Riding on his green ox, Laozi chuckled softly, retrieved a cyan jade gourd from his wide sleeve, and tossed it to Zhang Qing casually, saying, "Your aptitude is quite good. Practice diligently under your master." Zhang Qing reached out to catch the cyan jade gourd and replied, "Yes, thank you for your guidance, First Senior Brother, and thank you for the treasure."
Given by the Taiching Moral Heavenly Lord, who was renowned for his alchemy, could a gift possibly be ordinary? Tongtian looked on with a broad smile, thinking that his eldest brother was indeed generous to Zhang Qing, giving away a whole bottle of Nine-Turn Golden Pills right at the start. Yuanshi, however, felt his eyelid twitch.
Zhang Qing held the medicine bottle in his hand, bowed to Yuanshi, and said, "Qingling greets Second Senior Brother." Yuanshi was instantly caught in a bind. Since Zhang Qing had addressed him as Second Senior Brother after Laozi had given him a bottle of Nine-Turn Golden Pills, if he gave a meager gift now, Tongtian would mock him, yet if he gave something too lavish, he would begrudge parting with it.
Seeing Yuanshi hesitate, Zhang Qing preempted him: "I have long heard that Second Senior Brother is most proficient in the Dao of artifact refining. When you have time, I ask for your guidance." With that, he bowed once more and straightened up.
You didn't want to give a greeting gift, did you? Let's see how you gracefully accept this greeting of Second Senior Brother! Yuanshi's face stiffened. With a flick of his wrist, a piece of spiritual jade appeared in his palm, which he casually tossed to Zhang Qing. "Since you favor the Dao of artifact refining, this jade slip contains some of my insights on artifact refining. Take it and comprehend them."
After throwing the jade slip to Zhang Qing, without even waiting for Laozi and Tongtian, he flashed and flew alone toward the mountain. Taishang Laozi remained as calm and breezy as ever, saying, "Let's go, up the mountain together," and took the lead in flying off. Tongtian waved his hand and said, "Keep up," before riding his colorful Kui ox up as well.
Seeing this, Zhang Qing summoned the trembling Moon-Gazing Rhinoceros lingering nearby, mounted it, patted its head, and commanded, "Keep up," without even sparing Duobao a glance.
In an instant, only Duobao was left standing at the foot of the mountain. After a long while, he finally leaped into the air and flew toward the mountain. When Duobao arrived at Tongtian's residence, he found that all his junior brothers and junior sisters below him had already arrived.
Our Lady of the Golden Spirit, Our Lady of the Undifferentiated, the Three Xiao sisters, Our Lady of the Turtle Spirit, and even the outer disciple Zhao Gongming had arrived, and the Seven Attendant Immortals stood behind Tongtian without a single one missing.
Seeing Duobao arrive, Tongtian motioned for him to stand properly, then introduced him to the disciples: "Today, I am fortunate to take in a disciple named Qingling, whose true form is a strand of Chaos Sword Qi that took human shape back in the Chaos. From now on, he is your Junior Brother, and you must grow close to him."
As Tongtian's words fell, the major disciples were startled. But upon closer inspection, this Zhang Qing, who had taken form in the Chaos, was still only at the early-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm—even Our Lady of the Undifferentiated (ranked third) and Our Lady of the Turtle Spirit (ranked fourth) were at the early-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, not to mention Duobao at the late-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm and Our Lady of the Golden Spirit at the mid-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm.
He was only slightly higher in cultivation than the Three Xiao sisters, who were still in the Golden Immortal stage, while the outer disciple Zhao Gongming was already at the late-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, just like Duobao. The disciples, who had initially been shocked, felt a wave of relief, and the looks they gave Zhang Qing even grew a bit more affectionate.
However, they knew nothing of Zhang Qing's combat prowess. Perhaps the Three Pure Ones could discern something, but Chang'er Dingguangxian and Lingyaoxian, two of the Seven Attendant Immortals standing behind Tongtian, wore expressions of disdain. Disregarding their reactions, Zhang Qing stepped forward to greet his senior brothers and senior sisters one by one.
To everyone's surprise, the happiest was Biqiao of the Three Xiao sisters. Previously, she was the youngest among all the disciples and had to call everyone else Senior Brother or Senior Sister. But now that Qingling had arrived, she was a "Senior Sister" too!
Ignoring the others, Biqiao skipped over to Zhang Qing and smiled brightly, saying, "Junior Brother, call me Senior Sister again for me to hear!" Her words instantly provoked hearty laughter from everyone. Yunxiao walked over, took her hand, and said, "You're acting naughty again. You are not allowed to tease Junior Brother."
Feeling a bit embarrassed by her eldest sister, Biqiao stuck her tongue out at Zhang Qing and hid behind Yunxiao. Zhang Qing felt rather helpless. He considered himself a person of formidable origins who had taken form in the Chaos, yet here under Tongtian, he had been reduced to the "Junior Brother."
A junior brother is a junior brother, he supposed; the youngest is always the most favored. He could only comfort himself this way. Looking at the stern-faced Daoist Duobao, the boss-lady-esque Our Lady of the Golden Spirit, the icy and cold Our Lady of the Undifferentiated, the girl-next-door-like Our Lady of the Turtle Spirit, the extraordinary Zhao Gongming, and the three flower-like Three Xiao sisters, Zhang Qing felt that his future days of cultivation would not be so boring after all.
As for the Seven Attendant Immortals behind Tongtian, Zhang Qing didn't even bother to spare them a second glance. After the Conferment of Gods Tribulation, aside from the Golden Hoop Immortal Ma Sui, every single one of them would turn into double agents and defect to the Western Teachings.
Seeing that his disciples had all acquainted themselves with one another, Tongtian waved his hand, projecting a ray of cyan light into Zhang Qing's forehead. "My primordial spirit, along with those of Eldest Brother and Second Brother, was transformed from our Father God Pangu. Eldest Brother, the Taiching Moral Heavenly Lord, practices the Dao of Non-Action and excels particularly in alchemy. The bottle he bestowed upon you contains Nine-Turn Golden Pills with boundless wondrous uses; you may use them freely hereafter. Second Brother, the Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun, practices the Yuqing Immortal Dharma and excels especially in the Dao of artifact refining. As for myself, I excel in formations and the Sword Dao."
He glanced at Zhang Qing and continued, "Now, little fellow Zhang Qing, born from the Chaos Sword Qi, is undoubtedly the most suited to my Sword Dao. From here on, personal disciples will end with Zhang Qing. Zhang Qing, what I just imparted to you are some of my insights on practicing the Sword Dao as well as the Shangqing Immortal Dharma practiced by my lineage. You must study and comprehend them carefully down the mountain. Henceforth, anyone who comes to seek discipleship shall be admitted strictly into the outer sect. Gongming, you must shoulder more of these responsibilities."
This undoubtedly cemented Zhang Qing's status as the closing disciple. The other disciples harbored various thoughts; Duobao's complexion was particularly unsightly, Our Lady of the Golden Spirit maintained her boss-lady demeanor with no discernible emotional change, Our Lady of the Undifferentiated remained as icy and cold as ever, while the others wore smiles as they congratulated the Junior Brother on inheriting their master's Sword Dao.
Zhang Qing thanked his master once more. Tongtian waved his hand, and the crowd filed out. After the doors behind them closed, Duobao flew off without a word. On the other hand, Our Lady of the Golden Spirit and Our Lady of the Undifferentiated walked over together and said to Zhang Qing, "If you encounter anything you don't understand in your cultivation and cannot find Master, you may ask us."
Without waiting for Zhang Qing to thank them, the two senior sisters flew away together as well. Our Lady of the Turtle Spirit walked over with a gentle smile and a warm expression, saying, "Junior Brother, those senior brothers and sisters just have that kind of temperament; they mean no malice toward you, so don't take it to heart. Let us strive together in cultivation from now on, carefully comprehend the Sword Dao Master gave you, and feel free to visit my cave dwelling for a chat when you have time."
With that, she too flashed away. Seeing that only he and his three younger sisters remained, Zhao Gongming walked over to greet him as well, saying, "Junior Brother, there are numerous outer disciples and affairs are busy, so I won't stay long. If you need anything in the future, just come find me. Any outer disciple will know where my dwelling is. Farewell."