Yuehua Sword Sect, Xuhe Peak.

One of the six great peaks, yet this place looked half-dead. Weeds had swallowed the stone steps leading up the mountain. No one had cleaned them in years.

Two disciples were trudging up the path under the blazing sun, wilted like beaten dogs, grumbling the whole way.

“What a damn waste of time. Every disciple-taking ceremony, we’ve gotta come drag that crippled peak master out. And with the formation pressing down the air so no one can fly, we have to climb on foot. Annoying as hell.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Adrian Holloway didn’t even show up last time. I heard you can’t feel a shred of spiritual qi from him anymore. His cultivation backfired and scattered. He’s just trash now.”

“If the mountain-guarding formation wasn’t there, I’d have taught him a lesson already. Anyway, that useless bastard’s about to be kicked out of the sect before long. We wouldn’t even have to worry about punishment. Might as well vent a little.”

“...”

At the summit of Xuhe Peak, Adrian Holloway stood by the Tranquil Heart Pool in a white robe.

He looked like an exile from the heavens, clean and distant, too refined for the ruined peak behind him. His bearing was still extraordinary, as if ruin had never touched him.

The two disciples had just dragged themselves up to the top. The moment they saw him standing there like that, both sneered inwardly.

No cultivation left, and he was still putting on airs like some hidden master. So what if he was handsome? A pretty face didn’t change a thing. A cripple was still a cripple.

“Adrian Holloway, the ten-year disciple-taking ceremony is here. The Sect Master sent us to call you over to accept disciples.”

“The Sect Master has already spoken with the other peak masters. If you, Adrian Holloway, can’t take in even one disciple today, then get out of the sect. Xuhe Peak should’ve changed hands long ago.”

Every other word out of their mouths was his full name. Not a trace of respect.

If this had been any other peak master, those two would’ve been slapped off the mountain already.

But here, with Adrian Holloway, things were different. The only thing protecting him was the mountain formation. It could guard his body, nothing more. It could not restore what he had lost.

Ten years ago, Adrian Holloway had been one of Yuehua Sword Sect’s brightest monsters. Still young, he had already broken into the Po Xu Realm. When he went to the upper sect, even the saintess had taken a liking to him. The Holy Lord himself had issued a decree and arranged a marriage tie between the two sects.

Because of that, the Sect Master of Yuehua Sword Sect made an exception and opened another peak, giving Adrian Holloway the seat of Xuhe Peak Master.

Back then, he had stood in the spotlight. Glorious. Untouchable.

Then he had transmigrated over.

A worn-out office slave from another life, worked to death by endless 996 shifts, he had landed in the body of this Adrian Holloway, same name and all. And right after that, the man’s cultivation began to collapse like a broken dam. It dropped and dropped, until five years ago, he had become a complete mortal.

A peak master with no cultivation.

How could anyone stay?

The disciples under Xuhe Peak fled where they could, scattered where they couldn’t. By now, the whole peak had long since emptied out, leaving him alone like a man abandoned by the world.

Adrian Holloway had been here ten years.

There was no phone, no noise, no way back. Every day, he either raised flowers or fed fish. To others, it looked like calm elegance, the leisure of an immortal at peace.

Only he knew the truth.

He was bored enough to rot.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go down the mountain. He didn’t dare.

Ten years ago, the old Adrian Holloway had offended plenty of people. Going down the mountain now would be no different from laying his neck on the butcher’s block. So he could only stay trapped on this tiny Xuhe Peak, living like a ghost in a painted cage.

But that was as far as it went.

This very morning, that damned system had finally activated for today’s disciple-taking ceremony.

The moment it woke up, Adrian Holloway had nearly laughed out loud.

This dog of a system had come way too late.

“Let’s go. I’ll take in a disciple at the ceremony.”

At that thought, Adrian Holloway felt some of the pressure ease off his chest. He flicked his sleeve and strode down the mountain.

The two disciples behind him sneered at once.

“What a joke. A cripple like him wants a disciple? Dream on. If I were him, I’d crawl out of the sect myself and save what little face I had left.”

“Hmph. A useless wreck, still putting on the air of a peak master. The other five peaks are thriving. Anyone with a sound head would sooner die than take him as master. Today’s the day he gets thrown out.”

Adrian said nothing as he walked ahead.

Still, their words hit the sore spot dead-on.

He called up the system at once and checked the task.

[Current Task: Please accept the designated person as your disciple. Upon success, the Ten-Thousandfold Disciple Return System will officially activate.]

[If you fail, this system will shut down forever. All absorbed cultivation will not be returned. Host, take care of yourself.]

The moment he confirmed the task, Adrian’s face went dark.

They were right. With his current state, taking in even one disciple would be hard as climbing the heavens. It wasn’t a matter of whether he wanted one. The real problem was whether anyone would even kneel to him.

Taking in just any disciple was already hard enough.

And this damned thing wanted a designated one?

This trash dog system had first swallowed his cultivation, then tossed him a task that was near impossible.

But things had already come to this. There was no point cursing.

He could only go and see for himself.

With that, Adrian quickened his pace and headed straight for Taihe Plaza.

Taihe Plaza spread wide like a sea of green waves, vast and open. At the front of the square stood ten coiling dragon pillars, each one over ten zhang tall. They were white as jade, so thick it would take three men to wrap their arms around one. Beneath every pillar sat an ancient bluestone chair, weathered and heavy with age.

Dorian Crane and the other five peak masters had already taken their seats.

The ceremony was about to begin, yet the masters of the six peaks were still not all present.

“This Adrian Holloway has gone too far!” the master of Lingji Peak barked from beneath the third dragon pillar, his voice sharp as a whip. “The Sect Master already gave the order—if he fails to take in a disciple today, he’ll be stripped of his peak and driven from the sect. And yet he’s still the same as last ceremony, dragging his feet and barely showing his face. He simply doesn’t take the disciple-taking ceremony seriously at all!”

Ten years ago, when Dorian Crane had opened Xuhe Peak, quite a bit of resources had been cut out from Lingji Peak. He had counted every bit of that loss on Adrian’s head. The grudge had sat there for years, festering like a thorn in the flesh.

“Exactly,” the woman beside him said coldly. “He’s gone too far.”

Her figure was graceful, her beauty almost too striking, the sort that carried a sharp edge. She was the newly appointed master of Qingheng Peak.

“This isn’t ten years ago. If he were still the same heaven-blessed genius he was back then, saying he was in closed-door cultivation would be one thing. No one could fault him for that. But now? He’s already become a cripple, yet he still occupies one of the six great peaks. That is plainly unreasonable.”

As she spoke, a commotion rose from the distance.

Heads turned.

From afar, a man in white was walking toward the plaza step by step.

His robe was plain, but on him it looked clean as moonlight. His face was fine and cold, as if carved by a patient hand. Even after all these wasted years, even with his cultivation broken and gone, there was still something on him that did not belong to ordinary men. He walked without hurry, but every step drew eyes.

For a moment, the square stirred.

“Th-this... who is that? He looks like an immortal cast down from the heavens. Is that the Sect Master’s direct disciple?”

“I’ve never seen a man this handsome in my life. Which peak’s genius is he from? I’m joining that one!”

Adrian Holloway’s arrival stirred the whole crowd of young women at once. Eyes lit up. Whispers rose. A few even forgot themselves and kept staring at his face.

But that little fever did not last.

Someone soon sneered and broke the mood.

“You lot don’t even know? That’s Adrian Holloway, the famous master of Xuhe Peak in Yuehua Sword Sect. You still sure you want to enter Xuhe Peak?”

“That’s him? The Adrian Holloway they talk about? I heard his cultivation backfired and scattered. He’s a cripple now. Who’d dare take him as master?”

“I’ve heard of him too. He doesn’t deserve to hold a peak at all. If the Saintess of the upper sect, Holy Spirit Dao Lineage, hadn’t taken a liking to him, the Sect Master would never have made an exception and opened another peak for him. Him? Worthy?”

The words fell hard.

The crowd that had been restless a moment ago pulled back at once, like the tide running from a reef.

No one was a fool.

In this world, strength ruled all. Even a three-year-old child knew that much. A handsome face was fine for idle talk, fine for a passing glance, maybe even a little daydreaming. But stake one’s future on a pretty face with no strength?

That was asking to be ruined.

Seeing them retreat as if he carried plague, Adrian Holloway fell silent.

A moment ago, he had still held a sliver of hope.

Now that hope looked thin as smoke.

His mind had already drifted somewhere else entirely—where to run after being thrown out of the sect, and how far he’d have to flee to avoid getting hacked to death by old enemies.

Before he could think deeper, a mocking voice cut across the square.

“Master Li has arrived. Today’s disciple-taking ceremony is grand enough. If it serves as your farewell feast, that’s not so bad either, eh?”

The master of Lingji Peak opened his mouth the instant he saw Adrian. The man’s lips were hooked high, smug and sharp, nearly splitting to his ears.

Adrian glanced at him, but did not answer.

There was no point.

At the side, the master of Fengjian Mountain had long since taken a liking to several promising seedlings. He could not be bothered wasting time on Adrian Holloway. In his eyes, Adrian was already half a man outside the sect gate.

“Time is up. Let the Sect Master preside over the ceremony.”

Dorian Crane stood at the front, robe sleeves hanging heavy, his face calm though the look in his eyes was not.

He did not want to watch Adrian be humiliated like this.

After all, Adrian had once been the sect’s brightest heaven-blessed genius. Back then, his edge was so fierce it pressed down a whole generation. And there was still that marriage agreement with the Saintess of the upper sect, Holy Spirit Dao Lineage. Because of that, Dorian Crane had personally made an exception and opened Xuhe Peak for him.

Deep in his heart, he still clung to one last thread of hope.

If Adrian could recover, then Yuehua Sword Sect might draw closer to Holy Spirit Dao Lineage. If that happened, the sect’s strength would rise another step.

But hope was hope. Reality was still right in front of him.

Dorian Crane drew a breath and spoke in a deep voice:

“The time has come. The ceremony begins now!”

The words had barely landed when a heavy bell rang out.

Dong—

The bell voice rolled into the sky, thick and ancient, as if striking straight into men’s bones. The air itself seemed to tremble. The disciples below all felt their hearts shake, their blood stir, their spirits snap taut.

Then Dorian Crane’s voice sounded again, broad and solemn, spreading over the whole place.

“Young ones gathered here have already passed the sect’s trial. Today, Heaven Jade shall test your gifts. Which mountain gate you may enter shall depend on your own fate.”

As he spoke, he flicked his sleeve.

A six-colored jade flew out into the air.

In an instant, rays burst forth.

Colored light appeared above the heads of the assembled disciples one after another. Some were bright, some dim, some pure, some mixed. Each strand of light marked aptitude.

The moment Adrian looked up, his gaze changed.

Because right then, the system’s mark appeared as well.

Among the many lights, he saw one figure crowned with a white glow.

White.

The most ordinary aptitude.

So ordinary that under normal circumstances, almost no one would take such a disciple.

Adrian’s eyes brightened on the spot.

“Heaven really leaves a way out.”

The gloom that had weighed on him just now was swept aside in one breath.

All those thoughts of fleeing the sect, hiding from enemies, scraping out a life like a stray dog—he threw them clean out of his head.

Because now, he had a shot.

A real shot.

White aptitude was the bottom rung. Most peak masters would not even spare it a second glance.

Which meant his chance was huge.