MTLNOVEL Chapter 240: Recruitment
It was a bright and cloudless day, with two suns shining brilliantly in the sky, bathing the entire world in a kaleidoscope of colors.
The sunlight gradually descended upon a worn and desolate city, its streets littered with crumbling buildings and battered cultivators scrambling about in their tattered forms.
Suddenly, a resonant bell tolled, its sound spreading across the city, reverberating through the surrounding forests, and traveling thousands of kilometers to reach distant cities.
As the echo of the bell faded, the sky began to fill with an intense, blinding light.
Below, the ruined city underwent a miraculous transformation. The broken structures gave way to sleek, futuristic buildings, rising one after another in a dazzling display of rapid change.
This process continued for what felt like an eternity, leaving the city unrecognizable from its former state.
Golden bells appeared in the sky, countless in number, their shimmering brilliance casting a radiant glow across the horizon.
Even though the cultivators in other distant cities were far removed from the spectacle, they could still see the golden bells, and their resonant ringing echoed vividly in their ears.
One of the older cultivators fell to the ground, his face pale with a mix of horror and dread.
"Wasn't it just one genius who recently gained Enlightenment from the Heavenly Dao? How could so many cultivators achieve enlightenment—all at the same time?"
"Anomaly… Anomaly…"
Without hesitation, the old man took to the skies, fleeing the area in sheer panic, disappearing in a single breath.
Silence followed.
The remaining cultivators stood frozen, their expressions grim and unreadable. Some, sharing the old man's fear, quickly retreated, vanishing into the distance. Others slipped away more cautiously, moving with quiet precision to avoid drawing attention.
Still, many cultivators chose to stay. This was their home, and they felt a duty to protect it. Besides, venturing beyond the city's territory was no safer; the wilderness teemed with roaming beasts and demons, especially now that the stronger families and forces had departed for Mount Sumeru.
As a result, few powerful cultivators remained in the city. Those who stayed were mostly lone cultivators or elderly masters nearing the end of their lifespans. For these flickering candles, already burning low, there was basically no interest from Mount Sumeru.
"Should we go there?" one of the younger cultivators asked, his voice tinged with nervous excitement. Curiosity tugged at him, an unrelenting urge to witness and explore whatever phenomenon had caused such a grand upheaval.
"Maybe there are treasures that could change my fate," one of the cultivators murmured, his voice trembling with barely contained greed.
When greed takes hold, rationality is often cast aside. Driven by curiosity and ambition, a group of cultivators began cautiously approaching the terrifying phenomenon.
What they saw left them utterly speechless.
Before them stood a futuristic city, brimming with wonders they had never seen. Drones buzzed through the air, humanoid constructs of walking metal moved with uncanny precision, and flying vehicles not powered by Qi streaked across the sky. Advanced technologies they couldn't even name littered the city.
Their mouths hung open in disbelief, their eyes wide with awe. This was beyond anything they could have imagined, even in their wildest dreams.
Then, one of them raised a trembling finger toward the sky.
"What is it?" someone asked, their voice barely audible.
All eyes turned upward, and an eerie silence fell over the group.
Above the city, countless cultivators sat cross-legged in midair, their forms bathed in an ethereal glow. Each had hair as radiant as gold, and their cultivation…
"All of them are Tier Seven! Some are even Tier Eight!" another cultivator cried out, his voice trembling with horror.
Then, one of them noticed a faint shadow at the center of the cross-legged cultivators.
"Who… who is that?" he stammered, his words drawing everyone's attention.
All eyes turned to the figure at the center.
Seated upon a throne was a seemingly ordinary man, tall and imposing, his massive frame exuding an understated dominance. His long white hair flowed like a silver river, yet it was his eyes that truly arrested their gaze—one a deep, blazing crimson, the other a radiant gold.
They shone with an intensity that seemed almost divine, as if two separate gods resided within his eyes, clashing and coexisting at once.
Despite his unassuming demeanor, the sheer presence of the man was suffocating.
As the cultivators stared in awe and fear, the man's gaze shifted, locking onto them.
In that instant, every cultivator froze. Their cultivation, their Qi, their very connection to the Dao—all of it vanished. They felt hollow, stripped bare, reduced to the frailty of ordinary mortals in the face of an overwhelming power.
"Nooo…" Cries of anguish echoed through the air as grown men and women broke down, their faces streaked with tears.
Some, overcome with despair, ended their lives on the spot, their cries of torment lingering even as their bodies fell lifeless to the ground.
Ray watched this unfold with a stunned expression.
"Aren't cultivators supposed to have wills like steel and minds unmoved by worldly desires? Why are they offing themselves so easily?"
Deep confusion clouded his thoughts as he observed the scene. With a wave of his hand, the chaos abruptly ceased.
Every cultivator's body froze in place. They could no longer speak, hear, or even twitch a muscle. It was as though time itself had come to a standstill for them.
Rising from his throne, Ray gazed down at the crowd with a warm, almost disarming smile.
"Hello, everyone," he greeted, his voice calm and cordial. "Since you are all here, it means you've qualified to join our Heavenly Dao Killing Sect. Congratulations—you've already been promoted to the rank of ordinary disciple."
The moment the frozen cultivators heard the sect's name, their minds erupted in chaos. They wanted to scream, to curse, but their lips refused to move.
Ray chuckled lightly, raising a brow "Haha, does anyone want to speak?" With a casual flick of his wrist, he released one of them from the paralysis.
"Speak your mind. I'm a magnanimous leader, after all."
The freed cultivator trembled as he knelt, his voice quivering as he spoke. "Lo… Lord God, the Heavenly Dao is revered and worshipped by all mortals and cultivators alike. If we name our sect after it, we will become the enemies of the entire world."
"That's exactly what I want," Ray declared, his grin widening into something unhinged. "I want to fight the world!"
A manic laugh erupted from him, echoing across the silent city. His mismatched eyes glimmered with a fiery resolve.
"If you're willing to join me," he continued, his voice steady once more, "I will grant you enlightenment and allow you to rapidly increase your strength. If you refuse, you're free to leave. It makes no difference to me. But ask yourselves this—do you really want to live the rest of your lives as you are? Weak and insignificant, forever bound by mediocrity?"
When the cultivators heard Ray's proposition, their expressions shifted.
Most chose to stay, reluctantly nodding their agreement, while a few turned and left, their faces pale with fear or uncertainty. Ray, however, didn't stop them. He watched them leave in silence, his expression unreadable.
But once they were gone, the news spread like wildfire through the cultivation world. Stories of the mysterious Heavenly Dao Killing Sect, the golden-haired cultivators, and, most tantalizing of all, Artificial Enlightenment, began to circulate.
The promise of a shortcut to power ignited greed in the hearts of cultivators far and wide. The allure of rapid strength and enlightenment was too great to ignore.
Before long, these rumors reached even the distant peak of Mount Sumeru.