In the gaze of everyone, Ye Chen smiled at Jiang Yao and then walked towards the True Disciple selection area.
With Fairy Jia Luo personally speaking out, the Spirit Sea Realm expert who had previously obstructed Ye Chen from entering the selection area naturally didn't dare to stop him again, and Ye Chen thus entered the ranks of the hundreds of participants competing in the True Disciple selection contest.
As Ye Chen moved forward, the voice of Fairy Jia Luo suddenly transmitted into his consciousness, "Ye Chen, don't blame me for drawing such attention to you."
"Making an exception for you to participate in the True Disciple selection is already an exception from Taixuan Sect, you must put forth your strongest effort to prove that this exception is warranted!"
"Whether in Taixuan Sect, in Heavenly Wind Kingdom, or on the entire Barbaric Wilderness Continent, strength is what's respected! Only when you prove your strength will others acknowledge and respect you!"
"Yao'er is exceptionally kind to you, and everyone has seen it. To prove that Yao'er hasn't misjudged you, to prove that I haven't misjudged you, and for you to truly become a part of Taixuan Sect in the future, give your all in the True Disciple selection contest!"
The voice that Fairy Jia Luo transmitted into Ye Chen's mind was using "Divine Sense Transmission"!
It was a kind of Divine Ability that could only be mastered after stepping into the Spirit Sea Realm!
Hearing Fairy Jia Luo's words, Ye Chen looked towards her and nodded seriously.
He understood Fairy Jia Luo's intentions.
Indeed, from the astonished looks the countless people gave when they saw how intimately Jiang Yao treated him, from the unfriendly looks given by the Spirit Sea Realm disciples at the top of the main gate plaza, Ye Chen knew that even if he didn't care, to stop others from gossiping about Jiang Yao and Fairy Jia Luo, he had to prove himself.
He had to prove that Jiang Yao's choice was correct!
That Fairy Jia Luo's exception for him was correct!
"Then, let's seize first place in the True Disciple selection contest!"
Ye Chen thought to himself.
The arduous training in the Ancient God Tower, having braved its entire eighteen levels, and even killing three great Spirit Sea Realm experts gave Ye Chen this confidence.
Keep in mind that Yan Ling'er, who was guarding the highest eighteenth level of the Ancient God Tower, was an invincible master of the True Qi Realm from the Yan Clan of the Minor Spirit Realm, a supremely strong one amongst billions in the True Qi Realm. She fell to his hands.
What fear would Ye Chen have when competing against the outer disciples of Taixuan Sect?
In Ye Chen's eyes, the fighting spirit to come out on top was already blazing.
Seeing the change in Ye Chen's expression, Fairy Jia Luo smiled and nodded.
From the moment she arrived at the main gate plaza, she had noticed Ye Chen's increase in strength, and his rate of improvement over the course of just over four months surprised even her.
She also wanted to see just how powerful Ye Chen had become now!
When Ye Chen walked into the crowd that was about to participate in the True Disciple selection contest, everyone in the group curiously looked at Ye Chen, who also smiled and greeted them.
Following that, Fairy Jia Luo's voice once again spread out.
"Now that all nine hundred and sixty-eight participants for the True Disciple selection are gathered in the selection area, I will now announce the method of assessment for this True Disciple selection!"
Her words immediately made everyone look towards her once again.
Every selection conference for the Taixuan Sect took a different form, and no one knew how this one would be conducted.
Ye Chen, like everyone else, was also looking towards Fairy Jia Luo, ready to listen to how the selection conference would proceed.
"This selection conference will be divided into four rounds," Fairy Jia Luo announced.
"Four rounds of selection will test four different abilities. All candidates must strive to perform your best in each round. As long as the Inner Peak masters approve of your performance, you will be able to enter the Inner Peaks of the Taixuan Sect and become True Disciples!"
"Of course, as a selection process, there will inevitably be rankings. After the four rounds of assessments are over, the ten strongest candidates will get a special opportunity to freely choose the Inner Peak you wish to join in the Taixuan Sect and will receive special rewards!"
"This special reward is a 'Five Elements Spirit Seed'!"
"Those ranked fifth to tenth will each receive a 'low-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed', second to fourth place will each receive a 'mid-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed', and the first place will exclusively receive a 'high-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed'!"
At the mention of the reward for the top ten in the True Disciple selection conference—the Five Elements Spirit Seed—all the True Qi Realm disciples below began to shout in shock!
To step from the True Qi Realm into the Spirit Sea Realm, one needed to transform the Qi Sea into the Spirit Sea, turning the gaseous True Qi within the Qi Sea into the liquid True Qi Spiritual Fluid.
And this transformation required integrating a Five Elements Spirit Seed into the Qi Sea!
The reason why out of tens of thousands in the True Qi Realm, only one could step into the Spirit Sea, was precisely because the Five Elements Spirit Seed was extremely hard to come by. Only Great Sects had reserves of it. If one couldn't get a Five Elements Spirit Seed from a sect, the only option was to venture into the dangerous realms where Spirit Seeds grew.
If one did not find a Spirit Seed by the age of fifty, they would completely lose the opportunity to step into the Spirit Sea Realm!
Even with a Five Elements Spirit Seed, whether one could successfully step into the Spirit Sea also depended on the quality of the Spirit Seed. With a low-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed, there was only a ten percent chance of successfully transforming the Qi Sea to step into the Spirit Sea Realm.
The success rate with a mid-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed increased to thirty percent, and with a high-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed, the chance of a True Qi Realm disciple successfully stepping into the Spirit Sea jumped to fifty percent.
Going from one in ten thousand to ten, thirty, and fifty percent chances of success was a tremendous improvement. Naturally, the Five Elements Spirit Seed would drive countless True Qi Realm disciples into a frenzy, and all of them desired to attain it.
The reward of not only being able to choose their own Inner Peak to cultivate but also receiving a Five Elements Spirit Seed drove the True Qi Realm disciples wild with excitement at the True Disciple selection conference.
The over nine hundred youngsters in the True Disciple selection area had their eyes blazing with passion. They each aspired to secure a spot in the top ten, or even to claim the first place, in order to obtain a better Five Elements Spirit Seed, preparing themselves for stepping into the Spirit Sea Realm in the future!
"A reward of Five Elements Spirit Seed?"
To countless people, this prize was incredibly alluring, but to Ye Chen, it was not particularly attractive anymore.
In the ancestral land secret realm, Ye Chen had obtained something even more precious than a Five Elements Spirit Seed, which was the Creation Yuan Pill!
As the second treasure from the Myriad Treasures Stele, the Creation Yuan Pill guaranteed that a person at the twelfth layer of the True Qi Realm could step into the Spirit Sea Realm with a one hundred percent certainty, far surpassing the high-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed in power!
Having obtained the Creation Yuan Pill, Ye Chen had complete confidence in breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm, just waiting to reach the twelfth layer of the True Qi Realm. As for the Five Elements Spirit Seed, it seemed rather unnecessary to him.
Of course, acquiring a high-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed would be even better. After all, Ye Chen only had two Creation Yuan Pills. With a high-grade Five Elements Spirit Seed, even if Ye Chen did not use it himself, he could give it to other youths in his clan to help them have the opportunity to step into the Spirit Sea.
What Ye Chen valued more was the reward of being able to freely choose an Inner Peak for the top ten winners. Ye Chen had heard that the Taixuan Sect had a total of eight Inner Peaks for cultivation, and naturally, he wanted to join the "Snowdrift Peak" where Jiang Yao was, to cultivate with her.
If he could secure a top ten position, he would be able to choose to enter Snowdrift Peak.
While numerous disciples were shocked by the rewards of the True Disciple selection conference, Fairy Jia Luo finally declared, "Now that the rewards have been made clear, let us commence with the first round of the four-round selection assessment, the test of strength!"
As Fairy Jia Luo's voice fell, with a light flick of her finger, a massive twenty-meter-tall blue stone instantly appeared in the selection area, standing tall before all the disciples set to participate in the selection.