At his side, an excited voice reached his ears. Ian Quinn lifted his head, and then saw a sword light rising from the horizon, swift as the wind and lightning. In no time, it appeared before his eyes. The radiance withdrew, revealing the face of an immortal envoy in white, with a look of cold arrogance. His gaze swept over everyone present, one by one, before he spoke: “Which one of you is Ian Quinn?”

Chapter 5 Unexpected Change

Silence.

The once lively courtyard seemed to have been paused. The prodigies who had just been cheering and rejoicing now looked at each other in confusion.

Where was the spirit boat? The immortal envoy had come here—shouldn’t he be taking them to the Spirit Opening Grounds? Why was he suddenly asking about Ian Quinn? What was his intention?

A trace of unease surfaced in their hearts.

Ian Quinn swallowed hard and stepped forward. “That’s me.”

The white-robed immortal envoy turned his head, his gaze as sharp as a blade, finally fixing fiercely on the young man’s face. “You are Ian Quinn, the one born to a poor family, who succeeded in cultivating the ‘Seeking Immortality Manual’ without the aid of any medicinal stones?”

“Yes, that’s me.” Ian Quinn felt a bit uneasy as well. The situation had come so suddenly that he had no time to think, so he could only grit his teeth and admit it.

“Good!”

The white-robed immortal envoy gave him a deep look. “Come with me.”

With that, he beckoned with his hand, bringing Ian Quinn onto the sword light, and turned to leave.

“Wait!”

A series of unexpected events had left the youths waiting to enter the sect bewildered. It wasn’t until they saw the immortal envoy about to leave with Ian Quinn that they erupted, all speaking up to stop him.

“Immortal envoy, what do you mean by this?”

“Yeah, didn’t you come here to take us to the Spirit Opening? Why are you only taking Ian Quinn?”

“Is something wrong? Then who will take us to the Spirit Opening and into the sect?”

…

A cacophony of voices filled the air, and the spacious courtyard instantly became bustling. Seeing the fear and unease on everyone’s faces, the white-robed immortal envoy’s expression grew impatient. “What’s all this noise? Quiet down!”

He used a bit of magic in his shout, making everyone’s ears buzz. In their fright, they finally fell silent.

A trace of mocking coldness appeared at the corner of the immortal envoy’s mouth. “Spirit Opening? Stop dreaming. Except for this boy beside me, all of your qualifications for entry have been revoked.”

“What?”

Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, all the youths present were dumbfounded, staring at each other in disbelief, almost thinking they’d misheard. After a moment, voices finally broke the silence:

“Immortal envoy, you must be joking.”

“Yeah, my heart can’t take this. We’ll all be fellow disciples soon—this kind of joke isn’t funny.”

“Immortal envoy, you’re just trying to scare us, right?”

…

“Hmph, who would bother to toy with you ants?” The white-robed immortal envoy turned his head. Whether it was an illusion or not, his expression seemed a bit gloating. “Your entry qualifications were personally revoked by the elders last night. Do you really think I’d joke or lie about something like this?”

Hearing this, everyone was both shocked and furious:

“Why?”

“Yeah, on what grounds are our qualifications revoked? We went through so much hardship to pass the sect’s examination—how can you just cancel it like that?”

“There’s reason behind everything, even the immortal sect must follow rules. For no reason at all, why revoke our qualifications?”

“If you don’t give us a convincing explanation today, we won’t let this go.”

…

For a moment, emotions ran high. No wonder everyone was so indignant—these people were all mortals. Though not as poor as Ian Quinn, and their cultivation not as arduous, they had still paid a price to get this far. Now, just as they were about to embark on the path of immortality, their qualifications were inexplicably revoked. If it were you, could you stay calm?

Frustrated and angry, of course they would make a scene.

“Enough! All of you, shut up!”

A flash of anger crossed the white-robed immortal envoy’s face. “This is sacred ground of the immortal sect. How dare you ants make a scene here? If not for the elders’ orders, do you believe I wouldn’t extract your souls and refine your spirits right now? A bunch of ungrateful fools.”

Before he finished speaking, he flicked his finger, and a flame the size of a wine cup suddenly appeared at his fingertip. As soon as the fire appeared, the air temperature soared. Though it was early autumn, everyone felt a wave of stifling heat in their hearts.

He then waved his right hand, and the flame shot forward like an arrow from a strong bow, flying with a “whoosh” and striking a locust tree as thick as an arm. With a flash of fire, the two-zhang-tall tree was instantly reduced to ashes.

“Hiss…”

Everyone gasped, cold sweat pouring down their foreheads. Only now did they remember that, at this moment, they were facing a cultivator. Worldly power and wealth were nothing but clay and paper; their own status was not even worthy of posturing here.

Recognizing reality, everyone was deflated. Even those who had shouted the loudest just now lowered their heads—needless to say, they had given in.