No faction would ever have such a skewed ratio of personnel. Although low-level warriors were not particularly powerful, they represented every Sect's future hope. Whether it was the War Heaven Alliance, the Thunder Terrace Sect, or the Shadow Moon Hall and Liuli Gate, the rank-and-file always vastly outnumbered the upper echelon.
But at Star Emperor Mountain, the situation was reversed.
The root cause lay in their strict recruitment standards.
The threshold for joining Star Emperor Mountain was staggeringly high — only those with the finest aptitude could be accepted, and there were strict age restrictions as well. Most were brought to Star Emperor Mountain before the age of ten. At such a young age, it was easiest to instill certain values, which was why Star Emperor Mountain's people revere the Great Emperor above all else.
They had been taught this belief by their elders as they grew up.
Once admitted to Star Emperor Mountain, however, a disciple would enjoy the finest cultivation environment and the most abundant cultivation resources imaginable.
The Sect would devote its entire pool of resources to clearing the path for each disciple's cultivation.
The goal was absolute: break through to the Return Void Realm before the age of forty.
Anyone who failed would have their cultivation crippled and be expelled from Star Emperor Mountain.
The rules were harsh, but the results spoke for themselves.
Under this system, warriors who entered Star Emperor Mountain cultivated at astonishing speeds, which was precisely why so many had emerged at the Return Void Realm.
Figures like Qu Changfeng, Fang Tianzhong, and Wei Guchang — rising stars famous throughout the Dark Star — had all broken through around that age. Even Yang Kai was no exception.
The only reason they still looked young was that once a warrior's strength reached a certain level, aging slowed to a crawl.
Yang Kai had joined Lingxiao Pavilion at the age of twenty. Looking back now, twenty or thirty years had passed.
Yet he was still only at the first level of the Return Void Realm!
It was fair to say that any disciple pulled at random from Star Emperor Mountain would be a match for the likes of Qu Changfeng and Fang Tianzhong.
Moreover, because Star Emperor Mountain traced its lineage back to the ancient era and possessed countless peerless techniques and secret arts, its disciples' combat strength generally exceeded that of other cultivators at the same level.
Once a disciple broke through to the Return Void Realm before the age of forty, they would be permitted to leave the mountain to temper their hearts — under an assumed identity, of course.
A thousand years ago, the reason the Guyang Sect had been annihilated overnight by Star Emperor Mountain was precisely because one such wandering disciple had been killed by the Guyang Sect.
All of these factors combined to produce Star Emperor Mountain's unusually top-heavy distribution of warriors. The lower-ranked disciples, by contrast, were few in number.
Among those lower-ranked disciples, cultivation levels varied considerably, but each one looked fresh-faced and youthful. The youngest among them had only joined Star Emperor Mountain two years ago. At barely eleven years old, he already possessed a cultivation at the Separation-Union Realm — just one step away from the Zhenyuan Realm.
This would be unthinkable in any other Sect. Perhaps the War Heaven Alliance or the Thunder Terrace Sect could produce one or two such prodigies, but they would be exceedingly rare. At Star Emperor Mountain, it was commonplace.
At that same age, Yang Kai had not yet even set foot on the path of martial cultivation…
Now, two hundred of these disciples had gathered on Kaiyun Peak. Though the crowd was large, not a single voice was raised. Everyone seemed to be quietly waiting for something, their expressions solemn.
At the head of the group stood Yang Xiuzhu and the other two.
As they waited, the three exchanged glances and communicated through spiritual consciousness, as though deliberating over something.
After a long stretch of silence, someone in the crowd finally spoke up: "Brother Yang, didn't you say the Gate Master had an important matter to announce? We've been standing here for half a day and there's still no sign of the Gate Master. I need to get back to seclusion to cultivate my Storm Surge Art. I can't afford to waste time!"
"That's right, Brother Yang — it was you who told us the Gate Master had something important to share. That's the only reason I left my cave dwelling. My batch of Jade Dragon Pills is almost ready. If this drags on any longer, will you compensate me for my losses?" an elderly woman shouted impatiently.
With these two leading the complaints, the rest began to grumble as well.
Most of these people spent their time in seclusion within their own cave dwellings, either cultivating techniques and secret arts or studying the ways of artifact refinement and alchemy. They rarely ventured out, and it was even rarer for this many of them to gather in one place.
Two days ago, Yang Xiuzhu, Lin Yurao, and Chu Hanyi had jointly sent out messages saying that the Gate Master wished to see them regarding an important matter.
Although the three held no prominent positions within the Gate, they still carried considerable prestige from years past. With all three issuing the summons together, very few dared to ignore it, and nearly everyone had emerged from seclusion to come here.
After waiting for so long without a single sign of the Gate Master, some complaints were only natural.
"Everyone, please remain patient! Just a moment longer!" Yang Xiuzhu called out in a loud voice, lifting his gaze toward the horizon — but what he was waiting for still had not appeared.
"Remain patient? For how long?" The elderly woman's face was displeased. She gave a cold snort and slammed her walking stick against the ground. "Let me say this plainly — I'm giving you face by waiting this long. I'll wait for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. If the Gate Master still hasn't shown up by then, I'm leaving. And don't blame me for not warning you in advance."
"Exactly!" someone echoed in agreement, but then quickly looked puzzled. "Brother Yang, when did you and the Gate Master become so close? Since when do you deliver his orders? Isn't that usually Elder Bai's job?"
He vaguely recalled that Yang Xiuzhu and the Gate Master were not exactly on the best of terms.
"Yang Xiuzhu, how dare you!" A furious shout suddenly rang out from the distance. Accompanying the shout, a streak of red light shot toward them from afar. Moments later, the light landed before the crowd and resolved into three figures.