Chapter 89

"Indeed!" A leader from the Qingyun Sword Sect appeared, and this leader was someone Bu Zheng recognized—it was the old Liu who had recruited him into the sect.

At the same time, Bu Zheng also noticed that he was now standing in front of Old Liu, who had not even glanced at him, completely forgetting about his existence.

Sure enough, for a big figure like Old Liu, someone like Bu Zheng was truly insignificant, not even worth remembering. After giving him a casual lesson at the time, Old Liu had completely forgotten about Bu Zheng.

Moreover, in this group, Bu Zheng recognized three people: one was Ai Shang, who had exchanged materials with him; another was his second senior brother, who had traded him a Qiankun Bag; and the last was the girl who had given him a secret manual.

These three were all elite disciples on this expedition, and it seemed they did not remember Bu Zheng, or simply did not want to interact with him.

"May I ask for the elder's surname?" the receptionist asked.

"This old man is surnamed Liu. May I ask who you are?" Old Liu was actually quite approachable, not overly arrogant. He just got a bit carried away when praised and cared about his reputation.

Caring about one's reputation is not the same as being arrogant; they are two different things!

"I am Ouyang Ting, appointed by the king to receive all of you. Your accommodations have been arranged in a separate courtyard provided by the Xinyang King," the official, Ouyang Ting, bowed and said.

"Thank you, Lord Ouyang, and please thank the Xinyang King on our behalf. Please lead the way," Old Liu said.

"Please get in the carriage!" Ouyang Ting said, making a gesture to invite them. Looking in the direction he pointed, Bu Zheng saw a row of carriages, which were clearly prepared for their reception, and they were included as well.

The difference was that the elite disciples and elders were seated inside the carriages, while the miscellaneous disciples had to sit next to the drivers and squeeze in.

Soon, the group from the Qingyun Sword Sect arrived at a large courtyard, which was the Xinyang King's separate residence. This made Bu Zheng quite surprised. This was called a separate residence, and if he had such a place, he would be content for the rest of his life.

The size of this separate residence was enough to accommodate over a hundred people, not including servants and attendants. This was indeed the dream of an ordinary person, who might spend their entire life just for a small piece of land.

Just the land itself was something that ten lifetimes of struggle could not achieve, and the buildings on the land, the rows of houses, and the unique small courtyards, were even more unreachable dreams.

"We have arrived. I will take you up to here. Everything inside has been arranged. You can manage your own meals and accommodations, and we know you don't like being disturbed by outsiders," Ouyang Ting said at the gate, clearly not intending to go in.

Indeed, everything was well-prepared. Just in terms of food, even if the number of people doubled, there would be enough for a year. The houses were all empty, so you could arrange them as you pleased.

In other words, even if he went in, Ouyang Ting would have nothing to do, and he still had to continue receiving others.

"Thank you, Lord Ouyang, please take care!" Old Liu also bid farewell to Ouyang Ting. He had already asked all the questions he needed on the way and no longer needed Ouyang Ting for anything.

"Farewell, if you need anything, please feel free to find me!" Ouyang Ting said, bowing, and then left.

"Alright, let's all go in. Let Elder Chen check the situation inside and then arrange our accommodations," Old Liu said to everyone, leading the way into the separate residence and waiting in the living room for Elder Chen.

Elder Chen's task was to thoroughly investigate the layout of the separate residence and then arrange everyone's accommodations, forming a relatively perfect formation to support each other.

After all, they were outside, and conflicts often occurred during the Seven Stars Martial Arts Competition. Safety measures were necessary.

At the same time, Elder Chen would continue to inspect the separate residence to identify any security vulnerabilities. In short, he was responsible for the safety of the Qingyun Sword Sect on this trip.

After arranging the safety measures, the next task was to assign the miscellaneous disciples. There were ten elite disciples, and each one needed to bring one miscellaneous disciple.

Generally, the stronger the person you follow, the safer you are. Therefore, the strongest second senior brother was the one the miscellaneous disciples most wanted to follow.

When the second senior brother started picking people, the miscellaneous disciples were all excited, hoping to follow him.

Following the second senior brother not only meant safety, but after completing the task, they might be noticed by the second senior brother and achieve a great leap forward. For the miscellaneous disciples, serving the second senior brother was a great leap forward.

However, Bu Zheng did not go forward because, for him, following them was the riskiest. It was better to stay in the separate residence. Although it was not very safe in the separate residence either, there had been cases of other sects invading the camps of others and engaging in battles.

But at least in the separate residence, it was a familiar place where he could set up a few safe spots to hide. Going out was not an option.

Everyone had thought about this and knew that the risks outside were higher. However, the benefits of following elite disciples were significant.

In the past, many of the surviving miscellaneous disciples had followed elite disciples, and the care they received afterward made the miscellaneous disciples very envious. Both the sect and the elite disciples they followed provided care.

At the same time, everyone had calculated that the survival rate under the strongest disciple was the highest, as long as they stayed close!

The second senior brother did not seem very interested in picking people and casually pointed to someone, who was naturally overjoyed, and this also made the others envious.

Next, it was the turn of the other elite disciples. Those within the top ten were quite good, given their strength. The most dangerous were those outside the top ten, who were relatively weaker and thus more dangerous to follow.

Why not directly assign the top ten disciples?

This question was simple. Among the top ten disciples, many were over thirty years old, and after thirty, there was little hope of being noticed. People not only looked at potential but also age, which was very important.

A genius who started thirty years later than others would only achieve slightly better results than ordinary people, and this slight advantage would only appear in the latter part of their life, which was too late, and they might not even live to see it.

Miracles do happen, but the probability is very low. As a sect, they would not waste time on such low-probability events.

In fact, if it were a higher-level Yellow-grade force, they would not even consider anyone over twenty years old. And for even higher-level Yellow-grade forces, they would not even come, as for them, unless discovered at birth, it was already too late to join such a low-level force.