Longkou Mountain, Tanxuan Peak.
At the edge of a ten-thousand-foot cliff behind the mountain.
A bright moon, a lone figure, a pot of fine wine.
It was Mid-Autumn night, and Zhao Kang still drank alone under the moon as he always did.
This was his eightieth year since crossing over to this world.
But due to cultivating for eighty years, Zhao Kang's appearance hadn't changed at all.
He remained elegant and refined, transcendent and otherworldly, like a handsome young master in his twenties.
For these eighty years, Zhao Kang had checked in at the back mountain every day.
Currently, the system had only unlocked its first-stage function: check-in!
Although there were no location restrictions, the system rewards from each check-in were all various types of cultivation pills!
Things like the 'Seven-Turn Mystic Spirit Pill' worth ten years of cultivation,
The 'Nine-Turn Earth Spirit Pill' worth fifty years of cultivation...
The 'Limitless Heaven Spirit Pill' worth one hundred years of cultivation...
The 'Supreme Unity Pill' worth three hundred years of cultivation...
Even... the 'Primordial Golden Pill' worth five hundred years of cultivation!
There was everything imaginable, and Zhao Kang was almost numb to it all.
For these eighty years, as the head of Tanxuan Peak.
It could be said that Zhao Kang had secluded himself on the peak, doing nothing but checking in and improving his cultivation.
He had never taken disciples. He was alone on Tanxuan Peak and rarely interacted with the other peaks of the Sevenfold Echo Sect.
In the mountains, time passes without notice; winter ends without knowing the year!
Even Zhao Kang himself wasn't entirely sure what level his cultivation had reached...
And his Tanxuan Peak had become the most mysterious place in the Sevenfold Echo Sect!
On Longkou Mountain, there were four martial arts peaks and four scholarly cultivation peaks.
But besides these eight peaks, there was one more mysterious and special peak.
Tanxuan Peak!
It could be said that Tanxuan Peak was extremely special, with deep foundations and great origins!
Even the head of Longkou Mountain, Master Qi, showed considerable respect to Tanxuan Peak, demonstrating its special and transcendent status!
The current Tanxuan Peak, starting from Zhao Kang's generation, hadn't accepted new disciples for decades.
The entire Tanxuan Peak had only Zhao Kang alone.
And Zhao Kang was usually low-key and rarely went out.
This caused the elders and disciples throughout Longkou Mountain to gradually forget that such a person existed on Tanxuan Peak!
"I raise my cup to invite the bright moon, facing my shadow we become three!"
At this moment, gazing at the bright moon, Zhao Kang downed his wine and recited poetry, displaying indescribable elegance and grace.
[Eightieth year check-in successful, unlocking system's second-stage function: Master-Disciple Reward System!]
Hearing the wonderfully melodious system notification in his mind, his eyes flashed with brilliance as joy surged in his heart.
"Finally, it has come...!"
Finally, he wouldn't have to be idle anymore, or he would have died of boredom.
He knew that with the activation of the system's second-stage Master-Disciple Reward function.
He would have the chance to obtain legendary supreme techniques and ancient divine weapons!
Only then could he truly achieve immortality, dominate the heavens, and rule through eternity!
To realize the great ideal he had when he first crossed over to this world!
...
The next day, at dawn.
Zhao Kang strolled through the bamboo forest on the west side of Tanxuan Peak, a habit he'd carried from his previous life before crossing over.
Dong... dong... dong...!
At this moment, three distant and prolonged bell chimes rang out across Longkou Mountain.
"Oh... today seems to be our Longkou Mountain's Mountain Worship Ceremony..."
"It would be good to take a look. Perhaps I could find a prodigious disciple..."
Zhao Kang raised his sword-like eyebrows slightly and muttered to himself.
With this thought, he focused his mind and instantly transformed into a blur, disappearing from Tanxuan Peak...
.....
Longkou Mountain's fame shook all directions!
Countless peerless experts from the Tianling Domain all originated from here.
This mountain was recognized throughout the cultivation world as a sacred place of cultivation, transcendent and otherworldly, revered and worshipped by countless beings!
It was also the cultivation destination pursued and competed for by the direct heirs of great families and imperial dynasties!
Today was Longkou Mountain's Mountain Worship Ceremony. At this moment, on the training ground halfway up the mountain.
Dozens of young people stood in neat formation, all with solemn and proud expressions.
Because they had all passed the five rounds of mountain entry tests at the foot of the mountain and were finally accepted as new disciples of Longkou Mountain.
Next would be the selection process where elders from each peak of Longkou Mountain would choose disciples to their liking.
Once selected by a peak elder, it would absolutely mean a bright future for those new disciples.
These young people were all elite descendants from various great dynasties and super families, naturally possessing superior talent and aptitude!
At this moment, these new disciples all showed excited expressions.
They hoped to be accepted as personal disciples by the elders of Longkou Mountain's peaks, inheriting their legacy.
"Tsk tsk tsk... this batch is quite good!"
"Who says otherwise... The four little ones in the first row, and the two little girls in the second row, are all first-class good seedlings!"
"Heh heh heh... that's natural. I heard that direct descendants from the four great families of Anluo City have all come."
"Haha haha... no wonder. We should all be able to select satisfactory true disciples..."
"Hopefully... but the path of cultivation is long and arduous. Having martial talent alone isn't enough; they also need good character!"
"Mm... that's true. We old folks still need to be more careful in our selection..."
.....
At this moment, halfway up the mountain, a elegant young man in white robes was slowly descending...
It was Zhao Kang.
He had already observed from afar the new genius disciples on the training ground.
The result was... he wasn't very satisfied with any of them.
These young talents could all be considered martial prodigies, but they were still far from being peerless geniuses or unprecedented monsters!
Since Zhao Kang had finally unlocked the system's second-stage Master-Disciple Reward function, he wanted to do it right!
Better to have none than to settle for less!
However, at this moment, Zhao Kang wasn't discouraged. Instead, he showed a hint of excitement and anticipation on his face.
Because an extremely pleasant string of system notifications was echoing in his mind...
[Ding! New system mission triggered: Go to Anluo City to accept a disciple]
[Name: Li Qingyi]
[Identity: Daughter of the Li family of Anluo City, devastatingly beautiful, devoted to the sword path]
[Martial Talent: Saint-level]
[Root Bone Aptitude: Innate Formless Sword Body, the bearing of a Sword Emperor]
...
And at this moment, on the training ground.
"Eh... who is that?"
At this time, a sharp-eyed elder noticed the white figure walking down the mountain...
"Tsk tsk tsk... this old man feels... it looks a bit like Zhao Kang from Tanxuan Peak."
An elder from a martial arts peak gazed into the distance and frowned.
"Elder Zhao...? What's he doing coming down the mountain at this time?"
"Today is our Longkou Mountain's Mountain Worship Ceremony! Isn't he coming to accept disciples..."
An elder from a scholarly cultivation peak stroked his beard, puzzled.
"Sigh... don't mention it... this old man has never seen him participate in the Mountain Worship Ceremony in previous years. This Elder Zhao really is an odd person!"
"Who says otherwise..."