That towering peak—the main summit of the Six Marvelous Peaks—reaches nearly three or four thousand zhang in height, situated among several others, like stars encircling the moon, overlooking the "Heavenly Spring Peak." From its mid-slope onward, the mountain is shrouded in a delicate, pale purple mist, hazy and enigmatic, imbued with an atmosphere of profound mystery. Yet at its foot, in sharp contrast, the scene is bustling and lively. Numerous buildings of varying sizes cluster around the mountain—ranging from simple stone cottages of just a few rooms to grand halls soaring dozens of zhang high—and winding stone streets resembling markets have organically developed. Along these streets, various stalls are set up, with vendors calling out to customers. Indeed, many disciples from the Luoyun Sect are walking among them, haggling over prices. This scene leaves the seven cultivators—Han Li and his companions—passing through these structures, utterly awestruck. The young man of Yu surname had grown accustomed to this, treating the prompt activation of his artifact as if it were nothing. With a swift motion, he sent it soaring upward, straight toward a solitary stone pavilion standing alone hundreds of feet high. The pavilion was constructed entirely of massive blue stones, about twenty to thirty feet tall, with smaller side pavilions—each six to seven feet high—on either side. Sparse groups of cultivators were moving in and out at the stone platform in front of the main hall. At that moment, the guards glanced curiously at Han Li and the others a little distance away, as though they had already begun to guess their identities. A few moments later, still no one had summoned them inside, yet a bright white light suddenly streaked across from afar. When this light settled over Han Li and the others, it revealed a large silk cloth, upon which stood the young Liu with a pale face, along with four other young cultivators who had been taken away earlier. The pale-faced youth surveyed the seven below with a look of mild surprise, then turned away, setting down several magical items on the ground so that the four young cultivators remained in place. He then strode proudly into the stone hall. As a result, Han Li and the other seven naturally found themselves grouped apart from the four young cultivators of good spiritual root qualities, and exchanged glances with them. For some reason, despite having joined the Luoyun Sect together, the atmosphere felt oddly unnatural, even with a subtle undercurrent of mutual hostility between the two groups. Yet as newcomers to the Luoyun Sect, neither group spoke a word, merely remaining in quiet, expectant silence. After waiting for a full meal, the young man with the Yu surname finally stepped out from the hall. As soon as he appeared at the entrance, he waved to Han Li and the others, then glanced back at the four young people, and without hesitation said, "You four should come in as well—the Master will receive all of you together." With that, he turned and walked off. Naturally, neither group dared to lag behind, and hurried to follow. Behind the young man, through a short corridor, Han Li and the others were led into a hall about twenty to thirty zhang in size. Inside, several to eight cultivators sat on wooden chairs, engaged in low, animated conversation. As soon as Yu's young disciple entered with a new apprentice, he immediately stopped speaking and cast his gaze sharply over韩立 and the others. Though韩立 appeared modest and didn't glance aside, his awareness subtly extended, revealing the faces and cultivation levels of all the cultivators present. Among them, one was at the late Foundation Stage, two at the mid-Foundation Stage, and the rest at the early Foundation Stage. The autumn elder and the pale-faced young man were also seated among them. At that moment, after glancing over Han Li and the others, all the other cultivators' eyes finally settled on one of the four young disciples—a tall young man whose gaze carried a subtle warmth and enthusiasm. As Han Li was about to be surprised by this, the voice of the Master of Luoyun Sect resonated from the hall. "Indeed, having these disciples join us is already quite commendable. After all, our sect only recently began recruiting a new batch. Now, then, among you younger brothers, how do you think we should assign these new disciples?" The blue-robed cultivator, having surveyed the newcomers, spoke slowly to the other seated cultivators. "All of this, of course, will ultimately be decided by Master Brother. I'm certain Brother Wei will have us all fully convinced." A slightly gray-haired elder, gently stroking his short beard, spoke with great courtesy. Yet, as soon as he paused, he smoothly added, "That said, the external affairs disciples may be treated as secondary. But as for the inner sect disciples—we only recruited two last time at Yinjian Peak." Fewer than other peaks. This time, shouldn't we allocate one more to our peak? As for the other disciples, let us simply pass on this disciple with the golden body to the Yin Jian Peak for training. Upon saying this, the elder pointed at the sturdy young man. The young man paused, looking slightly surprised. "Hmph! Indeed, the Yin Jian Peak previously received the fewest disciples, yet one of them possessed two spiritual roots—why didn't you mention that? This time, after all, a particularly rare spiritual body has just been added. Naturally, it's our Huayun Peak's turn to claim this one." Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man with a pale face immediately sat upright, rising to object without hesitation. "Your Huayun Peak specializes in fire-based techniques, while golden-body cultivators are naturally inclined toward metal-based techniques. What's there to argue about, Young Brother Yang?" Upon hearing this, the elder with gray-white hair chuckled, shaking his head. "Your Hidden Sword Peak has a metallic cultivation technique. Master Li from our Fire Cloud Peak's 'Golden Refinement Technique' is well known throughout the Xī Guó. It's no surprise that this disciple practices it." The middle-aged man showed no intention of yielding. "You..." "Alright. I've heard both of your points clearly. There's no need to continue." Wei Yimeng furrowed his brows slightly, then cut off the ongoing dispute between the two. "Indeed. If the two senior brothers keep arguing, it won't lead to any resolution. It's best that Master Brother makes the final decision. After all, no matter which peak the disciple is assigned to, he remains a disciple of Luoyun Sect. What else could there be to dispute?" It was the autumn senior brother who gently suggested this. Upon hearing this, the elder and the pale-faced middle-aged man exchanged glances, but soon the elder stepped forward to say: "Brother Qi's words are sound. Let Master Brother decide. We from Hidden Sword Peak have no objections." "Heard this, the other middle-aged man hesitated slightly before finally expressing the same words. The abbot of Luoyun Sect's expression eased a bit. After a moment's thought, he glanced at the seven of them—Han Li and the bearded man among them—and said calmly, 'This disciple is somewhat special. We'll deal with him last. For now, let's assign the rest of the disciples. After all, our six peaks within Luoyun Sect probably won't mind having more disciples. Let's begin with these seven external affairs disciples.' Though the gray-haired elder and the middle-aged man from Yin Jian Peak looked visibly displeased, they could only sigh and accept it. Fortunately, they too had been assigned to two other so-called "inner gate disciples," so they weren't completely empty-handed. "Although your status upon entering the academy is merely that of external affairs disciples, being assigned to our Tian Quan Peak is indeed fortunate. After all, our master is also your senior master, known for his gentle and kind demeanor. We won't treat you as harshly as we might toward inner gate disciples. Of course, you will still need to complete your assigned tasks on schedule. Otherwise, you're free to pursue your own interests at will. Should you have the opportunity to achieve great accomplishments, your senior master might even bestow foundation pills upon you. Formally speaking, the treatment and benefits granted to external affairs disciples are the same as those of inner gate disciples. The difference lies in that inner gate disciples primarily focus on cultivation, while due to your inherent aptitudes, you will naturally need to invest more effort in auxiliary disciplines such as seal-making and medicine preparation. Our several master uncles in this peak have deep expertise in these areas. "You can learn a great deal from this." Since Han Li and the man with a beard had already become disciples of Tianqu Peak, the young man was more approachable toward them and began to explain several points they should pay attention to.