Chapter 1924: She’s Truly an Existence Defying Heaven

Although Han Yan spoke in such a casual, offhand way, as if the cultivation of a Seventh-order Divine Heart Priest didn’t count as anything remarkable to her, Sikong Qinglan and the others beside her were already so shocked they couldn’t even speak.

They had always thought Han Yan was a cultivation genius, a prodigy, a monster of talent, but only at this moment did they realize that "genius," "prodigy," "monster"—none of these were enough to describe the Master Priest’s natural talent. She was simply an existence that defied the heavens.

Her gift was probably enough to make even the heavens jealous. Even if a bolt of Heavenly Thunder were to fall right on her head now, no one would feel the least bit surprised. Of course, they also believed that even if heavenly thunder really did crash down on her, it probably still wouldn’t be able to do a thing to their Master Priest.

Gazing at Han Yan, the eyes of everyone present once again burned with the fervent light of devout believers.

"Master Priest, those commoner youths who just gained Cultivation Talent earlier—should we also have them take the assessment right away?" An Xiaxin asked excitedly.

Over these years, as Huayu Temple declined day by day, quite a few priests had defected to other temples, so that in the end only a bit more than twenty priests remained. As one of the oldest temples on the Divine Continent, to have only a little over twenty priests, Huayu Temple had been the target of much ridicule and mockery because of this. Though An Xiaxin knew very well that their departure might not be a bad thing for Huayu Temple—one less person meant one less mouth to feed—still, she couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful about it.

Today, Huayu Temple suddenly had over a thousand more priests; now they could finally hold their heads high for once.

Sikong Qinglan and Shen Yuhe were also looking at Han Yan with expectant eyes; clearly they had the same idea.

"This matter is not suited to being handled too hastily. I think we should slow down a bit first," Wen Gaoren said carefully.

"Master Wen, why is that?" Shen Yuhe asked, puzzled.

Although Wen Gaoren had acknowledged Han Yan as his teacher and, in terms of seniority, was actually a generation below them, his identity as an Array Master was there for all to see. No one dared put on airs in front of him, and all still maintained the proper respect.

"To conduct priest assessments for over a thousand people, activating the Array will consume quite a lot of Meteorite Gold. Even though we now have the Life Ancient Tree, many Barrier Formations are dispensable and don’t need to be repaired in a rush, Arrays such as Divine Gifted Heavenly Power and other Defensive Arrays must be repaired and reinforced as soon as possible. We also need to prepare more Meteorite Gold; being prepared is never a bad thing," Wen Gaoren said with a grave expression.

An Xiaxin, Shen Yuhe, and the others thought it over for a moment and immediately understood: he was guarding against Zhan Yuan’s possible return. Though they didn’t know what lay between Zhan Yuan and Yi Xingtian, nor why he had suddenly left, Wen Gaoren’s concern was not without basis—who knew when he might come back? Once they figured this out, their overheated minds cooled down at once.

"And besides, with over a thousand priests suddenly added, how are we going to handle the problem of cultivation resources? If we don’t handle this properly, we might end up stirring resentment in their hearts instead, gaining nothing for our trouble. So there’s no need to rush the assessment and recruitment of priests; we can proceed step by step, first having each clan nominate those with outstanding talent and excellent character to take the assessment. That way, none of the clans will have any objections," Wen Gaoren added.

Indeed, the lack of cultivation resources was also a problem. Even if all the Medicinal Herbs Han Yan brought back were refined into Dan, it still wouldn’t be enough to meet the cultivation needs of over a thousand priests.

As for those Five-Colored Soul Pearls on Han Yan, Initial-stage Priests simply couldn’t refine and absorb them. Unless they possessed talent on Han Yan’s level, which was clearly impossible.

"Then what if the commoner youths who aren’t chosen become resentful and switch to other temples?" An Xiaxin asked worriedly.

For a temple, priests themselves are a precious asset; she really couldn’t bear to hand these promising young talents over to other temples.

Alas, too much talent could be a headache sometimes.

"Their families are all in Huayu City, and their Cultivation Talent comes from the Life Ancient Tree I brought back this time. That’s not enough to make them switch to other temples over such a trivial matter. Besides, it’s not like we’re going to stop recruiting priests—we’re just slowing down the pace a bit. If we want to be even more cautious, we can take their character as a pretext, first recruiting them into the temple to serve as guards, and then give them some benefits to settle their hearts," Han Yan thought for a moment and answered on Wen Gaoren’s behalf.

In fact, Han Yan herself didn’t want to recruit so many priests all at once, not only because of Meteorite Gold and cultivation resources, but also because she didn’t want to attract too much attention.

One had to know that every additional priest in a temple had to be reported to the Life God Temple, which in turn reported to the Main Temple. Even a temple main city on the scale of Tianyang City would never recruit over a thousand priests in one go. Huayu Temple only had a population of several tens of thousands; to suddenly report so many priests at once would definitely make it the focus of every temple’s attention.

Given her current strength, with the Life Ancient Tree in her Heart Meridian, none of the Twelve Divine Temples under the Life God Temple would be able to see through her secret. If she were a bit careful, perhaps even the Life God Temple wouldn’t be able to detect it. But if she drew the attention of the Main Temple, she had no confidence she could still keep her secret.

In such matters, it was better to be cautious.

"Master Teacher, that is a wise view. To ordinary commoners, the identity of temple guards is already quite high, and as long as their character is sound, they can still become priests later. They definitely won’t have any complaints," Wen Gaoren said, taking the opportunity to flatter her.

An Xiaxin, Sikong Qinglan, and the others nodded repeatedly, their admiration for Han Yan growing even deeper. A Master Priest was indeed a Master Priest; with just a few words, a problem that had seemed thorny to them was resolved with ease.

"Then we’ll do it that way. Qing Lan, I’ll leave these matters in your hands," Han Yan said to Sikong Qinglan.

As Prayer Priest, aside from performing rituals, this kind of work to soothe people’s hearts also fell within his scope of duty.

"Yes, my lord," Sikong Qinglan answered with a nod. Then something suddenly occurred to him, and he said, "Right, the Mu Family has profited the most this time. I don’t know why, but in their family of several hundred, more than half have gained Cultivation Talent. Should we select more people from them for assessment?"

"If I’m not mistaken, the reason the Mu Family profited the most is related to them risking their lives to defend the inner wall earlier. The reason the commoners in the city gained Cultivation Talent is that the Life Ancient Tree, while healing their injuries, also transformed their meridians and enhanced their Divine Sense. The more serious the injury, the greater the changes to the meridians and Divine Sense, and naturally the greater the benefit they received," Wen Gaoren analyzed.

"Master Wen speaks reasonably. Since that’s the case, we’ll select more people from the Mu Family for assessment," Han Yan said with a nod.

She wasn’t intentionally favoring the Mu Family; it was just that earlier, their life-and-death struggle against the bandits to defend the temple had been seen clearly by all the commoners. Even if they received some special treatment, who would have the standing to criticize?