Good heavens! The Supreme God is being relentlessly harassed!

Birds chase fish, and deer appear deep in the forest.

In early spring, all things revive, and everything presents a thriving scene.

Lingxuan Mountain soars into the clouds, with a long waterfall cascading down from its height, creating ripples in the streams.

Animals occasionally appear and come to drink water by the lake at the bottom.

In the gentler parts of the mountain, stone steps made of bluestone ascend step by step, winding and turning, leading directly to the summit.

Legend has it that if you climb to the top of the mountain, you will see the largest sect in the cultivation world—the Xuantian Sect!

Countless mortal cultivators yearn for this opportunity, hoping to pass the annual selection process and officially become disciples of the Xuantian Sect.

However, where there are people, there will inevitably be competition.

Every year, countless people want to become disciples and formally step into the path of cultivation. To this end, the Xuantian Sect has set up numerous tests for ordinary people who come to become disciples.

Only those who pass the test can join the Xuantian Sect.

People walked along the long stone steps in twos and threes.

A slightly overweight but very wealthy-looking person said to the person next to him:

"What kind of crappy test did this Xuan Tian Sect set up? I'm at least at the second level of Qi Refining."

"I thought I'd get some special treatment, but this is all I get??"

"They're really making us walk step by step here! You know, there are supposedly over nine thousand nine hundred steps."

A tall, thin man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face chimed in:

"That's right! We're all cultivators, yet we still have to climb stairs like ordinary people. It's really beneath us."

They walked and complained, causing the people behind them to look up from time to time.

Some of the people who annoyed them strode past them and quickly disappeared.

Among them was a boy dressed in black.

He wasn't particularly tall, barely passing the average height requirement. His face was youthful, lacking the experience of some seasoned individuals.

To be honest, the path of cultivation is often best taken when you're younger.

Even if they are only a few years old, as long as they walk up the stone steps, they can still be accepted into the sect. Given time, they might even become seniors to other people their age.

In the world of cultivation, this is entirely possible.

Conversely, the later one gets into the field, the more difficult it is to get started.

Even if one truly embarks on the path of cultivation, one will not achieve much.

Age is the lower limit, while qualifications are the upper limit.

Compared to the others, this boy in black looked like an ordinary person.

He had neither family support nor anyone to guide him.

It's already quite an achievement to have come this far.

After exchanging a few words, the two found it boring and started talking about other things.

"I heard that the Immortal Venerable will also be here to select disciples this year."

The tall, thin man sounded surprised:

"Really? That person never takes on disciples! He has never appeared at the disciple selection ceremony in previous years either."

"Of course it's true. I have an uncle who works at the Xuantian Sect, and the information he provides is absolutely reliable."

As they chatted, the people around them unconsciously slowed their pace.

I tried to hear more from them.

There's no other reason than that the immortal venerable one was simply too famous.

A young genius with a naturally immortal physique, and the youngest junior brother of the current sect leader, he is addressed as Immortal Venerable by all the disciples in the sect.

The boy in black was Shen Wangchuan. He was an orphan and had been instructed by an old cultivator along the way to try his luck at the Xuantian Sect.

He has excellent physical constitution and is very suitable for cultivating immortality.

Shen Wangchuan didn't care whether he was a mortal or a cultivator; it was just that after his parents passed away one by one, he had no home.

Because he was too young, few people were willing to hire him.

So I came here to try my luck; at least they should provide meals after I get in, right?

If the cultivators climbing the steps heard his thoughts, they would probably vomit blood. They had gone to great lengths to get here, hoping to achieve the Great Dao.

It's not about worrying about whether or not to eat.

As time passed, Shen Wangchuan looked up at the stone steps, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

But there were fewer and fewer people around. Everyone was exhausted, and no one was laughing or joking anymore. Everyone was just focusing on climbing the mountain.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, Shen Wangchuan felt that the surroundings were unusually quiet.

When I turned around, there was no one there.

But then, his vision blurred, and when he opened his eyes again, he was still in that place called home, where his parents were chatting and laughing about what kind of wife they would find for him in the future.

The next second, the screen was burned to ashes by a burst of flames.

He knelt before their graves, looking completely bewildered.

His father had an accident, and his mother died of depression, leaving him the only one left in the family.

Why is this so?

Shen Wangchuan was momentarily lost in the illusion, his brows furrowed.

At the towering mountaintop, surrounded by swirling mist.

Cranes fly around the mountain from time to time, making the whole mountain even more mysterious.

The mountaintop is flat, and the magnificent main hall of the Xuantian Sect stands there.

Many cultivators dressed in white robes with swords at their waists stood inside and outside the main hall; they were all inner disciples.

Today I'm following my master to see the disciple selection process.

Inside the main hall, seated at the highest position was a kind and benevolent old man named Lin Ai, the sect leader of the Xuantian Sect.

Slightly below, sat a man with a cool and aloof demeanor, wearing a white and gold patterned outer robe and a dragon-eye jade belt.

"Junior brother, didn't you say a couple of days ago that you weren't coming to watch the selection?"

"Why did you change your mind again today?"

The white-robed cultivator, Xie Liuyan, spoke calmly:

“I heard that my senior brother is going to choose a disciple for me this year, so of course I have to come and see.”

"Nonsense! Who told you that, Junior Brother? How could I go against your wishes?"

Xie Liuyan didn't speak, but simply took a sip of tea.

At the cost of exhausting all his spiritual power and system energy, he completely restarted the small world.

Thinking of the young man who always liked to stick to him, his overall demeanor became much more subdued.

Lin Ai easily noticed this.

He thought his reclusive junior brother was sad, after all, he lived alone in the bamboo house for many years without any disciples to keep him company, so it was inevitable that he would feel lonely.

"Why don't you take on a disciple this year, junior brother? Give more opportunities to the younger disciples."

In the center of the main hall is a huge water mirror, which Lin Ai maintains with her spiritual power.

As the two chatted, the water mirror rippled slightly.

Xie Liuyan unconsciously shifted his gaze to the water mirror, only to unexpectedly see the person he was about to look for.

The boy in black lay on the stone steps, his brows furrowed, his expression pained.

It seems we've entered an illusion.

Xie Liuyan's usually calm eyes flickered, revealing a turbulent mix of emotions.

In the end it can only be reduced to one sentence:

I'm back, Shen Wangchuan.