Ye Xianyu walked ahead, her voice soft and gentle as she spoke.
"The Wendao Sword Sect's Seven Peaks and Thirteen Halls, including the younger generations staying within the mountain gates, total over a hundred thousand people. However, most are disciples at the foundation establishment and core formation stages. This first floor of the Immortal Pavilion stores the everlasting lamps of the fifth stage nascent soul disciples, totaling over eight thousand."
Xu Xian was stunned and blurted out, "Only eight thousand?"
Ye Xianyu gave him a sidelong glance and said leisurely, "What do you mean 'only eight thousand'? Eight thousand is quite a lot—it's nearly a tenth of the total. Do you really think cultivation is easy, that nascent soul cultivators are a dime a dozen? Not everyone is like you..."
Accumulated over ten thousand years, there were only eight thousand.
This showed that the status of a nascent soul cultivator was truly not low.
Xu Xian shrugged. "Fair enough!"
The two of them passed through the first floor, climbed a set of stairs, and reached the second floor. The space was slightly smaller than the first, but there were far fewer lamps.
"This is the second floor. When one advances from nascent soul to soul transformation, their soul lamp is moved here. There are fewer than a thousand lamps here."
Even so, while it wasn't many, it wasn't few either.
Those at the soul transformation stage had lifespans of up to two thousand years; every single one of them could be considered an old beast.
Following that logic, they reached the third floor.
This floor stored the soul lamps of the seventh stage body integration stage.
Total: 210 lamps.
This accumulation of ten thousand years of heritage represented the mainstream combat power of the Wendao Sword Sect. Those whose lamps were kept here were all one-in-a-million geniuses. More than half of them possessed single-attribute spirit roots, and Wen Qingxue's lamp was among them.
The fourth floor: eighth stage great ascension stage.
The light here was somewhat dim. In the vast hall, the soul lamps were arranged in only a single row. One could count them at a glance without Ye Xianyu needing to explain.
There were only twenty-four.
When he first joined the sect, Ye Xianyu had told Xu Xian that in Fanzhou, those who reached the eighth stage could claim to be immortals. In the massive Wendao Sword Sect, through ten thousand years of history, there were only twenty-four such individuals.
Among these people, Xu Xian recognized many of the names. Li Qingshan and Ruan Hao went without saying—one was his master, and the other was his little grand-nephew.
The rest, such as Han Yi and Shang Jun, were either Peak Masters or Hall Masters. Of course, more than half had long since retired and rarely showed their faces.
Ye Xianyu said, "Those at the great ascension stage can live up to five thousand years. Those here are all Pavilion Elders of the Sword Pavilion. Of course, Master Ruan, your teacher, is an exception; the old gentleman is solely focused on forging swords and has little interest in other matters. The youngest among them is Little Qingshan at over eight hundred years old. The rest are all older than me! They are the true foundation of our Wendao Sword Sect!"
Xu Xian nodded thoughtfully, then instinctively looked up at the ceiling and asked, "Senior Sister, your soul lamp is up there, right?"
Ye Xianyu replied proudly, "Of course!"
The two of them ascended to the fifth floor.
This floor was even more empty, with only thirteen lamps.
The brightest one was placed at the highest point, with the three characters 'Li Taibai' written upon it. Below it were two lamps, and below those were ten more. Yun Zheng was ranked fifth, Lei Yunche was seventh, and Ye Xianyu was on the far right.
The very last one.
Ye Xianyu stopped and gazed at the bright lamps before her. Her tone became solemn and formal as she introduced them one by one.
"This is the fifth floor of the Immortal Pavilion. Only first-generation disciples and those at the tribulation transcendence stage may enter this floor. The first lamp at the very top belongs to the Sect Master. The two lamps below his belong to two Guest Elders at the tribulation transcendence stage. Although they are part of our Wendao Sword Sect, their heritage differs from ours. However, they have dedicated their lives to the sect, so they are placed after the Sect Master but above us to show respect. As for this third row, I'm sure I don't need to tell you—these are the soul lamps of the first-generation disciples."
Pausing for a moment, Ye Xianyu turned to look at Xu Xian and smiled. "You have already entered the nascent soul stage, so there should naturally be a soul lamp for you here."
It was within his expectations and logical, so Xu Xian had naturally anticipated it. However, he still said, "I'm only at the nascent soul stage, while everyone here is a great cultivator at the tribulation transcendence stage. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to put me here?"
Ye Xianyu smiled slightly and teased, "Do you actually care about that?"
Xu Xian naturally understood the meaning behind her words. He rolled his eyes and said confidently, "Of course. I have a reputation to maintain, you know."
"Tch—" Ye Xianyu let out a light snort. With a flip of her palm, a brand-new lamp appeared in her hand, which she promptly shoved in front of the youth. "Alright, stop babbling and light it."
"Oh!"
Xu Xian obediently took the soul lamp.
Ye Xianyu asked, "Do you need me to teach you how to separate a sliver of your soul?"
"No need, I know how."
The youth sat cross-legged, holding the lamp in one hand. With a thought, he circulated his qi, extracted a wisp of his soul, condensed it on his left palm, and gently sent it into the lamp.
Poof!
The lamp ignited, its fire glowing brightly.
He looked up at Ye Xianyu and said, "It's done!"
Ye Xianyu narrowed her eyes slightly. "Quite practiced at it. Go on, just place it behind my lamp."
Xu Xian stood up and placed the lamp on the stand, glancing at the other thirteen lamps as he did so.
If the third floor represented the Wendao Sword Sect's combat power and the fourth floor symbolized its heritage, then this fifth floor was the true foundation that allowed the sect to stand tall in this world.
Even though the Wendao Sword Sect was an outlier—disliked by the human race and hated by the foreign races—these thirteen lamps were enough to suppress the world. Even the Three Sects would not dare to act recklessly. If not for the fact that five of these lamps had been missing for thousands of years, the Wendao Sword Sect's prominence would likely be even greater than it was today.
After setting down the lamp, Xu Xian stepped back and looked at Ye Xianyu, saying lazily, "Alright! All set."
Ye Xianyu was quite satisfied, her smile extremely sweet. "Little Eleven."
"What?"
Ye Xianyu said with a beaming smile, "Don't you feel that this hall has become brighter?"
"Has it?" Xu Xian asked, knowing full well what she meant.
Ye Xianyu acted as if she were on stage, saying with mock seriousness, "Really! Look, it's full of light. This symbolizes that our Wendao Sword Sect has a promising future."
Xu Xian curled his lip. "Senior Sister, you're laying it on a bit thick."
Ye Xianyu patted Xu Xian on the shoulder and said very seriously, "Really, I have high hopes for you. When you transcend the lightning tribulation in the future and become a true tribulation transcendence stage expert, I believe you will definitely lead the Wendao Sword Sect to even greater heights. You will lead the sect's disciples to open a new chapter for Fanzhou..."
For some reason, Xu Xian suddenly felt a bit of pressure. Placing that lamp there really made him feel the burden on his shoulders grow heavier.
A lamp entering the Immortal Pavilion to illuminate the dark room—the symbolism was self-evident.
"Senior Sister!"
"Hmm?"
"How about we just put my lamp on the first floor instead?"
"Why?"
The youth said solemnly, "I want to take it one step at a time, with my feet on the ground, and climb up through my own hard work..."
Ye Xianyu's phoenix-like eyes flickered.
"In your dreams."
"Forget I said anything," Xu Xian compromised.
Ye Xianyu smiled and said, "Didn't you just ask what the sixth and seventh floors are for? Come on, shall I take you up to see?"
Xu Xian didn't refuse.
After all... since he was already here!
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