Ten Thousand Years in Seclusion
Chapter 23:The Falling Cloud Sect Opens Its Mountain Gate

Chapter 23: Chapter 23:The Falling Cloud Sect Opens Its Mountain Gate

Qi Tian stood before Mount Qinglu with his hands behind his back, staring pensively at the ward sealing the mountain.

As he pondered, a sudden commotion erupted from Mount Qingyun next door. The noise rolled like a tide, as though hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people had gathered there.

He extended his divine sense slightly, spreading it toward the neighboring peak like a veil of gauze.

The mountain path was filled with Qi Condensation cultivators. They hurried upward in groups of three or five, their footsteps brisk as they made their way along the winding stone steps.

Qi Tian pondered for a moment, already forming a plan in his mind. He turned and headed toward Mount Qingyun.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, he saw several young men dressed in blue robes hurrying up the mountain path, their faces anxious.

"Hurry! At this rate, we’ll be too late!"

"Move your feet! The mountain gate opens at Wu Shi. Once the auspicious hour passes, they won’t accept any more disciples. If we’re late, we’ll have to wait another three years!"

"Three years? I’ll be over the age limit by then!"

Qi Tian stepped forward and stopped one of the young men, asking calmly, "You all seem to be in quite a hurry. May I ask where you’re headed?"

Though clearly frantic with anxiety, the young man noticed Qi Tian’s attire and the extraordinary bearing about him. He quickly cupped his hands and replied, "You’re not from around here, are you? Today is the day the Falling Cloud Sect opens its mountain gate to accept disciples. It only happens once every three years. If we miss it this time, we’ll have to wait another full three years. That’s why we’re all rushing to the mountain gate!"

Qi Tian gave a slight nod and looked up at Mount Qingyun, where clouds and mist coiled around the peaks.

Faint spiritual light shimmered around the mountainside. The Mountain-Guarding Array was half-open, half-closed, while auspicious energy lingered in the air, enveloping the summit.

So there was already a sect established here.

The Falling Cloud Sect...

Back in Zhenyuan City, he had heard people mention that the Falling Cloud Sect was the largest cultivation force in the surrounding region. Even the Yuelai Inn in the city was an establishment owned by the sect.

Since Mount Qinglu could not be entered for the time being, he might as well pay the Falling Cloud Sect a visit and see whether he could temporarily settle there.

The mountain was adjacent to Mount Qinglu. If he could stay here, he could accomplish three things at once: find out why Mount Qinglu was sealed, make it convenient to probe Mount Qinglu whenever necessary, and have a quiet place to cultivate.

With his cultivation, securing a position as a guest elder should not be difficult.

With his decision made, Qi Tian no longer hesitated. He joined the stream of people surging toward the mountain gate and began ascending the stone steps.

The stone staircase of Mount Qingyun numbered several thousand steps. It wound upward like a giant dragon, disappearing into the swirling clouds and mist above. The mountain breeze carried the crisp purity of spiritual energy down from the heights, causing everyone’s robes to billow and snap in the wind. The Qi Condensation youths around him had flushed faces and unsteady steps, yet they continued climbing through gritted teeth, their eyes burning with an intense longing for the path of cultivation.

Amid the crowd, Qi Tian walked at an unhurried pace, as though he were strolling on level ground. His entire aura was completely concealed. At first glance, he appeared no different from an early-stage Qi Condensation cultivator.

Yet his calm and composed bearing still made him stand out like a crane among chickens, drawing occasional furtive glances from the youths nearby.

After roughly half an incense stick of time, the mountain gate came into view.

It was a towering gate pavilion carved entirely from a single piece of azure jade, standing over thirty zhang tall. Above the entrance, the three ancient seal-script characters "Falling Cloud Sect" shimmered with spiritual light, faintly emanating a sense of pressure.

On both sides of the gate pavilion stood jade pillars carved with coiling dragons. Runes upon their surfaces flickered between light and darkness, resonating faintly with the Mountain-Guarding Array halfway up the mountain.

The plaza before the mountain gate was packed with people. Qi Tian did not hurry forward. Instead, he stopped for a moment, slowly sweeping his gaze across the bustling crowd.

Most were teenagers in their mid-teens to early twenties, with cultivation ranging from the early to middle stages of Qi Condensation.

But a handful of older faces could also be found among them. Some were already in their mid-to-late twenties, or even just past thirty. Their faces bore a little more of the wear and hardship of the road, and their cultivation was correspondingly higher, most of them at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation or above.

Most of these people had come alone. They stood silently at the edges of the crowd rather than mingling with the younger disciples, their brows carrying a trace of solemnity.

Qi Tian withdrew his gaze and followed the slowly advancing crowd toward the western side of the plaza.

Beneath the gate pavilion, several azure-jade tables stood in a row.

Several disciples of the Falling Cloud Sect sat behind them, all at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Condensation, their heads lowered as they busied themselves with registration. In front of each disciple was a greenwood tray piled high with wooden tokens.

Qi Tian’s gaze fell upon their dark blue cultivator robes.

This color... this style...

His eyes narrowed slightly.

The middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator he had seen outside Yuelai Inn earlier had been wearing a robe exactly like this.

So he was from the Falling Cloud Sect as well.

Qi Tian stepped forward.

"Excuse me—"

"Don’t waste time. Just wait."

The disciple on the left did not even raise his head. His right hand was already reaching into the tray. He grabbed a wooden token and casually shoved it into Qi Tian’s hand.

Qi Tian: "..."

He had merely intended to ask what qualifications were required to become a guest elder.

Instead, he had been mistaken for someone here to take the sect’s entrance examination.

Never mind.

He had never seen a sect entrance examination before. Experiencing one firsthand might be interesting.

He looked down at the token in his hand.

No. 936.

Just then, two figures descended side by side along the stone steps on the inner side of the mountain gate.

The man on the left was broad and powerfully built, his face dark red like a jujube. A crimson saber hung at his waist. With every step he took, the soles of his boots struck the azure-jade steps, sending out faint ripples of spiritual pressure.

The man on the right was tall and lean, his figure straight as bamboo. His expression was cold and indifferent, and he idly toyed with an azure-jade ruyi in one hand. The aura surrounding him was as deep and heavy as an abyss, his mid-stage Foundation Establishment pressure radiating outward without the slightest attempt to conceal it.

Qi Tian raised his eyes slightly, understanding at once.

They were most likely the stewards or elders overseeing today’s disciple recruitment for the Falling Cloud Sect.

When the two reached the spot directly beneath the gate pavilion, the burly elder stepped forward.

His voice boomed like a great bell, rolling across the entire plaza.

"Wu Shi has arrived—"

"The mountain gate is open!"

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping across the sea of people crowding the plaza like a blade.

It finally settled on the entrance to the mountain path.

His voice suddenly turned cold.

"Those without tokens—turn back!"

The final four words fell like a hammer striking stone.

Before his voice had even faded, a burst of hurried, disordered footsteps suddenly came from below the mountain path.

Several cultivators came rushing up in disheveled clothing, sweat glistening on their foreheads. They had clearly raced up the mountain with everything they had.

The moment they stumbled into the outskirts of the plaza, those four words reached their ears like a final verdict.

Their footsteps froze.

One of them, a boy of perhaps seventeen or eighteen, was still breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently. Yet all the color drained from his face in an instant. His lips moved twice, but in the end, not a sound escaped him.

Beside him, a female cultivator somewhat older than he was gripped the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were filled with disbelief and bleak despair.

The other two looked even worse, their faces ashen, their jaws clenched tight, the veins at their temples faintly throbbing.

The burly elder stepped half a pace forward, his voice rolling across the plaza like thunder.

"Those who have reached the sixth layer of Qi Condensation, regardless of age—step forward!"

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

Qi Tian paused.

He glanced down at the token in his hand.

Am I supposed to step forward, or not?