A single sentence left every one of the newcomers speechless on the spot.

The Council of Elders stood at the very pinnacle of the entire North Island. Were a pack of newcomers who had not even succeeded in Foundation Establishment supposed to march up and protest to them? If a man had a death wish, surely there were less absurd ways to go about it!

Wei Zhao shook his head helplessly. With the Council of Elders at his back, Hu Yunfeng had nothing whatsoever to fear. And indeed, it seemed true enough that the Tri-Layer Pavilion had gradually fallen under the Skyward Pavilion's grip—otherwise, an assessment rule so blatantly biased toward the Skyward Pavilion's newcomers should never have passed the Council at all.

After a brief pause, seeing that the newcomers had all fallen silent, Hu Yunfeng nodded in satisfaction and continued, "However, lest you harbor resentment and claim the rules are deliberately skewed in favor of the Skyward Pavilion's newcomers, after this round of newcomer assessment, the newcomers of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion and the Azure Cloud Pavilion will each be granted one final cross-pavilion challenge. Win, and you take your opponent's cultivation cave dwelling as your own. That should leave you with nothing further to say, I trust."

The newcomers exchanged glances, and only then did they nod one after another and let the matter drop.

To be sure, there were still tricks buried in it—the newcomer assessment ran a full five months, and counting the month already past, by the time it ended the Skyward Pavilion's newcomers would by default have held the finest mountaintop caves for half a year. Half a year was more than enough time to leave the newcomers of the other two pavilions far behind.

Still, a chance to challenge was better than none at all. At least they could hold out some hope for the second half of the year; without it, they would not even have that much.

Watching the newcomers settle down, Wei Zhao sighed inwardly. Beat them with a stick, then toss them a date to sweeten the sting—and a situation that had been on the verge of boiling over with public fury was defused just like that. This Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng truly had a seasoned, ruthless touch.

This outcome was entirely within Hu Yunfeng's expectations. After a pause, he spoke again, "Before this round of newcomer assessment officially begins, I have one related matter to announce. Since the newcomer assessment has many stages, in addition to the two supervising senior brothers from each of the three pavilions, one additional newcomer steward must be appointed, tasked specifically with tallying and publishing the scores. This duty is taxing in both mind and effort, and is rendered to everyone without compensation. It will inevitably cut into the steward's own assessment results; therefore, beyond the monthly stipend due a newcomer steward, this individual shall receive fifty assessment points as compensation."

The moment his words fell, the hall erupted in discussion once more.

The matter of the newcomer steward had already been put to a public vote early last month. In the end, under Xu Lingchong's patronage, Kang Zhaoming's vote count had far surpassed Zhang Lixing of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion—but because he had failed to clear two-thirds, the position had been left vacant for the time being.

Yet although it was likewise a newcomer steward, the previous duties had covered only the assignment of low-level tasks, and the pickings had not been especially rich. This time, however, the newcomer steward in charge of tallying scores could, on top of the regular stipend, collect fifty assessment points as compensation right from the outset—and that set every newcomer present drooling with envy!

One had to understand: across the six assessment stages, a good result in each was generally worth only fifty or sixty points, and in several stages even first place fell short of the fifty-point mark. In other words, holding this newcomer steward position was equivalent to an extra assessment stage—one that handed out full marks by default.

So long as nothing went badly wrong in the six stages, this was practically a guaranteed first-place finish!

Every newcomer's heart burned with hope, each praying that this windfall from the heavens might land on his own head—but anyone with clear eyes could see that this choice had been settled behind closed doors long ago.

Sure enough, Hu Yunfeng went on, "This position shall be filled by Kang Zhaoming. He placed first in the last public election for newcomer steward, and in the back-mountain trial two days ago he took first place among the Skyward Pavilion. In both prestige and strength, there is no one better suited to the seat. Does anyone object? If you do, raise your hand and speak now—don't come grumbling later about shady dealings behind the scenes and sully the reputation of our Newcomer Pavilion!"

The newcomers were jolted awake as if by a bucket of cold water. They looked at one another, yet not a single voice was raised.

For one thing, by Hu Yunfeng's account, Kang Zhaoming genuinely had the qualifications for the newcomer steward post; and the others had not the confidence to compete with him in any case.

For another, the newcomer assessment ranked the three pavilions separately. That is, even if Kang Zhaoming became newcomer steward, those most affected would be the Skyward Pavilion's own newcomers; it had little bearing on the newcomers of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion and the Azure Cloud Pavilion.

And the Skyward Pavilion newcomers had always obeyed Xu Lingchong without question, so making Kang Zhaoming the newcomer steward was entirely Xu Lingchong's will; naturally they would not protest. As for the uninvolved newcomers of the other two pavilions, it was no concern of theirs, and all the less reason to stick their necks out and invite trouble.

"No one speaking—it seems there are no objections. Then it is settled. From this day forth, Kang Zhaoming is your newcomer steward!" Hu Yunfeng declared on the spot.

"You are too kind, far too kind." Kang Zhaoming smiled faintly and cupped his hands again and again toward the crowd of newcomers, his air of smug triumph drawing a wave of envy from them all. But envy was useless—who told them to have a young master like Xu Lingchong backing him?

If it came to who was actually unconvinced, there were indeed those who chafed—they simply dared not say so. Hu Yunfeng had come right out with "raise your hand if you object"—was that not plain as day a invitation to shoot the bird that poked its head from the flock?

Qiao Hongcai wanted to speak, but Wei Zhao held him back, smiling faintly and shaking his head. This so-called newcomer steward might look to others like a formidable post with plenty of gravy, but in Wei Zhao's eyes it was nothing at all.

He would have counted it a waste of time even if it were handed to him! Better to spend that time digging a few scraps of waste jade out of the spirit jade mine—now that would be something real.

With the newcomer steward chosen, the next order of business was familiarizing themselves with the rules, and then the newcomer assessment would formally begin, its six stages to be completed over the next five months. Examining the content of the first stage closely, Wei Zhao could not help but laugh aloud—another test that felt uncannily familiar: resisting pressure!

He had not forgotten that back in the mortal world, when he attended the summit of the hidden clans, he had already been put through such a trial. Now he faced a similar scene again, and it was practically second nature.

Still, though the format looked much the same, the level of power involved was utterly incomparable to that time in the mortal world, and the essentials were quite different as well. He would have to proceed with care.

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