The "Inner Immortal Courtyard" was a place outer disciples must go to become inner disciples.
The Ascension Sect had hundreds of thousands of outer disciples, but only three to five thousand inner disciples. It could be seen how difficult it was to transfer from outer to inner. Once becoming an inner disciple, the benefits were extremely high. Diet, clothing, weapons… all would undergo a qualitative change. Especially the cultivation methods, one could obtain various techniques to cultivate the spirit.
Methods to covert the powerful qi and blood of the physical body into spiritual power.
This could not be learned in the secular world; the secular world only had techniques for physical body exercise.
Moreover, even if cultivators in the secular world cultivated their physical bodies to the Divine Transformation Realm, they only possessed the power of five horses. But in an immortal path sect, due to qualitative improvements in diet, spirit pills, and cultivation methods, the physical body could possess the power of six horses, seven horses… even ten horses…
"This Inner Immortal Courtyard exudes an air of mystery everywhere…"
When Fang Han stepped into the Inner Immortal Courtyard, he saw that this courtyard was deeply tranquil everywhere. A mysterious and distant fragrance rippled all around, peaceful and ethereally immortal, yet there was not a single person. It was vastly different from the other immortal courtyards where people came and went, and hundreds of thousands of outer disciples gathered in small groups to converse and spar.
"Halt, what are you doing here? Don't you know that outer disciples cannot casually enter the Inner Immortal Courtyard?"
Just as Fang Han was looking around, a voice suddenly rang out.
He hurriedly looked in the direction of the voice and found the speaker was a tall, pretty woman dressed in goose-yellow clothes. She did not wear the dharma robe of an Ascension Sect disciple, instead displaying a status that was out of the ordinary.
"Oh… I have completed a sect mission and came to the Inner Immortal Courtyard to obtain the qualification for examination."
Fang Han hurriedly said. He knew that there were many places in the Ascension Sect that one could not randomly intrude upon, otherwise serious consequences would have to be borne.
"Hmm? You completed a sect mission? You can actually obtain the qualification for the inner disciple examination? What proof do you have?" The yellow-clothed woman looked Fang Han up and down and asked casually.
As the yellow-clothed woman spoke, there was a faint, unangry yet authoritative presence about her. Fang Han felt that this woman was not an ordinary person, and hurriedly took out the Shura bone spike.
The Shura bone spike weighed hundreds of catties and was three feet long like a sword. Fang Han had originally placed it in a sword scabbard and carried it on his back. Now that he drew it out, its black light flashed, immediately drawing the yellow-clothed woman's attention.
"Shura bone spike! You actually killed a Shura!"
Seeing the Shura bone spike, the yellow-clothed woman was startled and beckoned with her hand: "Bring it over and let me see!"
Fang Han hurriedly handed over the Shura bone spike. The yellow-clothed woman extended two fingers and gently pinched it, playing with it like chopsticks. This made Fang Han's heart skip a beat.
One should know that something weighing hundreds of catties would be somewhat strenuous for even a Divine Transformation Realm expert to wield with one hand. How could they casually hold it with two fingers like a chopstick as the yellow-clothed woman did?
"Her strength is fully double mine…" Fang Han estimated in his heart, "Such powerful cultivation. I wonder which tyrannical inner disciple she is? Even Senior Sister Mo is not as powerful as her."
"It really is a Shura bone spike. I couldn't tell, you actually managed to kill a Shura." The yellow-clothed woman looked Fang Han up and down again, seemingly wanting to see his strength clearly, showing a hint of disbelief that he could kill a Shura.
Facing the yellow-clothed woman's gaze, Fang Han remained calm and composed. With Fang Qingxue as a huge backer behind him, he did not care much. Besides, he had indeed killed that Shura, albeit borrowing Yan's strength.
"Follow me."
The yellow-clothed woman evaluated him for a moment, withdrew her gaze, threw the Shura bone spike back to Fang Han, and walked straight towards the depths of the courtyard. Fang Han hurriedly followed behind.
Passing through twisting and turning paths, rockeries, lakes, pavilions, and winding corridors, the space ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a towering grand hall. Within the grand hall stood quite a few disciples. At the same time, in the very center of the hall, there was a white jade table over thirty meters long and some ten to fifteen meters wide. Behind the table sat several Ascension Sect elders.
Inner disciples were completely different from outer disciples; inner disciples also had Ascension Sect elders to teach them cultivation. The level of importance the sect placed on them was increased by more than ten times. Outer disciples were just given a few secret manuals to study on their own, and whether they learned anything depended on their own abilities.
Those several Ascension Sect elders were questioning the disciples in the grand hall one by one. And those disciples presented the items they brought one after another, all being evidence of obtaining the inner sect examination quota.
Fang Han saw a few disciples actually offering up several massive Flying Yaksha corpses, and those elders nodded repeatedly.
"To actually be able to kill Flying Yakshas, you are truly rare talents. Take this token, go back and prepare to rest for three days, then go to the Sky Courtyard, enter the Heavenly Demon Battlefield, and accept the examination!"
The several elders handed jade tokens out to those disciples who had completed the sect missions; this was their proof of eligibility to participate in the examination.
"They actually managed to kill Flying Yakshas? Quite ruthless. I only barely completed my sect mission by killing thirty-six Yakshas in the Vast Sea Desert. I wouldn't even dare to touch a ferocious demon leader like a Flying Yaksha."
"Yeah, this time at least hundreds of outer disciples died at the hands of Flying Yakshas. I saw with my own eyes Junior Brother Zeng being eaten alive by a Flying Yaksha. The miserable sight of him having an arm bitten off…"
"They are the children of several important ministers of the Great Xu Dynasty. They have some high-quality magical artifacts on hand, and they have excellent relationships with several inner disciples, receiving help from inner disciples. Killing a Flying Yaksha is nothing."
"That might not be true. I heard… I heard that a few disciples from the Great De royal family hooked up with Senior Sister Mo and the others from the inner sect. Senior Sister Mo even mobilized Senior Brother Yuan, who ranked tenth on the Mountains and Rivers Ranking and possesses a Silver Snake Sword, intending to do a big job. But they fell into the Pink Prince's ambush and the entire army was annihilated… The elders in the Ascension Heavenly Palace have been alarmed…"
"What? Even Senior Brother Yuan Jiankong, tenth on the Mountains and Rivers Ranking, suffered a big loss? How is that possible."
"Believe it or not, I just received this news myself."
…
Listening to the dialogue of these disciples, Fang Han's heart stirred. He knew that Senior Sister Mo and Prince Bao's group from the Great De Dynasty had not died; obviously, the escaped Yuan Jiankong had brought reinforcements. Now that the elders knew about these matters, he wondered if it would involve him?
If he became involved, the seven flying swords and the Blood Cotton Demon Garment on his body would be hard to deal with.
"Ah! Senior Sister Long!"
"Senior Sister Long."
"Hello, Senior Sister Long."
Right at this moment, a large group of disciples spotted the yellow-clothed woman in front of Fang Han and hurriedly greeted her. The expressions everywhere were full of currying favor and flattery, looking exactly like the situation when an emperor's minister toured various places and local officials curried favor.
"Who is she?" Fang Han also finally sensed that the yellow-clothed woman's identity was extremely extraordinary.
The yellow-clothed woman completely ignored the greetings of these disciples, but merely walked unhurriedly in front of the several elders and said a few words.
"What, there is actually a disciple who could kill a Shura?" An elder was shocked and nearly stood up, his gaze looking towards Fang Han: "You are Fang Han, take out the Shura bone spike and let us see."