It is said that a group of ten people stepped on the sword and flew, and the tea kung fu arrived at the foot of Tiandao Mountain. The reason why he didn't fly directly into the Taiqing Sect was because of the relationship between the Protector Sect Array.

The major sects, including some small sects, all have a Guardian Sect Array, mainly for the purpose of defending against foreign enemies, and also has the effect of gathering the aura of heaven and earth. The aura of heaven and earth is usually strongest in the mountaintop area, so most of the immortal cultivation sects are located on the top of the mountain.

The formation is not clear who created it. The essence of the Sect Protector Circle is a special spiritual power mechanism set up by advanced immortal cultivators in the sect area, which automatically gathers the aura of heaven and earth at ordinary times, and if the sect is attacked, it will be triggered, forming a spiritual power shield to protect the sect.

The Sect Protector Array is generally laid out by a certain generation of immortal cultivators in the sect, combined with the sect's immortal cultivation techniques to stimulate their own spiritual power, so the sect's Sect Protector Arrays are very different in terms of strength and scope. First, because the Protector Sect is not allowed to fly in the array, and secondly, in order to maintain the majesty of the great sect, the Taiqing Sect stipulates that those who go down the mountain must walk to the bottom of the mountain to resist the sword, and those who go up the mountain must start to climb the mountain on foot from the bottom of the mountain.

This Tiandao Mountain is not high, it is not short, there are more than a dozen main peaks, and there are many small peaks. The auspicious clouds between the mountains are swirling, and the sky is steaming, a scene of the land of immortals. The more than a dozen main peaks of Tiandao Mountain are basically more than 600 zhang high, and from the foot of the mountain to the sect gate, there are 6,000 bluestone steps. Looking up at the top of the mountain, the steps meander up until they are in the mist, like a blue-gray dragon soaring out of the sea.

Six thousand steps is nothing for a person who has been cultivating immortals for a long time, but for a twelve-year-old child, it is not ordinary. Looking at the vast staircase to the top of the mountain, the four children's eyes widened in amazement.

"Climb that high...... Climb up and still be tired and half dead?" the little fat man Jiang Qigao was not happy on the spot.

The five Taiqing disciples behind him looked at each other and smiled, but did not speak.

"You want to enter the sect and cultivate immortals, and the life of cultivating immortals is hard, which is much more difficult than climbing this step. These 6,000 steps are your first test. If you can't even hold on to this, then you don't have to enter the sect, and if you don't have perseverance, cultivating immortals is also a waste of heaven and earth aura. Li Yuanxiao said indifferently.

Jiang Qigao was immediately frightened by Li Yuanxiao's stern words and stuck out his tongue: "Sect Master Grandpa, I just sighed like that, I can't get midnight when I climb up the six thousand steps......?"

Listening to the little fat man's witty words, Li Yuanxiao's face showed a smile.

"You don't have to worry about that. Every time a new disciple is recruited, we have to pass this level, and the five of us have climbed these 6,000 steps when we entered the sect. The sect has already thought about it, and when you are hungry and thirsty, it will naturally give you dry food and fruits. Xiao Liying explained.

Li Yuanxiao put away his smile and encouraged them: "Okay, don't worry about it. Your path to cultivating immortals begins with the first step under your feet. ”

So, the four children came up side by side, Li Yuanxiao followed behind them, and the five Taiqing disciples were last.

The little fat man Jiang Qigao is indeed a good person. While climbing the steps, he chatted nonsense with Luo Haibo and the Tianxiao and Tianyao brothers on the left and right, and he was familiar with a few people after a while, and when he saw a beautiful scenery somewhere, he shouted and sighed. It's very interesting. Li Yuanxiao and the others watched from behind, secretly amused.

The restraints of the four children due to their strangeness have disappeared under Jiang Qigao's activity. The four of them talked and laughed, as if they were not going to cultivate immortals but to step on spring. Among them, Jiang Qigao has the most words, all over the world, pulling things around, often making several people laugh. Tianxiao and Tianyao brothers also have a lot of words, gags, nonsense, and fun. Among the four, only Luo Haibo spoke less, only occasionally interjecting two sentences.

The five disciples who followed Li Yuanxiao, when they saw the four children talking happily, they all sighed in their hearts, recalling the scene when they joined the sect, they were bored from beginning to end, where could they be so happy as the four children in front of them.

Interesting chit-chat makes people feel relaxed and happy, and when you look behind you, you have already stepped hundreds of steps. But the child's physical strength is not much after all, and as he climbs higher and higher, Jiang Qigao's words become less and less. After a while, all four of them stopped talking, and just lowered their heads to climb the mountain, only hearing louder and louder gasps.

At this time, it was already three quarters of the unitary hour, and several people had climbed for more than half an hour. The little fat man was already sweating profusely, and he couldn't breathe, it seemed that this rich kid hadn't exercised much since he was a child. Although Luo Haibo was better, his face was also very pale. The two brothers Tianxiao and Tianyao are not bad, not as embarrassed as the other two.

Li Yuanxiao estimated that the four of them were almost out of strength, and it was getting late, so when they reached a wide place around a corner, he ordered everyone to rest.

Jiang Qigao sat on the ground with his buttocks, and then lay down directly. The other three also sat on the ground, looking very tired. The five disciples in the back hurriedly stepped forward, took out dry food, beef, and apples from the baggage on their backs and handed them to the four of them.

The four children were already hungry and immediately took the food and devoured it. After relieving themselves, the four of them began to talk again. Li Yuanxiao and the other five disciples had been meditating with their eyes closed. Cultivation requires diligence, so whenever they have time, they use meditation to consolidate the spiritual power in their bodies.

After resting for a while, several people continued to climb the stairs. As the height climbed, the four children became more and more tired. Jiang Qigao's movements gradually slowed down, and when he saw that he was about to be left behind, Tianxiao stretched out his hand and pulled him to continue to climb up. Later, the four of them actually held hands together and worked together to ensure that they were not left behind.

Li Yuanxiao nodded again and again in the back. Solidarity is also one of the virtues of humanity. He couldn't help but think of the battle between immortals and demons more than five hundred years ago recorded in the books in the library. At that time, the immortal cultivators were also closely united, and all sectarian grievances were put aside. After the peerless immortal sword was born, the immortal cultivators followed the eighteen sword immortals to fight for the continent together, and only then did they slaughter countless sword demons. It's a pity that the hard-won peaceful and prosperous era made the children of later generations gradually forget the history of the ancestors who fought together and fought bloodily, and became greedy for profit, fighting with each other for the peerless fairy sword...... Thinking of this, Li Yuanxiao sighed in his heart.

The twilight grew darker and deeper, and finally, at about three o'clock in the morning, several people saw the sect gate not far above.

The gate has two doors, left and right, and opens inward. The door panels were painted with black lacquer and nailed with copper nails. The two doors are each wide and wide, and the top of the door is in the shape of a left and right semi-arch, which together is a complete arch round fan. The vault is about two feet high, and above is the eaves. The eaves of the door are very high, the upper flat and the lower concave, the upper width and the lower narrow, there is a horizontal plaque hanging in the middle, and the three gilded characters "Taiqing Zong" are vigorous and powerful in the book. These words are said to be inscribed by the ancestor of the Taiqing Sword Immortal back then, the three words dragon flying and phoenix dancing, the momentum is extraordinary, and the pen and the pen seem to have a faint trace of sword intent. There are two vertical plaques hanging on the side of the door on both sides, the one on the right reads: "The wind is clear and the moon is bright, and the blue fall shakes the nine heavens with a smile"; The eaves and the top of the courtyard wall next to it are covered with cyan glazed tiles, and the courtyard wall is about three feet high, painted red, and feels very thick. The lower part of the gate has a high threshold, and beyond the threshold is a series of ten layers of granite wide steps. On both sides of the steps, there is a stone carving of a jade lion more than one person high, and the momentum is very good. On the walls on both sides of the stone sculptures, four blazing torches are hung.

"Oh my God, it's finally here! I can't walk anymore......" Jiang Qigao said and sat down on the ground.

"You really need to work out. Luo Haibo gasped and sneered.

Tianxiao and Tianyao gasped violently while looking curiously inside the mountain gate. Inside the gate is a large compound as wide as a square, with a large hall in the distance and two side halls on either side. There are many braziers illuminated in the courtyard, and some disciples in purple robes can be seen hurrying back and forth.

A young disciple flashed out from behind the door and bowed to everyone: "See Sect Master, Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters. Then he looked at the four children, "All four of them are new junior disciples, hello, I am your senior brother Xu Yiqing." ”

Li Yuanxiao instructed Xu Yiqing to take the four new disciples to rest, and told the four to gather at the door of the main hall at the next hour. Then he glanced at Tianxiao and Tianyao, and left with the five apprentices behind him.

The four children followed Xu Yiqing closely and walked along the corridor to the left rear of the main hall. Along the way, the four of them looked around, left and right, which was very novel. After a while, everyone came to a row of bungalows on the side of the mountain, Xu Yiqing took the four of them into one of the rooms, and instructed the four of them to rest here tonight, and to go to the main hall early the next morning for a detailed root bone examination.

In the northwest corner of the room, there is a large bed with bedding and pillows. There was an octagonal table in the middle of the house, on which there were oil lamps and tea sets, but at this time the four of them were too tired to drink tea, so they threw their burdens on the ground and threw themselves on the big bed.

Tianxiao sighed: "I didn't expect it to be so hard when I first joined the sect!"

"It can be seen that it will be harder in the future. Luo Haibo said.

"More on that later. I was so tired that I couldn't stand it anymore and went to sleep first. After Jiang Qigao finished speaking, he snored lightly. In the midst of the snoring, Luo Haibo and Tianyao also fell asleep one after another.

Tianxiao lay in the quilt, looked at Tianyao, who was already asleep next to him, and thought, "Taiqing Sect...... Sword...... Alas, why is there no sword book for cultivation...... I hope that I can also achieve something in sword cultivation, at least reach the realm of Yuanying, and I can go to visit my father and mother with Brother Yaojian...... Dad, mother, I just arrived in Taiqing Sect, why am I already missing you......" Thinking wildly, Tianxiao gradually fell asleep.

Early the next morning, the four of them were woken up by a knock on the door, and Xu Yiqing beckoned the four of them to get up quickly. The four children got up and made their beds. Unexpectedly, Jiang Qigao, a pampered little fat man, has the same sharp hands and feet as the other three, and it seems that his tutor is still good. After everyone finished washing, they all changed into the purple robes of the Taiqing Sect. This purple kaftan has white trim and is tied up with a white belt at the waist, which makes people look very spirited. After breakfast, the four of them followed Xu Yiqing to the main hall of the sect.

The main hall of the Taiqing sect is called the "Daode Hall", and the space in the hall is very large, and the major ceremonies and meetings in the sect are generally held in the main hall. There are two side halls on the left and right, and the one on the right is the "Sword Weapon Hall", which stores the precious fairy swords left by the predecessors in the sect, as well as the middle and lower grade fairy swords that are refined for the disciples. The one on the left is the "Sword Book Palace", which contains many treasured immortal sword books from the Taiqing Sect.

When they came to the courtyard, several people found that dozens of Taiqing disciples were standing in front of the main hall. It turns out that the Taiqing Sect's appointment of masters to new disciples is not limited to elders, and disciples in the sect who have good cultivation and are willing to accept disciples can also be the masters of new disciples. Now there are also five people from Xiao Liying among these disciples. Xiao Liying saw a few people coming, smiled and blinked at Tianxiao, and Tianxiao's face suddenly turned red again.

At this time, a group of people came out of the main hall, led by the sect leader Li Yuanxiao, and the people standing behind him were old and young, men and women, all of them were in good spirits and full of energy. Li Yuanxiao cleared his throat and announced loudly to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, it's the annual New Disciple Apprenticeship Conference again. This year, our sect has received a total of four new disciples. Now Elder Xie will test the root bone level for them. He Tianxiao, He Tianyao, Jiang Qigao, Luo Haibo, the four of you come here. ”

Under the gaze of the other disciples, the four children timidly stepped up the steps of the main hall. From behind Li Yuanxiao walked out a thin old man with gray hair, holding a short sword more than a foot long. He said to the four: "I am Second Elder Xie Ningdong. This dagger is called 'fish intestines', and it is a tool for examining your bones. All you have to do is pick up the dagger for a moment. ”

The short swordfish intestine was cast by Ou Yezi, the eldest disciple of the Taiqing Sect Patriarch Taiqing Sword Immortal. Ou Yezi was a master of sword casting, and he spent three years casting a fish intestine sword, which was passed down to be used to test the roots and bones of his younger disciples. When a disciple who has not built a foundation holds the hilt of the sword, the fish intestine sword will spontaneously infuse a spiritual power to swim around the meridians of the person holding the sword, and return to the sword body. The better the bones of the person holding the sword, the faster the spiritual power will travel. The fish intestine sword will emit a rainbow of light according to the speed of spiritual power return, with red being the slowest and purple being the fastest, and you can judge the excellence of the person holding the sword according to the color of the light.

The first to be tested was Jiang Qigao, and not long after he took the Fish Intestine Sword, the Fish Intestine Sword emitted a yellow light.

"Jiang Qigao, Huang Guang, E, etc. Xie Ningdong said loudly.

The light goes from purple to red, and is ranked according to the heavenly stem. Class A is the highest, second class is second, and G class is the worst. The yellow E class belongs to the general level of the disciples of the Taiqing Sect.

Then Luo Haibo also took over the fish intestine sword.

"Luo Haibo, Orange Light, Ji and so on. "Luo Haibo's root bone qualification is even worse than Jiang Fatzi.

"He Tianxiao, Ziguang, Class A!" there was a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Ah, He Tianyao, Ziguang, is also first-class!" Elder Xie's voice began to tremble!

Everyone exploded in a "whoosh", and received two first-class products a year, what kind of luck is this?

Li Yuanxiao showed a smug smile on his face, this scene was really the same as he expected.

"Sect Master, these two are your grandsons, how about being my apprentice?"

"You already accepted one second-class last year, why do you want to be cheeky enough to accept two more first-class? Sect Master, I think it's better for me to teach them......

Apprentices with good qualifications are also as sought-after as good babies, so several elders saw the purple light fish intestines twice, and their eyes were so anxious that they straightened.

"It turns out that those two are the grandsons of the sect master, it's really amazing......" Everyone at the foot of the steps was talking, and there were not many first-class disciples looking for the whole sect, and even the elders were robbed like this, where would they still have the share of accepting disciples.

The two elders even forgot to take back the fish intestine sword, and went directly to Li Yuanxiao to ask for an apprentice. The four children stood to the side, looking at each other. Jiang Qigao and Luo Haibo looked at the two Xiaoyao brothers with envy in their eyes, good qualifications mean good masters, and the sect will also give good pills and immortal swords in the future.

Li Yuanxiao was surrounded by all the elders, and in the face of gossip requests, he always smiled and did not answer, and set his eyes on the seventh elder next to him, Yu Ruijiang, who had never spoken.

Yu Ruijiang has dark skin, is tall and big, has a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and looks very strong. He wears a crown of hair, long black hair that reaches his waist, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a square forehead and a wide face, and a black mole under his left eye. He has a lot of talent, but he has not confiscated apprentices for many years. Even eleven years ago, the grandson of Li Yuanxiao's friend, the disciple who was known as the most talented disciple of the Taiqing Sect in the past fifty years, did not fall into his eyes. At that time, when the disciple tested the root bone, the fish intestine sword emitted a faint purple light, indicating that his root bone was lower than the first grade qualification.

The elders saw that Li Yuanxiao never spoke, so they gradually stopped. After Yu Ruijiang and the other elders were quiet, he said lightly: "These two disciples, I want them." ”

Li Yuanxiao was waiting for this sentence: "Haha, that's no better." The Seventh Elder accepted the two of them, do you have any objections?"

Yu Ruijiang has not accepted disciples for many years, and his cultivation realm is the most profound among the elders. As soon as he opened his mouth, naturally no one robbed him anymore.

As for Jiang Qigao and Luo Haibo, their qualifications were medium, Li Yuanxiao and several elders discussed a little, and appointed the fifth elder Yin Kaixiao and the twelfth elder Huang Ruijing as their masters.

After testing the root bones and assigning the master, the four little disciples kowtowed to the master three times each, and from then on they were officially admitted to the sect. After the apprenticeship ceremony, the four of them returned to the bungalow to pack their bags and prepare to start practicing with their respective masters. The four of them climbed the 6,000 steps of Tiandao Mountain together yesterday, and they already had feelings, but unfortunately they were separated again just now.

"I didn't expect the two of you to be so good! I was also accepted as an apprentice by the Seventh Elder who seemed to be very powerful, tsk, you will be famous in the future, but you have to cover me a little!" Jiang Qigao joked again.

"'Master leads the way, and the cultivation is personal.'" Although my qualifications are much worse than yours, I will definitely not lose to you, you have to be careful!" Luo Haibo is really a person with a tough heart.

"Haha, definitely. Fatty, you too, don't be looked down upon!" Tianxiao patted Jiang Qigao on the shoulder.

"I'm going to part ways so soon, and I don't know when I'll see each other again......" Tianyao's eyes were red, and his feelings were always so delicate. In fact, he was right, the territory of the Taiqing Sect is very large, and there is not much movement between disciples in normal times, and if they want to meet, they must get the permission of the master. Besides, when you first enter the sect, you should naturally focus on cultivation, and maybe it will be a few years before you say goodbye.

"Whether we see each other or not, we will always be good brothers!" Tianxiao's words made several people shake their hands together excitedly.

After exchanging cherishes, the four of them reluctantly separated in the courtyard.

......

Tianxiao and Tianyao worshiped the seventh elder Yu Ruijiang as their teacher, so they naturally went in the same direction. After the apprenticeship ceremony, Yu Ruijiang instructed the two to go to the Houshan Hall to find him.

The main hall of the back mountain, called "Sanqing Palace", there is a huge statue in the lobby, which is the master of the Taiqing Sword Immortal, Hongjun Sword Immortal. There are three smaller statues standing side by side at the bottom, one of which is the eldest disciple Yuqing Sword Immortal under the Hongjun Sword Immortal Seat, the one on the right is the second disciple Shangqing Sword Immortal, and the one on the far left is naturally the founding patriarch of the Taiqing Sect - Taiqing Sword Immortal. This backmountain hall is only used for worship on weekdays.

There are also two side halls on the left and right of the main hall of the back mountain, and the one on the left is the "Library Pavilion", which contains various elixir formulas, formation classics and historical materials for cultivating immortals, among which of course there is also the famous "Immortal Sword Spectrum". The one on the right is the "Alchemy Room", which has more than 40 large and small alchemy rooms, and there are many storage rooms on the second floor, which are dedicated to storing pills and medicinal materials.

Tianxiao and Tianyao bypassed the Daode Hall and came to the back mountain, and saw Yu Ruijiang standing with his back to them from a distance. When the two approached, Yu Ruijiang turned around and said lightly: "You are my third and fourth apprentices, now follow me to see your senior brother and second senior sister." ”

It turned out that Yu Ruijiang had only accepted a total of two disciples until he accepted Tianxiao and Tianyao. At that moment, Tianxiao and Tianyao held hands and followed Master Yu Ruijiang to the back of the mountain.