Chapter 24: The Tenth Absolute Sacred Land

  These ten people were of different ages, with middle-aged and elderly individuals, but all had an otherworldly air about them. Their clothes fluttered in the wind, as if they were immortals banished to the mortal realm. Standing before the majority who were ordinary humans, they formed a striking contrast.

  One of the middle-aged men took a step forward, scanning the crowd with his eyes, and then slowly said: "Today, I will open the mountain to accept disciples in the Ten Absolute Sacred Land. Anyone who has a heart for the Tao, regardless of whether they are poor or rich, can come here to try." He paused, then said: "All of you want to enter the Ten Absolute Sacred Land?"

  "Yes!"

  Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, everyone responded in unison. Most of them were ordinary people born and raised in Zhongzhou, a land of chaos where life was precarious and one could easily become embroiled in conflicts between other powers at any moment. Now that they had the opportunity to enter the Ten Extremes Sect, a renowned sect in Zhongzhou, they were naturally overjoyed.

  "In that case... " Seeing that everyone had come to participate in the Ten Absolute Saint Site selection, the middle-aged man nodded and was about to announce the start of the selection when he was interrupted by a voice from afar:

  "Wait! Wait for me!" Huan Ran, who was on the mountain peak, heard that Shi Yue Xian was recruiting disciples and hurriedly shouted, his body transforming into a gust of wind as he rushed down. Just when Huan Ran was worried about having no place to settle, he suddenly encountered the open gates of Shi Yue Xian's mountain, so how could he give up this excellent opportunity?

  "Hmm...".

  After rushing for a while, he suddenly entered the crowd and panted: "Fortunately, I finally caught up with you!"

  "Brother, you're just in time!" A young man standing next to Huo Ran nudged his shoulder and said, "But you're already so old, still cultivating immortality, I'm afraid..."

  The meaning of the young man is very clear. All cultivators, 99% start cultivating from a young age. Once they reach the age of sixteen, their meridians are fixed, and it's hopeless to cultivate, or the cultivation speed is too slow. This point can be known from the fact that most people in the arena are around 14 or 15 years old, or even around 10 years old.

  Heedless of the strange gazes from the crowd, Huan stood tall and smiled at the young man beside him, saying: "No big deal, it's not like we're paying to try out. If we can become disciples of the Ten Extremes Sect, that'd be great; even if we don't make it in, we'll still get to see an Upper Immortal!"

  Upon hearing Huo Ran's words, the young man nodded as if he had come to a realization and smiled: "You're quite open-minded, I like people like you. My name is Yu Sheng, from now on, I'll be looking out for you!"

  He gave a cold glance at this little demon Rain, and suddenly smacked his lips, saying: "My name is Li Ran, from now on I'll be relying on you to cover for me!" Since he had already changed his appearance, he couldn't use his real name anymore. So, Ho Ran could only use his mother's surname, plus his own name.

  "Don't worry!" Yusheng stood on tiptoes, patted Horan's shoulder with his hand and said in a calm tone. In response, Horan just smiled faintly. Not long ago he had pretended to be a tiger, now it was time to pretend to be a pig.

  At the time of Huo Ran's appearance, among the ten people, an old man with white hair and beard, with a sharp gaze, stared straight at Huo Ran, as if trying to see through all the secrets of this ordinary-looking young man with a slender and tall figure. Huo Ran also sensed the old man's gaze, but due to *'s presence, he didn't have a single thread of panic, turned his head and smiled faintly at him, then waited for the opening of the Ten Extremes Sacred Land.

  The middle-aged man who was the first among the ten absolute saints did not find anything unusual about Lao Tzu, but only furrowed his brow and glanced at Huo Ran before continuing: "Although my Ten Absolute Saints may not be comparable to the Four Great Powers, we have a long-standing reputation in Zhongzhou. Our founding ancestor is one of the ten sages! It can be said with certainty that apart from the Four Great Powers, there are no other sects that surpass us!"

  "For this reason, the disciples we recruit in our sacred land must have superior innate qualities and be no older than sixteen years old..."

  The middle-aged man continued to talk about the conditions for recruiting disciples, while Yusheng whispered to Horan: "Did you hear that? This person said it can't exceed 16 years old! Look at you, should be around 20 years old, looks like there's no chance of entering the Ten Absolute Sacred Land with me." After finishing speaking, he shook his head and sighed.

  "It's nothing!" Huo Ran smiled faintly, what if he was over 16 years old? He didn't believe that with his current qualifications of having three kinds of immortal roots, he would be rejected by the Ten Extremes Holy Land! Moreover, he had already cultivated to the Five Elements Realm, and the ten people from the Ten Extremes Holy Land with their profound and mysterious cultivation, should not be unable to see this.

  Upon hearing Huo Ran's words, Yu Sheng patted his forehead and exclaimed: "I say, how can you be so optimistic? Don't you worry at all about not being able to enter the Ten Absolute Sacred Lands? Don't you want this genius youngster to take care of you?"

  Huoran rubbed his nose and said, "Why is the emperor not in a hurry, but the eunuch is? And...". He paused for a moment, looking at Yu Sheng's defeated expression, and continued, "And are you so confident that you can enter the Ten Absolute Sacred Land?"

  "Of course!" Yu Sheng shouted loudly, then quickly covered his mouth with his hand, and after making sure no one had heard him, he said in a low voice: "I'm different from them, I have extraordinary bloodline, let alone the Ten Sacred Lands, even the Four Great Powers I can get into!"

  "Huh?" Huo Ran's interest was piqued by Yu Sheng's words. He had discovered early on that Yu Sheng was a cultivator, having just opened up his Qi Sea, but it wasn't as if he was exceptionally talented like himself, right? It seemed that many people around the age of thirteen or fourteen had already opened up their Qi Seas.

  Seeing Huo Ran's incredulous expression, Yu Sheng looked around with his eyes wide open, then pulled Huo Ran down to squat and said: "I used three days to open up the Qi Sea, do you think this is genius or not?"

  Indeed, if Yu Sheng had only used three days to cultivate to his current level, he would indeed be a genius. But Hao Ran... In order not to discourage this young boy, Hao Ran pretended to be surprised and said: "Wow, you're really a genius! You've opened up your Qi Sea in just three days!"

  "This is natural!" The little kid was just a little kid, and after being said so by Huo Ran, he immediately showed an arrogant expression, and proudly declared: "If within five years Huo Ran hasn't been caught by anyone, then the final result will definitely be me capturing him and getting the reward! Do you know that, Huo Ran?"

  Listening to Yu Sheng's words, Huo Ran almost choked on his own breath and hurriedly smoothed out the air in his chest, saying: "Who is Huo Ran?" At the same time, he thought to himself: I don't just know him, I'm extremely familiar with him. Now isn't he standing right in front of you?

  Nodding, Yu said with half-closed eyes: "The name Huo Ran also rose to fame in recent days, but he is the target of a joint pursuit by the four major forces. This is because his body contains a treasure trove! Give me five years and I can compete with those masters who are pursuing Huo Ran!"

  "Hmm, unfortunately you were born five years too late. Otherwise, I would have been captured by you, and the treasure on me would have all belonged to you!"

  "That young man!" Just as Rain wanted to speak, everyone's eyes turned to him, and he pointed at himself with a bewildered expression, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

  The middle-aged man who was the first of the Ten Absolute Saints nodded and pointed at Yu Sheng, saying: "You come over, from now on you will be a member of my Ten Absolute Saints' Wangyue Cave!"

  "Am I a person of the Ten Extremes Holy Land?" Yu Sheng muttered to himself, then suddenly let out a loud roar and grabbed Huo Ran's clothes excitedly, saying: "I am a person of the Ten Extremes Holy Land! I am a person of the Ten Extremes Holy Land!"

  "Come here!" Seeing Rain's excited and almost frantic appearance, the middle-aged man frowned and said in a low voice.

  "Huh?"

  Yu Sheng suddenly looked stunned, and then whispered to Huo Ran: "You must enter the Ten Absolute Sacred Land, I'll wait for you!" After finishing speaking, he jogged towards the middle-aged man, saluted him with a fist, and stood behind him, but his gaze remained fixed on Huo Ran.

  Huo Ran just smiled calmly and nodded to reassure him.

  After selecting Yu Sheng, the middle-aged man selected more than a dozen people and then took these people to one side. He changed another person to select his disciples... In this way, one person selected more than a dozen disciples and then changed another person until all nine were selected, leaving only the old man with white hair and beard.

  "You! You! You……" The old man chose eight in a row and then stopped, his eyes wandering among the remaining people. Huo Ran remained calm, but Yu Sheng, who was behind the middle-aged man, became anxious, almost directly asking the old man to choose Huo Ran.

  "Ah!" Finally, the old man chose another person. As the chosen one stood behind him, he nodded towards the remaining nine people of the Ten Absolute Saints and turned to leave. However, before taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, and under the hopeful gazes of the remaining people, pointed at Huo Ran with one hand, saying: "You come too!"