Tang Qingyuan lost a lot in the negotiations, at least the elders felt so.

Except for the three who were determined to participate in the trial, the four elders took eleven of the remaining twelve places, and the final place was returned to the future guide, which meant that the Tang Great Palm Sect would have almost nothing to gain in this trial.

The elders could not be more satisfied with such an outcome. Because every additional trial spot they get means that they will get an extra profit from the trial.

As for where the proceeds come from? It has to start with the sword cave itself.

To put it bluntly, the Sword Trial Cave is actually an independent space. What is an independent space? Isn't an independent space a secret place?

Indeed, the Sword Trial Cave was supposed to be a secret realm, but it is no longer so. Because this space is already famous!

Naturally, there is no "secret" in an independent space with a master, and in the Tian Yuan Continent, such a space is usually called a "cave sky".

The master of the Sword Trial Cave is the Hidden Sword Gate from Zhongzhou. The original appearance of the Sword Trial Cave has long since dissipated in the long river of history, and after many years of operation by a powerful monk of the Hidden Sword Gate, the rules in the cave have long been overturned, and then redesigned according to needs, and gradually transformed into the way he wants. As early as 10,000 years ago, this Fang Dongtian had become a trial holy place specially used for selecting disciples, and it enjoyed a prestigious reputation in the entire cultivation realm.

There are thousands of monks in the world, but there are not many who are outstanding, and among them, there are even fewer who can be called geniuses. The role of a genius disciple is undoubted, and its upper limit is immeasurable. Genius disciples mean less input, greater gain.

A genius who has grown up can even change the pattern of the entire continent, but among those forces in the world that have names and surnames, which one is not built by an astonishing talent? Which force wants to develop for a long time and must not recruit some genius disciples as a foothold?

Genius disciples are hard to find, and geniuses can't choose their own origins. No one knows which day, in which corner of the continent, a child with peerless talent will suddenly descend.

Sadly, most of these children are buried, and most of them don't even have the opportunity to embark on the path of spiritual practice. Even if some of these children are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to cultivate, they will not be able to grow up at all without sufficient resources. I have to say that this is the biggest regret in the cultivation world.

In order to reduce the probability of this regret occurring, and of course, for their own development, the various sects spared no effort to search for disciples worthy of cultivation in all corners of the mainland, and even fought for the right to select.

This kind of competition has invisibly increased the cost of selecting disciples, and has also reduced the operational efficiency of the entire cultivation realm, so the division of rights is imperative.

As one of the most powerful sects in Zhongzhou, the Hidden Sword Sect was given the right to select disciples in the eastern part of the mainland, as for how much to select and how often to select, it was necessary to carefully judge according to the resources of the sect at that time.

But no matter how powerful the Hidden Sword Gate was, it wouldn't be able to eat this whole piece of cake in the eastern part of the continent. Therefore, according to the agreement of the various sects in Zhongzhou, it was finally determined that the Hidden Sword Sect would come forward to organize the selection in the eastern part of the mainland, and after selecting a certain number of outstanding disciples, they would discuss the distribution with other sects. Of course, the Hidden Sword Sect will have the right of first refusal.

As for the selection targets of the Hidden Sword Sect, it will definitely not be a needle in a haystack all over the world, but the best group will be selected from the outstanding disciples of various sects in the eastern part of the continent.

Of course, the excellent disciples that have been cultivated by other sects for many years, you can't take it away for nothing, you have to come up with something in exchange. Moreover, in order to increase the enthusiasm of each sect and its disciples to participate in the selection, the Hidden Sword Sect also took out a lot of resources to reward the sects and disciples themselves who participated in the selection. The Hidden Sword Sect has no shortage of resources, and in order to select excellent disciples, people are not stingy to invest, but how much you can take depends on your own ability.

The method of selection is also very simple, the Sword Trial Cave is specially operated for the purpose of selecting disciples, and all the rewards are also placed in it, the better you perform in the selection, the more you can take away. Even if you are not selected in the end, what you get will be rewarded to you, and the more you take, the more your sect and your recommenders will get.

In this way, every time the Hidden Sword Gate opens the Sword Trial Cave, it will become a festival for these rural sects in the eastern part of the continent, and even many people will do everything to get a place to participate in the trial. Even the most powerful Qingling Sect in the east is inevitably vulgar, and it can be seen from the performance of these elders that it is inseparable.

In fact, from the perspective of the sect, being able to obtain more resources in the trial is the first thing, and whether there are disciples who can be selected is not so important. Even the various sects will try their best to hide some extremely talented disciples for various reasons.

In order to be able to grab more resources in the trial, the various sects have hollowed out their minds and tried their best, and they don't even care about playing a little trick in the trial. As long as this method is not too excessive, the person in charge of organizing the selection of the Hidden Sword Gate will turn a blind eye and lose sight, after all, if you want the horse to run, you have to give people some grass. And I've made it easy for you, you can't play stupid with me when you're done, right?

A major sect like the Qingling Sect will have twenty places to participate in the trial every year, and it is much more convenient to play tricks.

The way to play tricks is also very simple, that is, to prepare a disciple who exists specifically for the purpose of testing the sword cave.

Lao Lin Tou is this disciple whose identity is not very glorious.

Lao Lin Tou is already in his nineties this year, and the cultivation of the Great Perfection of Qi Refining is the existence of the grandfather generation in the entire outer gate of the Qingling Sect. Normally, a person at his age who has not broken through the foundation building period should have been sent down by the sect a long time ago, but Lao Lin Tou has been in the sect for a lifetime.

Lao Lin Tou has actually been refining qi for sixty years, but he can't take the step of breaking through. Is it because his qualifications have come to an end, and there is no chance of breakthrough at all?

Of course, this is not the case, the reason why he can't break through is simply because the Sword Trial Cave can only accommodate monks who have completed Qi refining to enter the trial at most.

As we all know, monks don't build foundations, at most they have a hundred years of life, and Lao Lin Tou's age is probably running out. Of course, he dreams of building a foundation, once the foundation is built, he will have another hundred years of life out of thin air, and no one wants to die if he can live.

But he also knew that if he really built the foundation, he would have to die.

Lao Lin Tou is a person who has made serious mistakes, as for what mistakes are, the days have been too long, and even he himself can't tell clearly. He only knew that he should have been executed in the year of the consummation of Qi refining, but the sect spared him and allowed him to make meritorious contributions.

What the sect wants him to do is to maintain the cultivation of Qi Refining Perfection forever, and when the Sword Trial Cave is opened every time, he will lead other disciples to get better results in the trial.

He had been doing this task for sixty years, and he had stopped refining Qi for sixty years. After so many years, he has also changed from Senior Brother Lin to Old Lin Tou, and those who know the inside story call him the guide of the sword test cave.

If Lao Lin Tou remembered correctly, he had already entered the sword test cave twelve times, and he knew everything there by heart. Although things there will change a little every time, the fundamental things will never change. With his knowledge of the Sword Trial Cave, if he wanted to, he could even get a record that would have made everyone jaw-dropping, but he knew it didn't mean anything. No matter how good he behaved, the Hidden Sword Sect would not be interested in an old man like him, not sixty years ago, and naturally not now!

For him, entering the Sword Cave was a boring journey, and he didn't feel the slightest bit angry. Old Lin Tou is tired of it, and it is sad enough to exist for one thing all his life, but this thing can't bring him any happiness.

Of course he wanted to live, but what difference was there between living like this and dying.

Many years ago, he was still grateful to Dade for the sect to spare his life, and worked hard to complete the tasks under the sect. But as he grew older, he also saw life and death lightly, and he didn't have the heart to do anything more. He wanted to build a foundation, but the sect refused to allow it, saying that he was a sinful person, and that it was a great grace for the sect to spare his life, so how could he dare to ask for more? He was powerless to resist, so he had to live day by day.

Lao Lin Tou thought that this was the end of his life, but suddenly on this day, things took a turn for the better. A black-robed deacon suddenly appeared in front of him and gave him a new task, which was called preparing for retirement.

The deacon Lao Lin Tou didn't know him, but what he took out was the warrant of the master in charge. In this way, the deacon's words Lao Lin Tou would not have the slightest reason to doubt. And the task he received was very simple, that is, let him pass on all his experience to a kid named Qian Yang without reservation, so that the kid could achieve the best results in the trial, and take over his class in the future.

The deacon even promised that as long as the task was completed well, the sect would completely forgive him for his sins and allow him to build a foundation for the sake of his years of hard work.

The cloudy eyes of the old Lin Tou released a long-lost brilliance, and the moment he got this task, he burst into tears of excitement.

"It's finally here!" The old forest man kept murmuring. In his opinion, such an undifficult task was indeed the grace given to him by the sect.

Even if Qian Yang was a pig, he could carry the pig out of the sword test cave if he asked himself. Besides, will it be a pig who can be chosen to be the guide?

Of course not! Pigs can be deacons, they can be elders, but they can't be guides. This truth, even those pigs in the sect will not know.

Old Lin Tou wandered around the room at a loss for a long time before he finally figured out the idea from his old and unbearable mind. The situation in the Sword Trial Cave is complicated, and it will take a lot of effort to get that kid to figure out the context thoroughly. The time for the cavern to open was approaching, and he had to seize every moment now and stuff everything he knew into the boy's head. Yes, we have to go now!