A dazzling, brilliant light flared up, with all sorts of complex runes flashing back and forth.
"Hold your breath and clear your minds."
Hua Xu shouted loudly, and the young men quickly complied.
Zhang Ergou also concentrated and calmed his breathing, not daring to make the slightest move.
Then, they saw the brilliant light spinning faster and faster, with streaks of runes lighting up.
After a wave of dizziness, everyone opened their eyes and found themselves in a new place.
"Where is this?"
Everyone was utterly astonished by the scene before them. The concentration of spiritual energy here was many times stronger than in their previous sects or families.
What's more, the spiritual energy here was even more refined. With just one breath, Zhang Ergou felt his cultivation realm loosening.
This was truly a good place for cultivation.
Hua Xu, Mu Chen, and Bai Youran looked at the dozen or so youths, who were acting like country bumpkins.
When they first arrived here, they hadn't performed much better than these youngsters.
Without saying much, the group quickly led Zhang Ergou and the others away.
When Zhang Ergou and the others landed again, they found that the place they had arrived at had an even more concentrated spiritual energy than before.
This was a vast mountain range that stretched as far as the eye could see. They were standing on the central peak of this mountain range.
On the peak, there were several smaller peaks. Zhang Ergou looked at them one by one, and there were exactly nine peaks.
Zhang Ergou didn't know what these peaks represented, so he could only turn his gaze to Hua Xu, Mu Chen, and Bai Youran, who had brought them here.
The other youths had the same expression as Zhang Ergou.
However, Hua Xu and the others had no intention of explaining.
"Rest for now. The personnel from other regions have not yet arrived. Once they do, a selection competition will be held. The details will be announced then."
After speaking, they took Zhang Ergou and the others to rest.
Zhang Ergou and the others were led to a shared courtyard. It was only called a courtyard in comparison to the vast mountain.
The courtyard was located at the foot of the mountain. It seemed Hua Xu didn't want them to know too much for now.
As they left, he specifically warned them not to wander around.
Zhang Ergou and Li Zhan chose a room on the westernmost side to live in. The room was neither large nor small, but it was more than enough for two people.
In the following days, Hua Xu, Mu Chen, and Bai Youran seemed to disappear, and did not appear at all.
After a brief period of novelty, Zhang Ergou lost interest in exploring further. After all, they could only move around at the foot of the mountain. It seemed that most of the arrivals here were young disciples like themselves.
They simply came from different places, and none of them knew much.
They couldn't go to other areas without a token with higher authority.
Therefore, Zhang Ergou began to meditate and cultivate in the courtyard. The spiritual energy here was much higher than in the inner sect of the Misty Sect.
He certainly wouldn't waste such good resources.
......
Finally, seven days later, Zhang Ergou and the others saw Hua Xu again. However, this time, only he had come; Mu Chen and Bai Youran were not present.
"Everyone, the young talents recruited from various regions have now arrived. Today, I will take you to the main peak to register. Tomorrow, the selection competition, which will last for thirty days, will officially begin."
Then, led by Hua Xu, Zhang Ergou and the others arrived at a large hall, which was divided into several small rooms, with various signs placed at the entrance.
"Sword Dao, Alchemy Dao, Formation Dao, Talisman Dao, Beast Taming Dao..."
There were exactly nine small rooms in total.
"Senior, what do these signs at the door mean?" Zhang Ergou couldn't help but ask curiously.
The others also quickly looked at Hua Xu.
"These signs mean exactly what they say. Whichever aspect of Dao you primarily cultivate, you can go to the corresponding room to register."
"Can one person register in multiple rooms at the same time?"
"What do you mean?" Hua Xu stopped and turned to look at Zhang Ergou.
"Senior, to be honest, I am also an alchemist."
Zhang Ergou rubbed his nose. He certainly wanted to compete with the youths from other parts of the continent in his alchemy skills.
"Hiss." A gasp of surprise echoed from the surroundings.
Hua Xu also looked at Zhang Ergou with bright eyes for a long time: "Haha, good kid, you've really got something."
He didn't ask Zhang Ergou what rank alchemist he was, but simply laughed heartily.
The more outstanding the disciples recruited, the better it was for the Alliance. Hua Xu was naturally very happy about this.
In the end, under Hua Xu's guidance, Zhang Ergou registered for the selection competitions in close combat, formations, and alchemy.
The other youths who came with Zhang Ergou looked at him with even more astonishment.
The news of Zhang Ergou simultaneously registering for three events quickly spread through the hall, causing quite a stir.
In addition to the individual competitions, the eleven people brought by Hua Xu, including Zhang Ergou, would also participate in a team competition.
Finally, based on the results of the individual and team competitions, the winners of this event would be selected.
When they heard Hua Xu say that only thirty youths would remain after this selection, the expressions of the young men became much more serious.
In fact, Hua Xu had lied to them. All these disciples would be kept by the Guardian Alliance.
However, similar to cultivation in major sects, those who performed excellently would be chosen by the various main peaks as direct disciples, with boundless futures.
Those with average performance would be chosen as inner disciples, and after several years of cultivation, they might have the opportunity to become direct disciples.
As for those who performed the worst, they would only become outer disciples of the Alliance, having to do all the dirty and tiring work, and receiving meager cultivation resources.
These were all things Zhang Ergou and the others only learned after the selection ended.
Hua Xu wanted them to take the competition seriously and put some pressure on the youths.
Naturally, the youths did not want to be eliminated and return to their own sects to become laughingstocks.
Each of them was filled with determination.
They were just waiting for the competition to begin, to show off their skills, and to defeat their opponents.
Before everyone left the registration hall, Hua Xu specifically took Zhang Ergou to the room in the center to meet an elder with white hair.
Upon seeing the old man, Hua Xu showed a rare expression of reverence.
After bringing Zhang Ergou in, he said nothing and stood quietly to the side, waiting for the elder to speak.
"Is this the interesting little fellow you were talking about?"
After glancing at Hua Xu, the elder began to scrutinize Zhang Ergou carefully.
From head to toe, the elder's gaze moved very slowly, as if trying to see through Zhang Ergou.
Zhang Ergou also looked at the elder. He didn't feel any spiritual energy fluctuations from the elder; it was as if he were just an ordinary person.
"Zhang Ergou, do not be rude."
Seeing Zhang Ergou staring directly at the elder, Hua Xu broke out in a cold sweat.