Having introduced the topic, Feng Chutang said, "To discuss the unified sect examination, we must first understand its origins—specifically, why such an examination came to exist in the first place. We all know there are countless Dao paths. Yet just as arts vary in quality, so do the paths of the Dao. Some lead straight to ascension as immortals, while others only cultivate crude brute force. Regardless of the path, however, as long as one could cultivate it, one could establish a sect in ancient times. Thus, countless sects emerged."
Feng Chutang continued, "When anything proliferates in such numbers, the good inevitably mixes with the bad, and sects were no exception. Only those possessing a path to ascension could truly be called immortal sects. Perched high above the mundane world, the immortal sects naturally had no shortage of disciples; their only worry was turning away the hordes clamoring to enter, for they could never accept them all. Thus, since ancient times, immortal sects set up all manner of hurdles, deliberately making things difficult. And when an applicant couldn't be deterred, they could simply say, 'You hold no fate with our sect,' and dismiss the matter then and there."
A burst of laughter echoed through the Hall of Inspiring Thought. Only a scarce three or four students, Wei Yuan among them, did not laugh. In that era, there was no doubt that someone of Wei Yuan's impoverished background would have belonged strictly to the group holding 'no fate with our sect.'
"Yet for other sects, a single seed of cultivation was often the catalyst for an entire resurgence, offering smaller sects a chance to shed their mortal bones and be reborn through fire. And so, to contest for cultivation seeds, the sects gradually resorted to unscrupulous methods. The poorer a sect's heritage, the more underhanded its tactics became..."
Feng Chutang then began to describe the various methods used, and as the students listened, a whole new world seemed to unfold before their eyes.
At first, to vie for cultivation seeds, certain minor sects merely promised promising students of poor origins some flour, grain, and oil. Later, this escalated to gold, silver, and farmland. Once every household was offering money and land, even that proved insufficient. To win people over, some sects pledged that 'when one person achieves the Dao, even their dogs and chickens ascend to heaven,' taking in entire extended families to live within the sect. Other sects took a different tack, promising wives and concubines upon entry.
Naturally, where wives and concubines were offered, male paramours were offered too.
Once every sect began handing out gifts and material goods could no longer secure an edge, sects abandoned all pretense, outright seizing mountains and cordoning off lands. They proclaimed every cultivation seed in a given city or territory belonged to them, forbidding outsiders from poaching—or even coming to look.
Later still, a small sect managed to grab a disciple blessed with karmic destiny. Seeing they had no means to instruct him properly, an idea struck them: they slapped a price on the disciple and sold him off to a major sect, opening up yet another new avenue of profit.
Once people began selling disciples, it was not long before some found such small-time squabbling too petty. Minor sects approached superior sects—and even immortal sects—begging for basic introductory cultivation arts, which they then had every disciple in their territory practice. Those endowed with the right talent who succeeded were sent up to the superior sects, while those who failed were kept for menial work or kicked out altogether. Because they all cultivated the superior sects' own foundational techniques, the disciples sent up by these minor sects adapted quickly, lagging barely behind the sects' direct lineages.
This provided a steady supply of disciples, and the superior sects were more than happy to oblige.
As this practice became commonplace, standardized systems gradually took shape.
Minor and superior sects reached agreements: a batch of disciples would be delivered every few years, and the superior sects would settle accounts in silver and cultivation resources based on the disciples' quality and cultivation level. Just like that, cultivating immortality was turned outright into a business.
In this way, the minor sects secured steady revenue while the superior sects gained a steady flow of disciples, each taking what they needed. The method spread across the realm. Before long, virtually every commandery and county had a master; there was not an inch of unclaimed territory under heaven.
As time wore on, the chaos only deepened. Many genuine cultivation prodigies were swindled into mountain gates by minor sects through every underhanded trick imaginable, forced to cultivate garbage arts. What had begun mainly as deception eventually gave way to outright threats, bribery, and coercion; every conceivable tactic was brought to bear. And since force worked, some sects ceased handing out the promised gifts altogether.
By this point, the aloof immortal sects finally realized something was amiss. The rogue cultivators they managed to recruit were growing fewer and fewer. Then, one day, an immortal sect chanced upon a child of karmic destiny. In an era when karmic destiny was exceptionally scarce, this was nothing short of unearthing a savior who could lead the sect to an era of prosperity.
Yet that person had already cultivated in a small sect for six years, forging a worthless Dao Foundation. There was no longer any room to salvage his path.
Under normal circumstances, a child of karmic destiny would naturally gravitate toward an immortal sect suited to them through various twists of fate. But this child had been lured away, kidnapped, imprisoned, coerced, and subjected to severe torture, forced into practicing an art entirely ill-suited to his makeup. The child's talent was truly formidable; even while cultivating a method that clashed completely with his destiny and root bone, he still managed to forge a Dao Foundation in just a few short years. Yet his boundless future was grievously crippled, destined to end forever at the dharma idol stage.
This incident sent shockwaves through the immortal sects. None had imagined that even the heaven-defying fortune of a child of karmic destiny could not escape the clutches of these minor sects.
Not long after, another major disaster struck.
Another child of karmic destiny emerged into the world, born with a frail constitution. Yet the superior sect governing the region where he was born was renowned for its body refinement techniques. This child was forcibly abducted into a local minor sect. Surviving harrowing trials, he barely scraped through the examination to earn the right to cultivate in the superior sect. However, born frail, his efforts yielded half the result for twice the toil, and his progress was painfully slow. Furthermore, having grown up in poverty, he possessed a stubborn disposition and knew nothing of smooth diplomacy. As a result, he was constantly humiliated, branded a useless failure wherever he went.
Before long, he was framed and expelled from the mountain gate. Yet he was a child of karmic destiny after all; he continually evaded the pursuers sent by his enemies. After wandering for several years, his fortune manifested, allowing him to enter another major sect renowned for talismanic arts. Naturally endowed with a powerful soul, he was born a prodigy of the talismanic path. In less than a century, he achieved the Dao Foundation and dharma idol stages in rapid succession, ascending straight to Scenery Command and even creating several unprecedentedly powerful Dao talismans of his own.
Once his cultivation reached fruition, he quietly descended the mountain. First, he slaughtered the entire minor sect that had originally forced him into its ranks, leaving not a soul alive. Then he went to that body-refining superior sect, wiping out the entire households of everyone who had ever humiliated him, even slaying his former master and his master's master.
He remembered every single person who had ever called him a failure—or even looked at him with contempt—and turned the earth upside down to hunt them down and slaughter them. His bloody rampage eventually alarmed several Supreme Elders of the body-refining superior sect, who emerged from secluded cultivation to suppress him.
Yet the man possessed terrifying combat prowess. His self-created Dao talismans were unlike anything seen before and held tremendous destructive power, inflicting heavy losses on the elders the moment they clashed. In the end, trading blows as a Scenery Command cultivator against fellow Scenery Command masters, he slew three of the sect's elders and broke through their encirclement despite severe wounds.
With matters escalated to such extremes, even the talismanic superior sect could no longer protect him. In the end, multiple immortal sects intervened, finally cornering and killing him at the Eastern Sea.
Yet the matter did not end there. Having lost three Supreme Elders, the body-refining sect was grievously weakened. The following year, their territory was overrun by the mountain tribes, and three million people across two entire commanderies were wiped out in one fell swoop.
This incident is nowhere to be found in historical records.
Reaching this point, Feng Chutang noticed the students staring in stunned silence. He paused, allowing them time to digest it all.
Chapter 41