The hierarchy among the reserve disciples had already become fixed.
Led by Li Yang, the Great Emperor Seedling, were all the young elites of the various Supreme Races.
Among these reserve disciples, not one had reached the Mountain Moving Realm, the highest being just a peak Mahayana cultivator, a mysterious 2,000 year old member of the Supreme Races.
But this was normal, after all these were just newly admitted reserve disciples, and they still had 500 years of cultivation ahead of them.
It was rare for reserve disciples to cultivate to the Mountain Moving Realm within those 500 years and successfully advance to become a formal disciple.
Most could only cultivate to the Mahayana Realm, before being ruthlessly eliminated. This was inevitable, as the gulf in talent could not be overcome through just hard work.
There was an interesting situation with this batch of reserve disciples - there was only one Great Emperor Seedling, the first time this had happened in the history of the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
In previous batches, they would recruit at least two Great Emperor Seedlings, to let them fight each other, which was beneficial for their cultivation.
But for this batch, they had a change in thinking, for two reasons:
First, Great Emperor Seedlings were really hard to find now, nearing the End of the Great Age, with scarce fortune, only after the reckoning could new talents rise.
Second, they felt that fighting each other was unnecessary. If you felt invincible at your level and realm, you could still challenge the formal disciples above you.
This was the philosophy that Chen Xia had taught them.
Reputation was unimportant, strength was what mattered.
After the reserve disciples had settled on their hierarchy, fights became less common. Other than pre-arranged matches between disciples, you could hardly see any spontaneous brawls.
Some reserve disciples had even started befriending each other, exchanging gifts and building relationships.
Especially those from prestigious Supreme Race backgrounds, they were the center of attention among the reserve disciples, even exceeding the Great Emperor Seedling Li Yang.
Among them was the purple cloud crown man, whose clan contained two Heaven Mending Realm masters, one being his old ancestor!
The purple cloud crown man was very generous, giving gifts to all the prestigious Supreme Race members, building relationships, and had also contacted two junior elders.
Currently he was toasting and drinking with the two junior elders, sitting in a conspicuous spot, deliberately letting the other disciples see his high status.
Drinking with the junior elders!
In the distance, on the eaves, the girl with orange-red hair stood tall, hands on hips, narrowing her willow-shaped eyebrows, sizing up the three drinking together.
Beside her was a delicate looking girl in pure white robes, looking at the three with disdain, curling her lips and indignantly saying:
"They really think drinking with two junior elders makes them the first among the reserve disciples?"
"You're right, aren't you Li Yang?"
The petite girl also asked Li Yang beside her.
"He has money to pull people in, that can be considered a skill, but that skill isn't too great, and his other skills are below mine."
"What skills?" The petite girl asked curiously.
"Fighting." Li Yang grinned and replied, with audible confidence.
As the sole Great Emperor Seedling, she carried innate arrogance, believing that she would not lose to anyone, and even thinking she was unrivaled in all the heavens.
But the Great Emperor Seedling did have the qualifications for this confidence, possessing Heaven Mending Realm talent from birth.
The delicate girl smiled lightly, tilting her head and asking again:
"Then you have to work hard, if we can make a name for ourselves in the Blue Sky Sword Sea, even the clan chief will bow to us when we return, haha."
Li Yang shook her head, glancing at the petite girl, "All you think about is getting the clan chief to bow to you."
"Haha." The petite girl couldn't help laughing, and suddenly asked: "Logically, you should be the most powerful in this batch right?"
Since she was the only Great Emperor Seedling after all.
"Being the most powerful isn't good." Li Yang shook her head, "Without opponents of the same level to compete with, increasing your strength will be slower. Two or more Great Emperor Seedlings is the best combination, at least there are peers of the same level to spar and fight with."
This was Li Yang's inner thoughts, she felt that she needed opponents to compete with in order to better improve herself, forging ahead.
Only by competing like this could the eventual first place be truly meaningful.
"The previous batch had two Great Emperor Seedlings right, so according to this they should be stronger?"
The petite girl asked curiously.
Li Yang nodded, replying: "Logically they should be a bit stronger, and actually the previous batch had not just two, but three Great Emperor Seedlings. I just don't know why the junior elders don't mention the third one."
Speaking to this point, Li Yang became more puzzled, knitting her willowy eyebrows, "Additionally, other insiders also don't mention this third Great Emperor Seedling, wonder what secret is behind this."
"Haha, maybe the third Great Emperor Seedling committed some huge mistake, so they don't let anyone talk about him."
The petite girl laughed and guessed.
Li Yang did not reply, just feeling that he must have committed an enormous mistake for all these insiders to not mention him at all.
But this matter had nothing to do with her, it was just about a Great Emperor Seedling from the previous batch.
Her gaze looked over the purple cloud crown man again, with an appraising look. After some time, she raised her willowy eyebrows disdainfully.
This kind of trash also wants to compete with her for first place?
What a joke.
The final thirty years passed in the blink of an eye, feeling not long at all, over before she realized it.
Chen Xia counted down the days, tidying himself up properly in the last three days, using sword intent to tie up his hair in a bundle behind his head.
There was no helping the tattered blue clothes, this was all he had.
He also packed up the chess set and teacups, and brought some local products of the Sword Sea - the eyeballs of sea beasts.
Additionally, he stored up some sword intent for future needs.
The prison cell had been arranged into quite a cozy place over these 500 years, with the four sea beast eyeballs placed in each corner of the cell like lanterns.
To create a warmer atmosphere, Chen Xia had deliberately wrapped the eyeballs in a layer of soft golden sword intent, emitting gentle rays of light.
This turned them into warm lamps.
He was so thoughtful.
The other furnishings of the prison cell were not bad either, there was even a chair formed from sword intent for Chen Xia to rest on.
Looking at these 500 years, Chen Xia seemed less like he was imprisoned, and more like he was on vacation.
What other prisoner could be jailed like this?
Chen Xia was indeed the most bizarre existence in the history of the Blue Sky Sword Sea, always managing to break conventions.
He sat in the sword intent chair, leaning his chin on his hand, gazing at the sea.
Carefully counting the sunrises and sunsets.
His daily routine.
Until the third day.
Chen Xia stood up from the sword intent chair, stretched his neck and grinned, standing at the prison door.
To quote a classic line:
The 500 year sentence is up, welcome the return of the Dragon King!