Li Ban's eyes widened.
He suddenly realized what Priest Chu Zhan's abrupt smile before leaving had been about.
They all seemed to assume that he and Li Yan shared some extraordinary bond.
Heaven be his witness, his relationship with Li Yan had only ever been strictly professional—or outright hostile.
"There's no need," Li Ban refused without a shred of hesitation.
What would he even do with Yan Jiu tagging along?
She couldn't exactly keep watch for him at night like the Cat Girl did.
Besides, Yan Jiu had lived in the Imperial Dynasty for a long time and had seen real priests. As someone who had joined the profession halfway, Li Ban feared he might slip up and expose himself in front of her.
Li Fu's tone turned pleading as he said softly, "I know Li Yan doesn't mean much to you. I only beg that, for the sake of the few times your paths have crossed, you take her away from this place."
Li Yan had been listening quietly as her second brother sold her off, but at his last words, she looked over in shock.
"Second Brother, don't!" She tried to stop him, but couldn't even raise her hand.
"I have no hope of ever advancing further," Li Fu said, smiling at Li Yan. "Living in the safety of the Imperial Palace, it doesn't really matter whether I cultivate or not."
Li Fu looked back at Li Ban, begging once more. "Priest Ban, if Little Nine stays here, the best she can hope for is to be given away as a gift. I only hope to use my meager resources to buy my ninth sister her freedom."
"Fine." Before Li Fu could plead again, Li Ban suddenly stood and agreed. "When I leave the Capital City, I will take her with me. But once we leave, she must go her own way. I will not be responsible for her future."
Without waiting for their reaction, Li Ban turned and left the inner hall.
He wasn't very familiar with this place. If he wanted to teleport, he first had to leave the inner hall and get a clear view of the paths outside.
To his surprise, Li Yan suddenly chased after him.
"Li—Priest Ban, could you take my second brother with you too? He's been permanently imprisoned in Shunyi Palace, forbidden from leaving—"
Li Ban stopped and looked back at her. "Your second brother is the former crown prince, isn't he?"
Li Yan parted her lips, then slowly nodded.
"Hah, are you an idiot, or do you think I am?"
A crippled imperial princess who could no longer cultivate spiritual rhinoceros, versus a deposed crown prince who still possessed Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruits...
Li Yan opened her mouth to say more, but Li Ban abruptly vanished before her eyes.
Only then did she fully realize that Li Ban had truly become a priest.
Her hand fell limply through the empty air.
He was no longer that insignificant little prison guard she could manipulate at will.
In fact, perhaps he never had been.
Over the next few days, Priest Zhu Yao and Priest Chu Zhan were both extremely busy.
—
Meanwhile, Li Ban had only one thing to do: prepare for the robing ceremony.
The two priests didn't appear again until the day of the ceremony itself.
After bathing and fasting for three days, Li Ban wore a plain white silk robe and stood in the middle hall of the Heavenly Pavilion, waiting for Priest Zhu Yao and Priest Chu Zhan.
The robing ceremony was exceedingly simple, with only one person present to watch.
According to Priest Zhu Yao, this was already livelier than Du An's robing ceremony.
However, Du An had gone through a prerequisite step that Li Ban hadn't: the Rite of Heaven-Seizing Breath.
"Li Ban, are you ready?" Priest Zhu Yao and Priest Chu Zhan, who had also bathed and changed their clothes, walked out from the right-side hall.
Li Ban smiled and nodded.
For the past three days, no one had disturbed him. All the preparations had been made solely to provide him with a perfectly quiet environment.
Now, those three days of absolute silence were over, and the simple yet momentous robing ceremony was beginning.
Holding a painted scroll, Priest Chu Zhan stood beside Priest Zhu Yao, who in turn held a pair of silk ribbons.
Both of them had also ritually bathed, their expressions deeply solemn.
Priest Zhu Yao stepped forward. Looking at Li Ban, she skipped the formal rhetoric and simply asked, "Li Ban, are you willing to join the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's faction?"
Li Ban hadn't been informed of the ceremony's procedures beforehand and found the directness a bit strange, but he maintained a serious expression and nodded. "I am."
Freeing one hand, Zhu Yao gently swiped a finger over one of the silk ribbons.
An embroidered image of a tall pagoda instantly appeared on the silk before fading away.
"To become a white-robed priest, you must abide by the White Robe's most fundamental rule. You must swear that you will never snatch the Wizard Embryo Fragments from within another priest's body. Otherwise, your white robe will be stained with ink, and you will forever be hunted down by every white-robed priest in the Wizard World."
Li Ban's eyes widened slightly.
In the world of priests, snatching someone else's Wizard Embryo Fragment was likely a crime far worse than murder.
But it also proved that stealing another's Wizard Embryo Fragment was probably the fastest way to advance. Otherwise, the white-robed priests wouldn't have adopted such strict punishments to enforce the rule.
"I swear that I will never snatch the Wizard Embryo Fragments from within another priest's body," Li Ban said without hesitation, his tone completely earnest.
A faint smile surfaced on Zhu Yao's cold face as she extended the pair of silk ribbons toward him.
"Then gently stroke the silk with both hands. It will manifest your vow. If you ever break this oath, your white robe will be stained with ink, and no method will be able to conceal it."
Li Ban reached out, brushing his hands over the two ribbons.
The moment his fingertips brushed the fabric, the pure white silk seemed to come alive, establishing a mental connection with him.
Priest Zhu Yao took another step forward, draping the two silk ribbons over Li Ban's left and right shoulders.
They weren't fastened down, merely draped loosely across his shoulders.
Li Ban stayed perfectly still, afraid he might shift and cause the ribbons to fall off.
Yet the moment Priest Zhu Yao finished placing them, the ribbons seamlessly merged with Li Ban's clothes, transforming into the same winged shoulder-pieces and long trailing sashes that adorned her own robes.
A blue trim also appeared along the edges of his originally pure white robes.
The white robes worn by Priest Zhu Yao and Priest Chu Zhan both had gold trimmings. This was likely the distinction between a Spirit Awakening Priest and a Dark Moon Priest.
At that moment, Priest Chu Zhan gently hooked a finger against the painted scroll he was holding. It unfurled, revealing a portrait.
The figure's face was drawn rather indistinctly, though one could faintly make out handsome features.
His aura, however, was extraordinary. With his long white robes fluttering, he stood against a backdrop of starlight like a giant towering amid the vast cosmos.
Seeing the starry sky behind the giant, Li Ban's index finger twitched involuntarily. But he quickly cleared his mind of the chaotic thoughts surging within and forced himself to focus on the present.
"This is the Wizard Lord of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda. Since you are willing to join the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, I will leave the Wizard Lord's mark within your mind. In the future, when you enter the Shattered Realm, this mark will protect you from being corrupted by the Dark Side of the Universe."
Li Ban nodded, but suddenly realized it was Priest Chu Zhan holding the scroll, and immediately felt that something was a bit off.
An Imperial Dynasty priest was holding the portrait of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's Wizard Lord...
With a wooden expression, Chu Zhan freed his left hand, raised his palm, and waved it dismissively. "It's fine. The Wizard Lords don't care about such things."
Speaking rapidly, he steadied the scroll once more.
While Chu Zhan interrupted, Priest Zhu Yao merely stood there in silence, as if she had deliberately skipped a few frames of reality.
Li Ban's eyes crinkled in amusement. Suddenly, he found these white-robed priests rather interesting.
Then, as if she had just rebooted, Priest Zhu Yao raised a hand and gently tapped the shoulder of the figure in the portrait. She flicked her hand rapidly, as though sweeping something off the canvas and onto Li Ban.
Li Ban caught a vague glimpse of a brilliant white light. Priest Zhu Yao's fingers plucked it from the scroll, and it fell onto his body before vanishing.
He felt as though someone had looked down at him for a brief second before shifting their gaze away just as quickly.
He knew perfectly well that the Wizard Lord of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda had just glanced at him.
That glance was like a gentle breeze against his face, or a direct ray of sunlight; he could feel it, but there was nothing unusual about it, nor could he hold onto it.
He didn't feel any pressure, nor did he feel any sense of security from being protected.
Just as Priest Chu Zhan had said, the Wizard Lords really didn't care.
"It is done," Priest Zhu Yao said, lowering her hand. "Now, you are truly a priest of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda."
Priest Chu Zhan raised his hand, and the scroll automatically rolled itself back up. He handed it back to Zhu Yao, who stowed it away in her Cubic Heaven and Earth.
"Next, we will prepare your very own Self-Seeking Mirror."
Priest Zhu Yao then looked unceremoniously at Priest Chu Zhan.
The latter raised a hand. "No problem, no problem."
Priest Chu Zhan pulled a crystal straight out of his robes and tossed it into the air.
A layer of transparent material peeled off the crystal's outer shell, pooling together in the air to form a sphere like a bead of water.
It hung suspended in the air, refusing to fall.
"Li Ban, what kind of mirror do you like? Round, diamond-shaped, or square? And the backing—bronze, copper, gold, or silver?"
He asked with meticulous detail, clearly eager to get started, looking for all the world like an artisan utterly obsessed with his craft.
Li Ban thought for a moment before giving a general description based on the ownerless mirror currently sitting in his Cubic Heaven and Earth.
He planned to take that mirror out for further study in the future; if the two mirrors looked similar, it would be much easier to cover up.
Besides, the Self-Seeking Mirror he had found possessed an elegant, archaic simplicity that suited his tastes perfectly.
Priest Chu Zhan worked rapidly. Guided by his will, the liquid suspended in the air was stretched and molded into the exact shape Li Ban had described.
Not just the mirror's surface, but the backing and handle were entirely constructed from that same mass of liquid.
Finally, the liquid settled and took on color, turning into a brass mirror with a single handle.
The only difference was the engraving on the back: rather than stalks of wheat, it featured a spirit snake.
It looked somewhat similar to the wheat, though.
Under Priest Chu Zhan's control, the completed mirror descended into Li Ban's palm.
"Pour both your spiritual rhinoceros and your will into the Self-Seeking Mirror. It will become yours, and no one else will be able to use it without your permission," Priest Chu Zhan said.
Li Ban did as instructed.
The moment his will and spiritual rhinoceros simultaneously entered the Self-Seeking Mirror, he understood why Priest Chu Zhan had said others wouldn't be able to use it without his consent.
This Self-Seeking Mirror reflected not physical objects, but his very inner heart.
When he was unwilling to open his heart to someone else, the mirror would do nothing more than reflect light and shadow.
Priest Zhu Yao waited for Li Ban to finish admiring his new mirror before saying slowly, "The Self-Seeking Mirror has two main uses. You've already witnessed the first: communication between priests. Within the Shattered Realm, it can only be used when you are in the same minor world."
Li Ban nodded.
Priest Zhu Yao then explained the methods of contacting other priests.
The simplest and most direct method was to lightly touch two claimed mirrors together, which would instantly forge a telepathic communication channel across space.
Alternatively, when a Self-Seeking Mirror came into contact with an object carrying strong residual will, one might also be able to communicate with the priest that object belonged to.
"The Self-Seeking Mirror's second use is to temper your heart."
Priest Zhu Yao's tone was incredibly stern as she explained.
"Priests are different from Spirit Practitioners. In addition to cultivating the body and absorbing spiritual rhinoceros, the mastery and cultivation of the will are equally important. Cultivating the will is also known as cultivating the spirit."
"If one possesses formidable physical power but lacks the spiritual strength to control it, they will only devolve into a powerful monster."