This time, Liu Chengfeng had leveraged his personal connections along with certain instructions from Elder Tie to invite five disciples of the Treasure Tree Sect.
Of these five, the leader was a middle-aged man with a lion-like nose. Judging by his attire, he clearly held a certain rank within the Treasure Tree Sect.
The other four were relatively younger, yet all of them wore the identical garb of core disciples.
Within the Treasure Tree Sect, disciples were divided into many tiers.
Disciples of the four outer training halls were nominally also Treasure Tree Sect disciples, but they were merely outer sect disciples.
Once one entered the Treasure Tree Sect proper, one became an inner sect disciple.
Inner sect disciples who performed well could be promoted to core disciple status.
Among core disciples, those who stood out and caught the eye of senior figures would be selected as direct-lineage disciples.
Senior figures couldn't have just one direct-lineage disciple. Among the direct-lineage disciples, those designated as candidates to inherit a master's mantle were known as true-transmission disciples!
So, overall, setting aside outer sect disciples, the Treasure Tree Sect had a full four tiers of disciples alone.
Each tier was further subdivided into nine grades, from one star to nine stars. The hierarchy was exceedingly strict.
What status, what treatment, and what standing each rank entailed—all were clearly delineated.
So don't be fooled by the so-called three great geniuses of the Qianlan Northern Palace. At best, they were still merely outer sect disciples of the Treasure Tree Sect.
Only after passing the Treasure Tree Sect's selection and entering the inner sect would they become true inner sect disciples.
Inner sect disciples with different star ratings enjoyed vastly different treatment and status.
These four disciples were all core disciples—that placed them in an entirely different league. They were absolutely not comparable to ordinary inner sect disciples.
As for that middle-aged man with the lion nose, his attire clearly exceeded the status of a disciple. From his bearing, he appeared to be a mid-to-senior-level figure within the Treasure Tree Sect!
With Liu Chengfeng's connections alone, he could never have invited someone of that caliber.
Liu Chengfeng had truly beseeched Elder Tie Can this time in order to arrange the marriage alliance. It was Tie Can himself who had personally instructed one of his retainers to accompany Liu Chengfeng on this errand.
This retainer held a mid-level position in the Treasure Tree Sect and was quite an impressive figure. When ordinary sect disciples encountered him, they would be expected to stop and bow in respect.
Someone of his rank would normally never deign to visit a mundane kingdom, let alone help arrange a marriage proposal—it was only Elder Tie's direct orders that brought him here.
His participation in this venture was entirely for Elder Tie's sake, to facilitate the marriage alliance between the Qianlan Northern Palace and the Qianlan Southern Palace, and to serve Elder Tie's grand strategy.
After all, the Qianlan Northern Palace was the force that Elder Tie had planted in the Tiangui Kingdom. If the Qianlan Northern Palace fell, Elder Tie's entire foothold in the mundane kingdoms would collapse completely.
As Elder Tie's subordinate, this lion-nosed middle-aged man naturally could not sit by and do nothing.
Seeing Liu Chengfeng signal him for help, he cast his gaze toward the core disciples and gestured for them to step forward first.
Sure enough, one of the Qianlan Northern Palace's core disciples stepped out, radiating an imposing aura, his eyes cold and filled with a condescending air as he swept his gaze over Jiang Chen's side of the camp.
Then his haughty gaze turned to Palace Master Ning.
"Palace Master Ning, I don't know what you're hesitating for. This Xiao Yu is destined to enter the Treasure Tree Sect for further cultivation — his future is limitless. A mundane kingdom alchemist, even if he has some capital, how can he compare to a disciple of the Treasure Tree Sect? You are also a member of the Treasure Tree Sect. Is this even something you need to think about?"
Another Treasure Tree Sect disciple added: "Palace Master Ning, have you spent so long in a mundane kingdom that you've picked up their petty vulgarity? What choice could possibly be more worth having than the supreme Dao of martial cultivation? An alchemist scrambling about in the mundane world — to put it nicely, he's an alchemist; to put it bluntly, he's nothing but an ant."
"A mundane ant invites some no-name nobodies to back him up, and that's enough to shake your resolve? Palace Master Ning, your Dao heart simply isn't firm enough!" yet another Treasure Tree Sect disciple sighed.
Being dressed down by these core disciples, Palace Master Ning was momentarily at a loss for how to respond. She gave a bitter smile and looked toward Qiao Baishi's side.
Although Palace Master Ning was the head of an external training hall, within the Treasure Tree Sect as a whole, she was a peripheral figure — and she was certainly not necessarily more influential than these core disciples.
At the very least, within the Treasure Tree Sect, she, Palace Master Ning, was far less favored than these core disciples.
They were young, talented, and had powerful backers.
Their youthful arrogance and their dismissal of her, the leader of an outer training hall, was entirely to be expected.
They could afford to be arrogant, but she could not. If she acted arrogantly, she might offend the inner sect, offend these core disciples — that would be unwise.
Consort Dan heard each of these Treasure Tree Sect disciples speaking with progressively greater arrogance, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly. The phrase "a mundane ant invites some no-name nobodies" in particular left a bitter taste in her mouth.
However, recalling the Grand Tutor's usual teachings, Consort Dan ultimately held her tongue and refrained from engaging in any pointless battle of pride.
Jiang Chen let out a cold laugh: "'No-name nobodies' — those four words really suit you lot perfectly. Ant here, mundane there. From what I can see, none of you seem to have transcended the mortal world either. Is this really the best the Treasure Tree Sect has to offer — a pack of snooty imbeciles looking down their noses at everyone?"
These core disciples of the Treasure Tree Sect had long grown accustomed to the superiority complex of sect disciples, long grown accustomed to ordering mundane folk about from their lofty perch.