic plot, no, wait.’

‘Did some strange lines just get mixed in?’

‘Could it be?’

Luochen opened her eyes, her gaze sweeping over the testing crowd.

‘There’s no aura of a fated daughter.’

‘What am I thinking? How could another fated daughter just present herself?’

Luochen awkwardly tapped her head.

‘To find a new destined heroine, it truly seems I’ll have to descend the mountain.’

‘Descend the mountain.’

Ever since her Master had given her the medicinal pills to suppress her illness, the idea of descending the mountain to explore had grown uncontrollably in her mind.

In her previous life, Luochen had been deeply engrossed in Jin Yong and Gu Long’s wuxia novels, yearning for the flashing blades, clashing swords, and intricate tales of grievances and affections in the Jianghu.

‘Once I descend the mountain, I can finally experience the Jianghu of this world.’

Luochen gazed at Su Yue beside her, her thoughts already spiraling uncontrollably into peculiar tangents.

“Hehe.”

She revealed a slightly infatuated grin.

Su Yue: “?”

“Senior Sister, what are you thinking about?”

Su Yue grasped Luochen’s shoulder and shook her gently, pulling her Senior Sister back from her world of fantasy.

“I was wondering if our martial arts title should be the ‘Black and White Fiends’ or the ‘Twin Reapers’?”

Su Yue: “Huh?”