Secrets of the 8th Peak

"Little friend, just because you wish to join the 8th peak doesn't mean they will accept you," the Peak Master Chu said, his tone laced with caution.

"Look around," he continued. "No one from the 8th peak has come here. It means they don't plan to accept anyone this year."

"Actually, it's not a bad thing. Better to avoid the 8th peak unless you want to destroy your future."

After hearing this, Lei Kongming also got confused. It is impossible to forcefully join the 8th peak, and since Su Zhiyuan has not come, he doesn't know what to do next.

As he was hesitating and wondering whether to go to some other peak, he heard the footsteps of someone approaching.

Soon, Su Zhiyuan walked into the hall wearing her golden white dress. Coupled with her elegant figure and dignified demeanor, she really gave people the feeling of looking at a queen or a powerful empress.

Su Zhiyuan glared at all the elders sitting and asked, "Who said that coming to my 8th peak would destroy his future?"

Surprisingly, all the elders pretended not to have heard Su Zhiyuan's question. Even Peak Master Chu, who had just said that joining the 8th peak would destroy Lei Kongming's future, kept his silence.

"Xiao Ming, from now on, you are an inner door disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace, belonging to my 8th peak. Follow me; I will take you directly to the 8th peak," Su Zhiyuan declared.

As she started to leave with Lei Kongming without sparing a glance at the elders, Lei Meiying stepped forward to stop her.

"Senior, wait! We also wish to join the 8th peak."

"Huh?" Su Zhiyuan looked at Lei Meiying in surprise. In the past, there were frequently people who wanted to join her 8th peak, but most had bad intentions. She had directly beaten everyone, regardless of their cultivation, who tried to join the 8th peak. Now, it was quite surprising to her that someone dared to ask so directly about joining the 8th peak.

At this, all the elders began sweating for Lei Meiying, hesitating on whether to step forward to help her or not.

"You two also wish to join the 8th peak? Well, it's not impossible. At least you both have a special physique that meets the bare minimum requirement of my 8th peak, but how can you prove that you are not spies from the other peaks?" Su Zhiyuan said, looking at all the elders, especially the female elder of the fifth peak, warily.

Hearing this, both Lei Meiying and Lei Meixia looked troubled, unsure of what to do.

"Elder sister, don't worry; they are members of the distant branch of my clan," Lei Kongming interjected, trying to ease the tension.

"Oh? Then you two also follow me," said Su Zhiyuan, gesturing for them to follow her as she turned to leave the hall.

Lei Meiying and Lei Meixia both gave a grateful look to Lei Kongming and then followed Su Zhiyuan along with him.

What Lei Kongming did not know was that after he called Su Zhiyuan "elder sister," all the elders who heard this had different expressions. Some were amazed, some were shocked, and some even looked at Lei Kongming with admiring glances.

Walking out of the hall, Su Zhiyuan waved her hand, and a huge ship appeared in front of them. They then boarded the ship as it flew towards the 8th peak.

Looking at the complete view of the Purple Cloud Palace, Lei Kongming was amazed. A big mountain was in the center, so high that it pierced the clouds. It was surrounded by several slightly smaller mountains, which should be the inner door. Outside the inner door, there were hundreds of small mountains and hills covered with forests, farms, and even some small village-like settlements.

The sight of these farms and villages puzzled Lei Kongming. 'Is this the outer door?' he wondered. 'How can the Purple Cloud Palace allow outer door disciples to farm and live in villages?'

Lei Kongming walked up to Su Zhiyuan, who was standing on the deck of the ship, and asked, "Elder sister, is that the outer door?"

Su Zhiyuan followed his gaze and replied, "No, that's where the handyman disciples are. The outer door is over there, near the foot of the inner door peaks."

Lei Kongming looked in the direction Su Zhiyuan was pointing and saw large numbers of courtyards and halls near the foot of the inner door peaks. Originally, he thought that it was part of the inner door, but it seemed it was actually the outer door.

"Elder sister, then what's that big mountain in the center?"

"That's the main peak," Su Zhiyuan explained. "It's where the core disciples and other high-ranking elders stay."

Lei Meiying and Lei Meixia looked at Lei Kongming having a conversation with Su Zhiyuan with such familiarity and were amazed. They felt that Su Zhiyuan was not an ordinary elder, as even Peak Master Chu did not dare to say anything in front of her.

"By the way, elder sister, why did the representative elders of each peak advise me not to join the 8th peak?" 

Lei Kongming's question also aroused the interest of the Mei sisters, but Su Zhiyuan's expression remained unchanged.

"Well... there are many reasons for this. Which one should I tell you..." said Su Zhiyuan as she started pondering.

Seeing Su Zhiyuan deep in thought, as if there were so many reasons that she couldn't count them all, Lei Kongming started having a bad feeling about this.

"The main reason is that I have not only beaten Sect Master Duan but also most of the high-ranking elders many times. So, they might make things difficult for you."

Hearing Su Zhiyuan refer to Sect Master Duan instead of Palace Master Duan, Lei Kongming remembered that he wanted to ask her about this. However, when he heard the complete sentence, his face turned pale.

"Another reason is that in the past, many people wanted to join the 8th peak, but most of them were sent by the elders of other peaks to monitor me. Instead of investigating each one, I directly beat all of them until they stopped clamoring about it. Now they don't dare to cause me trouble, but you might be targeted by them."

Lei Kongming, Lei Meiying, and even Lei Meixia turned even paler after hearing this.

"The third reason I can think of is that the 8th peak doesn't receive any monthly resources. This is because a peak needs to have at least 100 disciples and 3 elders, and they also need to complete at least 150 sect missions to receive any monthly resources."

"Eld...er sist...er, how many people are there on the 8th peak?" asked Lei Kongming in a trembling voice.

"Just us four," Su Zhiyuan replied with a lazy, unbothered expression.

"?"

Seeing Lei Kongming's confused expression, Su Zhiyuan repeated, "Just us four."

At this point, the blood completely drained from the faces of Lei Kongming, Lei Meiying, and Lei Meixia as they felt they had boarded a pirate ship.