All the cultivators on the teleportation pad stared at Hui in open amazement. A few exchanged glances. One or two stepped forward, adjusting their robes with self-importance.

Tian Honghua looked at the shattered crystal in her hand. This orb measures one’s karma with cultivation and Eight Tiers’ Palace’s techniques. No matter how high this child cultivated in the other sect… not that it appears to be high, but—regardless of his cultivation, it shouldn’t influence the light this crystal generates. This child’s potential… to say he has the potential to become the Sect Leader of Eight Tiers Palace isn’t an exaggeration! No… that’s aiming too low. Immortality isn’t out of his reach. Even, perhaps, the Heavenly Emperor—

“Er, I won’t have to pay for that, will I…?”

“Pay…? A talent like yours…?” Tian Honghua murmured, startled out of her thoughts. The urge to cry welled up again, but for an entirely different reason than when Gu Liyuan died. Rather than worry about paying for the crystal, won’t the Tier Masters be outdoing one another to claim this child as a disciple?

“Small cultivator doesn’t have any spirit stones,” the child, Gui Hui, said nervously.

Tian Honghua stared at him. What happened to this child that he’s so worried about spirit stones, even in this situation…? Is All-Heavens Sect in financial trouble…?

From the massive tower of Eight Tiers Palace overhead, brilliant beams of sword light shot down toward them. In front of her, Gui Hui huddled, putting his hands over his head. He trembled bodily, shaking like a leaf.

She nudged him. “Stand up straight. Here they come.” Why am I reassuring the hostage?

Then again, when the hostage has this much talent… I think he’s going to become a true disciple immediately. Forget about being treated as a hostage, he’ll probably end up as a Tier Master’s beloved disciple and outrank me! After all, talent like this rarely shows up, even in a century… no, a millennia! It’s likely they’ll treat him well and try to win him over to become a true Eight Tiers Palace cultivator, not handle him as a hostage. I should reassure him now, to get some good points with whatever Tier Master takes him on as a disciple!

Horrified, Hui stared at the sword lights hurtling down. Should I play dead? No, no, I can’t! Er, but, those cultivators all greatly outrank my true cultivation! Did my plan go too well, somehow? Oh no, oh no. Quickly, quickly. Let’s make sure my cultivation is properly hidden!

Hui checked his body. Good, good. The phoenix flame has completely rejuvenated me. I am as truly ten years old as it’s possible to be, as a fully grown adult. As for my cultivation…

Hui quickly touched his life qi with his phoenix flame, converting it, then sent the phoenix flame to his soul’s cultivation, leaving only ordinary qi in his body’s cultivation. On top of suppressing his cultivation, he quickly checked over his entire qi system. Yes, yes… hmm, good! The phoenix flame also altered my body’s qi structure to be that of a low-realm cultivator, in keeping with my apparent bodily age. Good, good. It will take a few second to convert it back to my true cultivation, but that’s fine. I can play dead, then use my playing-dead timeframe to switch my cultivation back to seventh stage using life qi, phoenix flame, or whatever I happen to have on hand.

Ready to play dead at the drop of a hat, he held his breath and watched the sword lights hurtle toward him.

The first of the sword lights landed on the teleportation platform beside Hui. A brawny man with scars over his bare arms looked down at Hui, then scoffed. “This scrawny little thing?”

Hui looked at Tian Honghua beside him. He frowned, tilting his head. They aren’t here to attack me? That guy looks the most brutal of all, but he’s just… appraising me?

She smiled at him. “With that kind of potential, the Tier Masters will be fighting over the rights to raise you. You shouldn’t worry about your future. Although you’re a hostage, Eight Tiers Palace will treat you well.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ah… I see. Wait, huh? I caused that much of a fuss? Whoops… Er, they’re going to be suspicious, aren’t they? They’re definitely going to be suspicious! Hui sent one last sweep of qi through his body, triple checking that everything was in place, and nothing looked strange. Low-level dantian, weak qi passages, no odd qi types… okay. I think I’m good.

While Hui was checking his cultivation once more, an elegant woman landed beside the brutal man with the faint strum of zither strings, a fine zither hung over her shoulder. She put a hand on her chin thoughtfully. “He isn’t bad.”

Hmm, music cultivation? Compared to that terrifying man with scars and muscles out his ears, I’d much rather go with her! After all, I haven’t really encountered music cultivators yet.

Another woman landed beside her. This one exuded an air of charm and beauty, her every motion dripping with appeal. She wore a veil to cover her face, and long, modest clothing, but her beauty leaked out anyways, overflowing into the world around her. Even as she stood still, tiny illusionary images of flowers and colored silks flowed around her. She tilted her head slightly, looking Hui up and down.

Beside her, an attendant glanced at her, then stepped forward. “Oh? Is this the one that shattered the crystal?”

Oh, shit! It’s the beauty cultivator, the one from the Fourth Tier that oversees hidden weapons and poisons! The one who can’t speak for fear of ensnaring the hearts around her! Absolutely not her, I absolutely won’t go with her! If I know anything about poison and hidden weapons divisions, it’s that their personalities are just as warped as their attacks. Trying out poisons on their fellow cultivators is far from unheard-of! And the same goes for hidden weapons. This small Hui doesn’t want to become a test subject, absolutely not, no, no, no! I won’t go with her. I won’t!

Not to mention that she’s a hazard in of herself! What did she say? That anyone who looked at her became absolutely stricken, and there was no longer any escape or hope of independent thought? That even speaking was enough to bend the minds of cultivators? Terrifying! This small cultivator is going to stay far away, far, far away from her!

Another sword light landed, resolving into a handsome man in red, with dozens of swords floating around him. The swords casually revolved around his body, and he ignored them, as if he wasn’t even aware of them. Piercing dark eyes landed on Hui, his chin and nose just as sharp, hair cutting a dark swath across his back. He hummed, deep in his throat.

Excuse me, Elder Brother, but are you a high-tier gacha game character…? Hui wondered, barely resisting the urge to quirk a brow questioningly. He pressed his lips together, suppressing a retort. What a mobile-game-character-like existence! I haven’t seen anyone quite like him since I’ve arrived. Honestly, Elder Brother, I’m amazed! I bask in your overwrought character design! What do you even use those swords for? It’s not like you have twenty-some hands!

A man with rainbow-colored hair and tie-dyed fingernails, a wild looking woman with tangled hair, riding a giant cat, and a woman wearing black and red with sinister eyes and long, dark-red nails, all joined the other cultivators on the teleportation pad.

Hmm, a pill cultivator, a beast cultivator, and… a demonic cultivator? Well, I suppose the Eastern Alliance did combine all the local cultivator sects into one giant conglomerate sect, right? And because of that, they allowed demonic cultivators to be foundational members of their sect. The beauty cultivator and her poison and hidden weapon tier is already pretty demonic, so it’s not like I didn’t know, but still.

One, two… six, seven. All but one of the Tier Masters, Hui thought. He cowered, not really sure what to make of it. What summoned them, the light from that crystal I touched? Er, sorry, Elder Martial Siblings, but I’m a seventh stage cultivator masquerading as a child, not an actual child disciple. I’m quite happy to learn more about Eight Tiers Palace and the tiers’ techniques—after all, that’s why I’m here—but at the end of the day, I’m still a hostage. When they discover my identity, will they still be so excited about taking me as a disciple?

Er, my identity as a hostage, that is. I don’t think any of them are going to discover my true identity right now.

“So, this is the one who broke the crystal? He doesn’t look like much,” the demonic cultivator murmured, looking down on Hui from behind her long, dark eyelashes.

“Eighth didn’t come?” the burly man asked, pursing his lips in disapproval.

“The Palace Master is still in secluded training,” the pill cultivator responded flatly.

Huh. The way he said that… sounds like they’ve had this conversation a thousand times. Though, actually… this sounds almost like when I joined Starbound Sect, and they were wondering what had happened to Weiheng Wu, my Master! Does every sect have a distant expert who dislikes human contact?

…not that I expect such a miraculous event to happen a second time. In any case, Master didn’t teach me much, so it’s not as if I want another experience like that. This time, I want to get taught techniques! I want to learn!

Besides, Master wasn’t in secluded cultivation. Master was just being antisocial.

Hui peered over the gathered cultivators. Okay. Of all the cultivators… which one should I learn from?