Several outer disciples let out frightened yelps on the spot, while the others were more than eager to show their interest. The words "pick me, pick me" were literally written all across their faces.
Jaw clenched tightly, Mo Zhiyuan maintained a frigid facial expression.
Shen Ruizhe's deep, clear eyes seemed to pierce his defenses and peer into his very soul, giving Mo Zhiyuan a crawling sensation on his skin.
Their connection ended after the longest three seconds in Mo Zhiyuan's life, after which Shen Ruizhe averted his gaze and continued talking to Wu Mansong.
Mo Zhiyuan took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He shifted his attention to Wu Mansong, a good-hearted and benevolent man with a comparably low level of cultivation but a bountiful charisma that locked strong cultivators to him.
It was he who built the Seven Sky Pillars Sect from scratch, with the noble idea to make cultivation available to everyone regardless of status and family background.
It was he who decided to reside at Tianhe Mountain to watch over the Gate of Hell and protect the nearby villages and towns from demon attacks.
It was also he who decided to lead the last and also least-popular peak of the sect, the Wuchang Peak. The refined individuals referred to Wuchang Peak as a crucible brimming with undiscovered potential. The unrefined ones referred to Wuchang Peak as a dumpster for failures who failed the induction test.
This was also why the outer disciples, despite their brimming respect for Wu Mansong, specifically chose to avoid his eyes today. No one wanted to join Wuchang Peak, never mind that this peak was home to more than half of the total sect members.
A senior disciple in blue robe stepped before the assembling outer disciples and announced the commencement of the induction event with a loud voice.
The poor outer disciples, their nerves already frayed with anxiety, grew even more agitated.
Mo Zhiyuan could hear a lot of them murmur under their breaths, "Not Wuchang Peak. Please, not Wuchang Peak."
The induction proceeded chronologically, based on each outer disciple's entry date to the sect. This was why disciples might have younger shixiongs and older shidis, for example.
One by one, the outer disciples were summoned before the peak masters. They would pass through a sound barrier, separating the peak masters from the outer disciples. While they could see what was happening inside the barrier, they were unable to hear the conversation taking place between the peak masters and the prospective inner disciple.
The inner disciples, who were already accepted into specific peaks, naturally knew what happened during the induction event, but they were forbidden from divulging the procedure. With the threat of expulsion hanging over their heads, no one dared to even spoil a word.
But Mo Zhiyuan, who regressed into the past, knew the induction procedure in and out. And he knew exactly what to do this time around.
"Disciple Mo Zhiyuan," the senior disciple read from a long scroll. "It's your turn, please step past the barrier."
This barrier was built by Wu Mansong. His barrier skill was only second to Shen Ruizhe.
Walking past the bright blue barrier felt like walking through a curtain of water.
Mo Zhiyuan stepped before the row of peak masters and stood up straight.
Each of the seven peak masters gave him a thorough assessment, all except Shen Ruizhe, whose gaze remained fixed on his face with unnerving intensity.
"Introduce yourself, young lad," Wu Mansong said with a fatherly smile. "What's your name, how old are you, and how long have you been with us?"
Mo Zhiyuan cupped his fists in front of Wu Mansong before he answered, "My name is Mo Zhiyuan, seventeen years old this year. I have been in the sect for five years."
Disciple induction happened every three years, but Mo Zhiyuan entered the sect two years before the previous induction happened, and he was considered too young to join at that time.
"I see. And how do you like it here?"
Mo Zhiyuan suppressed a sarcastic reply and beamed at Wu Mansong.
"I am very happy to be here!"
The cheerful reply made several peak masters smile. But Shen Ruizhe narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion. What a waste of that beautiful face, Mo Zhiyuan thought to himself. What was he being so critical of a poor outer disciple for?
Then again, Shen Ruizhe was Shen Ruizhe.
In his last life, although he accepted Mo Zhiyuan into Jinlian Peak, he had never tried to get close to Mo Zhiyuan. Mo Zhiyuan, who tried to curry favor with his shizun for a long time, did not know why at first, but then he eavesdropped on Shen Ruizhe's conversation with Shang Jieyun. That time, he found out that Shen Ruizhe had been looking down on him from the first day they met.
Probably because Mo Zhiyuan was just an orphan with no blood relatives left in this world.
The words "inherently evil" stuck with Mo Zhiyuan for a long time, spurring him to deliberately act in accordance with Shen Ruizhe's judgment.
Because Shen Ruizhe cultivated the divine path of righteousness, Mo Zhiyuan cultivated the demonic path of evil.
Because Shen Ruizhe slayed demons to protect the mortal realm, Mo Zhiyuan raised demonic armies to lay waste to the mortal realm.
The shizun and disciple pair was ripped apart by these two words, spoken by Shen Ruizhe.
In the later years of Shen Ruizhe's confinement in the Blood Moon Palace, Mo Zhiyuan pinned his shizun by the neck on the floor and told him about the pain of his younger days.
The esteemed Grandmaster Shen, Master of Jinlian Peak, the most revered cultivator in the entire cultivation world, was the very person who pushed Mo Zhiyuan off the edge, making him step onto the evil path for good.
For once, Mo Zhiyuan saw the shock and disbelief in Shen Ruizhe's widened eyes.
How utterly ridiculous.
Mo Zhiyuan exploded in laughter, and Shen Ruizhe stared at him in silence, not knowing what to say.
Back at present time, Mo Zhiyuan wondered if Shen Ruizhe would make the same mistake. Well, Mo Zhiyuan was not about to give him the chance to.
"You have performed very well during the written examination, and you also possess remarkable innate talent for cultivation. Pray tell, which peak do you aspire to join?" Wu Mansong asked.
When asked this question, the peak masters expected only one answer, "I would like to join Jinlian Peak, please."
It was an unwritten rule that as long as Shen Ruizhe agreed to accept a disciple, other peak masters would not try to poach said disciple. That was how influential Shen Ruizhe was.
But Mo Zhiyuan, this talented young man, actually turned toward Wu Mansong and said, "I wish to join Wuchang Peak, please."